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Aug 21 2016
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The Sin Americans Are Unaware Of

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When it comes to America having to answer to God for the sins she commits, abortion and acceptance of homosexuality have to be what we would consider some very grievous sins in the sight of God. Yet it only takes one little sin, one that we call a white lie, to damn a man for eternity. So sin is sin. God is a gracious God and He will, if asked with a repentive heart, forgive the vilest of sinners. There is a hymn which says, “Come ye sinners, lost and hopeless. Jesus’ blood can make you free. For he saved the worst among you, when He saved a wretch like me. And I know, yes I know, Jesus blood can make the vilest sinner clean.” Just as no sin is too little to separate us from God, no sin is too grievous that God will not forgive those who come to Him in repentance. As long as a man still has breath, he can call on God to save him from his sins and be made a brand new creature. Let me take a moment to shout, HALLELUJAH!

Let me get back to America, she is turning to sin and adding “sin to sin.” There is another sin which America is openly promoting that is very grievous before God and that seemingly goes unnoticed by most Americans. The reason for that is because many Americans are made to feel guilty if they would argue against it. This sin is so grievous to God that He even put it in a different category than other sins. Again I want to remind you that all sin offends God, but some sins result in harsher judgment and severe consequences. Consider Sodom and Gomorrah, God rained fire and brimstone on them for their obsession with homosexual sin. Remember what happened to Egypt when Pharaoh refused to humble himself before Almighty God. So this sin which America is committing will bring severe judgment and consequences upon our nation.

Before I expose this sin, I want to say one more thing about it. This sin is encouraged under the banner of good will toward man. It has become a lecture to all Americans by the politicians of our day. So what am I referring to? Let the scriptures reveal it.

 

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” ( I Timothy 5:8).

 

The word “infidel” means unbeliever. So what the scripture is saying is that the person who has responsibility for their household and does not provide for them, he is worse than an unbeliever. That poses a question. If an unbeliever is already going to hell, what can be worse than that? That is a good question. I will let you ponder on that. Certainly though, you can see that this sin of not taking personal responsibility to provide for your own is a grievous sin in the eyes of God.

So how is this sin committed in America? For several decades our politicians have been making it more and more convenient for Americans to depend upon their government. For example, during the Obama administration we have seen an increase, by over 50%, of those receiving food stamps. To some this is considered a good and compassionate thing to do. I agree that it is the duty of every American, especially Christians, to have compassion on their neighbor. It is the right thing to help those who are going through a time of need. But the underlying problem is that there is an encouragement coming from the top down to let the government and others take responsibility for your well-being. There is an effort to get all Americans to depend on the government. Those who want to go ahead and let the government take care of their lives don’t understand that they are also surrendering their freedom and giving control of their lives to some other people who really do not care about them. The talk of compassion by most of the politicians is all just a façade.

There is an attack on those who work hard and succeed in life. Much of the media makes it sound like every rich person is evil and every CEO of every company is out to put the common man under his thumb. There is this attitude being preached to our nation that if you are a business owner you are greedy and evil. I ran a small home remodeling business for 28 years before I retired to focus more on the church that I shepherd. I met all kinds of owners of construction businesses through the years. These men, for the most part, were decent, honest and hard working men. Of course, there are crooks in the remodeling business who give a bad name to the industry.

It is the entrepreneur spirit, the willingness to work hard to provide a good life for our families and the good will of many Americans that has made America a place of great prosperity and comfort. Of course, the number one reason America is blessed is because she has honored God and allowed the Bible to be the law we live by. America is also blessed because she has been a support and blessing to God’s chosen people, Israel. Today there has been a major shift. America is turning from God. America is breeding a new generation of Americans who are growing up being told that they are owed something. They are being told it is unfair that others have more than they do. They are being told that they are entitled to have things that they have not worked for. This is conditioning a generation of young people to be sluggards by excusing them of any responsibility for their own lives. Today we have quite a few babies being born with their mother and/or father expecting the state to provide for their child.

It is becoming more common for couples to live together instead of getting married. This again is another way people avoid personal responsibility. For some couples, if they would marry, it would mean an end to government handouts, so they just live together wanting the perks of marriage, but without the commitment. By the way, living in fornication is another grievous sin that is committed in our nation. You may be surprised how many people call themselves Christians and yet they live in fornication. I trust you are not one of them.

In conclusion, it is your duty before God, “…that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing” (I Thessalonians 4:11-12). When God created man, He created him right from the beginning to be workers with responsibility.

 

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15).

 

Jun 16 2016
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Prayer, The Greatest of Disciplines

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“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17)

 

In my estimation, there is not a greater discipline in all of Christianity than to live a life of prayer. Prayer is not one of the favorite subjects of the church. Prayer is one of the most neglected practices amongst believers. On top of that, there are many Christians who do pray, but they don’t pray effectively.

After I was born, again I read my Bible with enthusiasm. Even though I didn’t care too much for reading, I loved my Bible. However, there was something I knew was lacking in my young spiritual life. It was that I didn’t have much of a prayer life. I tried making a commitment to pray one hour like the disciples were asked to do, but that lasted about a day or two. Well, it happened after I was saved a couple of years that I determined to get serious about a prayer life. I am not big on New Year resolutions, but the New Year was upon me so I decided to do a New Year resolution. The resolution was to start off every work day with at least five minutes of prayer. You are probably thinking wow, what an incredible goal. Now I know five minutes is not much time, but it was certainly more than I was doing. Besides that, the commitment was for at least five minutes; I could always go longer. Five minutes seemed very practical because I could miss my alarm, get up late, and still squeeze in my prayer time before heading off to work. I can tell you that I kept that commitment and only failed to miss my prayer time a few times that year. Most of the mornings when I would pray I would go down in my basement rec room. As I kept at it, my prayer time was starting to increase. I was starting to go fifteen and twenty minutes, even longer. I was learning fellowship with God. I was finding a delight in getting to know my God.

My prayer life has grown a great deal since those early days. If there is any great lesson I can tell you about having a disciplined prayer life it is this, discipline will turn into delight. Yes, your prayer life can get to, if it hasn’t already, the place where you look forward to getting into your prayer closet and seek the Lord. It may not always be like that, but the more you know the Lord, the more you will take delight in spending time with Him.

If there is anything I would say prayer is, it is getting to know your God. So many believers think prayer is a list of requests that you bring to the Lord. I would never say that you shouldn’t do that, but quite often people bombard God with all their troubles, needs and desires and they don’t realize they have not taken time out to have intimate communion with the Lord. I have told my church that if they start off their prayer with praising God and seeking His face, then when they lift up their needs, the Lord is more pleased to answer them. It is like a child who wants to hit his dad up for five bucks, and he approaches his dad with a loving attitude before he asks for the money. I fell for that one quite few times. Jesus even gave us a pattern for that in what we call the Lord’s Prayer. It starts with, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name” (Matthew 6:9). Jesus’ first two words teaches us that we are going before our Father. Praise God, He is not some distant crabby God who is always perturbed with everyone, but instead He desires to be a Father to us. Then Jesus’ next several words exalt the Father to the place that He deserves, He is to be hallowed. One of the meanings of hallowed is to venerate. Venerate means to regard with reverential respect and to honor. Basically you should start off your prayer time giving glory to God. We have prayer on Tuesday nights at our church and once in a while I say out loud to those who are there, “Let’s lift our hands and our voices unto God in praise and worship. Let’s not go barging into His presence, but let’s go before him with respect.” It is after we have done that, that we can ask for His will to be done and for our daily needs to be met.

It is such a shame that the Lord’s Prayer is not understood. So many have made it a prayer that people chant as a part of their church meeting. So many just mouth it without even giving any thought to what they are saying. Have you ever realized the damning effect the Lord’s Prayer can have on people? The prayer goes on to say, “and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Do you realize what is being prayed here? People are actually asking God to forgive them the same way they forgive. Anyone who prays that prayer with un-forgiveness in their heart is asking God to not forgive them. For in the same way they forgive, they are asking God to forgive. If they won’t forgive then they are asking God not to forgive. If they don’t. He won’t. Doesn’t that make you shudder? It does me.

Prayer is serious business. Prayer is one of the most important things a believer can do. Probably most Christians view prayer as something they must do instead of seeing prayer as a privilege. Through prayer, you have the privilege of a one on one relationship with the One who created the heavens and the earth. And even more than that, if your relationship is right with Him, He will hear your prayers and answer them. Of course, they have to be according to God’s will, and if they are, God will.

Jesus was the greatest example when it came to prayer. His ministry to the lost sheep of Israel and His prayer time with the Father were in perfect balance. Sometimes He would rise a great while before sun up. Another time he spent a whole night in prayer. Other times He would sneak off into the mountains to get away from the people so He could be alone with His Father. He knew He could not be effective around the people unless He got away from people to get into the presence of His Father. I think it is very important for believers to have a set time to pray, but Jesus had more than that, He lived a life of prayer. This is a practice I am learning more and more. This is a practice the church needs to learn.

Most of all, the church must understand that she must pray. She needs to pray and believe in the power of prayer. The “house of prayer” has a thousand things going on inside her walls, but very little of what is the most needed, PRAYER!