Showing posts with label Materialism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Materialism. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Chapter 9, Part 10

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.”

Psalm 119:105

The Word of God guides us, it leads us in the direction we should travel. The Word and the Spirit are our guides to the Father. The Father does not provide guidance, He provides guides. The two will never contradict the revealed Word of God or vice versa. God will never be divided against God.[1] This world is full of darkness and evil lurks around every turn, but the Word is there for us to use. I pray that you will use it now. Let it guide you into the knowledge of the Father. The Word said, “No one can come to the Father, except through Me.”[2] If you want to repent from fornicating and stay pure for the Father you must have the Word. If you want to be able to resist the lure of the devil and stay pure for the Father, you will need the Word.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God a
worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the Word of truth.”

2 Timothy 2:15

We are called to be not just readers and hearers of the Word, but studiers of the Word. We are to be able to present our selves to God unashamed because we have used our time wisely. Not with the distractions of daily life, but with study. Learning the Word, who the Word is, and why was the Word sent here. To be diligent is to persevere in study, to work carefully to learn. Are we actually reading and studying the Word? Or do we base our concepts and beliefs on others interpretations? The reason you have no power is that you do not know the Word. The modern Church and believers are being led away by the “easy gospel”. They have not taken the time to find out for themselves what God’s Word actually says. What did Christ actually teach? Be grounded in the Word and you will not fall for the false teachings and prophets.

The Word of God is foolishness to the non-believer, so how can we as believers allow the world to dictate to us how we should live. Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by the world. You are called by the Word to be set apart from the world. The trouble is that many modern Christians are not only in the world they are of the world. They have allowed the mores of the world to creep into their belief system. Remember the enemy does not have to get you way off, just a little off. Do not seek advice from a dying world. It may sound logical, but if it is not from the Word it is not from God.

The lure of fornication and sexual perversion is so strong today. It permeates everything in our culture. It is used to sell everything from hamburgers to toothpaste. If you are not “doing it”, you are not cool. You are missing out. You cannot turn on the television or go to the movies without promiscuity rearing its ugly head. According to a recent study at least 50% of our young teens (14-15) have already had sexual intercourse.[3] That number should be alarming to us as parents, people, and as a society. But it hardly gets a rise even from many evangelicals, there are more important issues. Well, I am here to say that this is unacceptable to our God. These figures represent the failure of all of us who were given the responsibility to raise these children. We are not training up our children they are raising themselves, many of these children with little or no parental supervision. In our efforts to get the “American Dream”, we have sacrificed our children. We truly have more, but we actually have less. The Word speaks of a man gaining the whole world but losing his soul.[4] The Father will judge those parents who have sacrificed their children for more of the world.

“and that from childhood you have known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”

2 Timothy 3:15

We are to be taught the Word from childhood. According to most modern Christians, teaching our children about how to succeed in the world is more important than giving them the teachings of God. It is more important for them to be materially successful than spiritually successful. And then we wonder why they make the choices they make. What other choices can they make with the information we are providing them. We are allowing the enemy unfettered access to our children. We are providing them with little or no defense except for catch phrases and slogans such as “just say no”. How can we expect them to say no when we do not say no? It is time for parents to step up and be parents once again. Your children do not need more friends they need parents. It’s amazing how so many look to the world for advice on how to raise their children. The ruler of this world wants your children, is it any wonder you are getting misinformation. The more advice the world gives the worst the circumstances become for our children. We have more children drinking, more children taking drugs, and more children pregnant than ever before. And the numbers are going to get worse because we have not mobilized to fight this epidemic. It is not going to go away on its own it only gets worse.



[1] John 8:36

[2] John 14:6

[3] USA Today 10/19/05

[4] Matthew 16:26

Monday, January 22, 2007

Chapter 7 Part 2

Young Men

Now for the young men, I know that you are angry and that you have not received the guidance and legacy that you deserve. You did not ask to be brought into this fallen world with all of its injustice and seemingly endless obstacles or into this condition of fornication and sin. However, none the less you are here. For many of you the men who fathered you did not teach, lead, and guide you as they should have. Many of you may not even know who your fathers are or they refuse to have any contact with you. Some may not even acknowledge you as their sons, but it is not your fault. So often children can not understand or acknowledge that those who have been placed in a position to protect them sometimes fail. Therefore, many children blame themselves, which leads to self-hate, which in turn breeds self-destructive behavior. We put ourselves in positions of danger, because we feel as though no one cares anyway. There is one who cares and loves you and that is God. Though the world may disappoint you and everything appears to be against you, trust in Him who loves you. God has a special love for children, especially fatherless ones. The Bible says that in God the fatherless find mercy.[1] There are no words I can write to make right what has happened to many of you, but know this that God can and will heal you if you seek Him. He is the only One who can. If you continue down the road you are traveling on the results will be the penitentiary or death.

I remember for so much of my youth I thought if I just found the right woman, the right job, or the right amount of money I would be all right. What I have since learned is that it is not what is on the outside of me that brings me joy, but it is what or who is on the inside of me. What I needed on the inside was the Spirit of God living inside of my heart. There was a hole inside of me and no matter how much I tried to fill it with drugs, alcohol, money and every other manner of sin I could think of, nothing would fill it. That was because only one thing can fill it. God placed the hole there for a reason, only one thing can ever fill that void. That One is He who created you and the hole, God. Until we fill the hole with God nothing will ever satisfy us. The more you get the more you want. Have you ever noticed how no matter how much of anything we get it is never enough. I was never satisfied and neither will you be. All the money, cars, and women are passing they do not last. The pleasures of sin are only for a season.[2] The thing we must remember is that the game we are playing is a trap. The drug game looks like easy money, but look at the retirement plan. Most of the players end up locked up for a long time or dead.

“There is a way which seems right to a man,
but its ends are the ways of death.”

Proverbs 14:12

The things you desire seem like good things to pursue because they are constantly being displayed on television and in the movies. But think about it, what makes any of these people promoting these things any different from you? Nothing, they are being exalted by the world. The world loves its own. The “celebrities” are people who have given up certain things for their fame. When the fame fades they will be left with the consequences of their choices. This world is out to kill and destroy you. The ruler of this world is Satan, the devil. If you follow the world, you follow the devil. If your desires are the riches of this world, you desire the things of the devil. Do not make idols of the “celebrities” of this world; they are no more human or special than you are. Do not be misled they possess no power or anything greater than what you have. Seek after God; whose riches are not fleeting but eternal. Because you have chosen to go your own way and not chosen the way of the Lord, there are certain consequences. God gave us free will to choose our own path, but if we choose our own will then He allows the consequences to happen. Not to punish us, but to lead us back to Him. Because you have forgotten God and chosen to not believe, God has allowed certain things to happen.



[1] Hosea 14:3

[2] Hebrews 11:25

 

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