Music Friday-The Prodigal-Josiah Queen

 https://youtu.be/3B3hC706X90?si=NaKoLLv3ckpyr83A

Delight!

 “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭37‬:‭4‬ ‭

Wanted to share this morning what I read in my devotional about this verse….”When you delight in the Lord, you will discover he is all you want and He is all you need!”

Are you satisfied with Jesus? If so, you can handle whatever life throws your way!

Tom

Love enemies!

 “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭

One of the hardest scriptures to obey! But we must! We love them by doing what is best for them. When we do this we show them we are the children of God be cause that is just what He has done for us. He is kind and merciful even when we are thankful, underserving, and sin against Him!

Chew on that today!

Tom

Cast it all!

 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

‭‭I Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭

Are you overwhelmed? Hopefully not but with life it will come! Fortunately we have a God who cares about every area of our lives and wants us to cast all our cares upon Him. When we do that He gives us a peace that is unexplainable. Let us not forget this and give everything to the Lord to take care of!

Tom

The Son or wrath?

 “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.””

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭

We all love hearing about the love of God but we also need to hear about his wrath as well. His wrath is holy anger. Those who chose to not follow Jesus as Lord and Savior will remain in their sin and experience the judgement of God to hell. 

So we must all ask ourselves whom or what will we chose Jesus which is God’s love or hell which is God’s wrath?

Tom

Music Friday-Always only Jesus-Mercy Me

 https://youtu.be/-T64B-LtuKw?si=3cTElhJL6ZLNPy00

Praise the Lord!

 “Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭112‬:‭1‬ ‭

A great way to start everyday is to Praise the Lord! If we are inline with God’s Word and have a fear of the awesome God we serve He will bless us with more than we deserve! I can say He has done this in my life time and time again! Praise the Lord! Can you join me in saying the same?

Tom

Talk

A good reminder of what God thinks is wise and what He thinks is foolish talk! Let’s be pleasing to God!

 

Stay with God’s Word!

 May we stick to the truth of what the scriptures teach not what the world try’s to tell us!

Tom

Blessed are…

 ““Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.””

‭‭Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭

Blessed are those who have put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior for He has covered you in His perfect blood so that you are forgiven of your sins. This is THE BLESSING that surpasses all other blessings!!!

Have you been blessed?

Tom

Music Friday-Josh Baldwin-Made for more

 https://youtu.be/YJKS9AWZjrE?si=tDbZGhfZC02tWamH

Look to Me!

 ““Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭45‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭

Great verses here telling us even before Jesus was born we had Him to look upon to be saved! Do.  You see the cross?  Do you see Jesus hanging there in your place? Do you see the blood dripping that covers our sin? Look to Him to be saved! The King in which soon every knee will bow and confess Jesus is Lord!!!

Tom

Do you love Jesus?

 “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭

Let us take seriously the teaching of Jesus here. If we love Him we obey His word, if we do not love Jesus we will not obey His Word. 

Do you love Him or not?

Tom

Lord directs!

 “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬ ‭

You may think you have a good plan for your life but God has the best plan that will glorify His name. Seek out the plan He has for you and live the life that will bless you beyond measure both here and in heaven!

Tom

All you God!

 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭73‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭

This is simple to understand today…God is who we need and all we need! A great couple verses to chew on and start a new week off on!  

All glory and honor to the One true God! Amen!

Tom

The choice

 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.””

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭15‬ ‭

We all have to make a choice as to who I and my family will serve in this world. Joshua made it clear to all in the verse above. Are we making it clear to our families and the rest of the world with not only what we say but what we do? Think on that today!

Tom

All things

 “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19‬:‭26

We find ourselves in many impossible situations throughout our lives. We must remember God can do anything but for us it must be in His will. So if He doesn’t do it, it was not a part of His plan for our life. If He does do it oh what a blessing from God we have received!!!

Tom

Mind your business!

 “Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.””

‭‭John‬ ‭21‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭

Jesus had just told Peter he would die serving Him. Peter then asked the question above and Jesus basically replied “mind your own business”!!! It is a word we also need. God has a purpose and. Plan for each of us to do. Let us not worry about someone else’s plan but our own and get it done!

Tom

Generous

 “The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭11‬:‭25‬ ‭

Are you generous with what God has blessed you with? We are told in this verse God will bless you abundantly when you bless others. It is not necessarily talking about money when it says rich here but the blessings of God to help others in need. So let us be generous with what God has given us for it isn’t ours anyway but Gods!

Tom

Judging

Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis had this great teaching on judging that I wanted to share with you.

 Because of our stand @AiG on a literal Genesis, and our stand against compromise, both Christians and non-Christians have told me that I shouldn’t judge others and that I need to stop being judgmental. (Interestingly, they are very judgmental against me when they accuse me of being judgmental.)

I’ve often replied to Christians that when we tell someone they are a sinner, we are judging them. In making this statement about sin, we are using God’s Word that tells us we are all sinners and in need of salvation (Romans 3:23). So yes, we are judging people using the Words of the only truly righteous judge.

As Christians, we must point out that which is sin, or we are not being loving. We must tell people that all sexual conduct outside of marriage is sin. That abortion is sin. And so on.

So yes, Christians can and need to judge, but don’t judge hypocritically, judge using righteous judgment! And judge with both gentleness and meekness, and with boldness and courage.

I’ve had many Christians (and even non-Christians) who will claim that the Bible states we are to “judge not.” But when they do this, they are actually taking those words in the Bible way out of context.

Let’s look at the passage where people quote “judge not” from and look at all the verses that put this in context:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1–5).

Here, Christ is warning believers against making judgments in a hypocritical or condemning manner. He is not saying we are not to judge! A person can’t just take the first two words “judge not” and claim this means Christians shouldn’t judge! However, even when they say this, they are judging Christians themselves with verses taken completely out of context.

This hypocritical type of judging is a characteristic often associated with the Pharisees during the ministry of Jesus. Many people who quote “judge not” from Matthew 7:1 fail to notice the command to judge in verse 5 of this passage, where it says, “Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

The point Jesus emphasizes here is to judge yourself first before you make judgments about others. 

So this passage is definitely not saying a person can’t judge. 

Think about this verse: “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24).

Should we make judgments about other believers, especially as it relates to their erroneous teachings on Genesis?

Answers in Genesis points out that there are many Christians/Christian leaders who add evolution and/or millions of years to Scripture. We expose this compromise not to make harsh judgments about the person or his spiritual walk but to show the inconsistency of a Christian leader toward Genesis—and the negative implications that it can have on the rest of Scripture and on the people they teach.

Now, the ministry of AiG is dedicated to upholding the authority of the Bible and giving answers to point out that such compromise positions are really undermining God’s Word and its authority. When I do that, I’m often told that I’m unloving and that we should not be making judgments about others by pointing out errors in their teaching regarding Genesis.

Some people take offense and say that as believers, we should focus on loving others and not be divisive. We are, however, divisive if we do not correct error. Are we working toward the “unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:13), or are we compromising God’s Word by allowing for the world’s “wisdom”? Remember, as believers we are all part of “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5). We must establish our foundation in the truth of God’s Word and not our own philosophies, making God the authority over our life. Having the right foundation will help us to know the difference between truth and lies as well as right and wrong. Paul explained the need for truth and the divisive nature of lies in the following passage:

“That we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:14–16).

We need unity on the truth of God’s infallible Word, not unity on man’s fallible word! As I’ve said many times, the truth is divisive in a world where “men loved darkness rather than light.” There can never be total unity in this world. And there will never be unity in the church because of man’s sinful hearts. We must always judge people’s beliefs against Scripture and this by necessity will create division, but division for the right reasons.

I say it’s unloving to tell people not to take God at His Word in Genesis and accept man’s fallible ideas of evolution/millions. It’s unloving because this can negatively impact people’s view of Scripture and lead people away from the truth.

The Mind

 “Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭16‬ ‭

What same mind are we to have? The mind of Christ. Loving each other and serving each other. Putting others first even our enemies as Jesus taught us. Keep ourselves humble and don’t pretend to know everything! These are some wise words from the Word of God we must put into use in our life if we are to be obedient servants of the Lord!

Tom 

Seek!!’

 “Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭105‬:‭4‬ ‭

This is what we are made for to seek, to obey Him, to have fellowship with Him, and to serve Him forever! So let’s get after it!

Tom