Attentive to the Word!

As a Pastor and even as a layman, I have seen many things when in church. The Word of God is being presented and this is what I see as it is common place now: sleeping, texting, talking, passing notes, reading magazines, eating and drinking, digging for keys, trips to the bathroom, balancing check books, and you can add on to this as you see fit. Folks when the Word of God is presented these things should not be so! So this text below grabbed my attention:



Nehemiah 8:1-3



Ezra Reads the Law



And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.



First, "all the people gathered". Wouldn't it be great to get all the members to church at one time??!!! Even better the whole community to be in church! When the Sabbath is celebrated we need to be in church worshiping!



Second, "as one man". Unity! They were united at this moment to hear from God. The people of God need to united more than ever right now! Satan is slowly eroding away Christianity and as followers of God we must stand and fight together!



Third, they read the word for several hours! What? But grandma had dinner ready! God and His Word is to take first priority. We are to be interested and ready to learn what God has for us. Remember what Jesus said:



Matthew 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”



The Word is life to the believer!



Fourth, "the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law". Hmmmm attentive. All those things I listed above I have seen in church are not attentive. He wants our undivided attention! No multitasking with God! He is God after all and He deserves everything we got! And with our ignorance of the bible these days we need to learn all we can!



So this morning think about you attentiveness to the Word of God both at church and at home. What kind of grade would you get? Make changes if needed and pay attention to the Word of God!



Tom

So much for judging!!!!

Ever hear someone say "who are you to judge me"? I know I have too many times to count. Well there is a difference between loving judgement and no-loving judgement. Before I go any further read this verse:

Luke 17:3

3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

Hmmm did you see that, "If your brother sins, rebuke him", a judgement must be made to determine if a brother has sinned! How do we judge? By the Word of God. Now let me be clear when we judge we must do it in love. But we also must stand on the Word and not tolerate sin. We are not to be tolerant of sin. We are to be loving!

We also need to note forgiveness. If they repent we forgive, case closed! If they do not we keep loving them til they do. So how many times do we do this before we give up? Here is the answer:

Luke 17:4

4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Now if you are like me after about five times I would say forget it and give up on them but that is not what God says or has done with us. God says continue to forgive, that's love! Seven represents a complete number in the bible so this number represents you to continue to forgive...really there is no set number!

Remember how many times God has judged you and forgiven you sin because He loves you, that should be a good teaching point for us! We must imitate Christ and He judges and forgives, and even lays down his life for us sinners! Give Jesus some praise!

Luke 17:3 started out by saying "Pay attention to yourselves"!!! May we make sure the sin in our own life is taken care of, and then help others with theirs out of love!

Tom

Continue to Pray

It is said that our relationship with God is directly related to our time spent in prayer. So how is your relationship with God? Read this verse:

Colossians 4:2

2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Simple but important. Steadfast means: unwavering, as resolution, faith, adherence. So our prayers are to be solid, continuous, a commitment, and always faithful. Then as we see our prayers being answered and unanswered as God sees fit we are to be thankful. God knows us best and knows what we need and don't need.

Look at this verse:

1 Thessalonians 5:17

pray without ceasing,

Keep an attitude of prayer, that keeps you in a good relationship with God as you seek Him in every area of your life!

Thank you God that you allow us to talk to you, and that you talk back to us! We are so thankful to have a loving God like you!

Tom

Step up and do right!

In reading Nehemiah, Israel is rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem, and Nehemiah finds that many Jews are being oppressed by their own brothers(people). So what does Nehemiah do....ignore it or step up and do something?



Nehemiah 5:9



9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?



First, if you go back and read Nehemiah tells them of their wrong doing and then says the above verse. "Walk in the fear of God!" This is the key to it all, we need to do right because we fear God. He loves us like a good father and expects us to treat others right or consequences will come!



The people listen to Nehemiah's words and respond:



Nehemiah 5:12



12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised.



This required them to return what they had taken from them...houses, fields, vineyards, orchards and a percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that they hard extorted from them! They agreed to do so.



Then Nehemiah did this:



Nehemiah 5:13



13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.



In other words, do as you say or God will take care of you!



So Nehemiah took a stand for folks who needed help. Think about it, are you standing in the gap for those who need a hand or a voice? God may be waiting for you to stand up and do something! Do it!



Tom

Be a praying church!

Peter had just been arrested, James had just been killed, both for doing the Lord's Work. Herod was doing the work of the devil by doing these things. So what was the church doing at this time?


Acts 12:5

5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.



They were in constant prayer over the situation! What an example for us. We have so much to be in prayer about as the church. Missionaries, Pastors, the sick, the hurting, the lost, those being persecuted and even killed for their faith, and the list goes on. We must be in prayer!



So the church was praying for Peter, look what happens:




Acts 12:6-11

6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”



God answered their prayers. When God's people devote themselves to prayer, He moves in awesome ways! Who knows what would have happened if the church had not been in constant prayer.



Oh my brothers and sisters, God can and will do some amazing things if we will be a people of constant prayer. It all starts will me and you. Be a man or woman of prayer and see God move! He desires to hear from His children!



Tom

Am I blessed?

I think we already know the answer to the question above. No matter what you think you are blessed. All you have to do is look around and you can always find someone who is not as fortunate as you. Go to another country and look around, you are blessed.



What I want you to see this morning though is there is a key to the ultimate blessed life. Here it is:



Psalm 128:1



1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!



Key #1: Fear the Lord! God even breaks it down more for us here:



Proverbs 1:7



The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.



Can God make it any plainer than that for us?



Key #2: Walk in His ways.



Do what God has told you in His Word. He knows what is best for each of us. He loves us and that's why He has given us this instruction book called the bible for life. Here is another verse for that:



Romans 12:1-2



12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.



Give your entire life to God!



If you are looking for great riches of this world to be your blessing, that is not what I am talking about here. I am talking about needs here. God will meet your needs, not your wants.



I am blessed beyond measure. Thank you God, thank you God. May I surrender every second of everyday to your will for my life.



Tom

The Lord is good!

I am writing this on Sunday night because I will be out of pocket tomorrow!



Sunday morning at church I looked at the front of my bulletin and it has this verse on it:



Psalm 106:1



Praise the Lord!

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!



As we are now in the month of November I see many folks telling each day on facebook things they are thankful for. We should be thankful everyday! The number one thing in life we should be thankful for is God! Without Him we would never have been! In the verse above it tells us He is good. That is an understatement! We don't have a word great enough to describe God, He is God after all!



The verse goes on to say God's love endures forever. The love of God surpasses all. His love for each of us is deeper, more sincere, and stronger than any other we will ever have. We need to understand that. We deserve nothing but God gave us everything including the life of His only Son Jesus. That is amazing love.



The word steadfast means: fixed in direction; steadily directed. Gods love is fixed on you! Gods love is steadily directed at you! Don't miss that! Only God can do that to everyone at every second! Oh thank you God, thank you.



So what do we need to do? Praise the Lord! That's the way the verse above starts out. Praise Him all day long, He is worthy!!!!



I am so thankful God loves me and saved me through the blood of His Son Jesus and I will praise Him all the days of my life! Will you?



Tom