Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of Scripture, but before we do that I wanted to ask you a little question.
What kind of values do you instill in your own children? Do you like to keep them safe from harm? I have always been overprotective, but that’s a good thing. To protect your children from a crocodile, you keep them away from them. To protect your children from getting stung by wasps, you keep your distance from their nest. When my children were young, I built a safety fence that went all the way around our wood stove so the kids could never approach it and get burned. When we love our kids, we want to protect them from things that can hurt them.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
When I raised our children, I wanted to obey scripture and keep them separate from the world. Out in the woods, they grew up sheltered and protected from the sinful influences of the outside world. But the devils are constantly attempting to lead others astray from obedience to God. They will even lead little children away from the faith that they have been taught, and seduce them to sin.
“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:6
When you cause somebody to offend, you tempt them to knowingly sin against God. You encourage them to go against the faith that they have been educated in. It’s one thing to sin yourself, but it’s completely another to lead little children to do something that they know in their heart is wrong according to the Word of God. To cause them to offend, is to get them to do something that they would have never done on their own. Perhaps it never would have even crossed their mind. This is something that the devil has been doing for thousands of years, trying to undo one’s faith in Christ. For example, in the garden of Eden, Eve was obediently serving God for a period of time, but it was the devil who encouraged her to go against God’s will, and was ultimately responsible for leading her astray. The devil is an intervener in one’s faith, and like a busybody, tries to control the conscience and the obedient lives of others. The devils are bitter usurpers, refusing to submit to the will of God, and instructing others to join along with them in their rebellion. As I’ve always said, the devil is a complete weakling, and many times will go after our children because they are an easier target. They want to steal them away and destroy the faith that was originally established in them.
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: John 10:10
The devil cannot manipulate a true man of God, so they go after people who they can. Children live in a world of adults, and more often than not, will submit to what they say. Those who lead these little ones away from obedience to God, are the devil, and you will find many of these wolves running around in large packs today. A lot of them can be easily found sitting in the pews of the congregation of the dead.
“The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.” Proverbs 21:16
The devil doesn’t want you to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, but wants to control you. The devil doesn’t want you to live your lives for God, but to live your lives for yourself. True men of God will lead you into obedience to God’s will, while the devil will always attempt to circumvent obedience to God. Men of God will lead you on the narrow path of Christ, while the devil will open the doors wide to liberalism. This is why we must be very protective of others, not only for their physical safety, but for their eternal salvation as well.
Twice each day in our living room, I have educated my family in the scriptures. Even when my children were tiny little infants, it seemed that they could understand the things that I was talking about, as they quietly stared and listened intently during our lessons. Ultimately, they will be the ones who must make the decision to faithfully abide in them as Andrew has, but this is one of the reasons why my children grew up living sheltered lives. It is my responsibility to raise them up in the way God wanted them to go, without any influence from the outside world whatsoever. Like Andrew, they are the fruit of my work. They are not only the children of my loins, but I have begotten them through the gospel. Ever since I tied their umbilical cords, I wanted their lives to be surrounded by the Word of God, so their hearts could develop into faithful and obedient children of God.
But the devil always attempts to thwart this process by stealing sheep and leading young impressionable minds astray. Most of the time, devils appear very religious, but twist scripture to their own destruction. They educate others to backslide and to live like the world does. Things that were unacceptable from God’s Word, are suddenly permissible when the devil takes charge. These people are from hell, and would be better off tying an anchor around their neck and jumping into a lake, but not even that will prevent them from the eternal punishment that awaits them. Jesus warned about them, and their number grows steadily, providing plenty of chaff for the unquenchable fire.
2 Peter 2 ¹ But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. ² And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. ³ And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Matthew 7:15
Revelation 2 ²⁰ Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. ²¹ And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. ²² Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
The best defense against the lies of the devil is to be filled up with the truth of God’s Word. It is the Spiritual protection that is needed when the devil attempts to seduce you to go against the teachings of our faith. David was very young when he stood up against Goliath, and even children need to rise up and not allow themselves to be deceived by the devil.
Come out and be separate saith the Lord, because we prove that we are the children of God, when we choose….
….The Sheltered Life
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious goups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
tlkjbc.com
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 