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 tell you a little story.
Many years ago I spent a late summer month working down in Flagstaff Arizona, and one of the highways that I used to drive quite often had a very slippery corner. It seemed like every day when I went to work, you could feel the car begin to slide each time that I entered that corner of the highway. It wasn’t because of frost, or wet pavement, and it really confused me. It actually felt like an oil slick, or lots of grease that had been poured all over the road. Well, one day I finally decided to pull over and take a look, and to my surprise, there were thousands of tarantulas that had been crushed underneath the tires of passing vehicles. As I walked back to the car, the corner was so greasy that I almost slipped and fell myself.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
A lot of male tarantulas will leave the protection of their burrows and go out looking for a female to mate with, but obviously, not all of them are going to survive. Some people who begin the Christian life will do the same thing. Rather than abiding safely in the teachings of our faith, some will venture out in the world, completely seduced and distracted from their duties to Christ and the teachings of the Gospel. Rather than seeking to please the Lord and abiding in their faith, the cares of this world will become more important, leading to unfruitfulness, and their own demise.
Mark 4 ¹⁸ And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, ¹⁹ And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
In order to please the Lord perfectly, we need to love Him above all others. After all, this is the essence of the first commandment. This love must be greater than a wife, your family, or even your neighbors. When the Lord Jesus is first in our hearts, any decisions that you make will be made according to His will and purpose for our lives. But we are in a wicked time of history, where men are actually serving and worshiping women. Rather than listening to the commands of Christ, and following His teachings, they will do what their woman says instead. Even in the life of Solomon, there was a point during his life when his heart loved his wives more than God, which resulted in him doing something that was greatly offensive to the Lord. Whether it’s relationships, or the carnal things of this world, the heart must be placed first and foremost on the Lord God, because only then will you become obedient and pleasing in His sight, and eventually obtain eternal life.
1 John 2 ¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Making your decisions based upon the teachings of the Gospel is not always going to please a wife or even close family members. Some of them are so filled with pride that they want to be in control of decision making, even in the things that you do. They will make the attempt to seduce you to do as they say, but only the devil would tempt somebody in that manner. A true man of God is not going to be pleasing to many people in this world, otherwise, he should not be the servant of Christ.
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
Men of God are hated by this world. The more that they love Jesus, the more they are hated. This is because many people refuse to accept the truth, and repent of their own sins. Many people who claimed to believe in God hated the Lord Jesus so much, that they crucified Him on the cross.
“For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Hebrews 12:3
Each day, many people choose to chase after the things of the world rather than pursuing the things of God. But the more they seek after the world, the less they will seek after God. Those who abide in that state will only reap death.
Romans 8 ⁵ For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸ So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
There are all kinds of temptations that can lead one’s heart astray from service to God. Judas is a prime example of somebody who loved money, more than the Lord Jesus Christ. His decisions were not based upon faithful obedience to Christ, but love for Earthly increase. The love of money is the root of all evil. One man loved his wealth and possessions so much, that the thought of giving some of it to the poor, filled him with sorrow.
Matthew 19 ²¹ Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. ²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. ²³ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. ²⁵ When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? ²⁶ But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
We are called to come out and be separate from the world, but just like a group of tarantulas crossing a busy highway, many people will venture out onto the wide road which only leads to destruction.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:” Matthew 7:13
The pathway to eternal life is a quiet and less traveled road, one where we are seeking after God with a pure and obedient heart. Love is a strong emotion, and you had better be careful about what you are seeking after, lest you end up like the rest of those furry little creatures, who foolishly wandered across the highway, and met their fate, out at the….
…..Tarantula Crossing
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 groups. 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 all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 