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 was working at a radio station, and I used to have to get there really really in the morning. I would drive my little Yamaha motorcycle and it would be so cold that I’ll be shivering by the time I finally got there. But each morning I would pass by a certain piece of property, where there was a large home that was under construction. Each day that I drove to work, I would observe that nothing was being done on the job site. Later on that fall, I finally came to the conclusion that it had been completely abandoned and neglected.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
To neglect is to give little attention or respect to something. It is to leave undone or unattended, especially through one’s own carelessness. The faith that we have been given by God is a great and precious gift, one that must always be taken care of.
Hebrews 2:1-3 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
As we grow in God’s Holy Word, we must take great care to pay attention to what we have heard. Sometimes I think about a large group of children sitting in a classroom at an elementary school, who are visiting with their classmates rather than listening to the instructor. Their minds slowly begin to drift, and they begin watching what’s going on out on the playground rather than hearing what is being taught. Suddenly the teacher will clap their hands, and tell the students to pay attention! The attention span of a young child is not very long, and they constantly need to be redirected to the task at hand. This is essentially what the Apostle was teaching the church, to pay close attention to what they had learned. When you do something earnestly, it is to do it with a very serious and intent frame of mind. We must seek the things of God with a wholehearted and zealous attitude.
Proverbs 2:1-5 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
The manner in which we seek God is very important to living a successful Christian Life. It must be done diligently, and with a great passion and love for the Lord. We are given an incredible gift of knowledge through the teachings of scripture, but some people will eventually fall away from the faith, simply because their love for the things of this world will become greater than fulfilling the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
1 John 2:15-17 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. 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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Judas, Esau, and Titus are examples of men who completely neglected what they had been given. The things of God were not worth very much to them at all. The same is also true of Lot’s wife, who loved Sodom and Gomorrah more than her own husband. We seek after what we treasure the most in this life, and to many people, it is everything else but God. We must seek Him with a diligent and steadfast heart, and not forget the purpose and the direction to which we are called.
James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Some of us neglect things because we have more important things to do with our time than washing a car, or painting the house. These are temporal matters that really don’t matter in comparison to the matters involving our own salvation. Think of the millions of people who will spend their lives focused on the concerns of this world, and completely neglect the high calling of God. No wonder why our precious Lord Jesus said that the laborers are few, because everybody else is too busy to do what needs to be done out of a love for God. There will be huge masses of people who are turned away on Judgment Day, because rather than focusing on what they were supposed to be doing, they will get caught up in the world and fall away from their own steadfastness.
2 Peter 3:15-18 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Some people are good sprinters, but they are poor at endurance. They are like a horse that is strong out of the gate at the very beginning, but they don’t make it all the way to the end of the race. Many people will take that same direction in their lives, simply because the world will creep into their lives, causing them to stray off course, rather than abiding on the path and purpose of God. Rather than turning to God, they will turn to the world, turning their ears from the truth, and neglecting the faith that has been established in them.
2 Timothy 4:2-4 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
The Apostles were constantly reminding the church to pay attention to what they had been taught!
2 Peter 1:10-13 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
Some people are going to get caught up in this world, and completely neglect the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Like a race that is never finished, or a construction project that is never completed, they will walk off the job site, and abandon it all, just like the unfinished home that I drove by every morning, when I was going to work on my….
…….My Little Yamaha
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 