Good morning and welcome in.  Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from 1st Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Seeking after the things of God certainly appears to be unwise in the eyes of the world because of their state of unbelief.  They don’t comprehend why someone would devote so much time and attention to Spiritual things, rather than excelling in the things of this world.  It completely confounds them.  Confound means to cause surprise or confusion, especially by acting against someone’s expectations.

1 Corinthians 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

There are numerous places that wouldn’t even grant you an interview for a job without some kind of college degree but one must remember that God didn’t choose His apostles based on their perception of worldly knowledge or educational achievements.  Like an empty bottle of wine, He chose men who He could fill up, pouring His knowledge of God’s kingdom inside their receptive hearts.

Matthew 4:18-22 – And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.  And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Matthew 9:9 – And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

God’s desire is for all men to be saved.  He wants all men to come to a place of genuine repentance and faith, but the quest for earthly knowledge can stand in the way of that Spiritual progress.  It’s a carnal desire, a process of education that is not led by faith, because of which it is ultimately doomed to fail.  Wisdom is a great treasure to possess, if it is based in Christ and His eternal Word.

1 Corinthians 3:18-20  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

The disciples were not book learned gentlemen who had been educated at a college, they were simple men who chose to learn God’s wisdom by saying yes to Christ.

 Acts 4:13   Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

There are numerous scriptures that teach us to be filled with the wisdom from God but before we can obtain it, we first need to become fools and to recognize the fact that all of our greater earthly education is truly meaningless in regards to the saving if the soul.  In order to obtain true wisdom, one must take a step towards faith in Christ, because it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Remember that the world in its wisdom crucified the Son of God.  Someone who is foolish appears to lack good sense or judgement.  In order to become truly wise one must first become a fool, accepting the short lived foolishness of worldly knowledge and understanding that wisdom that comes from God is something you will never lose.

1 Corinthians 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

The quest to obtain more worldly knowledge is foolishness in the eyes of God because all of the knowledge that one could ever attain in this world will eventually be forgotten, fade away and never to be remembered.  It will become meaningless, like so many classes that I took when I in high school that served absolutely no purpose later on in life.  The one knowledge that will remain is the wisdom from God that will not be taken away because it liveth and abideth forever.  We must seek and faithfully ask for it.

James 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

The Apostle Paul was not a very good speaker, as he bears witness to this fact himself, but being a good speaker by itself does not mean that you possess knowledge.  Numerous public entities have used professional speech writers for years to exalt themselves in the eyes of the public but they themselves really don’t understand or even believe in the things that they read from the lectern.  The apostles were chosen by Christ the Lord, common everyday men that He could pour the things of God’s kingdom into and who could reach others like themselves.  The wisdom of this world is truly foolish with God.

2 Corinthians 11:6  But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

In the eyes of Jews, the gentiles were foolish who provoked them because of their faith in Jesus as their Savior.  The same Jews whom Jesus died for, giving Himself as a propitiation for their sin, killed their own prophets and Apostles that God sent specifically for them.  In the Old Testament, this event was prophesied by Moses whom they claimed to follow.

Romans 10:19  But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

All the Earthly knowledge that you could ever possess while here upon the earth is nothing in comparison to a thimbleful full of the wisdom of God.  It is a great treasure that can only be obtained through faith.  Earthly knowledge can become a stumblingblock to a God seeking heart.

1 Corinthians 1:20 – Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

The heart that seeks Gods wisdom is truly seeking….

….Higher Education.

Let’s think about these things for today and Lord willing we can talk some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody. ❤️

tlkjbc.wordpress.com

 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:10-14

Pride. The feeling of an unreasonable overestimation of one’s own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank etc., which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve and often contempt of others. It is an overly high sense of one’s own worth, and abhorrence of what is beneath or unworthy of one, otherwise known as arrogance. 

This is the quality that was displayed by this Pharisee. He felt that he was good and righteous, as he boasted about his achievements in his prayers to God. “I fast, I give tithes.” As if the Lord wasn’t already aware of everything already, he made it a point to boast up himself during his prayers to God. That is pride.

“I give tithes. I fast during the week.” Pride. Prayer is our way of asking the Lord for help, for praising Him, and thanking Him. Yet the Pharisee used it to praise himself. “I’m so great, I’m so good, I’m so wonderful. I’m better than you, I’m better than those people over there, and I certainly am better than this wicked man.” Doesn’t that sound so vain?!

Have you ever made loaf bread before? In a regular bread recipe you have flour, salt, water, oil, and maybe sugar. Oh, one more ingredient: yeast. Growing up, fresh bread was always in the house and something that I learned about bread-making was that once you mixed all of the ingredients up and placed the dough into their loaf pans that you did not want to bump them sharply as the bread “rose.” If you did, the dough would “fall flat” and the bread wouldn’t be all nice and puffy.

It was the yeast that would bring about this rising action in the dough, and that is similar to how pride in a person will “puff” them all up inside. It will give them the feeling that they are better than others, while they are actually the exact same. A sinner.

Many, many times in the Bible it teaches and warns how much God hates pride and how it will be punished. Like a loaf of bread that has been bumped, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

If you believe that you don’t need any assistance with something, then you won’t go seeking for help, will you? If a man believes that he is faultless, then he won’t go searching to become better. 

Psalms 10:4  “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”

All have sinned, the Bible teaches, but pride in one’s life will cause a person to become blind to their own faults and shortcomings. They will not feel the desire or need to change. Why? Because of their pride.

James 4:6  “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

Pride should have no place in the life of a Christian, as it is a quality that Christ never displayed, ever. Any pride, no matter how small, needs to be immediately gotten rid of and changed into humility. Meekness. Lowliness. 

When it is your turn to stand before the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and Earth, what do you want to happen? Do you want to be led through the heavenly gates, or do you want to be cast out? Then cast out your pride first!

In Christ,

Andrew

Good morning and welcome In. Today we are going to look at a passage of scripture from 2 Corinthians, but before we do that I wanted to ask you a question.

Can you imagine needing a physical exam so you could complete a job application, but when you arrive for your appointment, the doctor tells you that he will be gone for an hour for lunch and then instructs you to examine yourself?  When we examine something it means to inspect very closely, or investigate and test the condition of something.  Just like many of us did self tests after reading certain chapters when we were in high school, scripture teaches us to test ourselves to see if we are truly faith filled believers inside of our hearts.

2 Corinthians 13:5-6  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves…..

How many of you like to go ice fishing?  At the beginning of the season you might take an ax or hatchet with you to check the thickness of the ice before you venture out onto the lake.  This is a good thing to do because if it isn’t thick enough you could fall through.  We must test our hearts in the same way, like a litmus test performed upon ourselves regularly that determines our faith level.

Faith is described as “belief in God and in the doctrines or teachings of their religion”. If we really believe in God with all of our heart, true faithfulness will result in obedience to the things that Christ taught.  True faith results in loyalty.   Loyalty has been defined as an undying support that you always give to someone or something because of your feelings of duty and love towards them.

Like the parable of the proud Pharisee many people simply want to stand in judgment over others when the truth is they need to judge themselves.  In the flesh, it’s always easier to point the finger at everybody else instead of judging the person you see in the mirror each morning.  The proud Pharisee wanted to point the finger at the humble publican rather than taking a look at his own faults first.

Luke 18:9-14  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The Lord Jesus warned about standing in judgment over others, and admonishes us to examine our own lives first.

Matthew 7:1-5  Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Before we partake of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ through Holy Communion a process of self-examination must take place in your own hearts and minds.  One must recognize their own sins and misdeeds by judging themselves.

1 Corinthians 11:27-31  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

James 4:11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

To prove means to test the truth or validity of something.  Our works are the outward evidence of an inward faith.  Instead of living lives of sin we are supposed to turn to Christ and walk in goodness, righteousness and truth.  These are outward signs of an inner change.  We prove that we are abiding in the true faith by our works, because faith without works is dead.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Galatians 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

In order to do what’s right with our lives, we must first look at ourselves.  

Lamentations 3:40  Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.

Haggai 1:5 – Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 

Self evaluation is about accepting the truth of our sinful condition.  You can never really find conversion, forgiveness and self-correction when constantly looking at others instead of yourself.  Many people don’t want to look inside of their own heart because the truth is it would scare them.  There’s a wretched sinful person inside each of us that needs to be suppressed and brought into subjection to the will of God.  We have to look deep inside ourselves and mortify the carnal nature that each of us must fight off.  Through the riches of God’s grace, we can overcome all things through the power of the Holy Spirit but we must examine the places that others can’t see.  We must investigate the hidden places of our hearts, accepting the facts of what we are, and what we must change.

Each day we need to give ourselves a self test, to evaluate if we are walking in the truth of what Christ preached and what He gave His life for.  This test is about self diagnosis and self examination.  So before running off this morning to take a driver’s test, or a college exam, take a look in the mirror first and take the most important test of all.  Are you walking in the truth of the Christian faith?  Have you taken….

…….The Final Exam

Let’s think about these things for right now and Lord willing, we can talk some more tomorrow.  Till then, bye-bye everybody.❤️

tlkjbc.wordpress.com

During the last month of my preschool class, one of our projects was to plant some sunflower seeds outside of our classroom window. We prepared the soil, making sure it was nice and loose to allow water and air to reach the roots once they sprouted. When it was all ready we pushed our seeds into the earth. Not knowing anything about planting, we thought that the seeds would immediately spring up out of the earth, but it was not so. As soon as we heard that it would probably be at least a week or two before they sprouted, we went back to our crayons and building blocks, a bit disappointed.

Over the next few days we would arrive at preschool and immediately go to the window, hoping that maybe the seeds had decided to spring forth early, but nothing yet. But around the fourth or fifth day, something changed. Like the previous 3 or 4 days, that morning we went to the window to check on our seeds, but what we saw was not what any of us were expecting. The place where our seeds had been planted had now been covered with fresh asphalt. No grass or dirt in sight. As you can imagine, all of us young children were extremely saddened. The teacher apologized, not knowing that this had been planned weeks earlier, but it did little to cheer us up.

As our school year came to a close, we began to start to pack up our things to take back home with us for the summer; pencils, books, drawings, etc. The last day came. With nothing planned in regards to learning that day, it was mostly just a day of playing and celebration, and we all had a great time. But something special happened that day. In the middle of all of the juice, candy and other treats, someone looked outside of the window. “Look!” they shouted. We all rushed to the window to see what was the matter, and no one could believe what they saw. There, in the black asphalt, were our sunflower plants. They had sprouted and pushed their way through to the surface.

As I think back to that time in my life, it reminds me of when Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:9-10.

“Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

Paul had been out planting seeds of faith, starting churches and preaching to people everywhere about the salvation that is found in Christ Jesus. But some people didn’t like him doing that. They disliked that so much in fact that they began to persecute him, making him out to be some kind of evil person. They even went so far as to imprison him to try to silence him and prevent even more seeds from being spread and starting to grow.

But as Paul wrote, the word of God is not bound. The love of Jesus cannot be stopped by prison walls. Remember Romans 8:35-39,  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

People can persecute you, they can put you in prison, they could even go as far as killing your body, but they can never take away your faith. People have tried for centuries to try to stop the word of God, but it is still here. The name of Christ will endure forever. Because, just like those sunflowers, the word of God cannot be bound.

In Christ,

Andrew

Philippians 2:3-5  “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”

You have been stranded on a deserted island with your best friend. The limited amount of food that you were able to gather is now down to your last piece. Who gets it? You or your friend? Splitting it is not an option, so who gets it?

The answer to this question can be easily answered if at least one of you possesses a very important quality: love. If someone has love, they will have the ability to give up things and give them to others.

As I took a short break from writing this I noticed my cat walk over to his food bowl, stop, sit down, and switch between staring at it and me. It was empty, and my cat seemed to try to communicate with me his wish by emitting several loud meow’s. He had a need: he was hungry and was out of food. So I had a decision of whether I was going to help him or not. Because I love and care about him very much, I got up and gave him what he needed. I put his needs before my own.

This short example, while similar, pales greatly in comparison to the sacrifice that Jesus gave. As sinners all doomed because of sin, we had no pathway to salvation. Animal sacrifices could not take away our sins as they were there just to cover them, and there certainly wasn’t any way for us to undo our past sins. We needed something: forgiveness. Jesus knew this, so He provided the way to make that available. 

To do this, however, required that Jesus come down to the Earth to die and be The One perfect sacrifice. By offering Himself on the cross for our sins, He showed the entire world the greatest act of love that the world will ever see. He gave up His own life to save everyone else’s. His death provided the ability and opportunity for billions of lives to be saved. His death showed us His love.

There is no way that we can even compare or come close to this level of sacrifice, but we still show this same quality to others by putting the needs of others first, before our own. Love.

Romans 12:10  “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”

Charity (brotherly love) for others will always think of others. It will always seek to help or aid others, even if means that you need to take second place. Love will make time to help others even when you don’t feel like it. Love will cause you to bend over to pick up someone who is hurt, even when you yourself are in pain. Love will swallow your anger and frustration by forgiving others, because we know that we need to show the exact same qualities as Christ.

We need to put others first.

In Christ, 

Andrew

Good morning and welcome in. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from Luke chapter 10 but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.

When I was a young child I used to like playing with toy cars. I liked them so much that I even had a car that I could pedal down the road after school.  But there was a very interesting car created back in the late 1940s which has become known as a Tucker 48.  This vehicle had a lot of new features that were automotive “firsts”  to the car industry.  One of these new innovations was the location of a third rotating directional headlamp that was mounted in the center of the hood, which would turn with the steering column in order to light the car’s path around corners.

Just as the Tucker could directionally aim the center headlamp of its vehicle, we must aim our hearts in the right direction.  Love is an extremely strong emotion that can direct and guide our path in life, it just depends on what that light is shining upon.  As a headlight points to the road, we must point our love to Christ.  Love is very much like a directional headlight but needs to be focused on the right thing in order to inherit eternal life someday. Misplaced love can lead you right into the ditch.

Luke 10:25-28  And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?  He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?   And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

The word “all” means the entirety of one’s energy or interest.  Love is a deep devotion to someone or something. In this day and age, people may quickly remember to love your neighbor as yourself but then completely forget the first commandment.  Our God is a God of order and he puts things in order for a reason.  The first commandment is first for a reason.  Our love for God must be greater than anything upon this Earth.

In order to love the Lord perfectly, we need to prove our love by our works. We need to show Him we love Him by keeping His commandments.  I had been told since I was a very young child that you cannot get to heaven by keeping commandments.  I learned later that those who teach such things are heretics.  Keeping the commandments of Christ shows that we love him.  A commandment is something that is told for you to do or to keep. 

How do you show an Earthly dad that you love Him?  If your dad told you to clean your room before supper, you would have been given a commandment that needs to be kept.  When you obey and do as you are told, it pleases your dad.  Just like the captain of a ship a dad has complete authority over his entire household.  When he commands his wife to have supper ready at 5pm, and she does what she is told, it pleases him.  Her obedience is the proof of her love. As a Christian, this is the same way that we are to treat the heavenly father, in humble submission to His will and commands.  We should desire to please God, but it requires doing what you are told.

John 14:21 – He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Like the Tucker headlight, what is your love placed upon?  Is it focused on doing the will of God or your own?  Misplaced love can lead you away from the truth.

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.

We find In this passage that love can lead you in the wrong direction. Remember that Divine love is true love, but the world’s form of love can be focused on the wrong thing.  Like turning the steering wheel, our love must be focused on pleasing God, loving Him with a perfect and obedient heart.  We excel in the Christian faith through obedience to the precious Son of God who suffered and died for our salvation.  Obedience to Christ is the path to righteousness and salvation.

Romans 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Those who refuse to obey Christ and willfully choose to live in fornication, adultery or other sins are liars.

1 John 2:3-5  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

Is your love focused on doing God’s will or is it focused on the world?  Those who profess to be followers of Jesus need to follow what He followed,… pleasing and doing the will of God.  Love for God must be greater than anything in our lives.  Turning from relatives or friends doesn’t mean you don’t care about them, it just means that you love Christ more, like a wife who loves her own husband above and beyond the love for a parent.  In a marriage the wife represents the church and needs to serve her husband as a way that the church serves Christ.  True love for God will result in obedience towards Him.

John 14:15 – If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:23-24 – Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

1 John 5:3 – For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Love is a very strong emotion but just make sure that your greatest love is God because it will result in obedience to His commands and what He taught.  Love for Him will guide us down the narrow path of life in our decision making and the course we must follow. Divine love for God will continue to point you in the right direction, kinda like a ….

….Tucker 48.

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.

tlkjbc.com♥️

Note: Any copies may be printed and freely distributed among those who have no internet service. There is no AI creative involvement in my writings, and must be left intact because they are very personal to me. These are not to be sold, and are made public only for the free benefit of Spiritual knowledge to those who are genuinely seeking the will of God.

Years ago we used to live in an old house in a city of a few thousand people. Built sometime in the early parts of the 20th century, this house had been called home by many different families over the years. The design of the floor plan of the house was rather poorly thought out as the living room was rather small, with doors leading to other rooms in poorly conceived locations. The kitchen, while smaller as well, was designed in a way that made it difficult to have a decent sized table to eat on while still being out of the way to cook and prepare meals. And then the upstairs! The second story of the house was almost the complete opposite. Just as the kitchen and living room were too small, the two bedrooms upstairs took up the entire second floor, absolutely massive rooms.

Anyways, one day we decided to redo the floors in the house. The carpet in the living room was older and stained, and the kitchen had linoleum that was heavily worn. We started our remodeling project by pulling up all of the old flooring. The carpet in the living room came up rather quickly as it was such a small room, and we quickly rolled up the old carpeting and tossed it out to the trash. Then came the kitchen.

As we began to pull up the linoleum, we noticed that there was another layer underneath that had been covered up. No problem, as soon as we finished with the top layer we would remove the other layer as well. If we were going to put new floors in we were going to do it right. So as soon as the first layer was off the floor and out the door we started on the other layer. As we started pulling back this second layer, lo and behold, there was a third! 

I’ll shorten this story a bit, but by the time we had finished I believe that there were like 5 or 6 layers of tile and linoleum in total, each on top of the other. But we pulled them all up so that we would have completely new floors. We got rid of all of the old, and put in the new.

This example is similar to the Old and New Testaments. Like all of those layers of linoleum, the Law contained so many different things to try to do and remember. Things you couldn’t eat, things you couldn’t touch, things you couldn’t do, or things you had to do. Each one after the other. With so many things contained in the Law, there was absolutely no way that a person could possibly keep each one without fail. But that was the real purpose behind it all: to show you that you were a sinner.

It was there to show to that you couldn’t do enough to get to heaven on your own. No matter how hard you tried, you would always fail somewhere, somehow. It was there for a time until the time came for Jesus to come and do what no one else could do by keeping the law perfectly. For the first time ever, someone had kept the Law flawlessly. When Jesus died, it marked the end of the Old Testament and the Law. When He said “It is finished”, He pulled up and threw out the Old Testament laws, and laid down the New.

Hebrews 10:9  “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”

Out with the Old, in with the New. Out with the bondage of the Law, in with the Law of liberty.  The law of love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

The new floor has been laid down and it sure is beautiful. And yet… there are still some people who try to go back to the old again. There are people today who try to keep the entire Judaic Law, even though it has already been proven that the only One Who could keep it was the Lord Himself. They have been set free from the chains and demands of the Law, but they just want to go back to it again. That would be like us tossing all of that old linoleum back onto the floor of our kitchen once again! 

The Old Testament is just that: old. It is “something that is no longer in existence; former; previous; obsolete or out-of-date.” 

Grace. Mercy. Love. That’s the New.

In Christ,

Andrew

Patience 

A few years ago I went outside to feed our chickens, and one of our cats decided to join me. As I poured the chicken feed into the feeders, a small mouse ran out and hid under the chicken’s nesting boxes. Immediately my cat ran over to where the mouse was hiding, but he couldn’t reach it. With a laugh I left my cat there and went to go and do other chores.

About an hour later I went out to gather any fresh eggs, when I noticed that my cat was still there, staring intently at the place the mouse was hiding. He hadn’t moved in over an hour! What he displayed was patience, and eventually his patience was rewarded when the mouse (unsuccessfully) tried to make an escape.

That is what patience means. Willing to wait if necessary and not losing one’s temper while waiting. It also means to be constant in pursuit or exertion; persevering; calmly diligent; physically able to suffer or bear.

The normal desire for a person is to have something now, immediately. When someone looks at themselves in a mirror and says, “Ugh, I need to lose some weight,” they want all of it gone immediately. But anyone who has lost a lot of their body weight knows that it does not happen overnight. It takes time and patience to stick with the exercise and dieting to achieve their end goal. 

Patience is a quality that we need to possess as Christians. If someone does something evil or bad towards us, we need to take those sufferings patiently, just as our Lord did when He was crucified. If someone sins against us, we need to be filled with patience and mercy, just as our Lord is and has always been towards us. 

1 Thessalonians 5:14, “…be patient toward all men.”

In order to overcome temptations, we need patience. When we are tempted to do wrong, we need to resist that urge to give in to it, because it is through the resisting of temptation that we can overcome it. 

James 1:2-4  “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Parents need a great deal of patience, as young children have a habit of repeating things over and over. They like to hear songs over and over again, until it is practically burned into the parents mind. They also have a habit of “pushing their limit” by doing something repeatedly, even if they have been told to stop doing it. In order for a parent to endure this, they require a very important quality: patience. 

Even though many of us are technically “adults”, we too have a tendency to revert back to this kind of childish behavior of pushing our limits. We repeatedly do wrong things. We constantly fail and make mistakes, but Jesus shows us great mercy and patience by forgiving us when we come to Him for that forgiveness. We need to display that exact same patience to others when they wrong us. 

Luke 6:36  “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”

Ask yourself, What are some things in which I need to show more patience? How can I show Christ’s love to others by being more merciful?

In Christ,

Andrew

Good morning and welcome in.  Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture 2nd Timothy.

2 Timothy 2:1-2  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

As we talked about recently, God created men and women with different functions and purposes within the Christian church.  Although men and women are both educated in God’s Word in the church, the duty to preach and teach was given to men alone. Teaching is a male prerogative which is why Paul tells Timothy that men are able to teach others.  Women are forbidden from this task in any capacity.  Women cannot teach, and Jesus called upon men to preach God’s Word.

Matthew 4:18-22  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

In many places who profess to follow Christ, you will find people who attempt to keep one foot in the church, and the other in the world. They want to maintain their Christian faith but they don’t want to let go of worldly philosophies.  In these same groups you will find numerous things that are completely contrary to the teachings of Christ.  Many people want to believe that they will be in heaven someday but they are so far into the world that when somebody stands up for biblical truth, instead of accepting it, they speak evil of it.

2 Peter 2:1-2  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.

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

Notice that there will be false teachers from inside the church, who teach heretical things.  Judas was a very close part of the original apostles but then he betrayed Christ.

When something is heretical it means adherence to a religious opinion contrary to church dogma.  It’s characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards.  

Instead of accepting Paul’s teachings, some would quickly claim that some of his writings we’re in the flesh.  I find those statements ludicrous because Paul is the one whom Christ chose to pen most of the New Testament teachings that we have today.  Instead of accepting truth, they usurp over Him.  They speak evil of the Apostle Paul and blaspheme the true teachings of Christ.  The true Christian faith is certainly on the decline, similar to the days of Noah which is why we must rise up and fight for the original faith that was handed down 2000 years ago.

Jude 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Paul was preaching the heavenly things of God’s truth, from which one should never reject or turn away from, especially those who profess to follow Jesus.

Hebrews 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Many people assume that because everybody else is doing it in other church groups, it must be alright, but let me ask you this.  Just because other kids are throwing spitballs in the class does that mean that you should do it too?  Just because some people commit fornication and adultery does that mean you should do it too?  Just because women are teaching and preaching scripture, does that mean you should do it too?  The Apostle didn’t compare himself to what others were doing.

2 Corinthians 10:12  For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

One of the greatest heresies in these later days is women preaching and teaching God’s Word.  Only a true man of God as Paul was will stand up against it.  Like yeast in bread, it continues to grow but when numerous groups allow and continue this practice, the true Spiritual men of God do not.  It is forbidden fruit to women, as was the tree in paradise.

1 Timothy 2:11-14  Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

When a woman usurps, it means to take power or control of something without the right to do so.  A woman who professes Christianity is completely out of bounds by taking upon herself a man’s duties granted by God.  Unbelieving women may do this in the world, but a woman who does it in the church is walking in the ways of Jezebel who actually called herself spiritual. This has been going on for thousands of years.

Isaiah 3:12  As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

The rebellious spirit of Jezebel is not one of submission, it’s about a rebellious desire for power and authority that has not been granted to her by Jesus.   It is far outside her purview as a woman, especially one who professes submission to Christ.  God will punish this rebellion.

Revelation 2:20-23  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.

And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

It is the impenitent hard heart of the lofty Jezebel and those who follow her that are going to bring about God’s punishments.  You can obey, or disobey, you can submit to Gods will or reject it, but remember that when it comes down to biblical truth, things are either right or wrong from the Word of God because you can’t have it…..

…..Both Ways

Let’s think about these things for right now, and Lord willing I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody.❤️

tlkjbc.wordpress.com

When you begin something like a video game, the first levels of the game are always the easiest. Usually the first levels are spent learning all of the controls, how to do things and what other things in the game do. You will then slowly progress further by maybe battling easier enemies, or solving simple puzzles or problems. The more experience you get by playing, the more you will learn and will be able to handle harder and more complex levels, enemies, or problems later on.

In a way, I guess another way similar to this example above would be like a man who decides to hire himself out to log off a section of land. Because he is just one person with the limited tools of a chainsaw, a small truck and trailer, he cannot handle too big of a job quite yet. But through wise use of his finances, over time he can slowly acquire bigger, better equipment that can do the job faster and more efficiently, until he can handle larger and more difficult jobs. 

When a person first learns about Jesus and believes in Him, it is the start of a new life for them. They are beginning to learn about all of the basic, first parts of the faith. The love of Christ and how because of His love they have the ability to be forgiven of their sins. 

Peter describes it as the milk of the word (1 Peter 2:2). Milk is the very first thing that a baby tastes when they are born, and it is what they solely live off of for the first handful of months of their life. Slowly they will become stronger as they age and will be able to handle more solid foods, but until then milk is all that they will receive. 

What is the first thing that a person needs to hear about Jesus? That He loves them. Too many people go through their life feeling that nobody loves them, that nobody cares about them, but that is not true. There will always be Someone who loves them, and these people need to hear about Him. They need to hear that because of Jesus’ love for them He died to erase all of their mistakes and sins, however bad they may be. They need to hear that if they will simply put their faith in Him that He will save them. That is the beginning of a life of a new Christan, and that is the first thing a person needs to hear about Jesus.

Just as that baby would not be able to handle eating corn on the cob, and that single man wouldn’t be able to handle logging off an entire forest with his simple tools, a newborn Christian will not be able to handle the stronger, more complex parts of the scripture. If you try telling a brand new Christian who had just turned their lives over to Jesus that women are forbidden to teach, or exercise authority over a man, they probably would have a difficult time understanding it because it is a practice that is all too common out in the world.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul had to write to the church because there were divisions going on amongst the people. They hadn’t fully learned what love was yet, and Paul said that he couldn’t even speak to them as though they were even spiritual yet because of this.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Becoming a Christian is a growing process as one learns more each day, slowly studying the word of God and understanding it’s meaning. When we read the Bible for the first time, we will not understand everything immediately. Some things will remain a mystery until the Lord reveals it to us when we are stronger and able to bear it. 

Hebrews 5:13-14  “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

We are not fully grown Christians on day 1. It is a growing process that takes time and starts with the milk of God’s Word.

In Christ,

Andrew