Good morning and welcome in today.

Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from Philippians 2:1-3

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

² Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

³ Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Well, let’s get started.

Verse one says,…

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ,…

The word consolation means a person or thing providing comfort to a person who has suffered.

A few synonyms for consolation are comfort or compassion, encouragement and pity. One other is sympathy.

Consolation is the act or instance of being consoled.

Let’s look at the word comfort first.

2 Cor 1:3-4

³ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

⁴ Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Let’s take a look at a few others.

John 14:18

¹⁸ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Matthew 5:4  

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted

People can put you into all kinds of sufferings and tribulations in this world but God Comforts those who are cast down.

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

And 2 Cor 1:5 says

⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

So again back to our main scripture Philippians 2:1 he says…

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love…

Something that is comforting is serving to alleviate a person’s feelings of grief or distress. In this case it’s the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that provide it. The comforter serves to improve our moods and restores a sense of physical well-being in our hearts and Minds.

One more definition for comfort means to ease the grief or trouble of another. That’s one of the purposes of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle continues on to say…

…if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,….

When we talk about fellowship of the spirit, it’s joining together in companionship. It’s a friendly community of people who are joined together in the church through the teachings of Christ and the Holy Spirit. It’s defined in one dictionary as a group of people that join together for a common purpose or interest.

In the church we join together in the common interest of spiritual things.

Let’s take a look at one more definition…it says a group of people with the same interests, a brotherhood, companionship or having a friendly association.

1 John 1:3

³ That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:7

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Lastly, Acts 2:42

⁴² And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

In the last part of this verse the Apostle says …if any bowels and mercies,…

The archaic definition for bowels means the seat of pity and tenderness. It says the interior parts especially deep down inside your heart. It’s a very very tender hearted person. One other definition says feelings of pity or compassion.

It’s used in 2 Cor 6:12 where he says…

¹² Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

The Apostle didn’t have to come out and straighten them out because they were straightening themselves out inside their own hearts.

Phil 1:8

⁸ For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

So once again, bowels means the seat of pity and compassion in Christ. That’s how much the Apostle Paul wanted to be with them.

Colossians 3:12

¹² Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Next…..

Mercy is having compassion. Mercy is showing forgiveness to someone who is within one’s power to punish or do harm to them. It’s really important to understand the definition of mercy because God requires us to be forgiving one with another even when you’ve been wronged and hurt.

Remember each of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We’ve all sinned against God which means we’ve hurt him. Jesus took the nails on the cross for all of us. That’s how bad he was hurt for us our sins. Mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown to someone who it is within one’s power to punish or do harm.

Like I already said, Christ went to the cross and he could have called out Legions of angels and destroyed this entire world but he didn’t. He shed His blood at the cross so that all those who believe in Him could find forgiveness with God.

Forebearance is refraining from the enforcement of something (such as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due

Imagine going to traffic court and you have a ticket that you have to pay. You speak to the judge and apologize for what you did and the judge takes your ticket and rips it up in the courtroom. Instead of exacting the penalty for what you did, forbearance was shown. God is very forbearing and forgiving with us that’s why he expects us to be that way with others. If we can’t forgive and forget he’s not going to either.

That’s why we’re supposed to confess our sins one to another and then we forgive each other. Jesus wants us to be so forgiving and merciful with each other that he teaches to forgive 70 x 7 times with each other.

Matt 28:23 teaches a parable about forbearance and forgiveness that you can read sometime.

Some people don’t want to forgive when others apologize to them. That’s caused because of a bitter heart and a lack of love. It’s not the way of Christ Jesus. Be merciful as God is merciful.

James 2:13

“For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”

So apologize one to another in the church, be forgiving and merciful to one another, join together and be reunited and reconcile, join together to worship God, and partake of Holy Communion so we can wash our sins away in the blood of Christ.

Matthew 5:7 says blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy.

Colossians 3:13

¹³ Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

if you can’t forgive when someone says I repent and apologize for what they’ve done that’s called holding a grudge which is a sin in the scriptures. It is being unmerciful and unforgiving and it’s unacceptable before God in the Christian church.

So again back to our study.

Phil 2:2

Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded,…..

Like-minded means having the same disposition or purpose, or the same mind or habit of thought. Listen how the Apostle spoke about Timothy.

Phil 2:20

For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.

Paul was filled up with joy knowing that they were like-minded together in the church. Timothy had the same heart as Paul did for the church.

Remember that love is more than just having information and being educated. The Apostle Paul was once a Pharisee who was filled up with all kinds of knowledge in Judaism but he was persecuting the church.

Later on he became a believer and started building churches. His heart went through a complete change and that’s what he wanted for the church was to be born again inside their hearts. He wanted the church to be like minded having that same love.

When you met a few different people in the church you noticed that they all shared the same exact beliefs and where exactly alike, filled with the same love for Christ and one another.

The Apostle wanted them to be of one accord.

When you are in accord it means that you are in complete agreement together. You are in harmony with the teachings of Christ together.

One other definition says to bring into agreement and to reconcile. We are reconciled in the church to God through Jesus Christ and what he did for us at the cross. At one time we were all at enmity with God, fighting against him in our minds. Through Christ Jesus we can receive forgiveness for our sins and be reconciled to God the Father through Christ. In the church we’re all supposed to be reconciled with each other. We all join together in church and fellowship together. We’re all praising the Lord as one mind. That’s what it means to be of one accord.

It’s being like-minded in the same love together and it only happens through God’s forgiveness and mercy and reconciliation with each other.

Like I said if you’re going to hold a grudge and not forgive people then God will not forgive you.

Be tender and kind and loving and forgiving with each other and merciful because God has given you a lot of Mercy. You need to extend to others a lot of Mercy.

In the church we’re all supposed to be of one mind. That means we all believe the same things together. We are all coming into agreement under the same Doctrine and teachings from the scriptures.

Lastly today in verse 3 he says let nothing be done through Strife or vainglory.

Strife is having a completely bitter disagreement. It’s the state of fighting or arguing violently. Sadly I watched a video one time of a church service going on somewhere where a couple people got up out of the pew and jumped on others on the other side of the aisle and started punching them. These kinds of things are not supposed to be happening.

Vainglory is unwarranted pride in ones accomplishments or qualities. God hates pride. The devil is filled with it.

Instead, we are to have lowliness of mind in order to esteem others better than yourself.

Years ago I had heard of a false gospel of self-esteem. That goes completely against the teachings of the scriptures here. Self-esteem is actually vainglory. He says Let each esteem others better than themselves.

James 4:6 God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Remember the Lord Jesus took upon himself the form of a servant. The greatest among you shall be as your minister. That’s what the apostles and the disciples were doing. They were ministering to others.

The most important thing you could ever give to somebody else are the teachings of Holy Scripture. The laborers are few and there’s not many people doing it but the disciples chose to do it for the benefit of the church and because of the things that Christ has done for both them and us at the cross.

So once again let’s review todays passage.

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

² Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

³ Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

I think that’s where I’m a stop right now but Lord willing will talk to you some more tomorrow till then bye-bye everybody.

Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at some scripture from the book of Colossians.

Colossians 3:20 – Children, obey [your] parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

A child is someone who is not an adult. A child has not reached the age of maturity. As a grown adult people can make their own decisions for themselves but a child is under the supervision and guidance of their Dad and Mom. Remember Jesus referred to his disciples as his family rather than Earthly relatives, but this was after he had grown into a grown man. He always obeyed His parents perfectly.

Matt 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Children should always obey their parent growing up as a child, especially their Dad because he is the head authority over the entire household.

Ephesians 5:23 – For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.

That’s a serious statement isn’t it. That shows the authority that a dad has in his home. Jesus is the authority over the entire church.

When someone turns into an adult, they are free to make their own decisions.

A wife must always submit to her husband because he has the final word. He is her authority. She must be submissive and compliant to him in everything.

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

She teaches the children by her actions how to obey a parent by faithfully obeying her husband. (After all, how many wives call their husband dad around the house?) The children watch her actions closely toward the head of the house.

If she doesn’t agree with her husbands directions or restrictions and decides to usurp over him, she is only showing that it’s acceptable to dishonor and disobey one of the child’s parents,… their dad. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft in the eyes of God.

1 Samuel 15:23 – For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. 

You don’t ever want to go there women, trust me.

You never want to be the cause of teaching children to disobey authority and leading them into sin and rebellion.

Matt 18:6 “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.”

Offend in this passage means to (lead into sin). Most people think that this means to make them upset, but the actual meaning of the word is to lead them into sin. A Christian dad will lead them into obedience and faithfulness to Christ and his teachings.

Even if your husband is an unbeliever obey him and follow his wishes in everything. They can be won to Christ through your reverence toward them. God has brought you together. Your husband is the authority God has placed in your life when you married him. Trust me women of God! Remember women…

1 Pet 3:13 ……who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?”

I always think of the movie Forrest Gump that I saw many many years ago and how he impressed the officers and sergeants in the military because he did everything he was told to do. He was respected and treated favorably because of his obedience. There’s an old saying just do as you’re told and it’ll pay off in the long run.

Love your husbands, obey them perfectly and watch what happens. God rewards obedience and punishes disobedience.

We are studying children’s obedience today but before children ever came to be, was the wife. I believe that obedience must begin with her in order to have obedience follow through with the children. She is like an XO on a submarine, showing obedience to her commanding officer in the home. Everyone else will follow suit.

A wife is supposed to obey her husband in all things. In today’s verse the same command is given to the children.

Imagine eating all the cake at dinner. All means everything. Imagine having to cut all the lawn. All means everything. Imagine having to do all the dishes. All means everything. A house without order and authority is a house of chaos.

As I’ve preached in my home for 20 years, God is a God of order. Children, wife, husband, Christ, and God the Father. Serve and obey your authority.

Jesus obeyed His parents perfectly. He never usurped over them in disobedience.

Obey means to comply with the command, direction, or request of, and to submit to the authority or follow the restrictions, wishes.of another.

Women are not to teach or usurp in the Christian home. Teaching is the responsibility of the dad, but a mom can tell you to take out the garbage. When you submit and obey her it pleases not only her, but the dad, and the Lord Jesus as well. Look at how many people you can please with one act of obedience.

Direction is providing advice as to a decision or course of action. The Christian parent is trying to lead you to obey Christ and to do what’s right with your life. They might make requests of you asking that you do something in order that you please God.

Parents might put restrictions or limitations and exercise control over your life. Your mother might tell you your bedtime is at 8. That’s a restriction. She might tell you at supper time you only get two desserts. That’s a restriction. She is exercising control over your life and your habits. A Christian dad imposes certain restrictions and control over his wife by giving her commands and restrictions that she needs to obey too. He may exercise control over the entire family on certain issues due to His conscience toward the teachings of Jesus.

A wife who doesn’t obey her husband is going to upset him. A child who doesn’t obey her mother and is rebellious against her is going to upset her as well. Someone who is hurting the policeman is going to upset him too. I’ve always told the family obedience shows love for others. True love results in obedience.

Children , obey your parents in all things. Do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Ephesians 6:1 – Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

Eph 6:2-3. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Honor is to regard or treat (someone) with admiration and respect. It’s high respect or great esteem. Esteem is the admiration and respect that you feel towards another person.

A promise of a long life is given to these children who obey this command.

Exodus 20:12 – Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Children are supposed to listen to what their dad teaches them. Again women are not supposed to teach. She can have house rules that you need to abide by such as you must leave your shoes by the front door, but the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Dad gives the instructions in the family.

Proverbs 1:8 – My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

And again…

Proverbs 13:1 – A wise son [heareth] his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.

As I’ve always taught, obedience needs to be learned beginning at home. Children obey your parents in everything and listen to the instruction of your dad because he watches out for you and wants to protect you from the evils of this world so that you can have a long productive and happy life.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again obey obey obey . If you made a mistake apologize for it and get back on the right track and learn to obey and everything will be okay!

That’s it for today but Lord willing we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then bye-bye everybody.

Good morning and welcome in today Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from Luke.

Luke 6:20 ” And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. “

When somebody is poor they have little money and few possessions. For an example, look at the disciples and the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t even have a place to lay his head, that’s how poor he was while walking on this Earth. The disciples were the same way because they followed after the Lord.

There’s a lot of people out in the world today who actually despise poor people and don’t like them, but Jesus teaches that to be poor in possessions is a blessing from God. God has chosen the poor of this world rich in faith. The love of money will cause you to seek after where the next dollar is coming from, rather than seeking God. We’re not supposed to love this world we’re supposed to love God, which is the first commandment.

Love for God is about spending time learning from the scriptures each day, or hearing it preached. The love of money, on the other hand, will drive a person into the work market so they can work work work. There are people who get so far into the world that they work 40 to 50 hours a week, simply to buy something they dont need.

Jesus taught that it is a great blessing to be poor. The Lord Jesus Christ warns us about the desire for more and more gain.

Poor people put their faith and trust in God rather than in money and possessions. Remember that some of the Apostles of Christ were occupational fisherman. When Jesus called them, they quit their jobs in order to follow Him.

How many people would actually do that in society today, quit their jobs in order to learn more about the ways of Christ? That is exactly what the disciples did.

There were people 2000 years ago that would come out and hear Jesus preach for a few days at a time, even when they had nothing to eat. Entire families with kids too. What a group of seeking hearts!

There are a lot of people today who just cannot do this because all they want is more and more money and possessions.

The love of money drives a sword right inbetween itself and the love of God. This is why the love of money is the root of all evil because it takes us away from loving Christ and his teachings. It takes us away from that desire to be with him.

Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

When you are poor you have more time available to seek after God. Jesus set the example. He left everything behind in heaven and came down here to Earth and was poor. Earthly gain is just a desire for more and more and it really takes you away from what we really need most. What we need is Jesus.

What do you think everybody’s going to be doing in Heaven someday? We’re going to be with Jesus all the time!

The avaricious desire for gain can take you away from your own family. A woman is supposed to be a chase keeper at home. If she decides to go out into the work place and get a job in society or decides that she needs money and tries to make a living who suffers? Her entire family.

She is putting off the care of her own children, the charge that Christ has commanded her. Shes supposed to stay at home to provide for the emotional needs of the children and to be a helper to her husband.

A dad can do the same thing. He can go out into society and get a 50 hour a week job simply to purchase a one million dollar home for their family, while the truth is that their family would probably be closer and happier living in a cabin somewhere out in the woods. They would have more time with each other and be able to seek things of Jesus Christ together. I always thought what a great life they had in the movie Swiss Family Robinson.

That’s what’s most important is spending a lot of time with each other. That’s what we talked about the other day about the movie Scrooge. Look what happened to him. The love of money can wreck time with your own family. It can ruin relationships and marriages. It can ruin a child’s life.

Most of all, it can ruin your relationship with our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Gospel.

As I said already, when you decide to turn away from love of possessions, you will have lots more time available to seek out God. You have more time for prayer, more time to seek His Word, and more time to worship Him. The love of money puts an end to that in a big hurry.

Remember Jesus taught to be content with our food and our clothes. So much has changed in our society, even in the last 300 years. I think you would probably have to go to certain parts of Africa to find a plethora of people who are content living day-by-day with just the food and their clothes on their back.

What do you really need to survive each day? What do you truly need to get by on?

When it really comes down to it, if you’ve got a meal to eat, your food for the day, the clothes on your back, and Lord willing you’ve got a place to sleep, what else do you really need? You just completed one more day! Even the Lord Jesus taught not to think about tomorrow because tomorrow has enough evil in itself. You just have to focus on one day at a time.

See how different it is in the world that we live in today! It’s a money driven society.

Being content with what you have is great gain. On the other hand, it’s that constant feeling that I’ve got to go work and buy that expensive new truck or, I’ve got to go work so I can buy the newest things that really takes up your time you’ve been given. This is what pulls you away from a private relationship with Jesus Christ. It pulls you away from friendships that you have in the church. It pulls you away from brothers in Christ. Moses could have been a rich ruler in Egypt but he gave it all up to live in the desert in a tent. Look how God used him.

Remember the Lord’s disciples were always together with Him. Where He was, they were too. They are an example of the relationship that all of us should be having with God every single day.

Certain people 2000 years ago were seeking Jesus so much, that they joined Him out in fields, with no roof over their heads, sleeping in the fields at night just to hear Jesus preach the Word of God. They were hungry for God’s Truth.

Who do you think were out there in those fields? Families. Dads, wives, sons and daughters all together. They weren’t worried about money or the next meal but more concerned about what Christ would teach them.

So much has changed. Being hungry for the Word of God is a completely different hunger, it’s Spiritual. Sometimes I think about people who take an apple and put it on the end of a stick to lead around a horse or a mule. In the world today people are being led by money on a stick.

The Lord taught to take no thought for your life and don’t seek after what you’re going to eat or drink but seek ye First the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.

When the disciples went out into society, they went out to preach the gospel. It wasn’t to hang out with people, but for the purpose of converting them to Christ.

They would go into certain homes or into a community and if they were received, they would eat and drink the things that were provided to them. Now, take a look at the worldly Christianity in the world today which is truly motivated by the love of money.

Our lord Jesus was so unconcerned about money, remember it was Judas who had the bag. Jesus wanted to teach and to instruct the people because they were like sheep that didn’t have a shepherd.

So once again, it’s the poor of this world who are rich in faith. The true riches are found in scripture. We should desire to be filled with His wisdom each day. Exhort one another while it is today. The further away you get, the harder the heart becomes.

If you have possessions or finances, you can show people love by using what you have to help others.

It is so difficult to see all these false Christian churches out there today who are simply lining their own pockets with money. It’s so upsetting to see them running around in all kinds of rich expensive clothes and driving around in limos and sports cars while others suffer.

How did Jesus come into Jerusalem…on a donkey, humble and meek. Look at the people who profess christianity today who show up for church service maybe driving a fancy expensive motorbike? That is why the love of money is so evil because people forget the poor. All around this world we are constantly surrounded by poor people.

As the apostle teaches, they had despised the poor because they were playing favorites and catering to the rich and wealthy.

God has chosen the poor of this world rich in faith. If you haven’t been faithful with the unrighteous Mammon who’s going to commit to you the true riches?

Matt 19:21-24 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.

It’s not a sin to be poor, but rather a great blessing!

That’s it for today, but Lord willing we will talk tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everyone.

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2-3

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells us over and over that those who believe on Him will receive eternal life. The words “will” or “shall” indicate something that is going to happen in the future, but hasn’t happened yet. 

It’s like when a new store is announced to be built. It isn’t open yet, but it is promised to open at a certain time. That’s the same as when Jesus promises us eternal life in Heaven. He tells us that He is preparing a place for us, and all that we need to do to get entrance into the Kingdom is to believe in God’s Son. 

We need to believe the promises that Jesus has told us through His word. Jesus teaches us that whosoever believes in Him will not perish in hell, but will receive everlasting life. These are not just meaningless words; this is a promise from the Son of God. 

A promise is a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen. We can be certain that God will keep His promise, that eternal life is available to all who come to Jesus. When God promises something, we can know that He will do what He syas.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

The promise of the Kingdom is repeated over and over again in the New Testament. It is only the rejection of Christ and His teachings that will keep a person out of Heaven. The world doesn’t want to believe that the things written in the Bible are true, because they don’t have faith. They don’t want to believe that there is Someone that watches everything that they do, and that they have to love their neighbor. It is these people who will miss out on God’s promise. What they need to do is call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13

“Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:19

And it is not just lipservice Christianity, ones who profess to believe, but their works and actions show a different story. Just because you “claim” to be a Christian doesn’t truly make you one: a true follower of Christ will do the teachings of the Father.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7:21

God will not forget His promise to those who believe in Him. All we need to do to walk through those gates someday is believe in Jesus and do and His word.

In Christ,

Andrew

I

James 1:19 “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:”

Do you know someone who just speaks their mind when they probably should be quiet? Maybe someone wants to pretend that they are smart, so when they are asked about something, they answer the first thing that comes to mind, regardless of whether they are truly knowledgeable about to subject or not. Instead of thinking through the question or situation, they are filled up with pride, wanting praise and admiration from others. They want others to think highly of them.

All the time, news companies want to be the first to break a story, so much that when they have just a little bit of information, they go immediately and break the news. Sometimes, because they don’t wait and get all of the information that they need, they report false information, causing great confusion. They want to be first so bad that the first thing that they hear, they immediately put it out there like it is the truth, but if it’s false, they look rather foolish don’t they?

“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” Proverbs 18:13

We need to be swift to hear, but slow to speak. It teaches us in the Bible, that if don’t know or undertand certain questions, to avoid them. If you are going to talk about something that the Bible teaches, make certain that you understand what it means.

“But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.” 2 Timothy 2:23

Think before you speak. Is what I am going to say correct and accurate? Will the thing that I am about to say hurt someone else? As the Bible teaches in Proverbs, a fool will say whatever is in his mind, not caring about the result, but a wise man will wait to speak.

“A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.” Proverbs 29:11

Remember when the Jews wanted to stone the adulterous woman, Jesus didn’t answer them right away. He picked the correct words and convicted them they were sinners too. 

We need to be quick and ready to hear the word of God. The Proberbs are full of verses about hearing instruction.

“Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.” Proverbs 8:33

“Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.” Proverbs 4:1

The next time someone asks you a question or your thoughts about a matter, think before you speak. Make certain that what you are about to say is truthful. Be quick to listen and hear instruction.

“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:2

In Christ,

Andrew

When a defendant in a courtroom is on trial, they have a lawyer to speak for them on their behalf. The lawyer is the one who appeals to the judge and asks for mercy for their client. 

In baseball, under an important situation with the winning run on base, a player might be pinch hit for (to change out a player for another) and that batter will hit in the other players place. Or they could pinch run for a player on base, and exchange one player for a faster one. They do the job for the other person.

That is what Jesus does for us. When we come before the Father, Jesus pleads for us on our behalf. He pleads to the Father to forgive us our sins. He is the propitiation for our sins. 

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2

The word “propitiation” means “the act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of somene or something; to appease.”  

When someone sinned in the Old Testament, the act of giving a sacrifice to God only covered the sin, not take it away. Now that we are in the New Testament, we have the abililty to have our sins taken and washed away through Jesus. He is our propitiation, the one who goes to plead for us.

Imagine it like this. A young child goes over to a friends house to play for the day. While playing baseball outside, they accidentally bread a window on the house. Now the dad of the child’s friend might be upset, but then the dad of the child who broke the window pays for the damages. That is being an advocate, or propitiation. The dad could make his child pay for the window himself, but instead he takes that burden upon himself and takes care of that debt.

We are all sinners. We all have made mistakes towards others and towards God the Father. But instead of punishing us immediately, God gives us the opportunity to be forgiven through His Son.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” Romans 3:23-25

Could you take responsibility for the actions of someone else, and do what it takes to make things right? Jesus’ love towards us is so great that He gave His life so that we could be forgiven. His love is so incredible, that He would even bother to offer us the chance to be forgiven. The world is full of sin, full of people who continue to reject Jesus as their Savior, who continue to live in sin and wickedness. Yet Jesus died for those people, and extends His hand to all those who will take it.

Take Christ’s hand, call upon His name, and He will be the propitiation for you.

In Christ,

Andrew

Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to look at a passage of scripture from Micah but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.

How many of you like to go fishing? It’s a fun hobby and it sure is exciting to watch the children catch fish. How many of you have taken your boat out to a favorite spot on the lake, stopped the motor and threw in your anchor only to realize that it wasn’t tied to the boat? Goodbye anchor! Down it goes into the depths of the lake never to be seen again.

This reminds me of the Christian Life.

Unforgiven sin is like a heavy anchor upon our hearts. Confession to God and to those that we have wronged is the answer. The scriptures teach us God will not remember our sins, but He casts them away into the abyss never to be seen again.

Micah 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

God wants to take that anchor of sin and throw it into the depths, but for some, that anchor is still connected to our hearts by a rope of un- confession. That heavy sin debt must be cut away with the knife of truth, so that God can cast it overboard.

Do you ever take your family to a lake in the summer? In Minnesota we are referred to as the land of 10,000 lakes so there always seems like there is one that we can find somewhere. Our children have always had a special activity while at the beach. They like to pick up rocks from the ground and heave them out into the water. They may skip a few times but eventually disappear into the water never to be seen again. This is what God wants to do with our sins.

One of our family’s favorite movies has always been Albert Finney’s Scrooge. I think we have watched and listened to it 200 times. In that movie He was making a ponderous chain of sin, link by link, caused by a cold heart of impenitence. That chain needed to be removed so that it could be cast away in order for God to completely forget and absolve it. Scrooge exemplifies the Christian life. It’s coming to grips with faults and misdeeds that have been committed, starting over, repentance, contrition, confessing and reconciling to those you have wronged.

We are promised in many passages throughout the scriptures that when God forgives, He completely forgets our entire past. He forgives and forgets. Forget means to put completely out of one’s mind or to cease to think of it or to bring it into your remembrance. Once it is forgotten, God ceases to bring it up again. That is the true grace of God folks. Because God loves us that much, we also ought to love each other. We show love by apologizing to those we have wronged, confessing faults to each other, forgiving, forgetting and reconciling. As I’ve taught for 20 years, If there is no reconciliation, you never truly forgave the person.

Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

There are some places close to our home where we pick apples each year. As we pick them from the trees, the family can’t resist the urge to eat a few as long as we are there picking them. After eating a few, we take the apple cores and pinch them into the woods, throwing them behind our backs. That is how God forgets our sin.

Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

God is merciful and gracious, but confession is the first step towards salvation. How can God forgive us if we don’t apologize for our misdeeds?

Hebrews 8:10-12  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

The passage that we just read is being quoted from the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

It’s such an important passage in Scripture that it was repeated twice in the book of Hebrews. If your dad tells you to do something twice it’s probably pretty important that you listen.

Hebrews 10:16-17  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

It is perfect love that covers a multitude of sins.

Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

When we confess our sins to God and to others that we have wronged, we can partake in Holy Communion together. What we do is wash away our sins in the blood of Christ. That is a process of complete redemption because it is by His blood that our sins are ultimately washed away.  Remission is the act of remitting, to pardon, or to forgive sins or offenses. 

Heb 9:22 ….and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Matthew 26:26-28  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

God wants us to be reconciled to Him. God wants us to reconcile with those we have wronged. In the church everybody needs to learn to forgive and forget because that is what results in reconciliation. When we cut that anchor cord away, God can pitch that anchor of sin into the depths of the sea.

Ps 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

That’s quite a distance isn’t it!  Listen to this final humble plea.

Ps 25:7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.

Are you ready to cut that chain of sins off and be reconciled unto God?  Have you decided to cut away…

…..The Anchor

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, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️

tlkjbc.com

Good morning and welcome in. Today we are going to take a look at some scripture from Romans chapter 3 but before we do that,…

Have you ever made a mistake in your life? Well we all do. Some of us more than others. But just like when you fall off a bike, God’s grace gives us the Forgiveness we need to get back on and try again. He gives us the grace we need to grow

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Everybody in the world has sinned. Some more, some less but the facts are is that we all have made mistakes. I used to hand out a tract called get out of jail free. It basically showed some points from the law and how each of us have sinned, and then showed how Jesus came to deliver us from that punishment that we all rightly deserve. That’s why God abolished the Old Testament law.

Eph 2:13-16

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

The law is good, but nobody except Jesus kept it all. Paul who was once a Pharisee admitted the fact that He was chief of sinners. Each of us are. Because Jesus is God, He abolished it. Everything in the Old Testament pretty much was a precursor to the coming of Jesus who would deliver us from the law and its punishment for sinners. He truly is God’s lamb, sent by the Father as an atonement for our misdeeds, who was proclaimed by John the baptist.

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Abolish means to formally put an end to something, such as (a system, practice, or institution).

Becoming a Christian is to become forgiven with God through faith in Jesus.

Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Ecclesiastes 7:20 – For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

This is why we need God’s forgiveness. We all need to cleanse our conscience.

Heb 10:1-10 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

² For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

³ But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

⁴ For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

⁵ Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

⁶ In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

⁷ Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

⁸ Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;

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

¹⁰ By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

A lot of a lot of the Old Testament is symbolic, and served for a time until Jesus came to save us all.

Heb 9:12-15 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

¹³ For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

¹⁴ How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Once again each of us are sinners who need God’s forgiveness. Nobody is better than anybody else because each of us needs Grace.

Romans 3:9 – What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

 Now remember what the purpose of the law was. It’s just like I was telling you about the get-out-of-jail-free card. Its purpose was to show us that we have all sinned.

Romans 3:19 – Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

To claim that we have never sinned is really lying to ourselves.

1 John 1:8-10 – If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 Kings 8:50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

God is ready to forgive, but we need to come to Him and admit the truth and apologize. We also need confess to others and reconcile with them. True Christian Charity will forgive, forget and reconcile. He wants us to merciful because He is.

Romans 11:32 – For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Justified is to declare or make righteous in the sight of God.

Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Redemption means to free a human of the guilt and penalty attached to grevious sins.

God redeems us through the blood of Jesus.

Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

God purchases us with His very own blood and He’s waiting to redeem the purchase possession and take us to heaven someday. We belong to Him.

Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Our God gives out Grace in generous amounts. How could we ever get to heaven without being forgiven by God?

Heb 4:15-16 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We all have sinned, what matters is apologizing and getting forgiven.

That’s where I’m to stop for today but the Lord willing we’ll talk some more tomorrow till then bye-bye everybody .

Have you ever seen how a robin feeds its young chicks? When a baby bird is born, it cannot go out and catch its own food to eat. It needs to rely on its parent bird to get it for them. The adult robin catches and swallows its food and brings it back to its chicks and regurgitates it into the baby’s mouth. It is not strong enough to be able to eat stronger food, and needs to be fed with easier food.

Did you know that pigeons feed their young with milk? Pigeons are one of a few birds that have the ability to secrete milk in their crops to feed their babies. Incredibly high in protein, “crop milk” will be fed to their young babies for the first week that they are born. Once the chicks get older, it can handle more solid foods. 

When a baby is born, what do they eat? They drink milk from their mother. Unable to handle strong foods, they need to be nourished with milk until their stomachs become stronger to handle more solid foods.

That is just like a new Christian. A new Christian needs to be fed the milk of God’s word, or the first parts that they need to get them started in their life for Jesus. They need to know that Jesus loves them, that He died for them, and that if they believe on Him they will be in Heaven with Him. Once they become stronger in their faith, then they can receive the stronger parts of scripture, dealing with things that a new Christian may have a hard time understanding. Just as a baby slowly becomes stronger every day, the more a person spends time in God’s word, the stronger they will become and will be able to understand and handle the stronger parts of scripture.

Remember when Jesus told His disciples that they would all be offended in Him and leave Him when they came to take Him to the cross? Peter wasn’t even converted yet. “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:32. 

Peter was still growing stronger in his faith. Just before Jesus was crucified, Peter denied knowing the Lord. He wasn’t fully ready to stand by the Lord’s side. Later on in Peter’s life, he was able to handle the meat of God’s word.

In 1 Corinthians, the church wasn’t ready to handle the stronger parts of the word. They were having trouble with fighting and strifes among themselves. They needed to learn the basic thing first: to love each other.

“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?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

A new Christian may have trouble learning how to deny the part of the flesh that makes you want to hurt someone, or to avenge yourself of something wrong that someone else did to you. They might have trouble telling lies, or speaking evil of another person. These people need to continue to receive the milk of the word, so that someday when their faith becomes stronger, they will be able to control their actions, and instead show others love.

A tree doesn’t mature in a day, it takes a long time. A new Christian isn’t fully strong and mature in their faith on the first day either; it takes time. Going through trials and persecutions will continually strengthen a Christian. Spending time in God’s word and understanding what is written will make you wiser, so that you will be able to discern certain situations that a new Christian might not be able to.

Are you ready for the meat of God’s word?

In Christ,

Andrew