August 27th 2023
It Is Better To Take Refuge In The Lord Than To Trust In Humans.
(Psalm 118:8)
Matthew 7:3 (NIV)
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
It seems in this world today it is easier to make judgements as we see so many unusual and violent actions performed every day! Many people in the US today seem to have no love for other people and they will use their weapon to harm, with the intent to kill, anyone who disagrees with them, or just gets in their way. Do you feel this same kind of fear when you just go about your normal daily chores? Going shopping at the store of your choice is now a dangerous event!
This is a difficult start to my writing this VOW! It has always been my intent to write this weekly commentary to reflect a positive presentation of how followers of Jesus Christ are expected to “Love your neighbor as yourself!” while I believe this is still true, the real problem seems to be there are just fewer people who choose to become followers of Jesus Christ. On Sunday mornings when we leave to go to the church of our choice, we can pull out of our neighborhood street on to the main thoroughfare without delay. Usually, there are no cars coming, but on all other days there is a lot of traffic! Almost no one in this busy area is heading for the church of their choice.
Attendance at most churches is declining as less people choose to attend a church. Some reading this may say it is not necessary to attend a church to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, and to such a statement, I can assure you I heartily disagree with you! When Jesus Christ walked this earth, He regularly attended the church of His choice! He also participated in the worship service. As we can read about Jesus reading from the Scriptures as a part of a worship service. Have you studied the Scriptures?
It has always been necessary in this world to judge the motives of other people! How else can you choose with whom you will choose to associate, and whom your friends and associates will be? Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2). The warning, as I see it, is to be willing to allow yourself to be judged too, based on your attitude and the evidence of the fruits produced by your lifestyle! What do you think about the need for judgement of other people and if judgement can ever be avoided?
The church of your choosing should be a place of learning, and a necessary part of your development as a follower of Jesus Christ. While salvation is obtained by your personal relationship to Jesus, no one should be left to their own initiative to produce the fruit of the Spirit. We are all God’s children as our very life force is given as a gift from God. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:16-17). Why would you not want to meet with your family members on a regular basis at a church of your choice?
When Jesus left this earth, He left behind the Holy Spirit to aid Jesus’ followers to guide them when reading the Scriptures and when we pray. Paul wrote about this great opportunity for believers. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27). Please remember what Jesus told believers about getting together to worship Him. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20).
Let me close this commentary with some borrowed Bible study notes from a devotional I use daily, it is about the “last days.” The “times” that will be perilous are “seasons” or “periods” that will characterize these “last days.” The verses that follow contain a list of the kinds of “peril” that will “stress” those who would live godly lives. This warning is not unique. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (1 Timothy 4:1). In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12).
What Paul wrote to Timothy is what he called the last days. Does this sound like now or a time soon to come? But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:3-5).
Yes, even in Paul’s day there were people who should be avoided if they could not be convicted by Jesus Christ.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
(Psalm 118:8)
Matthew 7:3 (NIV)
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
It seems in this world today it is easier to make judgements as we see so many unusual and violent actions performed every day! Many people in the US today seem to have no love for other people and they will use their weapon to harm, with the intent to kill, anyone who disagrees with them, or just gets in their way. Do you feel this same kind of fear when you just go about your normal daily chores? Going shopping at the store of your choice is now a dangerous event!
This is a difficult start to my writing this VOW! It has always been my intent to write this weekly commentary to reflect a positive presentation of how followers of Jesus Christ are expected to “Love your neighbor as yourself!” while I believe this is still true, the real problem seems to be there are just fewer people who choose to become followers of Jesus Christ. On Sunday mornings when we leave to go to the church of our choice, we can pull out of our neighborhood street on to the main thoroughfare without delay. Usually, there are no cars coming, but on all other days there is a lot of traffic! Almost no one in this busy area is heading for the church of their choice.
Attendance at most churches is declining as less people choose to attend a church. Some reading this may say it is not necessary to attend a church to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, and to such a statement, I can assure you I heartily disagree with you! When Jesus Christ walked this earth, He regularly attended the church of His choice! He also participated in the worship service. As we can read about Jesus reading from the Scriptures as a part of a worship service. Have you studied the Scriptures?
It has always been necessary in this world to judge the motives of other people! How else can you choose with whom you will choose to associate, and whom your friends and associates will be? Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2). The warning, as I see it, is to be willing to allow yourself to be judged too, based on your attitude and the evidence of the fruits produced by your lifestyle! What do you think about the need for judgement of other people and if judgement can ever be avoided?
The church of your choosing should be a place of learning, and a necessary part of your development as a follower of Jesus Christ. While salvation is obtained by your personal relationship to Jesus, no one should be left to their own initiative to produce the fruit of the Spirit. We are all God’s children as our very life force is given as a gift from God. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:16-17). Why would you not want to meet with your family members on a regular basis at a church of your choice?
When Jesus left this earth, He left behind the Holy Spirit to aid Jesus’ followers to guide them when reading the Scriptures and when we pray. Paul wrote about this great opportunity for believers. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27). Please remember what Jesus told believers about getting together to worship Him. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20).
Let me close this commentary with some borrowed Bible study notes from a devotional I use daily, it is about the “last days.” The “times” that will be perilous are “seasons” or “periods” that will characterize these “last days.” The verses that follow contain a list of the kinds of “peril” that will “stress” those who would live godly lives. This warning is not unique. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (1 Timothy 4:1). In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12).
What Paul wrote to Timothy is what he called the last days. Does this sound like now or a time soon to come? But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:3-5).
Yes, even in Paul’s day there were people who should be avoided if they could not be convicted by Jesus Christ.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak