Paul's Estimate Of Life

By G. Campbell Morgan

 



Paul's Estimate Of Life - by G. Campbell Morgan

"To live-is Christ, and to die-is gain. I am in a strait betwixt two. I desire to depart, and yet for your sakes I would tarry a little longer."

Life and death have lost their old significance to him, because there is on vision that fills the horizon whether he look this way or that. Here is is Christ, and there it is gain, and gain is Christ, and Christ is gain. There is no darkness but only light, for everywhere he sees the Master. That is Christianity.

Now, beloved, I want to take that estimate of Christian life and meditate upon it for a little while. Do not expect me to exhaust it, for in this text lie all the possibilities and potentialities of the Christian life.

"To me to live is Christ." What did the apostle mean? There are seven things which he might have meant. By these words he intended to say that:

1. Christ was the author of his life. It was as though he had written, "To me to live at all is Christ."

2. Christ was the sustainer of his life. "To me to continue to live is Christ."

3.Christ was the law of his life. "The conditions in which I live my life are summed up in Christ."

4. Christ was the product of his life. "To me to live is to reproduce Christ."

5. Christ was the aim and influence of his life. "To me to live is to lead men to Christ."

6. Christ was the impulse of his life. "To me to live is to be swept along under the compassion of the Christ."

7. Christ was the finisher, the crown of his life. "To me to live is at last to be what he is, and to find the crowning of all my manhood in him."

Christ the end, as Christ was the beginning. Christ the beginning, and therefore Christ the end. Whether this man looked back upon the past, at the present, or into the future, within or without, behind, above or beyond to the consummation-wherever he turned his eyes, he saw Jesus only.

The first thought is that when Paul wrote these words, "To me to live is Christ," he meant to say, "Christ is the author of my life."

This man did not count that he had any life except the life which was named "Christ". He began to reckon his life only from the day when Christ was born within him through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the life of this man, there is one clean line, dividing it about at its center. Behind that line is the old life, the "old man," to which he so often referred, while on the other side of the line is the new life, the "new man." To Paul, the crossing of that line was something that went to the very depths of his being. It transformed him so that in looking back to the days when he became a new man in Christ, he said of the old days, "Old things are passed away." They had all vanished out of his sight. He took no account of anything that was behind him, and he said, "All things are become new," and in the new things he lived. The years that he spent on the earth, prior to the moment when Jesus found him, he did not reckon worth speaking of for a single moment.

Was Paul mistaken? Had not very much of value been crowded into the years before his conversion? Stop him for a moment and ask him:

"Paul what do you mean by this? You lived a very remarkable life before you met Jesus of Nazareth. You had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. You had all the advantages of learning and religion. You had never been a prolifigate. Your life had been straight and pure, clean through. You were a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. In all outward seeming, and what is infinitely more, in all inward sincerity, you had been a remarkable man.

"Perfectly true; but the things I counted gain, I now count but dross."

"Why?"

In comparision with what I found, when Christ found me. When I turned my back on the old, I did it forever, because my face was set towards the new."

I do not think this man ever had five minutes' questioning as to whether he ought to go back into that old life once a week for enjoyment, and live the new life all the remainder of the week as a duty. The old life passed away, and the new life opened before him bright with joy, thrilling with delights, expanding all the way.

The apostle's new life began when there shone a light round about him on the way to Damascus. We learn so much by contrast. Look at him for a moment on the way to Damascus. Remember that he was straight, upright, moral, righteous, sincere to the core of his being; and on his way to Damascus he carried in his hand some very important documents-letters from the high priest. What for? Because in Damascus there was a little company of men and women who were daring to slight the religion of their fathers, singing hymns about this Jesus, whom the friends of Paul had crucified. If they should go on singing their hymns they would soon undermine the national religion, and Paul was going to put an end to it. So he was riding with the priest's letters in his possession, when a light from heaven fell, and a voice from heaven spoke. Paul fell to the ground, and the man upon the earth said in answer to the voice from heaven;

"Who arth thou, Lord?"

The revelation that came to him must have been the most startling of his life: " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."

Now hear the next word and never forget it:

"Lord!"

What a change! Why, this man has joined the church at Damascus before he arrives there! That is all they are doing, calling Jesus, Lord, and Paul has done it. Do you see the radical nature of this change?Do you see that he has taken the crown of his life from off his own head and put it on the head of Jesus?

"Lord,"- and what else? "What wilt thou have me to do?"

That is henceforth the keynote of his life. The music is true to it through all the future; through missionary journeyings, through perils by land and sea, in prison and among robbers, when suffering persecutions or preaching the gospel of the grace of God, he is always true to the keynote which he struck when he said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" There his life began. There the old life dropped away, and the new life opened before him; and looking back to that beginning from the jail in Rome he writes:

"To me to  live is Christ."

Life began there, and we may judge how real the change was by asking him a question, which I often think I shall want to ask him when by God's grace I meet him in glory:

"Paul, you have not forgotten the ride to Damascus?"

"No, I still remember the hour of my apprehending by the Lord,"

"But, Paul, what did you do with the high priest's letters?"

Did you ever think of that? I shall want to know some day. They went clean out of his life like everything else of the old life. Old things passed away.

 

Call For The Wailing Women

Call For The Wailing Women

By Kathy Clark

     This morning during my bible reading in which I read through the bible in both the old and new testament book by book. I was in Jeremiah 9 and then Luke 23, and I saw that the verses fit like hand in glove together.

Jeremiah 9

¹⁷ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:

¹⁸ And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

²⁰ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

²¹ For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.


Luke 23

²⁷ And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

²⁸ But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

²⁹ For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

³⁰ Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

³¹ For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?


     As I read these things it became clear to me that God is calling for the wailing, lamenting, cunning women to begin to cry out to God for, His Kingdom to come, our families, the church, the world, and His soon return.

 As I read verse 29 it hit me that this could be speaking about something other than what I have seen before, supposing it to be an admonition about how difficult the time will make it upon woman with children, so better to not have any. This seems to me now to be an end time prophecy, and a picture of what is going on in our world today.

 Luke 23
²⁹ For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

     The rest of the chapter speaks of end time events. Is this verse 29 not a perfect picture of society today? Women having babies murdered and ripped out of their wombs? Using the morning after pill to destroy the fruit of the womb, it even being given out in schools in New York? Birth control to prevent pregnancy at all, and no natural motherly affection to nurse, nurture and love babies.

     Women in these times are trying to find themselves, and having children would interrupt that goal. Babies, and kids, are inconvenient, unwanted, and easily expendable, so why burden yourself with them, and hey you don't need to, there are plenty of ways to deal with the problem and prevent the inconvenience.

     I would like to say at this juncture that I know there are many wonderful mothers out there who cherish and nurture their babies, and children. I am talking about a sign of the times and this prophecy in Luke 23:29 that is a perfect picture of today's society and it's values. Again here these verses in Romans 1 describe the heart conditions in this day and age.

Romans 1
³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹ Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:


2 Timothy 3
² For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

³ Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

⁴ Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

     I feel that these verses point to the soon return of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. I also feel that God is calling for wailing, cunning women to pray for His kingdom to come, His will to be done, and for as many of the people of the earth to repent as possible, and for the hearts of the parents to be turned to the children, and the children to the parents, and for people to treasure the fruit of the womb which belongs to God. We have a job to do. Let us not sleep on our watch. Weep between the porch and altar, the day is far spent, the time is at hand. Let us be about our Father's business before we lament for other reasons.

Joel 2:17
Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Romans 13:12
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Mark 13:33
Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

Here is another fantastic site you can check out:

Sermonindex



Time To Rethink

 

Time To Rethink

By Kathy Clark

Just recently the Lord has been causing me to rethink many of the things that I thought were normal Christianity. There have been several books that have been instrumental in this shift, Deitrich Bonheoffer’s “ The Cost of Discipleship”, Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love”, Brother Yun’s “Heavenly Man”, Marie Monsen’s “The Awakening Revival in China 1927-1937, Jonathan Go forth’s “When The Spirit’s Fire Swept Korea”, E.Stanley Jones’”The Christ of the Mount”, David Platt’s “Radical”, and Shane Claiborne‘s “The Irresistible Revolution, which might even be just a bit too radical for me, but taught me a lot about what love looks like.

I have come to understand why there is so little power and fruit coming forth from our labors, if we even really labor is questionable in itself here in the good ol’ USA. Most of us have become a group of believers that pamper ourselves and enjoy our societies. We spend very little time working to fulfill the great commission. We are too busy enjoying life as others are swept into a burning hell. We have to upkeep our lifestyles, and that takes time and money, doesn’t it. Well I am convinced, and convicted, that God is calling us to something really radical.

In Bonhoeffer’s book I read how the call we receive calls us to forsake all and follow Him. Every call He gave while walking this earth was the same, leave all and follow me. Lest we misunderstand, here are the verses:



Luke 14:26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.



Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.



Mar 10:28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.



Mar 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,



Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

You might say, hey wait a minute God doesn’t call us to forsake all, what about our families? They are free to follow as well. Peter and others had families and he undoubtedly continued to take care of them, but they followed Jesus with him.

　

What God began to show me is that we believers have cut ourselves off from the bleeding and dying and cloistered ourselves in our safe havens. We wonder why many of our children go astray, and get irritated at the black holes that suck the life out of us. Why is this happening? Do we invite to our dinners the ones Jesus told us to?



Luk 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor [thy] rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee.



Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:



Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

Well we are afraid that bringing in this type of strangers might be dangerous, they might steal our stuff. Well there are groups of Christians around the world who are doing just that. Why don’t we? We want to see people changed for Christ, but want the nice guys, the easy to deal with that won’t mess up our lives. So we have chosen to live cloistered peaceful, dull lives that don’t turn the world upside-down.

We admire the missionaries that sacrifice their lives at the tip of a savage native’s spear, for the gospels sake, but we fear the homeless and insane that are right outside our door. It is dangerous, yes, but who is our keeper? Do we really care that these folks are perishing without Jesus? How much do we care?

The Lord led me to the book by David Platt and I saw how my children are not serving the Lord because I kept them in a greenhouse. I thought I was doing right. I was protecting my kids from enemy. Now I see I should have taken them out on the streets and into the homeless shelters, hospitals and allowed them to minister with me and they would have caught the fire. Shame on me. In his book he shares how God has led his church to forsake all an follow Him. It looks different individual to individual, because God doesn’t require the same thing from each of us because we have different calling. But these folks are selling their excess and tightening up their lives, smaller homes, more practical cars, etc and using that money for the furtherance of the gospel. Not to build bigger church buildings, but to win the poor and beggarly to the Lord, to equip poor pastors in other countries to win their nations for Jesus. To supply water and housing to the homeless. Love looks like something. I would suggest you read “Radical”. It will mess you up in a good way. You are called. We all are.

David Platt also shares how we are called to go and make disciples of all nations and shares how Jesus made His disciples, He walked with them. He had the inner 12 that really became His family, He poured into them all He was as they walked together. We can only mentor someone by being with them. They have to be with us in all walks of life. Time must be invested and that means it is time to re-think “me time”. “Me” time is well, all about “me”. Where in the word are we told to have “me” time? Thanks PJ for that insight. We are called to go into our closet and have “Him” time, but “me” time is just selfish wasted time. You might say that is pretty strong. Well just read about the revival in Korea and even about the church these days in other countries and you will see the urgency they place upon the great commission. They believe that no cost is too great. But most of us don’t want to be too radical, just reasonably radical. After all we have to live in this world. Sorry it is on it’s way out to be replaced by a new one. Time to be eternally minded.

The world is perishing all around us. Do we really believe the sermon on the mount is for real? If we have an extra coat do we give it someone who has none. Do we visit those in prison? I saw an example recently at church. Jamie & Cameron took several young men with them to visit prisoners in a very dangerous prison. It was a fearful place but those young men who accompanied those who were mentoring them, were transformed and touched by God’s love expressed there. They were impacted and came back excited to share what God was doing. Was it dangerous? Yes, so what. What can they threaten us with? Eternal life? Seeing Jesus’ face sooner. Hmmmm. I also saw those doing the who were leading becoming much more excited about their own walk because of pouring their lives into others. Hallelujah. Rivers of living water flowing freely one to another.

Reading of the revivals in Korea and China caused me to see that these folks had no “me” time, but poured out their lives for the lost. No spa days or manicures. Weeping snotty noses replaced external beauty and pampering. Their hearts bled over the condition of the lost. The went to great ends and dangers to bring in the harvest. One lost soul was too much. Men like Bro. Yun were in prison numerous times, receiving vicious torture for being bold enough to proclaim the gospel where forbidden, but they felt the cost was worth forsaking all to follow Him. Their lives were not their own. They were bought with a price and they were willing to give all in return. It is time we heed the call. We are all called. Will our fathers, mothers and the rest of the family hate us? many will. But it has always been thus. However they are free to follow us as we follow Christ.

I am convinced we are in the final hours. Jesus is drawing nigh and we need to be without spot or wrinkle. How do we do that? By fulfilling His calling on our lives. Obedience. Love looks like something. We need to open up our lives and homes to those who need it. Why do we have spare rooms and not share them with visiting ministers of the gospel. Why do we send them to impersonal hotels. Why can’t they join in our family and eat at our tables. Maybe we don’t want them to see us in our unguarded, un-groomed moments. Maybe we have something to hide? We are cloistered. How about the others we say we love. Do we really. Or do we only love them on our time, and occasionally when the don’t interrupt our lives. Folks it’s time for change. We are called the family of God. What does a family look like in the natural. Do we love each other as much as our own family members? Do our hearts break for every member of our spiritual family?



Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:



Mat 25:35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:



Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.



Mat 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink?



Mat 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]?



Mat 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?



Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.



Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:



Mat 25:42 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:



Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.



Mat 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?



Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me.



t 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

In that day He will not bring up how great we worshipped, prayed, preached, or prophesied, but how we loved. Love looks like something. Come on church this is our watch. The things of this world are passing away. The only thing we can take with us is souls. We are ambassadors for Christ. We are not of this world. We are a called out people, so why are our roots so deep in the earth? Why do we turn a blind eye and deaf ear? Why do we act like this world is not passing away? Now is the time. Look up our redemption draweth nigh. Let’s be about our Father’s business before it’s too late.

I would say that when we are frustrated or discouraged because those we thought were walking in the Lord fail to do so, we should look and see if we really walked beside them and did as Cameron & Jamie did, setting an example. Did we bring them with us to the nursing homes, prisons, tent cities, homeless shelters, etc. or just expect they would be content to come to church and not really impact the world around them. Jesus said, take up your cross and follow Me. Hey that means He leads and we followed. We impact those around us by walking the walk. If you are wondering why everybody around you is so dry and selfish, check “your” degree of excitement over spreading the gospel. I am. I can’t point the finger at anyone else if I am sitting on my rear end expecting someone else to do it. We inspire by doing, just as our Jesus did. He loved unto death, even the death of the cross. So must we. It isn’t about us, it’s about Him, and them. Get up and teach by example. It you see no fire, ignite some. Go into all the world and make “disciples” of all nations. The great commission hasn’t change, we have. The good news is we can change again and impact or world and those we are mentoring by example. We just might find ourselves changed in the process. Amen?

Check out this great site to find many great messages:

Sermonindex

 

Jealousy Is Really A Lack Of Trust In God

Jealousy Is Really A Lack Of Trust In God

By Kathy Clark

 

A while back I wrote this in response to a testimony I read that blessed me. I thought to post my response here in hopes that it might help someone in a similar state of bondage. Know that freedom is offered to all that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their life. He will safely keep that which you entrust to Him.

Here is the post:

Well Dearest Appolus you have made me cry today, and I thank you for it. Oh for more testimonies like this one. If we could just share our hearts in this way deliverance would come to many.

Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

This testimony brings to my mind a place where I was bound even after 8 years of being apprehended by my Savior.

I had this horrible rage and jealousy with regards to my husband. Every time he would go anywhere I would grill him and rake him over the coals to find out exactly where he was, what he did, and more importantly, who he talked to. Were there any women there? etc. I never gave the man a moments peace. And he was a good husband and father, it was all in my head or really my heart, just as you said.

I would repent, ask God for forgiveness, resolve never to do it again, but it was repeated constantly. I doubt you could imagine just how mean I was.

Well one day after a particularly ugly send off to my husband as he went on a little fishing trip, I fell on the floor and wept until I thought I would die. I kept asking God why I had no control over my reactions, and the word came. "You don't trust Me."

He then began to show me how growing up there was no stability in my life, sometime I was in a children's home, or pushed off with relatives. Drinking was a big part of my families life too, and immoral lifestyles all added to the dysfunction that left me insecure. Even though people thought I was pretty, I always felt ugly, and never had any friends because I wasn't long enough in one place to make any. I had "0" self esteem. I couldn't believe anyone would stay with me, really love me, and thought that everyone would eventually leave me. God called all this to my remembrance.

He then spoke to me a word that has totally set me free. "Even if your husband leaves you, I never will." It was like a light went on in my spirit. I saw that though mother and father forsake you, He never would. I could trust Him to be my everything, and all I needed. The truth of why I was reacting this way brought healing and deliverance to my bound heart. I have never been the same.

I am still married to the same great man, we have been married 41 years now and I haven't grilled him in years. We have peace in our home because I trust in my Almighty Savior for everything that concerns me. Even when pretty women come around I am free, free, free. Hallelujah.

Truly the things that shape us in our childhood can become road blocks to our freedom in Christ. Victory can only come when the spotlight of truth is shone into that painful area, allowing God to heal it. I can say that the joy that flooded my soul on being set free from my bondage is incredible. I count that day as a epoch in my life. I am so grateful for it. Peace in the inner man is of great value.

Fear has torment. I was afraid of being left because everyone in my childhood left me in different degrees. There was no stability, no sureness. I couldn't count on anything, accept emotional pain. But Jesus.......

Even though the years have made pudgy, and age has left me with no real outward beauty, I can look in the mirror and say I like what I see, I like the person He has made me to be, even though He is still working on me :0). I am not ugly to myself anymore because He values me and loves me. I thought myself worthless, but that was a lie of the enemy propagated by my past, but now I am free indeed. I no longer have to focus on myself, but on my redeemer and His plan for my life. Glory to God. What does the world have to offer, just more death, but I know the joy that comes in the morning. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Jhn 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Again, thanks for sharing your touching testimony Appolus. I was really blessed by it. This is such a wonderful piece of the mosaic of your life. I see why you have the love and depth in your writing. Refiners fires have had their work in you and it leaves you with blessings for others. Thanks. All glory to God. Only He can take what is esteemed as worthless and make jewels out of it. Oh what a awesome God we serve.

 

I would like to add to this testimony an event that happened shortly after God revealed these things to my heart. A man from church asked me if I could spend a little time with his girlfriend to encourage her in the things of God. I said sure, even though I didn't know her. We set it up to go to lunch. We chose a place all the way across town, and met there.

 

During the course of the conversation I started to share with her the above revelation, and my freedom, and the rejoicing that I was experiencing. When the our visit wound down a lady got up from the booth behind the lady I was with and came and stood next to our table. She asked can I share something with you? I said sure. She said, I have been having trouble with my marriage, and I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but when you began to share about your deliverance and freedom, the entire conversation was just what I have been going through, and she was weeping. I hadn't even planned on coming to this restaurant, but just needed a place to think, but now I have to go home and explain to my husband why I was in a restaurant all by myself, and how I heard everything I needed to hear about our troubled marriage, and the answer to it. This woman was so blessed. The lady I was with had her mouth hanging open in amazement. Then the lady left, and we left thanking God.

 

I was  on cloud 9 on the ride home. I began to think about all God had orchestrated to bring healing to another lady, a restaurant far across town, bringing that lady to a place she doesn't usually go, at a time she doesn't usually go, etc. I was so rejoiced at how much our God loves us and how involved He is on our everyday lives. He is not a distant God, but an up-close and personal God. Hallelujah. I love Him so, and He will never leave us or forsake us. Amen!

Check out this great site:

Sermonindex

 

 

 



 

The Two Headed Monster

The Two Headed Monster

By Kathy Clark

Have you ever heard that anything with two heads is a monster? When it comes to christian marriage the biblical pattern is to only have one head, the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of man.

Ephesians 5:23-25

"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so [let] the wives [be] to their own husbands in every thing.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"

In the day and age in which we live wives submitting to their husbands is considered an old fashioned travesty, but in actuality it is a blessing. I have been married for 41 years to my husband and have found that submission is the makings of a great marriage. Let me first say my husband did not ask me to submit to him, God did. And why, because there just can't be two heads on a healthy body.

Submission is not something that we women have to do, but something we get to do. There is a big difference. The man being the head, and the women next in authority is not a curse but a difference of office. One is not greater or less than the other, just walking in different callings.

I will just tell you in simple language what I do when a difference of opinion arises. I tell my husband what I think we should do, that is being a help-meet, then if he differs from my opinion, I leave the final decision in his hands, and look over the top of his head at God, knowing that if my life is consecrated unto Him, He will make my steps go where they are supposed to, and supply all my need according to His riches in glory. God is able to use circumstances, even when I don't necessarily like the choices that have been made, work out for my good. Now I will not compromise on morality, or dishonesty, but the day to day things can be left in the hands of God for the final outcome through my husbands headship.

Ladies how many of you have arguments all the time with your husbands over money? Most huh? Well first of all you don't need to buy stuff just because it's on sale. That, "hey I have to hit every sale to save money" can drive you into debt, that even goes for the thrift store. How many shirts, dresses, and pants do your really "need"? How many of anything?  Do you and your husband have issues every time you try to balance the bills at  the end of the month and he can't figure out where the money went to? Then give the check book over to him, and decide together what you will, and will not buy, and peace will begin to reign in your house. You might say well he will not be careful with the money, he won't give me what I need. Well we really don't "need" much, we want much. Now I am talking to women with christian husbands here. Your man that stands before God will only over spend a few times when he is in authority over the money before he will learn he has to be a good steward. He will have nobody to blame but himself. And  you will have to resist the temptation to say I told you so. You need to allow God to deal with the situation. Tell him what you think would be the wise use of the money and then leave it to God and him. He will become the man. I would also suggest if you don't have cash, either save for it, or don't buy it. Debt is not even biblical principle.

Romans 13:8

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. "

How do I know, because I have lived it. My husband used to be mad at me at the end of every month and wanted to know where all the money went. I am sure I could have bought less books, my weakness, but the money just wasn't as big as he thought it was, and when I finally handed him the checkbook he found that out. It took him a few months to adjust but now his is an extremely responsible man when it comes to money, and in other areas too. The down side for us women is that we are now reduced to having to ask if things fit into the household budget, we don't like that much, we like being spontaneous, and going our own way. However when we are able to lay our pride, and covetousness down, we will see we really don't need much but love, and that will be given much more freely when the rest of our lives are in order. By the way I gave him the checkbook in 1986 and certainly don't regret it. He has truly become the man.

I have found that submission is a lovely word. I can tell my husband what I think in any given situation, and then walk away knowing that he respects my opinion, because I respect his, and he is very careful to try to make the right final decision. Sometimes my flesh doesn't like it when he says no about something I want, but I get over it. Now I  am free from strife in my household. I am never looking back, and I certainly am not lacking any good thing. God made men to lead, it is in their natures, and when we de-masculate them by usurping their authority they become less than men, they become hen pecked, and their buddies make fun of them. We need to allow our men to be all they can be. As I said it isn't a curse but an office of differing degrees of authority. But I promise you that this will change the entire atmosphere of your home. You will find as you walk this out that your husband will find you more valuable than the most magnificent rubies, and as my little picture above shows he will bring out of himself for you the deep things he could never give before because he feels safe with you. you will fit together like hand and glove. Praise the Lord of His wonderful plan, and order.

Proverbs 31:10-12

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price [is] far above rubies.

The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."

Checkout this wonderful site:

Sermonindex



Has Hospitality Become Archaic?

Has Hospitality Become Archaic?

By Kathy L. Clark

            The church of Jesus Christ was rebuked for leaving their first love in Revelation 2:4, that word love actually means in the Greek: affection, good will, love, benevolence, and brotherly love.

In modern times, a precious gift enjoyed by the early church has been almost lost, and needs to be recovered. Hospitality, in the biblical sense of the word, is that missing treasure within the reach of all believers. Those reaching out to recover it will find a wealth of treasure to be enjoyed and shared.

            There are four verses in the New Testament King James version on hospitality : Romans 12:13 Distributing to the necessity of the saints; given to hospitality, 1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, Titus 1:6 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, and finally, 1 Peter 4:9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

            The body of Christ is called to be the family of God. Members one of another, yet we are far from what a real family unit should look like. When members of a natural family come into town a special room is made for them, and everybody rejoices to see those who have been missing from the family hearth for so long. We cook their favorite dishes, clean our houses thoroughly, and make an inviting place for them to enjoy, so they know how much we love them.

            The body of Christ is called to be an even more loving family than the natural family. We are one in Spirit, members one of another, as these verses show. Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another, 1 Corinthians 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

            God has placed wonderful unique gifts in each individual member of the body of Christ, to be shared, and treasured by all. We miss out on these opportunities by not taking our brothers and sisters into our hearts, lives, and homes.

Missionaries come back from their fields of labor to be refreshed, and strengthened. God has worked through them in ways we need to hear about, or in a state of discouragement which our love will relieve, and uplift in some way. We can not enjoy those gifts, or strengthen the weary, by just spending a church service and dinner at a restaurant with them. However taking them into our homes for times of refreshing will benefit them, and us. They will feel connected to the body, loved, and valued, and we will reap the benefits God has placed in their lives to refresh, and motivate us. How can an impersonal hotel or apartment make them feel attached to the body? Are they not our brothers, and sisters? Are they not more so than our natural brothers and sisters? Matthew 12:48-49 But he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother? And who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! Would we consider sending the mother, or brother we love to spend the night with strangers in an impersonal hotel room? So why do we send those who are members of our body there to be alone to stare at generic walls?

            There are also a great many lonely brothers and sisters out there that go home to an empty apartment after a few hugs, and I love you’s, at church, while we have empty guest rooms, and vacant spots at our family dinner tables. Psalms 68:6 God setteth the solitary in families. We have resources, and love, to be shared with those who wonder if anybody really loves or cares about them. Acts 2:44-45 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had a need.

            Many in the body of Christ have become happy with being isolated from one another. We like our “me” time, with no interruptions to our way of life. But this is not the biblical pattern of hospitality. It is time for the church of Jesus Christ to lay aside selfishness and take up love the way Jesus, and the early believers did. Jesus took time away from the crowds to give himself to prayer, but was moved with compassion because of the needs. Loneliness is a need, and we have the goods to meet it by God’s grace. What the world needs right now is love, the God kind of love that lays down its life for others. We wonder why so many believers fall away, but how many of these precious brothers and sisters have never felt a part of a real family, the family of God? They came in, and went out, feeling just as unloved as they did in the world.

            It is time church, that we inconvenience ourselves for loves’ sake and become a family once again. Love looks like something. It is tangible. 1Thesselonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

            The fallacy is that we have to reorder our lives to receive guests into our homes, but these are no strangers, but our brothers and sisters in Christ. Every time our dad, or sister stops by we don’t feel obligated to scrub the entire house to make sure there isn’t a speck of dust, and our family in Lord does not expect it either. They would rather feel they aren’t just company, but a part of our family circle, a welcome addition that we don’t have to put on airs for. Heart of our heart, life of our life, love of our love. Let us make them feel at home, like one of the family, which we are all called to be to each other.

            Hospitality in the New Testament Greek means; “love to strangers, hospitable, generous to guests, lover of hospitality”. It is time we embrace this lost love, and make ourselves available to those we call our brothers and sisters in Lord. 1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned (undisguised, sincere) love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.

            The Church wonders why with all our efforts we can’t turn the world up-side-down. True love is the only thing that looks different from what the world already has. In the era of cast offs, and unlovables, we can shine as a light that will touch the heart of the lost. How can they see any difference in us, unless they see the love of Christ in action? It all starts at home, in “our” homes, with “our” family, the family of God. In the process we will find the greatest treasure God has given us on this earth is the one sitting in the pew next to us on Sunday morning feeling as if nobody really cares about them, and in the missionary that wants to know the family back home supports their efforts, and values their sacrifice. Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Amen? Love looks like something.

All scriptural references are from the King James Version of the bible.

Check out this great site:

Sermonindex