Teaching The Truth

"The peril of the godly life is drifting into ease and indifference; the doing of religious duties as mere routine; the meeting of religious obligations listlessly and without heart...We must not rest without energy and activity in the religious life. A formal obedience should be as distressing to us as it is to God." (The Pulpit Commentary) Where are you today in your Christian walk? Have you drifted into ease and indifference? Are you doing your Christian duties as mere routine? Are you meeting your Christian obligations listlessly and without heart? Are you giving God a formal obedience? Are you crawling when you should be running? "Progress and improvement are every man's duty. It is not right to remain as we were, or as we are. We ought to be all the time gaining and growing in experience and attainment and grace. It may be to our shame that we are just where God put us, and that we have just what God gave to us." (The Biblical Illustrator)

"The great end of religion is active obedience to the will of God. True understanding of our ways brings the grand conclusion - that man's 'way ought to be God's way.' We are forgiven in order to this." (The Pulpit Commentary) Are you aware of the fact that the great end - the bottom line, the conclusion, the target, the resolution - of Christianity is active obedience to the will of God? Not passive obedience! But active obedience! Not to self will or the will of man! But active obedience to the will of God! Do you have a true understanding of your way? Do you understand that your way ought to be God's way? You can get to the "great end of active obedience." I offer you two (2) directives as found in God's Word. Listen to this challenging message to find out what they are!

"We must first get a thing before we can keep it. In order to keep it well, we must first get a firm grip of it: we cannot keep in the heart that which we have not heartily embraced by the affections." "Highly prize the Scriptures, or you will not obey them." (Charles Spurgeon) Are you "keeping" or obeying God's Word? Do you have a firm grip of the Holy Scriptures? Are you "keeping" them in your heart? Are you "highly prizing" them? You can have the "blessing of the LORD" on your life - the "blessing of the LORD that makes rich and adds no sorrow." Listen to this Bible Message to find out how!

"Some give to God a careless service, a sort of hit or miss obedience. but the Lord has not commanded such service, nor will He accept it. His law demands the love of all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and a careless religion has none of these." (Charles Spurgeon) "God has never given a commandment, the observance of which He knew to be impossible...and to whatsoever He has commanded, He requires obedience; and His grace is sufficient for us. We must not trifle with God." (Adam Clarke) Are you giving God a "careless service"? Are you giving Him a "sort of hit or miss obedience"? Are you aware of the fact that God requires obedience? How do you perceive obedience? Do you see it as a negative thing or as an avenue into your blessing?

"If, in the worst of times, God's people can lift up their heads with joy, knowing that all shall work for good to them, they will own it is God, that is the lifter up of their head, that gives them both cause to rejoice and hearts to rejoice." (Matthew Henry) "And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me..." (Psalm 27:6) Receive this word from the Lord today. But, before you do, be sure that you "drink of the brook in the way" (Psalm 110:7) - that you receive refreshment, invigoration, and life from the Holy Spirit. Also, be sure that you surrender to the Father's will - drink of the "cup" that He has for you. If you do, you will have cause to rejoice and a heart to rejoice. The "worst of times" will become the "best of times."

"The God of Jacob then is the God Who met Jacob while he had nothing, and deserved nothing but wrath, and Who gave him everything. Happy indeed are they who have such a God for their God!" (Grace Gems) What the God of Jacob did for Jacob, He will do for us! Who He was to Jacob - Judge...Protector, Supporter, Deliverer, Enabler...Miracle Worker...Mighty God...Refuge...Prayer hearing God...King...and Help at hand - He will be for us!

"If God is not sovereign, if He is not in control, if all things are not under His dominion, then He is not the Most High, and we are either in the hands of fate (whatever that is) or in the hands of men or in the hands of the devil. But take courage beloved for...the Most High God, El Elyon, is in total control. He always has been in total control. He will always be in total control." (Precept Austin) El Elyon is God Most High. A question to keep in mind as you listen to this podcast is - "What is His perspective on the problems that I am presently facing in my life?" God is sovereign. "If you know that God is sovereign, then you can know that He will win the battle with Satan...From our perspective, the battle rages all around us, and all too often evil seems to be winning. God's sovereignty guarantees the ultimate victory of good over evil..." (Precept Austin) God wants you to know that He is the Most High!

"Mr. Moody says: 'There is much more said in the Bible about praise than abour prayer. The Psalms are nothing but praise, and as David got nearer the end of the journey, he seems to have thought of little else. So it is with Christians - the nearer they get to heaven, the more they praise God." (The Biblical Illustrator) David was resolved to "sing praise" to God. Whenever he did, God filled his eye with His Greatness and his heart with His Faithfulness. David said that "singing praise" was a "good thing." Barnes' Notes said - "A gloomy mind makes all things around more gloomy: an unthankful mind is an unhappy mind; a murmuring, complaining, dissatisfied mind makes its possessor wretched, and all around miserable." But "singing praise to the LORD" is the most cheering and enlivening occupation. It is not to be an occasional exercise. It is to be the regular business of our lives.

"He who has any proper sense of the greatness, the majesty, and the glory of God, 'intends' to praise Him forever. He sees that there is enough in the character of God to demand eternal praise, and he does not anticipate that a period can ever occur in all the future when he will feel that the causes for praise have come to an end, or when his heart will be indisposed to celebrate that praise." (Barnes' Notes) Do you have a proper sense of the greatness, the majesty, and the glory of God? Does your church have this proper sense? Then you should be offering God great praise! No mean praises can be meet (fit) for so great a majesty. Remember, nothing in His worship should be little. God's greatness is such that He needs to be greatly praised! Are you giving Him the honor due His name?

"David would praise God because he had many times, and all along, found Him his refuge in the day of trouble. He that is all this to us, is certainly worthy of our best affections, praises, and services. The trials of His people will end in joy and praise. When the night of affliction is over, they will sing of the Lord's power and mercy in the morning." (Matthew Henry) In the presence of his enemies, David was resolved to "sing" - to "sing aloud" unto God. He chose as the theme of His praise - God's "power" and "mercy." You are to do the same. When you are facing great trials or enemies, "sing of God's power" and His "mercy." It is HIs "power" by which He is able to help you. It is His "mercy" by which He is inclined to help you. Through both, God wants to turn your "day of trouble" into the "morning." This will all happen as you "wait" upon Him as your "Strength." Your "waiting" or watching will pass into singing. It's guaranteed to happen!