Values are Timeless, not Temporary

“And these words , which I commanded thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7a).
As parents, we need to see our kids at the age of the twenty- or thirty-year-olds they will one day become. This is not trying to grow them up before their time. But it is a vision that says to the world and to the culture that your children will not be had by them. We are talking about placing before them and within them the vision of training them into adulthood, growing them into disciples.
One of the values of Scripture, for instance, that has always been before us is this matter of being not “yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14), especially in the terms of the marriage relationship. Of course, this wasn’t an issue when they are only ten, twelve, and fourteen. But since this issue would arise in their lives in a short period of time, as Christians who love our God, we as parents place these values of the sanctity of Christian marital vows before them as they grow.
It is imperative that Christian parents know their core values and express them along the way. Before you know it the child has grown before you in a manner that is faster than a speeding bullet. God has taught us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto His wisdom. Don’t start tomorrow. Begin today to make those choices that will change and bend the hearts of your children toward Christ and His Word.

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  • Culture Wise

     
    “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cling to that which is good (Romans 12:9).

    You and I know what it means to go from lost to found, from darkness to light, from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of God. Any person who has been saved knows the difference. We know what it means to go home and to be right at home.

    We have been rescued and redeemed and thank God we have a right-standing before a loving God. But why is it that so many are perplexed regarding how to stand firm in that place? While we stand around, the ground seems to be shifty, uncertain, and unsafe. We don’t seem to know how to be conduits of redemption in a world that desperately needs to be redeemed.

    What are we to do? Here is how to live rightly in a wrong world. First of all, we are to think scripturally. Know what you believe. Know why you believe what you believe. And defend that truth every day of your life.

    Also, we are to live purely. We have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us, enabling us to practice a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. Don’t inch closer to the cultural fire. Why? You will get burned.

    Love generously. We overcome evil with good. We overcome darkness with light. And we overcome apathy in all its awful forms with generous helpings of love. Be known for your great love. As you love others, you show them the love of the Father. As you care deeply, you show them He cares.

  • Don’t Build A Golden Calf

    “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.”
    –Exodus 32:9The children of Israel were too fast to blame Moses and easily became critical. Out of bondage they were led from a life that was not fulfilling nor appealing. God sent them a deliverer and his name was Moses. Moses led them under God’s discipline and direction and yet the children of Israel were not mature in their feelings and thoughts. They always gave this man a hard time but Moses loved them.The Word of God gives us the illustrations (I Cor. 10) so the 21st century church can learn. The rebels came to Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him” (Exodus 32:1). So quick to blame Moses and in their state of impatience and lack of faith they wanted something to see, to feel, and to quench their flesh’s desire.

    At another time the Lord Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “How long should I be with you before you get it?” We have a God who disciplines and directs us, but we must wait upon Him so that we may learn. Moses was up in the mountain meeting with God and God was giving him the instructions for lawful living and also the instructions of how to build the tabernacle, so that God could come down and dwell with His people.

    God gives to us the test of patience, purity, and faith in His seeming delays.  The question to us is, “When we do not see the tangible presence of God will we continue to trust Him?” Joseph was placed in situations where he did not see the presence of God but when Potiphar’s wife wanted him, he fled. He did not fail in patience and purity but he placed his faith in a Faithful God. Will we? Or do we have to see to believe?

  • Lost Boy

    “I looked on my right hand…no man cared for my soul” (Psalm 142:4).

    When it comes to witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ, I remember while I was in college that no one every spoke to me about my soul.  As a matter of real knowledge, I do not ever recall anyone speaking to me directly about my eternal destination.  It was all so vague to me.  As a young man, a teen of maybe fifteen, I remember shutting my Bible during a worship service and saying to myself, “One day I will understand but for now I choose to wait it out.

    I did not shut my Bible in rebellion but in mild frustration.  I said “Maybe one day I will understand.”  I just didn’t get it.  I wasn’t trying to harm or hurt anyone; I, with all of the changes going on in my body, mind, and soul of a teen, just gave up and I just shut down.

    There are a lot of youth walking around the same way today.  They don’t know what the Bible, Jesus, the Church, and prayer, etc., is all about.  They are lost and headed toward a dream world that does not exist.  And there are hardly any out there who care enough to pray and prepare their own lives to tell the good news to them.

    Do you remember in the first paragraph that I remarked that no one spoke up for my soul?  Well there was one.  I was in my second year of college and I traveled to the State Fair in Raleigh, NC.  While there, minding my own business, I was walking with a girl and out of nowhere God appeared.  You say, “What?” Yep!  In just a moment in time this girl stopped out in front of us and asked ME “If I were a Christian?”  I said, “Yes,” for I was taken by surprise.  The next step, I took after giving her my answer, the Holy Spirit of God stopped me dead in my soul and in such a real way said to my lost soul, “You are lying.”  And He was right.  Never before had I been confronted in that manner.

    God used that girl to speak to me.  He was awakening my soul out of the lap of the evil one.  Later I understood the gospel!  He opened my eyes.  I have never gotten over it.  Someone cared for my soul.  She doesn’t know what she did for me.  I laughed inside when I saw her in front of me with her “Howdy Doody smile“.  But now it is me who has the smile.  I can’t wait to see her.  I don’t know exactly how it will happen, but one day I will thank her for her bravery, courage and her love for a lost college boy headed toward Hell who didn’t understand.  And one day I will thank the Lord God Almighty for using this young college girl in my life who stood up for Him!

  • Autonomy

    “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

    Anytime you and I walk outside of the Spirit of God we are using our own thoughts and actions. We are fraudulent in our true salvation. When we were born again God the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ. Everything we do should be in obedience stayed upon Jesus Christ.

    If we walk according to the flesh, our old unredeemable nature, then we are walking alone and making decisions without God’s power and presence. Yet, God has prearranged for His children to abide in His Son. Therefore this abiding assures us of God’s mighty work through us by His Spirit.

    The radical part of our salvation is that God saved us, and will save us, and does save us. He saves us from ourselves if we abide in humility and staying power.

    What a great God we have. Practice the presence of Christ today in your life and see if it does not make a great difference. No longer are we running the show, which is worldly, but God is working out His plans and purpose through each of us individually. No autonomy here, just God’s economy.

  • Let Down. Look Up

    “Let Down. Look Up.”

    “Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket” (Acts 9:25).

    The greatest day of Paul’s life, beside his salvation, was the day he realized that God’s plan for him was far better than his plan for his own life.

    The chance of being let down by someone or something is 1 in 1.

    Paul wanted to preach to his own people, the Jews, and went to them but they rejected him because of his new found message of grace in Christ Jesus. He had to be let down in a basket through a window over a wall to escape the bounty which was upon his head.

    Paul wanted to go to the Jews but God said, “My plan is for you to go to the Gentiles, Paul.”

    ‘But my heart–‘protested Paul.

    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul,’ answered the Lord.

    ‘But my background—‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘But my training–‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘But, Lord–‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘But–‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘OK, Lord.’

    Some of you will make this decision today. You’ll finally choose to say, ‘OK, Lord.’ And when you do, you’ll at last will find rest in your soul.

  • The Feast of Tabernacles

    “And on the third day eleven bullocks, two Rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish” (Numbers 29:20).

    There is coming a day of remarkable position for the nation of Israel. The Feast of Tabernacles prophesy to the day when the Kingdom promises and the beautiful bountiful land of Israel will be fully restored and enlarged.

    All promises and prophecies of Scripture are fulfilled in Christ. God’s blood accomplished what the animal sacrifices could not. All sin is forgiven and God is able to move in and make a way.

    You and I cannot live without the intercession and ministry of our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus. He represents us before the Father. He is our advocate, mediator, and intercessor. As the day approaches to the coming of the King we need to spend much time in His presence depending upon Him for His work in us and through us.

    The sacrifices given during the Feast of Tabernacles were expensive. The grace of God is given to us because of the great value and expense of God’s sacrifice of His only Son. We should be thankful and offer all we are and have up to Him.

    May we not give to the Lord that which costs us nothing (2 Samuel 24:24; Malachi 1:6-11). What great joy to know the Lord of lords and the God of glory is going to return to set up His Kingdom forever!