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crossing the line

10/9/2018

         Crossing the Line… Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. (Hosea 4:17)

I'M TRYING TO GET BACK to Daniel, but our text today is a short statement that has drifted down to me for most of my life. I heard it from a preacher when I was maybe twelve.

WHEN I WAS ABOUT FIVE, my mother was washing clothes in a big iron kettle. Grandpa (her daddy) had caught a mule, harnessed him, hooked up to the sled and loaded the kettle onto the sled and dragged it beside a wet-weather stream below our house that had plenty of water to fill the kettle and two rinsing tubs.

AFTER MOVING THE IRON KETTLE, he unhooked the sled and used the mule to pull a couple of dead tree limbs up to the kettle. He started a fire under the kettle and pushed the ends of the limbs into the fire. As they burned up, my mother fed the limbs into the fire and kept it burning. Mother had two galvanized tubs near the stream that contained rinse water.

WHEN THE CLOTHES HAD BOILED LONG ENOUGH IN THE KETTLE, she took a broom handle and moved the clothes several feet into the first rinse water. That cooled them enough, so she could wring them out by hand and put them through the second rinse water. This is the way we did it when there was water in the stream. Otherwise, we had to draw water out of the well, in the back yard, and that was much harder than using the water in the stream.

AS MOTTHER WAS BUSY RINSING CLOTHES IN THE TUBS, I began riding my tricycle around the kettle and the fire. The limbs were about burned up and were not in the way. There were plenty of red-hot coals all around the kettle. She promptly told me not to do that.

I IGNORED HER AND CONTINUED TO RIDE AROUND THE KETTLE. Quick as a clap of thunder, she hurried over to a bush and broke off a keen switch and stripped the leaves off it. Without saying a word, she grabbed me by one hand and pulled me off the tricycle away from the kettle and the fire. With the other hand, she “taught” me not to ride my tricycle around the fire… ever again!! After I got through wailing, I pushed my tricycle a few feet toward the creek and got on it to pout. She went back to her laundering.

AS I SAT THERE AND RECOVERED, I thought of a way to punish my mother. I got off my tricycle and went over to her where she was wringing out clothes and said as pitifully as I could: “You don’t love me.” (That will get her good.) She stopped what she was doing, dried her hands and came closer to me. It was her turn…

“IF I DIDN'T LOVE YOU, I WOULD HAVE LEFT YOU ALONE until you made a mishap and fell off your tricycle into the fire and burned you up.” (It wasn’t a scolding tone but a very subdued, quiet tone; very loving and reasoning.) I hadn’t counted on that. My attack on her had backfired. I was sorry I had brought it up. I deserved the lickin’ with the switch because I defied her authority and dishonored her. That theater played out so quickly and only one time. And yet, I remember it well after 79 years.

WHEN GOD SAID OF EPHRAIM, "LET HIM ALONE," it brought back the memory of my mother in dealing with my rebellion and shallow understanding of the danger of fire. I’m so thankful she didn’t “leave me alone.” But Ephraim (northern Israel) had crossed over a line where there was no hope. God had weighed them and saw that they would not repent. Their attachment to their idols was so strong that they would not turn back to God. There was only one thing left for God to do: judgment with a lot of blood and death.

McGEE EXPLAINS: "Ephraim" occurs thirty-six times in this book. God has picked out the name of one of the ten tribes in the north and applied it to all ten of the tribes. I used to wonder just how God used this term: was it a term of endearment or a term of ridicule? I have come to the conclusion that it was a term of endearment, actually His pet name for the northern kingdom.

THESE TEN TRIBES HAD REVOLTED, and Israel in the north actually had no name as a nation; it was Judah in the south who was really the nation. I think God gave this to them as a pet name—Ephraim. It is used throughout this Book of Hosea.

"Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." God says this in a longing sort of way but with a note of finality. If a man continues in a backslidden condition, refusing to listen to God, there will come a day when God can no longer speak to that man.” (McGee)

The Hidden Line of No Return

There is a time, we know not when,
A point we know not where,
That marks the destiny of men
To glory or despair.
There is a line by us unseen,
That crosses every path;
The hidden boundary between
God's patience and His wrath.
How long may we go on in sin?
How long will God forbear?
Where does hope end, and where begin
The confines of despair?
An answer from the skies is sent;
"Ye that from God depart,
While it is called today, repent,
And harden not your heart."

by J. Addison Alexander


Read Through the Bible in a Year
OCTOBER 10, 2018 – WEDNESDAY
A.M. Isaiah 43-44   P.M. Colossians 2
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

A good verse to memorize:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Song for Today:
Almost Persuaded (2:40) (Amish Youth-Acapella)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkTHPbMzhGU
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smarter than god

10/8/2018

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     Smarter than God…
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6)

EDUCATION HAS LONG BEEN THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN THIS LIFE. It’s not a sure guarantee, but it has a good track record. We want the best if it’s surgery or doing our taxes or landing in a cross-wind. Regardless of where you got your degree, you are going to have to get into the box in a few years. Are you prepared for that? What kind of knowledge do we need to face the box? Hosea said the problem with his nation was that they had rejected the knowledge of God.

WE ARE SLOWLY PLODDING THROUGH THE BIBLE again in our Monday-Saturday Bible reading. We don’t speed read it. We read the footnotes, look up comments in other books, chase words, etc. We have come to Hosea, the faithful prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the 10 tribes that split away after Solomon’s death. Hosea lived and ministered in northern Israel. Amos preached there too but lived in the southern kingdom.

WE CAME ACROSS THESE WORDS TODAY: They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. (Hosea 4:8-9)

“THE CAUSE OF MAN'S PROBLEM IS LACK OF KNOWLEDGE. It does not stem from a shortage of information, but rather from rejection of information. “They” (v.8) are the problem. That is, the priesthood. They have not helped the people face their sin and deal with it. Rather, they have gloried and taken pleasure in the sin of the people. Like people, like priest: The Priest of God is corrupted and made like the sinning people, not vice versa.” (King James Study Bible)

GOD TOLD HOSEA THAT AS THEIR DAUGHTERS AND WIVES had sex relations with the priests of their idolatry, God was not going to punish them because the husbands and fathers were whoring after women when they sacrificed to the heathen gods and carried out their rituals. It had become a sordid mess. Everybody was partying in sexual frenzies as they loaded up on wine and carried on like animals. It was a picture of what they were doing against God in bowing down to these gods and forsaking the worship of Jehovah with whom they had a covenant (Deuteronomy 28).

HOSEA PLEADED WITH SOUTHERN JUDAH: v.15 “Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend: and come not ye unto Gilgal.” That is, Judah, you just stay put and don’t come north into these obscene places and get involved. Elijah showed up and called down fire on Mt. Carmel and the people talked about following God. But that was skin deep. They never changed and ended up as slaves.

IN 722 ASSYRIA CAME DOWN AND CARRIED ISAREL OFF AS SLAVES AND THEY were never heard from again. It took 150 years, but Israel’s sister: Judah, followed into the same ugly departure from God and after the ministry of Jeremiah and others, was deported into Babylon in three deportations: 605 B.C., 597 B.C. and 586 B.C. Thousands were slain by the Babylonian soldiers. They resisted Babylon, God’s appointed caretaker for them and brought the blood bath upon themselves.

BAD THINGS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL WHEN THE OLD LEADERS DIED OFF and the younger generation was left to take their place. Young people tend to know a lot before they know much at all and make a lot of mistakes that mess up their lives for years to come. One of the mistakes young people are making today is that they think they know more than they actually do. They think they are a lot smarter than their parents. If they have been to college, they may have been indoctrinated by some of the professors with some ideas that don’t work well.

“THE PROBLEM WITH A LITTLE LEARNING is that the one who has it may not know it’s only a little.” Somebody told me that in my late teens and I adopted it as one of the foundation timbers of my life. I still ask questions. It has served me well. I have made it a practice all my adult life; seeking out older people who obviously know more than I know and asking them all kinds of questions. Everybody, even little kids, know things I don’t know.

THE TEENAGER WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING CAN'T BE TAUGHT ANYTHING. It’s like trying to pour more water into a glass that’s already full. I feel sorry for the young people who are afflicted with this handicap. They will have to learn some of their lessons the hardest way: by experience. Experience is a good teacher, but the tuition is terribly high.

THE PRODIGAL SON THAT JESUS TALKED ABOUT was like this. He didn’t learn anything until he had spent everything he had and came to himself in the hog pen. A lot of people begin with God in the hog pen. I’ve been meeting them all my adult life. Men who had done well with their lives but didn’t amount to anything until they were humbled in the hog pen.

ANOTHER BIG MISTAKE THAT YOUNG PEOPLE MAKE is to think that worthwhile learning is in almost every book in the library, except for the Bible. They get it backwards. You’re not educated until you have a firm grip on the Bible and it has a firm grip on you. The Bible is the only book that tells the future. The Bible tells you where you came from, what you’re doing here, and where you’re going. I’ve been in the Library of Congress in Washington several times. The old stone building is a piece of art. I like to just walk around in it and look at all the books and look at George Washington’s false teeth he had made from wood.

BUT, I MUST TELL YOU THIS: there is only one book in that vast library that reliably tells the future. It’s the Bible. People read everything but the Bible and it leaves them as dumb as an ox about life and the hereafter. Reading is dropping off drastically today and people are not reading much. But of those who do still read, not many of them choose to read the Bible. However, there are some who read their Bibles every day and have done so for most of their lives.

YOU DON'T KNOW YOURSELF UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT YOU. Few people who attend Bible-believing churches read their Bibles. Few of them have read their Bible through even one time. I’ve talked with many of them and I have seen the national surveys that keep track of these things.

I STILL DON'T KNOW THE BIBLE LIKE I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IT and I’ve read it through several times. The reason most people don’t read the Bible is because they don’t think it’s worth reading. Please change your mind about that. We think we are smart enough, so we don’t walk with Him. Please change your mind about that. Let’s change everything that needs changing. OK? God would like to hear from you. He would like to meet with you because He loves you. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)

Read Through the Bible in a Year
OCTOBER 9, 2018 – TUESDAY
A.M. Isaiah 41-42   P.M. Colossians 2
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

A good verse to memorize:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Song for Today:
My Hope Is Built (2:11) (Menonite Choir)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bWjb_6MzwY
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living in a fallen world

10/8/2018

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     Living in a Fallen World
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

THE ESSENCE OF ALL SIN IS HAVING OUR OWN WAY in opposition to the will of God. When God made man, it was the capstone of everything God had made, and He said that all He had made was very good. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)

INSTEAD OF MAKING MEN AS ROBOTS, He gave us a will that we can exercise at our pleasure. We can comply with His will, or we can live in defiance of His will. Like Satan, Adam and Eve chose to exercise their will against God and this plunged the human race into a contest of “us against God.”

GOD WARNED ADAM AND EVE: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) Eve was deceived by Satan and sinned. Adam sinned with his eyes wide open and identified with Eve in her sin. Through their joint sin, we inherited a sin nature and from that we practice sin. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)

BEFORE WE DISCUSS ANY KIND OF SIN, we need to get to the root of all sin: God said: “Don’t do it!” Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1John 3:4)

WE HUMAN BEINGS TEND TO THINK: “Your sin is worse than my sin.” “Your dirt is dirtier than my dirt.” After Adam and Eve fell and the exploding population rejected God’s right to rule over them, they began to be ugly and mean toward one another. To limit that damage, God encouraged human government. Even that didn’t stop it. God told Noah to build a boat and sent a world-wide flood that destroyed everyone outside the floating ark. Just eight people survived the flood. Back to the drawing board.

THAT RESTARTED THE HUMAN RACE ON A BETTER FOOTING WITH GOD. But the new start didn’t last long. The population grew quickly, and God had to confuse the language the people were speaking, and they couldn’t understand one another. That’s where we got all the different languages that are spoken today.

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So, the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore, is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:7-9)

AFTER A WHILE GOD HAD TO DESTROY SODOM AND GOMORRAH and after them would come Assyria and Babylon, and the Greeks and the Romans and all of them would have to be subdued.

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isaiah 13:19) Sodom and Gomorrah became the standard by which God instructed other nations marked for destruction.

PETER AND JUDE ALSO WROTE ABOUT GOD'S DESTRUCTION OF WICKEDNESS: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; (2Peter 2:4-6)

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7)

ONE DAY GOD WENT O A MAN NAMED ABRAHAM, in modern-day Iraq, and said to him, I want you to leave here and go to a place I will show you. You will be the father of a great multitude of people. We are going to start a new nation and I am going to give them my laws and they will be a testimony to the rest of the world. Its’ going to be a long-term plan.

THE PEOPLE THERE ARE NOT QUITE WICKED ENOUGH FOR ME TO TAKE THEIR LAND, houses, wells, and vineyards and give them to you. Their wickedness is not yet full. So, your descendants will be in another country for four hundred years and will come back here and possess this land as their permanent dwelling place.

And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. (Genesis 15:15-16)

IT WAS A PRETTY TOUGH JOB LIVING AMONG PEOPLE WHO DID NOT KNOW GOD. God’s people were a misfit and a “hindrance to progress” everywhere they lived. But, God had his hand on them. God had to chasten them by the Assyrians (the 10 tribes in the north) and by Babylon (the two tribes of Judah in the south).

IN A FEW HUNDRED YEARS, GOD SENT HIS OWN SON TO THIS NEW NATION, called: Israel. He was born to die as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (the anti-Christ), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:8) God’s plan was for Him to die on a cross in Jerusalem for the sins of the world; your sins and my sins. Please note that the worshippers of the anti-Christ are not written in the book of life of the Lamb. The Lamb was slain (in the mind of God) from the very beginning, from the foundation of the world.

IN FORTY YEARS, GOD HAD TO DESTROY JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE by the hand of the Romans and they remained dispersed throughout the world for almost 2,000 years. But they are back in the land as of 1948 and they remain in their land. If you want to read more about this, look at this link, http://www.biblewalking.com/whose-is-the-land.html . Read this booklet by David Hocking. It took me five years to find him and get his permission to post it.

THE TEMPLE WILL BE REBUILT BUT, IN A FEW YEARS, will be destroyed again and the coming anti-Christ will break his covenant with them and they will be hunted down like wild dogs. But during that time a great number of Jews will be saved. At the end of the seven years of Great Tribulation, Jesus will return from Heaven with his saints and will rule the world from Jerusalem on the throne of David. During that time, Ezekiel’s Temple will be built and used during the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth.

A HUGE POPULATION WILL BE BORN DURING THAT THOUSAND-YEAR PERIOD with Christ on throne in Jerusalem. But, even with Christ on the throne in Jerusalem, the new-born population of the earth will grow wicked and those who remain against Him will be destroyed.

AT THE END OF THAT TIME THERE WILL BE A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2Peter 3:12-14)

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1-2)

ARE YOU HAVING A HARD TIME LIVING IN A FALLEN WORLD? Hang in there and walk with God. He wants to use you as a testimony to others. We may be saddened and overwhelmed by the wickedness coming on the earth. But, God is not overwhelmed. He is in charge and will always be in charge. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.. (2Timothy 2:12-13) So, if you have peeked at the last page of the book, you know that we win, Satan loses, and the best times are yet ahead. (Is this too much for one devotional? Save it and read it again.)

ON A DIFFERENT TONE, BACK ON PLANET EARTH, I’m sure you noticed the cat fight going on in our nation’s capital over our getting another Supreme Court justice. It’s over. I tried to keep up with it. I was impressed by the speech of Susan Collins. If you want to read it in its entirety, this link is supposed to take you to it. It’s a classic speech that was well-researched and delivered in sincerity. It surprised everyone. I want to keep it where I can read it several times during the coming year. It will go down in history as one of the greatest speeches ever made in the U.S. Senate.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/why-susan-collins-voting-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court/572341/ Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year
OCTOBER 8, 2018 – MONDAY
A.M. Isaiah 39-40   P.M. Philippians 4
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Song for Today:
This World is Not My Home (2:11) (Calvary Mem. Church)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSVqU82Ge5M
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how serious is lying?

10/5/2018

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How Serious is Lying?
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

THE AMERICAN COURT SYSTEM depends heavily upon receiving and evaluating the testimony of individuals. Eye witness testimony is crucial. Before the witness can testify, he or she must take an oath: “Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” “I do.” The breaking of that oath is called perjury and the penalty can be five years in prison. During the time of testimony, each lie is a separate offense and each offense carries the penalty of prison time. Lying under oath is serious, and costly.

YOU CAN'T BUILD A STRONG BUSINESS WITH A BUNCH OF LIARS. If you happen to get it off the ground, it will crash and destroy itself. People have got to believe you. If you lose your reputation for telling the truth, you don’t have much left.

HOW DO WE GET INTO LYING? The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. (Psalm 58:3) “…as soon as they are born. “All people are born totally depraved. Without being made new creatures in Christ by God's power, they are prevented by their wicked nature from pleasing God (cf. Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:9-18; 2Corinthians 5:17).” (Bible Knowledge Commentary)

ESSENTIALLY, LYING IS THE CREATING OF AN ARTIFICIAL WORLD that is contrary to truth. When I was about four, my uncle stayed with us and worked at Daddy’s sawmill. He loved to tease me about my name. He called me Daniel Boone. Little kids don’t like for you to mess with their names. One day while he was at work, I spotted his green riding britches hanging on the door in the dining room. My daddy had left his big yellow crayon that he marked logs with.

I TOOK THAT BIG YELLOW CRAYON, scooted a cane-bottom chair up to the door, climbed up into the chair and made a work of art on the seat of my uncle’s britches…many circles. I was getting even with him. I thought it was over. When my mother came in, she spotted it right away. “Daniel, what happened to your uncle’s britches?” “I don’t know.” “Daniel!” “A man came in while you were gone. It must have been him.”

WHEN MY UNCLE CAME HOME AND SAW HIS BRITCHES, he was plenty upset. It was the only nice pair of pants he had, and we were in the middle of the Depression. I had ruined his pants. The marks would not come out. He was hurt bad about it. I hadn’t figured on that happening. I don’t know how I escaped punishment for that, but I didn’t get a lickin’ for it.

WHERE DID I LEARN TO LIE LIKE THAT? We don’t have to go to school to learn how to lie. It’s in our hearts to lie. We always lie to give ourselves the advantage. We never lie to put ourselves down. I was on my way. I had discovered a way of life I had never known. If we don’t have the situation we want, make it like you want it to be with words.

MARRIAGES ARE BUILT ON COMMON TRUST AND CONFIDENCE. No one is a perfect liar. A habitual liar can’t remember what he told everyone; can’t keep up with his lies, so he is found out. Many a business flounders because the owner is a liar and promises things he doesn’t plan to keep. Liars fancy themselves as smart. Truth is, they’re pretty dumb to think they can lie to everybody and nobody will ever suspect they are a liar. A strong marriage and family cannot be built without common trust of family members.

MANY PEOPLE LIE TO THEMSELVES. That is, they imagine themselves to be invincible. It becomes an addiction. What they do not realize is that no human relationship can be built on lies. It simply will not work. Some people are smart enough to know what you want to hear, and they develop the skill of telling people what they think the other person wants to hear. That’s one of the subtler kinds of lying. It takes a little longer to find out but not long. It makes for pleasant conversation, but people don’t put much stock in it. They will listen and be nice to you, but they won’t believe you.

THE BIGGEST LIAR IS SATAN. Like the humans God created, God gave Satan a will so that he could oppose God if he should choose to do so. He chose to do so. He thought big. He proposed to usurp the throne of God by sending fallen angels to the various kings of the world and trying to influence them to rebel against God. These fallen angels are powerful and often can manage some kings and rulers. The whole system of Satan’s kingdom is one very big lie. He is not going to win. He is going to lose. Satan will paint a rosy picture for you but after he has used you, he will destroy you. He is a liar. He is a murderer. Isaiah addresses the pride of Sennacherib.

“SENNACHERIB WAS THE KING OF ASSYYRIA from 705 BCE to 681 BCE. He is principally remembered for his military campaigns against Babylon and Judah, and for his building programs – most notably at the Akkadian capital of Nineveh.” (Wikipedia)

ISAIAH WROTE HOW GOD WAS ABOUT TO BRING SENNACHERIB DOWN and in bringing him down it was a setback for Satan. it was also a prophesy of Satan’s future in the end. Sennacherib was a cruel servant of Satan. When Isaiah wrote of him, he addressed him as though he were Satan.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.

FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF SINS THAT CHARACTERIZE SOME UNSAVED PEOPLE. They have never repented of their sins. Notice that “all liars” is in the list of people who are destined for the second death. Lying is totally against the character of God and totally against the character of those who belong to him. There is no such thing as a “Christian liar.”

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

Have you truly been saved? Do you truly belong to Him? Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life?

Read Through the Bible in a Year
OCTOBER 5, 2018 – FRIDAY
A.M. Isaiah 31-33   P.M. Philippians1
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. (Hosea 4:6-7)

Song for Today:
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow(4:15) (Gaither)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWLm3asMiGo&list=RDxWLm3asMiGo&start_radio=1&t=18
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the lying problem

10/2/2018

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  The Lying Problem
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

“WHEN SATAN UNDERTOOK TO DRAW EVE AWAY FROM GOD, he did not hit her with a stick, but with an idea. It was with an idea that God could not be trusted and that she must act on her own to secure her own well-being.” (Dallas Willard) If you have been hit with that idea, you might do well to ask yourself where it came from.

WE WERE MADE BY THE HAND OF AN AWESOME GOD and we are confronted with a tireless adversary who works night and day to destroy us. If he cannot destroy us, then he will hinder us and destroy our testimony for God. At the core of who we are in Christ, we are this: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3John 1:4)

BUT, SINCE WE RETAIN THE PRESENCE OF THE OLD NAURE we had before we received Christ as Savior and Lord, we are plagued with the constant pull into darkness. Our struggle is how to live the Christian life. We have two natures. We still have the old nature and we have a new nature imparted to us by the Holy Spirit and we have the presence of the Holy Spirit who lives in the body of every true believer in Christ. John brings to our attention:

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 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. (1John 1:6-7)

THE CHRISTIAN HAS THREE ENEMIES: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The comedian, Flip Wilson missed it on his quip: “the devil made me do it.” The devil can’t make us do anything. Nothing! Eve was not compelled by the devil to sin against God. Eve was influenced by the devil to sin against God. Eve chose with her own free will to side with the devil and sin against God.

HOW DID THE DEVIL INFLUENCE EVE? He lied to her. In our text for today, when Jesus addressed His audience, he went to the core of their problem: they were walking in the pattern of their father, the devil. What is demonic activity? We’ve heard some disturbing tales about Satan worshippers gathering in the cemetery at night and offering the blood of an animal to Satan. That does give me pause. But that’s not where Satan does the most of his work.

I SAT IN ON A SESSION WHERE DEMONS WERE CAST OUT OF A TEENAGE GIRL (in a Christian school) and there’s no way to forget it. The demons used her voice to speak low and guttural. When they let go, she relaxed and fell back on the table where she was sitting. When the demons wanted to speak through her, she bolted upright, and the demons spoke through her. That was the work of Satan, alright. Sometime after midnight, the demons came out of her and she slept for almost two days.

BUT THE WORK OF SATAN DOES NOT BEGIN THERE. The work of Satan is working when people are willing to lie to one another or to lie about one another. That’s certainly not the work of the Sunday school teacher, you think? People who lie are doing the chief work of Satan because they are copying their master, the devil. Jesus said the devil is a liar and the father of lying.

Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and that he is a liar. It doesn’t get worse than that. People kill the bodies of people and they are buried. But people kill the character of people with their tongues: character assassination. God said through Moses: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. (Exodus 20:16)

THE INFAMOUS DEEDS AND WICKEDNESS OF KING AHAB AND HIS WIFE: JEZEBEL are known everywhere there is a printing press or a book store, I suppose. When King Ahab couldn’t get his way, he would go to bed and pout. His “sweet” wife Jezebel would come in and cheer him up and take over for him.

AHAB WANED A VINEYARD NEXT TO HIS TO ROUND OUT HIS PRIVATE HOLDINGS. When Naboth wouldn’t sell it to him, Ahab went to bed, turned his face toward the wall and pouted. Jezebel took over. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. (1Kings 21:7)

AND JUST HOW WAS JEZEBEL GOING TO GIVE HER HUSBAND NABOTH'S VINEYARD? Simple. Kill him. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. (1Kings 21:8-10)

AND THAT'S WHAT THEY DID AND THAT'S HOW AHAB GOT HIS NEIGHBOR'S VINEYARD. The only problem with that is that God was watching the whole thing and he sent His prophet to talk with Ahab. That wasn’t the only wicked thing Ahab and Jezebel were into. They were turning the whole nation of Israel toward idolatry and God called Elijah to be His mouth piece. When it came time to deal with it, this is how it happened:

And he (Jehu) said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Wherefore they came again, and told him.

And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. (2Kings 9:33-37)

MURDERING AND LYING GO TOGETHER. If we tell a lie against someone we have wounded them, maybe destroyed their name. We have broken one of the Lord’s ten commandments. Not only so, we have joined the ranks of the devil who is the father of liars. Let’s have the truth, whatever it is and wherever it takes us: tell the truth! There’s no such thing as a Christian liar. If you are a Christian and you lie as a way of life, you could be taking your life into your own hands because there is a sin unto death for the Christian.

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. (1John 5:16-17) Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year
OCTOBER 3, 2018 – WEDNESDAY
A.M. Isaiah 27-28   P.M. Ephesians 5
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. (Hosea 4:6-7)

Song for Today:
Sweet Beulah Land (3:47) (Carrol Roberson)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J15I85hESTg&list=RDjHBzI_Jb-o4&index=4
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Repeating this great song for one day…
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a desperate woman

10/1/2018

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A Desperate Woman
And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. (Mark 5:25-28)

And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? (Mark 5:29-31)

And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. (Mark 5:32-33)

IN 1953 I CAME ACROSS A BOOK OF SPURGEON'S SERMONS on a fast-sale table and took the book home. In it was a sermon: “Tell it All” preached June 14, 1863. I was greatly impressed by it and I am still impressed. I misplaced the book, so several months ago I looked it up on the Internet and read it again. (You can read the sermon here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons09.xxviii.html)

BRIEFLY, JESUS HAD JUST CAST DEMONS OUT OF A NAKED MAD MAN who came toward him out of the graveyard. Jesus was asked to leave so He got into a boat and crossed the Sea of Galilee. As he got out of the boat, the ruler of the local synagogue approached him about coming with him to heal his little daughter who was at the point of death. Jesus went with him and a crowd moved along with them.

AS JESUS STARTED ON HIS WAY TO HEAL THE LITTLE GIRL, a Jewish woman pushed through the crowd toward him. She had been bleeding for twelve years and had spent everything she had on doctors. She had heard about the Jesus preacher. She decided if she could get close enough to Him to touch his clothes she would be healed. She wouldn’t have to touch his hand. She wouldn’t tell anyone she was bleeding, nor did she want to make him unclean (Leviticus.15:25). So, she followed with the crowd that was walking behind Him.

IN DESPERATION, SHE MOVED THROUGH THE CROWD TOWARD HIM. Can you see her stretching her trembling hand trying to reach him? No one knew her or that she was bleeding and unclean. Finally, she was able to touch the hem of His outer garment. That’s all she could do, just the hem, not the sleeve nor the waist.

MARK WROTE: And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? (Mark 5:29-31)

THE DISCIPLES WERE JUST LIKE US. They fashioned their reality out of what they could see, and the pieces of the puzzle did not fit. Jesus did not ask about who touched Him to find out who had touched Him. He knew exactly who had touched Him. He asked the question to begin communication with the woman. It’s like when God called to Adam: “Where art thou?” God knew where Adam was. Jesus knew who had touched Him.

And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. (Mark 5:32-34)

THE WOMAN KNEW IMMEDIATELY THAT SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED INSIDE HER. In a burst of strength, she probably drew back and stood up in amazement! She was full of strength, something new for her! It had been twelve years since she had had such strength! Weakness of the body tends to cause the body to slump forward. But now, she could stand up straight!

SHE WAS BEHIND JESUS BUT SUDDENLY HE TURNED AROUND TOWARD HER. She was not an educated woman, but she knew more than the puzzled disciples at that moment. Her response was fear and trembling. She had better get everything out in the open.   She fell to her knees in front of Him and began to sob and blurt out her story to Him in front of the startled crowd.

McGEE MAKES THIS OBSERVATION: “The disciples thought it was a very peculiar question since the whole crowd was pressing in on Him. But only one touched Him in faith for healing! The situation is the same today. I think we have a lot of folk around who use the name of Jesus freely. They are running around saying that it is Jesus this, and Jesus that, and people think they certainly know Him.

“SURELY, THEY KNOW HIM, but they have touched Him as the crowd touched Him—not like this woman touched Him, for she touched Him in faith for healing”

THE CROWD WAS ALL AROUND HIM AND THEY CERTAINLY HAD BEEN TOUCHING HIM but only one woman touched Him by faith and did business with Him. When we come to church we may get into the routine of things. Our habit of worship takes over and we sing without thinking about what we are singing. We go through the motions but have no real connection with the Lord. We can do better than that. Let’s reach out to Him with determination.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS WE CAN REACH OUT TO THE LORD like the woman with the issue of blood. We can come to him out of desperation (as she did). Or, we can come to him in quiet surrender to everything we know He wants of us. God works through desperation of His saints and He works through His quiet persistence. We can have the thunderstorm or the quiet, steady rain that goes all night and waters deeply.

THE BIBLE DOESN'T SAY, BUT I BELIEVE THAT GOD PUT IN HER HEART WHAT TO DO to get results. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18) The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. (Psalm 145:18)

WE DO NOT "BUY" GOD'S GRACE AND ANSWERS TO PRAYER with a broken heart or a contrite spirit, but we do remove the barriers that hinder Him from doing what He would otherwise do. It is important to remember:” … God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” (James 4:6) Peter says the same thing: (1Peter 5:5) There’s a warehouse full of gold in the story of the desperate woman. She told Him all. Let us tell Him all. Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year
OCTOBER 2, 2018 – TUESDAY
A.M. Isaiah 24-26   P.M. Ephesians 4
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

A GOOD VERSE TO MEMORIZE:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. (Hosea 4:6-7)

Song for Today:
Sweet Beulah Land (3:47) (Carrol Roberson)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J15I85hESTg&list=RDjHBzI_Jb-o4&index=4
(Wait several seconds. You may have to delete an ad.)

HEALTH NOTE: (From Newsmax) Taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can raise the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 30 percent in some vulnerable people, say scientists from Albert Einstein School of Medicine.
The study was a follow-up to an earlier study which investigated whether or not modest weight loss or treatment with metformin — a diabetes medication that helps control blood sugar levels — could reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes in people at high risk.(The study was published in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. Read More Here)
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crossing the line

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living in a fallen world

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the lying problem

a desperate woman

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