Honor God

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)

HONOR = high regard or great respect given. We honor people by our attendance, attention and extraordinary efforts. This honor is given as we show great respect and high regard for.

It behooves us to honor God because He is worthy (Revelation 4:11). So much depends on the consciousness that God is worthy of our honor. Only when we awake to this glorious fact does our worship of God take on meaning and real purpose. Without honor for God, Christians dry up where the worship of God is concerned. Without honor for God, Christians may draw nigh to God with their lips, while their heart remains far from God. Without honor for God, zeal is absent, humility is unattained to, and faith is not stimulated. Only by seeing God’s honor do we recognize our unworthiness, which is our thirst to draw off the wells of Divine grace and glory.

It is through honoring God that He bestows His honor upon us (1 Samuel 2:30). It is presumptuous to expect God’s honor 7 days a week if we cannot muster up the desire to honor Him one day a week. Should we expect God to honor our cause and answer our prayers, if we do not step up to the part of honoring His name? 2 Chronicles 32:25 – “But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him…” Should God never do anything for us but save our souls from hell, it is more than we could ever repay Him. Therefore should there ever come a time when we stop honoring God, we have ceased to render unto Him according to the benefit done unto us.

The duty and privilege of honoring God is a call for us to abandon slackness, indifference and mediocrity in our ways and habits towards the Lord’s work. It requires that we adopt a sense of urgency and promptness to do what we do in a way that is a credit to the Lord’s work. We should always be searching for improvement, rather than allowing anything to slide. To neglect being our best and doing our best is a slippery slope, the side of the mountain that the sunshine of Divine blessing and favor does not shine upon.

The call to honor God, unto being honored by God, is a reciprocal blessing. God calls us to do it, but we must wholeheartedly respond to be chosen for its benefits.

“And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?” (1 Chronicles 29:5). A responsible standard: “What would my church be, if every member was just like me?” CAN GOD BLESS YOU?

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McChurch

By Vernon C. Lyons

Our culture demands convenience Christianity. We want it short, simple, fast and cheap.

The McBible does not have the tedious 66 books, but just a few with short sentences and simple words at the fifth grade level. There are numerous pictures and some pages ruled with lines so that you can add your own spiritual thoughts, just in case you get a new revelation.

The McWorship service is all sweetness and love with nothing offensive. The McSermon is easily digested with a minimum of nutrition and a maximum of fat. Each McPrayer is centered on temporal and material things to keep the mind from wandering to the spiritual, which is often illusive for the modern American. To keep the kids awake, the McHymns are hip-hop style.

McMarriages are performed for folk who like quickie relationships, and throw-away vows are the big feature. For those who still hold some traditional notions, there are premarital sessions with junk counseling.

The McPastor is a touchy-feely guy who majored in pop-psychology and has an in-depth understanding of felt needs.

McSins, commonly called boo-boos, are easily forgiven with fast prayers and of course are soon repeated, but not taken too seriously. There is an effort to virtually eliminate the negative and dwell 100% on the positive.

This whole business is sustained by the McTithe, which is not 10%, but whatever stray dollars happen to be left in the wallet.

The McYouth program is short on Bible study and discipleship, and long on fun and games. It’s designed to give the kids what they want and to teen-sit them so that their parents can go out and have fun evenings without worrying about their kids getting into drugs and sex.

McChurch is staffed, not by professionals, but by hastily hired, part-timers whose strongest spiritual slogan is “Have a nice day.”

This is the church that offers McFellowship, which is not bonding, but just a quick “Hello” with a handshake and a hug and a hope that you do not become too responsible for the other person’s life or spiritual well being.

McSalvation does not have any deep doctrine of substitutionary atonement and regeneration, but a simple human decision or a nod of the head is more than adequate to bring a person into McKingdom, where he hopes to live happily now and in the hereafter.

All of this ends up in a McHeaven where there are no golden streets, but arches that appear over a broad entrance where the grill is scorching and the deep fry grease is super hot.

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Our Spiritul Heritage

We were well served as a mission for 3 years (1968-1971) by our sponsoring church, the Moore’s Fork Baptist Church, and her pastor, Bro. James K. Gardner. They laid the foundation for us to build upon, with Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone.

As a church, we have stayed on the course they set us on. We have not changed our doctrine, our character, nor the standards that they passed on to us.

Change for the sake of change is foreign to the unchanging Word of God and the eternal person and authority of Jesus Christ. We believe the New Testament Church of the Bible is still the model for New Testament Churches of today, as there is just One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One Spirit, One Body, etc. The world changes, people change, but the truth of God remains the same. It is the duty of each New Testament Church to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

The truth of these New Testament times is not diverse from the truth of Old Testament times: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Our doctrines are only as correct as they agree with the principles that God set forth in the Old Testament. Christianity is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, not the destruction of it: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. The Savior of the Old Testament is the Savior in the New Testament. Sin originates with Satan, not with dispensations of time. What was of Satan in the Old Testament is still of Satan in the New Testament. What was of God in the past, is still of God in the present. God and Satan have not switched places, nor exchanged principles. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” 1 John 3:4.

THE TRUTH CHANGES NOT!

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Neglect

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Hebrews 2:3a

The answer to this question is found in the rest of the chapter. It took Christ being incarnated into human flesh, to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, to provide the means for our spiritual success by His victorious power. Only by faithfully looking to Christ, cleaving to Him, and doing what He tells us to do will we be made an overcomer by and through Him.

A person who continues to drive their vehicle while neglecting to fill their fuel tank cannot escape. A person who quits eating, no matter how great their health, cannot escape the consequences. When we need something to make an accomplishment and we neglect it, there is no escape. To neglect being what Christ commands us to be is to be without what we need to overcome spiritually. John 15:4-5 makes this point very well on the absolute need of abiding in Christ. SINCE WE CAN DO NOTHING APART FROM ABIDING IN CHRIST, WE CANNOT ESCAPE WHEN WE NEGLECT BEING WHAT A SAVED PERSON IS SUPPOSED TO BE AND DO.

Neglect is when we fail to make the response God’s Word commands us to make. When one neglects, it often seems to be a relief from the strain or hardship of doing, but turns out to be a hardship due to the needed result not coming to pass due to the neglect. So while a person is neglecting Bible study, church attendance, or God’s other commands for some ‘needed relief,’ it only becomes a hardship due to coming up short on what one needs for spiritual success.

Neglect works to sear the conscience, raise up indifference in the mind and hardness in the heart because it is the process of denying the Truth its rightful place in the heart and mind. Neglect robs one of “being blessed in their deed as a doer.” Neglect is the admission of the process of backsliding. By neglect, one extinguishes the fires of interest to do the Lord’s work and prevents the joy of being in the sweet fellowship with Christ. Neglect will wither the branch on the Vine.

Neglect sends the wrong signals to everyone else. Neglect destroys the credibility of one’s profession of faith. By neglect, vows are left undone and broken. Neglect becomes a dishonor unto Christ who freely gave His all for us. Neglect discourages and disheartens others and abandons the work, leaving it to fall on others. Neglect is truly one recourse that Satan will do his best to encourage.

To neglect to do what we should makes us liable for what that neglect results in. Thus the results of neglect far exceed the act of neglect. Neglect will break down even the most solid relationships.

To neglect doing what one should do prepares the heart and mind to allow one to start doing the things they shouldn’t do. The sins of omission embolden one unto the sins of commission.

DO NOT ERR MY BELOVED BRETHREN!

SHARING

Behold The Lamb Of God

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

“Behold the Lamb of God”=the incarnate, pre-existent, Divine Son of God, God in the flesh. This is a great mystery (1 Timothy 3:16) in that it is beyond that which is of the natural realm known to man.

Jesus was incarnated into human flesh, to be the ‘sacrificial lamb’ for our sins, according to God’s plan and purpose, foreordained before the foundation of the world. It would be through the merits of His Divine righteousness and perfect shed blood, offered to God for us, in our stead, that full, eternal redemption from our sin would be made, plus, our soul would be made acceptable to the believer. Thus, “which taketh away the sin of the world.”

Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can atone for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2.) The law of sin and death is: “…the day that thou eatest thereof (sinnest) thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17.) “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20.) “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23.)

The shed blood is the sacrificing of “life” to pay sin’s penalty–“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)

The perfect, sinless shed blood of Christ is what affords nothing less than eternal redemption for the believer–Hebrews 9:12.

Through the merits of Christ’s substitutionary offering for sinners, the believer obtains nothing less than eternal redemption from all his sin, as well as nothing less than the eternal Divine righteousness of Christ upon his soul. These are the merits for the believer’s eternal life, the gift of God!

All the questions about the sufficiency and eternal duration of the believer’s justification from sin, are answered by, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.” It would be a rejection of Christ’s offering on the part of God, if God were to fail to freely give us what Christ died and paid for the believer to obtain, which is eternal life, thus “once saved, always saved.” Since a believer is saved through Christ’s offering, God would have to reject Christ’s offering in order for a saved person to lose their salvation. Embracing the truths of salvation supplies the vision and inspiration for godly living–Hebrews 11:13-16 and 1 John 3:3.

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