Author: kezha1

Even though she had been specifically warned of doing it…the draw of her old life style was too much. The longing of their amassed wealth, security, and comfort proved to be too much for Lot’s wife to walk away from. And her trust in God…that He’d take care for them…vacillated the farther they fled from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Finally, her uncertainty and doubt that God could really do what He promised, coupled with her desires and appetites for things of the past became too much…and she did exactly what she had been warned not to do. Too many times we too look back at our past with longing…thinking about its comfort and ease simply because it’s what we know and we’re used to it…but God doesn’t want us to go back to what we once were…when we can become something brand new.

Just as Abraham and Sarah were foreigners and sojourners in the land of the Hittites (Genesis 23:3), so the Church in Philippi was not just a Roman colony but inhabitants of a future colony called Heaven. Paul reminded the Colossians of the same thing in Colossians 3:1, when he wrote, “Set your hearts on things above.” And as Christians today, we too are just foreigners and aliens here on earth…longing for our own Promised Land…and waiting patiently for what we have yet to see. But as we wait, we are to be about our Father’s business, not setting on our hands watching from the sidelines. Rather, God desires we be busy…serving others and making disciples. For even though our citizenship may not be here, our influence can be enormous.

Corinth was one of the largest cities in the Roman world…a strategic commercial center with many international visitors and in this we find the problem for the early Christian Church there. Many thought it was necessary and thus permissible to associate with “worldly people”….while others in the Church maintained that a measure of isolation was necessary for holiness. Sadly, the entire Church felt they had received Salvation and now nothing else mattered. Paul uses a Proverb from a Greek play here to show how worldly they had become. The comparable Jewish saying is, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” showing the dangers of a corrupting influence that slowly permeates and perverts good morals. We’ve all had that certain friend or group of friends that we know we shouldn’t hang around with…but we still do…and instead of drawing them closer to Jesus, we end up doing things we shouldn’t. It’s called compromising ourselves, not that we intended to from the start, but when peer pressure is too much, we cave in rather than say No. As Paul warned the Church in Corinth, be careful of bad company that will ruin your good morals and character.

A great quote from Charles Stanley is, “When we are called to serve, our strength, skill, and wisdom doesn’t matter. Rather, it’s the Lord Who does the work through us. He doesn’t seek out the most qualified person but instead calls men and women who are willing to surrender themselves to Him. When His strength works through their weakness, it’s obvious that only God could have achieved the result.” But sadly when most of us think of serving it’s something high and lofty and usually in the future…such as going on the Mission Field or some other fulltime Christian work…but we’re completely missing God’s intention and utterly missing the serving opportunities we have around us daily. Serving is simply acting in the interest of others, whether it’s at work, the grocery store, the coffee shop, or anywhere else God places you. God wants you to flower where you’re planted today, to look around at the people He has placed across your path and show them Jesus. For all He is asking of you is obedience and willingness, and He’ll do the rest. For through you God can comfort, encourage, admonish, exhort, strengthen, give hope, and love the hurting world.

Right off the bat let’s get one thing very straight… God tests, but will never tempt us to sin. In other words, God will never entice us to do wrong. You can see this clearly illustrated in James 1:2-4 and verses 12-14. So why does God test us? In Psalm 66:10 it compares our testing from God to the refining of silver… the removing of the dross in order to get a purified metal. When we go through adversity, hardship, and very difficult decisions, we’re being tested. Our quality of character is being refined through these stressors. And as we persevere under this pressure, will we remain loyal, obedient, and committed to God…or fall away? Our faith is tested every day by the circumstances we find ourselves in. It’s our decision in how we react to them. Do we walk by faith, with hope under pressure…or not.

Throughout I Chronicles we see two stark contrasts. Time and time again David sought the Lord first….while Saul consulted a medium for direction. David relied on God’s wisdom and His blessing before acting, while Saul foolishly struck out on his own. This illustrates the need to go to God first, and not when you’ve already made up your mind of what you’re going to do and you just want God to bless it. You need to seek God first to enable Him to fill your heart and mind with His insight and direction, not as a last resort when everything you’ve tried has failed. It’s not surprising that the name of this valley meant Vale or Valley of Giants…(an imposing designation that probably many of us have felt we’ve visited before.) David inquired of God first not last, and in return God delegated to David authority and dominion over his enemies.

“In later times…” is not a future period of time right before the Second Coming of Christ, rather in keeping with the overall perspective of the New Testament, it’s the era inaugurated by Christ coming as a baby and will end at His return. This end-time tribulation is here, today, now, and will only get worse as the very end draws near. (II Thessalonians 2:3-7) And as we get closer, godlessness will increase, even within the four walls of the Church. II Peter 3:3 warns us that in the last days scoffers will come saying, “Where is this Coming He promised?” There will be the deception of many as false teachers with their false doctrines infiltrate the pulpits…causing many to forsake the faith and rebel against the truth of the Gospel Message. But the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, can guide the simplest of us if we only allow Him. We also have the example of Jesus and His Ministry to follow as a blueprint for holy living in a very broken world today. Combine this all with God’s Word, and I assure you that it will be easier when you hear something… to discern whether it’s from God or not. (I John 4:1)

How long have you waited on the Lord for a prayer of yours to be answered? A month, a year, a decade? It can finally get to the point that we think God has forgotten us and our request is just being ignored. But Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for the promise of a son to be fulfilled. By then, Sarah was 99 years old and well beyond childbearing age. But it says here that God was gracious to her, miraculously enabling Sarah to conceive. God always does what He says He will do, and accomplishes every promise He has made. Our job is to wait, patiently trusting in His Word…for He is faithful to all He has promised. Or as Joshua 21:45 tells us, ” Not one of all the Lord’s good promises failed; every one was fulfilled.”

In other words, everything that will ever happen to you goes through God’s hands first. This is the concept of God’s providence…His caring provision for His people as He guides them in their journey of faith, accomplishing His plan and purpose in them. His mission always to save us and shape us more into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. But we don’t always accept His sovereignty when trauma, loss, and suffering comes into our lives and we are forced to submit to His Will, not ours. At that point I’m reminded of Corrie Ten Boom who said, “When we are powerless to do a thing, it’s a joy when we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus.” It’s joyful submission on our part that acknowledges God’s providence in our life, regardless of the situation…knowing that God remains in control…and that we can learn to be content in all circumstances. (Philippians 4:11-12)

This group of degenerate false teachers were twisting Paul’s words in a very perverted way.  They took Paul’s Teaching in Romans 6:14-15 where he writes, as Christians we are no longer under the Law but under grace… and distorted it to persuade people that they were also free from the restraint of God’s moral Law.  Their prey of choice were brand new Christians not yet grounded in the faith and without foundational knowledge of the Word of God.  This still goes on today in many Progressive-type Churches where the Word is twisted to fit the current Social environment and world view.  But slavery is slavery just as corruption, immorality, and perversion have no place in God’s Church.  We all are slaves to something…it can be joyful slavery to God (Romans 6:18) or it can be slavery to sin, which leads only to death.