Monthly Archives: June 2012

New Series “Living The Surrendered Life” Starts Monday July 2, 2012

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Greetings to you from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  I’m writing this as a general message to let those of you who like and look forward to the messages put out by this ministry that our next series:  ”Living The Surrendered Life” is going to be starting on Monday July 2, 2012.

It will be a 21 day series, and I’m very much looking forward to getting into this series to find out what the Lord would have to say to us.  I trust it will be challenging, encouraging, and I also believe that it’s really going to take us to a deeper place with the Lord.

So, I apologize for the long delay in between series, but I want to be sure that we do everything in line with the Holy Ghost.  I was planning to start this series this past week, but I never really felt there was unction or a flow because the Holy Ghost had some things to work out in me before we could begin this series.

I just think that’s awesome.  Before I began writing messages about a surrendered life I had some things that I needed to surrender to Him so that I the Lord could speak through me…and so I wouldn’t be hypocritical neither.

See, I’m a regular person doing something that God’s called me to do.  I’m nothing special apart from Him, and you know…some times the best thing to do is get out of the way…and let God have His.

So…I hope you will join me on Monday for “Living A Sacrificed Life” Day 1.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (1 Corinthians 16:23-24)

Blessing & Grace to you
Bryan J. Kizer

Why Read The Bible? Bonus message: “It’s How We Abide In Christ”

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Message Scripture:  “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”  (John 15:9-11)

Introduction:

I came across this as I was reading one of my favorite mobile apps that delivers a daily Bible verse.  I quickly realized that while these verses weren’t part of our current series…this was going to be a bonus message to get us from having 169 total messages to the 170 message mark.  That’s right fans, friends and followers of Christlike Ministries NWA I have now written 170 Bible based messages…and just so you know…yes…that this is just the beginning.  There will be many more messages to come…but this one is a bonus message to complete the Why Read The Bible series…and it’s simply titled:  It’s How We Abide In Christ”.

Bonus Message:

The key word here is “abide”. One of the answers to the question we’ve asked throughout the “Why Read The Bible?” series is that when we “abide” in the Word of God…we’re abiding in Christ.

Before this series we had the opportunity to have Evangelist Josh Radford visit us, and preach an awesome message about “Abiding in Christ” at the church where I am fed and a part of New Life Christian Center in Centerton, Arkansas.  Here…below is a link to this message…a bonus message inside of the bonus message.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23600250/Abiding%20in%20Him.mp3 “Abiding In Him” Evangelist Josh Radford

 
As I mentioned in the introduction these verses…nor this message were supposed to be part of the series, but when you rely upon the Holy Ghost like I do…then some times you get bonus messages or side journeys because there are things that the Holy Ghost is wanting to say, and therefore…I call this a bonus message…but it’s still part of this “Why Read The Bible” series.  Not only that, but  it does give us another reason reading the Bible is such an important part to our walk with God.  We just talked 0n Day 31 about this about how reading the Word of God is how we interact and encounter God.  Reading the Word of God is how we abide in Christ.  I don’t know about you, but Abiding in Christ is a good enough reason for me to read the Bible, but yet…the Holy Ghost felt it necessary for us to have to do a 32 day series about Why Read The Bible.  To be honest, I think it’s sad that we had to spend this much time on this topic, but obviously the Holy  Ghost wanted to speak this not just to you, but to me as well.
 
 
Listen. The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us right? If that’s the case then the most obvious answer & purpose for reading the Bible is because it’s how we abide in Christ…because He is the Word made flesh…and whenever we make studying the Word of God a continual & consistent part of our lives…that means we’re spending time daily abiding in and with Christ.
 
 
I love knowing that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Because of that revelation…I have begun to like to refer to the Bible as Jesus Christ in book form.   Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and human form, and the Bible is Jesus Christ in book form.  So, anyone who says that you cannot physically touch or see God…if you will reach over to that coffee table or book shelf and blow the dust off of that book there…and pick it up…you will have your hands on the Word of God…but more importantly…you will be holding God in your hands.  How’s that for a stunning revelation about why the Bible is so important.  The Bible is Jesus in book form…and every time we open the Bible we are literally reading out of the mind of God.  So…the next time you think that dusty old Bible isn’t relevant to today’s society…you’re really saying that Jesus is irrelevant to today’s society…and I don’t know about anyone else…but I’m not willing to say that…Amen!?!  Come on, Christlike Ministries NWA Family…that’s what this means isn’t it?   In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and then a little further down we read that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Am I the only one who has come to the conclusion that when I hold the Bible in my hands I’m holding God in book form?  Is it really hard to come to that kind of conclusion?  Therefore…the Bible is Jesus in book form.
 
No, friends, I think that this has been a fantastic series full of reasons why reading the Bible is necessary for us…and frankly required of us.  I think that we’ve given plenty of good reasons, and now the only thing left is now that we’ve heard and read the Word…to respond and do something about the Word…like dust off our Bibles and start reading…Amen?
 
Conclusion:
 
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series as much as I have.  I hope you enjoy the bonus message by Evangelist Josh Radford recorded at my church.  I know that I like to listen to it again from time to time to be reminded about the importance of Abiding In Him…and now that we’ve been through this series we know that the main way we abide in Christ is by Reading the Word of God…Amen?
 
 
Well, this officially concluded the “Why Read The Bible?” 32 Day Series.  Thank you to all who have been a part of this series, and I hope to see you back again for the next one…”Living The Surrendered Life” starting Monday, June 26, 2012.
 
 

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (1 Corinthians 16:23-24)
Blessing & Grace to you
Bryan J. Kizer

Why Read The Bible – Day 32 0f 32 – Obedience

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Today’s Scripture:  “ I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”   Psalm 119:59

Introduction:

How fitting it is that we wrap up this series with Psalm 119, and with one last reminder about “Obedience”.  I don’t have a long-winded introduction, and I don’t believe that this message is going to be very long-winded neither.  It’s been a long journey to get to this 32nd day of this series, and I think we’ve covered a lot of topics, subjects, points, and reasons why reading the Bible is so important…none more important than the one we talked about in our last message…that’s how we encounter and interact with God…every time.

Isn’t that good news?  Every single time we read the Bible we are interacting, and having an encounter with God.  Like I said, I don’t know about you, but for me that’s the best and only reason I need.  It allows me to have a personal interaction and encounter with God every time I read it.  That’s a good enough reason for me.

Today, however, we wrap up this series with one last reminder about:  “Obedience”.

Today’s Message:

As I began to write the introduction I heard the Holy Spirit simply say that this is the last time in this series to remind not only you…the reader, but me the writer that we need to do what we read.  We need to be obedient to the Word of God.  Yes, we all know that none of us are going to get 100% when it comes to following the Word of God, but we should always endeavor to be obedient to the Word of God.

For me, as I think about the ministry that I’m called to the greatest thing that I can do for you is to make sure that I’m preaching the Word.  That to me is the pinnacle of obedience for all who are in ministry.  If you’re preaching anything other than the Word of God…then you aren’t in obedience to the Holy Ghost.  Period.

You can be mad at me all you like, but Paul didn’t write:  “Preach the Purpose Filled Life by Rick Warren” or “Preach Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen” or “It’s Not About Me by Max Lucado” or anything else did he?  No.  Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:2 (KJV):  “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

I don’t know how anyone else feels about that verse right there, but to me that is a commandment not a suggestion.  It’s something that’s a good idea.  It’s not something that might be a good topic for discussion.  No…the Word of God should BE the discussion.  It should BE the idea.  It should BE the message.

I have written:  “No Word of God = No Holy Ghost.  No Holy Ghost + No Word of God = No Power” enough times to realize that if I want to have the power of the Holy Ghost in anything whether it’s in my own personal life, in my marriage, in my finances, or in my ministry…then the Word of God is the only access I have to the power of the Holy Ghost.

Listen, the Holy Ghost doesn’t do anything apart from the Word of God.  We know that from creation that the Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the deep until God spoke, and then He performed that which God spoke.  Do you realize that the Holy Ghost is 100% obedient to the Word of God all the time, and that there is never a time that the Holy Ghost does anything of His own free will?

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:13 – 14 KJV

Did you see that?  “He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak:”.  This is Jesus talking about the Holy Ghost.  At no time does the Holy Ghost ever speak and act independently of the Word of God.

Do you know that’s how we are supposed to live our lives?  We are supposed to live our lives in the exact obedience to the Word of God that the Holy Ghost does.  However, unlike the Holy Ghost who is subject and fully submitted to the Word of God…we aren’t.  We have free will.  We have the ability to decide whether we’re going to obey what we read or not.  We have the ability to do like David writes and think upon our ways and turn our feet to His testimonies.

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:2 (KJV)

This to me is what I am now held accountable to as a pastor.  I am responsible to be obedient to preaching, teaching, and writing messages that are centered upon the Word of God.  If I write about anything else then I am in disobedience to the Word.  You know, I’ve said this a few times, and it bears repeating…if it wasn’t for the Word of God…I wouldn’t have anything to write about anyways.

I can promise you this.  Without the Word of God I wouldn’t even be able to write like this.  Come on, you saw the messages I wrote in the beginning.  You can see…I can see how much better a writer I am today then I was when I started.  How did this development as a writer come?  By obedience to the Word of God.  The more I was obedient to the Word of God, and the Holy Ghost the better my ability to write has become.

All of this that Christlike Ministries NWA and Pastor Bryan is about today is because I’ve been obedient to the Word, and to the Holy Ghost.  Listen, this isn’t me.  I’m not able to write like this.  Outside of what I do here for the Lord I am an okay writer, but this…these messages I write on a regular basis…this isn’t me…this isn’t my ability…no this is ability, utterance, and unction that comes solely from the supernatural power of the Holy Ghost.

Do you know why I have this ability, why I have this unction and utterance, why I have this anointing, and why I am able to have the power of the Holy Ghost flow through me and my writing?  Because I preach the Word.  That’s it.

Here’s reason number two to read the Word of God:  The Power of the Holy Ghost.  Listen, if you need more than these two reasons as to why we read the Bible…then I don’t believe a 32 day series is going to help you…and I pray that you come to understand that these two reasons here are enough to answer the question Why Read The Bible?

  1. The Word of God is the only guaranteed way to always have personal interaction, and a personal encounter with God.
  2. The Word of God is the only way to have the power of the Holy Ghost in your life.

If you need anymore than those two reasons right there…then I suggest you go back through this entire series, and before you do ask the Holy Ghost to speak to you.  My messages are NOTHING without the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and the ONLY way I get the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is through the Word of God.  I cannot be anymore clear than that.

We read the Word of God because that’s how we encounter God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost on a regular…hopefully daily basis.  We read the Bible because that’s how we find out about Jesus, and come to realize that the Bible is Jesus in book-form.  We read the Bible because that’s how we get the power of the Holy Ghost to flow in and through our lives.

We read the Bible because not reading the Bible is disobedience to the Word of God, and we all know that disobedience to the Word of God in any form is sin.  So…the last and final reason we read the Word of God is because if we don’t read it…it’s sin.

I don’t know about you, but I just named off 4 good reasons why we read the Bible…and I’ll close this series and message by giving you the four reasons:

Four Reasons Why We Read The Bible:

  1. It’s how we have personal interaction and encounters with God
  2. It’s how we learn that the Bible is about Jesus Christ…and how we learn about Jesus.
  3. To turn on the Power of the Holy Ghost in our lives.
  4. Not reading the Bible is a sin.

Points for Pondering:

“ I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” Psalm 119:59

  1. What made David follow God’s laws?
  2. As you reflect upon your life…do you see obedience to the Word of God?

Conclusion & Prayer:

Congratulations! You’ve finished your YouVersion Why Read the Bible? Reading Plan. It’s so fulfilling to complete a worthwhile goal. We trust that you experienced God’s presence in a special way as you engaged with His Word through your plan. Your Friends at YouVersion

Yes.  If you have managed to follow along through all 32 messages in this series I’d like to say two things.

First of all, congratulations.  I know it’s been a long series, but if you’ve made it from beginning to end that means that you’ve at the very least been committed enough to see this series through to the end.  I would like to now encourage you to use the commitment you had to this series…and turn that commitment into a desire for daily reading and studying of the Word of God.  If you need to know why…then I’ll refer you back to the four reasons listed above.

Secondly, thank you.  I want you to know that I appreciate every person who likes us on Facebook, follows us on Twitter, networks with us on LinkedIn, and reads our messages on WordPress.  The whole reason that I’m doing this is because of you, and my desire to help equip you to have a more personal, intimate, and deeper relationship with God.  I am thankful for each one of you who follows along with these messages…even the ones who are quietly following us.

I hope that more of you will like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, network with us on LinkedIn, read our messages on WordPress, and of course visit  The Official Website of Christlike Ministries NWA.  I guess I can post this one last time because it’s so important that you understand the heart of this ministry, and why this series in particular was so important to the foundation of Christlike Ministries NWA.

This ministry is about the integrity & character of Christ…and that means we will stand upon & up for the Word of God.  The Bible will ALWAYS be the ultimate authority over my life, my home, and my ministry…and it’s the foundation upon which this ministry will stand until the day the Lord comes for us.  That is my personal promise & pledge to you. This ministry will Preach the Word & be held accountable to the integrity of the Word of God!
Blessings & Grace to you.
Bryan J. Kizer
Pastor & Founder
Christlike Ministries NWA

Let’s pray and wrap up this series shall we.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for all that You’ve had to say to us through the Why Read The Bible series.  We admit that we all can spend more time in Your Word, we can all make Your Word more of a priority in our lives, and that we need to be reminded that part of being obedient to Your Word…is…well…reading it.  Forgive us, Oh Lord, for taking Your Word for granted, forgive us for not reading Your Word, and forgive us Lord…for not obeying Your Word.  We love You and honor You, and we understand that one of the greatest ways that we can prove that we love and honor You is by being obedient…and making sure that daily Bible reading and study isn’t just a part…but the priority in our lives…because in all reality…that’s how we interact and encounter You.  In Jesus’ name we pray…Amen & Amen

Why Read the Bible – Day 31 0f 32 – Interaction with the Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”  Ezra 7:10

Introduction:

For this message we go to a book in the Bible that not many know about…and many probably don’t even know exists.  The book of Ezra.  Not much is known about Ezra or the book that he wrote, but I love how you can find something like:  “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Ezra 7:10.

This verse gives us a couple of things to talk about as we look at “Interaction With The Word”.

Today’s Message:

So…as we talked about yesterday and a couple other times throughout this series we have clearly come to the understanding that the Bible is Jesus in book-form.  Can we agree on that?  If not, just take a moment to re-read John 1:14 (KJV) a few times, and eventually as you read it…you’ll come to the conclusion that the when we hold the Bible in our hands we are holding Jesus.  When you look at the Bible that way…I promise you that it will give you a different perspective…and when you realize that Jesus is the Word and the Word is Jesus…then you realize like I have that the Bible is really Jesus in book-form.  Okay?

So, if that’s the case then every time I read the Bible…watch this now…I am having a personal encounter and interaction with God.   Is that right?  Think about it.  If in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  If the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.  Then every time I read the Bible…then I am interacting with the Word…and when I am interacting with the Word since the Word was with and is God…then I am interacting with God.  I am encountering God every time I read the Word of God.

So, take a moment to allow that to sink in.  Meditate upon that for a moment, and see how that might impact how you look at the Word of God.  I know for me that when I got this revelation, and I began to look at the Bible and understand that when the Bible talks about:   “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” John 1:1 (KJV), and then you add “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (KJV).  Then you add to it a few more verses like:  “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;”…you begin to understand that God, Jesus, and the Bible are all the same…and that when I am reading the Bible…I am encountering and interacting with Him…that gives me the easiest answer in this entire series.

Why read the Bible?  To interact with God.  We read the Bible to interact with it’s Author.  We read the Word of God because it’s the easiest way for Him to speak to us.  It’s the easiest way to encounter Him, and it’s the only way that the Holy Ghost can work in our lives.  Remember that the Holy Spirit hovered until God spoke.  So…as long as God’s Word isn’t being read and spoken into and over our lives then the Holy Spirit can’t do anything in our lives.  Why?  Because the Holy Ghost responds to the spoken Word of God.

That gets us back to not just reading the Word or just hearing the Word, but doing something with the Word of God.  That gets us back to why the Word of God is the ammunition  for our prayers, and that prayer and the Word of God are the only offensive weapons in the Armor of God.  It gets to the under lying point of this entire series.

Listen…if you take nothing else from this series.  If you remember nothing else from this series.  Even if you never read another scripture from the book of Ezra again…I implore you to remember this point right here:  Reading the Word of God guarantees that we encounter God…every single time.  We can never open the Word of God, read it, and not have an encounter with God.  This book, this thing that sits and collects dust on our coffee table or nightstands…is the surest way to have an encounter and interact with God.

Can I ask you a simple question?  What other book in the world can you read it and immediately have an encounter or interaction with it’s author?  I mean this is true of books whether they are secular or Christian.  Can you read a Stephen King book and come away with it having a personal encounter and interaction with Stephen King?  Can you read a Rick Warren book and come away with having a personal encounter or interaction with Rick Warren?  Can you read a Dr. Seuss book and have a personal encounter or interaction with Dr. Seuss?  The answer to all three of those questions is an emphatic…NO.

You may read someone else’s book, and come away from it thinking they are talented or have really good knowledge or wisdom.  You may read someone else’s book, and get maybe a glimpse into their mind (which I don’t necessarily know is a good thing).  But the one thing that you cannot ever get from anyone else’s book…even  an auto-biography is a personal encounter or interaction with it’s Author.  The only book of it’s kind…is the Word of God.  There is no other book that compares to the Word of God.  There’s no other book like it any where.  There’s no other book ever written that can compare to the Bible…because no other book in the world allows you to not only have the opportunity to transform a life from darkness to life, there’s no other book in the world that offers the reader and hearer and opportunity to enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ to find eternal life, and there is no other book written anywhere by anyone that offers you the opportunity to have personal interaction and encounters with the Author every time you read it.

No, friends, this book…the Bible is not just any old book.  This Book is special.  This Book is one of a kind.  There is no other book written under Heaven that compares to the Word of God.  In fact, I believe that thanks to this verse from the Book of Ezra we now have the number one reason why we should read the Bible…To Encounter and Interact with God.

Friends, if that’s not a good enough reason for you…then I don’t know what is.  If this message would’ve been made available on the first day…then I wouldn’t have a reason to write 31 messages about why we should read the Bible…because in my opinion…Encountering God is the only reason I need…and I would hope that it’s the only reason you would need.  The rest of these messages describe something about the Word of God, how we should respond to the Word, and why the Word of God is important to us…but today’s message is the absolute best reason for reading the Bible.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think any other point is needed in this message.  I believe I’ll end this message right here by naming:  Encountering and Interacting with God as the number one reason to read the Bible.

Points for Pondering:

“For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Ezra 7:10

  1. What are three things that Ezra was determined to do?
  2. Are you determined to do these things?
  3. Why/Why Not?

Conclusion & Prayer:

The three things that Ezra was determined to do was he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord (the Word of God), to do it (do what He read in the Word of God), and teach in Israel statutes and judgments (teach others the Word of God).

By now I would hope that you’d know that Christlike Ministries NWA and Pastor Bryan’s desire, passion, and determination is to do these three things.  Seek the Lord…Do what He leads us to do…equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.  In fact, this is a good place to remind you of the mission and vision of Christlike Ministries NWA are.

The Vision:  My heart is to share the love of God with you, introduce those of you who don’t know God to Him, and help those of you who do know Him…to know Him better.

The Mission:  To assist believers in developing their relationship with Christ through Bible study, prayer, and worship. Building quality believers so that they can experience God in a more intimate way.

About Us:  The desire of this ministry is to draw people to God through establishing a personal relationship with His Son…Jesus.  Building quality believers so that they can experience God in a more intimate way.

That, my friends, is the ministry that you are supporting every time you visit and “like” our Facebook page:  Facebook Fan Page of Christlike Ministries NWA, follow us on Twitter:  Twitter for Christlike Ministries NWA, join our network on LinkedIn:  Christlike Ministries NWA on LinkedIn, read our messages on WordPress:  Christlike Ministries NWA Messages on WordPress, or visit the official website:  www.christlikeministriesnwa.org.

I guess I feel it necessary to repeat one last time my personal pledge to you as the pastor, founder, and message writer for Christlike Ministries NWA.  That is this:

This ministry is about the integrity & character of Christ…and that means we will stand upon & up for the Word of God.
The Bible will ALWAYS be the ultimate authority over my life, my home, and my ministry…and it’s the foundation upon which this ministry will stand until the day the Lord comes for us.
That is my personal promise & pledge to you. This ministry will Preach the Word & be held accountable to the integrity of the Word of God!

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, as we begin to wrap up this series about Why Read The Bible may we realize that the most important reason for reading Your Word is because this is the primary way that we can not only interact with You, but have a personal encounter with You as well.  Every time we open Your Word and read it…You are speaking to us, You are interacting with us, and if we’d just think about it for a moment we’d realize that You are wanting to have an encounter with us.  Lord, let us no longer take Your Word for granted, let us no longer take a nonchalant approach to Your Word, but rather let us treasure it as David, Ezra, and others who understood that Your Word isn’t just another book to read, but the most direct way to have a personal encounter with You.  Lord, thank You for Your Word, and thank You for writing a book that is like no other in the Word.  There’s no other book in the world like the Bible because it’s written by no other Author…because there’s no other God that compares to You…and we thank You that You’re so full of grace and mercy and a desire to have a personal relationship with us that Your Word was written so that we could have that personal interaction with You.  We give You glory and honor…and ask these things in Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen.

Why Read The Bible – Day 30 of 32- Following the Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”  Psalm 119:66-67

Introduction:

With two messages to go after this one I’m no longer surprised by the fact that we’re once again back to Psalm 119.  I feel like this is going to be a really good message, and I also feel like we may be going on a side journey or two…but that’s all dependent upon the Holy Ghost.  I’m excited to see where the Holy Ghost leads us on this message titled:  “Following The Word”

Today’s Message:

The first point that’s jumping out at me before we even get into the scripture is the title of today’s message…Following The Word.  So…Why Read The Bible?  If you don’t then you are not a true follower of Christ.  Now, I know that you’re going to immediately ask me how I can say that…and the answer is the same as it always is.  If the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us…that means the Word isn’t just some book, but it’s Jesus in book form.  Listen, I don’t know how many times we can read that verse…and just so you don’t think I’m making this up here is the verse that I constantly refer to here:  “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  John 1:14 (KJV)

Listen, The Word became flesh.  So, whenever you hold the Bible in your hands you are holding Jesus in book-form.  How’s that for awesome, and maybe eye-opening for some of you.  One of the main reasons to read the Bible than is because of this reason here:  If Christians are “followers” of Christ…how in the world can you call yourself a Christian if you don’t read your Bible?  The most simplistic of points and reasons for reading the Bible is because the Bible is Jesus in book-form.  Maybe if more people thought about the Bible that way they would be more interested in reading it on a more regular basis.

By the way…this here is for those of you who think that I made up the statistics about Christians and there Bibles.  This is from Dr. James Merritt of Cross Point Church.   This was actually a tweet from him that I read this morning.  “Even though 93% of Americans own a Bible, 50% never read it, including 23% of all followers of Christ.”

23% of all “followers of Christ” never read the Bible.  That means only 27% of the 50% who do read the Bible are actually really followers of Christ.  That’s astonishing to me that 23% of Christians call themselves followers of Christ, and they don’t even do the most basic thing…the don’t even read the Bible they own…and most Christian homes have several Bibles in them.  I know that I own 3 Bibles, I have the YouVersion Bible App on my computer and my phone, and I have the E-Sword Bible software available on my computer as well.

How in the world can you claim to be a follower of Christ…and not read the Bible is beyond me.  It’s beyond my ability to comprehend.  Now I didn’t say that they aren’t believers…but they most certainly are not followers.

Here’s the Holy Ghost right here ready:  “IF YOU DON’T READ THE WORD OF GOD ON A REGULAR BASIS YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BLAME GOD FOR THE FACT THAT THERE’S NO POWER IN YOUR LIFE.  THE POWER FOR YOUR LIFE IS IN THE WORD OF GOD.  NO WORD OF GOD = NO POWER.  THE ONLY WAY TO GET THE POWER OF GOD IN YOUR LIFE IS TO HAVE THE WORD OF GOD AS A PRIORITY IN YOUR LIFE.  I CAN’T MOVE IN YOUR LIFE APART FROM THE WORD OF GOD.  NO WORD OF GOD = NO HOLY GHOST.  NO HOLY GHOST + NO WORD OF GOD = NO POWER.”

Come on people…I don’t even for the life of me understand why we had to take 32 days to talk about why we should be reading our Bibles…and when I say reading our Bibles I mean study them.  I mean really getting into studying the Bible.  Doing like Paul writes and study to show ourselves approved, and searching the scriptures daily.  Doing things like meditating upon this book of the law day and night…and making daily Bible study and reading a part of our lives.

Here’s a truth.  I love what the Lord just said there because you hear Christians all the time talking about how God hasn’t moved in their lives in a long…long time.  You know why?  I’ll bet you it’s because you haven’t seriously sat down to read and study your Bible in a long…long time.

Listen to me here…this is personal honesty right here…ready:   I can look you square in the eye and tell you that the times when God was dormant in my life were the times that I wasn’t reading His Word on a regular basis…the reverse of that is true.  The times when God moved the most in my life were the times…like now…where I am making the Word of God the priority in my life.  When I’m reading the Word, hearing the Word, and responding to the Word of God…God moves.  I don’t know how many times I have to say this…but I’m getting ready to say it again…the Holy Ghost cannot move in my life without the Word of God.  I can pray until I am blue in the face, and until hours and hours have passed, but the Holy Ghost isn’t obligated to do anything according to my words…He is only obligated to respond to God’s Words.

That’s for someone right there.  If you would spend more time praying God’s Words than your own then the Holy Ghost would respond.  The Holy Ghost is under no obligation to respond to our words, but to the Word of God.  When we speak and pray the Word of God…that’s when the Holy Spirit can move and respond.

Well…we’ve gotten all this in just from the title of the message.  How about that?  I told y’all that I was feeling like this was going to be a good message.  Point one of today’s message is really quite simple…if I am not studying my Bible on a daily basis I’m not a follower I am just a believer.  Followers of Christ…well…they follow Christ…and they do that by constantly being in His Word…because the Word of God is Jesus in book-form.

The second point I’m sensing the need to get into and this is going to be one of the side journeys is this thing about judgment.  David writes:  “Teach me good judgment”.  I can almost guarantee you that when He sought the Lord for “good judgment” he wasn’t seeking the ability to judge people, but good judgment for the course and things in his life.  You know, one of the biggest pet peeves or points of irritation in my heart towards the body of Christ is their willingness to judge someone else’s life.  Listen, the only thing Jesus gave us the right to judge people by was the fruit of their lives, and the love that they have for one another.  Yet, we see the body of Christ judge people for being enslaved to certain sins, for having a divorce, and for drinking beer.

Can I tell you that the body of Christ has more to hurt me by their judgmental attitude than the world has?  I have been judged time and time again because of what the religious people believe is right, and what they think a Christian ought to look like.  I have been divorce and re-married.  I’m sure there are people who judge me because of that.  I have a daughter of whom I barely have ever had contact with, and am behind on my child support payments…and I know of people who judge me for that.  I still drink beer…and I know people judge me for that.  I am not licensed or ordained as a pastor…and I know I’m judged for that.

Can I tell you what God says about all that? “Judge not [neither pronouncing judgment nor subjecting to censure], and you will not be judged; do not condemn and pronounce guilty, and you will not be condemned and pronounced guilty; acquit and forgive and release (give up resentment, let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released.”  Luke 6:37 (AMP)

I realize that not everything I do in my life is the perfect will of God.  I also realize that not everything I choose to do in my life is God’s best for me.  However, I am perfectly secure in my relationship with God because I know what God has spoken to me, and I also know what God allows and what He doesn’t allow in my life.  I have had people tell me that I’m deceived, but the truth is…I know my Master’s voice, and I know that there are certain things that He’s allowing me to do because they have a purpose in my life.  I know that I’ve gone through certain things in my life so that I can relate to others.  But the biggest thing that I know is that I am forgiven and loved…and one day I am going to stand before God…and be told “Well done.”.  That’s the only thing that matters to me.

You can point your finger, look down your nose, and if you choose not to follow me or my ministry for any reason then that’s fine with me.  The Lord gave this to me one day…and I’m not sure who this is for, but it’s been brought back to my remembrance…so I’m going to add it here:  “ Don’t judge something you don’t understand…when you stand in judgment of God’s call upon someone…you think you know better than Him.”

So, good judgment, friends, isn’t about having good judgment about other people…but having good judgment for our own lives.  Listen, I have a very simply philosophy about being judgmental of other people…it’s not my job.  Even as a pastor it’s not my job to judge someone’s life.  Yes, I can look at things people are doing in their lives and know that it’s not God’s best for them.  However, there isn’t one single solitary sin that Jesus didn’t die on the Cross for.  There isn’t one sin that isn’t covered and washed away by the Blood of the Lamb.  So, who am I to stand in judgment of anyone for anything when my life is just as full of filthy rags as anyone else’s?  Who am I to look at the plank in someone else’s eye when I have a huge log in my own?

Yes, I can suggest and encourage people not to do certain things, but I don’t judge people’s lives because it really isn’t my job.  It’s my job to serve the Word of God.  That’s it.  I’m not here to point fingers at someone’s life because the truth is that person could point their finger right back at mine…and in some cases the things I’ve done in my life are worse than the things they have done…so I really have no right to judge anyone’s life.   Jesus is very clear about being judgmental. Don’t believe me…let Him say it to you Himself: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Matthew 7:1 (KJV).

I really believe that when Jesus was standing there with all those who brought that woman who was caught in adultery that when Jesus started writing in the sand…He was writing down the sins of those that were in the crowd with stones in their hands.  One by one they put down their stones, and the only one who had legal and every right to stone the woman was left…and that was Jesus.  He didn’t condemn her, He didn’t judge her, but He forgave her right then and there sending her on her way.  Do we do that?  No…we stone people knowing that we have sin in our own lives that God is dealing with us on.

You know what?  I believe part of the reason people are so willing to look at someone else’s life and judge their lives is because it makes them feel better.  They use phrases like…”I can believe they can call themselves a Christian and do ________.”  Well, my friend.  I can guarantee you that someone is looking at you and your life and thinking the same thing.  So…remember that whatever judgment you give out…that same judgment is being used against you…not only by that person…but by God Himself.

I don’t know about you…but knowing that God is going to judge me the same way I judge someone else helps keep me from judging anyone.  I know that I am alive and well today because of the grace and mercy of God.  I know that I’ve saved, sanctified and redeemed…and going to Heaven.  Not because of anything other than the grace and mercy of God.  I also know that I’ve done worse things in my life than others…so I have no room or right to judge anyone’s life…but my own.  Would you like to know where that is in the Bible?  “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”  1 Corinthians 11:31 (KJV)

Finally, the last point in this message is found here.  “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”  Anyone else other than me ever been here?  Before I was afflicted I went astray.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has ever gone astray from the Lord…am I?  Which leads me back to talking about being judgmental for just a second…we all are like sheep who have gone astray.  All of us were prodigal sons and daughters at one point in our lives.  Remember that when you look at others, and are tempted to judge them for what they do or don’t do.  What is it that you do or don’t do that someone else can judge you for?

“But now, I have kept thy Word.”.  There’s a direct connection to going astray and not keeping the Word of God.  Remember how the other day that there was a question on Facebook posted about the number one issue facing the body of Christ today, and all these people responded with all kinds of different reasons and issues.  Do you know why there are so many reasons and issues…they have not kept the Word of God…and do you know why they haven’t kept the Word of God?  Because 23% of Christians never even read it.

Can I suggest to you that 27% of Christians reading their Bibles isn’t a very good percentage?  Come on, 93% of Americans have at least 1 Bible in their homes…out of that 93% that own Bibles 50% of them never read it, and 23% of the 50% who never read the Bible they have in their homes…are Christians.  That leaves 27% of all Christians in America who own a Bible read it.  Which brings me back to the stats in the very first message where it was discovered out of 2,000 people surveyed 12% read their Bibles on a daily basis…leaving 88% that barely or hardly or never read it at all.

I got some flack for that.  I even had some people question those numbers.  I’m not the only one who has them.  Dr. James Merritt has no idea who I am other than the fact that I follow him on Twitter.  I am sure he has no idea I’m writing this series, and had no idea the statistics I had written in our very first message…but his numbers and the numbers I have are about the same…and the whole point of this is that when you think about the fact that 12% of the 27% who own a Bible read and study it on a daily basis…then you get a really good picture and understanding especially after we’ve been doing this series why the church as a whole has gone a stray…and why the church is so afflicted by so many issues.

Which brings me back to what I’ve been saying throughout this entire series.  If you want to fix the issues the church is afflicted with…then get the Word of God back into the pulpits of America.  Stop preaching from so and so’s latest book…and start “preaching the Word of God.”.

The implication of what David is writing here when he says:   “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy Word.” is that once David began to keep the Word of God…than those things that he was afflicted by that led him astray…no longer afflicted him…and no longer lead him astray.  So,  when you put that verse into our lives then it’s possible that we can limit the things that lead us astray by increasing our intake and study of the Word of God…and on a corporate body of Christ level…we can eliminate the things that have led the body of Christ astray by returning the Word of God to the pulpit instead of preaching “The Purpose Filled Life”.

Here’s some personal honesty here from me on this point.  The things that so easily beset me no longer easily beset me now that I’ve been writing these messages because they make me have to be in the Word of God on a daily basis.  The more I am in the Word of God on a daily basis the less the things that held me astray are able to keep me astray because the Word of God is working to remove those things from me and my life.

I’m going to close this message by saying that the way that the things that so easily used to beset me aren’t being removed from my life because of people who stand in judgment pointing a finger at me who wonder how I can call myself a Christian and a pastor…and do those things…but by the Word of God confronting me with the issues and things that have me afflicted…and it’s then as the Word of God shine it’s light upon those things that I can take them to the Lord…and seek His help in overcoming them.

You see…judging someone’s life isn’t going to help them, but hurt them…and we all know what Jesus warned when it came to hurting His little ones.  So…instead of thinking that good judgment involves you being better able to judge what someone else is doing…that’s not what good judgment is for…it’s about being better able to judge what’s going on in your own life…so that you can bring the things that have you afflicted can be brought to the Lord so that by His mercy, grace, and Word…you can overcome.

We overcome how?  By the Blood of the Lamb…and the Word of our testimony.  Stop judging…it’s not your job…Amen!?!

Points for Pondering:

“66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.” Psalm 119:66-67

  1. What makes the Psalmist follow God’s Word?
  2. Have you ever felt like God was disciplining you?  When?

Conclusion & Prayer:

So, we covered three points in today’s message “Following The Word”.  I think the point I liked the most was the one we made in the beginning.  I believe that you can be a believer without reading and studying the Word of God on a daily basis, but I don’t believe that you can be a follower of Christ without reading and studying the Word of God on a daily basis.

So…I guess there is a third question for you to consider:  Are you a believer or a follower?

Lord, I know what I want my answer to be.  I want to be a follower which means I have to be rooted and grounded in Your Word.  I think You, Lord for the many afflictions that You have delivered me from through the study and walking out of Your Word.  I pray that Your Word would continue to shine it’s light upon areas and afflictions that beset me so that I can one day like David be able to say “But now, I keep thy Word.”.  I pray for those who are reading this message that You would do the same in their lives, and help them to develop and maintain more of a passion and fire for Your Word…and deliver them of their afflictions as they have more of Your Word shine it’s light upon their lives.  Help us, Lord, to not judge others lives, but to pray for them instead…and love them.  Forgive us for being finger pointers, and judging others lives when we have so many things that we should be judging in our own.  Teach us, like David writes good judgment…and help us, Lord to know that doesn’t mean good judgment of others lives, but our own.  Most of all, Lord…help us to really come to the understanding that Your Word is Jesus in book-form.  Maybe if we understood and looked at the Bible that way instead of being just another book…it might stir something in us to be more diligent to spend time in Your Word knowing that when we read and follow Your Word…then we’re following Christ.  We love You Lord, and ask these things in Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen

Why Read The Bible – Day 29 of 32- Freedom of Obeying the Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.  45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.”  Psalm 119:44-45

Introduction:

We return to Psalm 119 to continue the discussion we’ve had over the past couple days about obeying the Word of God.  We’ve been talking about how it’s not enough to just hear the Word, but we must do something with the Word we hear as well.  I am excited to find out what it is that the Lord would have to say to us today as we talk about the “Freedom of Obeying The Word”.

Today’s Message:

Psalm 119 continues to some what be an underwriting chapter of the Bible for our series here on “Why Read The Bible?”.  We haven’t visited Psalm 119 for a while, but here we are again using it to continue to talk about obeying the Word.  So, now we’ve heard from David that it’s not enough to just hear the Word, we heard from James (the brother of Jesus) that it’s not enough to just hear the Word, and of course, we heard from Jesus Himself that it’s not enough just to hear the Word of God…that the hearing of the Word should be followed by action.

However, looking at it from the concept of freedom is intriguing to me.  David writes “I will walk at liberty:  for I seek thy precepts.”  Do you mean to say that obeying the Word of God is liberating?  Well…yes and no.  First of all…David wrote it.  Secondly…we all know that He who the Son sets free is free indeed.  We also know that being set free at salvation is just the beginning.  There are many other things in our lives that God will eventually have to deliver us and set us free from…right?

So, what David is saying here is something that’s quite exciting to me that I never really considered as a reason to read the Bible myself, but that’s the point of this series…fresh revelation as to why reading the Bible is so important for us as believers.

Freedom.  As we inch closer to the Independence Day here in the United States of America one of the things that’s always talked about is that we “broke the chains of tyranny from Great Britain.”  Don’t you know that when we come to Jesus and confess Him as Lord and Savior of our lives that He breaks the chains of tyranny that sin, death, and Satan once had over our lives?  We received freedom by accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ by faith, and once we responded in faith by confessing Jesus Christ as Lord…we were given freedom…freedom from spending eternity in hell.

Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s an awesome illustration of what David is writing about here.  It is simple, but some times it’s good to not overly complicate things isn’t it!?!   Sure, in my life there have been many things that God has set me free from as a result of me hearing the Word, and responding to the Word I heard.  I have been set free from the bondage of alcoholism, pornography, and even slothfulness.  Those things came as a result of hearing the Word, and doing something with the Word that I heard.  So, yes, indeed…there is freedom in obeying the Word of God.

That brings me to this point.  If it’s true that freedom comes from obeying God’s Word…then that means that bondage comes from disobeying the Word.  That means that even as born-again, spirit-filled believing Christians we can find ourselves in bondage to things by simply not obeying the Word of God.

Isn’t that right?  I mean a Christian who is born-again and spirit-filled can be addicted to pornography right?  It’s certainly not God’s will for someone to be addicted to pornography, but what happens here is that Christians who are addicted to pornography having allowed the Word of God they have heard on sexual immorality to get into their hearts, and begin to walk those scriptures out.  Freedom from that addiction will only come by obedience to the Word of God.  There’s many scriptures that can help here…a few of them being “greater is He that’s in me than he that’s in the world.”,  “I can do all things through Christ who is my strength.”, and my personal favorite:  “There is victory in Jesus.”.

There’s many more things that born-again believers can find themselves in bondage to if we’re not careful to obey the Word of God…isn’t there.  Sadly a lot of those things revolve around sexual sin.  Things like adultery.  We all know the Word of God is clear that if we’re married then we ought to not go outside of the boundary of our marriage to sleep with other people…right?  So, why is it that adultery is just as ramped in the body of Christ as it is in the world?  I’ll tell you why…there is a severe lack of preaching of the Word of God.

See, here’s where we get back to preaching and teaching the Word of God.  No one ever really likes to preach on sin…do we?  I know I certainly don’t enjoy sitting through services where the Lord feels it necessary for my pastors to preach a message that is dealing with a particular sin or sins.  However, the awesome thing about New Life Christian Center is that I have three pastors who are unashamed to preach the Word of God.  Therefore, sometimes they are going to have to preach on sin

See, friends, there was a question a while back over on Facebook that a certain poster was asking what the greatest issue facing the church today was.  There were several different answers, and eventually I waited as long as I could before I responded by saying that the greatest issue facing the body of Christ today is the refusal to “preach the Word”.  If the Word of God was preached than it would solve and deal with a lot of these other issues that are listed.

Can I say something here?  I believe that all of the major issues that are damaging to the body of Christ could and would be solved by one simple thing.  Preaching the Word.  Why?  Because you cannot tell me that all these moral issues that people are practicing in the church today would be going on if the Word of God was the focal point of the pulpits in this country.  Why weren’t there all these issues in the days of old?  I mean you never really heard about infidelity in the church until the fall of a few guys like Jimmy Swaggart, you didn’t hear about financial issues until we heard about Jim & Tammy Baker, and there wasn’t all this crazy stuff going on for many…many years.

I believe that the decline of the moral fabric in the church is directly related to the decline of the passion and obedience to one simple Bible verse.  Preach the Word.  That’s a command.  It’s not a suggestion, but today people would rather preach from a Rick Warren or Joel Osteen book instead of THE Book.  Today preachers would rather talk about prosperity, and become nothing more than prosperity pimps selling everything from healing oil to portions of their anointing for whatever you can give towards their ministry.  Today rather than offend people by telling them  that Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life…they would rather offend God by telling them that they really just don’t know anymore or that there’s a bit of truth to every religion, or that they’re going to leave the judging of someone’s heart to God…because they just don’t know who is and who isn’t saved.

Listen…I know who is and who isn’t saved.  If you have never believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord…you are not saved.  You cannot purchase anyone’s anointing because it wasn’t ever anything that they could purchase.  Jesus purchased the anointing by His death, burial and resurrection on the Cross.  You cannot sell that and think that God’s okay with you doing that…and you also cannot point to anywhere in Scripture where anyone was able to buy someone’s anointing.  Finally, there is absolutely nothing wrong with reading “The Purpose Filled Life” by Rick Warren, “It’s Not About Me” by Max Lucado, or any other book by any other Christian author.   I have nothing against those books, and I’m sure there is a lot of really good insight in those books. BUT…there is absolutely positively NO redeeming value in any of those books.  Yes, you may gain some knowledge, understanding, and a better biblical perspective…but not one person is going to get saved because they read “The Purpose Filled Life”.  They are going to get saved by hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ that’s only found in the Word of God…and even then they are only really going to be saved when they believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So…I believe the reason the church is under such bondage today is because they have strayed and disobeyed the Word of God.  It’s a very simple word, but something that few seem to want to do anymore because they either feel the Bible isn’t relevant in today’s society or they feel that the Old Paths are outdated and won’t work today.

Well…I don’t know what their Bible reads, but I know that mine says that strict adherence to the Word of God will take care of a lot of these social, moral, and sexual issues that have invaded the body of Christ.  Everyone in the body wants this “breakthrough doctrine” that’s been preached…well…if you want a breakthrough start preaching and teaching and hearing and doing the Word of God…and I guarantee that breakthrough that you’ve been wanting is going to come…start obeying the Word of God.

Freedom.  I don’t know about you, but I prefer not to live in bondage.  Sure.  I do still have things that I need to learn to walk out and be obedient to the Word of God about.  I know that.  I told you that yesterday that if you’re looking for someone who is flawless and doesn’t make mistakes then this isn’t the ministry for you to follow…because I am most certainly not flawless.  I don’t have a 100% when it comes to following the Word of God, and being obedient to the Word of God.  I’m not willing to live in that kind of deception.  Remember that John writes in his first epistle that if we say we have no sin then we make God a liar, and the truth is not in us.  So…I’m not ever going to sit here and write to you that I am perfect, and that I follow the letter of God’s law to a “T” because I don’t…and I’d be lying to you.

But one thing that you can count on from this ministry and it’s pastor is that we will always be accountable to preach and teach the Word.  I like freedom a lot better than bondage…and now that I know the more Word of God that I obey the more freedom comes…it makes me want to work that much harder to allow the Word of God to work in all the areas of my life…Amen?

Points for Pondering:

“ So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.  And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.”  Psalm 119:44-45

  1. Why did David devote himself to God’s commands?
  2. Why would obeying God’s word lead to freedom?

Conclusion & Prayer:

So, we continue to wind down this series by talking about our response to the Word of God.  We spent most of this series talking about the Word of God itself, and now we’ve been talking about why we should read the Bible…and that we shouldn’t just read it…but do something about what we’ve read.  As always with many of the messages in this series I have on simple piece of advice, admonishment or encouragement…and that is this:  Pick up that old dusty Bible and start studying.

Now…I would like to add one last thing:  Do what it says.

Heavenly Father, thank You for today’s message.  Thank You for speaking to us today about the freedom that comes from obeying Your Word, and the bondage that comes from not obeying Your Word.  Lord, help us to become faithful doer’s of Your Word…and not just readers and hearers only.  We want breakthrough, we want freedom, and up until this point maybe many of us (including myself) forgot to link these things with obedience to Your Word.  So, give us, Lord God the ability, strength, and determination to not only be readers and hearers…but obeyer’s of Your Word.  In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen

Why Read The Bible–Day 28 of 32-Listening Without Obedience

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Today’s Scripture:  “21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”  James 1:21-24

Introduction:

It’s taken us till almost to the end of this series before we got to take a look at this passage of Scripture in the book of James.  We’ve looked at it briefly before in other messages, but today we are looking directly into these Scriptures about not being just a hearer of the Word, but a doer as well.  So, let’s see what the Lord would have to say to us today about “Listening Without Obedience”.

Today’s Message:

If you’re following along…then you will note that we are a day behind.  I had to take some time to think about what I was going to say in this message, and to consult the Holy Ghost.  Yesterday was a really good opportunity for the Lord to test whether I was going to just wing it…or obey what I felt in my spirit.

Can I be honest with you today?  What I felt in my spirit yesterday was for the first time in this series…I didn’t know what to write, and as I sought the Holy Ghost for direction…none was coming.  So, in that instant I’m faced with two choices.  I can either wing it, and hope that I write a good message that will make sense…or I can wait until I have something from the Holy Ghost…and write under inspiration of the Spirit of God…instead of my own abilities.

I’ll even be further honest with you.  I tried several times to write a message on my ability before I realized I just didn’t have anything to write…and I wasn’t getting any unction or utterance from the Holy Ghost.  So, I did what I felt was right…I waited…and it wasn’t until just a little while ago that the Lord started downloading something for me to write.

Listening to the Word of God is important.  We all know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.  However, when it comes to growing from faith to faith what is necessary here is to do something with the Word that we hear.  How so?

We come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior by hearing the Word, taking the Word by faith, and then confessing Christ as Lord.  Often times when someone receives Christ they’re asked to take a step of faith, and go up to the front for an altar call.  What is so important about the altar call…they are doing something in response to the Word they heard.

When you preach a message before receiving the tithes and offering…you pass around the offering plate or have them leave their offering in the bucket out of a response to the offering message.  The message is about building up their faith, but if they don’t respond to the message…then they don’t get the reward of being able  to see God rebuke the devourer over our lives.

Listen, I’m going to be honest here, and I’m not going to be super-spiritual.  This message is a good one for me, and maybe the reason I had a hard time writing it is because this is an area that I need to improve in with my walk with God.  Listening with Obedience.  I’m not too overly spiritual to admit that I don’t always do a good job of being a doer of the Word.  I’m not perfect, I’m certainly not flawless, and I have areas of my life that I have heard the Word about…but am still working out the obedience side of the Word I heard.

I can be honest like that.  If it makes you think less of me because I’m not perfectly obedient to the Lord or the Word of God on all things then I’m sorry to disappoint you.  I’m still a flawed person with flesh that rebels, and that I have to put under.  Not too long ago I had to do a three-week fast from the worldly entertainment venues because I’d made watching television more important than the presence of God.  I was disobedient to the Word to not put anything above my relationship with God…so if you’re looking for a perfect and flawless minister…then I’m not that guy.

I’m certainly working on becoming that guy, but I’m not there yet.  Not even close.  But I do understand the point that hearing the Word of God isn’t enough.  It’s the doing of the Word that produces growth because the more we do with the Word that’s preached to us…the more signs and wonders follow…and the more faith comes as a result.  When you are obedient to the Word, and then you see God respond…faith comes…and you mature and grow.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a forgetful hearer, and I certainly don’t want to deceive myself.  I just want to become more and more of who God has desired me to be…and that only comes by listening to the Word…with obedience…Amen?

Points for Pondering:

“21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” James 1:21-24

  1. What do you have to do to get the “mirror effect” from the Bible?
  2. Is there something you’ve learned from the Word of God that you haven’t put into practice?

Conclusion & Prayer:

I think if we’re all honest then we know the answer to question two is that there are definitely things we’ve learned from the Word of God that we have yet to put into practice.  That’s really what this message is all about.  Putting action to what we’re learning, and that’s how we grow.  I know I’m certainly not perfect with it comes to putting everything I’ve heard into practice, but I’m working on it…thank God I’m a work in progress…Amen?

Lord, thank You for helping me to write this message.  I still don’t really feel like I did it justice, but I hope that You were able to speak through me.  Help us all to become better doers of Your Word that we might continue to grow in grace, faith, and all that You desire of us to grow up in.  I love You Lord.  Give You praise, glory, and honor…in Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen

Why Read The Bible–Day 27 of 32- Read and Act

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Today’s Scripture:  “27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.  28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”  Luke 11:27-28

Introduction:

As we continue to wind down our series we take a look at another reminder…this time from Jesus about not just being a hearer of the Word, but a doer as well.  In fact, I’m betting that this is where James got the idea to write what he said in his book.  “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”  James 1:22 (KJV)

So, today’s message is titled:  “Read and Act”.

Today’s Message:

“Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.”  Jesus said.  It’s important to note that hearing the Word just isn’t enough.  It’s good to hear the Word, it’s good to study the Word, and it’s good to read the Word.  However, blessing comes from keeping and doing what we read.  I’ve learned a lot since starting this series myself, and come to the understanding that I need to take note of the things I’ve written myself.

Acting upon the Word of God is another way to build our faith because as we act upon the Word then we see the results of not just hearing, but doing.  For instance, now that I’ve acted upon the Word that I read that I came to understand what God was calling me to do…the results have been amazing, and what started out as something that was rough now actually has begun to take shape.  My first messages were difficult reads, but now that I’ve been doing this for a while I have had my faith built up.  NOT in my abilities, but knowing that when I sit down to write these messages I know that the Holy Spirit is going to not only inspire me to write, but help me to write.

I don’t really have a long-winded message for today.  I think that we’ve talked about this before in an earlier message, and some times…it’s just good to let the Bible speak for itself.  Reading and  hearing the Word is very important, but the blessings come from being obedient to the Word that you read and hear.

Points for Pondering:

“27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”  Luke 11:27-28

  1. What is Jesus’ desire for us with the Word of God?
  2. What keeps you from living out the Word in your life?

Conclusion & Prayer:

I know today’s message was short, but I believe that sometimes a long-winded message isn’t necessary.  I write by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and when there isn’t much of an anointing to write a particular message then I would rather write what the Holy Ghost wants than to make something up…and sometimes it’s just good to let the Word of God speak for itself.

Lord, my prayer today is simple.  I just want to learn to be more blessed.  I want to learn to become more of a doer of Your Word, and not a hearer only.  Help me to apply more and more of Your Word to my life.  I love You Lord, and thank You for Your Word, Your guidance, and for giving us the Holy Ghost to help us along the way.  To You be the glory, honor, and praise…In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen.

Why Read the Bible? (Day 26 of 32) “Passing Them on to Others”

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Today’s Scripture:  “ And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”  2 Timothy 2:2

Introduction:

Well, you can’t really talk about why we read the Bible without talking about something that we know is near and dear to God’s heart.   The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV) tells us to go into all the world teaching…and making disciples…of all nations.  Paul writes about it here to Timothy about “teach others”.

Not only is reading the Bible important for our own growth and maturity in the Word of God, but so that we can in return take what we’ve learned and teach others.  That’s what Christlike Ministries NWA is all about.  Equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry.  How in the world can we equip the saints if we don’t know or read the Word of God…what else is there to equip them with?

I’m not even through with the introduction, and I know this is gonna be a good message.  So, let’s get in to the message for today…”Passing Them On To Others”.

Today’s Message:

A couple of messages or so ago I brought up the parable about the man who had so much corn that rather than share the excess of corn he had…he decided to tear down his barn that was sufficient to feed him and his family…and build another barn big enough to hold the surplus.  I said in that message that a lot of us (myself included) have the tendency to become spiritual hoarders when it comes to knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and revelation we have received from either personal study or hearing the Word of God.

Friends, God doesn’t allow us to have revelation solely for us to keep to ourselves.  Listen, if there was ever anyone who had excess of revelation it was Paul.  Can you imagine what would’ve happened if instead of writing two-thirds of the New Testament he would’ve kept all of the revelation, knowledge, wisdom,  and understanding he had?  Do we know that there was another man so qualified with knowledge than Paul?  I mean, I am certain that if it wouldn’t have been Paul that God would’ve raised up another person who He could’ve imparted such revelation to, but take a moment to kind of chew on thought for a minute while I go and warm up my coffee.

So, what came to your mind?  I know what came to mine.  I’m so thankful to God that Paul shared what God imparted to him.  I’m glad that we have Romans through Philemon…aren’t you?  Can you imagine what the Bible would be like without Paul’s writings?

That’s exactly what we do, though.  I’m included in the “we” as well.  For those of us who don’t go to church to socialize, but actually have an encounter with God and receive revelation knowledge in the Word of God…and study our Bibles on a regular basis.  We take our notebooks, we take our notes, and as we learn and apply the Word of God to our lives…get results…have our faith grow…and have our wisdom and understanding grow…and most of us keep that to ourselves when there is a lost and dying world of not just unbelievers, but lukewarm…backslidden Christians who are perishing for their lack of knowledge.  Knowledge of what?  The Word of God.

The Bible talks about how we are blessed to be a blessing, but so many of us when it comes to revelation knowledge of the Word of God become spiritual hoarders.  Not only do we not take anytime at all to preach the gospel to the lost, but we also don’t take any time to disciple others.  We are totally ignoring the command from our Commander and Chief…and I’m not talking about the President of the United States.  I’m talking about OUR Commander and Chief…Our Commanding General…the Commissioned One…Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, Our Commander, Our Chief…the One who said go into all the world preaching, teaching, and making disciples.

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Jesus said in Mark 16:15-16.  But we don’t do that we build ourselves bigger barns, and keep the knowledge we have to ourselves instead of sharing it with a world that is starved and hungry for the Word of God.  Yes, I know many people are going to reject the Word…Jesus said that if the world rejected Him then they will reject us too, but He never said that since the world was going to reject us that it was okay for us to keep what we know to ourselves did He?

No, friends, part of our job as Christians whether we want to or not is to disciple others.  We’re to be “teaching others” about our knowledge, our wisdom, our understanding, and our revelation of the Word of God.  The two places that Jesus tells us to go into all the world here in Matthew 28 and Mark 16…these aren’t suggestions…they are commandments.

See, that’s what this ministry is all about.  This is what we’re doing to share our knowledge, our wisdom, our understanding and our revelation of the Word of God.  I can no longer keep the revelation I have to myself because Christlike Ministries NWA is a discipleship ministry.  Our vision and mission is to this point.

THE VISION: of this ministry is simple.  My heart is to share the love of God with you, introduce those of you who don’t know God to Him, and help those of you who do know Him…to know Him better. – The Vision of Christlike Ministries NWA by Bryan J. Kizer

THE MISSION: To assist believers in developing their relationship with Christ through Bible study, prayer, and worship. Building quality believers so that they can experience God in a more intimate way. The Mission of Christlike Ministries NWA by Bryan J. Kizer

Building quality believers so that they can experience God in a more intimate way.  Ephesians 4:12 is our mandate.  “Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.”  Do you know what that is?  That’s discipleship.  That’s what this ministry and all the messages we write are about.  That’s why we’re taking on this 32 day series about “Why Read The Bible?”.  We’re about The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV).

I am thrilled to know that there are people in other parts of the world following Christlike Ministries NWA.  There are pastor’s in India, Sierra Leone, and all throughout the United States that are following Christlike Ministries NWA.  That means we’re reaching people in other parts of the world.  I never imagined that I would see the day when I would impact other parts of the world.  When I started this ministry my vision was actually quite limited.  I figured that most of my Facebook friends, family, and people I knew would become fans and followers.  But now, I see that we’re attracting interest from people in other countries, and that’s got me excited beyond belief that what I’m writing is impacting people in other nations.

What an honor!  What a joy it is to know that I’m impacting the world, and it’s all because I answered the call to share what I know about the Word of God through writing these messages.  I don’t have to go on a mission trip to India…I have a couple pastor’s over there who are reading the messages I write.  I don’t have to go to South Africa because there’s people there reading these messages.  I’m reaching people here at home in the States, and in other countries.  There are even people in the United Kingdom that are following along.

Hallelujah!  That’s amazing to me.  I never even imagined that I’d have a global impact, but I am.  All I have is a mandate and ordination from God…and I’m doing what He’s called me to do…and now I’m impacting other nations…the Holy Spirit is reaching other nations through what I’m writing under inspiration of the Holy Ghost…is that awesome or what?

It just goes to show friends that what’s needed are people who are willing to do whatever they can to share the knowledge of the Word.  People all over the world are starving for the Word of God.  What if I would’ve just thumbed my nose at God, and decided not to follow through with this?  Now I have the question of what if I didn’t do this…who would reach those I’m reaching?  I am sure they are following other  ministries too, but just to know that they are following Christlike Ministries NWA is awesome.

So, who are the others that you can teach?  Are you in the midst of building a bigger barn…or are you sharing what you have with others?  Don’t answer that question for me…answer it for yourself.  We Read The Bible, friends…so that we can take what we know and “teach others”.  Amen?

Points for Pondering:

“ And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2

  1. What are we to do with God’s Word?
  2. What does it look like in your life to teach the Word of God?

Conclusion & Prayer:

Well, as we wind down this series it’s sure getting to be pretty good isn’t it?  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this series, and I’ve been challenged and convicted right along with you.  You do know that I am writing these messages to myself just as much as I’m writing them for you…right?  I go back and read the messages I write myself.  Not just to see how good they are, but because sometimes I don’t even know what I write…so I have to go back and read my own messages so that I can get revelation from them too.

We’ve been doing this for 6 months now, and what fun it’s been.  It’s exciting to have people in other countries following this ministry.  It’s exciting every time I see a new follower whether it’s here on WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, or visitors to our website.  I remember in the beginning how I’d beg and plead with people to “like” our Facebook page, and now there are almost 50 fans.  If you follow us here on WordPress, and you’re on Facebook…please take the time to “like” our page…and if you have one let me know…I will “like” your page as well.

Heavenly Father, thank You for helping Christlike Ministries NWA to reach the world for You.  Lord, I admit that my vision for what You were calling me to was smaller than Yours, but You have turned this ministry into something I never even imagined.  Thank You for the ability to write, and thank You for speaking through what I write.  Thank You that we’re discipling people not only here in the United States, but other nations as well.  I never imagined that I’d be preaching and teaching to nations, but Your vision is always larger than ours.  I thank You, Lord that You have a greater vision than I do.  Please continue to draw people to Christlike Ministries NWA, and help us to have a global impact that will cause people to come to You.  Help me, Lord, to continue to reach nations.  I thank You that the Holy Spirit can use me to reach the nations, and I thank You for continued growth, and maturity.  I am so very thankful that You can take someone like me…and use me to advance Your kingdom.  What an honor it is to write for You, Lord.  Please bless each reader.  Please give them hearts to receive, and the ability to understand all that is within each message I write (even the ones that are hard to read).  Please help me to become a better writer message by message, and thank You for being with me.  I love You so very much…and I give YOU all the glory, all the honor and all the praise because this ministry, Lord God isn’t about me at all…it’s all about You…and so You deserve all the honor, glory, and praise…because it’s Yours.  In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen.

why read the Bible–day 25 of 32–God’s Guidance

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Today’s Scripture:  “ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”  Psalm 32:8

Introduction:

We’re now one more week away from completing this series, and what a way to begin the last seven messages!  Why Read The Bible?  Because that’s how God guide us.  That’s what we read in today’s verse isn’t it?  I don’t have a long-winded introduction for this message because God gave the introduction for me through Psalm 32:8.  So, let’s get right into today’s message.

By the way, if you have made it all the way through all 25 messages so far…good work!  I hope that these messages have helped you to understand just how important to us the Word of God is…and today’s message is about to further drive home just how important God’s Word is to us, and why we need to read our Bibles.

Today’s Message:

One of the greatest reasons that we need to read the Bible is because this is how God’s guidance comes to us.  You know, everyone is waiting for God to speak to them through the burning bush, but the truth of the matter is the majority of the time the greatest way that God is going to speak to us He’s already provided us…He’s going to speak to us through what He’s already spoken…His Word.

I am convinced that what the body of Christ needs to do is stop looking to pastor so and so to speak a word to them, but look to the Bible to see what God’s already said to them.  I think a lot of times people are looking for the man of God to take the place of the Word of God…but really the man of God doesn’t always have anything more to go on than what the Word of God already says.

Listen, I’ve had men of God speak things over me that as soon as they were done I heard God say…”I did not say that.”.  Specifically, I remember a day when someone had laid hands on me and prayed that I was going to ‘do the work of an evangelist”, and I swear to you on everything I know that’s holy…God said:  “That’s not from me.”.  Listen, all pastors can “do the work of an evangelist”.  Anyone who is a born-again spirit-filled believer in Jesus Christ can and should “do the work of an evangelist’.  Even Paul writes in Romans that all can do the work of an evangelist, but not all are evangelists.  All can prophesy, but not all are prophets.  All can teach, but not all are teachers.

Remember in Ephesians 4:12 Paul writes that God called SOME to be prophets, apostles, pastors, evangelists, and teachers?  I sense a short side-journey here…are you ready?  I am convinced that one of the problems in the Body of Christ is that we have a lot of self anointed and self-appointed people in positions of authority in the Body of Christ that God did not place there.  Let me say that again.  There are some people preaching from pulpits that are not called to be preachers.  There are some who call themselves pastors that are not called to be pastors.  They are self-appointed and self-anointed.  Paul said that the Holy Spirit places people in their offices in the body of Christ as HE desires…not us.

Let me give you an example.  I recently had someone applaud me because I wrote on another Social Network site, and even in my biography that God called me to this ministry.  In response to them I said that I didn’t wake up one morning and say to myself:  “I’m going to be the pastor of Christlike Ministries NWA.”  No…what happened is one day I heard the Lord say to me:  “Bryan, I have called you to be the pastor of Christlike Ministries NWA”

Now, what’s significant here are two things.  One, that the Lord called me into this ministry.  He gave me the name, the scriptures, and not until this year He gave me the mission and vision for this ministry.  God gave me all of that…I didn’t call myself into ministry, and I didn’t anoint myself.  Two, God called me a pastor.  He showed me the position in His Body that I was to have, and when He did that there wasn’t any question about what I was supposed to do or what my role in the body of Christ was.  Let me be as clear as I can be…I didn’t call myself nor did I anoint myself as a pastor…God did.   In both cases…now we’re coming back to today’s message…God spoke those things to me through His Word…I didn’t anoint myself as a minister.  I didn’t anoint myself with a ministry…God did.

I had read Jesus’ encounter with Peter a hundred times, but one day when I read the encounter with Peter…God spoke and made those verses personal.  Every time Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, and Peter responded:  “Lord, You know that I love You.”  Jesus said:  “Feed My Sheep”.  One day when I read that encounter it went from the encounter being between Jesus and Peter to being between me and God.  I understood that God was asking me if I loved Him, and as I responded by saying yes…He said “Feed My Sheep”.  Do you want to know something else?  This is another little side-note that I sense the Lord taking me down now for some of you preachers who have gotten into pride over the size of your congregations.

Preacher, I’m going to share something with you that the Lord told me that burst my pride balloon immediately.  He said:

The sheep I entrust to your care are not your sheep they are Mine.  I have called you to feed MY sheep, and therefore the people who I draw to Your ministry aren’t Yours they are mine.

I’m not sure who that was for, but I know that I was lead to write that for someone.  I know I’m not writing that to myself because I am grateful for every person who likes or follows Christlike Ministries NWA, and I can honestly say that I never consider anyone who decides to follow Christlike Ministries NWA mine.  Everyone of you is God’s, and it’s a privilege to be able to know that God’s entrusted me to equip you or encourage you or instruct you.

Okay, back to the message.  Like I said.  I didn’t one day wake up and anoint and call myself to be pastor of Christlike Ministries NWA.  God anointed me as a pastor when I was reading a devotional book one morning on the Psalms and Proverbs.  The reading for January 13, 2011 was “The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His “anointed one”.  Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.” Psalm 28:8-9 NIV.

Now most people probably wouldn’t get that from those two verses, but I did.  As I began to study those two verses out, I already understood what “be their shepherd” meant because pastors are shepherd’s to their flock.  Christians are referred to often as “sheep”, and sheep need a “shepherd”…and that’s what pastor’s are.  Many times you’ll hear that pastor’s have a “shepherd’s heart”…and there’s a difference.  See, shepherd’s have a relationship with their flock of sheep.

God owns the farm, God owns the sheep, but those of us who are called to “Feed My Sheep” are called to be “shepherds”.  See, there it is again.  I cannot ever look at the people who follow my ministry as mine…they aren’t mine.  They belong to God.  You belong to God, and if you follow this ministry I thank God for you…but you aren’t my sheep you’re His.  You belong to Him.  I am responsible and accountable to tending, shepherding, carrying, and instructing you.  That’s all.  I have no right of ownership to you because you don’t belong to me or Christlike Ministries NWA…you belong to God.

So, when it comes to receiving God’s guidance.  Sure.  Sometimes you’ll get a word of knowledge from someone.  For instance, God spoke through Pastor Stephen Robbins that I would one day use my writing ability for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.  However, when it comes to specific guidance and direction for my life and my ministry God spoke to me through His Word…and that’s what the Psalmist is getting at here.

So, if you’re needing God’s guidance…instead of looking for the burning bush or consulting the man of God…try consulting Him and the Word of God.  Listen, I promise you that God is big enough to not only speak His will to you, but show it to you in His Word.  However, I want you to understand something…and maybe this will help a lot of you who are on the fence about serving God…and wondering why it’s taking so long for God’s call upon your life to materialize.

God called me into ministry in January of 2001…specifically around or about January 13, 2001.  I can’t remember exactly when, but I believe it was also during 2001 when God spoke directly to me through His Word in Jesus’ encounter with Peter at the end of the Gospel of John.  On January 13, 2011, is when I read Psalm 28:8-9 NIV to come to the understanding that I am called to be Pastor Bryan J. Kizer of Christlike Ministries NWA.  God gave me the theme and message: 2012 – GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT BEING SERIOUS WITH GOD in February of this year.  Christlike Ministries NWA was launched for good on January 1, 2012.

It took God ten years to get me to the place where He was able to trust me to become a pastor.  It took God eleven years to get me from the conception to the birth of Christlike Ministries NWA.  So, I sense that maybe some of you are wondering why it’s taking so long for you to get to a place where you’re ready, willing, and able to embrace the call of God upon your life.

Listen, to be truthful to you, I’ve known since probably 1999 that I was supposed to do something with my life for God, and I had a little taste of what serving God would be like.  However, I wasn’t ready to hear and embrace that call…I ran from it because I saw myself the way the world did, and I saw myself as inadequate and unworthy to be able to fulfill the call of God upon my life.  So, in all reality I’ve known since 1999 that I was to serve God, but it wasn’t until 2001 when I clearly heard from God and understood that He indeed was calling me.

However, that was in 2001, and I still wasn’t fully able to embrace the call.  I wasn’t mature enough as a believer, and I certainly didn’t have much of a foundation.  So, if you’ve followed along in my messages you’d know that I was incarcerated in the Kenosha County Jail in 2001.  Which was significant because I spent that entire year being instructed by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God, and like I’d mentioned it was during that year that I’d had the Lord speak to me about “feeding His sheep”, but 10 years passed between knowing I was called, and being anywhere near ready to embrace that call.

Even back in January of 2011 when the Lord again spoke to me through His Word that I was going to be Pastor Bryan of Christlike Ministries.  I was still not fully ready to embrace the call of God upon my life, but that’s when He’d begun to use my wife to encourage me to believe in me until I could see myself the way He saw me.  In January of this year, through messages preached by Pastor Cass Hill of New Life Christian Center, and later the theme for 2012 the Lord gave me:  2012 – GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT BEING SERIOUS WITH GOD…that’s when I began to mature, grow up, and embrace the call of God on my life.

Now, over 150 messages later…I’m walking in the vocation in which He called me.  I am Pastor Bryan J. Kizer of Christlike Ministries NWA.  I didn’t call myself, I didn’t anoint myself, and I didn’t have some burning bush experience.  What I had was a slow methodical pushing and pulling from God until He gave me a Holy Ghost kick in the butt from Pastor Cass Hill of New Life Christian Center.

“Why Read The Bible?”…if I never read the Bible I would never be where I am today because I would’ve never heard and received God’s Guidance for my life through His Word.  That’s why we read the Bible…because that’s the main way that God is going to lead us, guide us, speak to us, and mold us into the image of His Son…Amen?

“ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”  I am where I am today because I finally got out-of-the-way, and allowed God to do exactly what He said He’d do for me in His Word.  What about you?

Points for Pondering:

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”  Psalm 32:8

  1. How does God feel about us?
  2. Can you see areas in which the promises in this verse came true in your life?
  3. Where?  When?  How?

Conclusion & Prayer:

Well, glory to God.  We have six days left in this series after today.  I would again like to give a word of encouragement and congratulations to those of you who have managed to follow along.  However, what’s much more important to me isn’t that you’ve followed along, but rediscovered your own passion for the Word of God.  Maybe until you began to follow along with this series you didn’t know why the Bible was so important…and you didn’t have any passion for the Word at all.  The bottom line, friends, is that what’s most important to me isn’t that you’re following Christlike Ministries NWA, but that you’re making a firm commitment to follow after the heart of God.

How do we do that?  By being committed to reading and studying His Word.

Father God, thank You as always for Your Word.  Thank You for practical ways to illustrate Your Word.  Thank You that I can use my life to illustrate what You’ve done in my life, and I pray, Lord for those reading along that You would do a work in them and their lives.  Lord for those who have never had a passion for Your Word…I pray that You’d light a fire in their hearts that cannot be put out.  For those who have rediscovered a passion for Your Word, I pray that You would fan the flames of their hearts, and that the fire in their hearts for Your Word would burn hotter and more intense than ever before, and for those who are already on fire and have a passion for Your Word, I pray that You would give us greater wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of Your Word…and also that You’d fan the flames in our hearts as well…and let the intensity of the fire and passion in our hearts drive us always to the Cross that we would remain on fire, but humble.  Lord, lead us and guide us…allow us greater discernment to know when and where You are…and we love You.  We give You all honor, all glory, and all praise.  We thank You so much for the Word of God for it is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, and ammunition for the spiritual battles that are before us.  In Jesus’ name we glorify You God…Amen & Amen.

Why Read The Bible–Day 24 of 32–Prayer for Guidance

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Today’s Scripture:  “4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4-5

Introduction:

Well…isn’t this an awesome topic to see when it comes to why reading the Bible is so important.  I believe this is gonna be another awesome message.  I don’t really have a long-winded introduction for this message, but I do have some things stirring in my spirit just from reading the title of today’s message…Prayer For Guidance.

Today’s Message:

Remember when we talked about the Sword of the Word of God being our only offensive weapon in the Armor of God?  I could hear some of you in my spirit asking me “what about prayer?’”  Well, today we’re going to answer that question.  Prayer like the bow for an archer or a gun for a soldier.  However, it’s the Word of God that provides us with the ammunition.  You see, without the Word of God we have no arrows or bullets to shoot.

As a former Marine I know that having a weapon is important, but what’s even more important than having the weapon is something to put into the weapon.   If you have a gun without ammunition than what you have is a useless weapon.

The same goes along with prayer.  You can have the most beautiful sounding prayers, but if you aren’t praying the Word of God when you pray it’s like having a gun without bullets.  The Word of God is what gets God’s attention.  The Word of God is what causes the Holy Spirit to move.  The Word of God is what causes things to happen, and that’s why there is such an importance upon the Word of God.  It is the single most important thing that we as the Body of Christ have.  There’s no salvation without the Word of God.  How do I know that?  Romans 1:16 (KJV) says:  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”.  1 Corinthians 1:18 (KJV) reads:  “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

Let’s look at that verse again.  “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”  Unto us which are saved it…what…the preaching of the cross is the power of God.  Well, how in the world is it that the cross is preached?  Well, it’s preached from the Word of God.

The Holy Spirit couldn’t do anything in creation until God spoke.  How do we know that?  “The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.”  Genesis 1:2 (AMP).  Then God said: “Let there be light…and there was light.”  For the rest of creation we see God said…and then what God said the Holy Spirit confirmed with signs and wonders following.

See, the power is in God’s Word.  God speaks the Spirit does.  Jesus speaks the Spirit does.  Paul speaks the Spirit does.  Peter speaks the Spirit does.  Do you see a pattern here?  If we would learn how to pray the Word of God when we pray…then there would be a lot more happening in our prayer life…why?  Because the Holy Spirit responds to the spoken Word of God.  When we pray things like “by Your stripes we’re healed”…the Holy Spirit is responsible for bringing healing to pass.  God responds because you are praying His Word…oh…and let me add that we need to pray God’s Word in faith believing that whatsoever we ask in His name He will do it.

See, if prayer is the gun, and the Word of God is the ammunition, then faith is the trigger.  See…it all works together.  The more you pray the Word of God, the more results you’re going to see.  The more results you see the more your faith is built up because God’s responding to His Word, things are happening in the natural because you’re praying and believing that when you seek God and ask Him things according to His will…and when you are praying the Word of God…you are always praying His will…and because you’re speaking out loud your prayer the Holy Spirit comes to action because He responds to the spoken Word of God.

See, when a gun works correctly you pull the trigger and things happen, right?  However, sometimes you can pull the trigger, and nothing happens for one of two reason.  Either you’re out of ammunition or you have something that’s obstructing the chamber.   As a Christian we also have a few things that will obstruct our ability to have God move and do things in our lives.  What are they?

  1. Fear
  2. Doubt
  3. Unbelief
  4. Sin

The number one thing that hinders God’s ability to move in our lives is not sin, but unbelief.  I know that this flies in the face of the religious who say that God cannot hear you over our sin.  Listen, God’s not deaf.  If that was the case then God wouldn’t have been able to hear the cries of David, but we know that God heard David’s cries…even in the midst of his sin.  So, sin isn’t what keeps God from hearing the cries of those that are His.

Sorry religious folks, but if you’re looking for a religious ministry…you’re not going to find that here at Christlike Ministries NWA.  This isn’t a “religious” ministry.  This ministry is about a relationship with God through Jesus Christ…and if you’re looking for someone to coddle the ears of the religious then you need to find another ministry to follow because this ministry isn’t about dead religion, but a relationship.

The number one reason that God doesn’t move in people’s lives isn’t because of sin, but because of doubt and unbelief.  How do I know that?

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.9 James 1: 5-9

Does this passage say anything about sin?  No, what this double-minded man is…is a man who asks the Lord for something without faith.  “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  Would you like proof?  I suppose you would because I just made sure to pop the religious balloon about sin being the number one reason people don’t receive from God.

6  Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.7  For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, James 1:6-7 Amplified Version

Here is verse 6 in the Amplified.  No hesitation, no doubting…let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord…why?  Because of doubt.  Everything we pray…even if it’s the Word  of God that we’re praying needs to be asked for in FAITH.  We know that without faith it is impossible to please God, right?

So, there it is.  Even if we are praying God’s Word, and not seeing results it’s not because God is deaf.  He  can hear us over our sin, but what He cannot hear us over is doubt and unbelief.  He cannot act even upon His Word if we have doubt in our hearts that He will do what He says He will do in His Word.  The Holy Spirit cannot respond to the Word of God that’s spoken in doubt and  unbelief either.

Can you imagine if God spoke about creation the  way we speak to Him in prayer?  Listen, when God spoke “let there be light” He didn’t have one ounce of doubt that when He spoke “Light be”…light would be.  Do you know how we approach God?  “Lord, if it’s according to Your will…if You could…maybe You might…and then we give our petition.”  Can you imagine what would’ve happened if Jesus spoke to the fig tree like we speak to it?

Listen Jesus didn’t look at the fig tree, and say “I surely would like it if you would uproot yourself and die.”  No, Jesus spoke to the fig tree knowing that when He said uproot yourself and die…He expected it to die the moment He spoke to it.”  That’s how we need to be when we are seeking something from the Lord…even if we are praying His Word.

I’ve heard people pray the Word of God without having faith that God would do what He said He’d do in His Word.  What does the Bible say?  It says if you lack or seek anything from God…let him ask in faith…nothing wavering.  No doubts, No fears, No hesitation…just faith.  What did Jesus say?  Well, I’ll tell you what He said.

And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive. Matthew 21:22 (AMP)

I’ll get back to what Jesus said in a moment.  God just placed this illustration in my mind, and I think that you’ll enjoy it.

Listen to this.  The religious world would have you to believe that God cannot hear you over your sin, and this is what the Lord just gave me.

The religious world would have you to believe that I’m sitting here like a child with my fingers in my ears when you pray, and because you have sin like that child I childishly say “I can’t hear you, blah…blah…blah.”.  I am not deaf.  I am not plugging my ears trying not to hear you because you have sin.  The reason I cannot hear you isn’t because of your sin, but because of your doubt.  When you ask for something in prayer in my name and really believe that you’ll receive them…you will.  It’s not your sin that keeps me from hearing your petitions…it’s your lack of faith.  When you ask, believe that you will receive, and you will have those things which you are seeking.”

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty good spot to close this message.  I don’t think I really need to add anything else.  That was the Holy Ghost, my friends, and I believe that I’m going to close this message with that Word from Him.

Points for Pondering:

4  Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.5  Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long. Psalm 25:4-5

  1. What is the truth that David is talking about here?
  2. Why should we put our hope into God?
  3. What are you seeking from God that even when you pray His Word you still pray with doubt and unbelief in your heart?

Conclusion & Prayer:

In closing, I want to go back to talking about how the Word of God is ammunition for our prayer, and that faith is the trigger.  I guess, unfortunately, the best illustration for this point is a gun.  I know from my time as a United States Marine how an M-16 functions, and how to use it to illustrate this point.  So, I’m going to go with it in closing out this message.  I will try not to have it go too long, but I will take as long as I need to in order to adequately illustrate this point, then we’ll pray, and close this message.

The M-16 is one of the deadliest weapons that a Marine could have.  We load our weapons with things called a magazine.  This magazine has a multiple number of ammunition in it.  Some magazines hold as many as 100 rounds or ammunition.  You see, the Bible is our magazine.  It’s full of rounds of ammunition to use against the enemy, situations, and circumstances that come into our lives.  We used to have a saying that a clean weapon is your friend.  We spent hours cleaning our weapons…even if we hadn’t used or fired them at all.  Because any amount of dirt in our weapons could cause our weapon to jam.  See, like I just said the religious world would have you to believe that sin is what clogs our firing chamber, but the truth is that it’s not sin…but doubt that keeps our prayers from firing.  See, Faith is the trigger for our prayers, but fear, doubt and unbelief are the things that will keep our prayers from being effective.

The Bible is full of rounds of ammunition.  The M-16 is a unique weapon because with the flick of a switch you can go from firing one round at a time or a burst of three rounds with the squeeze of the trigger.  Praying the Word of God in faith works the same way.  Some times, we just simply need one verse, and some times we need several verses…but no matter how many verses we pray…when we’re praying the Word of God in faith…that’s like shooting rounds at the enemy.

However, the Marines have a simple philosophy when it comes to shooting.  “One shot, one kill”.  The point being one well placed round does better than spraying a bunch of rounds all over the place wasting ammunition.  Now, I’m not suggesting at all that praying multiple scriptures is a waste of ammunition.  However, what I am saying is this.  One well placed verse of scripture that you pray that’s full of faith will do more for a particular situation than praying a bunch of scriptures you don’t have faith in.  Listen, if you need healing…God would much rather you pray with faith in your heart “By His stripes we are healed” instead of looking up a bunch of verses and not really having the faith to know that God will do what He says.

Your prayer life will be much more effective if you can really come to believe and have faith that God is for you and not against you.  That you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, and that in Jesus you have victory.  If you know those verses, and you have faith in those verses..and you pray those things in a situation or circumstance…that’s much more effective than praying anything else.

I hope it’s helped you to know that God’s not sitting up in heaven with His fingers in your ear like a little child because you have sin.  Listen, I have sin in my life, but I certainly don’t let that be a deterrent when it comes to prayer.  Why not?

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].  Hebrews 4:16 (AMP)

God couldn’t, and wouldn’t say that if it was true that God can’t hear us over our sin.  How many of you know that when we have sin that’s the moment when we need to come boldly to His throne?  No, my friends, the reason He can’t hear us has nothing to do with sin, but everything to do with doubt and unbelief.

I hope you enjoyed todays’ message, and I hope the illustration helped you too.

Heavenly Father, thank You for speaking directly to us today through today’s message.  Thank You for letting us know that the reason You cannot hear our petitions isn’t because our sin has caused You to be deaf to our cries, but because we ask with fear and doubt in our hearts.  Lord, teach us to pray Your Word, but more so…teach us to pray it in faith.  Teach us to have unwavering faith so that when we come to You in prayer we can receive that which we ask because we know that You are willing and able to do that which we are seeking from You.  I thank You for Your Word, I thank You for speaking to us today, and I thank You that we’re going to all be better prayer warriors, and we’re going to have clean weapons full of faith in You and Your Word.  In Jesus’ name we pray…Amen & Amen.

Why Read The Bible – Day 23 of 32 – Treasure The Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”  Proverbs 2:1-6

Introduction:

I am a couple of days behind.  The last few days when I work six in a row get to be a little rough.  I usually get up and write after I take a nap, but I just knew that it was time to take a short breather so I can come back strong and finish up this series.

So, this would’ve been Tuesday’s message, and what we would’ve talked about on Tuesday is what we’re going to talk about today…Treasure the Word.  I know that this is going to be a good message, and am excited to get right into it.

Today’s Message:

So, before I begin since I’m still a little groggy and foggy I figure it’s a good idea to start with a prayer.

Lord God, I thank You for another day and opportunity to write messages inspired by the Holy Ghost.  Holy Ghost, I need You to lead and guide me into all truth so that I may write only of the oracles of You.  I ask You to anoint my fingers, and make them as a pen of a ready writer.  Writing only that which You, Holy Spirit, would have to say.  I ask that You would give the readers open hearts and minds, and that You would give them an encounter with You through this message.  I pray for boldness, clarity, and conviction…and I ask these things in Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen.

Treasure the Word.  This goes back to the message we had not too long ago about Delighting in the Word.   See, if more people in the body of Christ treasured the Word of God then we would have more than 25% of Christians who read and study their Bibles on a daily basis.  See, because you give your time and attention to the things you treasure.

If you treasure your marriage you will give time and attention to your spouse.  If you treasure sports then you’ll do like I do at times and get so carried away with sports that you forget about the fact that you have a ministry to take care of…and people who are counting on you to take care of your ministry.

Oh yes, I’m going to get personal today.  I can sense it already.  I can sense the Holy Spirit wants to deal with some things in your hearts and mine through today’s message…and I haven’t even gotten to look at our scriptures for the day yet.

The question really is about what do you treasure?  Do you treasure your relationship with God more than you treasure you position at work or is work more important?  Do you treasure your relationship with God more than you treasure television or is it more important to know what’s happening on Criminal Minds?  Do you treasure the Word of God or is it more important to read the Sunday newspaper?  Do you treasure the Word of God or is it more important to watch your favorite program on television.  That’s the second time about television…some of you may need to shut the television off for a while…and reacquaint yourself with the Word of God like I did not too long ago.

See, what is most important to you is what you treasure.  If you don’t treasure the Word of God enough then you’ll be more interested in watching NCIS.  If you don’t treasure the Word of God then you will be more concerned with SportsCenter.  If you don’t treasure the Word of God then you won’t have any compassion at all for anyone or anything outside of your own personal interests…and the Word of God instead of being a light unto your feet will be an impediment to you having a good time.

See, there in lies the issue.  Whether you’re a preacher or not.  Reading and studying the Bible on a daily basis is WORK.  It requires time, sacrifice, and commitment.  You cannot expect to get revelation from the Word of God when you occasionally  show up for church on Wednesdays and Sundays, and maybe you grace a small group with your presence or maybe you don’t.  But, you cannot expect to have fresh revelation and have the Word of God impacting your life if you are barely interested in doing the basics.

Listen.  I am writing to myself.  It’s easy to argue with yourself sometimes, and lately it’s easier to decide to stay home some times because of my work schedule.  Do you know what the difference is?  I am writing messages, and I treasure and value the Word of God.  There is a premium that I have placed upon God’s Word.  So if I miss a Wednesday or a Sunday I’m not missing an entire day’s opportunity to get into the Word of God.  Yet, I’ve had the Lord tell me to just suck it up, and get my tired butt to church…because He’s the One who supplies my energy and strength when I don’t have any.

Don’t you know that when I go to church even when I’m at the end of myself physically that’s when He can take over because I’m not believing or trusting in my strength.  I’m fully trusting in Him, and because I am obedient and crucify my flesh…and make it go to church anyways…I usually get some good revelation from going.

So, more often than not, even when I’m at my weakest points I still suck it up and get to church.  Like I did last night.  Last night was the end of a six-day work week, and I was exhausted.  It was 4pm, and I was already arguing with myself, but I put my foot down and decided that we were going to church…and I’m glad we did because both of us had really good services.

You see.  I treasure God.  I treasure the Word.  It’s valuable to me because my relationship with God is valuable to me.  I want to know how to live a better life.  I want to know how to get closer to God.  I want to know how to please Him, and be one of those who is told “well done” at the end of life.  Do you know how I find that out?  By treasuring the Word of God.

That’s a huge…huge problem today.  Preachers are becoming slothful because these days you can go on to one of many websites devoted to helping preachers and pastors…and you can print out a sermon that someone else studied and wrote out.  All you have to do is pick a topic, and you can find sermons that are complete with scriptures, jokes, illustrations, and most of the time they’re free.  So, as a pastor who is more interested in entertaining his congregation than feeding them something that will really help them they download this sermon, preach them, and wonder why there’s no anointing or power.  They wonder why the Holy Spirit isn’t in manifestation in their church…in fact the only time they might feel a slight breeze of the Holy Ghost is during worship because God always inhabits the praises of His people…but there’s no power, no anointing, no yoke breaking, no healing, no gifts of the spirit, and no one in the congregation is really getting fed because they’re not really being taught anything of value because the minister who decides to take that short cut and preach someone else’s sermon is really feeding their sheep junk food.

That’s right I said junk food.  Growing up as a kid my mom and I some times would do what we’d call “junk food” night for supper.  All the ice cream, cookies, and whatever else we wanted for dinner we could have, and did have.  Do you know that as a child I enjoyed those dinners, but what I didn’t realize back then is something I know now.  There was absolutely no nutritional value to those junk food dinners because they were empty calories.  It’s the same thing with these ready-made sermons that you preachers download and print off the internet…they are empty of substance.

Preacher, you are starving your congregation because you have left your first love.  I believe that when Jesus talks about the church that left their first love that it’s the Word of God that they have left because when you have the Word of God as the cornerstone of your ministry…like  Christlike Ministries NWA has it…then you cannot forsake your first love.  I told you I was going to get personal in this message.

Listen to me, preachers.  You cannot continue to feed your sheep junk food.  If you’d take the time to read your Bible yourself then you would know that there are people in your congregation who are desiring the sincere milk of the Word, and you also have people in your congregation who are starving for substance…for meat and potatoes and vegetables…they are desiring a well-balance meal supplied to their spirit…and the only thing that can supply that to them is the Word of God that you’re neglecting to feed them.

Preacher, what you have is a congregation full of malnourished sheep.  If you treated your own pets the way you treat God’s sheep the Animal Control Police would be coming to take your pets, and charge you for cruelty to animals for failing to provide them with an adequate diet.

Let me be clear:

GOD IS GOING TO COME AND REMOVE YOUR SHEEP IF YOU DON’T START TO FEED THEM THE WORD OF GOD.  IF YOU CONTINUE TO UNDER NOURISH THE SHEEP THAT GOD HAS PLACED IN YOUR CARE AND ENTRUSTED YOU TO TEACH THEM HIS WORD…HE WILL TAKE THEM FROM YOU.  YOU ARE ALSO GOING TO ANSWER FOR EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT YOU LEFT MALNOURISHED AND UNDERFED.  YOU ARE GOING TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR EVERY SHEEP THAT YOU REFUSED TO FEED BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT DOWNLOADING A SERMON WAS MUCH EASIER THAN STUDYING ONE FOR YOURSELF.  PREACH THE WORD PREACHER…THAT’S NOT A SUGGESTION IT’S AN ORDER FROM OUR COMMANDER AND CHIEF…THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Beloved, what do you treasure?  What’s valuable to you?  Have you placed a premium upon the Word of God and God’s presence or are there things that you’ve made more important than God?  I had to answer these questions a few weeks back, and I found that I needed to fast from a few things for a while because I’d placed other things above my relationship with God.  Friends, if you’ve done the same then I would like to encourage you to do the same.  Turn off the television, and turn on the Word.  Turn off the world, and turn on God.

Jesus said that “Where your heart is your treasure will be also.”  Where is your heart?  What’s valuable to your heart?

Points for Pondering:

Listen…Treasure…Tune…Cry out…Ask…Search…Seek.

  1. What do these words convey?
  2. Why would this father desire these things for his son?
  3. What is valuable to your heart?
  4. Have you placed more of a premium upon the world or God?

Conclusion and Prayer:

I truly believe that there’s a premium in my heart upon the Word of God.  After all it is the most important thing that we as believers have outside of salvation.  Well, without someone preaching the Word to us there wouldn’t have been salvation.  The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  See, people cannot even be saved without the preaching of the Word of God.

Do you treasure God’s Word?  Is it valuable to you?  If there’s something more valuable to you than the Word of God…then you seriously need to repent.  I don’t know why there is such an anointing on me to talk about the importance of the Word of God, but maybe that’s something that I’m called to…is making sure that it’s understood how important God’s Word is and how valuable to us it should be to us as ministers.  We’re called to be ministers of the Gospel…not ministers of someone else’s sermons.

Oh my, let’s pray shall we?

Oh, Lord.  Please forgive us for being so lazy and placing other things above You and Your Word.  Please forgive us, Father God for making Your Word something that’s ineffective and undesirable because we’d rather download someone else’s sermon than teach or preach a message we’ve studied for ourselves from Your Word.  God…please give Your preachers, teachers, pastors, evangelists, apostles, and prophets a love and fire and burning passion for Your Word.  Remove those who have devalued Your Word, and replace them for preachers who are unashamed to still preach what thus sayeth the Lord.  Draw us back to the Bible, Lord…teach us to treasure Your Word, teach us to put a premium on Your Word, Your presence, and the things of You…and forgive us for the things we put above You and Your Word.  I love You and I love Your Word, but I ask that You would even burn with in me a more intense desire, fire, and passion for Your Word that can only be satisfied by more of You Word.  Let the fire and passion for Your Word burn with such intensity that nothing else will satisfy me.  Thank You for what You’re accomplishing through these messages, and I thank You Lord God, that Your Word never returns void, but always accomplishes that which it was sent out to do…like rebuke, exhort, encourage, instruct, and equip Your people…let us all become more perfected, let us all reap more of the profits of being students of Your Word, and let us all continue to be instructed in righteousness that we may be complete, lacking nothing, and fully equipped to go into the Word preaching and teaching Your Word.  In Jesus name…Amen & Amen

Why Read the Bible? Day 22 of 32 "Explaining the Word”

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Today’s Scripture:  “27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.”  Acts 8:27-31

Intro:

Just ten days left in this series, and then I think we’ll take a break to see where the Lord would have us to go next.  I have a pretty good idea, but if this next series is the one I think it’s going to be it’s going to be an even longer series then the one we’re doing now.  However, I believe that it might be a good series to get into.  I have to check out some of the messages in this series just to be sure that I’m not getting us into something crazy, and as long as it’s good, solid Biblical teaching…I do have a 40 day series for us…but I before we go there we’ll probably take a break…and make sure that it’s right with the Holy Ghost before we go there.  It is okay with you if I consult the Holy Ghost for our next series…right?  If not, then this isn’t the ministry for you to follow…because we follow the direction of the Holy Ghost here at Christlike Ministries NWA.

So, today’s message is about “Explaining The Word”.  I think you’re going to like it because I already have a few things rolling around in my spirit to say, and I’m sure the Holy Ghost will have a few things to say as well.  So, let’s get into today’s message.

Today’s Message:

We’ve used these verses a few messages ago, but I sense the Holy Ghost is bringing me back to them to adequately explain today’s message.  The set of verses I’m referring to is what Paul writes to us in Romans 10:13 – 15…and it reads:

“13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

The question of “how shall they hear without a preacher?” is where I sense the Holy  Ghost is at for this particular message.  You know, yesterday I posted a message by Donnie Swaggart simply titled “The Old Paths”.  His main text was Jeremiah 6:16 (KJV):  “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.”

In this message Donnie spoke about how the “new-age” apostles (and the message was preached in 2004) were saying that “the old ways of doing church just won’t work in today’s society”.  He went on to talk about letters that both he and his father Jimmy Swaggart received letters talking about how the way to “save the church today” is to have a “new way of doing church”.  This new way of doing church was actually outlined in the letter sent to Jimmy Swaggart.  They said:  “Imagine that you (the facilitator) are gathered in a restaurant, or even a local pub (bar, tavern).  You have your Bibles open, and you select a particular verse.  Then you (as the facilitator) give your opinion about what you think that verse means, and then you open it up for discussion.”  They went on to say that this new way of doing church is what’s needed to “fix the church”.

Well, I don’t know about you, and I don’t know how many of these messages on “Why Read The Bible?”  you have been a part of, but I can tell you a very easy way to fix the problem in the church today.  It’s not about how entertainment, it’s not about “facilitating a discussion”, and it’s not about doing a sermon on Rick Warren or Joel Osteen’s latest book.  What’s needed to “fix the church” is a return to the Word of God.  I’ve had the Lord speak this to me time and again…”NO WORD OF GOD = NO HOLY SPIRIT.  NO HOLY SPIRIT + NO WORD OF GOD = NO POWER.”  My friend, if you want to restore the power to the churches in America that return the Word of God to the pulpits!!!  You aren’t going to have Holy Ghost power without the Word of God.

You may have some spirit in operation manifesting signs, wonders, and miracles…but my friend any spirit that denies Jesus Christ is Lord is not the Holy Ghost.  You may have some kind of spirit performing miracles, but if you aren’t preaching the Word of God then I can guarantee that spirit that’s performing those miracles IS NOT THE HOLY GHOST.

Listen, I don’t even know what a facilitator is, but what I do know is that the day of the preacher has NOT come and gone.  We still need preachers.  We need preachers in pulpits who are unashamed of the Gospel, who understand that thus saith the Lord is still what thus saith the Lord, and who is unashamed of Jesus Christ.

Preacher, let me say this to you as clearly as I possibly can…one day you are going to stand before the throne of God, and give an account for every idle word that comes out of your mouth…and ever single soul that you lead astray from the Word of God teaching them these fables, and false doctrines you will be accountable for them as well.  Maybe you missed the part in the Gospel’s where Jesus said that it would be better for you to drown yourself in the sea then to lead one of “MY little ones astray”.

Preacher, I don’t know about you, but when Jesus says something like that I think that it’s probably in my best interest to make sure that when I am writing or speaking a message…I had better make sure that everything I write and everything I speak lines up with the Word of God.  I don’t know how in the world you can have anything to preach about without the Word of God anyways, but I can assure you that this ministry…this pastor is going to Preach The Word.

Preachers!  Preachers are necessary to preach the Gospel.  That’s what we do, that’s who we are, and it’s what we’re accountable for.  I am not going to sit here and rant and rave about the next great Rick Warren book.  I am sure he’s got some wonderful wisdom, and I’m also sure that some of what he writes is probably pretty good, and I’m sure that he has awesome insight into the Word of God…but there is NO WAY you are going to catch this pastor using that man’s book to write a message about.

I’ve said this a ton of times already.  If it wasn’t for the Word of God I wouldn’t have anything to write about.  I don’t have any idea what I would write if I didn’t have the Word, and I didn’t have the backing and unction of the Holy Ghost.  However, what I do know is that whatever I wrote apart from the Word of God and leading of the Holy Spirit would be rubbish…absolute rubbish.

So, again…this pastor and this ministry’s proclamation, promise, guarantee…whatever you’d like to call it is this.

OUR SOLE FOUNDATION FOR EVERYTHING WE ARE, EVERYTHING WE DO, EVERYTHING WE BELIEVE, AND EVERYTHING WE WRITE, PREACH OR TEACH IS THE WORD OF GOD…PERIOD.  We may borrow Joyce Meyer’s “Battlefield of the Mind”  Devotional, but the commentary is from us…as the Holy Spirit inspires and gives utterance.  Do you know why we have the Holy Spirit that inspires and gives utterance?  Because we stand upon the Word of God.  We stand for the Old Paths.  We still believe that the Bible is just as valid today as it was 2,000 years ago, and maybe even more so today because we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is NO other book like our Bible.

There is no other book written that is still writing it’s story.  The Bible may have been written more than 2,000 years ago, but it’s story is still being written.  So, when it comes to this pastor and this ministry I want you to know that our sole inspiration, our sole authority, and the sole foundation for everything we are, do, and hope to become is all predicated and based firmly in and upon the Word of God…and that’s the only thing this ministry will ever be based upon.

So, rest assure friends of Christlike Ministries NWA we will not be writing about Rick Warren’s book.  I haven’t even read it to be honest with you.  We will not be writing about any of Joel Osteen’s best sellers I haven’t even read those to be honest with you.  We won’t even be writing about Max Lucado’s latest book I haven’t read any of his books neither.

I also want it to be understood that I don’t have a problem with Rick Warren’s books, but seeming as how he believes that all religions have “a little bit of truth” in them.  I have decided that I can no longer support or continue to have anything to do with him on any of the Social Network sites I’m on because I don’t want to associate this ministry with anyone who subvert, perverts, or prostitutes the Word of God.  I don’t have a problem with Joel Osteen’s books, but based upon what I don’t hear him preach about and his interview that he had with Larry King Live…I don’t believe that he or his ministry need to have any association or support from my ministry because I don’t believe that Jesus Christ is one of many ways to Heaven…I believe He is the ONLY way to get to Heaven.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with reading books by Christian authors.  There are a lot of them like Max Lucado, Dr. Tony Evans, and more who believe, teach, and preach the Word of God.  What I am saying, however, is that when it comes to Romans 10 it’s clear that Rick Warren’s book has no redeeming value.  It doesn’t carry the power of the Holy Ghost, and it doesn’t have the power to save.  Neither does Joel Osteen’s book, or Dr. Tony Evans books, or Max Lucado’s books.

There is only ONE book that has the power to save, change, and transform a life.  There is only ONE book that tells the story of Jesus Christ, the Cross, and how to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  There is only ONE book that is the power of God unto salvation, and leads men to repentance…and that book is the Holy Bible…and there’s no other book like it…anywhere…and will never be another book like it.  The Bible is a one of a kind book…and what’s disturbing is that preachers have turned the Bible into just another book.

Well, preacher, the Word of God isn’t just another book…it is THE book that all of us will be judged according to and by.  It is THE book that all of us are held accountable to.  Are you going to be on the side of the aisle that Jesus turns to say “away from me I never knew you’” or the side of the aisle that Jesus turns to say “well done, though good and faithful servant”?

I don’t know about you, but I want to be on the side of the good and faithful servant…and the ONLY way to make sure that I’m on that side is to Preach The Word.

Points for Pondering:

Well, this message really didn’t have much to do with today’s scripture, but I guess it does.  Preachers and teachers are responsible for explaining the Word.  Unfortunately today most preachers can’t explain the Word to you because they don’t really read it themselves.  The sad truth of today’s church is that you can go online and print out ready-made sermons.  You don’t have to do any of the studying, note taking or outlining of a sermon.  It’s already there.  Someone else already did the work, and is now posting it online to make your job easier.

Whatever happened to delighting in the Word of the Lord anyways?  Well…like we’ve said a few times it requires time and work to prepare messages that are Bible based…but that’s another message for another day.

Here are today’s questions:

  1. What is your impression of Philip?
  2. Why is it important to have someone else to talk with about the Bible?
  3. Do you have a person in your life that is this to you?

Conclusion & Prayer:

Well, I don’t really have a long-winded conclusion for today neither.  As we wind down this series I am just awe-struck by how far away from the Word of God the church has gone.  I suppose I shouldn’t marvel because I read it, and saw it coming…but I guess sometimes it’s just amazing to see how blatantly obvious the perilous times are that we’re living in…and how verses like what Paul wrote to Timothy were prophetic…and are coming true before our eyes.

Dust off that Bible at home, friends.  If you don’t have one…get one.  It’s important that we get back to the basics of life…and one of those basics is to rediscover a love and passion for the Word of God, and seek God to bring back the Old Paths.

Lord, I don’t have any idea what to pray today.  So, like Your servant Donnie prayed before his message on the Old Paths, I am simply going to pray the same thing.  Lord, return us to the Old Paths.  Give us a hunger and passion for Your Word that burns hotter and more intense than ever before.  Draw Your servants, Lord God back to Your Word, and raise men and women of God who are unashamed of Your Word to take the place of those who are.  Forgive us for being ashamed of You and Your Word.  Have mercy upon us Lord, and help us to get right so that we can Preach Your Word to a lost and dying world that’s going to hell because preachers are more concerned about entertaining people than evangelizing them….and getting them off the road to hell…and on the path to Heaven.  Lord, I love You, praise You, and glorify You and You alone…and in the name of Jesus I pray…Amen & Amen

 

I’m asking for the old paths…are you?

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Introduction:

I just recently watched this message by Donnie Swaggart.  I didn’t realize the first time I watched that this message was preached in 2004, but I believe that these messages were somewhat prophetic because while he was preaching that they were in the beginning of “The Great Apostasy”…I believe that we are now today IN the days of The Great Apostasy.  I believe that we’ve gone and strayed further from the Word of God, and listening again to this message while drawing to a conclusion our series on “Why Read The Bible?”…it further drives home the point that there is a direct relation to the decline of the moral fabric of the church and the turning away from the Word of God.

Look at the scriptures that were referenced in this message:

  • “ Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit.”  Jeremiah 2:11 (NKJV)
  • “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.”  Jeremiah 6:16 (NKJV)
  • “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)

I would like to encourage you to give this message a listen, and take a moment afterwards to reflect upon what was preached.  I know that what’s preached in this message is harsh, and there’s a lot of strong preaching here.  However, I believe that we need to do like is written in Jeremiah 6:16 (NKJV) and 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV).

This is Part 1 of 2–The Old Path’s preached by Donnie Swaggart in 2004
This is Part 2 of 2–The Old Path’s preached by Donnie Swaggart in 2004

Conclusion & Prayer:

I submit to you that not only was Donnie Swaggart right then, but he’s right now.  As I think of what he preached in light of what we’ve been talking about in the “Why Read The Bible?”  series…I can’t help but to think that this is a right on time word to drive home the point and importance of reading the Word of God.

We need a revival of the Word of God, and it’s got to start with us.  We have to know about the “Greed Gospel”, and some of the other doctrines that are invading the body of Christ because the modern-day apostles don’t believe the old way of doing church just won’t work anymore.  I’m blessed to attend a church with a pastor that still believes in the ways of the Old Paths…and that they are just as valid today as the were in the old days.

So, join me in humbling ourselves to seek His face…and also taking a stand for the Old Paths.  By the way, Christlike Ministries NWA still believes in the Old Paths, and we don’t believe that there is a need for at “new way to do church”.

Oh Lord, how far we have fallen.  As in the days of Jeremiah, we are living in the midst of this apostasy, and the only thing I know to do is humble myself and seek Your face, Lord.  I ask that You would always keep the Old Paths before this ministry, and help us to withstand whatever persecution comes our way.  I love You Lord, and I love Your Ways, Your Word, and I am so thankful that You have given us the way for the church to succeed.  There isn’t some new path needed…but a return…a return to the old ways of doing church.  In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen.

Why Read the Bible?–Day 21 of 32 – Understanding of the Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.”  Psalm 119:27

Introduction:

So, Psalm 119 seems to be an underwriting chapter for our series on “Why Read The Bible?”.  Today, however, we see something else from this chapter.  It’s talking about understanding the Word of God, and that’s where we get back to constantly studying and meditating upon the Bible.  How in the world is it that we can understand the Bible if we don’t read it, study it, and meditate upon it?  I write messages based upon what I know and understand…how in the world could I write messages if I didn’t have any knowledge, wisdom, or understanding of the Word of God?  I couldn’t.  I’ve found myself saying this a couple of times…if it wasn’t for the Word of God I wouldn’t help, but have anything to write about.

Today’s Message:

Psalm 119 was written by David.  The more that I read from Psalm 119 the more I am able to see, and understand why David’s reputation is a man after the heart of God.  David’s love for God’s Word is something that I only wish that I could duplicate myself.  I can’t even pretend that I’m that saturated and infatuated with the Word of God.  Even as a pastor and someone who has a ministry I can admit that my love of God’s Word pales in comparison to what we read in Psalm 119.

However, what I can tell you is that I understand the heart of David here.  I love God’s Word…don’t get me wrong, but what I’m admitting is that even I can see that I can always stand for more room for the love for God’s Word.

What bothers me about my admission is that I’m one of the 25% or less that reads my Bible on a daily basis.  I have to…especially as a writer.  I must have an understanding and knowledge base of God’s Word in order to deliver good, solid Biblical messages.  Yes, the Holy Spirit inspires, and helps me write…but I also have to be able to draw on my wisdom and understanding at times as well.  The only way I can do that…is to read the Word, study the Word, and ask God to help me to understand what it is I’m reading.

I will also admit that I had a couple of really good teachers.  The first…and best teacher I’ve had was the Holy Spirit who taught me the Word of God Himself during several times in what I would describe as my own personal wilderness.  Part of that wilderness was a couple of stays in the Kenosha County Jail due to horrible decisions I made while being carnal, and not really wanting anything to do with God.  I can testify to the fact that I spent quite a lot of time reading and studying during a couple of extended stays in the iron bar hotel.

The second was Pastor Stephen Robbins who was my pastor from 2001 through 2007.  While under the leadership and shepherdship of this man attending his church services wasn’t like attending a sermon, but Bible college.  I credit him with confirming the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding the Holy Spirit gave me during my times of incarceration.  I was extremely blessed by this man because he helped the Lord to really build and solidify the foundation I now have in God’s Word.  It’s how I learned to have discernment, and now know when someone is preaching a false gospel…and who isn’t.

Under his teaching I established a foundation in things like “Justification by Faith”, “The God Side”, and an overall understanding of the basics of the Christian faith.  I believe he has an anointing similar to Paul’s which was the defense of the true gospel, understanding the mystery, and again the general foundational truths in which are now the foundations upon which Christlike Ministries NWA is built.  I owe so much to Pastor Stephen Robbins, and thank God for him.

I am greatly disturbed by the fact that less than 25% of the body of Christ studies their Bibles on a daily basis.  I admit that I found myself in that place for a while.  I was one of those Christians who was one of those who had the Word of God fall amongst the thorns.  I can admit that I had the cares of the world turn me into a carnal Christian, and I’m certainly not proud of that…but I know what it’s like to live life as a Christian that way.

Not only do they have the cares of the world distracting them, but we tend to kind of live life with one foot in the world, and one foot in the kingdom of God.  We’re also the kind of Christian that Jesus refers to as lukewarm.  Listen, I’ve written several times now that the reason there are so many powerless Christians today is because of a lack of understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and having a foundation in the Word of God.

I can even be honest enough with you all to say that until this year, and until the Lord spoke to me His theme for this year for me…Getting Serious About Being Serious With God is because of my living life among the thorns.  God got hold of me, and my attention through the third person in which I give credit for my growing knowledge and understanding of the Word of God.  New Life Christian Center’s Pastor Cass Hill.

It’s been an awesome year.   Launching Christlike Ministries NWA has helped me to become that good ground that the Lord speaks of during His parable on the four soils.  It’s helped me to take the other foot that I was trying to keep in the world, and cross it over into the kingdom of God.  Getting Serious About Being Serious About God is one of the first messages I wrote, and it’s also kind of the starting point of what’s become a heck of a ministry.

It’s also helped to really get my heart on fire for God’s Word again.  Like I’ve said a few times…without the Word of God I don’t have anything to write about.  So, in all seriousness I’ve turned a major corner over the last six months, and I enjoy what I’m doing now for the Lord.

Understanding the Word of God is of vital importance in these last days…and we are living in the last days.  Proverbs is full of verses that link wisdom and understanding.

  • Proverbs 4:5:  “Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.”
  • Proverbs 4:7:  “Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
  • Proverbs 16:16:  “How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.”
  • Proverbs 19:8:  “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.”

Wisdom and understanding are always linked together…and do you know what’s also linked with these two things?  The Word of God.  “Through Your precepts I get understanding.”  Psalm 119:104 (NKJV). Through Your precepts I “get understanding”.

Friends, we all need to discover a passion and love for the Word of God like David writes about in Psalm 119.  I know that one of things this series has done in my heart is help me to discover that I need to pray as I have that God will burn a passion and fire for His Word that’s unquenchable.  I hope that this series has given you the same desire.

Points for Pondering:

  1. What is David’s desire?
  2. How would it affect your life if you had a better understanding of God?
  3. How can you get a better understanding of God without reading and hearing the Word of God?

Conclusion & Prayer:

I don’t have much to say today in closing.  I think this has been a pretty good message.  I will repeat something I just wrote.  I hope that above everything that this series has helped to challenge your heart and love for the Word of God.  I hope that this series has helped to burn a passion in your heart for God’s Word.  I hope that it’s sparked a desire to spend more time in God’s Word on your own.  I really hope above everything that what this series has done is get you to dust off that Bible, and start reading it more often.

Oh Lord, I can’t seem to stop with the prayer of desire for more of a burning passion for Your Word.  I just ask for the fire and passion to be such that is unquenchable and unsatisfied by anything, but more time in Your Word.  I love You so much God, I love Your Word, and I ask that You would continue to help me to write and to increase in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  I pray that those who are following along with this series have a passion burning in their hearts for the Word of God, and challenged to be spending more time in Your Word.  I give You glory, honor, and all the praise.  I thank You for the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding You’ve given me…and I thank You for helping me to write good, solid messages…in Jesus’ name I ask this…Amen & Amen

Why Read the Bible? – Day 20 of 32 – Pondering His Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.”  Psalm 143:5

Introduction:

We continue our series with another verse from the book of Psalms.  Yesterday, we talked about meditating upon the Word, contemplating the Word, delighting in the Word, and remembering the Word…and today we are talking about pondering on the Word.

Meditating, contemplating, and pondering all have to do with our thoughts.  They have to do with keeping the Word of God fresh upon our hearts, upon our minds, and upon our lips.  This Word of God that less than 25% of Christians now read on a daily basis is the sustaining source upon which all of  us should be basing our lives upon.

Yet, it’s necessary to go over a series like this because the Holy Spirit is trying to remind us of the importance of the Word of God.  It’s truly a shame that we’ve had to take such a long time on this topic, but what’s even more of a shame is that the Holy Spirit felt it necessary for us to have to get in to this.

I admit that even I can always spend more time in the Word of God, but the awesome thing about writing on a daily basis is that I also have to read the Word of God on a daily basis.  Like I’ve said a few times if it wasn’t for the Word of God, and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost I wouldn’t have anything to write about.  So, let’s get into today’s message, and see what it is that the Holy Spirit would have to say to us today.

Today’s Message:

Today’s verse in our old friend, The Amplified Version of the Bible reads this way:  “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I ponder the work of Your hands.” 

Not too long ago I watched a two-part message on YouTube by one of my all time favorites Evangelist Donnie Swaggart.  Yep, you would be correct in your assumption that he is indeed the son of Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart.  His message was simply titled: “The Old Paths”. 

The point of his message was that today’s preachers have strayed far, far away from the paths of old.  I can guarantee you that you would never hear some of the old-time heavyweights of the faith like Kenneth Hagin Sr, Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, CS Lewis, Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Graham, and others preach the kinds of seeker friendly messages we hear coming from the pulpits of America today.

In fact, I have found that more of the preachers on television these days like Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, Bishop Eddie Long, and the list could go on forever are all about prosperity, feel good religion, thinking your way to a better life, and one of the most dangerous is this doctrine today about how everyone is going to be accepted into heaven.  No, not all of the before mentioned guys are preaching this garbage, but what I’ve found is that if I want good, solid biblical teaching from guys like Dr. David Jeremiah, Charles Stanley, Jack Graham, Tony Evans, Adrian Rogers, and a few others…the only place I can find good Bible teaching is on the radio.

In pulpits across the country the emphasis today is upon being seeker friendly, filling the pews, and offending as few people as possible.  We have coffee-house churches, churches in bars, and churches that have live secular music and magic shows and other things in their church.  The emphasis is on the entertainment of the body of Christ rather than the enrichment and equipping of the body of Christ to do the work of the ministry.

Do you know why all of this is so?  Do you know why the letter Paul wrote to Timothy is more prophetic about the day in age in which we live today?  Do you know why we’re now living in the perilous times, and the day where we heap up messages for people who have itching ears?  Do you know why preachers are more concerned about offending their members instead of being afraid to offend God?  Do you know why there are so many weak kneed, powerless Christians running around today that have no idea what they believe or why? 

It’s because they have forgotten the days of old, they have forgotten about the work of the Lord’s hands, and they no longer ponder, meditate or contemplate the Word of God.  They claim the Bible is outdated for today’s society so rather than teach them the Word of God they would rather teach out of Rick Warren’s latest book.  Instead of studying and preparing messages the old-fashioned way (by studying the Word of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct their sermons) you can go on to many websites today and download and print out ready-made sermons complete with scriptures (that are incorrectly divided), illustrations, jokes, and even stories that the poster of the message used. 

This departure from the delight of meditating, the passion to study to show themselves approved to God, and an over all devaluing of the Word of God has a direct link to the decline of morality in the church.  It’s the reason churches today are willing to accept that maybe the Bible’s view on same-sex marriage is wrong, the divorce rate in the church is just as high as the divorce rate in the world, there are pastors having affairs left and right, and then I get back to the lack of substance in the messages being preached today…all of this is directly linked to the devaluing of the Word of God.

Today’s church services are three songs, a half-hour to forty-five minute message with no substance or challenge to anyone’s lives (because we now need to be entertaining and seeker friendly so we don’t offend anyone…but God.), and then they’re home before or shortly after kick off for the Sunday NFL party or NASCAR race or whatever else people think is more important than getting a good, solid Bible based message.

During this series on “Why Read The Bible?”  we have gone over many subjects, but what bothers me is that we have to have a series like this to begin with.  I don’t understand how a preacher can talk for an hour, and feel like he’s done his congregation any good by not teaching or preaching the Word of God.  The most basic of the Christian walk is that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  In Romans chapter 10: 14 – 15…Paul writes:  “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

And how shall they hear without a preacher?  Hear what?  The gospel of peace, the good news, and the very Word of God that faith comes by hearing from.  How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things.”  Paul writes.

You know, as I do what today’s message talks about and ponder upon what I’ve been writing over these last 20 days now, one thing that I can honestly say is that I have no desire to teach anything that isn’t found in the Bible, and this pastor and ministry will always strive to be more concerned about offending God that it’s readers.  I don’t think that I have some great wealth of knowledge about anything, and like Paul I have determined not to know anything except Christ crucified, and that we’re all sinners in need of a Savior.

Listen, I may be the pastor and founder of this ministry, but when God called me to this ministry He made it very clear that everyone that would become a part of this ministry were not my sheep…they are His.  He also made it clear that I am accountable for what I feed His sheep.  So, I am here to boldly proclaim and declare that this ministry shall not and will not depart from teaching and preaching and reading the Word of God.  The very foundation of this ministry is the Bible, and there’s no point where I can look at today’s society and think that the Word of God is outdated.

In fact, I believe it’s quite the opposite.  I’ve written this a few times in this series too.  What other book in history is there that it still writing it’s story today?  Is there any other book has been written that you can honestly say is still having it’s story unfolding today?  I can tell you that there’s no novel written today that’s more powerful then this Bible that everyone today seems to think is irrelevant for today, but that is exactly what’s needed in order to change the world. 

We have twelve messages left in this series, and I can assure you that once this series is over we whatever series we do next will not be about someone’s latest book…it will be something that’s good, solid Bible teaching.  I don’t know about any other preacher out there today, but I want beautiful feet…and the only way I know to have beautiful feet is to continue to preach the gospel of peace…and that’s what this pastor and this ministry intend to do.

Points for Pondering:

I guess maybe it’s a little late after 20 messages to figure out that none of you are really answering these questions.  So, I guess I’ll rename this section to reflect what I hope that you are doing.  If you’re not answering them, I hope that you’re at least using these questions to challenge your heart and mind.  I hope that you’re using these questions to think and meditate upon what your attitude towards the Word of God is.  I hope that these questions have helped you to figure out that reading God’s Word isn’t a suggestion, but a command…and something that’s meant to help us learn how to reflect the Writer of the Word of God.

  1. What are some of the great works that this verse is talking about?
  2. Why is a good thing to look back at the things God has done?
  3. What are some of the great works that God has done in your life?

Conclusion & Prayer:

I feel it necessary to repeat once again my personal pledge to all of you who follow Christlike Ministries NWA.  That personal pledge is this.  Christlike Ministries NWA will not ever stray from teaching the Word of God.  This pastor and this ministry is committed to good, solid Bible based messages with just a touch of personal reflection, wisdom, and understanding…but what I have to say in these messages isn’t nearly as important as the Bible verses in which we cover in them.

I don’t ever want you to take what I write, and not test it according to the Word of God.  I am a man, I am human, and while I do my best to write messages that are inspired by the Word of God and the Holy Ghost…the truth is I’m capable of writing things in error.  I do know that as long as I stick to the Word of God I will most likely write good, sound messages, but I still want you to look up the Bible verses.  I want you to understand how I come to the conclusion and commentary I come to because you understand it, and see it in the Word of God…not because I write it.

My friends, we simply must return to having a passion and fire for the Word of God that out burns our passions for anything else.  “Preach The Word” is burning in my heart and mind on a daily basis because that’s what is going to make the difference.  What I write won’t amount to a hill of beans, but what does matter is the Word of God.

In these last 12 messages I hope that you’ll continue to follow along, but more than that my hope and prayer is that you’ll rediscover a fire and passion for the Word of God that can only be quenched and satisfied by spending quality time in God’s Word.

I never really know who is reading these messages, but I maintain that the most important thing to me isn’t that you read these messages or that Christlike Ministries NWA becomes something great…the heart of this pastor and this ministry is to equip you with the ability to have a strong, intimate, personal relationship with God.  That is really the hope and mission and vision of this ministry…we’re an Ephesians 4:12 ministry…our goal, job, mission, vision or whatever you want to call  it is this…equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,”

My prayer is that we have helped to encourage, enlighten, and equip you to embrace whatever it is that God is calling YOU to do.

Jesus, teach us to delight in Your Word the way the Psalmist did.  Teach us the value of meditating, contemplating, and pondering upon Your Word.  I continue to pray, Lord God, that You would burn within us and me a passion and fire for Your Word that burns hotter and more intense…and is never fully satisfied.  For those of us with smoldering fires, Lord I pray that You would fan the flames in our hearts, and forgive us for being cool to lukewarm about Your Word.  Jesus, we love You, and we thank You for all You are doing in us, with us, and through us in this series…and I pray that as it continues You’ll burn in us a deeper, hotter, more intense longing for You as well.  I give You all glory, all honor, and all praise…and ask these things in Your Name…Amen & Amen.

Why Read The Bible – Day 19 of 32 – Reflecting His ways

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Today’s Scripture:  “15 I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways.16 I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”  Psalm 119:15-16

Introduction:

Today, we return to Psalm 119.  Immediately what I see is two points we’ve been talking about…meditation upon Your precepts and delighting myself in Your statutes, and nicely sandwiched in is a third point of contemplating His ways…and finally  a declaration to not forget His words.

These two verses are packed with good stuff.  Today’s message is titled “Reflecting His Ways”, but I have a sense that today’s message may not actually have much to do with the title.  We’ll see…but here we go.

Today’s Message:

No matter what we do we can’t get away from this word “meditate”.  We’ve seen it a few times, and what I’d like to suggest to you that this means that we’re to do a little more than just read our Bibles.  When you think of meditation, you think of someone sitting with their legs crossed doing this weird hum to clear their minds and get to this place of silence.  When you take the time to meditate upon something you give it your full, undivided attention, and you clear you mind of any and all other distractions to really chew on and think about something…and this is exactly the approach that we’re to have with the Word of God.  It’s not supposed to be something we read like the newspaper, but something that we are to really dig into, study, and that’s what this word meditate is getting at.

Remember the analogy of the school text books.  Now, maybe some of you weren’t the greatest at studying in school either, but the way we’re to study the Bible is the same concept.  Studying in school was meant to help us pass tests and quiz’s in the classroom, but studying and being able to learn the Word of God will enable us to pass the tests of life.  It will also enable us to learn how to reflect God’s ways in our lives. 

Remember how I said I’ve never read the Bible cover to cover?  I can’t.  I have purposely set down to read the Bible cover to cover, but what almost always starts happening to me when I do that is I start finding things that I’d like to study out, and since my Bible has references in the middle of each page it will lead me on what I described as a choose your own adventure kind of thing.  I love the Word of God, and I usually find that when I try to read nonchalantly read the Bible I can’t because I love the Word so much that I find I can read it that way.  So, what happens is I find stuff that I want to study out, and before you know it I’m off on what I like to call side-journey’s…and I never finish reading what I started out to read.  That’s meditating upon the Word of God.

Listen, when I sit down to really study something out in the Word I have three different Bibles, a notebook, usually my computer open to YouVersion or E-Sword, pens, highlighters, and I’m wanting to really dig into whatever topic it is that I’m trying to study…that is meditating upon the Word of God…and that’s the way that we ought to strive to study to show ourselves approved.

That goes along with the second point because I really do delight in the Word of God.  I enjoy studying things out, getting new and fresh revelation of something I may have read a hundred times…but this time it means something…and off on a side-journey I go to find out what and why it means something to me.  That is what these two verses are talking about.  I delight to meditate upon the Word of God because when I do that then I find things that I really like to chew on and contemplate…and sometimes I find myself amazed by what I’ve been able to maintain and remember.  I’m not a walking Bible at all, but the Holy Spirit will bring things to my remembrance when I need them.

It all stems from having a delight in the Word of God.  I love God’s Word, and it’s important to me.  It’s the foundation upon which I am working to build my life, and the foundation upon which Christlike Ministries NWA is built upon.  It’s the authority of Christlike Ministries NWA, and it’s the authority in my life. 

When you study and delight in the Word like that you do begin to reflect God because when His Word is in you it shows.  It comes out of you when you talk, you think about it, and that’s how you get to reflecting His ways.

Do you want to be more like Jesus?  Study the Word.  Meditate upon the Word.  Delight in His Word.  Contemplate the Word.  The Word of God is the single most important thing to us outside of salvation because it enables us to learn how to walk through life in a way that is pleasing and reflecting of God. 

What are you reflecting today?  Are you reflecting God or are you reflecting your favorite TV show?  Either way, you are reflecting something.  I don’t know about you, but I want my life to reflect more of God than of me or anything else…Amen?

Study Questions:

  1. Why doesn’t the Psalmist want to forget the Lord’s decrees?
  2. How big of a commitment does it take to study and reflect upon something?
  3. Why would you do such a thing?

Conclusion & Prayer:

Delighting, meditating, contemplating, and remembering the Word of God are all points in these verses.  What’s the point of all this anyways?  Why is meditation on the Word of God so important?  Why all this emphasis upon really studying the Word of God? 

My friend, I submit to you that the reason for this is because we are living in the perilous times that Paul wrote to Timothy about.  Our generation is seeing the fulfillment of Paul’s prophetic letter to Timothy, and it’s only going to get worse from here on out…until the rapture.

We have to have a renewed commitment to meditating and remembering and studying the Word of God because it is our only offensive weapon for the spiritual warfare and battles that lie ahead of us in the years to come.  We have no idea how much longer we have before that trumpet sounds and we’re taken away to be in eternity forever, but what we do know is that everything is declining and happening at an alarming rate of speed. 

So, I believe this is a timely series reminding us of the importance of knowing the true Word of God.  There are so many crazy, unbiblical doctrine’s being taught out there today that it’s alarming, ridiculous, and if we don’t really know God’s Word we will be in trouble because someone is going to teach something that sounds awesome…but there’s no power in it because it’s not from the Word of God.

Listen, I used to love Joel Osteen’s messages until I started to understand what he wasn’t saying, and when I hear the transcripts of his interview on Larry King Live that’s what sealed it for me in my mind that I no longer need to be listening to what he has to say because it’s lies from the pit of hell.  However, the only way I know what Mr.. Osteen is preaching is garbage is because I have an understanding of the Word of God that came from my own personal study and devotional time of it.

So, like I’ve said a few times in this series the time is long overdue for us to dust off our Bibles, pick them up, and start reading them.  Amen?

Father God, I really do love Your Word, and I pray that You would sink this message deep into the hearts of those who read it.  I pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would convict us when we stray from Your Word, and leave such a burning in our hearts that the only thing that will satisfy it is getting into Your Word.  Oh, that we would hunger and thirst for Your Word as the Psalmist.  Delighting and desiring to meditate, contemplate, and never forget Your Word.  Help us, Oh Lord, to have that desire for Your Word too…  In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen.

Why Read the Bible? – Day 18 of 32 – Delighting in His Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

Introduction:

Well, here we are with yet another set of scriptures that take about meditating upon the Word of God day and night.  There really must be something to this daily meditation upon the Word of God because we’ve read Jesus say we’re to “search the scriptures daily”, we’ve read it in Acts how with a readiness of mind we’re to search the scriptures daily, we just read Joshua 1:8 yesterday, and today we read here in Psalm 1:1-2 again.

So, if there’s all this insistence upon searching the scriptures daily, meditation upon the book of the law day and night, and studying to show ourselves approved.  Why don’t we?  Well, I am going to talk about that in today’s message…Delighting in His Word.

Today’s Message:

Whenever I hear people talk about why they don’t read the Bible as “often as they’d like to or should” there are two common responses.  The first one is that they just don’t know where to start.  I’ve offered time and time again to send them a free complimentary copy of my own personal Bible devotional magazine, but I’ve yet to have anyone contact me for it.  It’s free.  It costs me money to mail it, but once they have it they can send in a card to subscribe to it for free.  The second objection or reason people don’t like to read the Bible is they say that it’s “too difficult to understand”.  So, in this message I’m going to deal with these two excuses, and see where we go from there.

  1. I don’t know where to start:  This excuse is the easiest to use because what the person giving this excuse is really saying is I don’t really care enough to read it.  Listen, if you’re expecting me to coddle you, and blow smoke up your rear end…you’re following the wrong ministry.  I don’t know where to start coupled with the refusal to accept a free copy of RBC Ministries daily Bible devotional Our Daily Bread tells me that if you really wanted to know where to start, and you really wanted to read your Bible…then you would give me your contact information so I can send you a FREE COPY.  Like I just said, it’s going to cost me money to send it, but it’s going to cost you nothing to receive it, and start using it.  In fact, there is a subscription card on the inside of it that you can send them, and they will then start sending it directly to you FREE OF CHARGE.  The Our Daily Bread is about as basic of a Bible devotional as you can get.  It’s actually my own personal favorite Bible devotional to use, and I’ve used it for 25 years.  However, the I don’t know where to start excuse is really you saying I just don’t feel like reading the Bible is worth my time.  Thus, that explains why 3 out of 4 Christians don’t read the Bible on a daily basis…they don’t know where to start so they don’t want to.
  2. It’s too hard to understand:  This excuse is used because they have apparently been living under a rock because there are many other versions out there these days then the original King James Version.  The majority of the people who use this excuse use the fact that they don’t understand the King James Version.  This excuse also translates into they don’t understand it so they don’t care to try to understand it.  They would rather have someone like Joel Osteen tell them what they believe the Bible says then to actually take the time to go to a Christian Bookstore, look for a version of the Bible they would understand, and start studying the Bible for themselves so that they’d know that what Joel Osteen is preaching is a lie straight from the pits of hell. As I just said this excuse also translates into the fact that they just don’t care enough about the Bible to want to understand it.

This leads me to the point of today’s message.  The Body of Christ is no longer Delighting in the Word of God.  Which to me is sad, and clearly outlines the reason why people no longer study the Bible on a daily basis.  Would you like some reasons why people don’t study the Bible?  I’ll give you some.

  1. It requires commitment:  (Psalm 37:5) Do you know what we’re committed to today?  We’re committed to our jobs, we’re committed to our families, we’re committed to watching television, and we’re committed to everything but the Lord.  We have place a higher premium on everything else, but the Lord.  The reason no one knows where to start reading or wants to understand the Bible more is because it requires them to make a commitment to start reading or trying to understand the Bible by going out and buying a version of the Bible that they would understand.  I don’t like many of the other translations of the Bible, but if they help you to understand what the Word of God says then I’d rather you read one of those than not read the Bible at all.  Do you know who else would rather you read one of those other translations than not read one at all?  GOD.
  2. It requires sacrifice:  (Romans 12:1-2)  It requires the sacrifice of time.  It takes time to study.  It takes time to read.  It takes time to be able to understand the Bible.  Let me tell you that there are many, many things in the Bible that I don’t understand, but unless I have the commitment and am willing to sacrifice the time to understand what I don’t get…then I’m never going to understand it.  I want to understand it.  I want to know what things I don’t understand mean.  So, that means if I’m going to want to do that then I need to sacrifice my time, I’m going to have to commit to turning off the world and getting into the Word of God.  It means turning on good solid Bible messages, and turning off Mike & Mike in the Morning.  It means sacrificing what I want to know about the world of sports, and finding good, solid Bible teaching messages.
  3. It requires work:  (2 Timothy 2:15)  Here is the bottom line.  It takes work.  This is why pastors these days would rather download a sermon off the internet than study and prepare a message themselves.  It requires work.  You cannot have the ability to rightly divide the Word of God if you never read it.  You can’t even accurately preach or teach the Word of God if you don’t read it…studying the Bible if you’re a minister isn’t a suggestion, but a command.  It’s a requirement, and for those of you who say that the Bible has lost it’s touch, and isn’t in tune with today’s society…you had better wake up and realize that the Bible is the inherent word of the One Living and True God…and you will one day be judged and held accountable for what you say and do out of that book that you think is no longer valid for today’s society.
  4. It requires time:  I know that we’re all so busy these days, but we need to remember that it takes time.  It’s taken me 11 years from the day God called me to this ministry to actually step into this ministry, and start doing what I’m doing today.  However, if I’m to be completely honest and transparent this journey I’ve been on with the Lord started roughly 30 years or so ago…and even before that.  I was blessed to have a grandmother who was a believer, and set me aside and apart by praying over me while I was yet in my mother’s womb.  I’m almost 40 years old now.  It’s taken me a long, long time to get to where I am today, and by the grace of God I’ll hopefully have another 40 years to continue to learn.

So, the truth is that I do delight in the Word of God today.  I’m no great theologian.  Like I said there is still plenty of the Bible I don’t understand, and I’ll be even more honest enough to tell you that I have never in all my years read the entire Bible from cover to cover.  I can also tell you that even if I ever did try to read the Bible cover to cover I wouldn’t be able to.  I’ve tried from time to time to read it from cover to cover, and I usually wound up going on little side journey’s.  I’ve tried to read it from Genesis to Revelation…but I’ve never quite been able to do so because I always find myself getting taken on side journey’s.  Why?  Because I love the Word of God.  I delight in it, and I would rather read it and study out some kind of side journey then read it from cover to cover and have no revelation or understanding of what the heck I just read.

Still, that doesn’t keep me from having the desire and delight in the Word of God.  In fact, knowing that when I do sit down to read it, and I find myself on little side journey’s excites me and makes me delight in the Word of God even more because I kind of read it like the old Encyclopedia Brown choose your own adventure books.  (I’m pretty sure I just proved I’m almost 40 years old).  If you remember Encyclopedia Brown books then you know what I’m talking about.  Basically it was a story book that started out on page one, but at the end of that page would be a choice as to which direction you’d go.  One choice might lead to Encyclopedia Brown’s death, and the other might lead to him solving the case…but there were multiple endings, multiple stories, and that’s exactly what reading the Bible is like to me today.

I may start reading something, and wind up having a full-page of notes written about reconciliation, the love of God, or something else.  I’ve even tried to do the read a book of Proverbs everyday for a month.  I’d get to a Proverb, and it would remind me of something else.  Before I know it two hours have gone by, and I’ve gone to a whole bunch of different scriptures…and haven’t finished that chapter of Proverbs yet.

See, here friends is the punch line for today’s message…if you delight in something then you will have no problem committing to it, investing into it, sacrificing for it, and giving it your time.  Thus, when you come up with excuses that’s proof already that you delight in other things more than you delight in the Word of God.  What you devote your time and money to shows what you delight in…and that, my friends is the bottom line.

What is your delight?  Is it the Word of God?  Is it Sports Center?  Is it American Idol?  Only you and God really know the truth…what’s He saying to you through today’s message?  Maybe you need a 21 Day Fast from some of the worldly stuff like I did so that you are reminded of what’s really important…especially in the day in which we are living.

Study Questions:

  1. Why do those who delight in the law of the Lord receive joy?
  2. What does it mean to delight in the law of the Lord?
  3. What do you delight in?

Conclusion & Prayer:

I don’t think I need to say much to draw today’s message to a close.  I believe that this was a pretty clear message about what we should delight in as opposed to what we do delight in.  I think it’s also clear that if you have excuses then what you’re really saying is that you don’t care enough about the Bible to know what it says, where to start reading it, or how to understand what it says.  So, save your excuses because not only am I not buying them, but God isn’t buying them either.  Don’t mad at me either.  I write these messages under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.  I’ve no idea if you delight in the law of the Lord or not…but the Holy Spirit does…and if you’re feeling convicted then it’s a pretty good indication that you need to make a choice today…like we did with the Encyclopedia Brown books.

Are you going to make the choice that leads to your destruction or are you going to make the choice that leads you to delighting in the law of the Lord?  It’s really pretty simple.  Do you want death and destruction or do you want to make your ways prosperous and of good success?  Do you want to hear God say “Away from me I never knew you” or “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Father, how awesome it is to have the Word of God.  Lord, I delight in Your law, and admit that even I can commit, sacrifice, work, and give more time to the reading and studying of Your Word.  Help us, Lord, as I keep praying this to have a hunger and desire for Your Word that is never fully satisfied.  Let us have a burning passion for Your Word that is never able to be doused or put out.  Rather let it burn hotter, brighter, and more intense than ever before.  Oh, Lord I love You.  I love Your Word for it is the meditation of my heart, and I delight and desire to know it, to understand it, to teach it, but most of all to live it so that I can be a living, breathing walking example of what a God changed life looks like.  I give You all glory, honor, and praise…in Jesus’ mighty name I pray…Amen & Amen.

Why Read the Bible – Day 17 of 32 – Studying of the Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8

Introduction:

We return to yet another scripture that’s talking about the importance of daily Bible study.  When you see scriptures like this that say day and night that’s the reason they’re written…to make sure we understand that we’re not just to read our Bibles once in a great while…but day and night.

So, let’s get into today’s message…Studying the Word.

Today’s Message:

So, here we are again talking about meditating upon the Word day and night.  We’ve talked twice about scriptures that remind us to search the scriptures daily, studying to show ourselves approved unto God, and that’s because we are suppose to be making the reading and studying of our Bibles part of our daily habits.

Remember back on our very first message the stat that someone who had taken a survey found that 12% of the Christians they surveyed read their Bibles daily.  That is simply not good enough.  Over 80% of the people who confess to be Christians had answers varying from a couple times a week to hardly ever reading their Bible at all.

So, why do we study the Bible anyways?  I mean besides all of the answers we’ve given so far…what is the big deal about Bible study?  Perhaps this verse here in Joshua 1:8 gives us some more insight as to why it’s so important.

Let me ask you a couple of questions.  Do you want your way to be “prosperous”?  Do you want to have good success?  Stupid questions, aren’t they?  Of course we want to prosper and have success, but then the question really becomes if we want those things than why aren’t we willing to do ALL that is necessary to have that success?

In our jobs we want to make more money, maybe have a better position, and we want to have success, right?  So, what do we do?  We try to make sure that we’re at work…on time…every day.  We work the entire shift.  We do the little extra things that either no one else wants to, and every menial task that our boss asks us to do…some times even at the expense of everything else, right?  We work long hours at the expense of our family time.  We accept special assignments or work holidays or do whatever it takes to be noticed by those who are able to promote us in the workplace.  So, here’s a thought to meditate upon.  How come we don’t do that for God?

He has the ability to promote us in every area of our lives.  He has the ability to bless our family life, our finances, our health, and more.  Yet, we are satisfied with going to church a couple times a week, maybe a small group every other week, and that’s it.  We arrive at church late, and with an attitude that says that it better not go more than an hour.

Here’s a better question.  What would happen to you on your job if you treated your job the way you treat your relationship with God?  Would you have a good report?  What if God was your boss at work?  Would He fire you or promote you?  I am asking because the Bible says that we’re to do all that we do for His glory anyways, and I am betting that for the most part we do much of what we do for His glory…or do we?

Part of our JOB as Christians is to study the Bible, but how many of us actually take the time to do that?  How many of us actually set aside time every day to study, meditate, and read the Word of God?  Well…less than 25%.

Listen, one of the most important parables in the Bible is about the Sowing of the Seeds.  In it we find that there are four kinds of soil that the seed is sown into.  We also know that the Seed is the Word of God.  Let’s take a look at these soils…and how they relate to what we’re talking about.

  •   Matthew 13:19 NKJV  The Way Side – “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.” These are people who barely read their Bible, and don’t ever really go to church either.  These are the people who go to church on Christmas and Easter and maybe Thanksgiving.  They never read the Bible for themselves so they go to church, they hear the Word of God, but they never do anything with it.  So, the enemy steals the Word that they heard, and they go on living their lives with out any impact from the Bible because the Bible didn’t have any impact upon them.
  • Matthew 13:20-21  The Stony Places – “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”  These are the people who attend church a couple of times a week, they hear and receive the Word, but they don’t go beyond that.  They are not rooted and grounded upon the Word of God.  These are also the ones who maybe tried for a while, but they weren’t getting immediate results so they decided that studying the Bible really isn’t for them, and they would rather hear a feel good message from Joel Osteen because it makes them feel good, and doesn’t challenge them at all.  These are also the people who are probably saved, but they don’t do anything else.
  • Matthew 13:22  The Thorns – “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”  This is the place where most of us live (including me at times).  We hear the Word, we receive the Word, and we even maybe study the Word from time to time.  However, the power and authority in our lives are choked away by the cares of the world.  We have our attention taken away by television, and are more interested in being entertained than enlightened with the Word of God.  This was the reason that I did the 21 Day fast a few weeks ago.  Because in this state while we may be receiving the Word we’re not really doing anything with it.  This is also those who are just hearers of the Word, and not doers.  This is the carnal Christian.  They have one foot in the world and one foot out of the world.  This is the most common place where Christians are at because they have no discipline.  They have a desire for the Word, but are only willing to read it when they can schedule it into their day.  These are the Christians who have NO power…and therefore as a result they bear no fruit.
  • Matthew 13:23  The Good Ground – “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty”.”  These are the ones who study to show themselves approved unto God.  These are the ones who meditate upon the scriptures day and night.  These are the ones who search the Scriptures daily.  These are the ones who read and speak the Word of God.  These are the ones who have power, boldness, confidence, and unshakeable faith in God.  These are the ones who aren’t just hearing the Word, but doing what it says.  These are the ones who are making their way prosperous and having good success.  These are the Christians that have results.  This is the group that we should all aspire to be in.

Would you like proof that this works?  Jesus had 12 disciples right?  Who are the only ones that you hear of constantly?  Who were the only ones who were always with Jesus?  Who were the ones who went with Him while He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane? Peter, James, and John.  If you know basic math then you know that 3 out of Jesus’ 12 disciples actually bore fruit.  The other 9 out of 12 you barely hear from…but Peter, James and John are the only ones after the Gospels that we hear about.  Judas, we know what happened to him.  What about the others?  What about doubting Thomas?  What about Phillip?  Nathaniel?  You never really hear about the others because I imagine they wound up in one of the other three groups.

Listen, your going to find yourself in one of those three groups, and here’s the truth.  The group that you find yourself in is directly related to how much time you spend studying and meditating upon the Word of God for yourself.  The more time you spend studying the more fertile the soil of your heart is going to be, and the more likely your going to find yourself in the last group.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be Good Ground.  I want to be the kind of Christian who has power and authority.  I want to be in the group that reaps a good harvest, and has good success.

I want to be one who meditates upon the Word day and night…how about you?

Study Questions:

  1. What soil are you?
  2. What are the commands in today’s scripture verse?
  3. Do you feel like you follow these commands?
  4. What do you need to do in order to change the kind of soil you are?

Conclusion & Prayer

Daily meditation upon the Word of God is key to our success as Christians.  The more we study the scriptures the more we’ll find ourselves approved of God.  The more we search the scriptures the more we’ll understand.  The more we aren’t just hearers, but doers…the more we work to make sure the Word of God is important to us…the more we will find our way prosperous, and have good success in all our ways.

I don’t know about you…but I want to have that good success.

Lord, thank You that the Word of God causes us to have success in our lives, and causes us to be prosperous.  Help us, Lord to place a premium in our lives on Your Word, and help us Father God not to just be readers and hearers, but doers as well.  Help us, Lord God to become that Good Ground where we bear fruit in abundance.  We love You Lord, and we love Your Word.  We ask these things of You in Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen

Why Read The Bible – Day 16 of 32 – Meditations of the Word

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Today’s Scripture:  “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

Introduction:

In today’s message we return to Psalm 119.  If you’ve never done so, I’d recommend taking time to read through Psalm 119.  It’s a well written Psalm about the writer’s love for the Word of God.  If we all had this same passion for God’s Word I wonder how much stronger the Body of Christ would be.  Even I don’t pretend to be as committed to reading and meditating upon the Word of God as this…but I certainly do my best to make sure I’m one of the 25% or less who reads their Bible every day.

Today’s Message:

Do you want to know how to make the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart to be acceptable to the Lord?  Meditate upon the Word of God, and learn to speak that out.  Let the Word of God roll off your tongue when it comes to your situations and circumstances instead of the fear, doubt, and unbelief you normally speak over them.

Instead of speaking that you wonder if God hears you…speak out like Jesus did before Lazarus’ tomb.  “Father, I thank You that You hear me…and You always hear me.”  Imagine walking around believing and speaking out like the Psalmist that He hears my cry.  The Word of God is full of scriptures that verify that God’s ear is inclined and open to His children…but so many doubt even that.  If we read His Word more and spoke that out…I bet we’d have better results.

Instead of walking around defeated…what if we walked around speaking out that we have the favor of God.  Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.  God is for me therefore none can be against me.  I have victory in Jesus.  Those are all in the Word of God.  Where?  Instead of me looking them up for you…why don’t you look them up yourself?

The Word of God is not just to be read, but it’s also to be spoken.  Spoken over our lives, spoken to our circumstances and situations.  I was listening to one of Pastor Joel Stockstill’s messages in which he said:  “Faith speaks”.  But, what does faith speak out?  I would like to suggest that the more Word of God you speak over your life, your family, your finances, and more the more God will move in those areas…because God always responds to His Word.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t do one thing until He hears the Word of God spoken.  The Spirit of the Lord hovered over the face of the deep…and then once God spoke…the Holy Spirit did.  If you want the Holy Spirit to do in your life you have to speak…but you cannot speak just any thing you want…speak the Word of God…and the Holy Spirit will do.

What are you meditating upon?  What are you speaking?  If it’s not the Word of God then I hope you’ll understand that not only is God not obligated to do anything…neither is the Holy Spirit.  God is always obligated to carry out His Word…not ours.

Study Questions:

  1. Why are the mouth and heart mentioned in this verse?
  2. What do you think enables the Psalmist to change in these two areas?

Conclusion & Prayer:

In closing of this message I’d first like to say congratulations.  We have made it half way.  Sixteen messages down, and sixteen are left.  If you’ve been with me all the way then thank you for following along, and congratulations for making it every day.  It is this kind of passion and hunger for the Word of God we all need to have, and I’m including myself in that.  I need to make sure my appetite for the Lord is never fully satisfied…and that my fire for the Word of God never dies.

So, we see the heart and mouth mentioned in this verse, and that means that I can’t help but to link it to salvation.  That’s exactly what we did when we confessed Jesus Christ as Lord.  The familiar passage of Romans 10:9-10 tell us that if we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead for our salvation, and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior then we can be saved.  Romans 10:13 says that “whosoever shall call  upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

How many of you know that when we call something out we speak it out, verbally, out-loud.  Do you not know that we can do that in all situations with the Word of God?  We received immediate results when we believed in our hearts and spoke that according to the Word that if we called upon Jesus as Lord we would be saved.  So, is the same with healing.  If we believe in our hearts that the stripes on Jesus’ back were for our healing, and speak that out we receive healing when we continue to speak it out.  By His stripes I am healed.

So, just remember…the rest of the Word of God works the same way.  We must believe in our hearts, and speak it out with our mouths.  Some things happen immediately, and some may not…but the Bible says that God will always respond to His Word…so put Him to the test.  If you’re in the midst of a situation where you need God to move…stop speaking your words over it…and start speaking the Word of God over it…and see what happens.

Lord God, teach us to meditate upon and speak Your Word over situations and circumstances instead of ours.  Help us to remember that it’s Your Word that carries the power and victory that we are seeking.  Move for us in some form or fashion today as we speak Your Word over an area in our lives that You have never moved before.  Make Yourself real to us today in a way You’ve never revealed Yourself to us before…and keep the fire, passion, and hunger for Your Word within us in a way that’s never fully satisfied.  Let us desire the sincere milk and meat of Your Word more than anything else.  In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen

Why Read the Bible? – Day 15 of 32 – Searching of Scriptures

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Today’s Scripture:  “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” – Acts 17:11

Introduction:

And we’re back to talking about daily study of the Word of God as one of our primary duties as Christians.  Reinforcing the idea that it’s not just enough to receive the word, but we have to continue to fill ourselves up with the Word of God…daily.

Going back today 1 where I gave you the statistics of that survey where 12% of the Christians asked that particular time read their Bibles daily.  The other 88% read it a couple of times a week, a couple of times a month, and barely pick it up at all.

Is there any wonder that there is such a move of what I call the “Gospel of Garbage”.  There’s also something that I’ve called and written about before in the Doctrine of Spiritual Pride.  Then there’s the Prosperity Gospel and Prosperity Pimps that have turned the modern church into a place where Jesus would call a den of thieves.

Why is it that all these winds of doctrine are tossing people to and fro and every which way?  Because no one actually searches the scriptures daily anymore.  I find it hard to believe that the rest of the Body of Christ has daily Bible Study statistics that would exceed 25%.  That means one in every four Christians reads their Bibles on a daily basis.  The other three out of ten barely acknowledge it’s existence.

Today’s Message:

Has anyone caught the Bible calls people who study the scriptures daily more noble than the ones who don’t?  What exactly does noble mean?  “Noble” is defined as to be someone who is distinguished by rank or title, pertaining to persons so distinguished, and of, belonging to, or constituting a hereditary class that has special social or political status in a country or state: of or pertaining to the aristocracy.

So, Christians who search the scriptures daily are distinguished, and the reason they’re distinguished isn’t because they’re better than anyone else…but because they are more determined than anyone else to really know and understand what God is saying to them through His Word.  They have “rank or title”…in other words they mature faster, and those are the Christians who seem to be on a different level than anyone else.

Have you ever noticed there are certain Christians who seem to just have it all?  God’s working in their lives, their marriages, their jobs, their children, their finances, and they just seem to be so blessed…and they’re not even pastors are they?  Nope.  They are regular folks like you and me working a regular job, but their lives are just blessed.  Why?  I’m not sure, and I have no real proof to back this up…but I would venture to guess that they are those who search the scriptures daily.

Listen, everything I read in the Bible about those who made the Word of God their “daily meditation”, or search and study daily or diligently…I have never read where that harmed them.  In fact, if we look at Paul who was the greatest Christian who knew the law and had two-thirds of the New Testament revealed to him…while he suffered tremendously…he also saw some outstanding signs, wonders, and miracles.  Why?  Look at all the emphasis he puts on knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of the Word of God.

Paul understood that the power of God’s Word was immeasurable, and he also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was a faithful rewarder of those who seek Him diligently.  He also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was faithful to fulfill what He said in His Word.

You know what, I think part of the problem is that there are many Christians who read the Word of God, and don’t’ believe God’s Word is for them.  The read the stories, and see everyone else’s lives impacted by the Word of God.  However, they doubt God will fulfill His Word for them in their lives…again I’ve no proof to back that up…but that’s something I just sensed in my spirit.

I think that those of us who read and search the scriptures daily know that while God may not act on our time table…when it comes to something according to His Word…it’s a done deal.  If you need healing and continue to claim that by His stripes we are healed…guess what…we’re healed.  If you need to know how to lead someone to Jesus…if you understand the gospel and that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”…that’s the basics…and you can lead people to Jesus just knowing that God was in Jesus reconciling the world to Himself.  He became sin.  Died on the Cross, rose again on the third day, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.  He did all of that so that we could have a way to be in right standing with God.  Do you believe that?  If they say yes…then you let them know that the Bible says that if you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior…you shall be saved. Listen, you don’t need a long drawn out prayer.  Once they say.  Jesus I receive You as Lord and Savior of my life…that’s it.  They are saved.

So, what’s my point?  What is so important that we cannot take even 15 minutes out of our day to do a short Bible devotional reading?  Is it that hard to turn off the television or get up a little earlier in the morning or go to bed a bit later?  And, I’m saying that those 15 minutes or so ought to be done in your alone time with just you and the Lord.  I’m telling you some of the best times I’ve had studying the Word of God is when it was just me…and the Lord.

I’ve studied out so many little side journey’s.  But the neat thing of it was not only was I being filled with the Word of God, but I was also being saturated in His presence.  I would like to challenge you today to turn off the television, get up earlier or go to bed later…but no matter what or how you do it…make time every day for a minimum of 15 minutes to get alone with God…and search the scriptures daily…I promise you…the results will be worth while.

Study Questions:

  1. Why did the people of Berea search the Scriptures?
  2. Do you think that it’s important for you to be eager to know the Scriptures?
  3. Why or Why not?

Conclusion and Prayer:

So, tomorrow is the half way point…and the most common theme so far has been the importance of personal Bible devotional time.  If you need help in knowing what or where to read I would like to urge you to send me an email at ChristlikeMinistriesArkansas@yahoo.com.  I would like to send you my own personal favorite Bible devotional booklet.  I’ll need your name and mailing address when you write, and just simply tell me you’d like the Bible devotional booklet.  It’s good for three months at time, and when you get it you’ll have the opportunity to write the company for a free subscription so you’ll get your copy every three months free of charge…you don’t even have to pay for postage.

In these last days of perilous times we must be more diligent than ever to search the scriptures daily because the winds of doctrine are only going to be full of less and less of the Word of God.  So, like we said yesterday…we’re going to need to KNOW the Word to know that those are false doctrines…remember that it’s impossible to rightly divide scripture if we’re not studying it…right?

So, who is with me?  Are you going to accept the daily challenge?  It’s up to you how long of a time it is, but I recommend 15 minutes.  I guarantee that it will change your life.  I know when I take a step towards God…He will always honor it…and bless me for it.  He’ll do the same for you too.

Father, we thank You for the awesome privilege of being able to come to You because of Jesus.  We continue to give You thanks for Your Word, and ask that You would burn a passion and hunger on the inside of us that is only satisfied by feeding upon the Word of God.  However, let it be a hunger that’s never truly satisfied…let it be a passion that burns with intensity…and let us not grow weary or faint.  In Jesus’ name we pray and have our being…Amen & Amen.

Why Read the Bible? – Day 14 of 32 – Speaks the Truth

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Today’s Scripture:  “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  2 Timothy 2:15

Introduction:

We arrive today at another one of my favorite Bible verses.  It may seem odd to have this as a favorite verse, but this verse tells us that if we want to show ourselves approved to God we need to study His Word.  I don’t know about you, but when it comes to verses like this that tells us how to find favor with God…these are the kinds of verses I pay attention to.

Today’s Message:

Our verse for today has two points that we can draw out, and take a look at.  The first being that we show ourselves approved unto God by studying His Word.  The second that studying the Bible will enable us to rightly divide the word of truth.  What does rightly dividing the Word of Truth mean?  It means that by studying the Word of God we should be able to divide between good sound doctrine, and the doctrine’s that are flooding pulpits today which is nothing but a bunch of lies straight from the pit of hell.

Look, I’m all for prosperity, but true biblical prosperity actually doesn’t come from a get rich quick scheme…it comes from being a good and faithful steward of what God blesses you with.  Learning how to get and stay debt free.  Plus, when it comes to prosperity and the abundant life most people…including myself think that abundant life means the accumulation of wealth and stuff.  However, what I’ve come to understand is that the abundant life has very little to do with material things, and everything to do with things that money cannot buy.

I believe that true biblical prosperity has very little to do with money at all.  That’s not to say that I’m in the ditch that believes that all Christians ought to be poor, and I’m also not of the belief that Christians are supposed to be filthy rich (need I bring up the parable of the man with the corn and barns again).  No, I believe true biblical prosperity is found in the contentment that Paul spoke of.  The contentment in no matter what circumstance you’re in.  Whether in abundance or lack…I believe true biblical prosperity is being content with whatever state you are in.

I believe that true biblical prosperity is about the fruits of the spirit.  The more of the fruits of the Spirit we are able to enjoy the more abundant life is.  I can say with conviction that I’ve never been happier in my life.  I have a wonderful family and home life.  I have a pretty good job.  I have a pretty good relationship with my parents today.  I have a car to drive, a roof over my head, clean clothes to wear, food in my stomach, and I really am not in lack of anything…that to me is the abundant life.  I don’t need four cars, a huge house, a million dollars, and all the “stuff” that people relate the abundant life too.  Being financially secure is only a part of the abundant life, but to me…it’s the accumulation of the things money cannot buy that leads to true biblical prosperity.

I’m also all for changing the way we think.  It’s good to meditate upon the Word of God.  It’s good to think of ourselves about how God sees us.  However, unless we speak and truly believe what we think…it doesn’t do us any good.  Jesus didn’t say that we should think about how nice it would be if the fig tree would move or if the mountain in front of us would bow down…He said speak to your mountain…speak to the fig tree…faith speaks…it doesn’t think.  So, while it’s great to improve our cognitive functions…positive thinking has very little to do with the Christian walk until we speak out our thoughts…and let me go a step further and say that unless our thoughts line up with the Word of God…then God’s under no obligation to bring to pass what we speak.  If what we think and say lines up with the Word of God…then yes…He has to honor His Word.

For the last time.  If you believe that there is any other way to Heaven, but through Jesus Christ.  You are not saved, and shouldn’t be preaching from a pulpit to begin with.  Listen, I’ve said it once, and I’ll probably say it a million times…John 14:6 is not up for negotiation.  There is only one interpretation of this verse…and if yours isn’t that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior…than YOUR INTERPRETATION OF THIS VERSE IS WRONG!!!

So, it’s very important…especially in this day and age to study the Word of God.  Not only will it gain us approval in the sight of God, but it will help us to sift through the garbage and lies that are being preached from pulpits across this country…and the world.  If we don’t study the Bible then that’s where we wind up being sucked up in every wind of doctrine tossed to and fro not really sure what we believe or why we believe what we believe.

So, if you’d like to know how to sift through the crap coming from the pulpits on TBN, and other places study the Word of God.  If you’d like to know a way to be approved to God…study the Word of God.  It really is THAT important to our walk with God…so how important is reading the Bible to you?

Study Questions:

  1. What does “work hard” mean in this verse?
  2. Do you feel like this is attainable?
  3. Why or Why not?

Conclusion & Prayer:

I wrote in another message “The Time Has Come” back in January something similar.  Here are some things I said in that message that fit in with what I’m writing here today.

In this Burger King generation where everything has to be quick, my way, and entertainment…the church has sadly obliged people. The church has sacrificed sound doctrine for the sake of church growth.

I guess this conclusion is really an answer to the first study question.  It’s hard word to put together good, sound biblical messages.  It means that I have to take time to really know what the Word of God says, and that I can’t just “wing it”.  I could, but I wouldn’t do the Holy Ghost any favors, and I probably wouldn’t write very good messages either.

Part of the blame is on the church because sound doctrine requires time, work, and study…and people have become too busy to do that.

The blame also falls on pastors who have become so concerned with attendance, finances, and making sure they are entertainment for a congregation that they will lose if it goes too far into the first half of the Cowboys game.

Pastor’s have too much to do today.  They are trying to take on the work of the entire ministry on their own.  Marketing, Attendance, Counseling, Weddings, Funerals, Accounting, and entertaining his congregation.  So, as we see in my next statement from The Time Has Comeall this extra work and unwillingness to delegate leads to a falling away from studying the Word of God.  So, rather than study they put together a half-hour sermon that they probably found on one of the many online sights devoted to helping pastors come up with entertaining sermons complete with jokes, illustrations, but completely lacking of the inspiration, unction or direction of the Holy Ghost.

Listen, I’m going to be honest with you.  If I find that I’m unable to write a message I’m not going to “wing it” for the sake of writing a message.  No, if the Holy Ghost isn’t in what I’m writing than I’d rather not write a message at all than to write one just for the sake of writing one.  That doesn’t do you any good, and like I have already said…I’m pretty sure that if I do that my messages won’t be any good.

Also, in this desire of pastors to entertain is a turning away from the truth of God’s Word.

Today’s messages are about the blessings, prosperity, and how to make people feel good about themselves.

There’s little about how to live a life that is a blessing to others and God.  No, today’s messages are all about how you can be blessed, and it’s good to know that.  However, if I never hear messages on the Love Walk or Sin or anything that challenges me…I am just going to be a Christian full of milk.  I’m never going to grow out of the baby stage…and I’m constantly going to have to have my diaper changed and be burped.

Listen, you wouldn’t feed a person nothing but milk from the day their born until they become full-grown adults would you?  Then why do pastors do that to their congregations?  They have pews full of malnourished Christians who all need to be burped and have their diapers changed.  At some point you have to begin the Gerber Stages, and start feeding your congregations more solid food…and eventually they will get to a stage where you can teach them meat and potatoes and vegetables and even give them some desert too.

However, it requires the “hard work” of studying the Word of God.  After all, if you’re not giving people the Word of God then you’re just giving your opinion.  Opinions are like armpits…they all stink.  Give them the Word.  Don’t worry if it’s not 3 songs, a half-hour message, and no altar call.

For God’s sake.  The question comes again.  Whatever happened to Preaching the Word, whatever happened to giving the Holy Spirit free reign to do what He wants in a service, and whatever happened to pastors who are willing to study to shew themselves approved unto God…workmen that aren’t ashamed of the Bible…and who can rightly divide and teach good…sound…biblical doctrine?

I, however, am still called by God to preach the Word. I still get out my Bible to study & show myself approved, and the football game…well…I can check the scores later.

God is a priority…scratch that…is THE priority in my life. I want sound doctrine, I hope that I teach sound doctrine, and I don’t go to church to be entertained…I go to meet with Jesus.

I’m tired of prosperity, I’m tired of feel good religion.
I’m tired of empty messages.

I want a real authentic walk with God…that only comes from revelation from the truth of the sound doctrine of God’s Word.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (1 Corinthians 16:23-24)

Blessing & Grace to you
Bryan J. Kizer

Heavenly Father, we glorify You.  We give You honor and praise.  Thank You God for the Word of God.  Thank You for raising up pastors who still love and have a desire to Preach The Word.  Thank You for giving this pastor the ability and fire and passion for Your Word…and I humbly ask that You’d continue to stoke the fire for Your Word that it would only grow hotter and more intense…In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen

Why Read the Bible? – Day 13 of 32 – Blessing of Obedience

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Today’s Scripture:  “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”  Revelation 1:3

Introduction:

We have made it almost half-way in this series.  Most of our messages in this series have been on characteristics of the Word of God, but today we take our first look at what our response to the Bible ought to be.  So, let’s take a look and see what the Lord would have to say to us today about…the “Blessing of Obedience”.

Message:

You can find this point made a few times throughout Scripture.  James talks about not being a “doer of the Word, and not a hearer only”.  James 1:22-23.  We find it in the story of the man who instead of sharing all the excess corn he had he build a bigger barn.  Where is the point in this story?  The point is that we sometimes tend to become spiritual hoarders, and and not use the knowledge of the Word of God we have…we just continue to feed on it more and more…but don’t share it or use it.

Jesus talks often about those who do or keep the commandments, and here as He’s giving John the book of Revelation He gives out this gem saying “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

Let’s look a little closer at what James says, and wrap up today’s message there.

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. – James 1:22 – 25

It’s not enough just to read and hear the word, my friends. We have to work to do what it says. Our obedience to the Word of God is one of the things that leads to us being blessed.  God honors and blesses us when we honor Him by being obedient to His Word.  Let us be more like the person in verse 25 than the person in verses 22 – 24.

I want to be the kind of person who is blessed in my deeds.

Study Questions:

  1. How are obedience and blessing connected in this verse?
  2. Is it hard to obey someone you don’t love?

Conclusion & Prayer:

I don’t know about you, but when the Bible talks about how to be blessed I want to pay close attention to what it takes to be blessed.  There is blessing in obedience to the Word of God, and that means I want to be sure that I’m doing my best to obey what God says in His Word.

Lord, help us to become doer’s.  We certainly want to be in a place where You are able to bless us.  So, please help us to be doer’s of You Word, to keep Your Commandments and Statutes.  Let us not just delight in Your Word, but endeavor to make sure we’re doing what it says.  We love You, Lord.  All praise, glory, and honor to You.  In Jesus’ name…Amen & Amen

Why Read the Bible? – Day 12 of 32 – Sweet as Honey

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Today’s Scripture:  “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103

Intro:

Here we are today with another verse from Psalm 119.  This book of Psalms is a wonderful read about how important the Word of God is to the writer, and how we all ought to feel about the Bible.  I imagine that there will be many more verse from this book, and rightly so.  Basically, when I read Psalm 119 it seems to me that it’s a love poem about God’s Word.

So, let’s get into today’s message and see what the Holy Spirit would have to say to us today.

Message:

How sweet are thy words…sweeter than honey to my mouth.  I have never really thought about the Bible in this way.  I’ve thought about it as incorruptible seed, manna from Heaven, Rhema (the living word), and I’ve certainly thought of it as alive and powerful.  But, now that I think about it…I can understand how the writer of this Psalm could think of the taste of God’s Word.  After all, aren’t we invited to taste and see that the Lord is good?

I also guess that this makes sense considering we know that the Word of God is good for the nourishment and substance to our souls.  I also can understand how one word from God can be sweet, and I can find myself relating with the writer of this Psalm about the entire Word of God tasting sweeter than honey…and it doesn’t sound all that strange to say anymore.

You know a word from a mother can be soothing.  I know many times in my life something that my mom has said was of great comfort to me.  I find that the encouragement and words from my wife can have many affects…and I mean that in a good way.  So, again, since I can relate to having earthly people speak words that can provoke a feeling…then I again can relate to the Psalmist writing about the sweet tasting Word of God.

I can certainly come into agreement with the Psalmist now, and say that I too find that the Word of God is sweeter than honey to my lips too.  I don’t really have a long-winded message today…sometimes it’s alright to let the Word of God be the message.

So, take some time today…read this passage and then sit back and chew on it for a bit…and see if you too can’t find yourself saying…How sweet are thy words…they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.

Study Questions:

  1. Why would the Psalmist compare God’s Word to honey?
  2. If you had to describe God’s Word…what words would you use?

Conclusion & Prayer:

Hmmm.  I guess my word for God’s Word would be priceless.  I was stunned the other day when I searched on Google to see if I could find out a general dollar amount that American’s spend on self-help books.  One such amount I saw was $11 billion dollars.  That’s a lot of money spent on books that are eventually sat on a book shelf or sold at the next garage sale.

I wrote on the very first day about the Word of God being profitable, and that’s another word that I’d use because the Bible is really a one-stop shop when it comes to self-help books because there are answers in it for every situation and circumstance in our lives.  There isn’t one topic that isn’t covered in some way by the Word of God.

Overall, just as God’s grace is sufficient…I believe then the Word of God is also efficient, sufficient, and magnificent.  It’s a one-of-a-kind.  It’s the only book in the world that is still writing it’s story, and the only book in the world that has many writers…but only one Author.  It’s the only book in the world that has many stories…but in all reality it has one purpose and one subject…Jesus Christ.

I love God’s Word.  That is why this ministry will always stand upon it, and stand up for it.  We will not stray from Preaching the Word, and will always defer to the Word of God.  The Bible is the ultimate authority of this ministry, and that’s why we will maintain our integrity…and will not compromise what we believe or teach because we believe and teach what’s written in the Bible as the inspired Word of God.

Lord, how I love Your Word.  It is like honey upon my lips, and music to my ears.  I love how Your Word speaks to every situation and circumstance in our lives, and has an answer for all of our struggles.  Lord, Your Word is sufficient, efficient, magnificent, profitable, and most of all it’s beautiful.  Thank You for giving us the Bible, and I pray that Christlike Ministries NWA will always be in good standing, and maintain the integrity of the Word of God.  I love You so much Jesus…to You be all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise forever more…Amen & Amen