Jesus and Beer

I don’t really get it. Maybe I am just a dinosaur. Maybe I am an old fuddy-duddy that can’t see out of the box on this one. So I have more questions than answers. But shouldn’t we at least ask the questions?

I attended a great church last weekend. Looking around it would appear that God is blessing this church in an amazing way. Lots of young families as well as senior adults. The worship was outstanding.

I really liked the style of the Pastor. Warm. Friendly. Inviting. Great message until he made this statement: “We need to be able to pull up a chair with a friend, grab a beer, start conversation and make Jesus the center of attention!”

The teaching was from Mark 2 where Jesus called Levi to come follow him and the reference that Jesus was eating with the sinner and outcasts.

I struggle with how Jesus and beer can be all about Jesus being the center of attention. Maybe I have just not traveled in the “right” circles. The times that I have been with people who are drinking socially, non-Christian’s and Christians, Jesus has far been the center of attention.

In fact, most sadly, the people that we have traveled with have made the alcohol the center of attention – so much so that in most instances, there were people who were down right drunk.

Can we not have “conversation” about our faith in Christ with a lost world without a beer in our hands?

Do we think that Jesus “lived it up” with the crowd, or did he stand out so that people were drawn to Him because He was different?

This is not meant to be judgmental, but most of my Facebook friends who post pictures on Facebook these days are posting pictures in bars. I don’t see them sitting around tables having conversation with the lost. As I said this might be a BIG judgment. Maybe they are sitting around the table sharing how God has been at work in their lives during the week. Maybe, just maybe they are sharing what they have learned as they have read God’s Word.

Maybe I am sensitive to this because I serve at America’s Keswick where I see firsthand the devastation that alcohol cause families. Maybe I am sensitive because I have not been around people who drink responsibly, but take liberty to the excess.

Do we lessen our impact to this lost and dying world if we don’t drink a beer with them? Or does it really fuel the need we have to be able to get as close to the world without crossing the line without realizing how quickly that line can be crossed?

If we are interested in reaching drug addicts do we feel the need to smoke a joint with them in order to relate, reach or begin conversation with them?

You may be saying, Welte, you are a legalistic, narrow-minded, old fuddy-duddy. But I asked the question. Maybe you can share your answers with me.

How does drinking a beer with a unsaved friend give me a platform for sharing the gospel and making Jesus the center of attention? I look forward to the conversation.

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 36-38; James 4

Quote of the day: Let us sing even when we do not feel like it, for thus we may give wings to leaden feet and turn weariness into strength. Dr. John Henry J. H. Jowett

Bible Memory: Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promises; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Psalm 119:41-42

A Prayer for Loving God Just Because He’s God

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (Job 1:9–11 NIV)

As we close out the week, did you ever stop and just tell God how much you love Him? Not because of WHAT He’s done – but just for who He is! Well that is the thrusts of the prayer today:

Gracious Father, I sometimes wonder if Satan watches American religious television, because there’s a lot there to fuel his accusations. Much of it could substantiate his charge that the only reason we love you is because of the goodies you give us.

It’s hard not to be cynical, but I’ve got to be careful, because as far as creature comforts go, I don’t have anything “whineworthy” going on. There’s nothing right now presenting a challenge to my faith. I’ve got good health; there’s more check left over at the end of the month; none of my family members are in crisis. Nothing beyond the normal fallenness and brokenness of life is happening around me or within me.

Father, I presume on none of this kind providence. I take none of your good gifts for granted. It’s only by your grace that I don’t struggle with entitlement as much as I used to. The gospel has convinced me that everything I have comes from you (1 Cor. 4:7).

So as I think today about Job’s story, it’s not with gritted teeth or clenched fists. But Satan’s question always remains current: Why do we love you? What’s our motivation for worshiping you? How will I think about you the next time I suffer loss, betrayal, and pain? That, no doubt, will happen.

I want to be a man who loves and worships you simply because you are God. There’s no other god besides you, and there’s certainly no other god like you. I’m grateful for your gifts, but I want to love and worship you, the Giver, as the primary treasure of my heart. I pray in Jesus’ holy and loving name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 1667-1686). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Love God today. Tell Him that you love Him! He’d love to hear from you.

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 29-30; James 1

Quote of the day: Some people say, ‘God will not ask me to do anything that I am not able to do.’ God always asks you to do things you cannot do. He is not interested in revealing your devotion to Him to a watching world, by giving you things you know you can do. He doesn’t take an inventory of your gifts and abilities. He looks at your life to see if you have an obedient heart and are willing to let Him express His presence and His power through your life. Henry Blackaby

Bible Memory: Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Psalm 119:35-36

Cleansing From All Sin

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.   (1 John 1:9)

            The verse before you is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. Some people see it like a lifeboat and use it as license to sin.  They say they can do what they want to do because all they have to do is claim 1 John 1:9.  Lifeboats are not on ships so they can sink.  Lifeboats are on ships in case they sink.  This wonderful verse is not a license to sin.  It is the promise of a loving Heavenly Father to assure cleansing and restoration when we do sin.

This verse declares the certainty of God’s forgiveness.  It is an indisputable fact that God forgives sin.  This certainty of God’s forgiveness is based on the faithfulness of God and the righteousness of God.  God is faithful and God is righteous.

God is faithful.  Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He has promised.  There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses (1 Kings 8:56).

God’s faithfulness guarantees that He will never act inconsistent with Himself.  God is His own standard.  He is always true to Himself.

This verse also declares that God is righteous.  When Abraham was appealing to God on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, he said to God, …Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?  (Genesis 18:25).

Jesus Christ died on the cross to meet God’s demands upon Himself.  Ponder the depths of this thought.  God is true to Himself.

A.W. Tozer said, “All of God’s reasons for doing what He does lie within Himself.  That is to say that He can never contradict Himself.”

This is the God who said, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Dr. Roger D. Willmore is the Senior Pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church and a popular speaker at America’s Keswick. He will be here this summer.

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 27-28; Philemon

Quote of the day: Peace, when “ruling” the heart and “ruling” the mind, opens in both every avenue of joy. Sarah W. Stephen

Bible Memory: Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Psalm 119:35-36

Follow Me

He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. Proverbs 13:20

  Have you ever had someone ask you for directions? I can recall a number of times when I began to explain the route this glazed look comes over them. More times than not I’ll say “just follow me”

Paul tells us to “Follow me” or in the NKJV “ Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ”. in 1^st Corinthians 11:1.

How many of us would be able to say to someone who doesn’t know how to follow God, Follow me”? We sometimes find it easier to explain the route rather than just say “Watch my life”.

If your reading this and are thinking that there is no way I’m ready to have someone follow me, than can I suggest you find someone who is willing to let you follow them.

Pray and ask God to put someone (of the same gender) in your life that you could be discipled by.

Don’t live out your Christian life lost, ask for direction.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.” Ecclesiastes 4:9 – Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves on our full-time ministry team

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 25-26; 2 Thessalonians 3

Quote of the day:  Do we give sufficient attention to the theme of gaining Christ? It is our joy and privilege to know Him as God’s unspeakable gift, but none knew this more fully than the apostle Paul. But was he satisfied with this knowledge? Or was Paul’s soul-consuming desire, at all possible cost, to gain Christ; and thus to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings? Oh that Christ may be so known by us as a ‘living, bright reality’ that our one desire-our one absorbing heart-passion may be that we personally gain Christ-that we personally know Him as the apostle longed to do. James Hudson Taylor

Bible Memory: Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Psalm 119:35-36

Joy in Humility

John 13: 3-5. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”

In the world that we live in, pride is just as much a law of nature as gravity. We live in a society where position can be achieved by making ourselves look better, have more, and exploiting someone else’s weaknesses.

Now we know as Christians, that we ought to take the position, not to exploit but to serve, not to be self-seeking but to give respect. How can we place ourselves in a position of humility where it doesn’t feel as though we are fighting against the laws of nature to get there?

Jesus Christ gave us the most powerful example of strength and humility in the verses of John 13. I know who I am “in Christ”. I know I came from God. I know I am going to God. I am free from the penalty of sin. Free to what? Free to love.

In order to love as Christians in the body of Christ, we have to be in a position serving one another in lowliness of heart and mind, seeking to build one another up in humility and love.

So here is the formula: Identity puts us in position. Position frees us to love. And to love like Christ is to experience joy in humility. – Dan Gavin is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is now serving in internship

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 23-24; 2 Thessalonians 2

Quote of the day: What pleasure! What healing is found in sharing a long and hearty laugh with a good friend! Anne Parrish

Bible Memory: Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Psalm 119:35-36

The Artist’s Design

The pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. JEREMIAH 18: 4

Welcome to this new week of Freedom Fighters. Recently I had the privilege of meeting a new friend, Chris Tiegreen, who serves on the ministry team of Walk Thru The Bible.

I love this ministry and appreciate all they are doing to reach people around the world fall in love with the God of the Bible and understanding His Word. Chris has written numerous devotionals that I have read the past few years – but it was cool to meet the author face-to-face. I want to introduce you today to Chris’ teaching ministry:

IN WORD       A potter isn’t very emotionally engaged with mass-produced pottery. In fact, in mass production, the potter is usually a machine. But our Potter is deeply invested in His work. He crafts each piece individually with a specific design in mind, and He loves what He does.

Our Potter, however, has a problem that no other potter has. The clay in His hands has a mind of its own. It should be thrilled to be touched by the Master, but it develops its own ideas of beauty and comfort. It wants an identity of its own, largely independent of the Craftsman who put it on the wheel in the first place. Clay with a mind of its own has the potential to be astoundingly beautiful— a living, breathing masterpiece. Sadly, it also has the potential to be stubbornly, ignorantly insistent on its own ugliness. And when that happens, the Potter weeps. That happens a lot.

The Potter’s plan is to display His artistry, but if a piece of clay isn’t allowing His craftsmanship, He’ll contrive some pretty drastic measures. He’ll press it into a ball and start over. He’ll take the same clay and use a different approach. His goal is beauty, and He will stop at nothing to achieve it.

IN DEED       Ask yourself two questions today: What does the Potter dream of doing in my life? and What is He actually doing right now? Don’t answer too quickly. Consider the heart of the Potter— His ultimate goal, His tender care, and His exquisite artistry. And then apply His heart to your present circumstances. Those questions will launch you into a reorientation that every piece of clay needs to go through: a shift from a clay-perspective to a potter-perspective.

We need to see our circumstances today in light of eternal glory. We need to see ourselves as expressions of His delight. When we do, our hardness will turn to softness, our stubbornness will give way to compliance, and our trials will become much more meaningful.

Tiegreen, Chris (2012-11-02). The One Year Worship the King Devotional: 365 Daily Bible Readings to Inspire Praise (Kindle Locations 630-647). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Good word to help us start this new week of blogs. I appreciate you.

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 21-22; 2 Thessalonians 1

Quote of the day: Let us charge into the good fight with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies. Though unseen themselves, they can look at the face of our soul, and if they see it altered by fear, they take up arms against us all the more fiercely. For the cunning creatures have observed that we are scared. So let us take up arms against them  courageously. No one will fight with a resolute fighter. John Climacus

Bible Memory: Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Psalm 119:35-36

 

A Prayer for Centering and Settling Our Hearts

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Ps. 46:10–11 NIV)

As we bring this week of blogs to a close, I want to end with another prayer written by Pastor Scotty Smith. It his ever-changing world, we need those moments of prayer to quiet an settle our hearts.

Sovereign Father, whenever I hear the command to “Be still,” my default mode takes me back to several elementary school teachers who consistently told me to “Sit still!” They had to, because I was a squirmy, restless little person. I had a hard time staying in my seat. But you’re telling me to be still, not sit still . . . and there’s a world and gospel of difference.

You’re not impatient or frustrated by me. I’m not disrupting your classroom, but I do have a disrupted heart, and you notice and you care. I’m squirmy and restless on the inside. I know that you’re with me and for me. I know this because of everything you’ve done for me in Jesus.

You’re a fortress of comfort for broken people like Jacob and me; you’re a haven of rest, a strong tower of grace. When I’m still I remember that you are God and nothing and no one else is. That’s the best news of this or any day. You have no competition—counterfeits, but no competition. There are demigods, semi-gods, wannabe gods, but only you are God. Kings and nations are not God, for one day you will be exalted among all the nations. The nations are like droplets in your bucket. Storms and environmental disasters are not God, for you will be exalted in the earth. You send the earthquake and harness the hurricane for your purposes.

Neither are my circumstances God, nor the opinions of others; nor is getting older, nor the choices of people I love, the mistakes I make and the sins I commit. In fact, the second most comforting news of the day is that I’m not God, though at times my attitude, prayerlessness, and unbelief would indicate a measure of self-worship. Father, be exalted in the dailiness of my today.

Let me see your hand and heart at work in everything. I don’t want to be a practical atheist about anything, not any little thing. You are working all things together after the counsel of your will. You are working in all things for the good of those who love you, and that means me, but only because you first loved me in Jesus. I probably won’t sit still, but because the gospel is true, I will be still. With palms up in surrender and praise, I enter this day. I pray in Jesus’ excellent and exalted name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 1446-1474). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Enjoy your weekend. Center your life on Him.

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 14-15; 1 Thessalonians 3

Quote of the day:  Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honour, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss; he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Bible Memory: Teach my your way, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe with my whole heart. – Psalm 119:33-34

Step To the Right Please

…and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  (Matthew 25:32 NIV) 

            The Bible is divided into twos.  Two sons; two animals; two plants; two men in a field; two women at a mill; two resurrections; ultimately, two destinies.  Jesus died between two different thieves.  Either you know God, as He can only be known through Jesus, or you don’t.  Goats are just an illustration.  It’s not that God hates goats.  He said on day six that they were “good.”  I kinda like them, too.  It’s just an illustration, but I’ve looked into it.  I’m no expert, and I know that this simple statement meant far more to Middle Eastern shepherds two thousand years ago than it does to us today, but even to folks like us, there are vast differences between sheep and goats.  For instance, sheep (Ovis Aries) have 54 chromosomes, while goats (Capri Hircus) have 60.

Don’t make a doctrine  out of this, but here are three differences between sheep and goats.  Sheep have very strong herding instincts, while goats tend to be very independent.  Are you a person who is deeply devoted to unity?  Would you be willing to surrender your point of view if it kept things moving forward?  I’m not talking about compromising in sin, or in any belief that makes us Christians in the first place.  I’m just asking if fellowship means more to you than your own ego.  Secondly, the tail of a sheep goes down, while the tail of a goat goes up.

My point is that perhaps we could tell the sheep from the goats by what follows them?  Like the priests of old who carried the Ark of the Covenant, are you a carrier of the mercy seat?  When you walk into a room do people think, “Praise God, mercy’s here!”  Does the fragrance of Christ follow you or is it something, shall we say, “unpleasant” that you leave behind?  Finally, sheep have a tear gland while goats do not.  It’s funny how we can cry at the end of a movie, but we can walk past overwhelming pain without batting an eye.  We’re told to rejoice with those who rejoice (that, too, is difficult for goats), but also to mourn with those who mourn.  The only people who are really looking forward to the day when God wipes every tear from our eyes are people who have known what it was to cry over the things that break God’s heart.

I know that because you’re reading this that you are, or long to be, a sheep.  That’s great!  The Good Shepherd has laid down His life for you.  He faced the wolf and didn’t run away.  He knows your name.  He will take you through the valley of the shadow of death.  You will dwell in the house of the Lord forever; and even now you have heard and know His voice.  We have a lot to praise God for!  Let’s put all we have into getting along together (herding), bringing joy into people’s lives (humility), and allowing God to share His broken heart through us (tears).  Let’s live this day for our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. Chris Thompson is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves as a pastor in England. He will be speaking at America’s Keswick this summer.

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 12-13; 1 Thessalonians 2

Quote of the day:  When God is about to do something great, he starts with a difficulty.

When he is about to do something truly magnificent, he starts with an impossibility. Armin Gesswein

Bible Memory: Teach my your way, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe with my whole heart. – Psalm 119:33-34

Life Eternal

The Bible tells us in I John 5:13, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you many know that you have eternal life. And of course John 3:16 states, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I was in Cooper Hospital last Thursday for what I thought was a same-day procedure on my kidneys called a cystoscopy. Part of that procedure involved shooting dye up through the ureters into the kidneys in order to see what was going on in there so that we would know the next step to fix the problem. It was supposed to be an easy in and out, according to my plan. Well, as you know, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. The dye went up but did not come down. Uh oh. I was ordered to stay overnight for the next procedure, which is not what I wanted to do.

The plan was to put in nephrostomy tubes the next day at noon. Again – a same-day procedure. And again, it did not go according to my plans. The procedure started well after 3:30 pm and was more complicated than was expected, so I had to stay overnight again, causing my “self” to get involved and igniting my motto into living color. That motto is, “I do well until I show up.” So I got to spend another night on the 6th floor of Cooper Hospital, the floor where I lived for over 7 weeks this past summer and fall, where many came to know Christ as Lord and Savior. That is why I was there again. …but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23b).

On Saturday we met Carol, who was the reason we were really at Cooper. Cherri and I were walking around the hall when we saw her. She was a wounded woman, walking or more like wobbling aimlessly while using the wall as her crutch. We introduced ourselves and asked the nature of her being there. She said surgery, performed by the same doctor who saved my life last summer. Carol shared that she was scheduled to have the same complex surgery performed on me, only to have it cut short as they discovered malignant cancer which would end her life in the next few months. Cherri and I were saddened to hear that and immediately asked her about her state of mind. As she shared, I ventured into her relationship with Jesus Christ. She was brought up Catholic, knew the Apostles’ Creed, and had an idea of what Jesus did at the Cross. She wobbled and we escorted her to her room and into her bed. Cherri and I continued our walk and the discussion of where Carol was with the Lord. Was she saved? Did she know Jesus as Lord and Savior? We did not have a genuine peace and so we went and got a tract and knocked on her door.

We shared what it meant to be born again and how it was never too late (Mt 20:1-16, the parable of the landowner and the laborers – please read it!) to make Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior. And she did. She acknowledged out loud her belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and how He conquered sin and death that day at Calvary. In short, she became our sister in Christ, or as I said to her, “Carol, you just went from terminal to eternal.” At that moment I realized my selfishness; I had allowed self back on the throne and removed Jesus in my discouragement at being back in the hospital. I told Carol that I was not there to have doctors discover what was wrong with me so much as I was there to uncover all that is right with Jesus. Our purpose for staying for those two nights in the hospital was that we would have the privilege of meeting her and sharing Jesus with her, that in spite of the bad news of terminal cancer, she had the Good News of an eternal life in Heaven serving the King of Kings. With that, Carol openly wept, for she knew that in spite of her medical diagnosis, physically terminal, she was now spiritually eternal. – Joe Freeman is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a disciple in love with Jesus.

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 9-11; 1 Thessalonians 1

Quote of the day: The elect are the whosoever wills, the non-elect are the whosoever wont’s. Dwight L Moody

Bible Memory: Teach my your way, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe with my whole heart. – Psalm 119:33-34

RIGHTS?! What Rights?
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?  If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.                                                                                                    1 Corinthians 9:1-2 (ESV)

So much, especially in these days, has been said about our rights as Americans and it has this minister-in-training wondering what that means to those of us who also claim Christ to be our Lord and Savior. I took a look at the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence to try to get a base line. Even if it was penned by Thomas Jefferson (a forefather who’s own personal Bible had been…altered) there was something to glean from it. It is the statement…”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” So let’s run life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness through God’s word.

LIFE… “Thus says God the Lord—He Who created the heavens and stretched them forth, He Who spread abroad the earth and that which comes out of it, He Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: I the Lord have called You [the Messiah] for a righteous purpose and in righteousness; I will take You by the hand and will keep You; I will give You for a covenant to the people [Israel], for a light to the nations [Gentiles], To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness from the prison.” Isaiah 42:5-7 (AMP)

LIBERTY…“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (ESV)

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS… “How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you.” Psalm 128:1-2 (NASB)

But if you take a look at 1Corinthians 9:19-23 (it’s under the title of “Paul surrenders his rights” in my Bible) we see that the apostle took a different slant towards his rights.

You see when we freely give up our rights for the sake of the Gospel it shows that we act from the principles of zeal and love, and can enjoy the Gospel’s comfort and hope in our soul. And even if Paul looked on the ceremonial law as a yoke taken off by Christ, he submitted to it, that he might work upon the Jews to do away with their prejudices and prevail with them to hear the Gospel so that they could be won over to Christ. Just like Paul, we should transgress no laws of Christ, to please any man. We must carefully watch out for any extremes, and against relying on anything but our trust in Christ alone. We must not allow errors or faults, so as to hurt others, or disgrace the Gospel. Matthew Henry thought the same thing.

So in closing this morning this needs to be said, that as Christians, claiming to be hearing and doing followers of God’s Begotten Son we really only have two “rights” to fall back on…

1…”You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.”(Deut 6:5)

2…”You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev 19:18)

On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 7-8; Mark 16

Quote of the day: ”When we are willing to consider the active will of God for our lives, we come immediately to a personal knowledge of the Cross because the will of God is the place of blessed, painful, fruitful trouble!”—A.W.Tozer

Bible Memory: Teach my your way, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe with my whole heart. – Psalm 119:33-34