WHAT IS GOOD

Micah 6:8 No, O people, the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  NLT

      The Lord is not mysterious about how to live a life pleasing to Him.  He makes it very clear that the righteous shun evil and live right before Him.  He vividly details what living right before Him means in practical living.  Being good before God entails doing what is right, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God.

       Doing what is right is simply living a godly life.  It is simply taking the Word of God and striving to live it.  It is turning one’s back on what is evil and taking on the righteousness of Christ.  Godly living is soul building.  It is all that helps us be like God in character.  Doing what is right is what pleases God.

      Loving mercy is treating people better than they deserve to be treated.  It is letting God take care of the judgment of their souls.  It is striving to focus on the good in people instead of the bad.  It is giving people opportunity to change their ways when they mess up.  It is turning the other cheek when they wrong us instead of seeking vengeance. 

      Walking humbly before God means that we acknowledge that God is sovereign over us.  It is giving the Lord the credit due Him for all He does in and through us.  It is not exalting ourselves.  It is always seeking to honor and glorify God.  It is understanding that we owe the Lord our very lives, now and forever. 

      It is good for us to do what God requires of us.  It is the only assurance that we have we will make it to heaven.  Doing these things without a relationship with Christ will make us good in the eyes of man, but it will not make us qualified for heaven.  Jesus alone is the way, truth and life.  It is only a living relationship with Christ that will make us good before God. 

     Are you doing what God requires of you?

HEAR YE! HEAR YE!

Micah 2:6  “Don’t say such things,” the people say.  “Don’t prophecy like that.  Such disasters will never come our way!”  NLT

       Like many before Him, Micah was warning people of their impending doom because of their sin.  He was trying to convince them that they needed to return to God before they felt the wrath of God.  God declared that judgment was coming, but the people were not listening.  They were not willing to admit that they were needing to be held accountable for their rebellion against God.  They were in denial and wanted Micah to stop his preaching.

       Things are much the same today as they were in Micah’s day.  God has raised up many voices to declare that judgment is coming.  The warnings are loud and clear, “Repent!  The day of our salvation is now!”  God is love and He is merciful, but He is also holy and He will not let sin run rampant indefinitely.  No one is going to escape their Judgment Day.  No one is going to get away with rejecting God and living in sin.

     There are many voices, inside and outside the church, who are trying to silence God’s modern day prophets.  People don’t want to hear messages of judgment and accountability.  They don’t want to hear of a God who will not embrace them in love just the way they are.  So many are proclaiming the message of God’s love and ignoring His message of holiness.

     The reality is that God has not changed.  He is holy love.  He loves us and desires that all will repent and have a relationship with Him.  But, God cannot have a relationship with an unholy people.  He has shown us clearly the way of life that pleases Him and when we refuse to live it, He will honor our choices but hold us accountable for them. 

      Certain disaster is coming to the earth.  God is going to take the righteous out of the world so that they don’t have to live through the mess that is coming.  God is going to rid the world of sin once and for all.  All who reject Him will end up in hell for all of eternity.  Saying it isn’t so won’t change a thing.  God has declared it’s going to happen regardless of how we may feel about it.

       “HEAR YE!  HEAR YE!” God is going to call people into account.  All sin will be accounted for.  Those who die in their sins will go to hell for it.  All who die in the righteousness of Christ will go to heaven.  It’s that simple.  Judgment Day is coming.

      Are you ready for your Judgment Day?

RUNNING FROM GOD

 

Jonah 1:3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction in order to get away from the LORD. He went down to the seacoast, to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshis. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping that by going away to the west he could escape from the LORD.  NLT

      I am intrigued by Jonah’s fleeing from the Lord. He did not want to go where God wanted him to go. He did not want to do what God wanted him to do. He did not want to agree with God and so decided to run away and hide where God could not find him. I suspect Jonah was not alone. It would be interesting to know how many of us would honestly admit that we too have fled from God. How many of us try to hide from God, hoping that He will not find us and leave us alone?

       This is not about those who don’t know the Lord. Jonah was a prophet, a man who knew God and was called to serve Him. He ran, knowing full well what it was God wanted him to do. God doesn’t always ask us to do what we want to do. He asks us to do what He wants us to do and what He knows we can do.

      Jonah did not like what God had in mind to do. He knew that God was more than likely going to show mercy and love rather than judgment on His enemies, and that didn’t set too well with Jonah. He didn’t want what God wanted. He wanted justice, not mercy.

      Jonah foolishly thought he could run and get away from God. There is nowhere you can go to get away from God. The only thing you can do to avoid God is to completely reject Him as your Savior, to deny Him access to your heart. Otherwise, God will find you wherever you may try to flee. He will not let you off the hook that easy. He will do all He can do to convince you that you need to bend your will to His and obey Him.

       Are you running away from God today, or are you doing His will for you? 

JERUSALEM, OUR REFUGE

Obadiah 17 “But Jerusalem will become a refuge for those who escape; it will be a holy place.  And the people of Israel will come back to reclaim their inheritance.” NLT

        We are promised that there is coming a New Jerusalem, a place where the faithful will dwell eternally with God.  We don’t know exactly where it will be.  It may be at its present location or it may be somewhere else.  God is going to purge the world of its sin and create a new heaven and earth. 

       What we do know is that in the New Jerusalem there will be no sin.  There will be no pain, sorrow, suffering, or death.  There won’t be any need for the sun for the glory of Christ will be our eternal light.  There will be nothing but eternal joy and peace.

       The New Jerusalem will be a holy place, a place of refuge for the redeemed.  We will dwell in a place that the Lord is building for us today.  It will be a place unlike any other place in all creation.  It will be a place where we will worship and serve the Lord with eternal joy.

        In the New Jerusalem, there will be no distinction between the redeemed.  We will all be one in Christ: no Jew or Gentile, no male or female, no rich or poor. 

        Let us live now in anticipation of that grand and glorious day.  Only those who are holy in heart will be there.  Will I see you there?

GOD WILL JUDGE NATIONS

Obadiah 15 “The day is near when I, the LORD, will judge the godless nations!  As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you.  All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.”  NLT

       The more history unfolds, the more attention we need to pay to this warning from the Lord.  Although this warning was addressed to a different people at a different time, I believe it is very relevant to our times.  We read the prophetic Scriptures and we realize that there is indeed coming a day in which all the nations of the earth will be judged according to their godlessness and how they have treated Israel.  It’s not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of when.

      There is coming a day of justice for all nations.  God is going to come down hard on the world.  He is going to bring the world to her knees.  A day is coming in which every knee will bow before Him and declare that He is Lord, the God of all creation. 

       We cannot change the course of history.  We are moving closer and closer to that day.  Sin is blatant in the public arena.  The sacredness of life is quickly fading away.  People are treating one another cruelly with very little respect or concern.  People are chasing after the world’s offerings and the pleasures of sin.  People are blatantly denying God and that sin even exists.

       However, we may be able to help some.  We need to faithfully and diligent share the Gospel message.  We must pray faithfully and diligently for the harvest field and workers in it.  We must encourage one another and spur one another to greater faithfulness and service.  We must work together instead of majoring on that which divides us.  There are still souls who will be saved.  God is not willing that any of them perish and neither should we be. 

       Time is running out on the world very quickly.  Let us be about the Master’s business while we can.  Today is the day of salvation.  Tomorrow may very well be the Day of Judgment.

A FAMINE OF THE SCRIPTURES

Amos 8:11-12  “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.  People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for the word of the LORD, running here and going there, but they will not find it.” NLT

       The time is coming when there will be a famine on the land for hearing the Word of God.  I believe that we are moving close to a famine right now.  We live in a time where the Word of God is for the most part available to all.  With the technology now in place, one can access God’s Word quickly and easily.  Yet, just because it’s available doesn’t mean it’s being accessed.  People are growing up with very little, if any, knowledge of the Bible.  Wherever you go, you will find people ignorant regarding what the Bible says.

      There are many churches today where the Bible is not used or even welcomed.  As outrageous as it may seem, it is true.  The Bible is considered to be archaic and unreliable.  It comes under great scrutiny and is not taken seriously.  Many church leaders do not have a personal knowledge of, or appreciation for the Word of God.  When the Bible is used, it is used to promote personal agendas.  It is taken apart and out of context.  In many church circles, the Scriptures are no longer taken literally.  There is a real famine in the Church today for the Word of God as God gave it. 

      People are staggering around, groping for meaning and purpose in life.  They may be deeply involved in church life and spiritual activities, but they are starving to death.  They are not finding life worth the living for; they have lost their way and don’t know how to find their way back.  As a result, anything and everything seems to go in the name of Christ.

      We must diligently protect God’s Word in us and in our churches.  We cannot take a lackadaisical attitude about this.  We must preach and teach only the Word of God in our churches and homes.  We must insist on basing our faith on the Word of God instead of our activities.  We must let the Word penetrate deep within our souls and captivate our minds.  We must stand unwaveringly on the truth that the Bible IS the authoritative Word of God.  Don’t starve your soul to death like so many do.  God said what He meant and means what He said; strive to always live it

FAITH 24/7

Amos 8:5  You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless.  You measure out your grain in false measures and weigh it on dishonest scales.” NLT

      How consistent are you in your faith walk?  Far too many who go to church on Sundays don’t show it on Mondays.  There is the mindset in the church that going to church is good enough to get us into heaven, that it doesn’t matter too much what we do during the week as long as we go to church on Sunday. 

      I would much rather see someone who seldom goes to church on Sunday and live righteously than those who go to church on Sunday but live like the devil the rest of the week.  Church is important as a means of strengthening and growing our faith, but it will not get us into heaven.  Only the heart that is made righteous in Christ will enter into heaven.  There is no sin in heaven and when we live in sin, we disqualify ourselves from it.

       Words alone don’t cut it.  A true child of God will live like a child of God all the days of his life.  He will live obediently and faithfully before man and God.  He will strive to live a holy life, shunning sin as much as possible.  A child of God does not make excuses when he does sin.  He admits it when he sins and repents of it.  He strives to honor God in both words and deeds. 

      Regardless of when and where you worship the Lord, if your life doesn’t back up your worship, your worship is in vain.  Living in Christ consumes the soul and affects every area of one’s life all the time.  Always seek to do what is right in God’s eyes and you won’t have any problem making it to heaven when you die.