Category Archives: Who’s following you?

Who’s Your Builder??? A Word from THE WORD!!! #379

24 Sunday Aug 2025

Posted by in 'Come unto me, Except The Lord build the house..., Faith or Entertainment?, Faithful God--Faithful me!, Faithful is He that has Promised!, Fighting With God's Weapons, For Such A Time As This, Giving Thanks to God!, Trust, Trusting God, Trusting Jesus, Trusting Jesus?, Tuned In To Jesus, Turn to God's Word, Victory IN Jesus!, What does worldliness look like?, What's coming out of your heart., What's coming out of YOUR mouth?, What's The Word?, Where are you leading those following you?, Who are YOU following?, Who are you listening to?, Who will you believe and follow?, Who's following you?, Who's Listening Anyway?, Words Matter

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Who’s Your Builder???  A Word from THE WORD!!! #379

I know some of you are thinking, “I’m not building a house!”; but on the contrary, we are building every day!  We are generally building or tearing down, even when we aren’t even conscious of it.  We are building up our spouse or tearing them down!  We are building up our children or tearing them down (regardless of their age!)!  We can be building up those around us or tearing them down without even being aware of it!  But my friend, we need to be aware—words and attitudes matter!  I want to share a brief Psalm with you this evening, yet one that touches the scope of our lives—our homes, our focus, our family, our attitude toward family, and in our culture, many don’t even consider that a subject to consider.  God says differently through King Solomon.

“Except the LORD build the house,

they labour in vain that build it:

except the LORD keep the city,

the watchman waketh but in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early,

to sit up late,

to eat the bread of sorrows:

for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

3 Lo, children

are an heritage of the LORD:

and the fruit of the womb

is his reward.

4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;

so are children of the youth.

5 Happy is the man

that hath his quiver full of them:

they shall not be ashamed,

but they shall speak with the enemies

 in the gate.”  Psalm 127:1-5

May we let God speak to our hearts through His Word and I ask Him to tune our heart to His.  May we seek to have God’s viewpoint on all these things.  Toward our spouse!  Toward our children!  Toward having children!  Toward our pursuits!  Toward what really brings happiness!  Toward power, prominence, influence and financial importance!

The main thing I want to point out, is in the first part of verse one; it says it all!  If we are trying to build our house—be it a structure of brick and mortar—be it a family—be it a future–be it a career–be it a godly home—be it a relationship with those around us, we must put God first!  We must, I repeat must, seek God and His ways first and foremost in all our ways.  Let’s consider two of my favorite passages on this subject.  I pray that you will take these simple thoughts before God and ask Him to examine your heart and mine to give us His viewpoint.

“Search me, O God,

and know my heart:

try me,

and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24

“Trust in the LORD

with all thine heart;

and lean not

unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways

acknowledge him,

and he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise

in thine own eyes:

fear the LORD,

and depart from evil.

8 It shall be health to thy navel,

and marrow to thy bones.”  Proverbs 3:5-8

Amen and Amen!!!

What Is God’s Kingdom??? A Word from THE WORD!!! #370

30 Wednesday Jul 2025

Posted by in 'Come unto me, God's measure isn't ours, God's provision, God's Righteousness Not mine, God's Time, God's ways are not our ways, Godliness will be opposed, Godly Wisdom, Good Neighbor, Knowing GOD, Knowing God's Word, Knowing Truth, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, Time Is Grace!, Today and Forever, Today is the day of Salvation, Who are YOU following?, Who are you listening to?, Who will you believe and follow?, Who's following you?, Who's in your heart?, Who's Listening?, Who's Your Father?, Whom are you trusting?, Whose Sheep are You?, Whose Side Are You On?, Wise As Serpents

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What Is God’s Kingdom???  A Word from THE WORD!!! #370

This seems like a reasonable question, but we must keep our “reason” based on scripture.  Jesus calls us to keep our focus on spiritual things God’s way not our own.  Let’s consider some principles from scripture and then decide what “kingdom” we are living in.

“After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom

come.

Thy will

be done

in earth,

as it is in heaven.”   Matthew 6:9-10

Jesus calls us to pray to “Our Father”!  Who has this privilege?  Those who are born again and made children of God!

“He came unto his own,

and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him,

to them gave he power

to become the sons of God,

even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born,

not of blood,

nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man,

but of God.”  John 1:11-13

Even as Jesus told Nicodemus, we must be born “of God” by being “born again”!   Only those who have been born again have the right and the privilege to call God Father; and when we call God father, we ought to behave like His children, and our prayer is to be made in pursuit of His Kingdom to “come”, and His will to be “done”!  To put it simply, whose kingdom are you pursuing, which “king” are you bowing before; kingdom, simply put, means the domain of a “king”!  Who is your king; yourself, the world, the enemy of your soul?  You are serving someone, be sure that it is The King of all, the almighty, sovereign, ruler, creator and Lord over all!  And that means just what it says—He is ruler over all; and you can trust in Him to save, keep and deliver.  Paul said it better than I can.

“Being confident of this very thing,

that he which hath begun a good work in you

will perform it

until the day of Jesus Christ:”   Philippians 1:6

Jesus began it and He will finish His work in we who come to Him in repentance of our sin and faith in His substitutionary, atoning sacrifice at Calvary—the sacrifice that sealed the new covenant for all who will believe in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection for our sin!

“Then said he,

Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.

He taketh away the first,

that he may establish the second.

10 By the which will we are sanctified

through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ

once for all.”  Hebrews 10:9-10

Our assurance and confidence are in the completed work of salvation that Jesus accomplished as the sacrificial “Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world…”; and because of the great victory that Jesus accomplished and imparts to all who believe, we can have the victory!  You and me!  We who will recognize God as the King and choose to receive salvation in Jesus and joining His Kingdom!  That’s where victory is found, for those who respond to the call of God and build their house upon “The Rock”—Jesus!  Sing Rock of Ages to Him today!

“Beloved,

believe not every spirit,

but try the spirits whether they are of God:

because many false prophets

are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:

Every spirit that confesseth

that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh

is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not

that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh

is not of God:

and this is that spirit of antichrist,

whereof ye have heard

that it should come;

and even now already

is it in the world.

4 Ye are of God, little children,

and have overcome them:

because greater is he that is in you,

than he that is in the world.”  1 John 4:14

Where is your kingdom?  Who is your King?  It’s your choice but choose wisely, there is a test!  Jesus made it plain.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate:

for wide is the gate,

and broad is the way,

that leadeth to destruction,

and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate,

and narrow is the way,

which leadeth unto life,

and few there be that find it.”Matthew 7:13-14.

Amen and Amen!!!

In Our Own Eyes??? A Word from THE WORD!!! #359

23 Monday Jun 2025

Posted by in 'Come unto me, A Father's Love, A Form of godliness?, A heart of faith, A Witness--Good or Bad???, Abiding IN Jesus or the World?, Lead them to Jesus., Leading Or Mis-Leading?, Making a difference, Marginalizing God, Righteousness, Righteousness exalts a nation, Sowing and Reaping, Speaking The Truth In Love, True Gospel, True Knowledge, Trusting God, Trusting Jesus?, Truth, Who are YOU following?, Who are you listening to?, Who will you believe and follow?, Who's following you?, Who's in your heart?, Who's Listening Anyway?, Who's Your Father?, Whom are you trusting?, Whose Sheep are You?, Witness, Your Momma Ain't Enough

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Our Own Eyes??? A Word from THE WORD!!! #359

 

I was reading in Judges this morning, it’s a great book, but one most people kind of skim over, but it is full of lessons that are so apropos for us today.  I had planned on writing on another subject but feel clearly lead to share just a few things from this book of Judges.  First of all the name of the book often leads people to think is a book of legality, but rather it’s a record of a willful people and those whom God raised up to not only “judge” the sin of the people, but to deliver them as the judge led them back to God, usually in a great feat of physical deliverance.  I can’t think of a time in our history when we lived in such a time of willful disregard for God, deliberate disobedience to God’s Word, and not only disobedience, but a complete mindset on doing it “our way”—what’s right “in our own eyes”!  This is the thread that goes throughout the book of Judges.

“In those days there was no king in Israel, but

every man did that which was right

in his own eyes.”  Judges 17:6

“In those days there was no king in Israel:

every man did that which was right

in his own eyes.”  Judges 21:25

While the “king” isn’t the problem, the people later used that as an excuse to ask God for a king “like everyone else had”!  Rather, the problem was a generation who knew God but apparently failed to share their love and obedience toward God with their children.  Again an amazing parallel to where we live today.

The problem wasn’t God’s faithfulness, but the people’s faithlessness; and apparently a failure of parents and grandparents who failed to pass on their faith. Perhaps taking it for granted that these children would pick it up by osmosis—theirs didn’t and neither have nor will ours.

“And the people served the LORD

all the days of Joshua,

and all the days of the elders

that outlived Joshua,

who had seen all the great works

 of the LORD, that he did for Israel.

8 And Joshua the son of Nun,

the servant of the LORD,

died, being an hundred and ten years old.

9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance

in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim,

on the north side of the hill Gaash.

10 And also all that generation

were gathered unto their fathers:

and there arose another generation after them,

which knew not the LORD,

nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

11 And the children of Israel

did evil in the sight of the LORD,

and served Baalim:

12 And they forsook the LORD God

of their fathers,

which brought them out of the land of Egypt,

and followed other gods,

of the gods of the people

that were round about them,

and bowed themselves

unto them,

and provoked the LORD to anger.

13 And they forsook the LORD,

and served Baal and Ashtaroth.”  Judges 2:7-13

Oh, how it grieves my soul that we (I relate to Paul’s claim to being the greatest sinner and failure—but praise God for grace!) have failed to point our children and grandchildren to the cross of Christ and holy living, instead of friendship with the world.  We are to be a witness to the world of the power of the cross and the blood of Jesus to save and transform lives; yet when we look just like the world, we talk just like the world, we dress just like the world, we take their style, living and especially entertainment instead of the holiness and godliness of scripture.

God gave us the greatest plan for teaching and leading the young ones to Him, if we will but heed and obey.  For simplicity and time I’m going to print portions of Deuteronomy chapter 6, and I encourage you to read the entire chapter and pray it over your life and witness to those who are following in your steps.  I pray that God will speak through His Word to those who have “ears to hear”!

“Now these are

the commandments,

the statutes,

and the judgments,

which the LORD your God commanded

to teach you,

that ye might do them in the land whither ye go

to possess it:

2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God,

to keep all his statutes

and his commandments,

which I command thee,

thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son,

all the days of thy life;

and that thy days may be prolonged.

3 Hear therefore, O Israel,

and observe to do it;

that it may be well with thee,

and that ye may increase mightily,

as the LORD God of thy fathers

hath promised thee,

in the land that floweth

with milk and honey.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God

with all thine heart,

and with all thy soul,

and with all thy might.

6 And these words,

which I command thee this day,

shall be in thine heart:” Deuteronomy 6:1-6

Point number one: we must love God ourselves, being “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God…”. (See John 1:11-14 & John 3:16-19)!  We must know Jesus through our own salvation by faith through grace, by repentance and belief in the substitutionary, atoning sacrifice that Jesus made at Calvary!  We can only share what we possess!  Let’s continue with God’s insight into parenting.  Remember children learn way more from what we “do”, than from what we “say”!  Especially if they don’t match!

“And these words,

which I command thee this day,

shall be in thine heart:

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently

unto thy children,

and shalt talk of them

when thou sittest in thine house,

and when thou walkest by the way,

and when thou liest down,

and when thou risest up.

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign

upon thine hand,

and they shall be as frontlets

between thine eyes.

9 And thou shalt write them

upon the posts of thy house,

and on thy gates.”  Deuteronomy 6:6-9

If I may presume and paraphrase a bit, God, through Moses, is telling these adults that it’s their job to make ‘Jesus’ followers!  First of all—Jesus must be in “my” heart—

Then—I must diligently teach what is in my heart to my children-

How? By—talking about and walking with Jesus—

                      Sitting around, walking around, relaxing,

                             Going about—

       By—living Jesus

with what we do with our hands—

what we watch, view, and focus on with our eyes-

With Godly décor that speaks of godliness, and the beauty

Which God provides by creation—

That others (children included) will be pointed to the things of God rather than worldliness!

But it doesn’t stop there, God tells us that there is a consequence to living this way.  Let’s observe!  Obedience will provoke good questions and teachable moments with those we love most.

“Ye shall diligently keep

the commandments of the LORD your God,

and his testimonies, and his statutes,

which he hath commanded thee.

18 And thou shalt do that

which is right and good

in the sight of the LORD:

that it may be well with thee,

and that thou mayest go in and possess

the good land which the LORD sware

unto thy fathers,

19 To cast out all thine enemies from before thee,

as the LORD hath spoken.

20 And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying,

What mean the testimonies,

and the statutes,

and the judgments,

which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

21 Then thou shalt say unto thy son,

We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt;

and the LORD brought us out of Egypt

with a mighty hand:

22 And the LORD shewed signs and wonders,

great and sore,

upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh,

and upon all his household,

       before our eyes:

23 And he brought us out from thence,

that he might bring us in,

to give us the land

which he sware unto our fathers.

24 And the LORD commanded us to do

all these statutes,

to fear the LORD our God,

for our good always,

that he might preserve us alive,

as it is at this day.

25 And it shall be our righteousness,

if we observe to do

all these commandments

before the LORD our God,

as he hath commanded us.”            Deuteronomy 6:17-25

God promised that if we would live this way before our family, there will come a time that they will ask (in our vernacular), “Why do we live this way…do these things…talk about God all the time…?” And we are to tell them why!  Not someone else’s testimony, but our testimony about what God IS doing in our lives past, present and future.  If we’ll live it, they will ask; but so many today live one way at church and another way at home.  Stop it—let’s get on the right track, obey God, and live the way HE calls us to.  Peter says it better than I can (in fact He’s quoting God too!).

“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,

be sober,

and hope to the end

for the grace that is to be brought unto you

at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

14 As obedient children,

not fashioning yourselves

according to the former lusts

in your ignorance:

15 But as he which hath called you is holy,

so be ye holy

in all manner of conversation;

16 Because it is written,

Be ye holy;

for I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:13-15

Will we heed and follow our God and look for His provision, or watch our children be flushed down the toilet of the world?  And just FYI, “conversation” here means our lifestyle, not just our words!  It’s your choice, but choose wisely, there is a test.

Amen and Amen!!!