DID YOU KNOW that some advice is offered on the layaway plan…?

You may have no need of it today, but it can be stored in your mind and reserved for some time later. (I use advice today that I laid away years ago–advice that made little sense to me as a teenager but has wisdom I can fully appreciate today.)

Someone gave me advice on how to keep a job before I even filled out my first resume, advice on how to handle bills even before I ever had any, and advice about marriage long before I ever started dating. (My parents told me the best way to keep my marriage healthy was to “board up the kitchen and eat out.”)

I couldn’t use much of that advice in the fourth grade, but I still listened. And when the day came that I got a job, got my first bill, and said, “I do,” I had a storehouse of good advice to draw from.

THOUGHT: When someone gives you good advice, don’t tune it out because you don’t feel you need it right now. Put it on layaway. Keep it in reserve. Who knows? It could come in very handy some day. (Martha Bolton)

“Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life” (Prov. 4:13).

–Mike Benson

KARL MARX DEVOTED his entire life to writing about the demise of capitalism and the coming of communism…

He, along with Friedrich Engels, wrote onen of the most well-known pollitical treatises in all of history, the Communist Manifesto. As evidence of his kneen understanding of the great power of words, Marx is credited with saying: “Give me twenty-six lead soldiers and I will conquer the world!” Who are the twenty-six lead soldiers Marx referred to? They are the twenty six letters of the alphabet on a printing press.

THOUGHTS: All words of have power and meaning (Isa. 55:11). Jesus said we would be held accountable for even our idle words (Matt. 12:36-37), and Proverbs says that that words have the power of life and death (18:21). So the question is not whether words have power. The question is, “What power am I releasing with my words?” If you have sent froth words that hurt, take them back with an apology and replace them with words that heal. The greatest untapped source of healing in life is “pleasant words.”

You may not consider yourself a physician, but you should–as along as you are dispensing words of life. (David Jeremiah)

“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones” (Prov. 16:24).

–Mike Benson

1) One of the key verses in the Old Testament that speaks about worship is Ex. 34:14.
a) If you have turned to Ex. 34, let’s read verse 14 together – READ
b) God knew people were inclined to worship.
c) Man has not always worshipped the right God or worshipped correctly but many have worshipped.
d) Here God spoke about worship in negative terms.
e) Deity said worship was to NOT include something.
f) God said to His people that something was not authorized (permitted).
2) Deut. 8:19 says if the people if Israel worshipped false gods they would “perish.”
3) As God overthrew the nations before Israel (Deut. 8:20), so God would destroy His people.
4) Someone might say: “This is an Old Testament portrayal of God.”
5) The God of the Old Testament is the same God we have in the New Testament.
6) Moreover, the New Testament tells us to “learn” from the Old Testament (Rom.15:4).
7) Our next Old Testament reference is Deut. 26.
a) Deut. 26:1 says the nation of Israel would enter into the land of Canaan.
b) Verse 2 tells us the Hebrews were not to bring God their leftover food.
c) Let’s look at this verse together – READ Deut. 26:2.
8) God told His people to bring what was “first.”
9) God told the Hebrews: Bring me the FIRST of your crops.
10) This needs to be our attitude today. God wants to be at the top of our list.
11) God says to put Him first, but there is an on-going temptation to not do this.
a) In Deut. 30:17 God again spoke about worship and used the words “drawn away.”
b) God said the “heart” of His people could be “drawn away” to other gods.
c) 1 Chron. 16.
d) 1 Chron. 16:25 says Jehovah is “great.”
12) In verse 27 we are told that honor, majesty go before Him.
13) 1 Chron. 16:28-29 – READ
a) God told His people they needed to honor Him.
b) Verse 30 uses the word “Tremble.”
c) God is so deserving of honor verse 31 says “let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice.”
d) Let the “sea roar” (verse 32) and let the field (countryside) rejoice.
14) In Ps. 150:6 the Bible says Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
15) Worship is a time to come before God and give Him the best we can offer.
16) Ps. 29:2 says “glory is due” to God and we need to “worship” Him.
17) Ps. 122:1 says “I was glad when they said ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
18) We are told to “Exalt” Him and “worship at His footstool” (Ps. 99:5).
19) Zech. 14.
a) In the 17th verse of Zech. 14 God spoke about worship.
b) God knew that some would not go up to Jerusalem and worship.
c) This sounds like such a small thing – people skipping worship.
d) Since God is so loving and compassionate, surely He would not mind.
20) God said these people would not be blessed.
21) God’s prophet warned that those who would not worship would not receive any rain.
22) No worship service, no rain.

Ezra descended from the lineage of Hilkiah, the high priest (Ezra 7:1). However, Ezra was not able to serve in such a capacity himself during the time of captivity. Still, he gave his time in study of the Scriptures (Ezra 7:6).

Ezra became one of Israel’s great restoration leaders. He led the reconstruction of the temple as well as the effort to restore the religious life and institutions of the people. Ezra was very successful in accomplishing these tasks. The following statement is most revealing as we consider the source of his success:

For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
Ezra 7:10, ESV

Notice Ezra’s focus in these three areas:

He set his heart on the study of the Scriptures
He set his heart on the doing of the Scriptures
He set his heart on the teaching of the Scriptures

In can neither do nor teach something with which I am unfamiliar. Personally speaking, I cannot repair a radiator on a car, nor could I teach anyone else how to do so. Why? Simply because I have not applied my mind to study the discipline of auto mechanics.

God requires study of his word for the purpose of our own obedience as well as the transmission of his divine truths from one man to another, from one generation to the next.

Your success and mine is a direct result of how well we know the Bible.

Ryan Roark

 You’ve probably heard about the couple who recently were married inside a Taco Bell restaurant. Since they didn’t have a church to call home, they tied the knot where they frequently hang out. No, they didn’t use the drive-through, but it might have crossed their minds. Guests to their big day seemed content as they ordered their reception meal from Taco Bell’s menu. Different, but according to the laws of the state where they live, they’re married.

“Drive-through style” pretty well describes the way things have been in South Korea until recently. Before June of 2008 couples could file for divorce for a fee equivalent to only a few dollars, and be handed the official termination papers within an hour. Judges complained that their busiest days were Mondays. Weekend arguments spilled over into quick decisions to end the marriages.

As of June, however, couples with children now have to wait for three months for their divorces to become official. Those without children must wait a month. Already a significant turnaround has been seen, according to a story from Reuters. The number of couples canceling their petitions to divorce has increased, and the number actually divorcing has dropped.

God’s counsel on the subject of marriage sounds harsh to modern ears. Malachi stated it clearly: “For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence” (Malachi 2:16). Why, you might ask, would God hate divorce? Perhaps it’s because God loves people. He wants to spare us the pain of ripping apart intimate relationships.

Jesus confirmed this heavenly view of the seriousness of the marriage vow: “So then, they [husband and wife] are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). Three verses later Jesus would state the only exception to this high standard: sexual unfaithfulness on the part of one of the spouses. Marriage is a sacred vow.

You don’t have to look very far to find people whose lives have been deeply wounded by divorce. Scars that don’t disappear are carried by people who didn’t want their marriages to end. Selfishness, however, leads many to abandon the vows they once spoke, leaving pain and grief in their wake.

I once wondered about a preacher’s sermon upon hearing its title: “The Time To Get A Divorce”. It struck me as strange that a man who preaches from the Bible would encourage any circumstance in which to dissolve one’s marriage. When I heard his point, though, I understood. The time to get a divorce, he said, was before you get married.

I applaud legislators in South Korea for changing this law. Many people rush into lifelong decisions and later regret what they’ve done. That applies to forming marriages just as it does to breaking them apart. Decisions like these require much time and help from above.

If we take seriously what God has said on the subject of marriage, we’ll approach our own marital decisions with a great deal more sobriety. We’ll follow admonitions like this one: “Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:33).

Timothy D. Hall

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“Hades” seems to confuse a lot of people.  Here is a great chart from www.bible.ca that seems to help explain Hades, the “realm of the dead.”

1)      The first time many will find the word “worship” in their New Testament is Mt. 2:2.

a)      Wisemen from the east (Mt. 2:1) said they “came to worship” Jesus (Mt. 2:2).

b)      This “coming to” worship was not quick; these men who came to see Jesus had to travel a long ways.

2)      Today if we “come to worship” we may also face some challenges.

3)      There may be a time in our Christian life where we are not enthused about worship.

4)      We want to seek to have a good attitude about worship because this is a time to focus on God.

i)        Mt. 4:9 – READ

5)      When Satan spoke of worship he associated it with “falling down” before him.

a)      Worship is not about us; worship is about someone else (God).

b)      Worship is an act where we recognize that someone is greater than we are.

c)      Worship is a time when we come before God and honor Him for who He is.

d)      Even the devil understands that worship is not designed to be some type of social event.

6)      We come to worship (Mt. 2:2) to humble ourselves before God and honor Him (Mt. 4:9).

7)      We honor God by listening to part of His word.  We honor and approach Him in prayer.

8)      We show our recollection and appreciation of what He did through Jesus by observing the Lord’s Supper.

9)      We verbally demonstrate our praise of Him through song.

10)  We also show our appreciation through a financial offering.

11)  God has give us the specifics about worship, but man sometimes has some other ideas.

12)  In many communities and certainly on the Internet there is information on “alternative worship.”

a)      People can say that something is worship, but using this label is not enough.

b)      Here is what Jesus said in Mt. 15:9 – READ

13)  Worship can be “vain.”  This statement is also found in Mk. 7:7.

a)      Cain and Abel both came to worship God.

b)      One was rejected and one was accepted.  Half of the worship was worthless.

c)      Today how much of the worship that is offered to God is rejected?

i)        Jn. 4:23 – READ

14)  Why did Jesus speak of “true” worshippers?

15)  Verse 24 – READ.

16)  Jesus said “true worshippers” are those who worship “in truth” as well as “spirit.”

a)      Many worship, but they do not worship in truth.

17)  This truth is found in the word of God.

18)  Jn. 17:17 says:  THY WORD IS TRUTH.

19)  Acts 17:23 says some worship in “ignorance.”

a)      We do not want to be ignorant of God and ignorant about worship.

20)  Rev. 13:15 – READ

a)      Man needs to worship, but he must to do it correctly.

b)      A high percentage of the people in the world do not worship correctly.

21)  In this area we have the opportunity to “come to worship” and do it in truth.

22)  Hundreds of thousands of people in our world do not have this opportunity.