Friday, December 27, 2019

The Eraser of the Gospel Message



Psalm 781-8

Ray Still, my pastor has said something like this, there is a device at the exit doors of the Church building that erases all that he has said in the message.  My mentor and friend Carroll Ray Jr. often said, we all have preacher filters that tell us what a preacher is suppose to say, so we dismiss the message as being from him and not from God.  I believe both of them are on to something and it is not anything new, for it’s been happening from the beginning. 

My friend Bill Gillham often taught that we are wired for two Channels.  “Channel One” is a voice that sounds like our voice and it is the deception channel run by the enemy who has come to kill, steal and destroy, and many who go by the name Christian have fallen, a victim.  “Channel Two” is a very soft voice and unlike Channel One, it never tells us we deserve anything, nor does it tell us we have no value or worth, but it does rebuke and correct and encourage a follower of Christ who has entered into a personal relationship with Christ Jesus.  It is key to living in victory for the Holy Spirit has a full understanding of your value to the Father, the price that was paid to redeem you, and the love of the Father for everyone.  He also understands you deserve hell, but God has shown grace and mercy to all who will receive it, those He gave the right to become children of God.

Neither you nor I have pure hearts, our hearts have evil desires, and when we believe we have clean hearts we turn into channel 1, a lie by the enemy of your soul.  Freedom comes when our soul is free from the control of the enemy, but the enemy is going to mess with you until you ask Jesus to do what no one can do, and that is what King David did when he took on the enemies of God and Judah.  I quote Major Ian Thomas, "I can't You never said I could, You can, and you promised You would."

I believe these first eight verses are the reason for our moral decline in the Church, nations, and family, and the reason is fathers have not taught these truths to their children.  I’m sure many a pastor is often discouraged and wants to scream at the people who attend worship but do not train their children in righteousness.  Ponder on these eight verses and ask the Father to forgive you and give you the insights to teach your children and grandchildren the ways of freedom in Christ.

“Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!  I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children but tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.  He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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