CONFUSION

1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of CONFUSION, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
It seems that there certainly is a lot of confusion in the world, sometimes even in church. People are looking for some new experience or trying to learn some new doctrine and it results in confusion. They get mixed signals. One person says one thing, another says something else and the end result is confusion.
A good rule to follow is when someone begins to confuse you is to first pray, asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit, and then go to the final authority, the Bible.
Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but EVERY MAN A LIAR; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
We certainly live in a confused world and a confused time. People are looking for loopholes in the Word of God to justify the way they are living. Confusion comes when people try to make God conform to their image of Him instead of them conforming to His image for them.
I heard a preacher once say "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it." I really liked that until I heard another preacher go one better. He said, "God said it, and that settles it, whether you or I believe it or not."
God does not want you or anyone else confused. He wants you conformed to His image, for His purpose and His Glory.

BEWARE

Lu 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and BEWARE of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Beware, or be aware, mean the same thing. When I was a young boy, (many, many years ago) we had someone from the railroad come and talk to the class about Railroad Crossing Safety. He said that there were three things we should always do, Stop, Look and Listen. That has always stuck with me. I never race trains at railroad crossings because a tie is still a loss.
There are things in life that can cause us as much spiritual damage as a fast train. In the verse of scripture above Jesus told us to beware of covetousness. I am sure we have all been guilty of seeing someone with something and wishing it was ours instead of theirs, after all, don't we deserve it as much or more than they do? If we are completely honest with ourselves we would have to admit that God has truly blessed us materially with more than we deserve.
Life seems to be an accumulation of things, of materials, of possessions. We seem to measure our success in life on how much stuff we can accumulate. I am beginning to learn that the more stuff I have, the more I have to maintain and keep up. If we invest our lives in others and in serving the Lord we can are truly rich beyond measure.
A group of men were talking at a party once when a very prominent and wealthy man entered the room. One of the men mentioned wealthy he was and how industrious he was and that he just kept getting richer all the time. One of the men commented that he had something that the rich man would probably never have. The men in the group looked at him questionably and he smiled and said, "I have enough."
The greatest wealth in the world is being thankful for the blessings we have. Stop and think about how God has blessed you. Look to Him to supply your needs according to His riches in Glory. Listen to His word and His promises concerning the blessings that are yet to come that we can not even imagine.

STEP OUT ON FAITH

STEP OUT ON FAITH

by Jeremy Burkes
Mt 14:27-28 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. (28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
What would you do if you were in a boat during a fierce storm and you saw someone walking on the water toward you? You would probably be scared out of your mind. It would take a lot of courage to do what Peter did.
Peter had the courage to step out of the boat. Peter had the faith to say, "If it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water."If we are to walk by faith we must take that first step. God will support us. Peter stepped out of his comfort zone in the boat. Stepping out is the first step.
Faith
Peter had faith in Jesus' ability to support him on the water. He stepped out of the boat. Just like with Peter, God is with us in the rough seas, in the boat or out of the boat. There are many storms outside our comfort zone. We need faith to take that first step.
Standing In The Storm
Like Peter, often we take the first step and then take our eyes off Jesus and look at the storm it frightens us and we run back to the safety of the boat, our comfort zone. It is on the return trip that we begin to sink. Sometimes we have to start to sink before we call on God to help us. Many times we forget that Jesus is in the storm with us. We need the courage to depend on Jesus while we are in midst of the storm, knowing that he will see us through it.
Courage
Some people think that not being afraid is courage. Courage is being willing to stand in spite of your fear, in the face of danger and difficulty. We should trust God to see us through the difficulty and the fear and danger of the storms of life. That's all God asks of us.
As Christians we need to have the faith to take that first step out of our comfort zones and have the courage to step out for God.

STEEP HILL

Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this MOUNTAIN, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Sometimes we come to a steep hill in our lives and we get discouraged and begin to falter. The truth is that our faith is easy to express when everything is easy but when we come to difficult traveling through life we sometimes falter a little.
It is important to remember that no matter the difficulty, God is sufficient to the task. It doesn't take great faith.
Once there was a woman who seemed to have great faith and no matter the circumstances she trusted in God. A man asked her about her great faith, "How did you come to have such great faith?"
She seemed surprised, "Oh," she replied, "I don't have great faith. I only have a little faith. It is just that I have it in a Great God."
We could all learn from that lady. Too often we want to have faith in ourselves or even faith in our faith. What we need is faith in a Great God. If we come to realize the greatness of God we may realize that the mountains and even the steep hills are no bigger than mole hills, and if we are confronted by a Mt. Everest, God is still sufficient to get us over it.
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Narrow Bridge

Today we have a devotional cotributed by Jeremy Burkes

NARROW BRIDGE AHEAD
BY Jeremy Burkes

Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it
When we walk on the spiritual road of life we come to a sign that says narrow bridge. Narrow bridges can be frightening. Many don't want to cross. Many will take a detour that takes them right back into their past and into sins that they have left behind. Instead of moving on and leaving them we turn back because of our fear.
God would have us to move forward and cross the bridge. When we walk up to the edge and see a deep drop and see how narrow the bridge is we get nervous.
There are some things we need to remember when we come to the narrow bridges. We must approach the bridge with Faith, with hope and with love.
WALKING BY FAITH
Heb 11:1 Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Walking by faith means trusting that God will see you through everything he leads you to do. When God says cross that bridge we should go, one step at a time, regardless of the dangers we imagine.
Many times we as Christians let fear take over. If we walk by faith we will not hold onto our comfortable past. When our faith wavers we want to detour around because Satan tell us that it is just too risky and we might fall. (The detours are the risk, not the narrow bridge).
If we walk by faith we ill cross the bridge, knowing that God will carry us safely over. If we walk by sight we see the dangers of the world instead the blessings God wants to show us.
WALKING WITH HOPE
Walking with hope we can cross the bridge. Hope is defined as trust and reliance. Trust God and rely upon Him.
Trust
If we trust that Jesus can and will walk us across the bridge we will fully rely on God. Trust is sometimes a hard thing. Allow God to take us across that bridge.
Reliance
What does it mean to rely on God? To me it means to give God your all. Like most of us we give God only a portion of our life. We have tend to allow God to have only a little control in our life. If we put our trust and fully rely on God we can have faith enough to cross that bridge.
WALKING IN LOVE
1John 4:7 Beloved, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
Love actually builds that bridge for us. By way of Jesus death on the cross God bridged the gap made between Him and us by sin.We should share that with others and love one another. We should love all people even though some are harder to love than others we can love them through God's grace.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
We should love the people of the world because God first loved us.
With that said, Leave the past behind and approach the narrow bridge with Faith, with Hope and with Love. I'll see you on the other side.

There will not be a new post tomorrow. I will not have internet access tomorrow.

HOSPITAL FOR SINNERS

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Someone once said that a Church is not a Sanctuary for Saints but a hospital for sinners. To that I say amen.
We too often forget where we came from and Who brought us to where we are and is taking us to where we are going. Except for Him we would be as sin sick as those who have no use for the church.
Even among our own sometimes we fail to help those who become weak or fall away. It is so much easier to criticize them or ignore them than to try with compassion to help them get better. Another person said, "The Lord's Army is the only one I know of that shoots its wounded."
There have been times in my life that I was having a hard time spiritually that would have been made a lot easier if someone had come along and encouraged me. Maybe there is someone you know that needs that type of encouragement.
When we sit within the walls we have built around our church and never venture out to those in need of Jesus, we are not doing our what Savior has commanded us to do.
"There is none righteous, no, not one." We should be sharing that same grace that we have received with those who have not yet received it. Tell someone about Jesus and His saving grace. And when you do it, have compassion. They are no different than you once were.

CHOOSE

COUNT THE COST

Lu 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

The cost of traveling has certainly gone up. Gas prices have gone to unbelievable highs and we find ourselves searching the signs to see who has the cheapest prices. It would certainly be foolish to start on a long trip and not take the cost of gas into account. We would eventually find ourselves stranded somewhere with an empty tank.
As we journey through life on our Christian walk sometimes we fail to count the cost and we wind up feeling stranded with our spiritual tank completely empty.
Serving Christ never comes without sacrifice. We must first sacrifice our own desires and submit to the will of God. That might seem like a great sacrifice at first but God will never ask you to give up anything that He does not give you something better.
If we do not sacrifice time we seem to waste it. The time you spend in prayer and in Bible study is never wasted. If you are willing to pay the price of giving God the time it takes to get to know Him and become close to Him your spiritual tank will not be empty. If you take the time and trouble to share Christ with others you will have no less of Him but will have an even closer relationship with Him.
You are probably familiar with the Dead Sea. It is fed by pure clean water which flows in but doesn't have an outlet. The only way for the water to get out is through evaporation. The water that is left behind is filled with minerals and eventually the water is unable to sustain life, thus the name.
Many Christians never count the cost of only receiving and not sharing. They go to church, they hear the sermons and the singing and it flows into them clean, clear and brimming with life. They then go out into the world and none of it flows out.The cost of that is spiritual stagnation.
God has blessed each of us greatly. We must pass along those blessings to others. The cost of keeping them to ourselves is much too great.
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YIELD

Ro 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

In this modern day when everyone is concerned about boosting their own and everyone elses self esteem most people don't like to think of themselves as servants to anyone or anything. The truth is that we all yield to something even if it is our own selfishness and our own weakness.

I was once riding with someone who slowed down to let another car go ahead of him. The other passenger in the car said, "Why, did you let him go first, you could have beat him."

The driver, I thought very wisely, answered, "I try to never race another car at an intersection, I don't want a tie."I was certainly glad that the current driver was driving and not the other passenger. I didn't want a tie either.

Just as failure to yeild in traffic can cause tragic accidents, failure to yeild in other matters can be just as tragic. How many marriages have failed because neither person was willing to yeild? How many churches have internal problems because some are not willing to yeild?

On a deeper level how many lives are on collision courses because people are not willing to yeild themselves to God and His will. God is glorified through you having a close relationship with Him. He is honored by you living the abundant life in Jesus Christ. When you yeild to your selfishness, or to your weaknesses it is destructive to you. When you yeild to God by being obedient to Him, he is glorified, and you are fulfilled in Him.

We hear a lot about road rage on the news. Road rage is anger from people who refuse to yeild.

Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

I think it is spiritual road rage, from people who refuse to yeild to the will of a Holy and Riteous God.

ROAD SIGNS

John 14:1-6 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.(2) In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (4) And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. (5) Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? (6) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Road signs are very helpful as we travel. They tell us what road we're on, and they even tell us generally in which direction we are going. If a highway is numbered with an odd number it is generally running North and South. If it has an even number it is running generally East and West.

Highway signs give us some very important information to make our trip easier and safer. One important detail before you begin a trip is knowing your destination. It wouldn't make much sense to just start out not having a destination, yet many people go through life just wandering along without direction, without destination, not realizing that they will end up lost.

Jesus spoke to the disciples first about the destination which is His Father's house, a house with many mansions and a place being prepared. He then tells them the way, "I am the Way". Jesus is the way to eternal life. Any other way will not only leave a person wandering without direction but will leave him ultimately lost. The way to the place Jesus is preparing for us is through Him and Him alone.

Have a safe trip. Pay attention to the signs (warnings) along the way. When you see a sign along the highway I hope you think of where you are ultimately going and remember that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.

INTRODUCTION TO SIGNS

I was driving down the road the other day when I began to pay special attention to the traffic signs. As I read them I began to apply spiritual applications to the different signs. It was then that I felt the Lord was leading me to write a series of devotionals using traffic signs as object lessons.

Before I began I wanted to study and make sure this would be a study that would honor God and please him. As I began to study the word signs I found that there are different meanings for the word in the original languages, according to Strongs Concordance. Most of us are familiar with what Jesus said to the Pharisees regarding signs:
Matthew 12:38-39 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a SIGN from thee. (39) But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a SIGN; and there shall no SIGN be given to it, but the SIGN of the prophet Jonas:

The sign that the scribes and Pharisees were seeking was for him to perform some miracle that they might believe.

The word sign was used more often in the Old Testament to signify a warning. The following passage from the book of Eziekiel is an example.

Ezekiel 4:3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a SIGN to the house of Israel.

It is mostly in this context that I am preparing this series of devotionals and object lessons. I hope in doing so that as you travel the highways and see the traffic signs that they will turn your thoughts to spiritual matters.

May God bless you as you read these and may you grow in His love and Grace as you study them. I will begin putting a new one on starting tomorrow.

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APOLOGY

I want to apologize for not having a new devotional today. I have several prepared but I can't seem to find them on this computer. I will have to find them this weekend and will begin fresh Monday.

Sometimes that is the way things work out. I once saw a sign that said Life Is What Happens When You Are Making Other Plans. I guess I planned but life is a little different.

I have been working on a series of object lessons using road signs. I hope to get started on that next week.

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