Welcome To "The WORD" Series by Brother Randy Piatt
(A Brief Power Look at the Word of God)
Integrity
Let us look at the definition of integrity: First, it is a noum and nouns describe persons, places, or things. So the following definition from the dictionary is descriptive of persons, places, or things. We will be using it in reference to the race of beings known as homosapiens or humans. Integrity: "Soundness of moral principle and character; uprightness, honesty." So someone who is of soundness of moral principle and character, upright, honesty, we would think to be honorable people wouldn't we? But where has the sense of integrity gone today?
Many news programs on television and the radio seem to thrive on reporting scandals, seductions, and scenarios of corruptions of the highest kind. Newspapers and tabloids all seem to feast as gluttons on the reality of human depravity. Sadly enough, the Bride of Jesus Christ, in general, has not been spared the sad realities of the lack of integrity among its members. There have been numerous accounts of broken integrity in the rank and files of leadership, clergy, and membership. Sad and damaging are the loudly proclaimed cheers of a fallen world who greatly triumph over the blemishes that have been inflicted by the church on itself. Even sadder is the compromised testimony of the church to bring others to the saving grace of God through Jesus, the Christ.
We live in an age when people do not often "owe" up to their responsibilities for their wrong doings. it is the, "It's not my fault", age. Everyone else is at fault or is the problem rather than facing the truth about ourselves, admitting it, and then seeking God's forgiveness as well as the forgiveness of those we have injured. What is even sadder is when brothers and sisters in the Lord betray each other due to their lack of integrity in the Lord. But that then, is the way of the world that we live in. But it is not the way of Christ and it is never to be the way of members of His church!
Here is some scripture that completely, clearly, and concisely reveals that Jesus will never listen to the excuses of those who chose not to demonstrate integrity in obeying, following, and living according to His teachings, examples, and commands in His kingdom:
"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come; for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, houghty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Jesus will say to those un-repenting individuals at His return, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41) It would be wise for us to live in the ways of the Lord's integrity and truth. It will separate those who truly love the Lord from those only appearing to for selfish gain.
Stay in God's word and stay connected to His life! Randy
All May Be One
Being united in the same heart, mind, purpose, and attitude, was a very central theme in many of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. On one very vital occasion, Jesus prayed on behalf of His disciples and those who would come to accept Jesus Christ through their preaching of the gospel message. In John 17: 20-21 we find Jesus praying these words, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they may be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be ONE in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."
Unity in Christ to the glory and honor of God, the Father, is truly essential if the Word is going to move on and the building of the kingdom of God is going to continue! There is no such thing as a divided church body! There is no such thing as a divided church body that is healthy in Christ and growing in the Kingdom of God! There is definitely no such thing as a divided body that is acceptable to God! There is also no such thing as a Christian person who can remain a productive and faithful servant to God, who believes that they can exist without the fellowship and relationship of the local church. It is an arrogant and fraudulent delusion.
Today, perhaps more than ever, the Kingdom of God needs the body of Christ to be unified not only on a wide scale, but especially on the local scale. It is reported in the Christian Standard, week of August 5, 2007, the article, "How One Church is Leaving a Legacy", that in America alone, there are "some 4,000 churches a year in America", that are closing their doors! That is a tragedy!
May that never be the case for the Barryton Church of Christ! Please remain true to the word of God as revealed through Jesus, the Christ! Please take care as to your Christian walk each day in the world! Please love and pray for one another even as Jesus prayed for us in John 17. That we all may be one in the love and peace of Jesus Christ!
Stay in the WORD! Randy.
"TO FORGIVE IS DIVINE"
You have all probably heard the old expression, "To err is human; to forgive is Divine." In all my years of ministry I have heard all to many times the sad lament, "I will never forgive them!" How many suffer from the chosen self imprisonment of holding a grudge against someone who has crossed their path in life.
Story is told of a man who was banging his head against a brick wall. His puzzled friend came along and observed his bizarre behavior and inquired the reason for it. "Because it feels so good when I stop!" he said. How silly is that? Yet, when you think about it, holding a grudge against someone can be just as ridiculous. Especially when that individual is not even around either by physical distance or sadly enough, even death.
Jesus taught in Matthew 6:14-15, "For IF you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father WILL also forgive you. BUT IF you DO NOT forgive others, Then your Father WILL NOT forgive your transgressions." Please notice all the underlined terms of what Jesus was teaching about His Father's attitude concerning forgiveness. The condition of our own forgiveness lies in our choice to forgive others first!
If you are a born-again, immersed believer in Jesus Christ, then you must forgive others their sins against you. It is not a viable option to refuse to do so. Jesus Christ even forgave His enemies without their even asking Him to do so. In Luke 23:34, we find Jesus dying on the cross at the cruel hands of a heartless mob. In all of this, He didn't seek revenge! He didn't swear out a grudge against them or their future generations! Instead, look at what He did...He was dying...Think of all He could have done, then look at what He chose to do, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."
The Divine forgave...period! What then, in the face of this powerful example, should you and I do? It would seem rather obvious and absolute in the guidance of our hearts.
Brother, Randy
"WHAT DO YOU SMELL LIKE?"
This may seem like a very personal question and actually, it is! What do you and I smell like to those around us? Jesus talks about His relationship with His people and compares that to the relationship between a shepherd and his herd of sheep.
"...and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name...I am the good shepherd and I know My own and My own know Me." (John 10:3b, 14 NAS)
I have read that in shepherding countries, sheep are more than just a livelihood they are a part of the shepherd's family. When a young lamb is born, the shepherd will gently pick the young one up and rub his face against the little creature very tenderly. The young lamb learns the smell of the shepherd and his voice.
When shepherds start out for the pastures in the early morning, they and their herds will mingle and travel together for a ways. Then each shepherd will sound out to his own herd his own unique and distinctive call, and the sheep belonging to him, will immediately begin to pull away from the rest of the mixed herd and follow their own personal shepherd to their pasture lands.
This is possible only because the shepherd spends time among his herd so that they can get to know his smell and his distinctive voice from all the other smells and sounds around them. Shepherds will customarily name each of their sheep, and the sheep and the shepherd know those names.
Jesus came to this earth and was found in the form of a man and lived and walked among us in the flesh. He came to know everything about us firsthand because He spent time among us...His smell rubbing off onto us and ours onto Him. His voice and unique call very distinctively imbedded into our brains and memory.
Jesus knows each of our names.
How do we smell to others?
Christ gave us His command, "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just like I have loved you...This I command you, that you love one another." (John 15: 12,17 NAS)
How can we know His love if we don't allow Him, like a good shepherd to rub His smell on us? How can we love each other if we don't rub off onto each other? I am talking about a "spiritual rubbing" of course.
The "herd", the church, is to look out for each other as together we listen for our Shepherd's voice and His smell so that the false shepherds of this world can not lead us astray from the Good and True Shepherd!
He loved us so much that He laid down His life for His sheep! What do we smell like?
Brother, Randy
"CONFIDENCE"
Confidence...how many of us have it?
Perhaps we have gained confidence in our ability to perceive and preform the roles of our lives to some extent, through the experiences that life puts through to each of us. Perhaps we have gained confidence even in faulty mankind because they have kept their word to some degree or aspect, again, by experiencing those human efforts made day by day...
But when it comes right down to it, what is meant by, confidence?
The American College Dictionary defines it in this way, "Full trust, belief in the trustworthiness or reliability of a person or thing." Hmm...person or thing.
The entries surrounding the entry word, confidence, are confide, and confident.
Confide: "To show trust by imparting secrets..." Confident: "Having strong belief or full assurance..." Look at what David wrote about his confidence in God in Psalm 27:1,
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?"
Do we like David, who learned by personal experience, have full trust, belief in the reliability of God? Do we like David, confide in God? Are we confident in God to love us, guide us, save us?
When I hear expressions like, "I hope God will guide me...I just pray that God will save me...I dunno, but I think God hears my prayers..." I feel profoundly sad inside that there appears to be a lack of confidence in God to keep His promises to His children. Look at David's confidence in God, "The Lord is my light, salvation, the defense of my life...whom shall I fear, dread?" (Paraphrased) Many of David's Psalms show him confiding in God, "Do not remember the sins of my youth (Ps. 25;7) As the deer pants for the water brooks, my soul pants for you, O, God (Ps. 42:1)" That ability to confide in God comes from the experiences of seeing that God can be trusted consistently!
We as Christian people need to be encouraged to let go of human safety nets coined in over compensating statements like, "I hope God will, or It would be nice IF God hears my prayers...I think God will take care of me today..." We need to stop hiding in phrases like, "I hope it's His will..." God's intent, choice, passion, is to take care of you and I.
We need to honor God by our full trust, belief in the the trustworthiness or reliability of God (person) and His word (thing). Confidence doesn't just happen overnight, as it is said, but takes time and involvement to grow and become a resolute part of one's character and being. We too, can grow like David to be able to say boldly, "Whom shall I fear?"
Stay in the word and stay connected to His life! Brother Randy