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Building On The Rock - The Words Of Jesus Christ
(Kent Heaton)
The words of Jesus are more than just words. With each breath taken, the Son of God utters divine truth that proceeds from the throne of God. "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works." (John 14:10) The people were astonished at His teaching. They had never heard a man speak as Jesus did. They noted that He did not speak as the scribes of His day but with authority. (Matthew 7:28,29)
Time and time again, men sought to trap Jesus in His words. With divine grace, Jesus measured His words to teach the will of the Father. (Luke 20:26,40) As the officers replied in John 7:46, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"
The ministry of Jesus was based upon the words that He would give to man and that from those words, life would come. "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63) The value of the words of Jesus can only be found in the hearer who responds to the words. In many Bibles, the words of Jesus are printed in red. His words are written down in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These words cannot have the impact desired by God unless the words of Jesus are acted upon.
Jesus said in Luke 6:46, "But why do you call Me `Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?" The words of Jesus are given to help us find salvation. These words will have no impact if we are not willing to obey them and follow them. How can we be true disciples of Jesus and yet fail to follow the words spoken by the Son of God? Jesus uses a contrast of builders to show the importance of following His word.
"Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:47-49) Three things are pointed out by Jesus: (1) We have to come to Jesus; (2) We must hear what He has to say; (3) We must be doers of the words of Jesus. If we do this, our lives will be built upon the solid foundation of the divine truth.
Even when the storms of life assault us, having dug deep and laid the foundation upon the words of Jesus, we will not be moved. Our lives will take a beating but we will not be destroyed or removed from the solid rock of Jesus Christ. This can only be done by not just hearing the words of Jesus but doing what He says.
If we come to Jesus, hear His words and choose not to do them, our lives will be in shambles. When the storms of life approach, we will be devastated by the ruin of the storm. Our foundation was laid upon our own wisdom and knowledge. The only place to build our lives is on the rock of Jesus Christ. This requires rejecting the words of men and following only the words of Jesus. We are reminded of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 that only those who "do the will of the Father," will be saved. James writes in James 1:21-25 that we are to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
(Kent Heaton)
History is a reflection of our present and an indicator of our future. It is from the pages of yesterday that mirror our failures of today and will pave the way to what will be our tomorrow's. If we cannot learn from our past, our future holds little light. A look back in the history of man is to see how often man has forgotten to learn from those who walked the same path. The wise man wrote, "That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, 'See, this is new'? It has already been in ancient times before us." (Ecclesiastes 1:9,10)
Man has changed little since his creation - he never learns from his past. It is a feeling of superiority that drives man to believe that he will not make the same mistakes as his forefathers made. History shows that man never learns that lesson, either. These principles are being found today in our land.
Abraham Lincoln made the following observations in his Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us. We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
These words were written 138 years ago. Our country was much younger, less advanced than today and lacking in many of the blessings we have today. Yet, we find ourselves in worse condition than when Lincoln wrote. Man does not learn from history.
There can be no doubt of the blessings bestowed upon this great nation. We have enjoyed peace and prosperity known to few in the history of man. "In God We Trust" is the motto of our early days. We are filled with honor and respect for the country by which we live in abounding wealth and security. In the midst of blessings, we have been cursed with apathy.
We have become stoic in our belief in God and passive in our desire for moral purity. As a nation, we no longer trust in God. Pride has filled our hearts in the belief that all we have is created by our own work and desire. We are self-sufficient in our humanistic fulfillment of self-serving rights to our animalistic needs.
While our country changes from a nation of God fearing people to the godless religion of the worship of man, our Creator reminds us: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD ... Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." (Psalm 33:12; Proverbs 14:34) When we - as a people - reject God, we reject the very architect of our existence. Everything God has given us directs our lives with peace and harmony. When a people as a whole reject the idea of God and declare that "God is dead," man has sentenced himself to a slow death. The irony is that God is dead in the minds of men only - He still lives and rules over the affairs of men.
History is the most important subject to learn from and unless we look back, take stock of where we are and with eyes turned toward the future, learn - history will write our story in the annuals of time as a great nation of people that had so much and lost it all. When you lose God, you lose it all.
God Bless America Requires Belief In God
(Kent Heaton)
Red, white and blue permeates every part of the American way of life. It has been a long time since such honor was bestowed upon "Old Glory." In the Sixties it was burned, today it is a symbol of honor. Bumper stickers proudly hail the message of what a great county we live in. Many who never knew the words of the song, "God Bless America," now sing in warm tones of patriotism its majesty message. Throughout the land signs bear the message of "God Bless America." Can it be that we have remembered again the message that our country was founded upon? What can be the meaning of those three words that has stirred a nation to unity?
The phrase implies a need of a blessing to be given to this land by God. By virtue of its plea, one is recognizing there is a God. Secondly, a statement of faith is acknowledged that the greatest good that America can receive is by the hand of God. It is interesting that this change in thought for America comes at a time of war and national crisis. To ask a blessing from someone is to recognize the ability of the giver to give what is needed. What people are asking when seeking God's blessing is the admission of His existence and His power.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Asking God's blessing upon this country is for the people of this land to believe that "He is." What are the consequences of believing that God exist? It begins with Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." From this passage comes the foundation of whether one pleases God or not in doing His will. Faith is necessary to ask the blessing of God.
This establishes that man came from God and not a chance evolution of nature. Genesis 1:27 shows the beginning of man: "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." To ask God's blessing upon America is to admit that man was created in the image of God. Since man is created in the image of God, man has a responsibility to be submissive to the Creator. "O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." (Jeremiah 10:23)
The second part of asking God's blessing upon America is to acknowledge that He can perform what is being asked. Faith is believing that God is a "rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." The qualification of receiving the reward or the promise is to "diligently" seek God. While our nation is at a time of crisis, many people turn to God in a figure. They never acknowledged Him before nor sought to serve Him but in the midst of a storm, His name is cried unto for deliverance. God rewards and blesses those who seek Him each day. The blessing God bestows upon us is not for prosperity, peace and safety or the "American Ideal." God's blessing upon a people is based upon their reception of him. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12)
Our nation is best represented by what God said of Israel in Jeremiah 7:28, "This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth." How can God bless a nation that blesses God out? How will God bless a people whose will is their own? Can God bless America? He can and will if He chooses. To invoke the blessing of God requires duty, faithfulness and belief to receive the generous portion of God's blessing upon all men. God will bless America in accordance with what America thinks of God.
(Kent Heaton)
The idea of the word "thanks" is from the image of the thought in expressing gratitude for a kindness done. It becomes a vehicle to express a feeling enjoyed by one receiving a benefit from someone who has shown by actions a care for the person involved. If someone opens a door for another person, the expression is joined to the heart of the giver of kindness to acknowledge the benevolence extended. "Thank you" is a complete sentence that with the power of two words bonds the common nature of man to man. Strangers express thanksgiving to one another through these few words. Families are nurtured by the thought of giving thanks for one another. Friends are joined in unity from feelings of the bond of giving thanks for one another.
Today is a day of thanksgiving to remind us of the power of two small words. The action of gratitude is expressed to a person with the acknowledgment of how much we need one another. Thanksgiving is a season of joy and peace that brings hearts of men to look into their souls and see how much alike we are and how we all need the same things. This season of thanksgiving cannot be limited to a day, a week or a month. The feeling of thanksgiving is given with each new day that dawns upon the frail time of man upon the earth.
"Life is but a vapor," James tells us (James 4:14). Upon this short life we should find the importance of learning to be thankful for the manifold blessings of life in this world and the world to come. Thanksgiving is to understand the value of family as God established in the beginning of time. Through the recent events of September 11, myriad's of families have found a bond and closeness lost in the busy rush of life. The importance of family has risen to the top of the consciousness of our nation once again. The strength of any nation is founded upon the thanksgiving expressed in the family as God ordained.
"And the LORD God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him ... Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply '" (Genesis 2:18; 1:28) From this we find the creation of the home as Adam and Eve are brought together and the family was established. We should be thankful for the bond of home and family that we enjoy each day.
From these wells of thanksgiving come the knowledge that God is the Creator and we have all blessings through Him. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) Our thanksgiving cannot be found upon what we have done but what God has provided. "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26) Paul said that "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28) We exist because God holds our breath in His hand. (Daniel 5:23)
Of all the blessings we have in our relationship with one another and the power of God's creation to exhibit His blessings upon us, none can compare to the blessings given through God's Son as found in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." To be in Christ one finds the highest of all blessings and that of eternal life. These blessings cannot be found outside of Christ. The greatest message of thanksgiving for man is when Jesus rose from the dead and the path of salvation was opened. Not until men come to Christ and obey His message of salvation will the blessings of thanksgiving be given. (Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:15,16; Acts 2:37-37; Romans 6:3-7; Galatians 3:26,27.)