Bro Gary Wednesday Evening 2/15/12

Bro Gary Wednesday Evening 2/15/12

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Being religious is not the answer.  It takes God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit of God to cause us to be the salt of the earth.  Anyone can pack a Bible but without Jesus it isn’t a ‘tasty’ situation.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

God has ordained that we would be a light as individuals.  He has also ordained that His church is to be on Mount Zion and shining bright for Him.  One light is to be appreciated but shining collectively as a city set on a hill we cannot be hid.

As we left Minneapolis it was starting to be night.  As we were flying we could see cities from a long way away.  If someone has a need and they come to just one of us, we are not always able to supply that need. 

One night Karen and I came upon a wreck out here and we were not able to supply for the needs that were there.  We called one of the brothers to bring a crowbar so we could bend the fender away from the tire.  It takes the entire city of God to do God’s work.  It takes the entire body.  “A city set upon a hill cannot be hid.”

Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

When we light a candle we want to place it where it will give as much light as it can.  God has placed each one of us right where we are.  God wants each one of us to shine right where we are.  The reason that we can is because Christ lights every man.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

There is a generation today that has chosen the thought pattern that they are going to be good without God.   

That is a thought, but it is not a reality.  The reason it is not is because Jesus taught us and the Gospel teaches us that without God we are a wild olive tree. 

From what I’ve been able to learn, the wild olive cannot bear fruit because there is something wrong with the root.  This is the reason there must be a cutting off and a grafting into the true vine.

It takes God to make us good and it takes God to keep us good.  Give God all the glory!

Mar 4:21  And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?

Mar 4:22  For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.

A candle is not designed to be put under a bed or a bushel.  It is designed to shine.  God ordained it that there is nothing hid that will not be manifested.  People may think that they have great secrets, but who is the secret kept from?  God knows everything.

Mar 4:23  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

The design is that every candle is to give light and shine as far reaching as that light can go.  This is God’s plan.

Mar 4:24  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.

Mar 4:25  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

It is a wonderful thing to have an ear to hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches.  Have the attitude, “God teach me, train me.” 

Jesus originates this thought in the New Testament and I’m sure the idea is in the Old as well: When we don’t do what God has already taught us we will not receive any more instruction.  We need to learn to take what God speaks to our heart as training and to apply it to our self and then we can teach. 

Bro Figeroa told me that this was his last year pastoring.  He said, “I’m trying to teach Bro David everything that I can that will help him in the ministry.  I’m having meetings with my daughter, his wife as well.  There are things that she needs to know.”

Before we went to Miami I began working on some thoughts.  I’ve been challenged to read Proverbs and one thought has stuck out to me.  “Train up a child.”

I’ve always applied that to parents and children and that is right.  But God spoke to my heart the thought of:  we are all children of God.  We become a babe in Christ when we get saved, and ‘as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word.’ 

The idea, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, is not applicable to a saint of God.  Individuals my age or as old as Bro Herb can be trained by God.  We want to be trained of God. 

Jesus told it and Mark wanted you and me to have this instruction: with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.  There are some thoughts that we dismiss as soon as they come and that is right for some thoughts.  We need to pray that God would help us to hear when He is talking to us.  When He speaks, however attentive and aggressive we are to do what He has spoken to us, God is good to come back and say, “I’m going to give you something more that is good.”

The way to keep what God has given you is to share it.  When you give out what God has given you then He pours it back in.

The saddest thing is for individuals to have had and to lose the reality of God.  A brother form Tampa sang a song:  an added or prevailing grace.  He said he wanted to sing the song yet he didn’t feel like he was mature enough to sing it.  That song could have been written by someone younger than him.  The God we serve can help young people to be mature spiritually. 

When God speaks may He help you and me to listen.  We needn’t listen with the thought that “God is after me again.”  No he speaks so that we will listen.

Luk 8:16  No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.

Luk 8:17  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

Luk 8:18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

This parable is in three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 

Luke worded it different but it brings a good thought.  God made us a candle lit for God so that we would shine and so that someone else will see the light. 

Whatever God is talking to you and me about here; may God help us to have an ear to hear. 

Luk 11:33  No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

This candle was lit so that when people come in they can see the light.

Luk 11:34  The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

Luk 11:35  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

Dear church, keep the light according to the Word of God.  Don’t allow the light to go out or the darkness to come in.

Luk 11:36  If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.