Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 5/1/13

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 5/1/13

I am really thankful that we have the Bible.  I was reading recently about how, at a difficult time, King James came to the throne in England and it is a result of God intervening that we have the King James Bible.  We may be faced with situations where things don’t look promising.  But that is leaving God out of the picture.  God is still God.

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.

This scripture spoke to me this week.  Take heed what you hear.  Everyone from the youngest to the oldest in this audience have many voices that would like to be the voice of the Master to you, to me, and to everyone.  That is a part of life.

God moved upon Mark and he recorded the Words of Jesus in this way, “Be careful what you give your ear to and that which you hear from God it is important that you value it as it really is.  For whatever you measure that is the measure that God will give back to you.”

Karen read something this week that was written by an individual that canned so much during the canning season that they were determined they were going to eat the contents of one of the jars that they canned every week. 

Often every day we empty a jar of canned things we bring from our cellar.  The Canadians of yesteryear always canned 365 quarts of Saskatoon berries so they could have a quart every day. 

For everyone that is saved, God speaks to us.  Every time we read the Word of God, God speaks to us.  The question is, how much do we measure? 

A baby food jar is a pretty important jar.  They don’t need a quart of green beans but they need a portion.  When God speaks to us whatever value that we put upon what He speaks to us is just exactly the amount we will receive.  If we take the attitude, “that is in the bible but that is what was written then, or that is something else.” Then that is all we will receive. 

Every one of us has the privilege of saying, “That is what is more important.  That is what God spoke and it is needful in my life.  We all know that it is not the thought of you and I being bullied or forced or anything being crammed down our throat.  God is not that way. 

God is so just that if you lightly esteem what He says and consider it a little tiny bit then that is all you receive.  But if you have the attitude that, “God spoke that to me, it has to be important to God and it has to be important to me.” Then you will receive much.

The subject of fatherless children has come up many times in my study.  There is a thought that Mark may have been fatherless.  His mother was a lady that was named Mary and lived in Jerusalem. 

Peter went to her house when the angel loosed him and he went out of the prison and found the gates were opened.  He knocked on the door and Rhoda came to the gate and got so excited and went back to say, “God has answered prayer, Peter is out there knocking at the gate.”

Peter refers to Mark as his son.  I put this out as a prayer request for myself.  There are so many young men and young woman that have no direction in their lives.  There are young men that are new fathers.  When you look at them and talk to them you find that they are a little bit bewildered.  God help you and me. 

I see young ladies that look like they are motherless.  We’ve fallen upon a time in history when so many homes are totally out of order. 

You might say it looks overwhelming.  You wouldn’t be able to meet all the needs in the world but if Peter was able to help Marcus and refer to him as his son, surly he would give me enough strength and love of God in my soul and enough willingness that I would be able to give whatever it would cost to help a soul. 

It is interesting; Mark was with the Apostle Paul when he was in prison in 64AD.  Mark hadn’t always been in the favor of others.  Yet the body of Christ was knit together in such a way that they could see, “Let’s help this young man.”

I believe that the Holy Spirit told Mark just exactly what to write and how to write it.  Thirteen times in Mark 4 the word hear appears. 

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.

How valuable do I place what I hear from the Word of God?  Each of us has to make that choice of how valuable we will place what we hear from the Word of God.  We can either put a little value on it or ask, “How important is this to me?”

The Word of God covers it all.  It covers all blood types; it covers all ways that carnality can work on an individual.  The Word of God speaks to me. 

The measure that we use to value the Word of God is the measure that we receive.  Hear it with little respect and that is what you will receive.  The value that we place is the value that we receive.

Jas 1:19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

When Karen and I pray, we ask God to help us to be careful what we say and what we obligate ourselves to.  Be slow to speak.  This isn’t like the last day of a sale and you’ll never get a chance to talk again, be slow to speak.

Jas 1:20  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Jas 1:21  Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

We live in a filthy society.  If you haven’t been faced in the last week or two with something disgusting, unless you live a very sheltered life and I hope you do, you will face something this week.  The Bible says to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

Lay aside all naughtiness.  Lay it all aside.  There will be people that will cause you to think, “This is not right what they are doing.”  Always know how to handle a situation in a way that is right.  That doesn’t mean that you are rude, it says to lay aside all naughtiness.

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James warns you that we need to be a doer of the Word.  When God gives us something, you and I make the choice of how big that we will make it.  Don’t try to make it big for someone else.  “God gave me this for her and that for him and my hands are empty.”  You have missed it.  When God speaks his word the value that you put on it will determine how much he gives you.

He gives his word to cause us to be a doer and not a hearer only.

Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

It is vital that we be a doer of the Word.  There is another scripture that tells us to be a doer of the work.  If we hear and don’t apply it to our lives then we are like an individual that sees that they are dirty and sweaty when they look in the mirror but say, “People will have to put up with me just as I am.” 

People may put up with you but God won’t.

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

We are blessed; this is the perfect law of liberty.  Among the things that God is, is just.  Isn’t that wonderful?  He is so just to us.  When we look into this perfect law of liberty, his justice wants to free us from many straightjackets that we put ourselves into and worries that we give ourselves.

If a man puts the Word to work in his life then he will be blessed.

Jas 1:26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Choose the importance of what you hear.  There are so many voices in the world today. 

You and I have voices that are with us all the time, the voice of our flesh is one of them.  You wake up with it.  We don’t wake up and plug our self in and think, “I’ll start thinking pretty soon.”  No, you wake up thinking. 

The majority of us as soon as we are awake say, “I need to choose what I think on.”  We grab our Bible and say, “I’m not going to listen to all this other stuff; I’m going to read my Bible first.” 

The favors that people ask of us we need to say, “That is just a voice, God help me to know what I should do.”  The bible teaches us to say, “If the Lord wills,” so we say, “I think I can, I need to check my compass and check my calendar.” 

There are so many pressures in the world today.  As near as I know it doesn’t matter how old you are, you still have to get a fishing license and you still have to get a driver’s license. 

So many suggestions, it doesn’t matter what you are thinking about.  Are you going to plant a garden?  Many will come by with suggestions and few with gloves.  The suggestion becomes a voice, “You should have planted that over there.” 

There are so many schedules.  It is a sad day.  It used to be people worked from 8 to 5 and some professions required one to work 24 hours a day.  Today there are lots of schedules.

A half cup or a 55 gallon drum:  You choose what you receive from what God tells you. 

When a doctor tells you something then make sure that it is less than what God tells you.  Doctors tell you that you don’t have much time left and that makes people think that they will die, “If you don’t do this then you are a goner.”  No, you will be here until God says it is time to go. 

Don’t trust what the investors tell you.  Suggestions of man are only a voice.  We run into them all the time.  People throw out their chest, “I am someone from some place and you need to listen to me.”  They are flesh and blood.  Hear what God has to say.

When you feel the pressure of someone counseling you and it moves in with oppression and darkness, get to a place where you can pray and say, “God I am so sorry that I listened.

Take heed and weigh what you hear. 

God has never discouraged me.  I have been to him and begged forgiveness because I had listened to another voice than His.

Value the word of God.

Value the Spirit of God speaking to you.

Value the Word of God way above any suggestion from man.

Measure and receive God’s word as magnified.

Enjoy receiving from God.

People that love to can food, enjoy the garden, but they really get excited when you start bringing the buckets in.

Enjoy receiving from God, and receiving more, enjoy having, and loose God’s hands to give you more.

One can lose what they seem to have.  Do just the opposite.  Have, value, use, and receive more.