Keeper Of My Vineyard

"They made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept."  Song of Solomon 1:6.  We can become so engrossed in the affairs of others that we fail to take care of our own affairs.  Let's apply this passage to our spiritual welfare.  We can examine the lives of others while we fail to examine our own life.  They have been occasions when one would not be willing to follow Christ because they saw missteps in the life of someone who was following Christ.  The Bible passes the verdict that all stand in need of the grace of God.  Our need of that grace can be different from the need of another.  We are not all guilty of the same transgression.  Your weakness may be my strength.  And, your strength may be my weakness.  My own heart must receive my attention before I begin to consider the heart of another.  God will be the judge of all men.  Rather than keeping someone else's vineyard, I must attend to my own vineyard.

I AM

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."  Revelation 22:13.  Jesus Christ in this age is the great I AM.  As God said to Moses when the prophet was called, so is Jesus to his people this day.  All things begin in Jesus and all things end in Jesus.  Jesus Christ controls and oversees all things.  The world and all things therein are under divine authority.  Men may believe that have say so, but this is not the case.  Jesus Christ has all say.  His will and word dominate the universe and all of creation.  We must recognize this authority in our lives.  When he spoke so long ago, the universe responded.  When Jesus Christ lay in the grave, death responded.  No thing nor any power can overcome him.  No enemy can defeat him.  When Jesus Christ speaks in the last hour, all of creation shall bow at his authority.  Knees will bow and tongues will confess.  He is without beginning and he is without end.  His power stretches into the dim unknown.  What man does not know, Christ does.  What man can not do, Christ can.  Before him, nothing existed.  After history is finished, Jesus Christ will stand as the magnificant I AM.

Be Of Good Comfort

"But Jesus when he truned him about, he saw her, and he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.  And the woman was made whole from that hour."  Matthew 9:22.  This woman had a disease that doctors had been unable to cure.  Mark 5:26.  Now, she encountered Jesus.  She reached out and touched Him believing that He had the power to cure her.  Faith reaches out to Jesus.  Faith surrenders to the power of Christ.  Jesus saves through faith.  Without faith, we cannot enjoy the blessings of God.  Without faith, we cannot know the cleansing power of Christ.  When in faith, we come to Christ in total surrender to His will, He makes us whole.  When our sins are purged, we know comfort.  Faith is full assurance in the will of God, and the promises that come as we are obedient to His will.  This comfort that God provides through faith is a constant comfort.  Our souls rest in comfort as we abide in Christ.  "Be of good comfort."

The Cleansing Of Naaman

If The Gospel Be Hidden

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost."  II Cor 4:3.  We are lost without the gospel.  What does it mean to be lost?  We are estranged from God.  We live in ungodliness rather than godliness.  We seek the temporal rather than the eternal.  We are interested in the temporal rather than the spiritual.  But, if we are lost, we will finally be eternally lost.  Rather than dwelling in heaven, we shall dwell in hell.  This is the reason for the gospel.  The gospel is God's message of salvation to all people everywhere.  The gospel reveals the life and death of Jesus Christ.  The gospel has conditions of salvation that must be met by anyone who desires to be saved.  This plan of the gospel includes believing in Jesus as the Son of God.  We must repent of all sins.  Repentance is leaving the way of sin and living life in God.  Christ must be confessed as the Son of God with the mouth.  Upon belief, repentance, confession, we are baptized in water for the remission of sins.  Finally, we live a life of faithful obedience to God.  The gospel is not to be hid, but embraced so that we are saved.

A Little Is Enough

"And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much."  II Kings 10:18.  Whether much or little, the service of Baal was still a violation of God's will.  Elijah, the prophet, had told Ahab, "ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baal."  I Kings 18:18.  A little sin is too much sin.  Our lives must be completely purged from sin.  Our hearts much not harbor even the least amount of pollution.  A little service to Baal was too much service.  The heart does not have room for God and anything else, even in very small amounts.  God wants the full surrender of our lives.  We must not see small sins and large sins.  We must sin as sin.  A little service to Baal brought disaster to Ahab.  Sin in any amount in our life can disrupt our devotion to God.  A little service to the Baal in our life can harm our relationship to the Lord.  Let us give full service to God, and absolutely, no service to Baal.

Remember The Words

"But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ."  Jude 17.  Humans are blessed with memory.  We love to recall special moments and special words.  God wants us to remember.  The Lord Jesus Christ sent the apostles to reveal His will to all of the world.  These chosen men were blessed with God's Holy Spirit who would remind them of what they had been taught by the Lord Jesus, and also, all of God's will for us living in this age.  These apostles spoke by the authority of the Lord Jesus.  God's will for us was completely revealed through them while they lived.  God has not spoken through any other means than the apostles.  Their words which are truly the words of God have been preserved for us in the Bible.  These are the words that we are to remember.  These words are the words of life.  These words are the words by which we are to serve God.  These are the words by which we will be judged.  Let us remember the words which were spoken by the apostles, and reject all other words.