Month: July 2018

Joh 8:3-11 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. “Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

Here we have a woman that has been caught in the very act of adultery. To be honest we don’t know where the man was. He could have fled the scene, or there could have been some other reason that he was not there. The law called for both to be stoned to death. De 22:22 “If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die-the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.”

There are times that we may feel like we have committed too many and too horrible of sins to be forgiven of. This woman had to be feeling as if her back was to the wall. But rather than looking up to the executioner she was looking up at mercy.

I will try to keep this brief. Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes that if any were without sin that they could cast the first stone. There was only one there that could cast that first stone. His Name is Jesus because He is the sinless Son of God! However, He didn’t come to stone. He came to forgive.

There were none were left to stone her. They all went out one by one beginning with the oldest. Now we see the grace of God at work :Joh 8:10,11 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? “She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

I used to say that Jesus forgiving her was liberal. I used to say that Jesus telling her to go and sin no more was conservative. But really it isn’t either one. It is grace. Jesus wasn’t really worried about whether He had liberal, or conservative credentials. He came to save and change sinners.

Most of us really like the part that says, “he who is without sin let him cast the first stone.” That is grace. Praise God for the grace that we can receive to be forgiven of our sins. At one time in my life I thought that mine were too many and too bad to be forgiven. But praise God for the blood of Jesus that is on the mercy seat!

On the other hand, when Jesus tells her to go and sin no more that is grace as well. We don’t often hear people quote that part of the verse. It would be the grace that would keep her from going back into a lifestyle of adulterous living and sexual sin. Praise God for the sanctifying, transforming grace that will take us out of lifestyles that are in rebellion against God. If not for that grace you would not be reading this from me. There are times that the enemy will try to offer us the temporary pleasures of sin to rob us of the life that our Lord desires for us to have. When that happens respond with the word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to help you to keep moving forward with the Lord Jesus Christ away from sin and into His glorious presence.

I pray that you have received that grace of forgiveness. If you haven’t He will forgive you right where you are right now. If you have then ask him to continually pour out His grace upon you that keeps you moving forward in a joyful relationship with Him, rather than returning to a life filled with sin, guilt, and shame.

Let Us Pray

Lord we thank you for the grace that You give that allows us to be forgiven of our sins and restored and reconciled to an eternal relationship with You. Lord today we ask you to continually fill us with your Holy Spirit and keep us from returning to our old sinful destructive habits. Thank You again for the grace that forgives, and for the grace that sustains and empowers.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Thanks to all of you who love us and pray for us. That is the greatest thing that anyone could do for anyone else!

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

GET TOGETHER- DON’T GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT

Eph 4:29-32 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. (NKJV)

For all of us when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ there are areas that we need the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. I have had to pray this passage over myself and certain situations on numerous occasions since I became a Christian. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I certainly don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit by exhibiting those seven behaviors or actions in the above passage. Those being corrupt words, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking and malice. Below I have these words and the Greek terms that the Bible was originally written in for each one.

1. Bitterness- pikria, pik-ree’-ah . It can figuratively or literally mean poison. A state of sharp resentment or hate; spite or bitter resentment

2. Wrath- thumos, thoo-mos’ a state of intense anger with the implication of passionate outbursts

3. Anger -orge, or-gay’ a state of anger or fury

4. Clamor- To cry out against someone or shout at them in a disrespectful manner

5. Evil speaking blasphemia, blas-fay-me’-ah To speak against someone in a way that will bring harm, or injure his or her reputation

6.Malice-kakia, kak-ee’-ah a feeling of strong dislike with a possible implication of the desire to do harm

I have thought about some of the ads that I have seen by some of our candidates that are running for statewide office. As a Christian that is Pro-Life and a believer that marriage is between one and one woman I have been troubled by these ads where candidates that advertise that they are Christians slam their opponents.

I don’t think us being Pro-Life and Pro Marriage between one man and one woman exempts us from abstaining from these behaviors that grieve the Holy Spirit. Certainly, we are to speak the truth. Certainly, we are to stand up for what we believe. But we are also to do this without grieving the Holy Spirit.

In a culture that is so hostile to the church we will need the Holy Spirit’s help to speak the truth in love. We will need the Holy Spirit’s help to not as Paul writes in Ro 12:17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. (NKJV)

If you noticed I left off one behavior in my list. It is speaking corruptly. The Greek term here for corrupt is sapros, sap-ros’. It means pertaining to that which is harmful in view of its being unwholesome and corrupting – ‘harmful, unwholesome.’

We can see many that oppose the Gospel filled with rage, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking. The devil would like to have us to resort to those behaviors. But if we will not grieve the Holy Spirit we can depend upon Him to help us to glorify God even in the face of persecution and hostility. 2Co 10:4,5” For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

LET US PRAY

Lord Jesus I know for me and many others there are times that the enemy attempts to get us to respond as the world responds when we are persecuted or criticized. We need Your help through the Holy Spirit to not grieve the Holy Spirit and act in a manner that brings glory to Your Holy Name. Help us to pray through this passage in all circumstances and situations where we would be tempted to speak, or act in a way that would not bring glory to You.

In Jesus Name

Amen

God Bless you all!

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

BLAST FROM THE PAST

GET TOGETHER – Others Are Important

Mt 7:12 ¶ “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

I must admit that some of my weakness and shortcomings that the Lord is healing me from are people pleasing, performance, and the opinion of man. And yes, I have been delivered from those demonic spirits, but we also must learn how to walk in a way where we are not only free of those, but realize that we are still called to love and value people.

Sometimes on the other hand we can often go to the other extreme where we don’t value people and we can become self-centered and forget that Jesus has commanded us to love others and to care for them. When Jesus was pressed by the Pharisees about what was the greatest commandment here is how He answered Mt 22:37-39 Jesus said to him,” ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Greek term for like in verse 39 is hom’-oy-os. It means being like something else in some respect. As some of the billboards on the highway used to say Jesus is serious about that loving your neighbor thing. It is a commandment from Him.

Here are a few questions that I need to ask myself. When I am tempted to fault find another Christian would I want them to fault find me? When I am in the company of a non-Christian can I win them better by treating them as I would want to be treated, or by being a jerk to them? Wasn’t that what Jesus was trying to teach us when He taught the Parable about the Good Samaritan ( Read Luke 10:30-37) ?

One of my favorite passages is Php 2:3” Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” With that said I pray that for all of us in the Body of Christ we will know that just because we are not supposed to be man pleasers, or perform so that we can get the approval of others we are called to love, serve, and value others without any other motive, but loving God, and loving our neighbor. When we do we are obeying what Jesus said to do and we will be about the business of advancing the Kingdom of God upon the earth.

Let Us Pray

Lord today we thank You that you have called us to be a people that love You with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. You have also commanded us to love our neighbor sa ourselves and to do good to them. We need Your help. We also know that some will need Your help in loving us. Help us to love, serve, and treat others the way that you have commanded us to do.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

GET TOGETHER- CAN WE STILL WIN THEM?

Lu 11:17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. (NKJV)

What a great and undeserved blessing it is for me to live in the United States. I have been to several countries and met wonderful people in all of them. But I am always thankful to get back home and enjoy the freedom and the blessings that God has given to our nation. I pray that in no way in this Get Together that I try to make a political point on behalf of, or in opposition to any political figure in this nation. That is certainly not my intent. Also, I am not putting this here for some type political, or religious debate.

I will be upfront I am a person that believes that life begins at conception, and that marriage is between one man and one woman. I also know that racism is a very serious sin that has led to much mistrust and bitterness in our nation. When I was working in our family business there were at least two times as late as the 1970’s that I had some customers try to intimidate me because we had served African Americans in our business.

As a Christian that fully believes that there is only one God who has revealed Himself to us through His only begotten son Jesus Christ in whom I believe the following words to be so true “Ac 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” I have a question for the church. And that question is for me as well.

Can we still win people to Christ? A Pastor friend of mine who I would consider more conservative in some ways than me gave me two good words of wisdom one time. He told me to not try to defeat those that oppose the Gospel, but to try to win them. The other word was to preach prophetically and love pastorally. Meaning preach the word without compromise, love the people, and depend upon the Holy Spirit to do the work of convicting people of their sin.

There is an uncivil war going on in our nation now. For us as Christians our battle isn’t against people. Eph 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (NKJV)

One of the devices of the enemy is to try to get Christians to respond in a manner no different than the world’s response. We are told to respond in a different way than the way that the world, or those who oppose the Gospel respond “Ro 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”(NKJV) Jesus said it like this Mt 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. ” (NKJV)

Certainly, there are evil forces at work in this nation and yes, they do work through people. Before I became a Christian the forces of evil worked through me as they do all lost people in some way. But praise God somebody was praying for me and loving me despite my sinful wicked condition! And Praise God that God used them to win me to Christ!

As we celebrate the birth of this wonderful country that many have died for. A country that I believe was founded on Christian principles although we have not always been perfect in adhering to them. My prayer is that God will birth a desire to pray for those to be converted that oppose the Gospel in this nation. For we all once opposed it either wittingly unwittingly: Ro 5:10 “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

My prayer also is that God will once again birth an evangelistic and missionary zeal in His church again. Here is a statistic that should challenge us all 75 percent of all Christians do not believe that sharing their faith is important. We can’t win them if we don’t think that it is important. My answer to the question that I posed is yes, we can still win them. We can win them if we get our eyes on Jesus. We can win them if we truly make our churches Houses of prayer. We can win them if our lives reflect the life of Christ and most of all we can win them if we really have a desire to win them. I pray that as we all celebrate the 4th of July that we will prayerfully ask the Lord to guide us and direct us in order that we can win the lost to Christ. I believe that God would love to redeem all that is wrong in this wonderful nation and make it a light shining on a hill. Not only may God bless you, and God bless this nation, but may God use us to bless others.

Let Us Pray

Lord Jesus we thank You that you are the only Name given unto Heaven through which men and women can be saved. Forgive us for not being concerned about the souls of those that oppose the Gospel. You came to seek and to save that which was lost. Make our churches Houses of Prayer. Make us a people that rather than trying to beat the lost, but a people that can win the lost.

In Jesus Name

Amen

I do pray that all of you in the United States that are reading this will enjoy a wonderful 4th of July. For our brothers and sisters in Christ that we have been so blessed to serve with in other countries that are reading this we do covet your prayers and we do know that God desires to bless your nation as well. Looking forward to seeing our friends in Guatemala very soon!

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston