Are you trying to live the Christian life without the Bible?

Would you try to cross a desert without water?

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:  I Peter 2:2

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.  Joshua 1:8

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  Psalm 1:1-3

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly………..

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.  I Peter 1:23

You are born again. You have important decisions to make in your life.  You have prayed and asked God to help you make right decisions.  There are multiple opportunities being presented to you.  Which choice do you make?  Which opportunity is right?

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Psalm 37:4   (He will place His desires within you as you delight in Him.)

• How do I delight myself in the Lord?  How do you learn of Him?

These (the scriptures) are they which testify of me….

• How do I walk in the Spirit and realize God’s desires within me?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly……..

• How do I keep from sinning?

Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee.

• How do I keep my heart clean so God will continue to hear me?

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 

• How do I make the right decision? 

Delight yourself in the Lord, walk in the Spirit, hide God’s word in your heart, wash yourself in the water of the written word, and then,……. do what you desire.*

• What if I all the choices that are available to me are good and desirable choices?  How do I decide which one ?

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.  Proverbs 3:5&6

This means that if you and I bring God into our decision making by trusting Him  completely and acknowledging Him in all our ways, then even when we lift our foot to take a step, not knowing for sure where to put it back down, He will direct us.

*I am hesitant to make lists of things to help spiritually because I think many of us just check off the items and then expect God’s blessing.  The things listed in the paragraph above are a way of life, not a one time emergency procedure.    

I must also caution you to be honest with yourself and God.  You can feign spirituality by doing a list of items in order to convince yourself of God’s will in a matter that you have already decided.

Measure everything by this rule; the Holy Spirit will never lead you contrary to Scripture.

 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly….

Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord

“Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.” Psalm 27:11

Teach me Thy way, O Lord, Teach me Thy way!

Thy guiding grace afford, Teach me Thy way!

Help me to walk aright, More by faith, less by sight;

Lead me with heavenly light, Teach me Thy way!

When I am sad at heart, Teach me Thy way!

When earthly joys depart, Teach me Thy way!

In hours of loneliness, In times of dire distress,

In failure or success, Teach me Thy way!

When doubts and fears arise, Teach me Thy way!

When storms o’er spread the skies, Teach me Thy way!

Shine through the cloud and rain, Through sorrow, toil, and pain;

Make Thou my pathway plain, Teach me Thy way!

Long as my life shall last, Teach me Thy way!

Where e’er my lot be cast, Teach me Thy way!

Until the race is won, until the journeys done,

Until the crown is won, Teach me Thy way!

Words and Music by B. Mansell Ramsey, 1849 – 1923

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  Psalm 119:105

The Scriptures indicate that the following acts of Christ were performed only one time.  Why?  Because the Father was satisfied with the Son’s work.  It was perfect and complete.  We can add nothing to it. This is the New Covenant.

By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.  And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever (lives forever), hath an unchangeable priesthood.  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.  Hebrews 7:21 – 27

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.  Hebrews 9:11 & 12

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.  Hebrews 9:24 – 28

By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.  Hebrews 10:10 – 14

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened (made alive) by the Spirit:  I Peter 3:18

Are you still living under the Old Covenant?

American Christians are not unlike the Jews of New Testament times. The Jews were not looking for the Prince of Peace.  They were looking for a political deliverer on a white horse.  They were looking for someone who could deliver them from the power of Rome as Moses delivered them from Egypt.

Contemporary American Christians are also looking for a political deliverer on a white horse.  Someone who will reinstate biblical Christianity to its rightful place of respect and authority.  Someone who will load the courts with conservative and God fearing judges and someone on whose coat tails the conservative political machinery will thrive.  

I personally don’t think that is going to happen and here is why. Our government is a government for the people and by the people. The people are corrupt.* 

It is not big business, special interests, the rich, or even big government that is to blame for our present condition.  It is the people who have elected our leaders, their values, and the policies they bring with them.  The American people are to blame.  We have what we have because we are proud, self centered, and lovers of pleasure more than we are lovers of God. 

There is only one way to change the American people and that is by bringing them one by one to Jesus Christ, teaching them to walk in the Spirit and discipling them to obey the written Word.  

We must start by examining ourselves to see whether or not we are in the faith.  Before we speak anything to anyone, we must see God’s power exhibited privately within ourselves giving victory over our own thoughts, desires and motives…..and then we must stay out of God’s way.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17).

•  *I understand that corrupt is a harsh word, but the Scriptures say that the plowing of the wicked is sin and that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.  Man without the Saviour is corrupt.  Romans chapters one and two condemn the natural man, the moral man and the religious man altogether.
• A few years ago I surveyed several rural towns in our area of the Midwest.  Seventy five to eighty percent of those who were asked if they would go to heaven when they died responded positively.
• When asked why they should enter heaven, those same individuals replied within the categories of either because of what I am or because of what I’ve done.
• It is because of what we are that we are alienated from God.  It is because of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done that we can become the beneficiaries of salvation and call ourselves Christian.  (John 1:12 &13; 3:16; 10:9 and 14:6)
• The degree of corruption within our population, due to being unregenerate, is much higher than the polls and surveys would have you think.  Churches are not preaching the written Word and “Christians” are not holding the churches accountable to the written Word.   Most “Christians” are just doing what is right in their own eyes.

Ezekiel’s message from God to Jerusalem:

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. Ezekiel 16:48-50