Maker-Defender-Redeemer-Friend Genesis 1:26-27 Deuteronomy 32:4-7 Isaiah 45:9 Isaiah 51:22 Isaiah 54:16-17 Psalms 34:18-22 Job 19:25-27 Psalms 103:1-5 John 15:15 John 15:13 09.28.18

MAKER – DEFENDER – REDEEMER – FRIEND

BREAD

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.   Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV)

⁴ He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. ⁵ They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. ⁶ Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? ⁷ Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.  Deuteronomy 32:4-7 (NIV)

⁹ “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Isaiah 45:9 (NIV)

²² This is what your Sovereign LORD says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.”   Isaiah 51:22 (NIV)

¹⁶ “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; ¹⁷ no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.   Isaiah 54:16-17 (NIV)

¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. ¹⁹ A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; ²⁰ he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. ²¹ Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. ²² The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.   Psalm 34:18-22 (NIV)

²⁵ I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. ²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; ²⁷ I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!  Job 19:25-27 (NIV)

¹ Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. ² Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--³ who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, ⁴ who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, ⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.  Psalm 103:1-5 (NIV)

¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  John 15:15 (NIV)

¹³  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  John 15:13 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Our Creator is infinitely good, and His will is love: to submit to one who is 'too wise to err, too good to be unkind,' should not be hard.”  C.H. Spurgeon

“Every cell in my body is a hymn to my Creator and a declaration of love.”   Ernesto Cardenal

“Thus does the world forget You, its Creator, and falls in love with what You have created.”    Augustine

“The God who has redeemed us and cares for us is trustworthy. Our Creator God will never abandon us, and He has our best interests at heart. ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging’(Psalm 46:1-3).”   Michael Youssef

“He is near to the broken, He is close to the weary of heart.  In His Name is a refuge, Safety for the weak and discarded.  There is help for the hopeless, For the wounded in need.  In the presence of Jesus, There is power unleashed.  Call upon the Name of the Lord, He’s our Defender, our Deliverer.  A Shelter in the midst of the storm, Jesus, our Savior, He is King over all the earth.  I will sing of my Redeemer, Testify to the touch of His hand, Lifted me from disaster, Set my feet on a solid rock to stand.  God is our Refuge, our Strength and Salvation, A Mighty Fortress is the Lord Almighty.  There is no equal, no power beside Him.  Forever our Champion is the Lord our God.  Our Savior, He is King over all the earth.”    Lyrics to Defender (Call Upon The Name Of The Lord)

“The Gospel is a message about God. It tells us who he is, what his character is, what his standards are and what he requires of us, his creatures. It tells us that we owe our very existence to him…the gospel starts by teaching us that we, as creatures, are absolutely dependent on God, and that he as Creator, has an absolute claim on us.  The gospel is a message about sin.  It tells us how we have fallen short of God’s standard; how we have become guilty, filthy and helpless in sin, and now stand under the wrath of God…the gospel is a message about Christ.  Christ is the Son of God incarnate; Christ is the Lamb of God, who died for sin; Christ is the risen Lord; Christ is the perfect Savior…The gospel is a summons to faith and repentance. All who hear the gospel are summoned by God to repent and believe”.   J.I. Packer

“It is no small thing to be on terms of friendship with God.”   Cowman

“Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don't need to search any further for security.”  Elisabeth Elliot

“I was the enemy of God.  I was stamping through God’s universe, shaking my fist in His face.  And in the very moment when I was shaking my fist in God’s face and tramping through the Creator’s universe, muddying all His streams, that’s when Jesus died for me.  And if this is when Jesus died for me, what hope it gives me now!  Now, even when I fall, the blood of Jesus is enough.  He didn’t save me because I was strong; He saved me when I was weak. He didn’t save me when I was a pretty thing; He saved me when I was a mess. On the basis of this reality, I can have comfort.”  Francis Schaeffer

“He (Paul) must confront men with the truth about God – Creator, Provider, Lord of history, Judge of all – and His command to repent.  He must confront them with the truth about man, and his moral bankruptcy in the sight of God.  And above all he must confront them with Jesus Christ in His resurrection power, His authority to execute judgment, and His redeeming love by which He delivers men and women from their estrangement and rebellion, and creates them anew in the knowledge of their creator.”  F. F. Bruce

“When Jesus is Lord of a life there is a deep and reverential awareness of accountability to Him coupled with a strong affection to please Him in all that we say and do.  It really does matter how we live our lives.  It will be either for Him Who spoke the world into being as well as died for our sins on the cross or we live for ourselves.  We will either serve the Creator or the created.  “Lord” rightly means owner, master, might and power.”  BHY 

“Take the written word at its word, and take Jesus at his word, and a reader must either bow to Jesus as Creator of all and Savior of those who repent, or reject him as the most dangerous megalomaniac of all time. Either Bible-believers are deluded fools, or Bible-unbelievers are in terrible peril. There is no real middle ground. The only people who are lukewarm about the Bible are those who don’t take its claims seriously.”   Jon Bloom

HEART SAVOR 

• ·         If God is our Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend and loves us with an everlasting love, our point about worrying is…?????
• ·         Let us fall in love with our Creator and not His creation.
• ·         To Go belongs our all as well as our highest praise.  All glory and honor belong to Him.  The One who gives the power gets the glory.

 

The Fount Of Every Blessing Psalms 84:11-12 Ezekiel 34:26 Numbers 6:24-27 Isaiah 58:11 Psalms 91:14-16 Psalms 40:4-5 Psalms 1:1-6 Matthew 5:3-12 Deuteronomy 33:12 Isaiah 30:18 09.26.18

THE FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING

BREAD

¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. ¹² O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.  Psalm 84:11-12 (NIV)

²⁶ I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.   Ezekiel 34:26 (NIV)

²⁴ “The LORD bless you and keep you; ²⁵ the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; ²⁶ the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. ²⁷ So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”  Numbers 6:24-27 (NIV)

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.  Isaiah 58:11 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. ¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. ¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”  Psalm 91:14-16 (NIV)

⁴ Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. ⁵ Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.  Psalm 40:4-5 (NIV)

¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. ⁴ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. ⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.  Psalm 1:1-6 (NIV)

³  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ⁸  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. ¹⁰  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹  "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:3-12 (NIV)

¹² “Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”  Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)

¹⁸ Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!  Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

BUTTER

“He who grows not in the knowledge of Jesus, refuses to be blessed.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“In shunning a trial, we are seeking to avoid a blessing.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“When thou has truly thanked the Lord for every blessing sent, but little time will then remain for murmur or lament.”  Hannah More

“The Beatitudes are conditional promises of blessing. Letting Jesus work His character in us is the condition; blessedness is the promise. Pray for yourself, that you will enjoy the blessing of being the person God wants you to be, as God molds you in the character of His beloved and well-pleasing Son.”  Sylvia Gunter

“The Christian is suspended between blessings received and blessings hoped for, so he should always give thanks.”   M. R. Vincent

“Anything that causes you to pray is a blessing to your life.”  Ron Dunn

“Whenever you react with praise and thanksgiving for an opportunity to grow more like Jesus in your way of reacting to things, instead of grumbling or feeling self-pity, you will find that that whole situation will be changed into a great blessing.”    Hannah Hurnard

“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”  Eric Hoffer

“God is more anxious to bestow His blessings on us than we are to receive them.”   Augustine

“To know Him is ‘life eternal,’ and to advance in the knowledge of Him is to increase in happiness.  He who does not long to know more of Christ, knows nothing of Him yet.  Whoever has sipped this wine will thirst for more, for although Christ does satisfy, yet it is such a satisfaction that the appetite is not choked, but whetted.”  Charles H. Spurgeon  

“He is the Source of every blessing.  He gives us every breath we take.  He gives us strength and protection in every step where our feet and legs carry us. He gives us eyes to see and minds and hearts to spiritually behold Him. He made us and we are fearfully and wonderfully designed by Him, the Great Creator God.  He is Present everywhere in the Universe.  We are never apart from Him.  Though we sin and transgress His Laws, He is Gracious and Forgiving.  When we confess before Him and call upon Him in the Name of Jesus, His Son, He wipes out our inequities and cleanses us.  He attributes to us the Righteousness of Jesus.”  Roger Killian

“God’s blessings are not limited to the human resources available.”   Tom Elliff

“The height of joy isn’t simply to be blessed — but to become the blessing. The height of joy isn’t to have blessings actualized — but to become the actual blessing. Not to be blessed with stuff — but to become the blessing in service.”   Ann Voskamp

“If we will look back upon the past, many of us will find that the very time our heavenly Father has chosen to do the kindest things for us, and given us the richest blessing, has been the time we were strained and shut in on every side.  God’s jewels are often sent us in rough packages and by dark liveried servants, but within we find the very treasures of the King’s palace and the Bridegroom’s love.”    A. B. Simpson

“Gratitude makes even a temporal blessing a taste of heaven.”    William Romaine

“See God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou doest see!  It may be that the circumstances of our sorrows will not be removed, their condition will remain unchanged; but if Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our grief and gloom, ‘He will compass us about with songs of deliverance.’  To see Him, and to be sure that His wisdom cannot err, His power cannot fail, His love can never change; to know that even His direst dealings with us are for our deepest spiritual gain, is to be able to say, in the midst of bereavement, sorrow, pain, and loss, ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’  Nothing else but seeing God in everything will make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us.  They will be to us then only instruments for accomplishing His tender and wise purposes toward us, and we shall even find ourselves at last inwardly thanking them for the blessing they bring us.  Nothing else will completely put an end to all murmuring or rebelling thoughts.”  Hannah W. Smith 

HEART SAVOR

·         God’s richest blessings sometimes come to us in rough packages.

·         No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless – not perfect but blameless.

·         The richest pathway to blessing is to be thankful in all things – for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning me.

Living Sacrifices Romans 12:1-2 Romans 6:11-13 Ephesians 4:1-3 1 Peter 2:11-12 Psalms 50:14-15 Psalms 51:15-17 Proverbs 21:3 Romans 6:16 Romans 6:19-21 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 1 Peter 2:4-5 Psalms 107:20-22 09.24.18

LIVING SACRIFICES

BREAD

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.  Romans 6:11-13 (NIV)

¹ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV)  

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.  1 Peter 2:11-12 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, ¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”  Psalm 50:14-15 (NIV)

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:15-17 (NIV)

³ To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.  Proverbs 21:3 (NIV)

¹⁶  Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  Romans 6:16 (NIV)

¹⁹ I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!  Romans 6:19-21 (NIV)

¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  1 Peter 2:4-5 (NIV)

²⁰ He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. ²¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. ²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.  Psalm 107:20-22 (NIV)

BUTTER

“We must remember that God will never drag us along the path of true-hearted discipleship. This would greatly lack the moral excellency which characterizes all the ways of God. He does not drag, but draws us along the path which leads to ineffable blessedness in Himself; and if we do see that it is for our real advantage to break through all the barriers of nature, in order to respond to Gods’ call, we forsake our own mercies. But alas! Our hearts little enter into this. We begin to calculate about the sacrifices, the hindrances, and the difficulties, instead of bounding along the path, in eagerness of soul, as knowing and loving the One whose call has sounded in our ears”.   C H Macintosh

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”   C. T. Studd

“Nothing is really lost by a life of sacrifice; everything is lost by failure to obey God’s call.”   Henry P. Liddon

“The essential fact of Christianity is that God thought all men worth the sacrifice of His Son.”    William Barclay

“The principle of sacrifice is that we choose to do or to suffer what apart from our love we should not choose to do or suffer.”   William Temple 

“To sacrifice something is to make it holy by giving it away for love.”    Frederick Buechner

“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received -- only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.”  St. Francis of Assisi

“Come, let us offer Him the great, universal sacrifice of our love, and pour out before Him our richest hymns and prayers.”   Ephrem the Syrian

“Sacrifice stuns in all its costly loveliness, all its love.”   Ann Voskamp

“Humility is that holy place in which God bids us make the sacrifice of ourselves.”   Anonymous

“God will be our compensation for every sacrifice we have made.”   F. B. Meyer

“God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son at a place three days distant. The word ‘love’ appears for the first time in the Bible in that command. Of course He didn’t allow him to go through with it. On the third day Abraham retained his son alive.  Two thousand years later on the day Israel celebrated the sparing of sons Jesus of Nazareth was executed by slow torture.  Maybe God wanted Abraham to exhibit a pattern. Maybe He wanted to teach a principle. Or maybe God wanted Abraham to know what it felt like to be God.  Instead of slaying his son Abraham sacrificed a ram. He was able to catch the animal because his horns were entangled in the thicket.  CAUGHT BY A CROWN OF THORNS. There were lots of startling coincidences like that.  It's almost as if the thing were planned…”  Ronnie Stevens

“We sometimes seem to forget that what God takes He takes in fire; and that the only way to the resurrection life and the ascension mount is the way of the garden, the cross, and the grave.  Think not, O soul of man, that Abraham’s was a unique and solitary experience.  It is simply a specimen and pattern of God’s dealings with all souls who are prepared to obey Him at whatever   cost.  After thou hast patiently endured, thou shalt receive the promise.  The moment of supreme sacrifice shall be the moment of supreme and rapturous blessing.  God’s river, which is full of water, shall burst its banks, and pour upon thee a tide of wealth and grace.  There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.”   F. B. Meyer

“All along the Christian course, there must be set up altars to God on which you sacrifice yourself.”   Alexander Maclaren

“To a man who lives unto God nothing is secular, everything is sacred.  He puts on his workday garment and it is a vestment to him.  He sits down to his meal and it is a sacrament.  He goes forth to his labor, and therein exercises the office of the priesthood.  His breath is incense and his life a sacrifice.  He sleeps on the bosom of God, and lives and moves in the divine presence.  To draw a hard and fast line and say, ‘This is sacred and this is secular,’ is, to my mind, diametrically opposed to the teaching of Christ and the spirit of the gospel…Peter saw a sheet let down from heaven in which were all manner of beasts and four-footed creatures, which he was bidden to kill and eat, and when he refused because they were unclean, he was rebuked by a voice from heaven, saying, ‘What God hath cleansed that call not thou common’ [Acts 10:15; 11:9].  The Lord hath cleansed your houses, he has cleansed your bed chambers, your tables…  He has made the common pots and pans of your kitchens to be as the bowls before the altar –if you know what you are and live according to your high calling.  You housemaids, you cooks, you nurses, you ploughmen, you housewives, you traders, you sailors, your labor is holy if you serve the Lord Christ in it, by living unto Him as you ought to live.  The sacred has absorbed the secular.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“Cut out that which seems good to invest in the best.  It is the law of life: Early sacrifice for later bounty.  It can be hard to prune good things that are blooming. It can be hard to remember why you are pruning.  Because there’s a counter-intuitiveness to it, this plucking off certain life activities that will yield good fruit. Some might even think it foolish to pare back, when the bloom and gifting apparent; a good harvest inevitable.  Yet it’s the pruning of seemingly good leaves that can grow a better life. To allow later seasons to yield the longed-for abundant crop.  It takes courage to crop a life back — but it’s exactly the way to have the best crop of all.  What seems like hard work that’s taking an eternity today — is exactly what may make the most difference in eternity.”   Ann Voskamp

“As believers, we are never more like our Savior as when we walk the path of suffering and sacrifice.  And whether we are discerners of this or not the more like Christ we are the more satisfied we will be.  Remember, too, God’s grace is always sufficient to meet every need.  Every. Need.”  BHY

HEART SAVOR

• ·         It’s counter-intuitive – out of sacrifice comes blessing.  ²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.  John 12:23-26 (NIV)
• ·         One never out gives God – He will be no one’s debtor and He will be the compensation for every sacrifice made.  Live your life for an Audience of One.  BTW, don’t use your mouth to proclaim your “acts of righteousness”, selflessness, sacrifice – that is merely spiritual pride  which nauseates God.  Whatever He empowers you and allows you to do give Him the glory.   It’s all about Him.  The One Who gives the power gets the glory.
• ·          Live a life of sacrifice and you will not be disappointed.      

To Tell The Truth Proverbs 6:16-19 Proverbs 17:20 Proverbs 12:22 Deuteronomy 5:20 Psalms 15:1-5 Psalms 5:5-6 Psalms 119:28-32 Psalms 101:5-7 Proverbs 11:20-21 John 8:42-47 Revelation 21:6-8 09.21.18

TO TELL THE TRUTH

BREAD

¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.   Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV)

²⁰ A man of perverse heart does not prosper; he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.  Proverbs 17:20 (NIV)

²² The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.  Proverbs 12:22 (NIV)

²⁰ You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.  Deuteronomy 5:20 (NIV)

¹ LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?  ² He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart ³ and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, ⁴ who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, ⁵ who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.  Psalm 15:1-5 (NIV)

⁵ The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. ⁶ You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.   Psalm 5:5-6 (NIV)

²⁸ My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. ²⁹ Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law. ³⁰ I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. ³¹ I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame. ³² I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.  Psalm 119:28-32 (NIV)

⁵ Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure. ⁶ My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me. ⁷ No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.  Psalm 101:5-7 (NIV)

²⁰ The LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless. ²¹ Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free.  Proverbs 11:20-21 (NIV)

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. ⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you?  Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? ⁴⁷ He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”  John 8:42-47 (NIV)

⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”  Revelation 21:6-8 (NIV)

BUTTER

“The best protection against Satan’s lies is to know God’s truth.”  Anonymous

“You and I were created to tell the truth about God by reflecting His likeness.  How many lies have you told about God today?”     Ian Thomas

“You have a message, and you are constantly delivering it.  You may not even know what it is.  It may be a message of redemption or of guilt, of confidence or of insecurity, of faith or of doubt.  But one way or another, your life is an embodied message of whatever you believe to be true.  That’s frightening, isn’t it?  We can handle the thought of delivering a message when God tells us to, the thought that we are always implicitly living a message means we may have preached against the gospel many, many times.  Every time we sowed seeds of discord, every time we got comfortable with sin, every time we said something that minimized God’s goodness or exaggerated our own, we gave a false message.  We might think we’ve never presumed to speak for God, but as creatures made in His image, we have.  We may have spoken truth, or we may have spoken lies, but we have spoken.  Wearing the name of ‘Christian,’ we have made some kind of impression – either positive or negative, or a combination of both – on this world.”   Chris Tiegreen  

“Every time we resist the slightest temptation, we honor God.  Every time we overcome even the smallest problem by trusting and obeying our Lord Jesus, God is glorified in our lives.  Whenever we choose character over convenience, faithfulness over ease, or honesty over deceit, we bring honor to the Lord Himself.”  Robert J. Morgan

“The word translated ‘commit’ in Psalm 37:5 quite literally means “to roll (in blood); be dyed red; figuratively meaning to take your ways to the foot of the cross.  The blood of Jesus cleanses all our plans and our sins, purifying them.  Enabling us through His power to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all things.  The heart is deceitful beyond all cure.  It is God alone Who can cleanse and direct us in the path which we should go – redeeming our time for His glory, for our good.”  BHY

“Just so you know, the need for repentance, redemption, and forgiveness is universal. I don't care if you are a liberal or a conservative, a religious fanatic or a militant atheist, a ‘spiritual’/’religious’ person or someone who runs from all that. It doesn’t matter to me if you listen to Billy Graham or follow Camus—you are in need. No one in the human race is exempt.  It’s in our DNA…When we finally acknowledge our need for forgiveness and come to God in repentance, we find true power; for we now have nothing to hide or protect, we don't care what people say or think about us, we are willing to speak truth gently, and we are enabled to speak with tremendous, supernatural power.”   Steve Brown

“God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called.  Don't let Satan convince you otherwise. He will try. He will tell you that God has an IQ requirement or an entry fee. That he employs only specialists and experts, governments and high-powered personalities. When Satan whispers such lies, dismiss him with this truth: God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds. Before Jesus came along, the disciples were loading trucks, coaching soccer, and selling Slurpee drinks at the convenience store. Their collars were blue, and their hands were calloused, and there is no evidence that Jesus chose them because they were smarter or nicer than the guy next door. The one thing they had going for them was a willingness to take a step when Jesus said, ‘Follow me.’”   Max Lucado

“We tend to be taken aback by the thought that God could be angry… We take pride in our tolerance of the excesses of others. So what is God’s problem… But love detests what destroys the beloved. Real love stands against the deception, the lie, the sin that destroys… ‘the more a father loves his son, the more he hates in him the drunkard, the liar, the traitor…’ Anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference… To be truly good one has to be outraged by evil.”   Rebecca Manly Pippert

“Where is the folly of true religion? Is it a folly to be providing for the world to come? ‘Oh, no.’ Is it a folly to make the Author of your being its first end? ‘No, no.’ Is it altogether a folly to believe that there is such a thing as justice? I think not. And that, if there be such a thing as justice, it involves punishment? There is no great folly there. Well, then, is it any folly to perceive that there is no way of escaping from the effects of our offences except justice be satisfied? Is that folly?  And if it be the fact that Christ has satisfied justice for all who trust in him, is it folly to trust him? If it be a folly to escape from the flames of hell, then let us be fools. If it be folly to lay hold of him who gives us eternal life—oh, blessed folly! Let us be more foolish still. Let us take deep dives into the depths of this foolishness. God forbid that we should do anything else but glory in being such fools as this for Christ’s sake! What, sirs, is your wisdom? Your wisdom dwells in denying what your eyes can see—a God; in denying what your consciences tell you—that you are guilty; in denying what should be your best hope, what your spirit really craves after—redemption in Christ Jesus. Your folly lies in following a perverted nature, instead of obeying the dictates of one who points you to the right path. You are wise and you drink poison; we are fools and we take the antidote. You are wise and you hunt the shadow; we are fools and we grasp the substance. You are wise, and you labour and put your money into a bag which is full of holes, and spend it for that which is not bread, and which never gives you satisfaction; and we are fools enough to be satisfied, to be happy, to be perfectly content with heaven and God.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“It is not your business to succeed, but to do right; when you have done so, the rest lies with God.”   C. S. Lewis

“Serious and sincere repentance routes us back into God’s will.”  Robert J. Morgan

HEART SAVOR

• ·         God detests a lying tongue.
• ·         A deceitful person will fall into trouble, ensnared by his own words.
• ·         Quick repentance is key.  Keep your accounts short with the Lord.  The longer we linger and cover the worse it becomes.