Most people work to buy food for their table. If a person gets hungry enough, some of the people who do not like to work will go to work just to eat. Hunger makes us work to satisfy that hunger.
This is just saying, Labor is hard and often grievous, but necessary, even for the lazy.
One of the most dangerous things a man can do is try to do whatever feels good to him. This is the call of the flesh. The flesh life is a life of sin and destruction.
Both the narrow gate and the wide gate are assumed to provide the entrance to God’s kingdom. Two ways are offered to people. The narrow gate is by faith, only through Christ, constricted and precise. It represents true salvation in God’s way that lead to life eternal. The wide gate includes all religions of works and self-righteousness, with no single way, but it leads to hell, not heaven.
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Sin separates us from God. Some have taken this Scripture to mean that God will not hear the prayer of the sinful man. Judge for yourselves from the following scriptures.
John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
I believe God does hear his prayers but will not answer until the sinful man repents.
God is far from the wicked because the wicked has rejected or walked away from God, not the other way around. God does answer the righteous quicker as you can read in in the next Scripture.
Godly, righteous people weigh their answers; those who are wicked do not think before speaking because they don’t care about the effects of their words. When you have something to say, think about it first. Do you carefully plan your words, or do you pour out your thoughts without concern for their impact?
We know the person who has a healthy heart is usually in rather good shape physically.
I believe this goes further than the physical and is speaking of a heart in tune with God. One of the main things mentioned in Romans 10:9-10 to be saved is to believe in the heart.
Envy and strife go hand in hand. Envy eats you up from within and will totally destroy you.
“The rottenness of the bones” speaks of suffering which is like a painful and incurable condition.
A quick temper can be like a fire out of control. It can burn us and everyone else in its path. Anger divides people. It pushes us into hasty decisions that only cause bitterness and guilt. Yet anger, in itself, is not wrong. Anger can be a legitimate reaction to injustice and sin. When you feel yourself getting angry, look for the cause. Are you reacting to an evil situation that you are going to set right? Or are you responding selfishly to a personal insult? Pray that God will help you control your quick temper, channeling your feelings into effective action and conquering selfish anger through humility and repentance.
If you were king of a great number of people, there would be more honor than to be king over just a handful of people. The king over a small group could be easily overthrown.
This is a truism stating that a king’s honor comes from the support of his people as they increase and prosper
This is speaking of the power of association which helps to shape character.
We have a tendency to become like the people we associate with. If the people you are with are arrested for a crime, you will be arrested, as well. You will be called an accomplice to the crime because you are with the criminal.
We see someone who is a companion of someone successful and that person will try hard too. I have noticed that we try harder to do just as well as the person we are with. Competition creates success.
My Story
Retired Army Soldier who is Under Gods Command: To really follow someone’s every Command; you have to really develop deep trust in who is commanding you and know and understand the Commands.
Rob Henry story on how I came Under Gods Command. Here is some of my story on how I became to not just know Jesus, but to love him. God was calling me a long time ago, but I just did not know it at the time, check out my story that came from the following scripture.
Galatians 06:07
“Do not be misled. Remember that you cannot ignore God and get away with it. A man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows. If he sows to please his own desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death” (Galatians 6: 7-8 LB).
It would certainly be a surprise if you planted corn and pumpkins came up. It is a natural law to reap what we sow. It is true in other areas too. If you gossip about your friends, you will lose their friendship. Every action has results. If you plant to please your own desires, you will reap a crop of sorrow and evil, if you plant to please God, you will reap joy and everlasting life. What kind of seeds are you sowing?
Understand this, the devil will have you thinking everything is cool while you indulge in your sinful desire of the flesh. Especially when you know it is wrong, not in accordance with Gods word, and you are not even trying to change. Instead we try to justify it by saying, “Oh God understands” Sorry folks, God understands one thing, that you are wrong. Then just when the devil has you thinking everything is going well, he strikes with a lie. He strikes with finances, relationships, illness, on the job, family, and gets into your unprotected mind.
Rob Henry story on how I came Under Gods Command. Here is some of my story on how I became to not just know Jesus, but to love him. God was calling me a long time ago, but I jus did not know it at the time, Check out my story.
This Scripture came from The Purpose Driven Life Devotion this morning. It really moved me when I read this, and it reminded me when I was about 26 years old, station at Fort Ord California, back in the early 80s when I use to do a 100 mile drive to Oakland to party when we had time off. I used to get my drink on, and my party on. One day when I was coming back to Fort Ord about 2 in the morning, still under the influence of alcohol. I said to God, “ Lord, I know you are not going to let me keep getting away with this life I am living” You see, I knew there was a God, and I knew and believe that Jesus died on the cross, but I did not want to be Under Gods Command. It’s like knowing we have a great Army, but being on the outside looking in, but at the same time being protected by the Soldiers who were trained to fight, and ready to give their lives.
At that time, I had the serious desire to party down, dancing to the funky beats. I loved it and was having so much fun. The music just overpowered me, and the club seen was my life. Playing the ladies was so much fun. Well, when I started seeking God to have a relationship with his son Jesus. Something drastically happen to me. I was sitting in my room one night with a bottle of E&J in my right hand. My partners came to get me to go out, and I said to them “Man! Isn’t there more than life than drinking (raising the bottle at the same time) and running these women and lying to them all the time”. Well, when I said that, they thought I was crazy. Well, what I did not know at that time, God was dealing with that desired relationship. About a week later I went to church and gave my life to the LORD. I was now Under Gods Command. Still hanging out, but it started feeling different.
Now I was going to Church and Bible Study, but something was missing. No one really took me by hand to explain things to me. Did not like wearing ties and suits to Church, but everyone else did. They were talking about loving everyone, and I was like, what is up with that! Because I know there are people that I could not stand. Now, I am in Church telling God I love Him, because that is what everyone else was doing, standing, and shouting I love you Lord. I just knew something was missing because I just could not get with the Church seen. I was never a follow of anyone. I always dress different, and I always went the other way in school.
One night in my room, I just flat out told God that I did not love him, I believe in you, but I do not love you and I can’t go on lying, or not telling the truth any longer. I just knew God was going to strike me dead for not loving him. That is when he placed on my heart to read the 4 gospels of Jesus Christ. That is when the love affair began. It was on like popcorn after that. I got so excited reading about Jesus, during readings, I called my Dad, and with excitement telling him about the miracles, how tough Jesus was, and how he was wronged. My Dad listen intently to the stories I was telling him, because the Church turned him off too, but now he was listening to the word through me. After reading the Gospels of Jesus Christ my Christian walk took off in a different direction. God used me to bring my Mother to Christ, and she has been on fire ever since. It is so important to know that word because what you don’t know can hurt you. Seek God, and he will lead you right to him.
Now I know what this Scripture truly means 2 Chronicles 7:19 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Pastor Stan said to “Say what you mean, and mean what you say”
Pastor Stan you can change the course of your life by just speaking it.
Listen to the Sermon and let God increase your Faith.
Under Gods command 