Some faiths teach their members to pray at certain times and places, but the word of God doesn’t teach this doctrine. As far as prayer is concerned, the scriptures teach that men must pray always, and prayer can take place everywhere (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Luke 18:1; 1 Timothy 2:9; Colossians 4:2; Acts 7:59; Romans 12:12; Luke 6:12; Acts 12:5; Ephesians 6:18).
Prayer is a wonderful privilege because it affords man an opportunity to come before the Creator and petition Him. Just imagine the horrible state of man if God refused to honor prayer!. But, prayer is refused by God when a person continues to sin and will not repent (John 9:31). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Many estranged couples give excuses like, “We just drifted apart” or “the spark just went out in our marriage”.
Marriage isn’t going to work by itself. Men and women must put aside their pride, educate their ignorance, and practice some creativity to enhance their relationship. Women, it isn’t a sin to bring your husband some flowers, or treat him to a romantic dinner. Men, it isn’t weak to surprise your wife with gifts, flowers, loving words, open doors for her, or help with the house work. Couples must practice enjoying one another—like the enjoyment one gets from a cold drink on a hot summer day (Ecclesiastes 9:7-9). Suppose you were following a friend in your car to his house for the first time. In order not to get lost or too far back from him, you would apply all your attention and creativity on staying behind him at the right speed. Suppose you were sitting in front of a warm fire on a cold night, concern and effort would have you apply all your energy on keeping that fire going. Your concern will not allow the fire go out. Reader, if you can understand the examples we just mentioned, then surely you must understand how such will work in a marriage. Both persons must purpose to keep the marriage alive (Daniel 1:8). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Evil is active because the heart of man desires it (James 1:14-15; Matthew 15:18-20). Murders, robbery, bribes, and bad conduct exist because those who commit these crimes see it as the solution (Genesis 6:5, 13:13; 2 Timothy 3:13). People everywhere are talking about how terrible crime is and how unruly young people are. But evil cannot exist when each person decides to do what is right, and that is how evil can be is eliminated (Jonah 3:4-10). To put a dent in evil, men must repent by accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ (Luke 13:3; Romans 6:17-18; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2). But here lies the problem: people refuse to accept the gospel, and it is the only hope for man (Titus 2:11-14; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Rom. 10:13-21, 1:16).
However, this must be considered first:
Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. If you claim you are saved, I ask, “how were you saved?” Man can only be saved by doing what others in the New Testament did (Luke 24:45-47). Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again, and the new birth would not be physical, but spiritual (John 3:3-8).
Man is born again by obeying what the scripture teaches (1 Peter 1:22-23). The scripture teaches that man must be baptized into the death of Christ and afterward rise up and walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-17; Titus 3:3-7). That is why we see people hearing and believing the gospel (Acts 15:7, 18:8). People repented of their sins (Acts 3:19). Men confessed Jesus as Lord (Acts 8:36-37; Rom. 10:9-10). And people were baptized to have their sins washed away (Act 2:38, 22:16, 8:38-39). So is this what you did? If you didn’t do this; what in the world did you do? If the wrong thing was done, now is the time to make it right (Hebrews 3:7-8; Acts 19:1-5). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Certain things just don’t make sense. How can a woman say she loves children and support abortion? God teaches life in the womb is human at conception, for the word described persons (Job 3:3,11-19; Psalm 139:13-16; Galatians 1:15; Jeremiah 1:5, 20:18). Here’s another one that makes no sense. How can a person believe in flying saucers and not believe in God? The evidence that God exists is all around us and cannot be denied. Look at the earth, the sky, the seasons, and the complex human body.
All these things couldn’t exist without a creator. Even a drinking straw is evidence of a creator. There is no evidence of flying saucers; only men who claim to have seen them or some blurred photo. The works of God’s hands are clearly seen day and night (Romans 1:18-20; Psalm 19:1-6; Isaiah 40:22; Acts 14:17, 17:24-28). And what about people who know they are going to hell but make no attempt to change their lives in order to be saved (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). See what I mean? Some things make no sense at all. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Everyone is capable of sinning against another and is required to make an apology. For there is no need to go hell because you refuse to apologize (John 8:21; Hebrews 9:27).
The scriptures teach confession and forgiveness, and the wrongdoer should approach the offended to make things right (Psalm 38:17-18, 32:5; Matthew 27:4; Proverbs 28:13; Jeremiah 4:14; Matt. 6:12,14-15; Ephesians 4:31-32; Matt. 5:23-24; James 5:16,19-20; Matt. 18:15-35; 2 Corinthians 12:13; Mark 11:25-26; Colossians 3:12-13; Luke 17:3-4; 1 John 1:8-10; Luke 15:18-21). By considering what the Lord said, we can see that even the prominent people must apologize. An employer to his workers. A parent to child. A President to his country. A policeman to citizens. A school teacher to students. A football coach to his players. A rich man to a poor man, A PhD graduate to a high school graduate, etc. etc. Those who refuse to apologize for the wrong they do are proud, stubborn, and is telling the offended person, "I can treat you any way I wish and get away with it." Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Babies don’t need to be baptized because they have no sin and are heaven bound if they should die (Matthew 5:8; John 8:21). Sin is the breaking of the laws of God, and babies cannot do that or inherit the sins of their parents (1 John 3:4; Ezekiel 18:20). In order to be baptized one must have sins that need to be washed away (Acts 2:38, 22:16), and believe in and confess Christ (Mark 16:16; Romans 10:9-10). Babies cannot qualify to do any of the things mentioned, thus they are not candidates for baptism. The word of God teaches that baptism isn’t sprinkling or pouring water on a person, but is a complete burial in much water (John 3:23; Romans 6:3-6; Hebrews 10:22). In the Bible way of baptism one goes into the water, not have water brought to him in a container (Matt. 3:6,16; Acts 8:36,38).
Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Bad behavior in public schools exists because of the loss of morality in the home. When no teaching of what is right is done and enforced by parents, the children will do their own thing. This may mean they will learn from the wrong kind of people, and when that happens it will not be strange to see a student bring a weapon to school (1 Corinthians 15:33, 5:6).
In public schools that are bad, there are many frighten teachers, incompetent teachers and thank God, great teachers! Outside, many stressed parents continue to work two and three jobs in order to pay for private school, and some parents are up to no good. But morality must be taught in the home and then carried by each student into the public school system. On the other hand, the government must see that schools get the funding and materials that are needed to do the job of educating these young minds of tomorrow. Man cannot achieve this goal without God, so let us not forget His word as we look into the matter (Isaiah 1:4-20; Proverbs 11:11, 14:34; Jonah 3:4-10; 1 Samuel 12:24-25; Deuteronomy 28:1-68; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Many have heard the name “God”, but they don’t know who He is. And the same is true with the words “Heaven and Hell”—they don’t understand the words. Hell is the final punishment of the wicked, and Heaven is the reward of the righteous. But there is an all-powerful One in the place called Heaven. JEHOVAH is His name, and He is God: the Creator of all. Man’s reason for being alive is to serve Him.
Man can begin serving God by finding out what He wants us to do, and that is done by studying His word which has been preserved in the book called the Bible. One must accept only the Bible for it alone is sufficient enough to avoid Hell and gain Heaven. When studying the Bible one will notice that it is a collection of books written by men who lived years apart. However all these men were guided by the Lord to write infallible words, so one has nothing to fear concerning incorrect information. Some parts of the Bible require more study to understand, but its message is true and sound. There are two parts of the Bible: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old is history concerning how God dealt with people of a certain time. The New Testament is the part about Jesus Christ, the son of God, and what He established and what we must obey. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. New York State claimed they sent a message to the nation last week by giving same sex couples the right to marry. And I must say, they most certainly did send a message and that message in reality was, “we don’t care what the word of God said about marriage, we are going to make marriage whatever we want.” Also the actor Brad Pitt, made a statement this week, saying “one should have the right to marry whoever they love”.
Now, let me say this; God said, “whatever He has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6). If we are going to quote that statement, we need to observe all that the Lord has revealed to us in the context. Matthew 19:4 tells us that God made male and female in the beginning (Genesis 1:27-28, 2:18-25). Matthew 19:5 tells us when males and females are ready for marriage; they leave parents and become joined by God in marriage (Matt. 19:6; 1 Corinthians 7:2). God joins the opposite sexes in marriage because that is what He ordained (Proverbs 18:22, 19:14). So the big question is, “Why didn’t New York State and Brad Pitt listen to what the the Creator of marriage said?” I’ll tell you why—they aren’t concerned about what God said (Judges 21:25). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. |