Tuesday – February 23, 2016
Welcome to the Tuesday teaching of God’s Word. Be reminded to pray for the governments of these United States of America. Hopefully all that follow The Three Minute Word recognize that we are way off our foundation, way off the path given us of God which made us far and away the most prosperous nation ever to exist on earth, and that our honoring God in Covenant with Him is the basis of our exceptionalism. Today I am honoring the State of Kansas. Pictured you will see the Governor’s Mansion, a map locating Kansas within the United States and the Kansas flag. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) We are indeed a Covenant nation, look at the preamble to the Kansas State Constitution.
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF KANSAS
PREAMBLE
We, the people of Kansas, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges, in order to insure the full enjoyment of our rights as American citizens, do ordain and establish this constitution of the state of Kansas…
Look at the following passage and see how it applies today.
Ecclesiastes 10:5-8 (KJV)
5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler:
6 Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
Are any of us aware of errors proceeding from our rulers? Let’s say like same sex marriage, abortion, infringement on the freedom of religion/conscious, and infringement on the right of self-defense all of which are God given, unalienable rights, enshrined in the Constitution of the United States yet ignored. Islam which is folly, ignorance, and gross deception is being given a higher place than the Church which is being dishonored from many angles. For example in the medical field entities and individuals are being coerced to violate their faith in the performance of abortions, Churches are being coerced to perform gay marriages, or persons in commerce are being forced to bake cakes for gay weddings. The alternative offered by the government is to either violate our faith, go out of business, or face financial ruin. O how far we have fallen. Ecclesiastes 10:7 goes on to point out that the heathen are in all the places of advantage and the Church is underneath. As you know I will be one of the first ones to tell you that the Churches bears the fault. We the Church are not helpless pawns. God said we are to always be above and never beneath but we must be seeing, hearing and doing His Word (Deuteronomy 28:1, 13). As pointed out in Ecclesiastes 10:8 we have dug our own pit and we have broken down our own hedge and now we wonder why the serpent is biting us. Duh!? We must pray, we must train ourselves to think like God, to talk like God, and to do like God. And one last thing, VOTE, choose wisely, choose Godly people. Hear and do the following Scripture.
Exodus 18:21 (KJV)
21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
All of this is part of Spiritual Warfare, you and I are in constant spiritual warfare, good news we are always to win, not in the sweet by and by, right now and right here. Now let’s get back to our text on Spiritual Warfare in the Book of James.
James 4:1-5 (KJV)
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Remember the Apostle James’s father and mother are Joseph and Mary and he is commonly referred to as a brother or half-brother of Jesus. The Book of James is addressing Christians, the Church. This passages starts with him pointing out that they are fighting among themselves because they are walking in the flesh (obeying the wants of their physical bodies and the unrenewed minds) and not in the spirit which is the will of God. James by the Holy Spirit says; you’re praying and not getting because you are not asking according to the will of God but you are asking according to the lusts of your flesh. Our Heavenly Father is in no way trying to keep wonderful stuff from us but He will not abide our focus on anyone or anything but Him. Have you ever wondered why you get aggravated when you are talking to someone and they are not paying attention or you have a way to do something that will result in wonderful things and they insist on doing it their way? Perhaps we now have a little insight to the frustrations of God. Yes, God gets frustrated.
James 4:4 points out that when we are pursuing the things of the world, cozying up to the world to obtain the object of our lust we are in spiritual adultery opposing God. James says that when we become a friend of the world (devil) lusting after those things rather than the things of God we are an enemy of God. At the very same time we are likely going around saying we are a Christian and one of God’s favorites and we are opposing ourselves to the Heavenly Father and embracing the god of this world. It is like having sex with the neighbor and professing our love for our spouse. Now let’s turn to James 4:5 in the God’s Word Translation.
James 4:5 (GW)
5 Do you think this passage means nothing? It says, “The Spirit that lives in us wants us to be his own.”
This particular verse seems a little awkward in the KJV but I think the God’s Word Version brings some clarity. When we are born again the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us and is in constant contact and communication with our spirit. The Holy Spirit, even our Heavenly Father, wants us to be wholly His. This Scripture tells us that when we give things not of God a higher place we make God envious. This can be a very dangerous place to be because it takes down the hedge and the serpent will bite. Adultery is one cause for divorce mentioned specifically in Scripture, I don’t think any of us want to go there.
Until tomorrow know that you are blessed by the Blessing.
By Pastor David R. Wood
