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truth

An Approved Worker

by TerryLema

I participated in a Bible Study last Wednesday evening. It has been years since I have done that. The last decade or so I have “led” Bible Studies so this was an experience I have not had in quite some time.

May I say, I loved it and that I am looking forward to going again next Wednesday.

Paul described an “Approved Worker” to Timothy in his second letter. The passage is Chapter 2, Verses 14-16. The middle verse is one we probably all recognize.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.” [2:15 HCSB]

We are to be diligent workers. That means we are to study the Scriptures and to the best of our ability understand and share the word of truth. It is especially needed in our world today. Many people do not want to hear truth because it shines the light of God on their lifestyle.

While they may resist the truth of God, and pretend they do are doing nothing wrong, I think deep down there is an awareness of God’s conviction. I know there was in me when I was resisting God early in my life.

I love getting together with others to study the Word. I love hearing what is the hearts of others as they look at the same verses I am looking at. I love hearing truths shared in different ways. It is a joy unequaled.

Thank you, LORD, for your Word of Truth. May we be diligent! Amen

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by TerryLema

Sometimes in the evening I play a game on my phone called Match 3. I only have one game on my phone. I usually play it when I am tired of reading, or when Bob is watching a western before bed. It is a rather mindless game.  Because I will not pay money to buy the game, it contains ads. I usually pay little attention to the ads.

There is one ad, however, that did get my attention. It is for a keto gummy that – according to the ad – will make you lose weight without dieting or exercise. In fact, according to the ad, you can lose like 60 pounds in just 3 weeks.

I have struggled with my weight all my life. I have been on a lot of different diets and eating plans. I have never lost 60 pounds in just 3 weeks, and I doubt chewing one gummy a day would accomplish that.

Truth in advertising? Not hardly. But in our society, I doubt we expect truth anymore. We certainly do not always get truth from politicians, or news broadcasts, or scientists, or educators, or manufacturers, or corporations, or banks – need I go on?

The one place we should always expect truth, however, is from our churches, but unfortunately, even there, truth is sometimes corrupted.

When Moses went back to Mt Sinai to get the second set of stone tables (after breaking the first ones when he found the people idolizing a golden calf), “God came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name YAHWEH. Then the LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: ‘YAHWEH—YAHWEH is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.’” [Exodus 34:5-6 HCSB]

Our LORD is compassionate. Our LORD is full of grace. Our LORD is patient. Our LORD is faithful. Our LORD is loving. and our LORD is truth. We need to be very careful when speaking for Him, because He will not allow His truth to be compromised.

 

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Tell the Truth, Day 4

by TerryLema

If there is a passage in the Sermon on the Mount that has been ignored in our culture, it may be the one found in Matthew 5:33-37. In my Bible, it is titled, “Tell the Truth.”

The key is the direct command, “But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.” [HCSB]

The things “more than this” include lies, misdirection, embellishments, exaggerations, deceptions, falsehoods, misrepresentations, and a host of other things.

Who engages in “more than this” can be corporations, politicians, all forms of media, employers, employees, and even people like me (who should know better).

Things “more than this” have become an acceptable part of our culture. So much so that we expect and even accept the untruths around us.

But as much as I would like to direct attention to corporations, politicians, the media and such, the Holy Spirit is directing in a different direction with those two words, “Am I?”

“Am I truthful” or do I exaggerate, embellish or misrepresent? I think I have a long day of contemplation ahead of me today.

God be merciful to me, a sinner. Amen

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Light & Truth

by TerryLema

Ever been depressed? I have. In fact, I think many of my younger years were marked by depression. Depression can be extremely debilitating. It affects how you feel, think, and behave. It can be a major mood disorder, marked by persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest. When people suffer with clinical depression, they often need medication and/or therapy to move beyond it.

Some of the new medications for various illnesses also carry the potential side effect of depression. Most of us at some point have probably suffered from mild depression (the blues) or even to something more intense.

The enemy of our soul loves to see us depressed. He seeks to remind us constantly how dreadful we are, what terrible Christians we are. He will dredge up our mistakes and sins and try to move our focus from our Savior. If he can convince us with his lies, depression is often a result.  That it is why it is so important to make sure that we are following our LORD and not the inclinations of the enemy.

When you read Psalm 43 you will notice that the psalmist admits his depression. Because of that acknowledgement, he asks God to “Send Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to Your dwelling place. Then I will come to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the lyre, God, my God.”   [Psalm 43:3-4 HCSB]

That reminds me of the fact that Jesus said He was both light and truth. As believers, we need to focus on the Light of Christ and the Truth of His Holy word. We need to let Him lead us out of the darkness the enemy of our soul wants to keep us in. When we keep our focus on Christ Jesus, and remain in the Presence of God Almighty, we will have joy! The darkness has to flee when light is present.

Thank you, LORD. Today I focus on you as Light and Truth. I thank you for leading me into the very Presence of God and filling me with joy. I will praise you God, my God! Amen

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Delight #2

by TerryLema

Yesterday I was delighted to find two of my favorite passages in my Bible Reading Plan for that day. The first one was Exodus 33, which I wrote about yesterday.

The second is a bit like it, in Psalm 43, which is a song asking God for vindication. It starts off with the writer acknowledging that he feels God has rejected him. In the psalm, he admits he is depressed, and he seeks God to defend his “cause against an ungodly nation.”  [vs 1 HCSB]

In the middle verses, however, the psalmist prays. And it is this prayer that always ministers to my heart.

“Send your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to Your dwelling place. Then I will come to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the lyre, God, my God.” [vs 3-4 HCSB]

Whenever I read that prayer, those opening words of verse 3 strike my mind and heart with a hope that is almost inexpressible. “Send your light and Your truth; let them lead me.”

 God answered the psalmist prayer with an answer that benefited all of mankind.

“Jesus spoke to them … ‘I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.’” [John 8:12 HCSB]

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” [John 14:6 HCSB]

Jesus is the light, and He is the truth. When we follow Him as He leads, we are brought into the dwelling place of the Almighty God. There we find God, our greatest joy and there we will sing praises to Him forevermore.

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Truth Remains Truth

by TerryLema

“Jesus is LORD.” Romans 10:9 tells us that in order to have salvation, we must acknowledge His LORDship over every area of our lives. We do that through submission and obedience. That is the only way we will be conformed to the image of our Jesus

Jesus possesses all authority. All authority. ALL authority. He has delegated authority to us to go into all the world and make disciples—baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. [Matthew 28:18-20]

Jesus is LORD. That is the truth. It remains the truth whether or not people admit it is the truth. Truth does not change. What changes are opinions. Your “opinion” of Jesus as LORD has no effect on His position or authority.

One day all will submit to the truth that “Jesus is LORD.”

“[Jesus], existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage.
Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man in His external form,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” [Philippians 2:6-11 HCSB]

That wondrous truth should encourage us to bow our knee now—willingly—and confess that “Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.”

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Spirit of Truth

by TerryLema

I wrote yesterday that it is becoming increasingly difficult in our society to know whom to believe. We cannot always trust media sources … whether written or broadcast. We certainly cannot trust social media sources. Sometimes we cannot even trust what comes from behind a pulpit or is written in a book by an author who calls himself/herself a Christian.

How can we ever know if what we are hearing or seeing is truth?

Three times in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us exactly how we are to know the truth.

“He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you.” [John 14:17 HCSB]

“When the Counselor comes, the One I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.” [John 15:26 HCSB]

“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come.” [John 16:13 HCSB]

Three times Jesus speaks of the Spirit of Truth. He tells us God’s Spirit of Truth will not be understood by the world but will be known by those who have Christ Jesus as Savior. God’s Spirit of Truth will testify of our Savior and will guide us into all truth. And the best part … “He remains with [us] and will be in [us].”

We may never be able to trust the media to tell us the truth, but we can always and for eternity trust the Spirit of Truth that resides in us forever!

 

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Whom to Believe

by TerryLema

In my inbox this morning was a media update from a fairly liberal-left-leaning source. It was talking about the continuing Facebook ban on the former president and said that Facebook failed to deal with the real issue. This media source claimed the real issue was not rhetoric that promoted violence, the real issue is the constant lies.

That was followed by another media update email from a site that claims to be impartial, that site had a totally different view of things.

It is becoming increasingly difficult figuring out whom to believe. Now this is not a political commentary on present day or former presidents. Please do not treat it as such. This is a commentary on truth vs lies.

While “Thou shalt not lie,” is not one of the Big Ten (although #9, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor may come close), it would be impossible to read through the Scripture and not realize that God hates lying. He has declared first of all that He Himself is a God of Truth.

“I am Yahweh, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, somewhere in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob: Seek Me in a wasteland. I, Yahweh, speak truthfully; I say what is right.” [Isaiah 45:18b-19 HCSB]

Because He is the God of Truth, He expects His people to also be people of truth and speak accordingly. When we came to Christ, we put off the old man with all his wicked deceitful ways, and we put on the new man.  That new man is a person of truth.

Ephesians 4:23-25a: “You are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor.” [HCSB]

We are created according to God’s likeness … in purity of the truth. Let’s seek truth; let’s speak truth.

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… full of grace and truth

by TerryLema

As we begin this Christmas Journey 2020, I am so enthralled once again by God’s grace. I am captivated by God’s willingness – even what we might regard as eagerness to shed His love and grace upon an undeserving creation. His grace changes everything!

We are reminded each Christmas Season that God the Word became flesh and came to earth as a baby completely dependent upon a young Jewish maiden and her carpenter husband. John, in his opening chapter, presents a divine genealogy.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” [John 1:1, HCSB]

John reminds us that Christ Jesus, the Word, took up residence in our human flesh. John saw His glory, he witnessed His miracles, he heard His words.  “The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14 HCSB]

The part of verse 14 that always makes me catch my breath is that last phrase, however. This Jesus was “full of grace and truth.”

Full. It means abounding in, complete, completely occupied with. It is the Greek Word pleres, from which we get our English word plethora.

Jesus did not just have a little grace and truth, or even a moderate amount of grace and truth. Grace and truth were complete, abounding in Him. When He walked among us, He displayed grace and truth to all. Whether they accepted what He brought was their choice, but if they walked away from Him without, it was not because there was a lack in Him.

As we embrace Him and strive to be Christ-like, His grace and truth takes up residence in us. GLORY to the FATHER! Amen

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A Great Awakening

by TerryLema

Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I’d preach a sermon on a virus, but that is exactly what I did on Sunday. Well, maybe not “preached,” but spent time talking and sharing about it. Jesus said that “truth sets us free.”

While we understand that He was speaking of the truth that is resident in Him that sets us free from the hold the enemy and the curse has on our life, truth of any kind really does set us free.

We certainly need to be cautious about the COVID-19 virus, as we are cautious about any contagious disease, especially if we are in a vulnerable group. Being fearful however is not a response that should be found in Christians. If we know the truth of COVID-19, as best we can with ever-changing information, we can take appropriate measures but let the fear fall away.

This is an amazing time of opportunity for the church. We have been seeking the fires of God’s Spirit to sweep our nation and our world with revival. We have been praying for people who have never known Jesus to come to Him. We have been praying for the hurt and wounded by the church to find healing and freedom to return. We have been praying that churches that have been less than Scriptural in their message to find truth in Christ and return as Bible-believing, Bible-preaching churches that abound in grace.

Often when the church is prosperous, she strays from the vital and important. When difficulties arise, or persecutions come, she become united and back on the narrow path. We have heard and “sensed” that a new awakening is coming, that’s it “right around the corner.” Maybe God is using what the enemy means for harm – the FEAR that is sweeping our planet – to bring us one step closer to that last great awakening.

This is opportunity, beloved, to remind people that there is a God, that He has a purpose for their life (and they have a responsibility to Him), that there is freedom in the salvation of Christ Jesus, and that we need not fear. Remember His words: “Come to me, all you who are weary [hopeless] and burdened [fearful], and I will give you rest.” [Matt 11:28 NIV]

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