Drive ‘Em Out!

 

Joh 2:13-17

 

And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,

 

And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

 

And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

 

 

And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

 

 

And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

 

This portion of Scripture seemed to leap out to me today as I was doing my Bible reading. If I could go back in time, I think it would have been something to see Jesus’ driving the money changers out of the temple. There are just some things that do not belong in the house of God, and Jesus was not the least bit afraid to say so. While Jesus is not physically present here today doing what he did in the temple on that day, I’m thankful that He does have men of God with a zeal who are not afraid to drive out bad attitudes, spirits and doctrines of devils through the preaching of the Word of God! Over the years, I feel like God has invested in me and put a lot of good things into me through the preaching of the Word of God, but I know I could not be complete with just “positive preaching”. I have had bad attitudes and wrong thinking that needed to be driven out through the preaching of the Holy Bible.  A loving, earthly parent will correct their child and administer the rod of correction when it is needed. I’m thankful that our Heavenly Father is the same way, and that if we will let Him, He’ll drive out our “stinkin’ thinkin” through an anointed man of God that delivers the Word!

 

I Love This Poem!

My husband recently posted this poem on our bulletin board at church.  I am so thankful for the preachers I know who are not afraid to declare what the Word of God says!

THE PREACHER ON THE FENCE

From out of the millions on the earth
God often calls a man
To Preach the word and for the truth
To take a royal stand.

‘Tis sad to see him shun the cross,
Nor stand in its defense
Between the fields of right and wrong:
A preacher on the fence

Before him are the souls of men
Bound for Heaven or Hell;
An open Bible in his hand,
And yet he will not tell

All the truth thats written there,
it haveth an offense
The joys of heaven, the horrors of hell
A preacher on the fence

Now surely God has called the man
To battle for the right.
‘Tis his to ferret out of the wrong
and turn on us the light.

And yet he dare not tell the truth,
He fears the consequence,
The most disgusting thing on earth
A preacher on the fence.

If he should stand up for the wrong,
The right he’d not defend;
If he should stand up for the right,
the wrong he would offend.

His mouth is closed, he cannot speak
For freedom or against.
Oh Great God deliver us from
A preacher on the fence

But soon both sides will find him out
And brand him as a fraud,
A coward who dares not to please
The devil or his God.

Oh God free us from fear of man,
From cowardly preference;
cleanse out the dross and fear of loss,
and keep us off the fence.

Author unknown

 

Preserved!

For the past 3 years, we have been blessed to attend a wonderful conference called PATH. The acronym PATH stands for Preserving Apostolic Truth and Holiness. I started thinking about this acronym, and in particular that first word, “preserving”.  When we preserve something we are keeping it alive or keeping it from becoming spoiled and of no use.  We tend to want to preserve things that are of value to us. Memorabilia may be preserved in a scrapbook to be tucked away and taken out once in a while when we feel like remembering good times from our past.  We can preserve fresh cut flowers given by a loved one a little longer by adding the powdery contents of the little packet that comes from the florist. My wedding dress that I wore 28 years ago was dry cleaned and sealed in a special box to keep it from yellowing and disintegrating.

There are many things that can be preserved, and it’s worth going through the process to preserve them. However, there is nothing more important to preserve, nothing of greater value than our soul.  It is a truly wonderful and glorious thing to see a soul liberated through repentance, water baptism in Jesus’ name and the infilling of the Holy Ghost, but this is only the beginning. We must continue to keep ourselves in the love of God, and keep our souls, because the Scripture does teach that there is a danger of losing our souls.

Colossians 2:8

 

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Here is the Amplified version of this verse.

 

 

See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ (the Messiah).

 

There are many philosophies and ideas in our world, but the only thing that will save and keep our souls is hearing the Word of God preached and taught in truth and obeying it. I’m so thankful for men of God who are not afraid to declare the pure, unadulterated Word of God!  

 

 

Psalm 119:133

 

Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

 

Hebrews 12:14

 

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

 

Psalm 97:10

 

Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

 

 

 

 

Staccato #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staccato # 1

 

Some think it’s wise to just ride with the flow,

but compromise is not the way to go.

Take care! Take care! The path you trod

must line up with the Word of God.

Consider what voice leads you on your way.

Take care, your heart must not be lead astray.

*******************************************

Dissenters, they might say you preach too hard,

but preachers, this I pray, “Don’t drop your guard.”

Stand strong! Stand strong! The truth declare,

for men are searching everywhere.

They need illumination, God’s true light.

Stand strong, although it surely is a fight.

******************************************************

Though some would urge, “You should tear down that fence.”

Resist the surge, in spite of their offense.

Hold on! Hold on! There is a need.

To old landmarks, we must take heed.

The door will one day close for you and me.

Hold on, the prize to win – eternity!

3-24-11

 

This type of poem is called a staccato. You can learn how to write one here.

Proverbs 16:25  There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Proverbs 4:26  Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

2Timothy 4:2-5  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Proverbs 2:20  That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the

righteous.

Psalm 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Proverbs 22:28  Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

1Corinthians 9:24-27  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.