ONE MESSAGE. ONE FAITH.

But is hearing enough? Ezekiel 33:31 warns us of the "hearers only". They come before the preachers/messengers and sit before them as God's people. They hear words and do not do them. They come to be entertained with good sounding words. With their mouth they show much love ( "Amen!"), but with their hearts they pursue their own gain...but when the messenger has passed, they will know that it really was a prophet among them. James 1:22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Ezekiel 36:23-27 (New International Version) 23 I will show the holiness of my great name , which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. 24 ' 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 (2)I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean ; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 (1) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And (3) I will put my Spirit in you and (4)move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." The Salvation Process 1.A heart to receive 2.Water for Cleansing 3.God's indwelling Spirit for power (for the) 4.Keeping of His laws

Psalm 84-86 (NKJV) Psalm 85:11 " Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven." (NIV) Psalm 85:11 " Truth shall spring from the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven" (NKJV) Righteousness is accounted for without a doubt- God has that covered. But what of faithfulness? Where in the earth can God count on that to spring forth, especially from an earth which seems to resound with more and more evil everyday? I remember a passage I read recently where God was questioning if he will still find the faithful on the earth when he returns. ( Luke 18:8 )

"Station yourselves around the king...stay close to the king wherever he goes"- 2 Kings 11:8 (NIV) Murder, revenge, and treachery -- what a combo for a best seller. In this episode an entire royal family is wiped out when Athalia, Ahaziah's mother, is forced to endure the death of her son. Everyone is killed, except one. One of the litle babies is hidden away in the temple with his nurse and 7 years pass before he is heard from again. What better place to hide than in the temple of the Lord? Just as David proclaimed, the Lord is his hiding place.

Leviticus 16 : God was not playing! Aaron's sons just died because they offered the wrong thing to God and God decides this is a good time to let Aaron know some things about the innermost part of the tabernacle- the most holy place. Now the first thing that drew my attention was the fact that God spoke, not to Aaron, but to Moses, who had to relay the message to Aaron. Aaron was a minister in the house of the Lord, as well as Moses' brother, but he was subject to the Word of the Lord that came through Moses. Sound familiar?

Colossians 3 starts with two commands. First, they need to set their hearts on things above. Second, they need to set their minds on things above. Upon reading these scriptures, I was reminded of the constant struggle between our wills that Paul explains in  Romans 7:14-25 . Both the heart and the mind are part of our carnal  natures. Not of the Spirit! God's Spirit within us wills as God desires. I've seen the definition of heart as our moral core. With that said, is it enough to have the mind set and not the heart? We hear much too often the statement, "God knows my heart." But can that be enough? With a heart aimed at God, can we purpose to obey God with our minds? Or on the contrary, can we have our minds set on living holy, but allow our hearts to remain distant from our Lord?

Today was a typical Sunday. We woke up, got the kids and ourselves ready for church, grabbed a quick bite to eat as we stumbled out the door, and comfortably, we got in our car on our way to worship. We fellowshiped with fellow believers and "mystery seekers", we sang, we listened, blah blah blah...typical! It wasn't until reading our scripture reading for today that it hit me like a brick! We've forgotten the chains! Paul in his epistle to the Colossians encourages them in the last chapter to devote themselves to prayer, to be watchful, and thankful. He reminds them to act in wisdom when dealing with unbelievers and to truly live out God's love in front of them. He goes on to give some hellos and last instructions and he doesn't sign it with "Sincerely" or "See ya later!" He signs with a statement that quickens the spirit and compels, "Remember my chains." ( Col 4:18 ) Awesome! How often do we remember not just Paul's...