Quotation
Unrepentant sin in an
individual or church is like a cancer or infection, spreading quietly and
unnoticed until it leads to destruction. Sadly, many today are blind to the
wrong attitude and lewd behavior pervasive in our society, including many of
our churches. Like Saul’s blinders, Satan, through his lies and deceptions, has
blinded the unsaved, and tragically, many Christians to the presence of sin in
their lives and the church. Many have been deluded by modern church leaders
into thinking what is wrong is right.
Barry
Denzil Haney, MD
Scripture
Fear thou not; for I am with
thee: Be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will
help thee; Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and
confounded: They shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall
perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended
with thee: They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of
nought. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, Saying unto thee, Fear
not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will
help thee, saith the Lord, And thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 41:10-14
Reflection
Brothers and sisters. I’m discouraged. You know, the Bible
discourages, discouragement and rightly so!
I went to the Gideons International Conference expecting to be
rejuvenated, ready to go out into the world and spread the good news of the
gospel with a new sense of urgency, but instead, I’m frankly discouraged.
Our numbers are dwindling at a rate of 5% per year, which means in
less than twenty years we will cease to exist. We no longer have the respect as
an organization we once had. Many in our churches and especially in the secular
world have no idea what a Gideon is.
I was given a glimpse of a dying organization. Sure, the
organization’s three foundational pillars (associating together for service;
personal testimony and personal work; placing and distributing Scriptures), are
alive and well, but I could not help but sense organizational fear at the
prospect of a slow, painful death because of dwindling membership.
But I am also discouraged because of the chaotic secular world we
live in. Brothers and sisters, we need to “awake” and realize Satan is using
the unsaved, the “woke” cancel culture to discourage us and “cancel” us.
What can we do?
We can trust God!
We can stop being discouraged. We need to understand this current
age will end with anarchy, apostasy, and apathy. We can see the signs all
around us. But we do not need to bow down to apathy. We need to be stable and
steadfast and keep our eyes on Jesus, to God be the glory.
We need to remember; it is a privilege to handle God ‘s word. We
need to continue to tell others about the inerrant, infallible word of God.
Although the pandemic has provided urgency to receiving the hope in Jesus, we
need to be bold and witness to those struggling and perishing during these
chaotic times. Remember, we need to be steadfast, firm, resolute, and
unwavering.
This year’s convention theme verse is Colossians 1:23:
If indeed you continue in the
faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you
heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I,
Paul, became a minister.
God is telling us to continue in the faith, stable and steadfast
no matter how impossible the task for us might seem. He is telling us not to be
discouraged. God calls us to do seemingly impossible tasks and it sometimes
seems that it would be easier to just say it can’t be done. But remember folks
this is Satan trying to discourage us.
We need to remember discouragement is Satan’s chief tool.
Discouragement can do more damage than any other thing. You know even good
folks can get discouraged. If you are not careful, even you could get
discouraged. You need to remember; Satan is the kind of friend who would pat
you on the head if you were in quicksand
We need to get to work and love one another as God commanded us.
C. S. Lewis said this: “to love at all is to be vulnerable.”
Folks we need to love one another again. It cost a lot but it’s
worth it to love. We need to go back to work. That is the cure for
discouragement. We need to get back into the assigned work God has given us.
We need to be sober and to be vigilant. We need to stay on our
knees and keep our faith in the Good Book. Let’s keep loving one another. Let’s
be deathly afraid of sin. Let’s keep on the whole armor of God. Let’s believe
God. If we do these things, we will see great things done.
One of the most tragic statements I came across was a statement
made by Ernest Hemingway, who remember, died of suicide. He said this: “Life is
just a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness. There is
no remedy for anything in life. Man’s destiny in the universe is like a colony
of ants on a burning log.”
Wow! Isn’t that a tragic statement? A statement of hopelessness.
But you know, there are many lost souls in our world today who are experiencing
this same hopelessness. They have no hope and are searching for hope in all the
wrong places. They have chosen the broad path.
I heard a startling statistic recently. Over 150,000 people die
each day in the world. Of that group, only 1% have accepted Jesus as their
Savior, ensuring their admittance into an eternal relationship with God in
Heaven. That means over 149,000 people die each day in the world who are
condemned to spending an eternity in Hell, separated from their creator God.
God weeps and so should we!
Let us not be an ant on a burning log! Remember, we are a child of
God destined for His glory because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ, a free
gift of salvation given to us through God’s grace, not by our works, less one
should boast.
We need to help the unsaved receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and
their Savior. Although we cannot save anyone, we can be the seed for the Holy
Spirit to begin the transformation of those who are lost. God gives us the
privilege to introduce the Good News of the Gospel to all the world, that Jesus
Christ is the one and only way for us to spend an eternity with our creator God
because of the redeeming work he did on the cross at Calvary. God has given us
the opportunity to participate in the work of the Holy Spirit in this process.
Let us be clear, we are in a spiritual battle. Satan is a
deceiver, liar, murderer, accuser, tempter, destroyer, evil one. His purpose is
to drag us to Hell with him. He was defeated by the work of Jesus and is
condemned to spend an eternity in Hell and wants to take each of us with him.
As the Bible tells us, he is wily, methodical and uses elaborate, complex
snares and devices to accomplish this task.
But with the full armor of God, we can withstand these attacks by
Satan. We can instead choose to spread the good news of the gospel to everyone
we meet and be the light and salt to the world of God’s hope to the lost.
We need to stop negotiating and partnering with the world!
One of my favorite stories is of a hunter who was hunting for a
bear one time. He saw a bear in the woods, drew a bead on the bear, and the
bear stuck up both paws, and said. “Oh hold it! Don’t pull that trigger! Let’s
be reasonable about this thing. I want to talk with you about this.
The bear continued, “It seems to me that the reason you’re trying
to shoot me is you want a fur coat. Is that right?”
The hunter said, “Well, that is right, I want a bear coat, a bear
skin coat.”
The bear then said, “You know everybody’s got his needs. I’ve been
out here in the woods for a long time. I’m just looking for a good meal. I have
needs and you have needs! Why don’t you just put down the gun and come out here
in the middle of the road and let’s talk about!”
So, the hunter laid the
gun down and they went out in the middle of the road to talk about it and when
it was over the man had a fur coat and the bear had a good meal.
You see we can’t compromise with the secular world. God has called
each of us to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ until he comes. The devil is
going to try to use derision, discouragement, division, danger, distraction,
and defamation to keep us from doing that.
We need to remember there are not enough “devils in hell or out of
hell” to beat us if we just keep our eyes on Jesus.
God is giving us an opportunity to bring Him glory, to see that
others can come to know Him and can know what we know. He has given us one
vision: to return our focus on Him, to return to our first love, to bring Him
glory. He’s calling us to be stable and steadfast.
So, let’s get off the couch. Let’s get to work. Let us fulfill the
Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20:
“Go out and teach all nations
baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and the Holy Ghost:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I
am with you always even until the end of the world. Amen.”
Illustration
The devil decided to have a garage sale. On the day of sale, his
tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price.
There were a treacherous lot of implements: hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit,
lust, lying, pride, and so on.
Set apart from the rest was a harmless-looking tool. It was quite
worn and yet priced very high.
“What is the name of this tool?” asked one of the customers,
pointing to it.
“That is discouragement,” Satan replied.
“Why have you priced it so high?”
“Because it is more useful to me than the others. I can pry open
and get inside a man’s heart with that, even when I cannot get near him with
the other tools. It is badly worn because I use it on almost everyone, since so
few people know it belongs to me.”
The devil’s price for discouragement was high because it is still
his favorite tool, and he is still using it on God’s people. (Green)
Prayer
Our Heavenly Father,
Our Heavenly Father,
In Matthew 28:16-20 You have entrusted us with Jesus’ work, to go
into the world and share the good news of what God has done and is still doing,
in and through Jesus. Let us be faithful to this Great Commission, to this
charge, reaching out in words and deeds of love, telling people about Jesus.
Remember, Jesus is the subject.
In Colossians 1:23, God is telling us to continue in the faith,
stable and steadfast no matter how impossible the task for us might seem. He is
telling us not to be discouraged. Thank you for the hope You have given us
through Your Word in the Bible.
Thank you for the full armor of God you have given us to combat
the Great Deceiver. Thank you for Your Son, Jesus Christ, whose work on the
cross at Calvary, provides us with a way to spend an eternity with You in
Heaven.
In the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,
Amen!
Worship
Don’t
Let Discouragement into Your Heart - ActiveChristianity
God
Bless You,
Barry
Green,
Michael P. 1500
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Books, 2000. Print.
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