Danger of Complaining

Numbers 11:1" And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord:and the Lord heard it; and His anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them,and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp".

Behold how easy mischief begins among the mixed multiutude,the church goer and the christian,and how the fire of the Lord burned in the utermost parts of the camp or congregation.The great danger of the church lies in her congregation, the casual followers,they actually infect the true believer. Grumbling, discontentment, ungrateful complaining these are grievous offences against our gracious God.God is displeased with a dissatisfied spirit,like us with an ungrateful, and unthankful child.There is an evil lust which accompanies our complaining, a covetousness, an ungrateful attitude which says"God you have made a mistake I would have done things different".If you believe God is absolutly always in control trust him.For we deserved to be dead yet the Lord through his mercy and grace gives us what we don't deserve,as he saved us from what we had comming, and we have the nerve to complain.He has blessed us with eternal life, feeding us bread of heaven and we will complain that we are not living like we were when we were a slave to sin.

Murmuring is quarreling with God,and making a verbal attack against Him.The children of Isreal murmurer said, that God had not dealt well with them,that they deserved better than what he had given them.When we complain about where we are and what we have or don't have we to are telling God that he could do better, like we have been so good.God will not withhold any good thing from us, but he can't bless us with them until we are ready to recieve them.Jesus has saved us from sin but we still have a sinners nature, we still think like sinners, and God is still working on us.He is creating in us a new nature, blessing us with the mind of Christ,and only he knows what is needed to complete this great work he has started.If we are selfish with the little things how can he bless us with the big things.If we to tired to clean and care for the little apartment why would he burden us with a big house.It is when you've been faithful over the little things ,that he will make you ruler over the many.

The murmurer charged God with folly,implying God might have a need to be wiser and a better God. They had manna,but complained they had no meat, but then was still not satisfied when they were given meat.Murmurering is a sin against God,and a sin which he cannot bear(Numbers14:27).God knows what he is doing, he sees the end at the beginning,if you find something in your life you don't like ,don't complain ask God to reveal his plan for your life and you will understand why he has placed you where you are and has given you what you have.The children of Isreal didn't understand that God had given them what  was best for their current situation,and it was preparing them for what lied ahead.God has blessed each of us with what we need to prepare us for what lies ahead, for the time has come for us to really trust and rely on God.Let us not complain and be content, for God's word says" contentment with God is great gain".

Opened Eyes !

2Kings 6:17 "And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee,Open his eyes, that he may see. and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man:and he saw: and ,behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha".

Faith serves as eyes to the true believer,and allows him/her to see what others cannot see.This allows the believer to remain calm and at peace when all around him might be in termoil.From today's text we might learn much about ourselves,and yet it might seem invisible to the natural eye.We have learned God is everywhere,yet sin-blinded eyes do not see him.His law touches the thoughts and intents of the heart , yet it's wonderful spiritual meaning is not understood.Mankind is evil, guilty,and fallen ,yet we do not see the danger of our actions.The danger is imminent, yet there is dancing at hell's door by many who cannot see.We are proud, thinking we know all things,but not realizing there is much we don't see. With our blind sight we cannot always see that which God has instore for us, we don't see that God has provide us with all that we need to keep us and protect us.We sometimes can't see that he gave us Jesus.

The good news is that God alone can open the eyes of man.He alone can open the eyes of man heart, to enlighten his understanding that he who once was blind can now recieve his sight. One of the saddest conditions of a man is to read God's word with an unbelieving heart, to pass blindly through all the wondrous testimonies of redeeming love and grace which the scriptures contain.If we say that we believe in and trust in Jesus, then we cannot doubt and not trust the word of God.We walk by the faith we have in the word of God, the love of Christ, and the power of his holy spirit.We might not always see a way ,but we must by faith believe that He is the way .I remember, when God  brought me across the Red Sea, so I have faith that he'll bring me over the Jordan river.

See Elisha and his servant was surrounded by the enemy,the servant was worried,because he didn't see what Elisha saw, but Elisha the man of God told him not to worry,see Elisha knew by faith the God was there.The servant couldn't see him so Elisha Prayed for God to open His eyes that he might see the salvation of the Lord.We too in this life must pray that God opens the eyes of those that are in darkness those that are lost in sin that they too might see the salvation of the Lord.That they to when surrounded by the enemy, feeling trapped,seeing no way out, might thru the eyes of faith trust in God's promises.

Satan Among The Saints

Job1:6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,and Satan came also among them".

Every time we come together to present ourselves before the Lord, Satan has a tendency to be among us. But clearly this cannot be acceptable worship,for nothing that satan does can be accepted.We must come to God by faith,or our worship is dead and unprofitable.We must learn to walk in the spirit putting to death the flesh and the lust thereof so that when we come to present ourselves to the Lord Satan is not among us.He come but to still the word, kill the spirit and destroy the soul of all he comes in contact with.He brings mischief to the sons of God by accusing them before the Lord night and day; by causing them to take their thoughts off the heavenly and they begin to worry about earthly concerns Jesus has already overcome.He causes division in the body by sowing dissensions and the people criticize one another, instead of hearing the gospel message.He causes preachers,teachers, choir singers and even a good praying deacon to become filled with pride and seek glory that belongs to God alone.He tries to quinch the spirit , silence the prayer and even chill the praise of the worship service.

He distracts the unsaved from hearing the message that might lead them to Christ,by raising doubts, putting the man before the master.He may cause them to delay giving there life to Christ,showing them all that is wrong so the enjoyment felt is now hindered, as he takes away the word sown to the heart like a bird eating up newly planted seed.You cannot destroy a hornets nest without being attacked in return. Since we know satan will enter our assemblies,we must make sure we are not the one he is riding with, and we don't give him a place to sit when he enters the congregation.

We must continue to present ourselves to the Lord, even though we know many who confess a false profession will be in attendance.But let us do a great soul searching and ask ourselves daily "Lord is it I",so that we are not the ones with the false profession. We must be more watchful as we pray, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,that we give not into the temptations of the flesh.Our preachers and teachers must be more faithful to the gospel truth,that the devil will not find comfort in the congregation, but will be annoyed by the truth which he hates.We must allow the truth of God's word to convict  the heart,then it will convert the soul and bring about true confessions from the mouth.(You cannot confess to something you are not guilty of.).Let us strive for the perfect assembly above where there be no mixture, but a sinless congregation.

Disowned!

Matthew 7:23 "And then will I profess them,I never knew you:depart from me,Ye that work iniquity".

One of the best test of everything is how it will appear in the moment of death,in the morning of resurrection,and the day of judgment.Here our Lord gives us a picture of people as they appear in that day.Riches, honors,pleasures,successes,self-congratulations, etc will all be set in the light of that day.This test should especially be applied  to all religious professions and excercises, for in that day they will be tried by fire.The people revealed here in the judgement light were not gross and open sinners;on the surface they seemed like regular church folks.They made an open profess to Christ as they said "Lord,Lord".They did christian service,as they habitually prophesied and worked miracles.They had done many wonders,and did everything in the name of Christ.

But note our Lord's open confession before men and angels,and especially to the men themselves:"I never knew you".I knew about you; I knew that you professed great things; but you had no relationship with me;and whatever you knew about me,you did not know me.I was not of your company, and did not know you.See had he once known them he would not have forgotten them.Those who accepts Christ invitation to "come unto to me", shall never here him say,"Depart from me".Workers of iniquity may now come to the Savior for mercy;but if they put there hope in themselves and what they can do,and ignore the Savior, he will tell them to depart to endure the rigors of his justice.Is it not strange that preachers and those who cast out devils,and perform many wonders ,can still be workers of iniquity?They may work miracles in Christ name and yet have no part of Him.

See the tongue can be betrade by the hands,they say Lord,Lord, but they don't do the will of the Father. They can use the name but not possess the nature of an obedient servant.They prophesied but didn't pray. They cast devils out of others, but held on to the devils within themselves.They spent time on the marvels but failed to do the essentials.They worked wonders but were also workers of iniquity.So the Lord said "depart from me" a fearful sentence, a terrible separation."From me",said Christ,who made himself man for our sakes, that shed his blood for our redemption."From me" that invited us to mercy and we would not accept it, that purchased the kingdom of glory for all who would believe on Him,and will honor our heads with crowns of eternal joy."Depart from me" my friendship,my fellowship, my paradise,my presence,my heaven,"Depart from me".

It's In The Blood!

Zecharich 9:11-12 "As for thee also,by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoner out of the pitwherein is no water.Turn you to the strong hold,ye prisoners of hope:even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee".

Here we behold a description of our Savior,we see his Kingdom,his character,his power to save,his lowliness,  and the weapons of his conquest.Because of Him and through Him there is mercy for the oppressed and troubled ones in Zion.This is a wonderful text for all those who are in the lowest possible state of mind.Those prisoners bound in servatude,freedom gone,trapped in the power of another, where escape seems impossible,the darkness intolerable and your fate seems unavoidable.You are comfortless feeling like you are dying of thirst,for there is no comfort in sin.The many oppressed souls helpless in the power of despair until the Lord comes and rescues them.

He has an all seeing eye, He alone has the power to set you free from the bondage you feel.He is the light the shines in the darkess hours of our lives,he saves us by the blood,the blood of the covenant made between Zion and her King.True redemption is in the blood.All the temporal, spiritual, and eternal deliverances which we enjoy, they swim to us through the blood of that covenant that is passed between the Father and the Son.By virtue of the same blood of the covenant,the shed blood of Christ, we are reconciled,justified and saved.We who were in the dungeons of life,trapped in the despair of darkness, thirsting for the freedoms which evade us, while being bound by the ones which inslaves us, were all set free by the blood of the Christ.

Look as all the choice mercies, the high favors, the noble blessings that we enjoy and lay claim to,they are all purchased by the blood of Christ.What ever desperate situations, or dangers,we the children of God may find ourselves falling into,we can hold on to the fact that we are prisoners of hope,and should look forward to delieverance,because it is all in the blood of the lamb.Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day with all power that we might be made the righteousness of God,if we only believe.

Blessings in His Hands!

Luke 24:50 "And he led them out as far as to bethany,and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them".

Jesus having spoiled the plans of the grave,and sanctified the earth,now purified the air as he passed through it on His way to heaven.The earthly work of the Redeemer is over; the work which his time on earth was designed to inaugurate is now ready to begin. Here we are in the presence of the one who said"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth"; and again," Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world".He he is reaching out with blessings in His hands for all who will take hold.

The wonderful hand of Christ! It was that same hand which had been so quickly stretched out to rescue peter when he was sinking in the waves of the sea, it now reaches out for those sinking in sin.It was the same hand which had been shown to the disciples,after they had seen it in the borrowed tomb, and he now wants to show it to you in faith. It was the same hand that doubting Thomas wanted to see before he would believe in the resurrection,and it was extended to him not only to see but to touch the nail prints in the palm, and blessed ar ethe many who will believe and haven't seen.And it is this same hand the disciples last saw uplifted in a parting blessing when the clouds took Him on up to Glory.But it was later that they realized the fullness of blessings which came from the extended pierced hand of Christ.

The blessing in His hands,Christ hands,showing the price of the blessing.His crucifixion has purchased continual blessings for all his redeemed.The blessing comes from those human hands through those sacrificial wounds.By those hands we have a pardon and an invitation to eternal life.The entire action is the summary of the gospel.His hands with it's nail prints now stands at the door of every heart, knocking, with its deep marks of love, seeking all the lost that they might receive the blessing in His hands. Jesus through suffering and death, has the power to bless us out of the highest heavens.The spirit and the bride say come,put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water.There is a blessing in his hands!

He Has Risen!

Luke 24:5 " And as they were afraid,and bowed down their faces to the earth,they said unto them,why seek ye the living among the dead"?

The resurrection of Christ is the foundation to the integrity of Christianity,and of course the truth of God's word.For if Christ had not risen then our faith would be in vain.Yet many still don't believe that he lives.The soilders  guarding Jesus tomb said the disciples came by night and stole him away.But he was seen by many, and he rose in many.When the women arrived at the tomb the angels asked,why seek the living among the dead.Let us now show that He has risen,as he is alive within us, let us  walk in a newness of Life.Let us live with the power he rose with, the power to overcome the world.Let us love with the love he shared, "for greater love has no man than this ,to lay down his life for a friend". Let us give all as he gave all, he with held nothing from us, like the woman with the two mites, he gave all he had.And let us forgive others with the same mercy Jesus shared with us,forgiving inspite of ,for we know not what we do.Let us proclaim His resurrection by living a resurrected life.

When we as soilders in Christ's army, live true Christ like lives, it is then that the world will know that he has risen, because they will witness his resurrection in the lives that we live.So let us walk worthy of the name we behold, and go out and proclaim to a dying world the good news.He Has Risen!