Psalm 12:1 Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Oh Friends, in light of our subject matter today; wickedness and evil men, I thought it best to begin our message with this beautiful quote of Lao Tzu on LOVE, that special emotion which produces godliness, the opposite effect to evil. And he rightfully declares: ‘Being deeply LOVED by someone gives you strength, while LOVING someone deeply gives you courage.’ Now Friends, those of us who have LOVED and been LOVED deeply know that’s very true. Why does LOVE give us strength and courage? I can’t say for sure, but it must have something to do with that particular emotion being a major part of our God’s personality, and anything having to do with Him will undoubtedly strengthen and encourage us. But my people, the truth of the matter is that our world today is dying for, in dire need of much more of that strong, stalwart emotion called LOVE, which it sadly isn’t getting, that’s why we’re in the same plight as Bruh David was when he wrote Psalm 12, a plea for help against the wicked. I guess the wicked were also in ascendance at that time, much like they are now. Oh Friends, please join me now in crying out to our God, like Bruh David back then. Let our heart felt plea resound from the roof of heaven. ‘Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the fateful fail from among the children of men.’ I sure hope a strong, sincere prayer went up to the Lord from us my brethren, because we certainly do need help to protect us from the evil doings of Lucifer’s cohorts, and it’s only the Lord God Almighty who can give us any sustainable assistance. Help from man is either not forthcoming or of no lasting value. Yes Friends, we need the Lord’s help to save us, for the godly, already in the minority, continue to disappear from the ranks of mankind. The wicked are apparently doing a better job of gaining followers than us, the supposed righteous. Why? Who knows eh?Possibly because ‘They speak vanity everyone with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.’ (Ps.12:2) Oh mih people, Bruh David must be writing about our times, for at no other time in our history have men spoken so idly, falsely and flatteringly, with inconsistent minds and double sided, wavering, unstable hearts. Man’s word can no longer be trusted, deceit is commonplace, while rumours and gossip abound, and also quickly fly around the world, thanks to the wide variety of communications now available to all and sundry. But that same quick and easy ability to communicate, plus our unnatural fascination with the lives of the rich and famous has unfortunately turned us into a society of gossip and rumour mongers, with no idea of what’s true from false. And sadly, many of us spend too much of our precious time flirting with foolish, insignificant stuff rather than dealing with the important realities of life. A lot of us don’t even know what real reality is any more, so caught up are we in the virtual kind. Oh my brethren, Isaiah had a similar complaint when he condemned Israel’s idolatry. ‘The righteous perish, and no man layeth (takes) it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come (the presence of evil). (Isa. 57:1) And likewise Micah bewailed the moral sins of Israel: ‘The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.’ (Mic.7:2) Oh mih people, it seems as if all those long ago prophets are here with us today and are writing about the sad, evil state of our world. Just read Micah 7:1-7 and you’ll get a perfect representation or image of our current time. But if they thought things were bad, concerning wickedness and evil in their day…Steups! Would they ever be surprised to see the massive scale in which evil and evil doers are entrenched in today’s world. Let’s not fool ourselves Friends, evil is well entrenched from the highest echelons of power to the lowest levels of poverty. It makes no distinction between rich and poor, it only seeks to envelop and entrap you in its destructive web. Habakkuk describes it thus: ‘They take up all of them with the angle (hook), they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag (dragnet): therefore they rejoice and be glad.’ (Hab.1:15) Oh my brethren it’s time to reverse this process; time to reduce the enormous power and number of people trapped in the web of evil and increase the power and numbers of the righteous. And though the wicked oppress the righteous with lying words and proud speech amongst other things, we pray for and know that eventually ‘The Lord shall cut off (destroy) all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud (great) things.’ (Ps.12:3) And as we saw yesterday, the righteous will surely find comfort in the pure and valued Word of our God, because ‘The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.’ (Ps.12:6) Oh my people, it’s not an easy task we’ve been assigned; to turn around the world and make it more righteous than evil, but it’s not impossible. Moreover, with God on our side, we know for certain that all things are possible! So Friends, I implore us to turn to the Lord in serious prayer and ask for His help, since that’s the only way we’ll ever defeat Lucifer and his forces of evil. Let us do like Micah advised: ‘Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in the darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.’ (Mic.7:7-8) Friends, if we believe and follow that advice, then there’s nothing to worry about, the battle’s already halfway won. So don’t give up, keep fighting…right to the end. Much LOVE!…Stand up, stand up for Jesus…the trumpet call obey…till every foe is vanquished…and Christ is Lord indeed…
Oh Friends, in light of our subject matter today; wickedness and evil men, I thought it best to begin our message with this beautiful quote of Lao Tzu on LOVE, that special emotion which produces godliness, the opposite effect to evil. And he rightfully declares: ‘Being deeply LOVED by someone gives you strength, while LOVING someone deeply gives you courage.’ Now Friends, those of us who have LOVED and been LOVED deeply know that’s very true. Why does LOVE give us strength and courage? I can’t say for sure, but it must have something to do with that particular emotion being a major part of our God’s personality, and anything having to do with Him will undoubtedly strengthen and encourage us. But my people, the truth of the matter is that our world today is dying for, in dire need of much more of that strong, stalwart emotion called LOVE, which it sadly isn’t getting, that’s why we’re in the same plight as Bruh David was when he wrote Psalm 12, a plea for help against the wicked. I guess the wicked were also in ascendance at that time, much like they are now. Oh Friends, please join me now in crying out to our God, like Bruh David back then. Let our heart felt plea resound from the roof of heaven. ‘Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the fateful fail from among the children of men.’ I sure hope a strong, sincere prayer went up to the Lord from us my brethren, because we certainly do need help to protect us from the evil doings of Lucifer’s cohorts, and it’s only the Lord God Almighty who can give us any sustainable assistance. Help from man is either not forthcoming or of no lasting value. Yes Friends, we need the Lord’s help to save us, for the godly, already in the minority, continue to disappear from the ranks of mankind. The wicked are apparently doing a better job of gaining followers than us, the supposed righteous. Why? Who knows eh?Possibly because ‘They speak vanity everyone with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.’ (Ps.12:2) Oh mih people, Bruh David must be writing about our times, for at no other time in our history have men spoken so idly, falsely and flatteringly, with inconsistent minds and double sided, wavering, unstable hearts. Man’s word can no longer be trusted, deceit is commonplace, while rumours and gossip abound, and also quickly fly around the world, thanks to the wide variety of communications now available to all and sundry. But that same quick and easy ability to communicate, plus our unnatural fascination with the lives of the rich and famous has unfortunately turned us into a society of gossip and rumour mongers, with no idea of what’s true from false. And sadly, many of us spend too much of our precious time flirting with foolish, insignificant stuff rather than dealing with the important realities of life. A lot of us don’t even know what real reality is any more, so caught up are we in the virtual kind. Oh my brethren, Isaiah had a similar complaint when he condemned Israel’s idolatry. ‘The righteous perish, and no man layeth (takes) it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come (the presence of evil). (Isa. 57:1) And likewise Micah bewailed the moral sins of Israel: ‘The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.’ (Mic.7:2) Oh mih people, it seems as if all those long ago prophets are here with us today and are writing about the sad, evil state of our world. Just read Micah 7:1-7 and you’ll get a perfect representation or image of our current time. But if they thought things were bad, concerning wickedness and evil in their day…Steups! Would they ever be surprised to see the massive scale in which evil and evil doers are entrenched in today’s world. Let’s not fool ourselves Friends, evil is well entrenched from the highest echelons of power to the lowest levels of poverty. It makes no distinction between rich and poor, it only seeks to envelop and entrap you in its destructive web. Habakkuk describes it thus: ‘They take up all of them with the angle (hook), they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag (dragnet): therefore they rejoice and be glad.’ (Hab.1:15) Oh my brethren it’s time to reverse this process; time to reduce the enormous power and number of people trapped in the web of evil and increase the power and numbers of the righteous. And though the wicked oppress the righteous with lying words and proud speech amongst other things, we pray for and know that eventually ‘The Lord shall cut off (destroy) all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud (great) things.’ (Ps.12:3) And as we saw yesterday, the righteous will surely find comfort in the pure and valued Word of our God, because ‘The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.’ (Ps.12:6) Oh my people, it’s not an easy task we’ve been assigned; to turn around the world and make it more righteous than evil, but it’s not impossible. Moreover, with God on our side, we know for certain that all things are possible! So Friends, I implore us to turn to the Lord in serious prayer and ask for His help, since that’s the only way we’ll ever defeat Lucifer and his forces of evil. Let us do like Micah advised: ‘Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in the darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.’ (Mic.7:7-8) Friends, if we believe and follow that advice, then there’s nothing to worry about, the battle’s already halfway won. So don’t give up, keep fighting…right to the end. Much LOVE!…Stand up, stand up for Jesus…the trumpet call obey…till every foe is vanquished…and Christ is Lord indeed…
SCRIP-BITS 