Proverbs 10:2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Aw shucks Friends, the sweltering heat and humidity have still not abated, neither have the promised showers of blessing materialized. Steups! Thanks Mr. Weatherman! He’s promised though that it will be a few degrees cooler on the weekend, but I’m not holding my breath since weather forecasting is such an inexact science. I guess too, more so than ever, people are mouthing ‘T.G.I.F! Thank God it’s Friday!’ as they have a couple days off to rest and try to escape the heat that’s blanketed the area for the past week. However Friends, please, let’s not use the unusual heat as an excuse to forego our fellowship requirements, because there are many of us just looking for any reason whatsoever to not join our fellow believers in worshipping and glorifying our merciful, magnificent, magnanimous God. Now that’s not only a mistake, but it also shows the low regard we have for our Creator, Provider and Protector. If it was some sort of bacchanalian event, the heat surely wouldn’t stop us from going though. (smile) And that segues quite nicely into our Bit; the first half of which warns us: ‘Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,’ and which we dealt with yesterday. We heard Jesus talking about the unwise idea or decision to focus on amassing earthly wealth. Today we’ll tackle the other half that says: ‘but righteousness delivereth from death.’ And we have two excellent examples from the Old Testament. The first example concerns Ahab, king of Israel, who marries Jezebel and both live evil lives.. The Good Book says, through the prophet Elijah: ‘But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up (incited). And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. (1 Kin.21:25-26) However, when Elijah told Ahab about the wrath the Lord planned to rain down upon his wicked house; ‘he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly (went about mourning). And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.’ (1 Kin.21:27-29) Yes Friends, Ahab quickly got religion when he heard of the terrible things that would befall his family, and the Lord spared him personally because of his repentance and humility. Our next example though, Nebuchadnezzar, didn’t fare so well, because of his pride and arrogance. When Daniel interpreted his dream, he warned him thus: ‘This is the interpretation O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times (years) shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure (assured) unto thee, after that thou shalt have known (come to know) that the heavens (Heaven, God) do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness (by being righteous), and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening (prolonging) of thy tranquility.’ (Dan.4:24-27) Yes Friends, Daniel laid it all out very carefully and explicitly for Neb, warning of everything that would happen if he did not change his sinful ways. But just like so many of us who desire to hear truthful advice, but when it doesn’t match our own interpretation of the facts, we ignore it and do our own thing, foolishly take our own advice. Well so did the great king Nebuchadnezzar. A year later, while walking through his grand palace in Babylon, he proudly proclaims: ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom (a royal dwelling) by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?’ (Dan.4:30) But Friends, our God likes His drama so much, that before Neb could finish talking; ‘there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from you (has been taken away). And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like bird claws.’ (Dan.4:31-33) As the old people said mih breddren, when yuh doh hear, yuh does feel. So for seven long years Neb was crazy. All because he refused to humble himself before the Lord God Almighty, foolishly reckoning that all he possessed and accomplished had been done solely through his might and ingenuity. Now Friends, don’t laugh at Neb’s disastrous outcome because many of us today still follow that proud and arrogant pattern, thinking that we’re just so great, that we’re the cat’s meow. And I’m sure a lot of negative stuff has happened to us because of our proud, selfish attitude, possibly not as dramatic or catastrophic as Neb, but enough to make our lives more difficult than necessary. But mih people, we can’t say enough about the mysterious and brainy workings of our God. With Ahab, He had a turncoat believer to deal with, but in Neb, He used a pagan king to show His absolute authority, wonder and glory. "And at the end of the days (time) I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed (considered) as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay (restrain) his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?… Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgement (justice): and those that walk in pride he is able to abase (humble).’ (Dan.4:34-35,37) Oh Friends, that says it all. Hopefully we’ll all learn that we can’t afford to get too high and mighty, too big for our breeches, and leave God out of the equation, for He’ll surely find a way to let us know of His displeasure. Remember, living a Christian life is not easy, especially in today’s cruel, violent and ungodly world, but it sure is the best when we approach it with a real Christ-like attitude, and it certainly bears the best rewards of salvation and eternal life spent in the wonderful company of Jesus. Wow! So in all our dealings today, let’s remember to act in a positive, productive manner. Much LOVE!…idolizing and amassing worldly wealth is useless…but righteous living saves our souls from eternal death and damnation…
Aw shucks Friends, the sweltering heat and humidity have still not abated, neither have the promised showers of blessing materialized. Steups! Thanks Mr. Weatherman! He’s promised though that it will be a few degrees cooler on the weekend, but I’m not holding my breath since weather forecasting is such an inexact science. I guess too, more so than ever, people are mouthing ‘T.G.I.F! Thank God it’s Friday!’ as they have a couple days off to rest and try to escape the heat that’s blanketed the area for the past week. However Friends, please, let’s not use the unusual heat as an excuse to forego our fellowship requirements, because there are many of us just looking for any reason whatsoever to not join our fellow believers in worshipping and glorifying our merciful, magnificent, magnanimous God. Now that’s not only a mistake, but it also shows the low regard we have for our Creator, Provider and Protector. If it was some sort of bacchanalian event, the heat surely wouldn’t stop us from going though. (smile) And that segues quite nicely into our Bit; the first half of which warns us: ‘Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,’ and which we dealt with yesterday. We heard Jesus talking about the unwise idea or decision to focus on amassing earthly wealth. Today we’ll tackle the other half that says: ‘but righteousness delivereth from death.’ And we have two excellent examples from the Old Testament. The first example concerns Ahab, king of Israel, who marries Jezebel and both live evil lives.. The Good Book says, through the prophet Elijah: ‘But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up (incited). And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. (1 Kin.21:25-26) However, when Elijah told Ahab about the wrath the Lord planned to rain down upon his wicked house; ‘he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly (went about mourning). And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.’ (1 Kin.21:27-29) Yes Friends, Ahab quickly got religion when he heard of the terrible things that would befall his family, and the Lord spared him personally because of his repentance and humility. Our next example though, Nebuchadnezzar, didn’t fare so well, because of his pride and arrogance. When Daniel interpreted his dream, he warned him thus: ‘This is the interpretation O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times (years) shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure (assured) unto thee, after that thou shalt have known (come to know) that the heavens (Heaven, God) do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness (by being righteous), and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening (prolonging) of thy tranquility.’ (Dan.4:24-27) Yes Friends, Daniel laid it all out very carefully and explicitly for Neb, warning of everything that would happen if he did not change his sinful ways. But just like so many of us who desire to hear truthful advice, but when it doesn’t match our own interpretation of the facts, we ignore it and do our own thing, foolishly take our own advice. Well so did the great king Nebuchadnezzar. A year later, while walking through his grand palace in Babylon, he proudly proclaims: ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom (a royal dwelling) by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?’ (Dan.4:30) But Friends, our God likes His drama so much, that before Neb could finish talking; ‘there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from you (has been taken away). And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like bird claws.’ (Dan.4:31-33) As the old people said mih breddren, when yuh doh hear, yuh does feel. So for seven long years Neb was crazy. All because he refused to humble himself before the Lord God Almighty, foolishly reckoning that all he possessed and accomplished had been done solely through his might and ingenuity. Now Friends, don’t laugh at Neb’s disastrous outcome because many of us today still follow that proud and arrogant pattern, thinking that we’re just so great, that we’re the cat’s meow. And I’m sure a lot of negative stuff has happened to us because of our proud, selfish attitude, possibly not as dramatic or catastrophic as Neb, but enough to make our lives more difficult than necessary. But mih people, we can’t say enough about the mysterious and brainy workings of our God. With Ahab, He had a turncoat believer to deal with, but in Neb, He used a pagan king to show His absolute authority, wonder and glory. "And at the end of the days (time) I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed (considered) as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay (restrain) his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?… Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgement (justice): and those that walk in pride he is able to abase (humble).’ (Dan.4:34-35,37) Oh Friends, that says it all. Hopefully we’ll all learn that we can’t afford to get too high and mighty, too big for our breeches, and leave God out of the equation, for He’ll surely find a way to let us know of His displeasure. Remember, living a Christian life is not easy, especially in today’s cruel, violent and ungodly world, but it sure is the best when we approach it with a real Christ-like attitude, and it certainly bears the best rewards of salvation and eternal life spent in the wonderful company of Jesus. Wow! So in all our dealings today, let’s remember to act in a positive, productive manner. Much LOVE!…idolizing and amassing worldly wealth is useless…but righteous living saves our souls from eternal death and damnation…
SCRIP-BITS 