There were special songs this morning by Brothers Randy Richardson, Del Hunnicutt and Pastor Bob Cartwright.
Truth was the topic of Pastor's sermon this morning and I had never heard the definition of truth given in so many ways. To begin with, pastor took us to John 18:36-38 and in verse 37, we read that Jesus was talking to Pilate and He said that He was born for the purpose of the cross and said that he came to bear witness unto the truth; everyone that is of the truth hears my voice. At this point, Pilate could find no fault in Jesus. You see Jesus always spoke the truth no matter how it would affect him. It would pay us to take a lesson from this.
In John 8:28-32, there is a very familiar part of the scripture found here. Jesus said if you believe in me and keep my commandments you will truly be my disciples. Then He said a very strong statement for He told them that if they would live for Him and abide in the truth; the truth will set them free.
There are only two ways to live. You either serve God and have eternal life or you can live in sin and the wages of sin are death. Jesus makes a way of escape for us if we only believe and trust in Him and follow His commandments. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, but He loved us so much that He sent His only son to die for the remission of our sins.
In the times we are living in, we need to see things as they are. There are so many that will not see that, without accepting Christ as your Savior, you have an unstable future. In Luke, we read about the things that we see taking place and if we look up we will realize that our time is drawing neigh for our Lord to come again. You see, we need to search our hearts and make sure we are hearing the truth. There is a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof; from such we are to turn away. You must have that power within you because the purpose of the power is to teach us and help us overcome our failures. Yes, we all fail at times and must ask God to forgive us. The power will help you to know when you are taught the truth. Your spirit is always looking out for you and will keep you on the right track.
In Chapter 6 of Isaiah, there are many good passages but the one that really got my attention was speaking of the Seraphims. In verse 3, we find that they were crying out to one another saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is filled with his Glory." Those who deny the power are guilty of the words found in chapter 5 verse 20 of the same book. It speaks of how it is wrong for them to call evil good and good evil; they put darkness for light and light for darkness; they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. In other words, they are not telling the truth but deceiving the unbelievers and causing them to stray far from God. Satan will turn things around just to fool you into doing bad things. That's his job and he is good at it, so do not let your guard down. Do not think you are smart in your own eyes and leaning to your understanding. Satan is keeping his eyes on you but you do not have to battle him alone, for Jesus said He would never leave you nor forsake you.
With this covid, they tell us to avoid crowds and that is a sad way to live. We must be careful and use good judgment when we are among people. However, Satan would try to use this to close the doors of all churches. We need to be about the Father's business and warn those who do not know our Jesus. We do not have the freedom we are so used to having. Our prayer altars are not used for the purpose they were built for. If we cannot cover them with our tears and wash away the sorrow of this world, then we are facing a very hard time. We need to reset our thinking and change our lifestyle. We should put God first in our lives and spend more time trying to get closer to him; He is our only hope.
Just think of Enoch, he walked with God and, as a reward, he was taken to his eternal home. He never saw death, that is what we should be striving for today. Isaiah 51:7 has a very comforting word. It tells us that if we hearken to Him and keep the truth that we do not have to fear the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their reviling. There is so much going on in our world today that will make us fearful if we forget that God is in control and will keep us in His care.
Pastor Bob closed with a thought that we should repeat over and over to ourselves. He said, "We have to be close enough to our Father that we can hear the voice of Jesus when he comes to gather his own. Stir up the gifts within you and work while there is such a need."
If you enjoyed this message, we invite you to visit us at the Cove Mission of Hope in Lanagan, Mo. We are the white church at the top of the hill with the steeple pointing souls to the Lord. Services are on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday nights. You are always welcome to worship and be blessed.
Opinions expressed are those of the author.