Follow After HIS Heart*

This weekend we will see the Super Bowl, and then Valentine's Day coming right afterward. Many love football and wait all year for the Super Bowl to be played. Many love the idea of Valentine's Day, and its romantic theme. The first mention of "love" in the Bible comes in Gen. 27:3-4. Isaac tells his son, Esau, to go hunt some venison, "And make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die." As we can see, love can be for anything. Scripture says, for example, that the love of money is the root of all evil. Rather than what the world loves, however, we will read about how God views and lives love, and the wonderful work He did for us through that love: "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." (1 Jn. 4:7-11). John also wrote that because God lives in us, His love is perfected in us. He dwells in us, and we in Him because He has given us His Spirit. It is because of this presence and perfecting of His love and Spirit in us, we can face His judgment, not in fear, but in boldness. In that love of God, and His dwelling in us, we are assured that "As He is, so are we in this world." (v. 13-17). We can confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God only because our God, who is love, dwells in us (v. 15-16). Because of this same love that dwells in us, we must love our brother. If we claim to love God, but we hate our brother, we are a liar (v. 20-21). In the world today, there is ethnic and racial hatred, even among those who claim to know Christ. This is not the love of God in us. This is how we know that the love of God is in us: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous...whosoever keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." (1 Jn. 5:2-3, 2:5). What does the Word of God command us? Jesus, when asked by one of those questioning Him, 'What is the first commandment?', answered, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (Mk. 12:28-31). The two greatest commandments are built upon love. We don't see a lot of love for God or for our neighbor today. Again here we see the necessary connection between the Holy Spirit in us, and the operation of love: "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly...But God commanded his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:5-6). God loved the unlovable enough to die in our place. This was the beginning of salvation. Do we love the unlovable in the same manner? There are those who in near death experiences have seen and experienced hell, but they were brought back by God and given a second chance. We were already walking in the death of trespasses and sin, according to the ways of the world, which is ruled by the prince of the power of the air (Satan). We lived by the lusts of our flesh and of the mind, being children of wrath and disobedience. However "...God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened (meaning made alive) us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus..." (Eph. 2:1-6). It is already done! And it was done for us through the salvation work of His love. We were dead and condemned in our sins, submitted to Satan's rule, but now we are made alive, and seated in heaven in Christ. There is a spiritual Super Bowl between the power of darkness, and the Kingdom of Heaven, but God has already won that battle for our souls, and He did it with love - not just love, but great love. Valentine's Day is represented by red hearts, but the Prophet Jeremiah said that the heart is deceitful above all things. However, there is a heart that represents the love of God in us. God called David, "a man after My own heart". This is the kind of heart that stands before God forever. What kind of heart did David have that God recognized as His own heart? David had a heart that loved God above all else. When he sinned, David turned to God praying that God would cleanse him, restore him, and renew a right spirit within him. He prayed that God would not take His Holy Spirit away from David (see Psalm 51). David said that the sacrifices that God is looking for in him, and in us, are "a broken spirit, and a broken and a contrite heart". A heart that loves God, and has God's love in it, is a heart of repentance (see also 2 Chron. 7:14). Repentance and prayer, not violence as we see today even among believers, will cause God to hear us and heal our land. David also said that his lips, tongue and mouth show forth God's praise and righteousness (v. 14-15). Are these the things coming from our mouths? What is our conversation and behavior like? Is the love of God in them? James wrote that God begat us with His Word of truth, so that we would be a kind of firstfruits among His creation. Because of this: "...let every man be swift to hear, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and... naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves...But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein...being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." (James Ch. 1). As the world waits for and follows after the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day, which are carnal, we follow after God's own heart of love. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 2/13/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com.

Medals, Trophies, and Eternity

 

Super Bowl Sunday has just passed, and soon the Olympics will take place. The victors will be rewarded with medals, rings, and a trophy, and billions of dollars will be spent on commercials, entertainment, and even illegal gambling. All of our attention will be focused on these events, and athletes will become heroes. Even these greatest sporting events though will fade from memory, and pass away into history, as is the manner of all natural things in the world. The trophies will rust, and the medals will be lost to time. We, however, are called, not to works that will pass away and be forgotten, but to works that last throughout eternity.

In a poem written by C.T. Studd, there is a line that reads:

"Only one life, twill soon be past.

 Only what's done for Christ will last."

The thought that the author conveyed is scriptural, and is especially important for us to know in these end times.
Apostle Peter makes a point about the fate of the natural world, and asks an important question:
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God..."  2 Pet. 3:10-12
Our lives, our actions and words, should be shaped by the knowledge that natural, or temporal, things that occupy so much of the world's focus, ought not to be our focus, as these very things are destined to be destroyed. Not only that, but the eternally minded believer, actually hastens the return of Christ.
Jesus told a parable of a very wealthy man, who had been blessed with land that had brought forth plenty. He thought about the problem of how to store all of this increased abundance, so he spent his time pulling down his old barns, and building greater barns to store all his bounty (Lk. 12:16-18). The man counted on satisfying his soul with the fact that, by storing all his goods, he would be set for years, and could  then relax and enjoy life. "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"  Lk. 12:20
After spending so much time and effort on his goods, the wealthy man wasn't going to live to enjoy them after all. Jesus warned about the idea of laying up treasure for ourselves, instead of for God (v. 21). We spend a great deal of our time every day concerned with the things that will only pass away.
Jesus cautioned that our attitudes and conduct should be like that of a watching servant waiting for the return of his master. Our loins are to be girded, and the lights in our lamps burning. He concluded by saying, "Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." (Lk. 12:35-40). The world may scoff (2 Pet. 3:3) at the idea of the imminent return of Christ, caring only about life's current pleasures, but we, who know better, are to be awake, dressed, with our light shining. Those wise servants who are doing the work will be blessed by their returning master:
"Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath".  Lk. 12:43-44
What is the work that should have us awake, dressed in truth, and holding lighted lamps? The prophets spoke of building the LORD's house. While God's people had the desire to build and re-build their own houses, the LORD's house laid in ruins. The prophet warned them to "consider their ways" (Hag. 1:3-5). Even as the people spent time, money and effort upon their own houses, they were not prospering in any way. As long as the LORD's house remained unbuilt, all the land would suffer lack of every kind (v. 9-11). However, the establishing of the LORD's house, would not only powerfully impact Israel in every way, but all the nations of the world (Isa. 2:1-3).
In the same manner, the building of the LORD's spiritual house is to be our purpose and priority. We build His house out of living stones, like ourselves. Though the world may find this of no value, we are the chosen and precious in God's sight as we bring to others what we have received(1 Pet. 2:3-5). This is the acceptable spiritual sacrifice which we offer as the holy priesthood of His House. We build the spiritual house by teaching and living the Word and character of the Lord before others, showing them by word and deed the way to salvation, making disciples, whom He teaches from His House. We bring them into the House, and the House is enlarged and completed with these souls, these living stones.
C.T. Studd, the writer mentioned above, also gave us this quote:
"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."
Let us be about doing the works that are eternal.

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Complete poem by C.T. Studd:
Only One Life Twill Soon Be Past

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior:
Jesus, I want to know You as my Lord, and as my Savior, who covers my sins, and cleanses my heart. Come into my heart, and also fill me with the Holy Spirit, who will lead me into all truth, and will teach me how to follow You. I believe that You are the Son of God, the Messiah, that You were crucified for me, and rose from the dead to give me everlasting life. I believe that You are coming again. Lord Jesus, in Your name I believe, pray, and receive all of these things. Amen.