Roots by the River

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. James 3:13 (NIV) But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. James 3:17 (NIV) Notice the words that are associated with wisdom from Heaven. 1. Humility 2. Pure 3. Peace-loving 4. Considerate 5. Submissive 6. Full of Mercy 7. Good fruit 8. Impartial 9. Sincere There are people who think they, themselves, are wise. Other people also may think they are wise. If they do not have the above characteristics, they have deceived themselves and their fans are neither observant nor do not know the definition of wisdom.

Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Jude 22, 23 (NIV) Here are three extreme means of evangelism, on three different needs in unbelievers. 1.Doubters: -Be merciful -Show mercy -Preach mercy Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17 (NIV) Doubt is removed by faith and faith is caused by the preaching of Christ. 2. In the fire—those on the brink of death. Snatch them from the fire. This is urgent preaching and insistent on repentance. 3. People in filth—Mercy and fear Mary sings of the mixture of mercy and fear in her song. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. Luke 1:50 (NIV)

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4 (NIV) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:15, 16 (NIV) I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:14-16 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. John 17:18 (NIV) The world is in opposition to God and in opposition to those that love God. The world hates them. Christians do not like to be hated by the people wh...

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you o...

A few days ago I mentioned both loyalty and treason were bad words. To the normal worldly person loyalty is always a good word and treason is always a bad word. I suggested there are better words. Here are a few, God, love, truth, obedience, responsibility and humility. With these as our standard as Christians we find that loyalty and treason are not necessary words. I can obey God with love, truth, and humility. If I have a responsibility to my wife, children, church, and nation, I carry them out by obedience to God and love for God and my wife, children, and nation. You can reply by saying that I am “loyal.” Not even close. Loyalty is an artificially created humanistic emotion. Love is a God authored and created emotion. The man in the Bible that stands out in loyalty in my mind is Joab. His brother Abishai is a close second. The man who stands out in love and obedience is Paul. There is not a whiff of loyalty about him. …though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone el...

Over the years I have periodically thought about loyalty. I am thinking about it again. In my earlier thinking, I came to the conclusion that the word was a bad word and the practice was a bad practice. Loyalty causes things like millions of people giving strong adherence to, and following of people, like Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, and causing the premature death of hundreds of millions of people. And the people who were loyal thought it was a good thing. Loyalty causes people to say, “I was born a Methodist, I will die a Methodist”, even though the Holy Spirit may have left the Methodist church a hundred years ago. Loyalty causes people to say, “South High School in Omaha is the best high school because I go to South High. Loyalty is taught in nations, churches, and schools. In military units, it is called “Espirit de corps.” Pep rallies help it along, Martial music helps it along. We have a problem with what I have just written. That is, the opposite of loyalty, is ...

In the last few weeks I have had separate conversations with three teenage boys, all of whom were raised in evangelical homes. During the conversations I asked each of them where they wanted to be in ten years, professionally, spiritually, and maritally. As I remember they all wanted to be in computers; they all wanted to be Godly and they all wanted to be married. Good answers. What kind of a woman did they want to marry? Each of them wanted to marry a woman who was more Godly than he was. Asked about how they planned to be Godly in ten years, I found none of them wanted to read the Bible, obey their parents and one of them was profane and it did not bother his conscience. I drew their attention that Christian wives are commanded to respect their husband. They also want to respect their husbands. That is also one of their considerations for a prospective husband. Normally they want to marry a man who is older, taller, smarter and if she is a Christian wants him to be Godlier than she...

You have read the last few months in the Injil what God has done and will do through his Son. How do you respond to what God has done? Here are a few statements telling us what our response must be. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. John 1:12, 13 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:16-18 (NIV) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. John 3:36 (NIV...

You have read what God has done for the forgiveness of our sins. There are four words which describe God’s gift to us. They are “Love,” “Grace,” “Kindness,” and “Mercy.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NIV) Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness , tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? Romans 2:4 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8, 9 (NIV) But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy . He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, who...

The Injil describes the final judgment in several places. Here are a few of them. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15 (NIV) Is your name written in the book of life? Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. W...

Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book. Revelation 22:7 (NIV) Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Revelation 22:12, 13 (NIV) He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20 (NIV) I encourage you to read the entire chapters from which these quotations came. When Jesus comes it will be the end of history as we know it. It will also be the end of sin and Satan. Please correspond with me if you have any questions. We will be glad to send you a copy of the Injil, free, in any language you request.

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ…Philippians 3:20 (NIV) …for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10 (NIV) For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 1 Thessalonians 2:19 (NIV) May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 (NIV) Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him...

One of the greatest truths in the Injil is the promise of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to the promise we see what will happen at that time. The next few days will be quotations from the Injil on His coming. Here are statements from Jesus himself. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24:30, 31 (NIV) So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Matthew 24:44 (NIV) Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I wi...

It seems our nation has deteriorated into a state of iffyness on right and wrong. We think if it is legal, it is right (abortion, 19-year-old drinking age). If it is illegal, it might be wrong…on the other hand it might not be wrong (marijuana, 55 mph speed limit). It is right if it is permissive and questionable if it is restrictive. If everyone is doing it, it is okay. Peer pressure also determines right and wrong. Not only is this a relative morality (situation ethics) but it is a constantly changing relative morality and the change is downward. Periodically, there is a hue and cry against immorality based upon bad results, as in Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), or the present pressure to increase the drinking age to 21 (assuming the “drinking” age really means “drunk” age because it is based upon the number of traffic fatalities caused by people “driving under the influence” under the age of 21). Should we also measure the number of fatalities caused by people 21 or over dri...

Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— Galatians 1:1 (NIV) The last two months you have read many verses from the Injil about the Deity of Jesus Christ, His death for the sins of the world, His burial and His resurrection from the dead. When any one person turns from his sins and turns to the Father because of the Father’s love for the world in the death of His Son, that person receives forgiveness of sins, power to live a godly life, and everlasting life. We will be glad to send you a copy of the Injil, free, in any language you request.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord . Romans 1:1-4 (NIV) Notice the resurrection of Jesus did not make Jesus the Son of God. The resurrection was the Holy Spirit’s declaration that He was the Son of God. We will be glad to send you a copy of the Injil, free, in any language you request.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (NIV) We will be glad to send you a copy of the Injil, free, in any language you request.

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 (NIV) We will be glad to send you a copy of the Injil, free, in any language you request.

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures , and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (NIV) We will be glad to send you a copy of the Injil, free, in any language you request.

“That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.” At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. "You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane.” Acts 26:21-24 (NIV) We will be glad to send you a copy of the Injil, free, in any language you request.