Roots by the River

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...

CSD is C. Stephen David. We have been in touch with him for several years. His wife’s testimony is in “How to Be Free From Bitterness.” He had the booklet translated into Telegu. I am passing this link on for information and prayer. http://www.sakshitimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=363&Itemid=43 CSD lives in Hyderbad, India.

There are two answers to the following question and statement, 1. What are the lyrics in Heaven? 2. Search the Scriptures daily to see if these things are true. The first quotation is from “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper. Over 3 million copies of that book have been sold. “As I stood before the gate, I didn’t think of it but later I realized that I didn’t hear such songs as “the Old Rugged Cross” or “The Nail-Scarred Hand.” None of the hymns that filled the air were about Jesus’ sacrifice or death. I heard no sad songs and instinctively knew that there are no sad songs in heaven. Why would there be? All were praises about Christ’s reign as King of Kings and our joyful worship for all he has done for us and how wonderful he is.” Page 3, 90 Minutes in Heaven Don Piper The second quotation is from Revelation 5:9-14. And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased ...

The Lord Jesus, about 2000 years ago said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” John 3:19-20 Maybe 200 years before that Job (24:13-17) said the following: There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief. The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, 'No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face concealed. In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. For all of them, deep darkness is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness. We who know the Lord Jesus are His light in...

There have been many evil dictators, kings, emperors, popes, and sultans in the Bible before and since. There have been relatively few good and godly heads of state. People, when choosing a leader, will overlook immorality, infidelity, and lack of ethics but will not stand for incompetence. They would rather have a competent man who lacks integrity than the other way around. It would be nice to have both. It is rare. If this is of interest to you, make a list of leaders to make your case.

The following is a quotation from a letter from Abou-Elia. I remember as a child sensing the eerie calm as a storm approached. Gaza is in the midst of a violent storm… though for you who live far from that patch of real estate bordering Egypt to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it may appear to be a storm that impacts only that local vicinity. This will probably not be the case. There are good guys and bad guys on both sides of the issue, as well as a lot of spiritual blindness. I’m not a Muslim and am strongly opposed to extremist ideas, forcing others to accept Islam or Islamic law or harming people who want to further understand spiritual truth that conflicts with Islam. The Islamic side is so focused on honor and gaining better world positioning that they’d sacrifice every Gaza resident. Additionally they would never, EVER admit to fault as they cannot bear the possibility of not being right. But then I look at the Jewish side and am appalled at their dullness, spir...

This quotation is from Bob Flynn, President of The Christian Military Fellowship. One day Jesus said to His disciples, “There will always be temptation to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves! If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” (Luke 17:1-4 NLT) I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something very different. I am asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing. Forgiveness says, “Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and e...

As soon as I sin I get disciplined, chastised by God. When God disciplines me, He takes away my joy. Why does He do that? He does so, to bring my disobedience to my attention so I will repent and confess. Let’s suppose God did not discipline me. Every time I sinned I would have more joy in the Lord. It is true that …where sin increased grace increased all the more (Romans 5:20). That did not mean …shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (Romans 6:1) NO! God takes away my joy so I will admit my sin in repentance, be forgiven and have restored joy. This descent continued for three years. Yes, I confessed some sins during those years, but my state was gradually down hill. This is really a 6-step event. The first thing I do is sin, disobey. The second thing is I get disciplined. The third thing is I lose my joy. Now God takes away my joy by discipline when I sin, in order to get my attention so I will confess and repent, be forgiven and have joy again. Well, my joy started dow...

God disciplines believers. If you are without discipline, you are not a believer. It says in Hebrews 12:8, You are illegitimate children and not true sons. When you are disciplined it is not pleasant. That is the only biblical reason to lose your joy--the discipline of God. So, when you get disciplined, you say, "Boy, I'm so miserable; I might not be a Christian." Maybe that proves you are. Have you ever known anyone who seems to get away with murder and it doesn't bother them? Then you step out of line one little fraction and you get disciplined fast? It's because the Lord loves you. It is not pleasant. However, if you pay attention to it and respond to the discipline, and confess your sin, you are blessed and the joy returns. (An excerpt from How to Maintain Joy in your Life , p.3&4).

We would like to think there are other reasons for people losing their joy. One of the reasons we would like to think that people lose their joy is temptation. “Boy, if you went through the temptation I went through, you would not have joy either.” But the Scripture says: Count it all joy when you fall into divers (many different kinds of) temptations (James 1:2 KJV). Temptations are no reason to lose your joy. You say, “Well, if you were persecuted like I am persecuted, you would lose your joy.” What does the Bible say about that? Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness ‘sake” (Matthew 4:10 NKJV). You say, “But I just lost my mother.” And the scripture says, Do not sorrow, as others who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13 NKJV). The scripture also says, Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4 NKJV). The normal Christian life is a life of joy. The reasons we lose joy, we think are circumstantial. “If you were in these circumstances, you woul...

Last summer I printed the following post: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:6, 7 NIV) Years ago a friend of mine told me he was not into evangelism because the more converts he had, the more backsliders he had. Of course that is not a reason to hold back on evangelism, but it makes us wonder why it sometimes seems to be so. Here is a major reason. The new Christian often is not taught to live the Christian life the same as he was taught to receive Christ. He is taught a different way of living than he was taught of receiving. That is why he falls. The new Christian received Christ by grace through faith. He did not receive Christ by “try” or by “effort.” He is not to live by “try” or by “effort.” He is to live by grace through faith. In other words, the Christian life should be like being born again every day. (An excer...

Let’s look at the 32nd Psalm: Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night ‘our hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgression to the Lord’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” There are two conditions here. One is where the person’s sins are covered, are forgiven, where he confesses his transgressions to the Lord. The other is when he keeps silent. David says his bones wasted away through groaning all day long when he kept silent. Have you ever felt like that, like you are just wasting away, that you are groaning all day long, that your strength is sapped as in the heat of summer? Or the King James Version says, “dried up, the drought ...

For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son…Romans 8:29 (MV) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in it lust…Romans 8:12 (NKJV) But now that you have been set free from sin, and become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life…Romans 6:22 (NIV) These texts tell us that we should be like Jesus Christ. He did not save us so that we could sin; rather He saved us so that we would not sin. One of the biggest problems a Christian has is what to do with sins in his life. How do you handle sin? It just seems to be endemic that Christians sin and they sin far more then the Bible allows for them to sin. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin…1 John 2:1 (NIV) The Bible does not command sin. It commands the opposite. What I am talking about in this article is not the major solution to sin in the Christian’s life, but part of God’s solution. It is more...

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…Romans 3:23 (NIV) The definition of “sin” is “missing the bull’s eye of the target.” The Glory of God is the bull’s eye. All of us have missed it. We have fallen short of God’s glory. “Falling short” needs forgiveness. However there are clearer and stronger words. Here are a few of them with the Bible references. Rebellion and Arrogance : For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king. 1 Samuel 15:23 (NIV) Wicked : Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed , you were sanctified , you were justified in the na...

Although I was not conscious of it, I was alive when Herbert Hoover was elected President of the United States. From my kindergarten year into my senior year of high school, Franklin Delono Roosevelt was President. I remember where I was when he died in 1945. I marched in Harry Truman’s inauguration in 1949. I was in the Korean War when Truman fired General MacArthur. Since then I have been very conscious of all of the Presidents and remember certain events, good and bad, in of their presidencies. My conviction, looking back on all of these years, is not that the American people have collective wisdom in electing the next president, but that we have a maximum of two terms for any one president. Rather than great wisdom in the people it looks (without being cynical) like there are other factors not in any order of precedence. Gender, race, age, looks, money, principles, location, political party, social status, education, intelligence, knowledge, truth, and lies. The most important deci...

Here is a very short parable. “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?” Luke 6:39 (NIV) That is all there is to the parable, two short rhetorical questions. The answers are in the questions. Jesus was not talking about physical blind men. The parable referred to spiritual blind guides teaching spiritually blind followers. The pit is not a hole in the ground. It is the lake of fire. The blind guides are the Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens of this world!

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...