PreacherE

Jeremiah 2:13 God had shown His blessings to Israel unlike any other nation at that time. He had called them out of bondage from Egypt. God had parted the Red Sea, led them across dry land, and destroyed the Egyptian army behind them. God then led them through the wilderness for forty years providing their every need as they went. At the end of the forty years God once again parted the waters, this time of the Jordan River, and led them into Canaan land. God gave them the land and drove their enemies from them as they went through the land to possess it. While God had blessed them time and time again they had not remained faithful to God. While traveling through the wilderness they had murmured against God numerous times. They had turned from God and refused to put their trust in Him at times. Because of that, an entire generation of Israelites was forced to die in the wilderness due to the judgment of God. After God gave them the land of Canaan the children of Israel time and time again would turn from serving and worshiping God to serve and worship idols and false gods. In doing so they had despised the Word of the Lord and made themselves an abomination in the sight of God. They had traded the living waters of God for the broken cisterns of the world. This is something which is still going on with Christians today. God has blessed us beyond measure. While we, in our sins, deserve to spend an eternity in Hell; God chose, in His great love, to provide a way of salvation for us. God did not leave us to find our own way to Him but He has given us His written Word. God has blessed us in so many ways that we could not pen all the things He has done for us. While God has blessed His people today more ways than we can count there are still those who stray from God. There are Christians out of church and some in church who refuse to trust God, who refuse to remain faithful to Him, who refuse to follow the Word of God and the will of God. Many of these started out right, they started out on fire for God; yet, something happened along the way to cause them to stumble and stray from God. They have traded the living water of God for the broken cisterns of the world and as a result they are inviting the judgment of God upon their lives. 1. Traded the living waters of the King James Bible for the broken cisterns of modern versions. How sad it is that people within our Independent Baptist churches are turning from the King James Bible. Many of them have sat under good preaching at some time which exposed the dangers of the modern version of the Bible. At one time they themselves stood unashamedly on the King James Bible but somewhere along the way they have let their guard down and now they embrace the modern versions and the liberal theology which accompanies it. No longer do they embrace the infallible, inerrant, preserved Word of God; but, rather, they have fallen for the same lie which the devil gave Eve in Genesis 3:1, “…Yea, hath God said.” The devil has been casting doubt on the true Word of God since the Garden of Eden. All of the modern versions (RSV, ESV, NIV, The Message, and everything else in-between) are just a continuation of the attack of the devil on God’s inspired Word. All of the modern versions are translated from corrupt manuscripts and no Christian, especially those in Independent Fundamental Baptist churches, have any business reading these false bibles. Many times those who turn from the King James Bible to follow other version of the Bible do so because they have been listening to those who teach out of these false bibles. They have let down their guard and allowed these hirelings and false teachers to corrupt their way of thinking. They have given the devil an in-road into their life and allowed him to influence their theology. No Christian is strong enough to listen to false teaching from a false bible continually and it not affect them. These so-called preachers may preach some truth and they may have some catchy quotes but we should not be going to the dumpster just to get a couple of bites to chew on. Not when there are plenty of good preachers out there who preach from the King James Bible and are straight down the line in all their theology. Let us get back to the living waters of the King James Bible and away from the broken cisterns of the modern versions. 2. Traded living waters of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for the broken cisterns of contemporary Christian music. Some people seem to think that music is neutral or a matter of preference. However, those who study music will tell you that it is not neutral. Even in the Bible we can see that music was not considered neutral. Certain types of music and certain sounds meant and represented certain things. People knew what the music meant by the notes and sounds they heard regardless of the words being said. You can take Biblical words and ideas and put them into song all you want but if you are using the devil’s beat, rhythm, and music with those words then all it does it take something holy and make it unholy. Many of these contemporary Christian musicians are so yoked up with the world that one has to wonder whether they have truly been born again. Many of them have stated publicly that the inspiration for their music comes from wicked, ungodly rock groups (Third Day, Delirious, Casting Crowns, Jars of Clay, MercyMe, P.O.D., Sanctus Real, et. al.). The Bible teaches that you cannot take something as vile and wicked as rock music, throw some watered down Christian lyrics in with it, and expect it to be glorifying to God. When people begin to lower the standard of God’s Word, then they will also lower the standard of their music. When they begin to lower the standard of music, then their standard of dress will also be lowered. Eventually, you will reach a point where there are no real standards and everyone is simply doing that which is right in their own eyes. We have seen it happen in the world with the introduction of rock music in the 1950’s and 60’s and we’re seeing it happen more and more in our churches today with the contemporary music that is becoming so prevalent. Music should drive us to become more holy, to become more like Christ; not more and more like the world. It should cause us to become sensitive to the Spirit and not sensualized in our flesh. Sadly, many Christians would rather fulfill the lusts of their flesh then to walk in the Spirit. We need to get back to the living waters of Christ-honoring music and away from the broken cisterns of contemporary Christian music. Paul warned Timothy that in the last days there would be a growing apostasy and falling away from the faith. We are seeing this happen every day before our very eyes. Christians and even entire churches are trading the living waters of God for the broken cisterns of the world. They are trading the King James Bible and good, Christian music for modern versions and contemporary music. As they turn from God to the world they are throwing standards and personal holiness out the window as well. We need a group of Christians who will stay true to God and will not forsake Him. We need some Christians who will refuse to compromise in their personal walk with God and we definitely need some preachers who will refuse to compromise in their preaching and their stand for the Word of God. In Christ, PreacherE

Praying that she has a speedy recovery

Praying that God will give your families grace and comfort in this time.

Maybe use Matthew 20 where Jesus told the parable of the workers sent to the vineyard. Those who only worked an hour were paid the same wage as those who had worked the whole day. They definitely didn't think it was fair. Just an idea.

When I read this it immediately brought to mind Psalm 2:1-4 'Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. ' The heathen can go ahead and rage against the Lord now but one day they are going to have to stand before Him and what a sad day that will be.

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II Chronicles 29:1-6 We recently ended a year and began a new one. No doubt, many people spent the last week or two of 2011 reflecting on what had transpired over the past year. Many people may have experienced things in their life in 2011 which brought about great change in their life. It may have been the loss of a jOB or the start of a new one. Some families lost loved ones while other families welcomed new additions to their household. As we looked back on 2011 we also had the opportunity to look ahead to 2012 in anticipation of what the new year might have in store for us. People many times choose the new year as a time to get a fresh start in their lives. It is a time where we can hit the reset button, so to speak, and get our bearings to begin anew in certain areas of our life. Nearly everyone I know had some form of New Year's Resolutions, (whether they called it by that term or not) which they thought out or maybe even wrote down, of areas in their lives where they wish to improve in 2012. Let us also take a spiritual inventory of our lives as we get into 2012. We should look back at where we stood in our relationship with God in 2011 and work on getting closer to God going into the new year. Never should we become satisfied with where we are at in our walk with God. Every one of us could draw closer to Him. When Hezekiah became king he started off his rule with drawing himself and the children of Judah closer to God. Let us learn from his example on how we can get this new year started off right. 1. He Took Care of First Things First The very first thing which Hezekiah did upon becoming king was to open up the house of the Lord. He did not worry about the material well-being of his kingdom until it was taken care of spiritually. The kingdom was not only in a mess spiritually but also economically. God had judged the land because of Hezekiah's father, Ahaz's, wickedness. They had been invaded by the Syrians, the northern ten tribes of Israel, the Edomites, the Philistines, and the Assyrians. With all of the prOBlems the land had Hezekiah knew that the things of God had to be taken care of before anything else. If we would learn to put God first in our lives then everything else would be taken care of. Too many times we look to our physical needs and make sure they are provided for, but we fail to do anything about our spiritual needs. If we make the spiritual needs of our life our main priority then God will bless us because of it. Hezekiah was putting Matthew 6:33 into practice long before Jesus ever uttered the words here on this earth. 2. There was a Cleansing Hezekiah had commanded the Levites to cleanse and sanctify themselves so that they could then cleanse the temple. The priests went into the temple and brought out all the uncleanness into the courtyard so the Levites could then take it out of the city and dispose of it. The temple had accumulated dirt and dust from sitting idle and the vessels of God had been replaced by idolatrous altars. Ahaz had taken the vessels of God and had profaned them during his reign using them in his false worship. Those vessels the priests now took and restored to the House of God. They were so minded to do the work of God and to get back to worshiping God properly that they completed the temple cleansing on only 16 days. In our own lives many times we allow things to come in and dirty us up spiritually. Sometimes our lives become unclean because we do not exercise the spiritual enough. Our Bible reading, prayer life, and church attendance can all gather dust and cOBwebs when we fail to spend time with God as we should. If we are not careful then we may even allow idols to take up residence in our lives. Anything which comes between us and God is an idol in our life. We need to take the time to clean up our lives spiritually and we should have a mind to do it the way these priests did. Instead of dragging it out over the entire year, let us get busy about drawing closer to God so that we can worship Him properly sooner rather than later. 3. They humbled themselves before God and Worshiped Him The very next day after the temple was cleansed; Hezekiah went up and offered sacrifices to God. The first offering which Hezekiah gave was a sin offering to make atonement for the sins of the people. They had repented of their sin but the Law required that blood had to be shed for the remission of their sins. I'm glad that some 2000 years ago Blood was shed on an old, rugged cross to make atonement for my sin. Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice offered up once and for all so that all who come through Him might have forgiveness of their sins. There is no other way that we can stand before God then to come by the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else has the power to wash away our sin. The people also offered up burnt offerings to give glory to God. These offerings were burnt up entirely upon the altar as a sacrifice solely to God. The Bible tells us that we ought to present our own bodies a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1). We ought to live our lives in such a way that God gets all the glory, honor, and praise. The children of Judah had such a heart to worship that the priests could not keep up with the offerings. In 2012, we need to have a heart to worship God, to give Him the glory, and to lay ourselves down as a living sacrifice for Him. May we all draw closer to God in 2012. In Christ, PreacherE Preached at Piedmont Baptist Church on December 28, 2011

Will be praying for you Brother.