Lyle's Blog

My dad said in our hometown there was a guy who they called “Joe Look in the Bottom”. In those days people would lay their tip for the waitress under their plate. Old Joe would wait for a patron to leave and casually walk by, lift the plate, and steal the tip. He missed his calling; he should have been a politician.

Mathew 16:35 “For whosoever will save his life will lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.”

We build our lives pursuing the dreams and goals of pre-grave achievements. Living requires physical effort to support our family and our existence but I think most of our time is spent on overachievement in this life that we cannot keep. Being dead to sin and alive to Christ (Romans 6:11) is a command that’s extremely difficult to obey. Taking a moment to decide what’s most valuable is time well spent.

Matthew 16:26 “For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” The only thing you have that’s of any value to God is your soul. Everything else you leave behind, and you will stand in judgment alone. The precious blood of Christ was payment for our souls. We have nothing to offer God in exchange for our souls. All souls belong to God and those not purchased by Christ have no value to the Creator.

1st Kings 15:5 Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” We see here that a man can live a “perfect” life in pursuit of God but still falter in the most wicked way. Murdering Uriah so David could take his wife was evil. David was blinded by lust and probably would have failed if he hadn’t been confronted with what would be the most obvious of sins. David had broken two of the Ten Commandments. He knew the law; he knew better. We must confront ourselves with our tendency to wander from the safety of the cross.

God is interested in repentance. You can achieve great things in your life, you may get immense accolades from your peers but still sin in the most basic ways. The key is repentance. David sinned boldly in the face of God’s Word. Real repentance reminds us that what you have power over will evaporate when the power of the grave takes you.

It’s difficult for a powerful or rich man to humble himself. Most of those that read this are rich in comparison to the rest of the world. So we can’t exempt ourselves from the trappings of wealth. Usually, power and riches aren’t brought about by meek people. I’m not saying we should be powerless but that our power be derived from submitting to the Holy Spirit. It’s the difference between letting God bless you or letting you bless you.

Well done thou good and faithful servant. Those are the words we should strive to hear from God. We strive to be faithful humble servants of God our whole lives. We want him to be proud of what he purchased. Being a humble servant in the work of Christ is the only way to please God.

John 19:1-12 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. And said, Hail, King of the Jews and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him.

Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him and crucify him for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law and by our law, he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; And went again unto the judgment hall and saith to Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

Then saith Pilate unto him, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him but the Jews cried out saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

Luke 4:5-7 And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me and whomsoever I will I give it, if thou therefore, bow down and worship me, all shall be thine.

Luke 3:22 But Herod the tetrarch being reproved by him (John) for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife and for all the evils which Herod had done. Added yet this above all, that he shut him in prison.

As demonstrated in the confrontation between the devil and Jesus, Satan gives power to whom he wants and the “only” thing he requires is worship, bowing to the law of rebellion. Political leaders are given their positions by being subservient to Satan. This is why America was founded on the idea that people should have the most power over their lives. When we realize that politicians’ main gig is to satisfy their constituents, we can better understand the problems with pure democracy. Politicians will submit to the rants and railings of sinful men. In a democracy the people are greater sinners than the leaders.

Even though the politician can look at the law and knows in his heart that a person is innocent, if the mob that supports him gets violent, then it’s better to cater to the mob than to exact justice. This is where America is today. We have joined the rest of the world in suppressing freedom for the benefit of the evil mob.

The mob always becomes very proficient in crushing dissent. Only a scant few will stand up to this final assault on man’s freedom. What we must remember, and is very hard to swallow, is that this power has been given to them by Satan. We must come to grips with Jesus’s warning. In this world, we will suffer persecution. If the world hated Jesus, it will hate us believers. If we point out wrongdoing by the State, we are the enemies of the state.

We’re always trying to elect someone to “save” us. There is only one Savior but a corrupt man elects corrupt leaders. We’ve accepted Christ as our Savior and like the children of Israel we’ve crossed the river but now find ourselves wandering in the desert for our whole lives. Along our journey, there are a lot of voices questioning our allegiance to a God who defines love differently than the world. The promised land isn’t anywhere on this earth.

So the question is, should we vote if we’re given the opportunity? How do we participate in democracy or should we. I look at it this way. Yes we should, however, we’ve always voted for the “lesser of two evils”. I only support those who most align themselves to the Bible, unashamed to stand with Christ. Will they win? Not usually but sometimes. God knows how you vote. Are you voting for your physical needs or the freedom to preach the gospel? Saving people and nations from their sins is the only thing that’s important. Instead of fishing (voting) for fish (the things of this world) let’s become fishers of men (the only valuable commodity in God’s eyes.

America has strayed far from its founding ideals. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have given way to a self-centered consumerism that redefines happiness. This disease has entered much of the American church in various degrees of corruption of the faith.

Joel Osteen probably optimizes this relinquishing the blood of Christ to an uncomfortable and even unnecessary part of atoning for sin. Pursuing personal happiness through favor with God is well-accepted in this works-based Christianity that dominates America.

None of this nonsense teaching is considered to be outside the American church doctrine. Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and am in need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

If one wishes to keep the faith then we must become teachers of the Word of God. Ezekiel 44: 23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to to discern between the unclean and the clean. These prosperity preachers always have great smiles with perfect teeth, salesmen of another gospel.

Most people fear something. We have “personal” fears, spiders, the dark, failure, and the list is endless. Even the toughest of men fear something. But what I’m considering is corporate fear. Politicians create an atmosphere of fear to benefit their efforts to stay in power and the more power gained the more ruthless the politician can be. It’s not that they have double standards but that there are no standards for them.

So we spend our lives complying with the dictates of nasty arrogant men. Complying with evil men pressures us to participate in their nefarious plans. Ordinary men become monsters obeying their edicts, doing the unthinkable to the innocent who have no way to defend themselves. We fear wicked men instead of God.

The Bible tells us we shouldn’t fear men because they can only destroy the body. We should fear God because not only can He destroy the body but He can throw us into hell. The problem is, we don’t “live” around God. If we want a relationship with him we have to seek it out and on top of that, we’ve got to trust Him by faith. In fact, you can’t even please God without faith. Men on the other hand surround us every day. We can’t hardly get away and are always dealing with them.

Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons and thy sons’ sons.” We forget about how serious God is. If we love our sons we will keep God’s Word and teach our children and grandchildren that fearing God will keep us from sin. Doing that helps us remember not to think too highly of ourselves.

Verse 10 continues that thought of keeping the Word of the Lord before you. We’re to gather our family and friends together to hear the Word of the Lord. Why? So they will learn to fear God. Learn fear? Didn’t we design ourselves a God who is our friend? Doesn’t God just want the best for us kind of like a good parent? Maybe we have to reconsider what kind of God we’re dealing with.

Reading further we read that God has a good handle on just what kind of people we are. Right to our face He says we’re likely to make ourselves a graven idol in the likeness of corrupt creation. Men since the beginning have worshiped the moon, sun, and stars, not to mention everything on Earth. God doesn’t like it. He created the universe. Worshiping anything besides Him is the ultimate insult to the one whose breath we breathe.

The Bible says we are scarcely saved, barely, by the skin of our teeth. God is the only one who could pay the price for disrespecting Him. What’s Jesus Christ doing in heaven except making continual intercession for us. So much for, once saved always saved.

The American church makes light of sin, imagining God as some sugar daddy, willing to do whatever we ask to satiate our lust for the things of this world. Whilst the church in much of the world suffers persecution, we in America dream the American dream; good healthcare, good job, retirement accounts, and the rest. We are poor, naked, and blind.

In Deuteronomy, we read that the slave was to serve the Master first before he took care of his own needs. I realize our enlightened world can’t grasp the concept of a world where slavery was normal. I note that Jesus never commented on the way men “organized” their lives, and never mentioned slavery. He left that to Paul who said, slaves obey your masters, and masters treat your slaves well. In slavery, marriage, work, worship, or service to the Lord, be kind. God is the master, we are the slave; service to him comes first.

Priorities form habits in our lives. Do we strive and achieve fellowship with God? Do we start our day with Him? With technology, our eyes are owned by a screen with images placed there by another god. We succumb to the lust of the eyes and that leads to tangible actions that edify the flesh and not the spirit.

Remember, the Bible says to pray that we are worthy to escape the things to come. Perilous times are coming. Everything we base truth on is quicksand fabricated by demons that are a whole lot smarter than we. Reading God’s Word reminds us of the foolishness of following the ambitions of Godless men. Samuel warned the people of Israel about having a king, but they wanted a king like the other nations of the world. I guess the Kingdom of God was too confining, too rigid, and demanded too much worship of a God you can’t see. Saul was “pretty” to look at; some flesh looks especially good.

So in the footsteps of all kings, they steal our land, and our money, encourage our children to love them and not us, and then take those precious children and send them to fight a war for the protection of their power.

Jesus said that knowing God is eternal life. We’ve got to know Him personally. That takes a daily commitment for years, our whole life, or God can’t take us seriously. We have to want a relationship with Him.