Worship Together

Psalm  95:1-7a KJV; Worship the Lord alongside other brothers and sisters in Christ.

Work With Integrity

Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord.

Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. 

                                     (Prov 20:10-11 KJV)

One of my pet peeves is working without integrity. Someone gives you a job; then thank God that you have a job and the ability to support yourselves and your family. It is not up to anyone else to support you in perpetuity. There is help when you need help and there are many people who genuinely need help.  There are also many who can work and won't or they do such a poor job that it takes two or more people to do the job that one can do.  If you can work then work and do the best that you can for yourself and for the person who has employed you. 

I see a lot of complaints on the news and social media that minimum wage needs to be raised to fifteen dollars an hours and complaints about the self check-outs taking away job in various businesses. I personally use the self check-outs in these establishments. 

Just prior to Christmas, I was shopping for a nice tie for a young boy who likes to dress up. I had to ask three people in one store before they could direct me to them. None of the three even smiled. In fact, they acted like I was disturbing their day. When I finally found the children's ties there were no nice ones. I ended up purchasing him a necklace with a superhero logo. That took standing around at the counter for about ten minutes before anyone showed up after the call for help. That person was not friendly either. I had definitely disrupted her morning routine. Although, there was not anyone at the check-outs with cashiers, I went to the self check-out. I had no desire to have another encounter with another employee who was not happy to be doing their jobs that morning.

For the sake of yourself and others: do yourself a favor; do for your employer what is right and do the work that you have been hired to do and do it with integrity. If in any way you serve the public; serve like you actually like people and want to help them.  It may not always be easy. It may seem like an uphill battle at times; but, do it any way. Work with integrity and do what is right and good so that there might be peace in the workplace and that God might be glorified.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Moses' Sin; Our Sin

And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.

                                  (Deuteronomy 34:4-5 KJV)

If the Lord prevented Moses from entering the promised land because of his sin; what about us? Moses was about as faithful as any man could possibly be. He gave up his place as royalty in Egypt. He faced off with Pharaoh under God's direction and power. He was as God's instrument to deliver God's people from slavery. If Moses was not good enough to enter the promised land what would make us think that we are? 

After all; Moses was chosen by God. God spoke directly to him. Moses saw His glory. Was he not favored? He was. He was God's chosen. But, Moses after all of the challenges he had faced for the children of God began to get a little bit of an ego and probably even began to feel sorry for himself having to be the one that everyone went to with every complaint. 

Well, the complaint that instigated Moses' sin was that they had no water. They were in the desert and they were thirsty. So according to God's direction Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation around the rock. Moses then spoke to the people: "...Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." (Numbers 20:10-12)

Moses had struck the rock as he was told to do. The Israelites had water to drink. So where is the sin? The sin was Moses' ego. Moses in doing God's will attributed the work of delivering the water to the people to himself and Aaron. He said, "must we?" And, he did it begrudgingly failing to give God the glory. 

Moses was not the only one not allowed to enter the promised land. Every man, except for two that had been delivered from Egypt, would die before they got to the promised land. God would have delivered them to the promised land almost immediately after leaving Egypt. But, when they were instructed to enter Canaan and the advance exploratory party returned with news of the strength of the Canaanites the people became afraid and did not trust the Lord enough to enter it. Of the people only Joshua and Caleb trusted the Lord enough to deliver the promised land to them. The Israelites had witnessed many miracles by God already. Yet, they did not trust Him. The sentence for this lack of trust by the Israelites was that they would wander in the desert for forty years. Anyone twenty years of age and up at the time would not enter the promised land themselves. Their children would. Joshua and Caleb would. But, they would not.

For these sins, many were not allowed entrance into the promised land. If Moses and the people of Israel who were so favored by God that they were delivered by God's own hand from slavery were not allowed entry into this promised land; what chance have we to enter His Kingdom? Are we so much better than they? Are our sins so much less?

But, thanks be to God we do have a deliverer! 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

                                                                                          (John 3:14-17)  

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened 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:

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

                                                                                       (Eph 2:5-9 KJV) 

Cherish the gift of God. Put aside your ego and trust in His promises. Remember, that it is He who has created you. It is He who sustains you. It is He who has delivered you from the bondage and power of sin. It is He who has welcomed you into His Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

All glory belongs to God!

God's Peace - Pr. J