Category: Uncategorized

Bring What Is Required

A father had four sons, who owned four businesses. He had helped them all start their businesses with a loan, and after 20 years, they were to repay him the original $5000 he had invested. The day came for them all to meet so that the father could put the funds back into his own account — as he was preparing to retire, and would have needed of the funds now that he was going to be on a fixed income.

One son had started a liquor store that profited nicely over the years, and he brought with him $5000 in cash from the cash register for that week’s take.

Another son had started a payday loan business that had profited wonderfully over the years, and he brought with him certified bonds that could be redeemed immediately for $5000 or for more once they mature in several years.

Yet another son had started a restaurant that had profited reasonably over the years, but the restaurant had recently caught fire and burned to the ground. He found himself in a situation where he could not rebuild and also repay his father, so he brought a check for $5000 that he knew would clear if his father chose to deposit it.

The last son had opened a nursing home and rehabilitation facility that he loved and maintained at the highest levels of care, but where he just couldn’t maintain a steady profit for himself because he was always overextending himself to either help out his employees or improve upon the facilities. He found himself without $5000 in his account to pay when the day came, so he arranged with the local bank to pre-approve a loan for $5000 and he offered his father the choice of either the $5000 that he would repay to the bank in time or to come and live in his facility at no cost for the rest of his life.

Some of the brothers grumbled against each other, about the life choices each had made, about the way in which the others had chosen to pay their father back, etc.

But the father simply loved them for loving him and for respecting him and their agreement. He appreciated each of them for their gifts and talents and abilities, and for their imperfections and challenges and successes they each have in their lives.

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My morning reading was from Numbers 7, where each tribe brought exactly the portion expected of them. There was no accounting for the different population sizes of each tribe, no accounting of the backstory concerning how each came up with what was expected — just an accounting that each tribe brought exactly what was expected.

It would have been just as wrong hearted for a tribe to make a show of bringing more than the others out of their abundance as it would have been for a tribe to show up shorthanded out of their laziness.

In a world that thrives on comparison and expectations and pride and shame — where we expect each other to live up to “our own standards” and we easily fall into offense over others “not hitting the mark” or “slighting us in some way” — it can be quite earth shattering to considerall of this in the light of God’s “requirements”.

Are you “Bringing what is required?”

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 NLT

They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:28‭-‬29 NLT

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“Believe”.

And if you believe, you will love.

And if you love, you will not doin against God and you wel not sin against each other.

So if you are sinning, go back to the beginning and “Believe”.

So if you are not loving, go back to the beginning and “Believe”.

——————

Do you believe?

Do you love?

Provide for your family, help your neighbor, pray for your enemy.

But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.
1 Timothy 5:8 NLT

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:43‭-‬48 NLT

Their Benefit Comes in Their Destruction

A farmer has some animals that are close pets that are close and personal to him and his family. Also, he has others that help him work the farm. But it is the animals who are given limitless food, who are allowed to be lazy, and who never actually toil or labor for the farm during their lives that are the ones intended for slaughter. Their use is not for their relationship or their work — their benefit to the farm comes in their destruction.

—————-

Close relationship is a true blessing.
The ability and opportunity to work hard is a blessing.
Comfort and ease may not be the blessing they initially appear to be.
Grumbling about others who seem lazy and fat and comfortable is short sighted.

Appreciate your purpose.
Don’t waste your purpose just to be slaughtered.

————–

Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
James 5:1‭-‬6 NLT

Lord , you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. So let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy? You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts. But as for me, Lord , you know my heart. You see me and test my thoughts. Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered! How long must this land mourn? Even the grass in the fields has withered. The wild animals and birds have disappeared because of the evil in the land. For the people have said, “The Lord doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!” “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan? Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak. “I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies. My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt. My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean! “Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness. They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares. On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the Lord devours people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape! My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the Lord .” Now this is what the Lord says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them. But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession. And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people. But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the Lord , have spoken!”
Jeremiah 12:1‭-‬17 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements. God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
James 1:2‭-‬25 NLT

All The Law

And that’s because of a wrong heart and wrong desire issue:

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37‭-‬40 ESV

On these two commandments depend all the law.

On this one thing — love — depends all the law.

Godly, upright, just, merciful, sacrificial and selfless LOVE.

Men do not obey because they do not love.

Men do not love because the Holy Spirit of God is not in them.

Would you choose love, friend?

Would you choose loving arms spread wide upon a cross so that you can have a new heart, a new spirit, new desires in you that flow from a new source greater than self?

Will you repent from your own ways to believe and receive Christ in you?

Will you love?

Then you will obey.

The Singing Traveler

A traveler passing through a foreign country is walking along the road, singing the words to his favorite song in his own language, but many of the people where he is traveling consider themselves enemies of the country of his birth. Some hear his melodious singing in a foreign language and immediately hate him because of his words and cannot bear to even listen to him — but others appreciate the tune and even wonder to themselves what he might be saying in his words. So there is a clear difference between those he encounters — those who cannot bear to hear his singing and draw back from him — or those who draw closer to hear more.

——————–

We might wonder to ourselves about two things at work here — the language that divides so strongly, and the melody that draws, but we should not miss the third

That is the message in the lyrics, that just might be uncovered and understood — in that place where strangers become neighbors, neighbors become friends, and friends become brothers.

——————-

And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'”
Mark 4:11‭-‬12 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mrk.4.11-12.ESV

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
Mark 4:33‭-‬34 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mrk.4.33-34.ESV

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:10‭-‬17 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.3.10-17.ESV

Two Horses

A farmer has two horses — one he eagerly works with daily by his side, strengthening and training for hard, strong labor required in the fields together to sustain his family — and another he allows his daughter to train to be meek and mild and docile and timid for her own peaceful riding, pleasantly and joyfully whenever she pleases.

If the work horse looks at the riding horse and says to himself, “Look how lazy and weak and useless that other horse is compared to me! He should be doing like me and pulling heavy loads! Since he is lazy and worthless, I will either intimidate him and cause him to run away and never return so that I don’t have to see his laziness everyday — or if he will not leave, I will kill him myself!”

If the riding horse disappears and the farmer discovers the work horse’s delight in his own treachery — how do you expect the farmer will react?

Isn’t it fair and practical for the farmer to use the two horses to fill the two different needs as he sees fit?

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Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Romans 4:4‭-‬5 ESV

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“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Matthew 20:1‭-‬16 ESV
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“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 18:23‭-‬35 ESV

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For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
1 Corinthians 12:12‭-‬27 ESV
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The message you heard from the very beginning is this: we must love one another. (1 John 3:11)

And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)

Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18)

Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

Be under obligation to no one—the only obligation you have is to love one another. Whoever does this has obeyed the Law. (Romans 13:8)

My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action. (1 John 3:18)

No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us. We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. (1 John 4:12-13)

Do all your work in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)

Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another. Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. (Ephesians 4:2-3)

To conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; love one another, and be kind and humble with one another. Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you. (1 Peter 3:8-9)

Not just Liked, Valued

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:10‭-‬12 NLT

Men let’s grasp this firmly within our minds — before we seek to grasp that daughter of the King gently in our arms. Don’t just lust after the ripe looking fruit hanging on the tree easily within your grasp to satisfy your immediate cravings. Don’t run from tree to tree making yourself sick on fruit that isn’t even ripe or good for you. Learn the high value of investing in a good wife — instead of the high cost of a free whore. Amen.

When I Think of You

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.
Philippians 1:3 NLT

How sweet it is to think of a person or people and immediately thank God for them! How full of sight and love and grace and peace to see Christ in them and not focus our eyes upon their shortcomings and failures!

If this is a rare occurrence for us — might it be a convicting revelation to us that it may be more about the eyes with which we are using to examine others rather than something wrong with God’s perfect plan and timing playing out around us?

Are we setting our thoughts and mind upon the things of God and preaching the Word of God and carrying along with us the presence of God that moved even through Peter’s shadow as he walked by to bring healing and restoration to all within reach. If we are not seeing evidence of life around us, what are we carrying with us — what seed are we sowing — is it love? Is it Christ? Is it truth? Or have we been counterfeit and self serving, even in our outward religious appearances?

It is true that some we cannot look at who are loveless and religious and selfish and proud and who are clearly lost and imprisoned and sowing the seed of the enemy — and while we may not see God in such people who are enemies of God and seek to oppose ther children of God, we can surely see the opportunity for God to move mightily upon even those who hate and seek to murder Christians — like He did with Paul at the Damascus road.

Without vision, the people perish. Can you see such things, you who seek to lead others? Or have you been a blind guide as well?

Lord, teach us to look at each other and praise God. Amen.

Grace and Peace

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:2 ESV

Grace and peace… both gifts from God. So instead of measuring and judging whether or not the apoptosis measure is in others — or acting as the manners police — shouldn’t we be pursuing more fervently that God pours out grace and peace to His people?

And doesn’t grace come in the face of adversity and trial and temptation? Is it “graceful” to be kind to a benefactor or isn’t that just normal human nature that even the godless understand? It is graceful to be kind to someone who is acting like an enemy in the middle of that oppression and persecution. And Godly peace is not just the absence of conflict — we see that the peace that comes from God is the firm foundation that sees the house still standing after the waves and winds have come and gone.

So will we pray for peace and grace to come in abundance upon the body of Christ — even in the midst of a pouring out of great trials and challenges and sufferings around us so that God’s abiding presence in us and through us is a shocking and compelling testimony to the lost?

Do we want to know grace and peace deep and wide and tall and far reaching? Do we want to see grace and peace abound in the body of Christ even as judgement and wrath is poured out upon the enemies of God as a declaration to Satan through the body of Christ, “Let my people go so they can serve God!” Just as Moses and Aaron declared to Pharoah in the days of the Old Testament.

Isn’t abounding grace and peace a deliverance from the cries of the flesh and whisperings of the enemy to a restored walking in the garden with the Lord, even as the flames in this world would appear to surely be about to consume us. Do we trust God enough to pray for such things for the body of Christ?

Do we fear that those we love most might not endure because Christ may not be in them — but we would rather cuddle them in their death than seek and knock and stand as a mediator on their behalf like Moses did when God sought to destroy the nation of Israel for their great wickedness and idolatry?

God Gives

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Philippians 1:2 NLT

God grants grace and peace. Need more? Ask!

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
James 4:1‭-‬3 NLT

Lord, forgive us our many shortcomings. Grant us your grave and peace. Don’t lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil — even through the fiery, refining trials that prove what appeared to be for evil was actually for good. Help us to be willing to ask you when we don’t understand. Amen.

Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”
Exodus 5:22‭-‬23 NLT

Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials —one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.
Matthew 17:4‭-‬8 NLT

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 4:16 NLT

God’s perfect plans will overshadow our own questions and doubts and wrong ideas about how we think that things “ought to be”. Our perspective is so limited and restricted (like tunnel vision), while He knows the height and width and length and depths. So it is good for us to ask Him questions, but we must also understand that how He answers our questions might be a drastically, fearfully, shockingly different response than we expected. He is God and we are not, after all!

Thank you, Lord, that you know better than us and that you will not destroy us for coming to you with our questions. In fact, you already know that we don’t understand your ways that are higher than ours, and that the trials and the unexpected prove to be a vehicle of opportunity to bring us close enough to inquire and receive your answers. Grant us faith to know you and trust you with our questions, and to receive your answers well. Amen.

God’s Holy People

Second part of verse 1 —

I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons.
Philippians 1:1b NLT

So last hour, I made it through the from (the sender), and now we move on to the to (the recipient). And Paul and Timothy aren’t casting their pearls to the swine, they are writing this to a specific audience — to “God’s holy people in Philipi…” so let’s stop right there.

If Brannon were to start out a sermon with a parable about the Kingdom of God, then offer the gospel to all who might receive it — then before preaching on the book of Philippians, fearfully and respectfully communicate in the same way Paul and Timothy identified their intended recipients as “God’s holy people here at The Well”, I wonder how shocked (and maybe even offended) some might be to understand that this message is written to a particular people — a holy and set apart people — that not everyone who came into contact with this letter might be a recipient.

What a delusion and complacency shattering stone the gospel can be when we are willing to let it shine its light upon us.

Are we coming into the sanctuary prepared in faith and covered in grace, and confessed and forgiven of our sins with no burdens still upon our shoulders and no chains still upon our members and no stains upon or garments so that when we hear a servant of the most high God proclaim, “I am a messenger from God, with a message for His holy people” that wr can come boldly into the throne room of grace to rightly receive and carry on this flaming fire to the ends of the earth, never letting the fire go out?

Shouldn’t we contemplate such things when we look at the FROM and the TO and be fully assured that this letter is indeed ours to receive? What if we hear it, but cannot receive it because wr don’t even truly believe it is for us — it might be better that we not even hear it if it isn’t for us! Imagine if a man dying from cancer received the doctor’s advice meant for a healthy man, and the healthy man received the doctor’s advice meant for the mam with cancer. Couldn’t the “keep on with what you are doing” lead to the death of the mam with cancer just as much as radical chemotherapy might lead to the death of the healthy man!

Are we “God’s holy people in Philipi”? Not if you are in Landrum. So we can acknowledge there may be some context specific to Philipi in this letter that we should be mindful of.

Now what about the question, Are you “God’s holy people”?

We can see that there are going to be common points in this book that all of “God’s holy people” can glean from — but what of those that aren’t “God’s holy people”?

What about those vessels created for wrath and destruction? What about those who are not God’s called and chosen elect? What about those in which Christ is not abiding? If you are in that group, I encourage you to stop right now and read the gospel books instead, and determine whether or not you are called to be a slave to Christ and “God’s holy people”. If you are not, it is because you will not believe, repent, and submit to the authority and love and mercy of God. And if that is the case, this book to “God’s holy people” is closed to you. Even though you may read it, and analyze it, and formulate your own ideas about it, it will not bear the fruit of Christ in your life until you are rooted in Him.

Ready to continue?

Maybe I can make it through verse 2 in less than 2 hours. 🙂