In Paul's letter to Timothy, he gives a solemn warning to the young pastor:

"Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." (1 Timothy 1:18-20)

Yesterday, while searching for something else, I came upon a blog which really disturbed me. The author of the blog is a former Baptist pastor who has left the ministry and the Lord. He says he made "an intellectual decision" to reject Christianity and the Bible. He says he does not believe the Bible is the Word of God, but claims to have concluded that it is a "fallible, errant book written by men." He says he cannot see God as a loving Creator. Instead, he states, "At best God is a creator who set things in motion and said 'there ya go.. do with it what you will.'" He also very boldly describes himself as "godless, apostate agnostic, and claims he now has a new sense of freedom and that he is living a more honest life. Perhaps... perhaps he was living a lie before.

One has to wonder... is it possible that this man ever had a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? When I was living in rebellion 20 years ago, I was certainly disobedient, but never denied the truth of God's Word, never doubted His existence, never spoke against Him. I know believers fall at times, but God never allows us to stay there. He does something to get our attention. I am a living example of God's grace in that regard.

Personally, I find it difficult to accept that a true believer could completely turn their back on the faith. Were Hymenaeus and Alexander ever really saved? Was this former pastor ever really saved? Is shipwrecked faith an abandoned faith or a faith that never fully came to fruition?

How do we reach a person who has studied God' Word, preached it, claimed at one time to believe it, and later turned their back on it?

ToMessiah has a new look!

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I love the Book of Nehemiah. There is so much we can learn from this man’s life and from his response to adversity and to his God. Think for a moment about what Nehemiah did. In human terms, it made no sense at all for him to leave his cushy job in the palace where he had all he wanted to go and live in the ruins of Jerusalem, facing hunger, hardship, opposition and real danger. Yet, he went because God moved him. I, too, need to go whenever and wherever God moves me, whether it makes sense in human terms or not, whether it will involve hardship and opposition or not.

Nehemiah's enemies "conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it." (Neh. 4:8) Nehemiah's response was not to run and hide, or to complain about it. Verse 9 says, "Nevertheless..." (nevertheless - no matter what - no matter what the enemy throws at me ....)"we made our prayer unto our God." Nehemiah's immediate response to the opposition was to turn to the Lord for His help and protection. May it always be mine.

"...and set a watch..." We need also to "set a watch" over our hearts and lives, knowing that our enemy may attack at any moment, when we least expect it, just as Nehemiah's enemies conspired to do (v. 11).

Regardless of how the enemy chooses to attack, we need to heed Nehemiah's advice, "Be ye not afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible..."

Because Nehemiah trusted in the Lord, believing "our God shall fight for us" (v. 15), he did see victory and completed the task God had given him. God took care of the opposition and "brought all of their counsel to nought."  "So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days." (Neh. 6:15).

Whatever "wall" God gives me to build, I pray He will strengthen my hands to the work as He did for Nehemiah, enable me to seek Him first in all things, including opposition and to see victory for His glory. Then, I will be able to rejoice in Him as Nehemiah and the remnant in Jerusalem did (Neh. 9.)...

"And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God...and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God....and...said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee."

Father, help me to set a continual watch and pray continually, relying on You for victory in all things, for Your glory. 



 

 We like to pick out certain verses from Eph 4... speaking of the various gifts and positions within the body, of unity, etc. But when read in context, it paints a bigger, more beautiful picture of God's desire for His people and their function together for His purpose...

Paul begins by saying, " I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling..."

He then says, "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."

We have been given grace "according to the measure of the gift of Christ." The next word is WHEREFORE. The gifts we have been given have been given by grace. They are not ours to keep to ourselves or to elevate ourselves. They are given "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…" To what end? "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:"

Do you see the purpose here? God's desire and requirement is that we be in UNITY...growing together in the knowledge of His Son...becoming more and more like Him - TOGETHER. This is why we must be "speaking the truth in love." We can't water down the truth of God's Word simply because someone else might not be comfortable with it, or because it doesn't please some people. We are REQUIRED by God to speak the truth in love so we may encourage and help one another to "grow up into him in all things...From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. " We MUST work together, each of us doing our part to contribute to the growth of the body "unto the edifying of itself in love." Edifying doesn't mean sugar-coating the message, edifying doesn't mean speaking a "feel-good" message only. Edifying means speaking out against sin; edifying means speaking out against unbelief; edifying means speaking the truth in love.

Paul goes on to exhort us to clean and pure living and ends with a directive to "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Our words, our edification, must "minister grace to the hearers." Sometimes speaking the truth may seem harsh to the hearer - often because the Holy Spirit is doing His work of conviction. However, that doesn't mean we stop "speaking the truth in love." We must continue together in love and unity. As parents, it is our responsibility to warn our children of danger. We teach them not to touch a hot stove , to look before crossing the street, etc. As members of the body of Christ, we must warn, admonish and encourage one another also. The key is to be led by the Spirit to speak that truth in love so it may "minister grace to the hearers." As a united body, encouraging one another, there is no place for the things Paul mentions in the final verses. We must put away...get rid of...avoid...anything that is not conducive to love and unity.

Remember, the chapter and verse divisions we see in our Bibles were added for convenience, but were never part of the original. Paul continues this thought at the start of chapter 5 by saying, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." All that we do as members of the body of Christ must be done in love so we, as a body, become and continue to be a sweet smelling fragrance unto the Lord.