Posted in E.M. Bounds, tagged 1 Corinthians 2:5, E.M. Bounds, Falsity in the Church, Religious Deception, the Church of God, The church of men, The Way of Religion, Truth versus Religion on April 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“Another scheme of Satan is to eliminate from the church all the humble, self-denying ordinances that are offensive to unsanctified tastes and unregenerate hearts. He seeks to reduce the church to a mere human institution—popular, natural, fleshly, and pleasing.”
– E.M. Bounds
“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God”
1 Corinthians 2:5
Posted in Ichabod Spencer, tagged 1 John 2:3, How to Know we are Christ's, Ichabod Spencer, obedience, Obedience and Love, Obedience the verity of religion, Quote for Today, Quote of the Day, They who are of the Truth Obey, True Faith, Truth versus Religion on March 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“There are multitudes in our congregations who are just waiting while they ought to be acting. They must work, if they would have God work in them. There can be no religion without obedience”
– Ichabod Spencer
“And hereby we do know that we know him,
if we keep his commandments”
1 John 2:3
Posted in Thought for Today, tagged 1 Samuel 15:18-19, 1 Samuel 15:21, 1 Samuel 15:22-23, 1 Samuel 15:24, A Word in Season, Acts 5:1-5, Appearance the sin of Religion, Authentic Living, Authenticity, Fearing God more than people, Galatians 1:10, obedience, Obedience is True Worship, Purity of Heart = Authenticity of Life, Religious Sin, Serving God, Thought for Today, Truth versus Religion on March 5, 2018| 1 Comment »
“And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned:
for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord,
and thy words: because I feared the people,
and obeyed their voice”
1 Samuel 15:24
The above scripture taken from the narrative of Saul’s life is one of a long and sad commentary on his reign in Israel. This event serves as a stern warning to us as to what the Lord considers obedience. Saul’s “partial obedience” is confronted by the Prophet Samuel concerning the Amalekites.
“And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?”
1 Samuel 15:18-19
“But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal”
1 Samuel 15:21
Saul had partially fulfilled the Word of the Lord to him. He had destroyed the Amalekites, but he kept the king alive and allowed the people to keep the spoils of battle to “sacrifice” them to the Lord.
“And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king”
1 Samuel 15:22-23
In God’s eyes partial obedience is sin and disobedience. Religious sin is when His ministers obey the voice of the people rather than God. It is one of the greatest of all sins for when those who are directly responsible for expressing God’s will and way in the earth corrupt their allegiance to Him, God’s name is blasphemed. Religious sin is always cloaked in the pretense of worshiping God, honoring God or serving God. Yet He who weighs the thoughts and intents of the heart sees it as disobedience and rebellion. The religious sin of appearing to serve the Lord (see the sin of Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5:1-11) is ever shrouded in deceit to appear spiritual to those around us. Things which should be destroyed or forsaken are instead offered up to God as a sacrifice.
Religious sin is found wherever and whenever men and women listen to the voice of the people rather than to God. When the appearance of a thing is more important than obedience, when that which the Lord has spoken is compromised with the desire to be pleasing in the sight of the people rather than in the sight of God, the result is rejection and sorrow.
“Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord,
he hath also rejected thee from being king”
Obedience is the highest and purest expression of true worship and sacrifice.
“For do I now persuade men, or God?
or do I seek to please men?
for if I yet pleased men,
I should not be the servant of Christ”
Galatians 1:10
Brian Troxel
Posted in Enemy of Our Soul, LOVE, Uncategorized, tagged Choices, Choose This Day, Choosing Good, Darkness of the Soul, Empty Soul, Envy, Envy the Curse of the Soul, Envy the Prison of Soul, Envy the rust of Soul, Envy the stain of sin, God is Love, In Loving we find Life, life, love, Love is Freedom, Love is Joy, Love is Knowing god, Love is Pure, obedience, Poem, Proverbs 14:30, Repentance, Repentance the way of Life, Thankfull Heart, Thankfulness the Remedy for Envy, The Contrast, Truth the way of fruitfulness, Truth versus Religion on November 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Love is its own reward
For in its power all is restored
Envy is the rust of soul
Corrupting all within its hold
Love rejoices in another’s success
For it is full in its own blessedness
Envy increases in emptiness
Receiving from its wretchedness
Love’s joy is ever giving
Flowing from Him who is ever living
Envy covets what others own
Reaping the ruin that it has sown
Love is life’s true delight
Freeing the heart from all sin and strife
Envy’s wages are hell and blight
Binding the heart in sin and strife
It is in envying the things of others
our own garden is filled
with wicked weeds and evil deeds
Brian Troxel
“A heart at peace gives life to the body,
but envy rots the bones”
Proverbs 14:30
Brian Troxel
http://www.aword.info
Posted in The Church, tagged A Word in Season, Called of God, Exodus 32:1, Exodus 32:4-5, Galatians 1:1, God's Ministry versus Man's Ministry, Isaiah 30:10, Man's Strength versus God's Power, Sent of God, The Body of Christ, The Carnal Church, The Fruit of Man's Ways, The Heavenly House, The True Church, truth, Truth versus Religion on August 5, 2017| 6 Comments »
“For they are an uncontrolled people, false-hearted,
who will not give ear to the teaching of the Lord:
Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets,
Do not give us word of what is true,
but say false things to give us pleasure”
Isaiah 30:10 (BBE)
Most people would not blatantly say such things but God sees the heart. Many religious people do not want to hear truth. They do not want to concern themselves with the condition of their hearts, God’s house, nor the gravity of the day in which we are living. There is only the desire for positive words and good things to bolster our carnal ways. We have not come to this state of apathy by embracing His truth and walking in His Spirit. We are here because of our choices. We have a “church” where the people elect who would minister to them rather than whom God may send. We have our own agendas for how we want “our” church to look. It is not about God; it is about an atmosphere where we can feel comfortable, accepted and in control.
Truth has become something that fortifies our “doctrine”, our way of doing things and conducting our church/fellowship business. The ministration of the Word is no longer a fearful thing. It is not something which holds up the light, wonder and holiness of God; it has become tepid and impotent. Rather than bringing conviction it soothes our failures to live righteously. It makes light of sin and our carnal and worldly ways. Pastors and preachers who want to hold on to their “jobs” need to stay within the comfort zone or their replacement will easily be found. Those who love truth will speak it. These ones do not seek the approval of men for there is a knowledge deep within their hearts of a holy accountability unto Him who will judge all things. This is nothing new as noted by Francis Bacon in his day.
“In periods of unsettled faith, skepticism, and mere curious speculation in matters of religion, teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt. The demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shape their own preachers. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf-maker is readily found. “The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools” (Bacon, Ess. 17).
There is always a “priesthood” quick to provide whatever the people want:
“…the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron,
and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us…”
Exodus 32:1
Aaron quickly responded:
“…and fashioned it with a graving tool,
after he had made it a molten calf:
and they said, “These be thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt”.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it;
and Aaron made proclamation, and said,
Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord”
Exodus 32:4-5
Notice how quickly they took the “new” and made it appear as if it was unto the Lord! Religion has not changed. There is nothing new under the sun. Surely this is a generation who loves to hear smooth and nice words. Whenever and wherever God’s people choose their own ministers the results will be the same.
It is during these times that God raises up true men and women who seek to live truth, speak truth and to confront the horror of such things. In God’s House the ministrations of His Spirit are not chosen by the people they are called…
“Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man,
but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father…”
Galatians 1:1
Brian Troxel
http://www.aword.info
Posted in His Word, Our Service, Thought for Today, tagged 1 Corinthians 9:16, Apathy, Apostle Paul, Charles Spurgeon, Jeremiah 20:9, Knowing the Necessity of God, Necessity, Preacher of Righteousness, Preaching God's Word, Preaching in the midst of Apostasy, The Call of God, The Fire of God within, The Well of Christ, Truth versus Religion, Yielding to His Spirit on June 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »
“For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of:
for necessity is laid upon me;
yea, woe is unto me,
if I preach not the gospel!”
1 Corinthians 9:16
The Call brings the sense of necessity. Here the hearts of His own are easily searched out. The inner need to express Him is a fire within their being. Those who know their God cannot be silent concerning His Name in the earth. Though few will listen, and many who use His Name are steeped in apathy, it will not dampen the irrepressible fervor to preach His Word. Jeremiah in the midst of the lethargy and the mockery of his generation tried to refrain from speaking His word but to no avail. How can His people remain silent in this day?
“Then I said, I will not make mention of him,
nor speak any more in his name.
But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire
shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing,
and I could not stay”
Jeremiah 20:9
“You cannot preach conviction of sin unless you have suffered it.
You cannot preach repentance unless you have practiced it.
You cannot preach faith unless you have exercised it.
True preaching is artesian;
it wells up from the great depths of the soul.
If Christ has not made a well within us,
there will be no outflow from us”
Charles Spurgeon
Brian Troxel
http://www.aword.info
