The Blessings of God

This Sunday, September 12, Mr. Brown gave a sermon on Deuteronomy 28:1-14. This passage is about the blessings that God gives his people when they do what his law requires.

Here are my notes:

Sometimes we think that we can keep sinning and asking for forgiveness over and over again and still receive blessings from God. It is true that God does bless the wicked (and this is for His glory), but sooner or later he will punish them.

Some Christians think that blessings come from where you live, or what condition you are living in. For example, a family could be living in a comfortable apartment but they make themselves unhappy by thinking if they could only move to the country or maybe have their own farm, then they would be blessed and happy! In their farm then there they could work for God! We need to be satisfied with what the Lord gives us. It may be that it is the Lords will for you to have your own farm. If he makes a way and you feel that it is His will, than move to that farm!

People often think that riches are evil. When they see another who is wealthy they think that that person gained his wealth by doing something illegal or wrong. The Bible does not say that money is evil. It says that the love of money is evil(1Timothy 6:10). Whatever the Lord gives you, try to make it bigger and better. If the Lord gives a gift of speech, than use it for His glory. If the Lord gives you riches, use it for His glory.

The Lord blesses those who practice the law. The law does not justify you, but the Lord will bless you for following his commands.

The Lord sometimes withholds blessings from his children. All of the examples of this happening in the Bible show that all withholding are for His glory and for the good of His children.

Don't always be worrying about what you are going to eat or wear. The Lord always takes care of his children.

Let's obey God, for in doing so, he is delighted to bless us.

Foolish Galatians

I am reading Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit, by Charles Spurgeon

I am writing a chapter summary after I read each chapter.

Here is my summary for chapter 1.

Chapter 1
"O foolish Galatians, are you so foolish? having begun in the spirit, are you now you made perfect by the flesh?"
Gal. 3:3

Who are the Galatians? In this case it is us. This book starts by showing our helplessness to gain God’s forgiveness for our sins. We may think that we are good maybe even righteous! But this is not true. As it is written, "There is none righteous, no, not one" Romans 3:10. The only one righteous is God and He is the only one that can save us from the fires of hell. This chapter talks about our sinful nature, and how only God is perfect. He is the only that can help us truly be saved.

The Galatians were not satisfied with the Gods help and they wanted more than that. This is human’s sinful lust. Once we obey the Lords commandment, the Lord will bless us. Though His blessing will be upon us in this world, our greatest reward will be to see His face in heaven and to never leave His side. There in heaven we will worship him all day because in heaven there will be no night. This does not mean that our lives will be easy, no, our lives might be even harder being a Christian than being an unsaved person. However, we are still not better than unsaved people in this world. No, we always have to go to God over and over again for mercy.

Spurgeon also talks about how we cannot be saved if the Holy Spirit does not touch our spirit to be saved. It is impossible to be saved without it. The best preacher in the world can preach his best sermon to someone and not convince him to be saved if the Holy Spirit is not urging the person’s soul to do so.

God Forbid.

This Sunday, June 26, 2010, Mr. Brown talked about Galatians 6:11-18. The title of the sermon was:

God forbid that I should boast- except in the cross of Christ.

We should not use our Christendom as a way to bring glory to ourselves. We should glorify God in all we do. Any actions we do, do not save us. It is the Lords mercy that saves us, if we obey his commandments. Once you are saved the world will hate you. You will be persecuted and mocked, but if you stay strong your reward will be great! The gospel can be very terrible or very wonderful to someone. It depends if you are a true Christian or not. We should be proud to be Christians. But that does not mean that we are better than everyone that is not a Christian. We are sinners saved by grace alone.

George Mueller

I am reading the biography of George Mueller. I am taking notes as I read the book. Our elders chose this book for the congregation to read, study and learn from the life of this man of faith.

George Mueller

To ascertain the Lords will we ought to use scriptural means. Prayer, the Word of God, and His Spirit should be united together. We should go to the Lord repeatedly in prayer, and ask Him to teach us by his Spirit through His Word. I say, by His Spirit through His Word. For if we should think that His Spirit led us to do so and so, and yet His Word is opposed to the step which we are going to take, we should be deceiving ourselves.

This is a quote from George Mueller. Whenever we want to find what God wants us to do, we should always look into the Word of God for answers. You should also pray to God for answers. God will speak to you through the Word of God.

Another thing if you say that the Holy Spirit leads you to do something and you look in the Bible and it says not to do that, than it is not the Lord who told you to do that!

Not a Good Offering

Sermon report:

This is a sermon report on Mal. 1:6-14 which was preached by Mr. Horn on Sunday, June 17 . In verses 6-8 the Lord tells how the priest disrespect the laws of the Lord and how their attitude shows that they think that the Lord should accept whatever they give Him. The priests were giving the kind of bread that had been given to idols. They also would not prepare the sacrifices the way that the Lord had commanded them to. Then when they were told what they were doing wrong they would say, “What are we doing wrong?” The Lord challenges them by saying that if they had given the governor the same objects would he be happy with them? The Lord gives them a second chance by telling them to ask for forgiveness and plea for mercy. In verse 11 the Lord says that sinners and heathens all over the world will come to love him and worship him. In verse 13 the people say that it is a weariness to serve the Lord. The lord tells them that if a man has the ability to give the best and does not then He will curse him. Another way of putting that is like coming to church and falling asleep in the middle of the sermon or singing just because the other people are singing, or reading and praying to God to save yourself and not because you love and fear God. These are all corrupted offerings and the Lord is NEVER pleased with these kinds of offerings.

What Did We Do Wrong?

On Sunday June 27, 2010, our elder, Mr. Horn's sermon was about Malachi 2:11-17.

Malachi 2:11-17 (New King James Version)

¹¹ Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has profaned
The LORD’s holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
¹² May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being awake and aware,^a]">[a]
Yet who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!
¹³ And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the LORD with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
¹⁴ Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the LORD has been witness
Between you and the wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
Yet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
¹⁵ But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
¹⁶ “ For the LORD God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one’s garment with violence,”
Says the LORD of hosts.

“ Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously.”
¹⁷ You have wearied the LORD with your words;
Yet you say,

“ In what way have we wearied Him?”
In that you say,

“ Everyone who does evil
Is good in the sight of the LORD,
And He delights in them,”
Or, “Where is the God of justice?”

Here are some of my notes:

The name Judah is another name for Israel.

The Lord will not accept the offering of the people because of the adultery that the men of the city have committed. One example of this happening is that the people have given sacrifices that are not up to God's standards. The Lord told them to give a lamb or animal without blemish to the priest to sacrifice to God. But the people were giving animals that were blind, sick, lame, or even stolen! There is one mistake that we cannot make while reading this passage of scripture. We have to see that this passage can and does apply to us! A false offering can be many things. Here are some examples of a false offering:

· A false offering can be a prayer in the midst of other people to impress them with the prayer or with your supposed holiness.

· It could also be that you go to church just to show the congregation that you are a pious person.

· It could be that we only obey our parents while they are watching us and not at all times.

· You can also pray for forgiveness of a sin and you still do it over again, and again, and again.

But in this chapter the men of Israel have committed adultery against the wives of their youth. And because of this the Lord will not accept their offerings. And then the men say, "Where have we sinned? What did we do wrong?"

God HATES divorce!

"Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let non deal treacherously against the wife of your youth..."

How do you deal treacherously with the wife of your youth?

-Lusting. Going to places on the computer or other places that you know you will be tempted or see things you shouldn't see.

-Being unkind.

-Not loving or cherishing her as the weaker vessel.

-Not washing her with the Word of God.

The men of Israel would ask God over and over again to accept their sacrifice. The Lord would grow weary of listening to the peoples pleas. God would tell them that they were wearying him with their false sacrifices to him. But they would only say "What did we do wrong?"

We weary God when we call evil "good" and good "evil."

Don't expect your prayers to be answered when you don't do what God tells us to do.