Is Culture Only Rubbish?

 

Philippians 3:7-9  NKJV  7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ , 9 and be found in Him not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Reality is Not in a Culture: It is in Christ Jesus. God will use His word to encourage our heart. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Psalm 32:8   Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. Psalm 37:37   He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.  Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17-18

My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.  Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 24:13-14

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. John 10:27-29

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Culture dictates that of the flesh. Only God can fill our hearts with His wisdom and understanding!

WISDOM and Revelation…. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. (Eph 1:17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Revelation knowledge penetrates right to the heart of man, it is the Word of God with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Even Satan can quote scriptures but it is the Holy Spirit that makes God’s Word relevant in Love to the receiver.

If we just operate based on wisdom, we become an old wineskin that cannot take in the new wine, the present Word of the Lord. Without revelation, we will merely maintain our ministries and not truly operate in Kingdom advancement. We must continuously come to God for fresh truth so that our youth is renewed like the eagle (Psalm 103:5). This heart posture will keep us willing to break out of the mold and jump off new cliffs into deeper waters that He can release through us.

Comparing that worldly culture to our culture that has developed the mentality in God:

1.            Culture dictates that  it is good to reward laziness: so they give them welfare checks

2.            Culture dictates entitlement!

3.          Our daughter was always told she could be educated, get a job and care for herself, she would not need a man to take care of her:  She was given wisdom to know that work was important if she wanted to eat!

4.            We always reminded her “mom and dad will not always be here” so she needed to see value in a job, in working and paying her fair share as in taxes.. ( Today we have government giving illegals money and incentives to cheat the nation. They get all kinds of free stuff!) This is the land of the free and home of the brave. It is not the land of  “free stuff”!

5.            Under their leadership a baby is nothing: no true value, so it is discarded in abortion or even worse allowed to live to be born and then flesh decides to kill or murder that newborn child!

6.            Rejecting the needful discipline of a child, we today have seen the “orphan” come forward..Today, when a president is elected, the father figure shining forth, the “orphan” rejects the new President and clamors for the Grandma who will give them welfare for no work, give them their wants like abortion when a baby just does not fit their lifestyle

7.            Today real time-honored values of fathers being attacked ( commercials) And what is worse that men add no real value at all. The family is being dissolved from having true leadership! Children are ruling their own lives and it is proving disastrous.

8.            The time-honored work of the early ancestors to this country are joked about & not regarded like those who signed the Declaration of Independence…plantation owners, business men, from all walks of life who loved God …most lost everything, lost their lives, but never left God. Will we leave God???

9.            Today the appearance within society is that you get what you want by doing the wrong thing to get it……..and sometimes they are not prosecuted for doing wrong. A woman was to be executed in Tennessee and she got two doses of  cocktail in needle form but she survived them. She did horrific things to the young lady she sought to do away with.

10. Cheering those who break the rules or are playing  badly on the golf course: We saw today where people were cheering just for the sake of cheering. The golfer did good, a loud cheer….The golfer did poorly and an even greater  cheer goes up. They cheer the lazy people and judge those who actually work for a living to eat. How is it ,  that there are so many going without food today? Every month is “feed me” time! Every month you hear of starving children. Their parents seem well-fed. So how is the kid starving?  It was during the summer months they would plaster the screen with children starving while on vacation. Then it was during the time of Christmas vacation, children would go hungry and oh yes, they did some gift’s thing at that time too! Now in this year of 21^st century it is every month for “feed me please”.  ( I know what the prices are on doing specific hairstyles and anything taking 8-10 hours a day and costs over $200 is a lot that could be spent on food and not a hairstyle. Maybe I am of the generation who watched their financial use.)

Do not get me wrong, we look out for those who have worked all their lives and might need a meal today or tomorrow. We certainly know who they are and we choose not to be like the rich man who chose to keep his food near his mouth. It was  when the beggar had asked and got nothing that the rich man died and his tongue burned within his mouth. He chose to burn in hell than give to the beggar.  Yet today, we see beggars on every corner and on every block before those corner turns we see NOW HIRING on the windows of several businesses.  YOU must speak English in an English speaking nation. You must obey the rules of that land that is within God. And if it is not of God, then it is lawlessness! One instance is driving 90 miles an hour when the speed limit is 60 mph.

It is within the context of one actively engaging the world and its culture that God promises: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (29:11). And this concept of not shying from the world is a consistent theme throughout the Word of God. After all, didn't the psalmist say that it is in the presence of our "enemies" that God would anoint, elevate and prosper us (Ps. 23:5)?

Several different groups want to choose your lifestyle. They say they are united in the democratic way but we live in a republic. Like the promise in Jeremiah 29 :11 it is a promise for the people of God who are living in this present world. Our greatest value to God is right here on this earth, not when we get to heaven. In fact, when you think about it, heaven is just a temporary holding place for us before we get back to rule and reign with Christ when He returns in glory and power.

All throughout the Scripture, the likes of Joseph, Daniel and Esther had adopted a non-antagonistic stance toward the world. That was because they understood the basic principle that relationship precedes ministry. In their interface with the world, the central issue is one on trust. That is still true today: Do non-Christians in the world trust you enough for you to speak into their lives?

THE THREE "WORLDS"….. It was the Dr. Bernard who introduced the three Greek words for "world." The first can be found in Matthew 13:22 where Jesus talks about "the cares of this world (aion)." Aion refers to a period of time, or a generation, in human history.

The second can be found in Matthew 24:14 where Jesus says, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world (oikuomene) as a witness to all the nations." Oikuomene means land, territories and geographical nations.

The third Greek word that is translated into English as "world" can be found in Mark 16:15 where Jesus says, "Go into all the world (kosmos) and preach the gospel to every creature." This use of kosmos by Christ is very interesting for it means to penetrate every social order, arrangement or culture—the way human society is organized.

Many sociologists and anthropologists In their study of human culture and human development  have agreed that every society is made up of seven pillars: (1) religion, (2) family, (3) business, (4) education, (5) government, (6) arts, and (7) media. The latter five of business, education, government, arts and media make up what is called the "marketplace." And the Great Commission that Jesus Christ gave is not only for us to preach in every geographical nation, but to engage the social order within that territory, especially that of the marketplace. To do that, the Church has to be relevant and contemporary to the cultural context God has planted it in.

Our nation today seems to be appearing as those leaders in the Old Testament like Balaam and his donkey, the group Korah and  the way of Cain. Balaam was consecrated to personal gain and eternal perdition of what we see in Numbers 22. 4.            Korah:led rebellion against Moses and Aaron/supernaturally destroyed: Numbers 16:1-35; Dathan: joined Korah; swallowed by earth seen in Psalm 106:17/Abiram conspired against Moses Numbers 16:1-50

In the marketplace today are young children. Today's culture is doing everything opposite of God even though many leaders swear they are Christian.

Jude 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.  Cain was building a monument to himself, Balaam had greed of money and popularity and Korah led a rebellion against the leadership God put in place through Moses ( the politician) and Aaron (the worship leader).

Balaam could not curse Israel. Though paid well by others he could not, yet chose the money, the pay and favor of the moment. His donkey would not go forward when he chose the wrong way. The animal could see in the spirit the angel of death coming toward them.

 We have people of this nation choosing to do that wrong thing. We have people choosing a fake nation to speak safety over like Palestine which is not reality. And of those in the government choose a different leader. They are never happy and choose their way to complain about each day they live. Those in the day of Moses did not like Moses nor Aaron and wanted their “own way”. But God opened a big hole to swallow them in.

A quote from Billy Graham was this: Happiness depends on worldly circumstances and joy depends on God. In Him we find that true joy to find the way through a world of chaos, disasters and plagues.

 Are we just wandering to find a certain crowd that we can catch up to go along with them, so that we might go astray…to fulfill an agenda?  Are we going along with the crowd that will build something but be devoid of God’s presence?  Balaam tried to build something but did not have the blessings of God. Surely it was a darkened heart that set things in motion to do his own thing and God was not pleased by it!   When God gets the glory, it is glory to Him in the highest who sent us way out of sin!

John 10: 17-18 NKJV  “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I  lay down My  life that  I may  take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me,  but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This command I have received from My Father.”  Jesus  was  put outside  the  city as “ rubbish”. Yet He was resurrected to life everlasting. They wanted to put Him away. They chose their ways over the kingdom of God.  He lamented over them when He prayed over Jerusalem. He saw what would come to them in their refusal of His way to the Father. They thought they were the way to the Father that proved very wrong.

 May we have the same relationship as Jesus did with the Father. Let’s remember the exceeding riches of His grace that is our inheritance living in Christ belonging to God the Father Who cared for us long before we even thought of Him.

Jesus did not come to accommodate our culture. He came with the Kingdom of God, to be a part of His family where light is always shining and darkness cannot be found!

 

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Have You Named it Decayed and Polluted?

Isaiah 1:5-6   NKJV  5 Why should you be stricken again?                                                                       

You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick,

And the whole heart faints. 6  From the sole of the foot even to the head,

There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;

They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment.

 The commentary on this reads as a nation with festering wounds. The festering wound will stink. It has its own odors and oozing of sickness. There is no healthy place to land. As Judah, we have people here today in this nation which choose their agenda and not God’s. They pursue their sin, and teach their enemies to do the same. They bring the wound, the putrefying sore with nothing to soothe it. And they produce it over and over again!

 From the outhouse to the white-house, decay is seen in our culture. The demand is chaos indeed. The society is at large very sick. A political landscape gives no life to he who sees. In Jesus, we see Him delivering “good” to the people. But the Pharisees chose to give routine. No life was found in their doing!

We look over the land, especially where we live. We look for life of God, but nothing is seen but sin leading to sickness and to more disease.

 No, our beginnings are in God no matter your age or position in life today. A verse I love to keep before my eyes is Psalm 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. I like what the Tony Evans Bible Commentary speaks on this: David waits on God to act in His integrity. He petitions God to guard him. (As he continues he wants the benefits to be for others not just himself) David did not go in his integrity, he sought God’s integrity to be done in his life!

 Immersed in Holy Spirit to live in truth today is so important. And for those who have not received Jesus, by the time anti-christ gets here, his charismatic voice will draw the unbeliever and it will be too late for his safety, salvation and spiritual life. Scripture tells us that Holy Spirit is sent to those obedient: Acts 2:38 NKJV 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

 When we read Isaiah in the beginning of this passage, he is not speaking, of course, of physical bruises and disease but of spiritual and thus of cultural decay at work. He sees the nation as a body made up of many individuals (much as Paul describes Christ's body, the church, in 1 Corinthians 12), but because so many of the individuals are spiritually weak and sick, the nation itself is diseased throughout.

If no one has seen that which goes on at capitol hill in this new year of 2023, in the voting and drama, one finds those seen as the hard headed or just plain weak. They falter, cannot make a decision, and therefore critical care is required for each of them. Only Jesus can save!

Being spiritual is so critical, as to the word of God to give us right thinking and speaking and prayer in relationship to Him.  THAT prayer to Him, communicating our commitment to Him, to know Him and to hear Him speak to our hearts is so vital. We can see Him, engage Him and when we continue speaking what He spoke while He walked in Nazareth to Jerusalem, we are aware we are not alone ever! Spiritual death can occur to those who want free stuff, and think they are entitled to that free thing as to government checks or other things!

Certainly we are to be givers to the poor and aid the needy. ( Matthew 19:21, Luke 14:13, Galatians 2:10) God wants us to be responsible people. That is: be responsible to feed your children, clothe your children and give them God’s word because charity ends and personal responsibility begins when you the rugged individual should get a job. Provide for you and yours, get on your feet and move out of your house to make a difference for many! Spiritual danger will appear in the long haul when one seeks free things. Even though many feel some amount of shame for their extended hand, they also can develop an attitude of entitlement called the welfare mentality. They become offended when they get nothing from someone. So too, true Christianity is not give your heart to the Lord and be saved. No that true Christianity is “Repent and believe in the gospel found in Mark 1:15! Christianity is not lazy. It is outgoing, esteeming others where manifested itself, you and I will see the blessings of God.

 So back to that which is seen today, while it is true that the politicians may be constantly in the public eye, and their indiscretions thus become front page news, they are not altogether unlike their constituents.  Can one claim that no voter in this nation has ever had a homosexual thrust? Or is it possible that no voter ever took some money under the table to smooth the way for a “sweet”  deal for themselves?  And speaking of those hiring the illegal alien, have we not seen it in their community as to those who are hired to pick cherries, or apples from that orchard across the river? They close their businesses to pick their cherries on certain days in the summer. Do you know them?

What about the guy you met who never pays his taxes or how about that person you met some years ago who admitted they smoked pot. They spoke of their knack to be outdoors at 3 a.m. to smell that of illegal drugs smoked to give the fresh air a scent of sin in the gorge. Have you voiced an ethnic slur or know someone who has?  Just saw a lady who lives in the next state across the river from us who has taken paint to voice her heart on her house over Christmas holiday. Yes, it was a slur! She used dark paint to paint a dark slur against someone.  How about the people who dumped their trash and yes, with some of their own mail on that dirt road outside of Dog Mountain? The officials found them indeed. I read it in our paper. Yes, those elected, are they like those who elected them?

 Have you been in a vehicle that had no brakes? Well, we are in a vehicle of this nation running sharply downhill too fast! The societal behavior runs steeply downhill toward degeneration and immorality at every turn. They appear with no brakes to stop. They are set for an agenda of immoral behavior. One gentleman ( I use very loosely) just drove his family on a dangerous cliff in California driving a Tesla. He wanted them dead. They are alive but he is in the hospital. And how far was the drop for the family in that car? Well, I am surprised anyone survived?

What is remembered on days gone by? My mother went without sugar for several years because of the World War 2. They had a victory garden to raise food and freeze some when they could. One man was loyal to one wife. They secured children in their family, had a good job, and made sure all was good on every need required. When the Cuban Missile Crises occurred, a nation prayed for God and He answered.

 But when one would share to a group of those born in 2001 there might appear a blur to the mainstay of today! Today, if you spoke of those days, like of the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma, California greed for money in the 1930 and 1940’s or the Depression started by the stock market falling to nothing,  Christian values have to light to what they were about 75 years ago, then yes, America may be beyond America's own ability to achieve those early years in God!

Are we so different than those born in the last decade? Is there a Dust bowl somewhere, or how about that greed to get people to work for cents and not greenbacks? What about that stock market and what people look for today to see the market fall like October 1929. And in truth, the dust bowl was already in affect  when the stock market fell in 1929! People were already leaving Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas for green pastures anywhere to be found.

No pornography was found seen or talked about where a family lived and breathed. Yes, decency and civility was within a home, the heart of a family and integrity ruled the heart.  Every family member that went out from the home was he or she who represented truth and honesty. There was no violence nor shouts against others. And whatever was heard was stopped immediately by those to enforce the law of this nation.

Is anyone aware of God’s standards today seen in Matthew 19:17 Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Jesus spoke “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Test day it was for this man Jesus spoke to that moment. To test him on the way of salvation: Jesus was good for He is, was and will always be God! The commandments should convict man of his sinful nature before God. No man cannot inherit God or heaven when he chooses to doing his way through life.

 The justice people want is not the justice of the Bible. We hear it daily on the news and in the street and yet the justice they want is their own “justice”.

Honor is given those who honor truth and integrity.  The love of God is known. It is experienced and freedom is lived through the Lord of glory. It was that true freedom that was once seen in people who kept God at the center of their focus. They kept Him in their hearts, kept Him on their mind and focused on that peace that had come to them daily in Him and through Him to others.

People back in those days, regarded God as the way of life. They were deliberate to know Him. They were deliberate to act as He did when He walked in Nazareth giving truth, whether they chose Him for life or not. What will be said of us? Will we always choose life, truth of God and not live a lie in our lives?

I like what this gentleman wrote once: he said that politics is dirty and it always involves more movement for temporal power. Down and dirty would mean a hundred years ago to get down and clean the garden space, clean the toilet or even clean your bedroom or vehicle.

Today, to me dirty is turning on your television and hearing the people who give the news have embraced those who give their parties involving men dressed as women. It is those who choose to side with illicit. It is men and women in decay, a distasteful walk in life by the truth they desire to influence  by immoral acts.

Want to be honored, but one should not want to malign others while they themselves roll in the dirt, and stink as rotted flesh! Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees and mentioned them being adders. In this respect if you will, Jesus spoke their new born babes would eat their way out of the bodies who gave them life. Have you time with a scorpion and irritate him till he curled his tail at you, or do they cause you to run in another direction? What about those who speak of change to the bodies but God gave you one? Will their sound be like that of horror and smell like the sulfur of hell? How about the stench of the “dump ground” where your trash is taken? Is that our political system now? Does the sounds of the political mouth sound like more like him who laughs in derision and has attitude?

Proverbs 26:18-19 NKJV 18 Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, 19 Is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, “I was only joking!”

When I was about nine, I remember playing ball with my sister and some friends who lived in our neighborhood. It was a time of rolling in the dirt. We played baseball indeed, stealing second base, and that was awhile ago, and today it has the very meaning of the immoral and the influence of being that way.  Sports has changed to put men who chose being a woman to turn to woman sports. Or how about that electric thing? Have you seen how the semi including truck and trailer required more time to be charged and when used it only went half way to get its load? Thinking of when we lived in Wyoming for it was many decades now, and you could not rely on an electric anything to get you through a blizzard. Have you seen those electric cars stalled on I-5 or I-84 for how many hours and their charge went to zero. Vehicles were stopped for many reasons but two were too many accidents in the ice and snow and the other was there was a death or two on that roadway due to bad weather. So wait in their electric car indeed but it was too cold: 28 degrees with a 50 mile an hour wind blowing to add to the pot of stupid! We had wood burning in our fireplace for warmth while snow piled up to over five feet outside.

As Solomon says, "By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked" (Proverbs 11:11).

 A Polluted National Landscape was once the beautiful is now horrific indeed. And if I were to speak on that food we get now, it is nowhere the stuff of champions . You will find plastic shaped “things” looking like grass for your basket in hunting eggs  for that holiday that is not holy unto the Lord and is found in your frozen food you just purchased and cooked .  But that is another story indeed! Believe it has to do integrity too!

Will we wait for God? Will we wait to hear Him? David did when he wrote such a thing as this. He was believing and you should when we ask for God’s integrity in our lives for it is His righteousness that will rule us indeed and bring God of peace into that place we desire Him to be. Amen.

 

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