The Foundation Makes the Difference

 

Ezra 3:10-13   “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.  And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 
But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:  So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

            The foundation makes the difference, whether it is a building, a house, a home, a marriage, one’s life or a church (the people).  In these scriptures the young shouted with joy. But the ancient men wept because they had seen the first foundation laid.  These scriptures should make us all stop and think.  A foundation determines the shape of the form and also the strength and stability of any company, organization, life or church.  In these scriptures only the foundation had been laid.  The building had not been built.  Yet, the young shouted with joy but the old wept.  The young dressed in fine apparel, played on their instruments, sang and shouted with joy.  But the old men sat and wept for they had seen the first foundation.  They knew what it would take to weather the storms.  They knew the importance of the foundation. 

            Scriptures say that the young did it according to the ordinances of King David.   For them it was only part of the singing and dancing.  Their voices were loud with joy.  The old men knew there was more to it.  The foundation wasn’t laid like the one before.  This was the foundation of the House of the Lord in the Old Testament.

            Now it’s our day.  When Jesus came, He said, “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  We see some of the same things going on today that took place in the scriptures above: the old saints sat and weep while the younger generation dress in fine apparel, play, dance and shout with a loud voice.  However, they are missing the main ingredient.  They aren’t living holy, walking in holiness or talking holiness.  As I’ve said before, the church isn’t where we go.  It’s who we are.  I wonder how many are on that rock that Jesus said the gates of hell cannot prevail against.

            Listen people.  Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.  But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  For other foundation can no man lay that that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  This brings me to the most important part of the foundation.  It is said of the old temple foundation that the old wept and the young shouted with joy so loud that it was heard afar off and the people couldn’t discern what was going on.  There was confusion.  I’m going to be very frank. Our foundation is the ordinance.  We are the light of the World. We are the salt of the earth.  If you go to church on Sunday and shout with joy, then on Monday you dress like the world, talk like the world and act like the world, then you are of the world and the love of God is not in you.  All you’re doing is causing confusion and God is not the author of confusion.  Jesus gave us the example of the two men building their houses; one on sand and the other on the rock (Christ).  Then the storms came.  The man who built on the rock survived but the one on the sand was destroyed.

            Listen church.  God is showing me, as your pastor, that we need the stability in an unstable world.  We will only survive if we are building on the right foundation.  This is my calling, like Paul, by the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder.  I am to warn you there is only one foundation which is Jesus Christ.  So take heed how you build there upon.

           

Love in Christ,

Your pastor,

Charles A. Clark

 

            Remember the words of Jude when He said, “I thought it needful to write unto you of the common salvation and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  This foundation we’re on was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ and the lives of the Apostles and others.

 

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Focus on The Lord

By Brother Mark Simmons

 

Psalm 8:4:9, “What is man, that thou art mindful of Him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?”  “For thou hast made him a little lower that the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honors.”  “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet.”  “All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field.  The foul of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea”, “O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth.”

 

God has given us a huge responsibility to have control over everything to do with daily living and mortal life on earth.  We need to have control over our spiritual life first.  Surely things are not under man’s control today.  We have a broken government like all other governments of the earth.  We have out of control schools, confused leaders, banking systems collapsing, a complete breakdown of moral values, and major disasters.  This is in a so called Christian nation, the United States.  Man has lost control of what God intended for us.

 

“But wait a minute, two thousand years ago Jesus came to earth, and he is still over the works of thy hands.  All things were placed under his feet and in subjection to him.  (Hebrews 2:7-9) “We need to see Jesus”, and quit worrying about the world.

 

Everywhere we go we see fear and confusion.  This is caused by Satan and as Jesus said this confusion and fear is causing men’s hearts to fail.

 

Satan wants nothing more than to turn Christians off of Jesus’ message.  This has been going since God created man.  Satan today, causes us to get off Jesus’ message by riling us up over a political issue or an environmental issue until it consumes all our thoughts and actions.

 

Jesus and his word have been placed on the back burner.  We don’t want our hearts to be opened up to bitterness and fear.

 

God’s promise of eternal life has not changed.  Pray for others that they will get back on the straight and narrow.  Jesus is our hope and peace; keep him in your heart.  Pray to and praise him daily.  Keep focused on Jesus.

The Man

By Brother Duane Bailey

 

I Corinthians 14:26 “How is it then, brethren?  When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.   Let all things be done unto edifying”.

Paul is talking in Chapter 14 about the importance of doing things that only edify the church.  He said to seek out spiritual gifts, but it is better if you were to prophesy because prophecy edifies the group and not the individual.  He spoke against speaking out loud in tongues loud enough to disrupt a service.  He said if you do this; make sure you interpret the tongues.  It is OK to pray to yourself or worship in tongues, but just not so loud to draw the attention to you.  It is all about the group, the church and not the individual.

            So he asks the question, how is it when the Corinthians came together, each person had their own psalm, their own doctrine, tongue, revelation or interpretation.  How is it that when it is the same spirit that gives wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing or miracles (Chapter 12) that there are so many different ideas about the teachings?  Why is there no unity in the church?  I believe Paul had the answer in Romans.

Romans 16:17 “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them.”

            Rather than avoiding those people that caused divisions and spoke against the teachings (Doctrine) of the church, people gave ear to them and began to sympathize with them.  Then they began to form their own ideas about how things should be done.  When people begin to run around and spread their own opinions about things the Pastor should be preaching/teaching, it only causes confusion. 

The pastor has spoken so many times recently that if we are of the same spirit, if someone came to preach, that that person would preach his message because they are both getting it from God.  Paul talked about this.  In verse 30 he says “If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace”.  In other words if you think that God has given you a “greater” revelation about how things should be done in the church and about what can be done and not be done, keep it to yourself.  God will reveal it to another person.  Don’t go around telling your friends or anyone that will give ear, “I think…” because most times that is what it is, your thoughts. 

            If God is going to reveal something new to the church or change the way things are done, he will give it to the pastor.  He may give it to you as well, but you keep it to yourself.  When you see that He has given it to the pastor then you can say, “hey God showed me this as well” and it can have confirmation.  But if it is not revealed to the man of God, then more than likely it was you or worse.

            God gives a man to guide the people.  Moses was that man for Israel.  God punished those that tried to disrupt His system.  When David was king, God didn’t reveal things to David, it was the man of God, Nathan.  It was Nathan that showed David his sin with Bathsheba.  When David numbered the people, he realized he had sinned when God smote the people, but it was Gad that God spoke to about how David would have to be punished. 

Paul said “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints”.  That’s why there is a “Man” of God; One individual within a group that He will deal with.  As long as that man’s heart is toward God and toward the Word of God we have to trust that God will lead that individual to lead us, the group, the Church.  Get behind the Pastor.  Get behind the anointed preaching.  When you are behind him that means you are following him.  Follow him as he follows Christ.

 

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LET THE WORD PROFIT YOU

Written by Sister Brenda Bailey

 

Hebrews 4:2 “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, because they were not united by faith to them that heard it.”

 

Sometimes we have those “light bulb” moments and while doing my daily devotions, I had one.  I was reading Hebrews chapter 4 and this verse just stopped me.  The gospel is preached to all but only those united in faith will profit from it.  We all hear what the pastor and visiting ministers are preaching but we are not all profiting from it.  Why?  Because we are not united in faith.  If we had faith in God’s word and truly believed everything it says, then we would be profiting from it.  We are limiting God because of our lack of faith.  As Bro. Joey Hall preached in his message on June 5^th, we need to adopt the message.   When we begin to do so, we will see a difference in our lives.  As Sister Linda has been teaching, the revival fire will begin to burn again within us and will spread to those around us.  Now is the time and we are the children of God. Let us unite together in faith so that we may profit from the WORD. 

 

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Day by Day

Written by Eloise Speer

Submitted by Brenda Bailey

 

Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

 

            You may wonder how that having the Word of God in your heart will keep you from sinning.  The Bible says, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.”  It also says in James 3:2, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body.”  So, if we have the Word of God down in our heart, when we are troubled or angry, sick or well, or whatever state of mind we find ourselves in, we will only say the things God wants us to say.  Some people curse and swear a lot; they say they cannot help it.  They are right.  As long as they have all this stuff down in their hearts, this is the kind of words their mouth will speak.

            The Apostle Paul, when writing to the church in Philippi, said, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”  You see if you meditate on good, clean, pure things, you will always speak that way.  To those of us who are born again, it is hard to realize that swearing and vulgar talking can be easy.  We have to remember that what we have hid in our heart shows forth in our speech.  We may guard our speech ever so carefully when around certain people, but in a moment of careless anger or thoughtlessness, we will say something we forever regret.  When David was saying, “Thy word have I hid in my heart,” he knew what it was to be caught off guard.  The Word of God will keep us in all our ways if we keep it in all our heart.  It will bridle the whole body.  We need to get the dust off our Bibles and begin to hide the Word in our hearts.  What is in the well of your heart will come up in the bucket of your speech.

 

Philippians 3:20 “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”

 

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A way of escape

By Sister Lynne Conley

 

Scripture Text: For  whatsoever  is  born  of  God  overcometh  the  world:  and  this  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith.  1 John 5: 4 KJV

            We all have done things in our lives. There  is  not  one  day  goes  by  that  something  from  our  past  cannot really  get  to  us. Sometimes  it has  been   a  bad marriage,  the loss  of  a  loved  one,  a  battle  of  depression, or a case of being  abused  by a  close  loved  one.  The list can go on and on. Sooner  or  later  we  have  to  face the  facts  and  press  on.  We can’t live in the past.  I  know  from  my  personal  experiences  that  those  hard  times  have  taught  me  to  put  all  my  trust  in the  Lord. The  Lord  knows  exactly  what  we  can  take  better  than  we  do  ourselves.  The  enemy  loves  it  when  he  can  fill  our  mind  with  lies, discouragements,  and  our  past  failures.  We  all  have  a  past;  it doesn’t  matter  what  we  may  have  done. We  have  to  learn  to  forgive  ourselves  I  think more  so  than  others.   Rahab was a prostitute in the land of Jericho.  At  this  point  in  time,  Joshua  was  leading  the  Israelites  into  the  promised  land  which was  Canaan.  Joshua  was  in  charge  to  take  the  land  of  Jericho and  to  get  rid  of  the  adversary.  Joshua sent two spies to evaluate the whole situation.  The spies entered the home of Rahab the harlot which  to anyone watching wasn’t  unusual  for  men  to  enter  the  house  of  a  prostitute.  They  knew  it  was  the  path  that  God  was  leading  them  to  enter  her  house.  The  whole  city  was  on  alert,  knowing  that  the  Israelites  were  in  the  city.  Almost immediately  the  King  of  Jericho  sent  his  messengers  to  Rahab’s home. Rahab  hid the  two  spies  on  her roof, and she  told  the  King’s  men  that  they  had been there  but had already left  her  house.  The king’s men quickly hurried away to try to catch the spies.  Rahab met with the two spies and made an agreement with them.  She  had  heard  of  the  Mighty  God  of  Israel  who  dried  up  the  Red  Sea  and  saved all of His  people but caused all of the armies chasing them to be  drowned.  Rahab  asked  the  two  spies  to spare  her  life  and  her  entire  family.  She would hide them out so that when it was dark   they could escape.  This  happened  and  Jericho  was  destroyed,  and  Rahab  and  her  family  were  spared.  Rahab is recorded in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.  That  one  step  of  faith  spared  her  and  her  family,  and  her  heritage  lives  on  today.  The  Lord  reveals  his  love  and  mercies  to  all of  us  each  day.  I am so thankful for the heritage of the Lord. Just take note: His love and mercies endure forever. Stay Encouraged!