Luke 6:47-49, “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
John 1:12-14, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
I went through a couple of months where I couldn’t keep away from the news. Politics, world events, all the unsavoriness of what populates most news today. Since I am conservative in my beliefs, I pretty much kept to one news organization, so it took its toll on me. Seeing all they had to offer and dealing with increasing pain in my crippled knees and lower back didn’t help my outlook either. Excess pain SEEMS to heighten awareness and perspective, but much of the time it clouds or “filters” what you are actually seeing.
Then I just got fed up enough to actually cut it off cold-turkey except for the occasional online news “blurb” that might strike out at me. Of course, no matter what we are going through, we still have to live life away from the television or computer and sure enough, I couldn’t escape the “news” that was happening all around me in everyday life!
Now you have to understand something; as a Pastor (active behind a pulpit or not) I believe that we NEED to stay informed of world events, for it HAS an impact on our lives in general, but especially our spiritual lives for those of us who are trying and practicing to be true disciples and followers of Christ Jesus.
There’s an old saying that “knowledge is power” and for the most part, it is true, as long as the knowledge can be utilized in a wise way. Knowledge by itself is only trivia if it doesn’t affect your life in a positive way, even if only a little bit positive. For a true Christian, it comes back to what the Apostle Paul stated in Romans when he wrote, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28.
But witnessing the “news” and “world events” taking place around me on a local basis in the lives of those I pass by on a daily basis has made me realize that to many, knowledge, and especially wisdom, once referred to as “common sense” is sorely lacking.
I’m going to be blunt so you are going to have to bear with me. I have said for some time now that common sense has died. What used to be referred to as common sense, or normal, everyday wisdom has long been forsaken. When you witness someone who displays any kind of sense at all today, it is truly uncommon!
Pastor Roland, you are being “harsh and unloving again with statements like that!” Yes, I’ve been told that – many times in fact and yet I am speaking facts that are being witnessed by many who even today rely not just on “common sense or wisdom” but who walk by a spiritual wisdom, guided by the Holy Spirit! I am NOT the only one who is witnessing or has witnessed the demise of a commonality of good sense that used to direct our lives!
The sad truth is that it has progressed from something that I have written about and spoke about for quite some time now; self-centeredness or selfishness, which I have taught for years is the opposite of true love or loving! Loving, I state because true Godly love is an action, doing, NOT a noun or feeling. Love doesn’t become the noun, or the “thing” UNTIL it has actually taken place to the benefit of another life!
You may be wondering what I am leading up too with an introduction based on foundations, but the truth is, it isn’t just common sense that is lacking. Because common sense has been replaced as a “guide” or a “direction” for our lives and the way we interact with one another we have witnessed an epidemic and in actuality a PANDEMIC of stupidity that has risen across this world as it gets ever smaller and smaller due to technology! Wasn’t technology supposed to MAKE our lives better and more fruitful? Instead with the increase in knowledge that the Prophet Daniel wrote about that would take place in Daniel 12:4, we see with that knowledge also an increase in stupidity! Notice, I DID say stupidity and NOT ignorance! Ignorance can be cured and corrected, but stupidity is a disease of choice! How can knowledge increase to the degree it is and yet stupidity reach globally pandemic volumes?
By now you must know, where I’m heading! Foundations. Foundations are the literal bedrock of what not just secure and stable buildings are built upon, but also lives and especially spiritual lives. I am making a point to specify SPIRITUAL lives as opposed to religious lives. The love of money can be religious and we all know the Bible says it leads to evil. (Again, not money itself, but the love or IDOLIZING of money). There are many, many things in life around us that have become religions of themselves. Being religious does not make something spiritual.
Paul wrote to his beloved student and disciple, Timothy this concerning learning and knowledge and how it relates to TRUTH: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” – 2 Timothy 3:1-7.
Before you become incensed that I would post the scriptures targeting gullible women as defined in verse 6, remember the times of which Paul was speaking to Timothy and the problems the early church was having with gossip and other sins. Today, we could substitute the term people just as you could for the term men in verse two! The POINT of the scripture is that it is not JUST perilous times that will come, but a time of learning, Paul says ALWAYS learning, knowledge on the increase, BUT never able to come to the knowledge of the TRUTH!!! What does that mean? Simply put, always learning and gaining new knowledge but always walking in stupidity, lacking the general COMMON sense that used to lead us in the past!
This is why we can have religious organizations and religious people who claim to be something and yet they are NOT spiritual! They DENY, Paul writes, the power of the Spirit, yet still retain their traditions and rituals so they appear to be religious! No wonder the Heart of our Heavenly Father is heavy with grief! No wonder so many true Christians look around and see all the religious entities and yet never sense a breakthrough into the manifest presence of Christ Jesus Himself!!
When “religious” leaders take the Living Word of God and decide to pick and choose what they will and will not follow, when they decide what is and what is not relevant for today they are doing exactly what the Apostle Paul prophesied to Timothy in keeping the FORM of godliness, but DENYING the power behind TRUE Godliness!!!
I started noticing this years and years ago when one religious fad after another would rise up and grab hold of the church-going people because some charismatic, honey-tongued preacher or teacher would take certain Scriptures out of context and weave great sounding doctrines that tickled the ears of all those who heard them! I also watched as true Christians fought with the concept of some of these doctrines as the truth unfolded in their personal lives and those of us who stood upon the WHOLE counsel of God had to do damage control with the TRUTH of the whole LIVING Word!
These teachers and preachers (and I use the term loosely) didn’t and still don’t understand that what they are doing is taking a jack-hammer to the foundation and turning parts of that foundation into rubble that is as worthless as sand or pea-gravel; and not able to secure and stabilize the building (life) that is standing on it! The sad part about it is that it is always, just a little here, and a little there until the very foundation itself is totally undermined!
When you start compromising the Living Word of God, when you start taking the parts that will make you popular but leave out the parts that are necessary to make the building strong, you are wounding Christ Jesus again by tearing out His Heart, or His Character or His Spirit! In essence, you are closing the very door to a relationship with His Father that can only be had THROUGH ALL of Him, because parts of the Living Word of God are NOT convenient, or might cause controversy or dispute within the four walls of your RELIGIOUS organization and you substitute that lie that comes straight from the devil and call it love, or tolerance. Yet like the blind leading the blind, you have already led many into the proverbial ditch, because you failed to understand that the strength of the building is in the FULL FOUNDATION and the form of the foundation is based on the cornerstone, which IS Christ Jesus!
When the Word of God tells me that there is ONLY one way to the Father, and that way is the Foundation already laid in the person of Christ Jesus, and when a religious organization says it’s alright to allow those living in sin to lead a religious organization and to lend their sinful teaching to its doctrines, then that religious organization is moving its building from the foundation and placing it on a bed of gravel or sand and it will NOT stand the storm that is already blowing upon us. As that wind becomes stronger, ONLY those built on the SOLID foundation will stand what is coming and coming so very soon.
I’m going to end this article with the LAST part that the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and show you by the LIVING Word of God, that though we will face this ever growing storm and as the stupidity continues to increase and the LACK of the knowledge of the TRUTH is learned by those we come into daily contact with, we can have hope in Christ Jesus for them and we can still LOVE those afflicted because of Christ Jesus because Paul gave us this promise, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
ALL Scripture is given by inspiration, not just some, not just the convenient ones, but ALL Scripture and it is ALL profitable for doctrine, for reproof (for putting on the right track and proving truth) and for CORRECTION of falsehoods and for instruction on how to be righteous, (for whom is it given?) that the MAN OF GOD, may be complete and equipped for the task at hand!!!
If you are a man (or woman) of God, you can only be equipped for what is at hand by standing upon the WHOLE FOUNDATION (Christ Jesus, the WORD) and facing the world, however perilous it becomes, on the strength of that foundation and that foundation alone!
The Apostle John tells us this fact about the world and reiterates the truth of what Jesus stated when He said He didn’t come to bring peace but a sword. It reiterates the truth that our Redeemer commands us to love Him AND the Father more than ANYTHING the world offers, including people! 
Remember, the Bible is the LIVING Word of God. It isn’t just the letter, the literal translation of the words, but the Spirit behind the words that cause it to live! (
If you have been called to teach, preach or exhort the Word of God, you CANNOT ignore the TRUTH of His Word and you do not have the choice to water it down, to compromise its integrity or to twist it to say what you might want it to say! Your calling, your obligation is to tell the truth as the Holy Spirit reveals it to you and be obedient to Him! You can ONLY be obedient, you have no control how it is received or applied once it leaves your spirit and lips! The actual work and results were never yours to insure, they were ALWAYS the Holy Spirit’s, it was just our calling to speak the truth and do it with a heart and spirit motive of the same unconditional love for all that our Lord Jesus gave when He hung on the cross and then when He rose to be at the Right Hand of our Heavenly Father as our Intercessor and Advocate!!
The thing is, it has permeated into our “church” or religious circles and has caused many to question our so-called brothers and sisters. In the spiritual realm, within the true Body of Christ, there is NO division for the Body of Christ, those members called to be a part of the Kingdom of God, those who have been spiritually reborn are NOT divided in what is eternally significant and important; that is what is according to 
Division in the “church” world comes when well-meaning people, who believe they have the spiritual “pulse” of the Lord start relying on their feelings, instead of on the infallible TRUTH of the Word of God, which is never-changing, and always the unwavering benchmark of what is right and what is wrong!
How do we stop the violence in our inner cities? How do we stop the poverty all over the world? How do we stop the wars that are taking place all over this world? We DON’T! We don’t have the power too, but we do have the ability to make a haven for those seeking and searching for the TRUTH, for those seeking and searching for a way to PRACTICE the truth without fear of reprisal, but it won’t happen if well-meaning “Christians” rely on their feelings instead of on the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them into ALL truth!
The Law has and always will be our Master, our taskmaster, exacting perfection without question. The reason for this is two-fold; one to show us our inability, our imperfection and need for something beyond the Law and two, because one of our Heavenly Father’s many personality attributes is Just-ness or Justice. He is a Just God, and as the Apostle James writes, 
We must remember that EVERY attribute, every trait of our Heavenly Father is embodied in the person of Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus is the free gift to each of us that is beyond value; priceless for eternity! The value of the gift, is in the receiving and in the believing. The gift is free, what we do with that gift, already given, is our choice! It is all part of our Heavenly Father’s perfect plan from before our very beginning! It was His plan for each of us, individually even before He created His angels and messengers. In His wisdom and His thinking, in His willingness to create a being who would love Him for WHO He is, for what makes Him God; He created us with Grace and Mercy already in place to fulfill His Just-ness! His Law, His Grace can be claimed, can be appropriated in the personal and intimate KNOWING of His Son, Jesus, the Anointed One (Christ).
David wrote, 
We should understand that because God is also everywhere, His Omnipresent nature also means that there are not boundaries as far as time is also concerned. You see, He doesn’t just dwell in the present, the here and now, and His presence is everywhere at once also, but His presence is also every-when! You see, one character trait of God does not negate the others, but rather they coincide with each other to make up His personality! God IS eternal! He exists outside of the very time that ensnares us, at least until our bodies release us from time and we also begin life in eternity.
This Scripture shows us Jesus announcing His ministry and the reaction that followed. Now we can get into the particulars of Him being in the town of His youth and the relevance of His family growing up there and so forth, but the point that I want to make, is that at this point in history, Jesus announced the beginning of His ministry and He described what it would consist of. Jesus KNEW what He was called to do. He KNEW His mission as it were and He knew what it would entail.
I know this is a common subject for those of you who have followed me for some time, but it is because it is so vastly important in the continuing growth and maturation of a Christian’s lifestyle. There is NOT a single one of us who has been called to ONLY warm a pew! Each and every ministry, if acted upon in faith, is essential and vital for the health and well-being of the Body of Christ in its preparation for the coming Bridegroom!
Isn’t it time, that Jesus’ “Christian” followers go back to His example and start treating those lost and searching for truth with the same unconditional love, compassion, kindness and tenderness? Maybe REAL revival will return before Jesus Christ returns and it won’t be the circus so many have been used too through the years, but the true ANOINTING that followed the true believers of the Anointed One!
If we beat them over the head with how ugly the “disease” is, how horrific it makes us feel, how we can’t stand to be around a “diseased” person then we are no better than those who viewed and dealt with leprosy, way back when! What comfort did the lepers have in being shunned because of something they had no control over? We all have a part in helping others realize there IS a “prescription” to help live above the “disease” and NOT do all to shun or kill those carrying the “disease!” Jesus didn’t shirk from reaching out His hand to give comfort and to heal! If He truly is our example, our Master and Teacher, then what right do we have to hold back a hand of comfort, a hand of healing and NOT use that club of destruction?! Jesus stated, 
Remember, in Christ, we are ambassadors to the world, NOT the judge and jury. You can identify sin as sin, but it is your job as an ambassador to not give in to it but to be an example of the Kingdom we are the ambassadors for. We are to “prescribe” hope, assurance, joy, peace, LOVE, and all the other “fruits” that we are partakers of. The “patients” then have to make the choice for themselves whether they will follow the prescription that saves them from the ravages of the disease that is sin, or to continue living with the disease until it claims them! It is THEIR choice, our choice is to give the knowledge that there is a “prescription, a remedy” and that Jesus Christ and Him crucified is that “prescription!” It is freely given, you don’t have to pay for it, and in fact you can’t pay for it! It is the best universal health plan available to all who call this planet home!
There are those that would teach that God’s Omnipotence strictly means His authority and rule rather than might and power, but even those words today are pretty much interchangeable. Many teach against using the terms might and power to avoid controversy with the ideas that God won’t sin, or lie or deny Himself etc. They also state that it prevents frivolous debate as stated earlier, but it also puts God in a box of our own making. Just because WE may have a problem with our finite awareness or perspective, doesn’t mean that God isn’t ALL His Word claims Him to be to its fullest extent.
Some of the most significant messages people deliver to one another often come in just three words. When spoken or conveyed, those statements have the power to forge new friendships, deepen old ones and restore relationships that have cooled.
So then, how do we “fight,” 
Do you need more proof of this sword’s spiritual significance? The writer of Hebrews says this, 
If you have been serving the Lord for any length of time, you all know these familiar Scriptures;
So, if not flesh and blood, and yet we have been called to stand, resist and fight, then what or who? The Apostle says, 
You see, the Word of God is not just some historical manual as you who read this well know. It is a Book, a Living Book about relationship. The relationship between Father and Son and His sons and daughters! It is about the establishment AND relationship with the CHURCH He created and is continually creating!
But, if we belong to the Bride of Christ, the true church, we must steel ourselves for service and we must trust that the Holy Spirit will make it known to us who have a relationship with Christ Jesus and our Heavenly Father through Him, what it is that His WILL is and proceed to do in FAITH that He will equip us to accomplish the tasks He sets before us.
As she moved back and forth among the people in the front, those that had been touched by her, move back and let others move forward. She continued her ministrations and I was witness to real miracles as some of the disabled and obvious those that were ill, regained either their abilities or their health and it was all instantaneous and all without fanfare. Rather, the songs of praise and exaltation increased in tenor the more that she moved among the people. There was no one too dirty, or too disheveled that she did not reach out a hand too or lean to give a kiss on the cheek or forehead.
