October 5
Jer 4:19-6:15 | PS 77:1-20 | Prov 24:23-25 | Col 1:18-2:7
When praying there is an acrostic, ACTS, which is a good one to follow: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. How often we go straight to Supplication, or giving God our requests that we desire His attention to. One of the main problems is that we forget all too often, just who God is. We as a society are lost, because we forget who is the Creator and who is the created. We falsely elevate ourselves and diminish Him in our own eyes. We read in Jeremiah 4:22, "“For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge.”" We read further in 5:22-23, "Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord. ‘Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail;". We look around and marvel at the creation, many referring to "Mother Earth". This is an abomination to remove the creation from the Creator, God.
We get a good glimpse at God, the Son, as Creator along with Father in Colossians 1:15-20, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." God created us. Knowing the sinners that we are, He also provided the way out of our sin for us. But, sadly, we continue looking to the creation for answers instead of turning our hearts and our minds back to the Creator.
We read in Jeremiah 6:15, "Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the Lord." Like them, we no longer know how to blush. Sin is paraded around and exalted to the shame of us and our society. We are carnal beings, who are digging ourselves deeper and deeper hole, and don't even know where to turn to get out of our situation. With the blowing up of the Nord Stream Pipelines, most have no realization of just how close we now are to the brink of nuclear war. We can continue to point accusatory fingers outward, and the truth is most of us have opinions, but though there is a truth, and none of us fully know it. We can continue to look at the "experts" render their opinions as to who to blame and how to react. In the end, we are seeing a world crumbling under its weight of sin. Children play with blocks because they are too ignorant to be given weapons. We are as foolish as little children, and sadly we have developed weapons enough to blow the world up many times over. Are we still so naive as to place our hopes now on a nation, a regime, a philosophy, a person? We deserve judgment, we always have. But God is still there with an outstretched arm, willing and more than able to save anyone who seeks Him. This is the time to make a decision for Jesus if you have not yet done so. Now is the time to boldly introduce others to Jesus Christ, our Living Hope. We never know when tomorrow on earth as we know it is a thing of the past.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: