Speaking God's Truth in Love

Speakaing God's Truth in Love "Baked Dirt"

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

It’s relatively simple.  The Bible reminds us that we are no more than a bunch of baked dirt.  An earthen vessel is a pot made of baked dirt.  We need to remember who we are in relation to who God is.  Notice in these verses that we are told that GOD HAS CHOSEN.  If you are a preacher, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, a music leader, or simply a member of the kingdom, the reason that you are who you are is because God has chosen to form your baked dirt into a vessel that is useful to Him.

Why has God chosen the simple to bring His message to a lost world?  So the world can see that it has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Him.  This idea that we are to think or ourselves as something special is misguided.  We are to think of God as something special, and be thankful for His mercy and grace that He has used us in some special way to glorify Himself. 

Remember, it’s all about Him.  This is not an article written to make you think you are worthless.  On the contrary, it is written to put into perspective what your worth is.  You are worth much to God when you allow yourself to be used by Him.  He can take the simplest of us and use us in a mighty way for His kingdom.  Just remember Who it is that is pouring the power into you.  It is God’s power and we are the baked dirt.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "We Ought to Obey God Rather than Man"

1Peter 3:8-12
8  Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;
9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
10 For “He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.
11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

There are some hard sayings in Scripture that are difficult to understand, but leave it to Pete to just lay it on the line and tell how things are supposed to be in down home language that we can all understand.  A person who reads these verses will have a hard time claiming they are confused about their meaning.

I have mentioned the upside down kingdom before and here is a great description of what I mean.  What Jesus wants of those that follow him is diametrically opposed to what the world would have you to do.

The world tells us;

• To be independent in our thinking not to join together in single-mindedness. 
• To be tough and never let them see you sweat.
• To love only when someone shows you love in return. 
• Having a tender heart makes you a sissy and we all know that courtesy on the highway or at the grocery store will just get you trampled on.
• That revenge is sweet and when someone takes advantage of us we should make them pay.
•  There is no room for blessing someone unless you want something from them. 
• If you want to see good days then make as much money as you can, step on as many people as necessary and if you have to lie a little to get ahead then so be it. 
• That goodness and evil are relative and what is right for you may not be right for me so don’t judge me.
• That there is no God, we are here only by chance and when we die there’s nothing else out there, we are just gone.

A person who wants to follow God and have a close relationship with Him will follow what Peter has to offer here in these verses.  There was a time when Peter was told by the rulers of this world to stop preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ or face the consequences.  He told rulers, “We ought to obey God rather than man.” (Acts 5:29)

It is never too late to stop following what the world tells you to do and start obeying what God wants you to do.  Don’t you think that right now would be a good time to begin to obey God?

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Spiritual Cleansing"

There are churches around the world where god is moving in a mighty way.  We received a report during our annual meeting of more than 25,000 people each day coming to know Jesus in India.  One church in the Denver area has baptized 225 people in the last 3 years.

God is at work in many churches and in many individuals in a mighty way.  We might ask ourselves the question, “Is God at work in our church in a mighty way?”  You might take it a step further and ask yourself, “Is God working in a mighty way in my life?  Am I experiencing God’s mighty power in my life?”

If the answer is no, then the question might be, “If I know that God is still at work, and He is performing great things in other places, then why not here, why not in me?” 

The good news is this church can experience God’s power and you can experience God’s power individually.  God wants to work in each of us.  So what is the reason that we lack the power of God in our life?  Let’s go to Scripture for the answer.

Isaiah 59:1-2
¹Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

What keeps us from experiencing God’s power in our lives and in our church is un-confessed sin.  We see this even more clearly in Psalm 66:18. 

¹⁸ If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

The reason we don’t experience God’s power in a mighty way is because of our lack of understanding about what sin does to our communication with God.  Much of the time our prayer life consists of a shallow time of confession.  We have the attitude that God knows what we’ve done, so we move quickly through our prayers without acknowledging our sin to God.  I am certain that we aren’t aware of how often we quench the Holy Spirit because of our lace of confession.

But God wants to have fellowship with us and has made every provision for forgiveness. 

1^st John 1:9
⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

We can have a close relationship with God if we learn to confess our sin.  God has also made a provision for us to be able to see our sin for what it really is.  He will search our hearts to reveal our sin to us if we ask Him. 

Psalm 139:23-24
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Our prayer should be “Search me oh God.”  We should regularly get alone with God and get clean so that our prayer time will be powerful.  God wants us to know that sin should not win in our lives.  We are told, beyond a shadow of a doubt that sin should not be a part of our normal life after we have accepted Christ into our heart.

Romans 6:12-14
¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
¹³ And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Sin shouldn’t rule our lives.

Romans 8:37 tells us that we are more than Conquerors.
³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

So the remedy for a poor relationship with God is:

1. Refresh your relationship with Him daily.

2. Ask Him to search your heart.

3. Have faith in His forgiveness.

4. Then pray with faith expecting God’s power in your life.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Are You Smarter than a Non-believer?"

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 nor of works, lest anyone should boast.

So, you have become a Christian.  You look around at all the non-believers around you and ask yourself, “What is wrong with these people, don’t they know they’re going to hell?”  It seems like a no-brainer doesn’t it?  I mean going to live for eternity in heaven or spend all of eternity in a terrible place, separated from God, where there will be a fire that will never stop burning your body.

Well, at least you were smart enough to believe in Jesus.  Is that what the Bible says?  What made you believe when many around you just seem to be oblivious to God’s Word?  Does Scripture tell us that we are better than everyone else because we were able to see the Light of the world for who He really is?

Not hardly.  Instead, the Bible teaches it was because of God’s grace that we have been saved.  God, in His grace, gave us the faith that we have.  He did this so that we could not boast of being involved in the salvation process.  God wants all the glory for saving you, not some of the glory.  He wanted to make sure that mankind was aware of the fact that coming into a right relationship with Him was His doing and not ours.

The Bible goes on to tell us that we could not have ever understood salvation aside from God making us alive. 

Ephesians 2:4-5
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Once again we find it is all about Him.  He initializes the process, He sent His Son to die to fulfill the process, He makes us alive to the process, it is His mercy, and His grace.  Without Him there would be no salvation.

That is why we see people that we know, people that we love, people that we have talked to about Christ and they simply don’t get it.  Many look at you as if you’re crazy, or if you are misguided.  It is because they are dead in their trespasses and sins.  The Bible even tells us that a person that has not been made alive to salvation can’t understand.

1^st Corinthians 1:18
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

So, from now on be sure that you thank God for His mercy and grace.  Understand that your salvation is totally because of Him and has nothing to do with you.  Then begin to pray for your friends and loved ones that God will make them alive so that they too might be able to understand the message of the cross.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Tough words"

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

Titus 2:14
14 Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

There has been a plague on Christianity for the last several decades.  I am afraid that the plague has been propitiated by our focus on the end result of salvation and our final destination rather than on our journey through the kingdom at hand.

We seem to all breathe a collective sigh of relief when someone accepts Jesus, but after the initial experience many times we lose contact with them or fail to follow up with them.  In my pastoral experience I have seen a large number of people that have professed salvation, but never have followed in obedience of baptism.  As a matter of fact, their entire Christian journey consisted of one prayer for salvation and then it was back to business as usual in their lives.

I am not here to judge anyone’s salvation experience; I simply want to make Christians aware that salvation is not just about the final destination, it is also about the journey to that destination.  Jesus gave Himself to redeem us from this sinless world so that we might be zealous for good works. 

There is nowhere in Scripture that ever speaks of punching your ticket for heaven and then sitting on the bus until the ride is over.  So, if we believe what the Bible says, then the question is when are we going to become zealous?  That word “zealous” means, unreservedly enthusiastic.  Not what I would call most of us.  The truth is we are unreservedly apathetic.  I wish that wasn’t the case, but we all know that it is. 

If you are reading this then you will never be able to stand before the Lord and plead ignorance.  Instead you will have to stand before Him someday and explain why He would go to His death for you, and yet you would not live for Him.  These are tough words I know, but how can I not Speak the Truth in Love. 

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Who is Your Enemy?"

Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord an in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

This Scripture is so powerful that we could spend days studying it here.  But unfortunately, statistics tell us that we have to keep things short and sweet in order to keep the attention of most internet readers.  In other words there are so many things to stimulate a person’s interest on the internet that very few people will stay with you through a deep study of Scripture.  That is not a derogatory statement, it is just fact.    So, I want to make one point today about these verses in Ephesians. 

I know a lot of people that are preparing themselves for the government to come in and take over.  They have purchased guns of all sorts, they have thousands of rounds of ammunition, that are studying tactics on how to defend themselves, because they believe that one day all of our freedoms will be taken away from us and the government, as we know it, will cease to exist.

Those folks may be right.  They are willing to take up the battle to save our freedoms, to hold on to what is dear to all of us.  I don’t blame them and I believe they are within the law to defend themselves.  They form militias to train against what they fear is the coming battle.  Man, woman, boy and girl are trained in what to do when the government comes to take away their freedoms.

Wouldn’t it be great if Christians could see the truth of Scripture and understand that it won’t make any difference if our government comes in to take our freedoms or if the militia successfully defends the land and keeps it free?  None of those things matter if we allow Satan to continue to win the spiritual battles for the souls of our nation.

The Scripture clearly tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood, yet we continue to ramp up for battle.  People arm themselves with guns and ammunition to fight things they can see when we are told that the true battle is with things that are invisible.  Our spiritual guns are empty and daily we face an enemy that is prepared to kill our very soul.  It’s time to start thinking about your ammunition and where you should begin to place your time and effort for the battle to come.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "My God is an Awesome God"

 

It never ceases to amaze me how people perceive God and Heaven. I hear preachers say that almighty God, the creator of the universe is pleading with you to give up the life that you live and follow Him. This leaves the idea that God is some beggar that depends on you for salvation. It leaves people with the notion that Jesus might have died and resurrected and God is just hoping that you will come to Him. This God that saved 8 people and two of every kind of animal in the Ark, this God that parted the sea to save the children of Israel, this God that stopped the Sun in its tracks for an hour, this God that sent His Son in the flesh to save us from our sin. This great God that holds the earth in its place is pleading and begging His people to come to Him.

I am sorry, but the God I see from Scripture is an awesome, powerful God that sets nations in place and has authority over all.

Psalm 22:28
28 For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations.

Psalm 33:10
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing, He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.

The God of Scripture breathed the breath of life into His creation, no leader leads, and no nation exists without God's allowance and approval. But we leave this image with people of a God that pleads and begs for you to come to Him. The apostle Paul might plead, I, as a preacher, might plead, but God set this entire plan in motion and He has certain expectations for salvation. He has made the way and He has paid the price, He built the bridge and He offers the way into His kingdom, but the God of the universe never has before and never will in the future go begging. Jesus said it much better than I can.

Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23
13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Then again a few verses later Jesus says:

21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"

Make no mistake about it! Jesus loves you and He died a terrible death to give you eternal life, but He isn't a beggar at the door. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, He is alpha and omega, He is the one that gives us every breath that we breathe and the life that we live. Love Him for who He is and what He has done, but don't think for a minute that this all powerful God goes wanting for anything. You aren't smarter than everyone else because you follow Jesus, it isn't your intellect that brings you eternal life.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

I want people to come to Jesus just as much as any other preacher. I want them to kneel before Him and offer their life to Him. But I don't want them to come thinking for a moment that they are doing God a favor. He is God and we are His creation. His love for us is mighty and never ending. But it is because of who He is and what we are that this whole death and sacrifice things is so unbelievably awesome.

He is everything and He created everything, yet He loved us enough to come to us and die for us. We come to Him because this remarkable God is too wonderful not to love, not because He has to beg us. We should fall before Him, not stand proud before Him.

Thank you Jesus for your love for Me!

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Pointing Your Guns in the Right Direction"

Ephesians 6:12
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

When we are hurt by someone it is only natural that we become angry with them.  We lose a lot of our precious time in life being angry and bitter at other people.  If you are honest with yourself there is probably someone in your life right now you are having a hard time forgiving. 

Just because it is natural doesn’t mean it’s the right thing.  Did you know the Bible tells us that being unforgiving can cause us to be tormented?  Let’s read about it together.

Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’
27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’
30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.
32 Then his master, after he had called him said to him, ‘You wicked servant!  I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’
34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him.
35 “So my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

To compare this debt in our time it would be 10,000 talents (20 million dollars) vs 100 deanari (54 dollars).  The parable is relatively self explanatory.  God forgave us a tremendous debt.  We are, literally, spiritually bankrupt and on our way to Hell, but out of  love for us, God gave His Son, Jesus, to pay our debt. 

Our sin debt could never be paid by our own good works, yet when someone trespasses against us we have a difficult time forgiving them.  Jesus goes on to say because we do not forgive people that hurt us, we might be turned over to the torturers or tormentors.  That is not a metaphor for sending us to Hell, it is a metaphor for living our lives here on earth being in torment because of our un-forgiveness.

Think about your own life, when you are bitter and angry at someone you lose sleep over it, you look for ways to get back at them, you spend a lot of your time thinking about your anger and how you’ve been hurt.  Friends, hate and bitterness will torment you!  

In order to defeat bitterness you must:

• Discern where it comes from.  Remember the verse that I started off with.  Our battle is not with flesh and blood.  We need to get past the bitterness and anger that we have with individuals and focus our anger on the real culprit.  The devil is at the root of all evil.  The devil is at work in a person’s life to cause evil to others, and he is at work in the victim’s life to continue to have hatred and bitterness.
• Direct your anger in the proper place.  Be motivated to be closer to God and understand what Jesus says about forgiveness and pray that He will work in your life to be forgiveness for you when you can’t forgive on your own.
• Declare Jesus’ name when hatred over takes you.  As Jesus said to Peter, “Get thee behind Me Satan.”  You can call out for Jesus to guard and guide your emotions and tell the Devil it’s time to get out of your life.  Pray in the name of Jesus for the devil to leave you alone. 

Be sure you point your guns at the one that is really hurting you. 

Speaking God's Truth in Love "High Anxiety"

John 14:1, 27
1 Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Matthew 6:25, 27-28, 31, 34
25 Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin;
31 Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.

Philippians 4:6
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

All of these verses tell us not to worry.  So why do we worry so much?  The Bible tells us that we have a sin nature, and because we have a sin nature, it is natural for us to do things that are contrary to God’s perfect plan for us.  His command to us is don’t worry, yet we do worry, therefore our actions are contrary to His command.

Once again we have to remember in order to have victory over our sin nature we need to depend on something that is super natural.  In other words, the only way to defeat worry is to let God loose in our heart and mind to give us the peace that He has promised us. 

It takes knowledge of Scripture to defeat worry.  We need to be able to fall back on God’s Word when times look bleak and we are fearful about what tomorrow holds.  There is a saying that I like to recite, “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow.”  How true this is. 

I want you to take this verse of Scripture and imbed it into your memory for the times when life overwhelms you.

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

God has known all about you from before you were born.  The things that you worry about are already in God’s hands and He has fashioned their end.  The knowledge of this should take a heavy burden off of all of us. 

I think that much of our worry is because of our relationship with the Savior.  Things go wrong in our lives, we have a crisis of massive proportion and we begin to worry because we aren’t close to the Savior.  Our guilt begins to set in, we worry because we haven’t been living right and we know it. We may not even know that is what we are thinking, but somewhere back in our conscience it’s there. 

Our problem is that we wander away from Jesus and it takes us awhile to get back to Him.  We have this idea that He has left the room and we have to work our way back to Him.  In reality He is watching over us at all times, never far away at all.  We are the ones that leave the room.  All you have to do is turn around (repent) and He is standing right there.  Here is His promise to us:

1^st John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.   

 If you want to have more peace and less worry than get your life right with Jesus.  He wants to be a super natural comfort to you.  Once you have come back to Him you can continue to live your life with less worry by being obedient to His Word.  Stay under His protective shield and feel His presence as He keeps you safe. 

This most powerful force in the universe is ready to protect you and keep you safe.  The key to your freedom from the worries of this world is your willingness to run safely into His outstretched arms.     

Speaking God's truth in Love "Godly Prosperity"

1 Corinthians 1:26
26 For you see your calling brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

I am nauseated every time I accidently tune my radio to a station that is transmitting the fallacy of a prosperity preacher.  You know the type.  They spend their time telling unwitting souls that God is just itching to give you everything you desire.  All you have to do is trust him, and have enough faith and He will give you the abundant life.

There is never any balance in their message.  God is a God of love and He only wants the best for you.  Though the premise is true, the real argument lies in the definition of “best”.  So, let’s look at the prosperity doctrine from a logical point of view using characters from the New Testament as our example.

We will pick the men of Jesus’ inner circle, Peter, James and John.  There is little doubt that these 3 men were closer to Jesus than any others.  They were with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration; they were with Him in the garden as He prayed right before His crucifixion.  Let’s quickly look at how these men spent their last days after Jesus ascended into heaven.

• The man they called James, who was the brother of John and was nicknamed one of the Son’s of Thunder spent his last days in prison and was eventually be-headed by Herod in order to please the Jews (Acts chapter 12). 
• Then there was Pete, he was certainly prosperous and God really blessed him with lots of money and a big house and the most luxurious camel to drive.  Actually Peter spent his last days in prison before being crucified by government officials.  Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down at his own wish because he didn’t feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.  
• After those to very wealthy men of the world we come to John.  He too was considered to be one of Jesus’ inner circle.  It was John they called the “beloved”, it was John, along with Peter, that ran to the tomb to find that Jesus had resurrected.  John was so prospered by God in his last days that he was exiled to an island called Patmos where he eventually died alone.    

Now all I’m saying is, if God’s purpose is to bless our socks off with material goods and pleasures then why did His closest friends die in such terrible conditions.  To add to these 3 men we can look at Jesus’ half brother, James.  He was flayed on a wheel by government officials who time and time again warned him to stop preaching, but couldn’t get him to shut up.  He was literally skinned slowly and tradition tells us that he kept on preaching even after they started removing his skin until finally the king told them to go ahead and kill him to shut him up.

Of course we can’t forget about the apostle Paul.  He is responsible for much of the New Testament and was clearly chosen by God to fulfill His purpose on earth.  Yet Paul wasn’t allowed to retire to a life of leisure.  Paul was imprisoned more than once; he was beaten, stoned, ship-wrecked and left for dead.  Finally he was beheaded by the order of Nero to shut him up and make an example of him to all Christians.

All I am asking of you is to be aware that we can make Scripture say just about anything we want if we pull certain verses out of context.  Always read the entire subject when studying the Bible and don’t stop at one or two verses.  Also remember to sift everything you read through a spiritual eye.  That simply means that before trying to put a worldly or material twist on Scripture, study to see the spiritual meaning.  For instance, if God wants us to have the abundant life, is He meaning abundant worldly goods or is he meaning He wants us to have an abundant spiritual life.

God promises to provide for our needs, He promises to never leave us or forsake us, but it’s a fallacy to believe that God promises you worldly prosperity.