Can you do all things through Christ?

 

Ever notice those who seem to quote ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ seem to struggle with a lot of issues?  Please hear me; most of these truly are sincere people who ‘love The Lord’, yet somehow have misunderstood that quoting The Word is the same as Being The Word.  That’s what a religious system will do to people, hamstring them in The Way they should be walking and not just talking.

At least these stupid pharmaceutical ads reveal more truth about their possible side effects of ingesting their chemical concoctions!   I quote from some of them:  ‘may cause serious side effects, including hepatitis B or C.  Common side effects include upper respiratory tract infections, headaches, diarrhea, sore throat and a runny nose.

Hmmmm, only one pill twice daily?  Read on, and then you’ll find out more!  What is the most important information I should know about using this product?  Oh!  Possible tuberculosis!  May increase your risk of certain cancers!  Lymphoma, low red blood cell count!  Dark urine, vomiting, fevers, skin rash and stomach discomfort just to name a few on a full page of other information.

This is not from an anti-depressant by the way.  Side effects from one of those products say it may increase suicidal thoughts!  Among others.

To be clear, my point is, swallowing religious ‘pre-scripture-ens’ without reading The Word is like taking chemical compounds without reading ALL the side effects!

Didn't The  Creator tell us the side effects of NOT following His Ways that lead to Life in the left side of His Book of instruction?  

Didn't The Creator also tell us the benefits and results IF we do what He says do in the left side of His Book? 

‘See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou may live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou guest to possess it.’ Deut 30  16-18    

Please read all of Deuteronomy 30, matter of fact why not slowly read all of Deuteronomy!   

Your Master, The King did, and He used it to defeat the enemy, yet we've been taught to throw it out cause it’s old and past its expiration date!  We got a NEW covenant!  That’s like Huey Lewis singing about, I want a new drug!  

How’s that working for us? 

‘ADHD christianity’ with over 30,000 denominations!  Man that’s what I call Unity!  Uhhh, depends what you call unity.  No, depends are adult diapers!

One can’t be ‘blessed and highly favored’ if one isn't doing what He says do!  Please read Deuteronomy 28,  29 & 30; there are conditions in there.  If we do what He says do, THEN we are blessed, IF NOT then we choose the alternative and that’s the curses.   Now, please go and read Leviticus 23-26, real slow, in your quiet time, to yourself, out loud.

If you were on a deserted island and someone dropped a Bible for you to read and you never even heard or knew what it was, where do you think you would begin reading from?  The book of John?   The ‘New’ Testament?  Heck, the folks in the ‘New Testament didn't even have a ‘New’ testament to quote from!  Contend FOR the faith, Once delivered to the Saints!  There was nothing new about that!

Before you say, Rick:  ‘I don’t see what you’re saying’.  Know that you are fulfilling what both ‘Jesus’ and ‘Paul’ and Isaiah said!  Trifecta!  (Mark 4:12, Matt 13 14-15, Acts 28:26-27, Isaiah 6 9-10)  Proving once again, ‘Jesus’ never quoted ‘Paul’, but ‘Paul’ AND ‘Jesus’ both quoted from the left side of the book! (Scriptures!)  They were on the same page, but not like modern churchianity.

Know this my friend, you will never ‘see’ what I am saying, nor what ‘Jesus’ or ‘Paul’ was saying until you begin TO DO what Abba says Do!  Seeing is NOT believing!

Psa_48:8;  “As we have heard, so have we seen…”

Psa 18:44;  “As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.?

Remember Faith comes how?  (by going to church?  NO!)  ‘Paul’ knew it!  (Romans 10:17)  

Remember ‘Paul’ had no ‘new testament’.  What ‘Faith’ was he talking about?

You have been taught to ‘see it before you can believe it’, WRONG!  Abraham didn't see it, yet he believed and it was credited to him as righteousness!  He obeyed, and then he saw!

You won’t understand unless you do!  (Psa 111:10)  ‘ a good understanding have all they that do his commandments’ (the left side of the book!  Not To be saved!  Because you ARE saved and you Love your Master!  Exodus 21)

Remember,  “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Your faith should be evident and congruent with all in Scriptures and its substance!  Be this kind of ‘substance abuser’!  Be the 1 in 10.

So you still think you can DO all things through ‘Christ’ who strengthens you?

Can you put bacon down?

Can you stop bringing in penis trees (Ashtoreth)  to your house and hang them with gold and silver gonads?

Can you stop going to a building that has a phallic object on its roof?

Can you come out of her Oh my people and be separate?  Touch not the unclean thing?

Can you stop spreading strife among the brethren?

Know that the answer to all these are Yes you can.  The key is the ‘want to’, got to have a ‘want to’ to ‘want to’.  (Proverbs  1).  (And Yes I used to do these things)

Before you want to engage in verse volleyball with me on what you were taught, I suggest you read His admonitions 1^st.   His instructions are not too difficult (Deut 30:11), His yoke is easy and His burden is light. 

It’s His people that need to turn from their wicked ways!    I’m here to help, let me know if you have questions.

I hate to quote from High School Musical, but Truth is Truth no matter where you find it.  ‘We’re all in this together’.

Wow! How do you measure success in The Kingdom?

  

I host a radio show on Sunday mornings here in my hometown on the local affiliate of  ESPN, called, “Ground-Rules from THE Playbook with Rick Godley”.  The show airs from 7a-8a.  The station manager asked me if I knew of any ‘Christian’ sports shows that he could put on the  station to ‘reach’ the lost.  I told him, I didn't know of one, but I would be happy to do one, (since I have nothing to do on Sunday mornings now that The True Holy Spirit opened my eyes ‘to want to’ obey the 4^th commandment).  My first show was the 1^st Sunday in 2012, January 8^th.

Growing up in the New York metropolitan area, where there were 2 professional baseball teams, (Go Mets 1969!), football teams, basketball teams, 2 hockey teams, I grew up a fan of sports.  I would classify myself as an active fan, not rabid fan. Today, I consider sports for what it is: passive amusement.  Many ‘die-hard’ sports fans forget what the ‘E’ in ESPN stands for: Entertainment! 

The premise of ‘The Ground-rules’ show is to help the audience understand that there truly is a book that literally contains ‘Ground-Rules’, that literally pertain to this ground we walk on!  That if we obey the instructions, the rules, and then ‘The Owner’ of the Team will bless us, not with a multimillion dollar contract, but with a ‘Life’-time covenant!  Guaranteed by His Word!  Sealed in the Red Ink of Him sending His Son down to ‘The Field’, to teach us how to ‘play’ (live), and NOT throw the Rule Book out!  But, literally show us that ‘The Ground-rules’ from the left-side of The Book (Scriptures), are NOT done away with, they are the printed words of The Way, The Truth and The Life!

‘The Owners Son’ wasn't sent to start a ‘new team’, christianity!  I can’t find that in The Playbook, can you?  He didn’t come to make a way for us to be taken off ‘the field’ in the 4^th quarter at the 2 minute warning with the game on the line to be ‘raptured’ up to The Owners Skybox for a post game banquet. 

There was a team in a town called Berea who even had the guts to verify what ‘Paul’ and Silas were instructing from the same rule book you and I have!  (The Left-side of the Book!).  They opened their ‘pla-book’ DAILY to ‘see if it were so’.  Proving once again, that Paul used the same playbook that ‘Jesus’ did!  Neither came up with anything new! After all, if ‘The Owner’ changes not, then why should His Son, or His team? 

The uniqueness of the show has developed over the years to include guests who share their experience when coming to grips with the fact that we all have been lied to (Jeremiah 16), when someone says, we are a ‘New Team’ with a ‘New Coach’ because a ‘New League’ began in Acts 2!  When in fact in the rulebook in Jeremiah 6:16, we are instructed to ‘Walk in the ancient paths’ to find rest for our souls.  Not a new one!

As you can see, Our Father (The Owner) has opened up an opportunity to share His message in a very fun and creative way.  There are so many applications that can, have and will be made for future shows; I am excited to be part of this. 

I write this introduction as a way to frame up this month’s article, as you can see the title, “Wow”, because I couldn’t come up with another.   Here’s why, Sunday’s show 8/31/14 (https://soundcloud.com/redpeachmedia/groundrules-from-the-73/sets podcast link here if you want to hear) my guest was Coach Dave Daubenmire, who makes a great guest, because he played the game of football and was a successful Coach of various High School football teams in Ohio.   Over the years I have established a relationship with him ‘from the corn-fields of Ohio to the cotton-fields of Louisiana’.

Currently I live in North Central Louisiana, where we have 3 relatively prominent universities, Louisiana Tech, University of Louisiana @ Monroe and Grambling State University.   Each one either has at one time had some success on the football field.  Each one, trying to adapt with the times and either ‘keep up with the big boys’ while accepting organized mediocrity as the  new standard of excellence, where a losing season can get you into a Bowl Game!

Have you noticed how the sports world is now our moral barometer?  Have you also noticed how we have d-evolved to creating a ‘game day experience’ rather than focusing on putting on a great game?  After all it’s about the size of the stadium, Field houses and facilities, the interaction of the digital ear piercing scoreboard, fun and exciting promotions, contests, tailgating etc.  Let’s not forget the ‘Athletic Budget’, cha-ching!

The Dallas Cowboys recently were valued to have a net worth of over 3 billion dollars!  They haven’t won a Super Bowl in almost 20 years, and only 2 playoff games.  What’s their incentive to put a winner on the field?  Who cares, but have you seen their 60 yard Digital video screen inside their new stadium?  Die-hard fans will still pony up and but the tickets, the gear, talk the talk, be the authority cause they got an opinion and play in fantasy leagues!  

Wow?

I am going to give you the results of a recent study and how it measures success, would you be able to tell me what ‘team’ they are describing?   When these ‘Coaches’ were asked if their organization was successful or not, here is their criteria they cited?

1)      Attendance

2)      Budgets (increase)

3)      Number of Programs

4)      Size of Staff

5)      Size of Facilities

Sadly the results for these measurements for ‘success’ didn’t come from NFL Owners or Division 1 Universities, no, they came from a 2 year research project conducted by George Barna, research expert an founder of The Barna Group, on why modern-day American pastors and churches are so silent regarding political issues! 

 Wow!

This is their criteria for success?

What’s even more revealing in the study is the following, “90 % of the modern Pastors said, Yes, they knew that the Bible speaks to every one of the key issues of today, yet less than 10% say they will actually speak to those issues”  

Wow?

Did you get that? 90% of America’s pastors say they KNOW that the Bible speaks to all of these issues, but they are deliberately determined NOT to teach these Biblical principles!

Caveat:  Ultimate responsibility of Scriptural knowledge and understanding rests with me and you the reader.  Study to show YOURSELF…Do your utmost to present yourself approved to Elohim, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth.”

That being said, my question would be, why keep feeding this system with your time and money?  Seems like we don’t have much of either anymore.  Just asking….

So many verses flare up in my soul on this, suffice it, just this one, Luk_16:15  “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

What’s more important to you?  Attendance, giving, the number of programs, staff or facilities; does size matter?    As Barna goes on to say, ‘Jesus’ didn’t die for any of them.  Wow!

So it comes down to this, modern American pastors read ‘successful church’ books and publications; they attend the “successful church” conferences’ they watch “successful church” videos, etc.

As I close, remember the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  

Get out of the rut of unrighteousness and begin to walk in the ancient paths!  Your obedience could be the 1 in ten that will prevent Sodom and Gomorrah going up in smoke.   I’m open to question and comments,  Rick@Godleyworks.com