Many people turn to fortune tellers, psychics, and horoscopes for hope. Faith in this hope (false hope) has ruined countless lives.
It is imperative that men speak the truth, for “he that speaketh the truth sheweth forth righteousness,” and his lip “shall be established for ever.”
Believers can strengthen the hands of the wicked by approving of their works or remaining silent concerning their God’s view of those wicked works.
Far too many people have forsaken the simplicity which is in Christ and have instead pursued the complexity and labour of religion (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Without the truth, there can be no true biblical conviction. By definition, conviction is the work of God that convinces an individual concerning the validity of truth and accountability for truth. The Spirit of God takes the law of God and writes it upon men’s hearts. That truth works upon a man’s conscience to accuse or excuse one’s thoughts. Either way, this work is very much the work of conviction. On one hand, a man develops the conviction that Jesus is the only way to get his sins forgiven. On the other hand, a man sees himself as sinful with no hope. In the end, conviction demands a holy God and a holy truth in order to forgive sin. Both elements working together bring true biblical heartfelt conviction.
God has called the saved to be His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), and as such, Christians are to take God’s truth to a lost and dying world. This message must be communicated. Due mostly to man’s ever increasing dependence upon technology, Christians have lost their effectiveness in communicating with others. This may seem insignificant, until one considers how it has weakened our ability to communicate our faith. Fewer people today will knock on a door and tell a stranger that he must be born again. Even fewer will stand upon a street corner and communicate the words of God to those who pass by. The saved must once again become willing to go forth and tell family and stranger alike that Jesus saves.
God often allows problems to enter people’s lives in order to facilitate His initial plans. For example, God had already expressed His desire to Abram for him to separate from his kindred. For various reasons, Abram had not obeyed God up until this point. In order to bring about God’s desired will, He allowed conflict to enter between the herdmen of Abram and those of Lot. The solution to this unnecessary conflict was quite simple. Abram suggested that they part ways (God’s initial plan) and Abram turned toward the land of Canaan (God’s initial plan). The Lord used the same tactic in the early church to get them to spread out and to preach His word outside of Jerusalem (see Acts 1:8 and Acts 8:1).
Every unsaved person will have windows of opportunities when he becomes most receptive to the gospel of Christ. The Devil works hard to keep people in darkness and will distract them by every means necessary (i.e., the death of a loved one, a crying child, a ringing phone, busyness, etc.). The salvation of a soul involves a spiritual battle that can only be won by the Lord’s intervention. There is a window of time when the lost are most receptive to the gospel, likewise suggesting only a window of opportunity for the saved to speak for Christ. This is the very reason the apostle Paul stressed the importance of the saints of God beseeching the Lord to open to them a door of utterance (Ephesians 6:19).
If asked concerning the origin of thoughts, the average person would swiftly respond with “the mind” or some similar answer. This is not, however, the emphasis of scripture. Overwhelmingly, scripture indicates that thoughts proceed from the heart. This does not mean the beating organ within one’s chest since the scriptures use “heart” in a different manner. When God brought judgment in the days of Noah, He saw that the thoughts of man’s “heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). In Matthew 15:19, the Bible says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts.” In Luke 24:38, the Lord Jesus asked the disciples, “why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” When one’s thoughts are not according to God’s will, it is a matter of the heart not being right with God.
Many people who fail to understand the Bible’s contents foolishly judge the Bible as a closed book except to those academically superior. The problem does not rest with God’s words but with man’s spiritual inabilities. This should be expected as the Bible says, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Even the saved at times may have difficulty understanding certain Bible passages, but God has given His Spirit to those who are saved to teach them and guide them in their understanding of His words. This truth is confirmed in John 14:26 when the Bible says, “the Comforter . . . shall teach you all things.”
