Scripture
“Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between straw and grain!
~Jeremiah 23:28, NLT
Quote
No one can read the gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.
~Albert Einstein
Straw can be used for many things but when it comes to nourishment, straw has no substance. You don’t feed straw to livestock. They could chew on it 24/7 and they would still starve because there is no life in straw. Jeremiah’s contemporaries were ‘false prophets’: their messages were straw. Although these false prophets claimed that they were speaking for God, they were not. Their messages were not inspired, they were fabricated and syndicated. They were getting their messages from each other and from dreams and visions. The false prophet were filling the people with false hope. They were tickling ears and saying things people wanted to hear.
An authentic message that comes from God is like fire, hot and consuming. It is like a hammer in that it pounds, shatters and breaks. The authentic message originates with God and is founded on truth. The Holy Spirit works the ground of truth and upon this ground of truth, a harvest is produced. Basically, Jeremiah told his counter parts, “If your message was from God, there would be some repentance.” Wow! What an awesome responsibility it is to walk into a pulpit.
My father in the ministry, Calvin C. Inman said repeatedly, “God has promised in Isaiah 55 to bless His word, He didn’t promise to bless mine.” Bro. Inman was right, people need to hear from God not us. If they hear God, lives will change but if all they hear is a man, nothing of eternal significance will come of it.
- Still struggling with an aching back. The most painful position is sitting which I do a lot of but so far we are able to sit a little at a time.
- This Sunday: we will be having COMMUNION this Sunday and baptism. We have three getting baptized Sunday and three more on August 7 and at least one is scheduled for August 14.
- College and Career leave for Guatemala on Thursday.
- We will not be able to do DEBT RETIREMENT this Sunday. We have had four bad offerings in a row and our General Fund is below operating status. Hopefully, we can get back on track in October.
- The sample ballot for the election {August 14} is in the foyer. Our next Business Meeting is September 11.
- Obama is voting for Trump. No joke, Malik {King} Obama, the president’s half brother is supporting Trump. By the way, ‘Barack’ is Arabic for ‘blessed.’
- Bernie followers upset: secret emails were disclosed that revealed the DNC in conjunction with the media elites conspired against Bernie during the election process and made the playing field uneven. In other words, Hillary and the elites cheated. Are you shocked?
