The Truth

Newsletter brought to you by Pursuing the Truth Ministries

www.pursuingthetruth.org
info@pursuingthetruth.org

AUGUST 2005

What’s New

Our website is getting more and more hits. Praise God! People are writing us and sending in their prayer requests. We are so grateful for these ministry opportunities.

Have you tried the new search feature on our website? I must say that I am very pleased with this service, which is provided by picosearch (www.picosearch.com). I can see what people have been looking for and then provide even more resources for those topics. It’s truly great. Another great thing about it is that it enables you to find what you want much more readily than our old system.

Pray With Us

Please pray with us for direction. Pursuing the Truth Ministries has a fairly long tradition of helping people to know the truth. Please pray with us that we would go forward to accomplish God's purpose for this ministry. Also pray for each other. Remember to visit the prayer requests section of the website and pray with those who have asked for prayer. Here are some things that we are praying about.

• A keyboardist. I would like to turn this over to someone else so I could spend more time in study

• A new location. I would really like for us to move to a larger location and away from the home that we currently meet in.

We are currently beginning discussions on what we would do next. Please pray with us as we seek God's direction for this ministry.

Your Lord!

Who is your lord? Who are you accountable to in practice as opposed to an ideal? What does the word "lord" mean? The American Heritage Dictionary provides the following definition.

A man of high rank in a feudal society or in one that retains feudal forms and institutions, especially: A king. Used as a title for certain high officials and dignitaries: Lord Chamberlain; the Lord Mayor of London. Used as a title for a bishop. Lord God. Christianity. Jesus. A man of renowned power or authority. A man who has mastery in a given field or activity.

You can see that a lord is one who basically has authority over you (or something). I asked you, "who is your lord?" Now many would say that Jesus Christ is Lord! However, just because Jesus Christ is Lord, which He is, doesn't mean that He is your lord. Let me explain by the concept of reality and idealism.

A reality is something that is. These are things that are a matter of fact. What is real is what is. Now one could argue that one may interpret what is and therefore have different forms of realities or different realities altogether. However, an interpretation of a reality is just that, namely an interpretation and that does not preclude what is real. Now on a more practical level what is real to you are those things that you take seriously and that you put effort and time into. What is real to you are those things that influence you the most else you would not give it credence. Now again, what is real to you may not be reality in the absolute sense as we will soon find out. However, what you deem as real is what will guide and I dare say control your life.

An ideal is what you think reality should be. Again I turn to the American Heritage Dictionary. The word "ideal" is defined as follows.

• A conception of something in its absolute perfection.
• One that is regarded as a standard or model of perfection or excellence.
• An ultimate object of endeavor; a goal.
• An honorable or worthy principle or aim.

An ideal is therefore the way reality should be in a "perfect" sense. This perfection is subjective however. There is only one sense that an ideal is in fact reality and that is when we are referring to the way of God or the Kingdom of God. One could say that the earth and humans should be such and such according to the word. However, reality shows us that the human race is such and such a way. Do you see what I mean?

Let me give you an example of the difference between reality and idealism in a practical setting. Consider marriage. Both the husband and the wife will have his and her ideal of marriage. Each one could say, "A perfect marriage is ____________________." Do you see? However, reality kicks in and they realize that THEIR marriage is not like the ideal and therefore imperfect. However, in reality, the ideal is most likely flawed because it is based on self (we generally try to do what we want to do and believe what we want to believe. Only reality can snap us out of the fantasy sometimes).

Now the married couple is going to have to deal with the way things really are in their relationship and work with it and abandon the ideals that they each have of marriage (it is most probable that their ideals are not the same anyway). They are going to have to face reality and work with that instead of trying to build the ideal marriage. Imagine two builders trying to build the perfect house at the same time at the same place. It would be a mess and yet each would push his "perfect house" and assume that the other builder must yield. Marriage is like that sometimes unfortunately.

In any case, my point is that we have to take inventory, so to speak, of what we are really living as opposed to the ideals. I haven't even mentioned things such as illusions and deceptions in one's life. You get the point I hope. So in regards to the original question, we need to take an honest look at ourselves and see who really is lord of our lives. Is it Christ or is it the pastor? Is it the Lord God almighty or is it your favorite TV evangelist? If someone were to evaluate your life then who would they say influences you the most? Now we are getting closer to reality and not the idealisms or fantasies that we like to hide in.

How often do you spend time in prayer for direction from the Lord Jesus Christ? How diligent are you in determining what God wants you to do next? How often do you toil over determining the will of God for you? Now consider how often you hang on the words and instructions of someone else. Who do you seek to please and win approval from? Is it your pastor, deacon, bishop, evangelist, etc.? Are you willing to oppose man to be consistent with the Lord's way? Do you really seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness or are you simply trying to get rich? Who is your Lord?

In reality, the Lord is truly Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and savior. He died so that we would not have to die for our sin. He died and rose from the dead so that we would live. All we have to do is believe and then bear fruit from the faith. Bearing fruit is not a requirement for salvation, but it is the outcome. Apples are not a requirement for an apple tree to grow. Apples come because the tree is an apple tree. Do you get it? You can't do right without the Lord. You can't be accepted without the Lord. The Bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus also said that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).

So what are you going to do now? I pray that you would seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. I pray that you would seek the truth of God's word and the Truth, who is Jesus Christ. The only thing that ultimately matters is your relationship with God, and therefore your relationship with Christ. Your pastor can't save you. Your favorite TV evangelists don't know who you are. So seek God and count Him as Lord .....really!

Control

My wife mentioned to me about something another minister said and something that I have opposed for so many years. She mentioned the concept of control and dependency. Do you realize that many ministers are really trying to control you? They usurp the authority from Jesus in a practical sense in your life. In reality Jesus is Lord, but in your mind and life He is superseded by someone else more real to you.

There are many ways that you are controlled by men and women who claim to be preachers, prophets, bishops, evangelists, etc. One common ploy is to affect your emotions and guide you into a state of mind where their suggestions could sway you to what they want. I like the creation story here because it shows what I am trying to say. The tree of good and evil was always in the garden and evidently caused no problem for the man and woman. However, the woman saw the tree in a new light after speaking with the serpent. Consider what the Bible says.

Genesis 3:6 (NKJV) -- {6}So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

So called ministers do this same thing to you. I call it the salesman affect. You see the gadget and it means nothing to you. However, you find that you need it and can't do without it after the salesman talks to you. We are manipulated by smooth talking and also fear tactics, which I'll mention a little later. So you are controlled by manipulation and you might not even know it. Ask yourself why you do the things you do in regards to church life and you may find that there are a lot of things that you do simply because you were told to do it. You will also find that you will have no idea why you do some of the things that you do. You are being controlled by someone else. You are following someone else's command the way a robot follows the commands of its programmer (influencer). How are you programmed and what program are you running?

The fear factor. You can also be controlled by fear. If you don't come to church then God will not be pleased with you. If you don't pay your tithe then you will be cursed. These are all scare tactics designed to get you to provide whatever is required of you by the one speaking to you. You are so afraid of the mere possibility of being cursed that you decide to play it safe and go ahead and do what you are commanded to do so that all of your bases are covered. It doesn't matter what the truth is. All that matters is that you want to play it safe so that you would not have fear. Of course you don't realize that you don't have to be afraid. All you need is the truth.

Do you know that it is very interesting that God does not want to control you in the same way the above individuals do. True leaders are leaders by influence. God desire you to follow Him. He doesn't make us do anything through force or manipulation. We have the choice to love or hate, obey or disobey. So why in the world would we allow mere humans to control us? Ignorance. We are controlled because we don't know the way and we therefore fall for any way. Some are controlled because they are lazy. It is far easier to live a religious life than a faithful one. It is far easier to follow the rules than it is to find the Way.

So why don't we be free? Jesus said that if we would know the truth then that truth would make us free (John 8:31-32). Jesus also said that He is the truth, the Way and the Life (John 14:6). So the key is Jesus. Instead of trying to do what every minister you hear says to do, why not learn what Jesus said and do that. Those who hear his words and do them are wise (Matthew 7:24-27). Be wise and follow Jesus. Learn of Him and be free. Stop allowing yourselves to be controlled by people that want to use and abuse you or are themselves deceived into thinking they are doing the right thing. Be blessed and be free.

Final Words

We need to get back to Jesus. There are so many doctrines now that it makes my head spin. People who call themselves ministers, pastors, elders, etc. preach a gospel that is not found in the Bible. There is now a mass exodus from the church by many people. They are fed up with what goes on and I can't say that I blame them. We need to get back to the first love, namely Jesus Christ. We need to abandon all of the secular teachings that have infiltrated our churches and get back to the basics of the Bible. Jesus truly is Lord, but is He your Lord? God is really in control, but are you being led by Him. Go back to Jesus. Take inventory of your life to see if you are on the correct path and do what you have to do to remain true to God. Amen.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments. Visit our website at www.pursuingthetruth.org and go through the resources that we have available to you. God bless you always. Remember to eat, drink, and digest the word of God and know God for yourself.