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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"Choosing The Battles"

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"And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's."  2 Chronicles 20:15.  These were the words spoken by the Holy Spirit of God, through Jahaziel concerning the coming battle with the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir.  The Lord made it very clear that this was His battle and that the children of Israel were only to show up as He went on to say, "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed: to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you."  2 Chronicles 20:17.  Indeed, there are very many battles we, as children of God could and do find ourselves in, but there are certain battles which don't belong to us and we should not take it upon ourselves to fight them.

Just this past week, I heard about some resolution which had been passed concerning what they call gays, and then being rescinded by the same group of people who had passed it.  The person telling me about these events was very upset over a certain councilman's remarks that it was their job to run the county and not to dictate morals.  Now truly, this type of remark does sound quite appalling, but think about it for a moment.  It is so very true that the job of County Council is to run the county.  But, they are not doing a very good job of it.  It is also so very true that the job of County Council is not to dictate morals.  First of all, this country which this county is a part of, was founded by God fearing men and was once run by those same men.  When those men ran this country, they did not dictate morals.  Simply by being God fearing men, they were governed by the laws that were already passed by the Creator of not only this country, but the whole world and everything in it.  Sure, as technology increased, such as the invention of the automobile, there were certain new laws that had to be passed, such as speed limits, but the basic laws have never changed and needed not to be amended nor resolutions added nor rescinded.  So you see, this county and indeed this country could save the taxpayers a bundle of money by getting rid of all those incompetent people we pay every day to pass laws.  Then we as a county and country could spend all that money in hiring more people to see to it that the laws were obeyed. 

The case in point was that of queerdom or homosexuality.  If you will but read God's Word, you will find that it is already against the law.  No law needs to be passed and no resolution needs to be made.  And most certainly, it cannot nor ever will be rescinded.  That, my friend, is not my battle as it is God's battle.  As His child though, I do have a position to stand in.  That position however is not to go out and condemn the homosexuals.  They are already condemned.  Think about it for a moment.  The purpose for the child of God being here in this world is to be an extension of the life of Christ in this world.  What was Christ doing here in this world?  He came to save the world which was already condemned, "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved."  John 3:17.  Friends, I hate homosexuality and I think it is sickening.  It is a sin and I hate sin.  I hate it when I sin.  But which do you think would be more pleasing to the Lord who has left me here in this world as an extension of His only begotten Son's life, to go out there and fight tooth and nail with anyone who would ablidge me and condemn the homosexual or to go out there and try to win some of them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  If he or she could get Jesus in their heart and life, he or she would be shown that it is wrong and would stop doing it.  But as I said before, it's already against the law and whether county council sees fit to pass other laws or resolutions, they cannot rescind it or any of God's law. 

As the Councilman said, it is his job to run this county.  And the only way this county and country and world will ever be blessed is for the governing body of each to learn how to do their job.  History books were written so that men could look back on the past and learn from those who preceded them and thereby gaining wisdom for the present and the future.  The greatest history Book ever written is the Book that contains the laws pertaining to man.  It's the Holy Bible and it is just packed full of instances of men who knew how to run the country and those who blew it.  If one would notice when studying this great history Book, every time the story of a king began with the words, "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.", the people and the land prospered.  But likewise, every time a story of a king began with the words, "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.", the people and the land fell into much hardship.  Sounds sort of like our land doesn't it?  So it is apparent by looking around the county that the councilman mentioned does not know how to do his job, but what about me? And what about you?  Have we stood within speaking distance of some lost sinner this week and failed to present the Gospel of Christ to them?  Have I or we acted as though we are better than they are?  We are only better than they are to the extent that we are better off than they are and that is but by the grace of God.  Job said, "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse."  Job 9:20.  Now this was a man that the Word of God tells us was perfect and upright and feared God and hated evil.  "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil."  Job 1:1.  Now God's Word does not tell us that Job never committed a sin, but that he was accounted as perfect in God's eyes in that his heart was totally bent toward loving and serving and trusting God.  But by Job's own account, it tells me that no matter how close to God I may ever be so blessed to get, I could only count any righteousness that I may muster up as filthy rags.  If Job were alive today, I imagine he would be one of the greatest soul winners there ever was and the reason for that being, because he could really and truly see himself as he really was and not what God had made him.  Sure he hated evil, but he also knew that he himself was evil apart from God and that's what lost people are, "Apart from God." 

Now let me share a little story with you:

There once was a man whose job was a drawbridge operator.  The drawbridge was a railroad bridge which had to rise for boats to pass on the river below.  One day the man's son asked to go to work with him.  The father took him to work and let him play by the river while he worked.

Later in the day, the father heard a train coming. The bridge was up for a river boat which had just passed through.  He looked around for his son and noticed that he was caught at the bottom of the drawbridge and could not free himself.  The train was going too fast to stop, so the father had to make a decision.  Was he going to save his son, or allow his son to die to save the hundreds of people on the train?  He could see the train fastly approaching and made the decision to flip the switch so the train could pass.

The train passed safely over the bridge and the father looked into the train and saw the hundreds of people partying.  He looked down at his son's body, the blood pouring from it.  He again looked at the train and at the people who were unaware or didn't care that his son's blood had been shed so they could live.

Now friends, this is a sad story indeed, but sad as it is, God looked down from heaven and saw our sins, (yours and mine) and sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to shed His precious blood for you and me, so that we could live.  The man in the story saw the sins of the people on the train after he had made the decision to allow his son to die for them, but God saw our sins even before He sent Jesus to freely lay down His life for ours.  It does not matter what your sins may be, that blood was shed as an atonement, (at one ment) for those sins.  If you have not trusted Him as your personal Saviour and received Him into your heart and life, I urge you to do so now while there is yet time.  Tomorrow may be too late.  If you should need any assistance in doing so, feel free to call me at the number on my letter head at any time.

And if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, please consider just how it was that you got where you are and realize that though you do hate sin, your only real battle is not with those who are without, but it is from within.  Even with this battle, you will need God's help a plenty, but all those other battles are God's battles and He only requires you to be there.  Remember, He said, "stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you..."  God bless you!