--Previous Message--
: Good Morning Saints,
: How are you doing this morning, good I hope?
: Well it is Memorial Day weekend, and I will
: be taking tomorrow (Friday) off work to
: enjoy a longer weekend. I hope that you have
: a good and very BLESSED Friday and holiday
: weekend too! I will see you back on Tuesday
: morning bright and early!
: God Bless You and Yours!
:
: “Test me, O Lord . . examine my heart and my
: mind.” Psalm 26:2 NIV
:
:
: Refuse the false refuge of an unexamined
: life.
:
:
: My thoughts and comments today are about an
: “Examined Life.”
: By Pastor Allen Randolph
: It is presently the time of year when
: students at all academic levels face final
: exams and passing or failing grades. The
: exams are to test acquired knowledge –
: intellectual understanding and practical
: application – of required subjects. Being
: adequately examined according to required
: standards and found academically qualified
: determines a student’s successful promotion
: or graduation. For some, more than others,
: examinations may be cheerfully anticipated.
: If a student has been diligent in their
: studies and done well through the school
: year there is little concern. For those who
: have been careless along the way or done
: little to prepare, it is a day of reckoning,
: first at school and probably then with
: parents at home.
: Life has many such moments or reckoning,
: such as: an annual employee evaluation,
: yearly health screening, filing of income
: taxes, or just balancing your check book.
: Probably the more pressing issue that
: concerns my thoughts today are the smaller
: tests that occur along the way. King David
: learned the difficulty of knowing his own
: heart. “Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine
: my heart and my mind.” Psalm 26:2 NIV.
: David’s moral failure with Bathsheba must
: have been a sobering reality check. Before
: that fateful indiscretion, David must have
: felt twinges of conscience, God’s warnings
: of potential failure in smaller, gradual
: things that hold great importance. That’s
: the thing about disobedience; sin is sin
: whether small or large, private or public.
: Sin is missing the mark, failing the exam,
: falling short of the acceptable standard.
: Jesus loved to tell stories that were true
: to life. He told the story of a fearful
: servant who took the investment entrusted to
: him and hid it secretly and safely in the
: ground. Read Matthew 25:13-29 NIV. When his
: master returned and asked to examine his
: stewardship, his failure was public. But he
: failed, not on the day of accountability;
: everyday he failed a little bit when he did
: not examine his motives and methods,
: ultimately doing nothing that he should have
: done. He didn’t bother to examine what he
: was doing in contrast with what he should
: have been doing.
: Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not
: worth living.” There are dimensions of
: spiritual life that require
: self-examination. “If we examine ourselves,
: we will not be examined by God and judged in
: this way.” 1 Corinthians 11:31-32 NLT. Every
: day, humbly examine your heart before the
: Lord in the revealing light of His will and
: Word. See James 1:22-26 NIV. Failing to do
: so risks your remaining unchanged. “So we
: must listen very carefully to the truth we
: have heard, or we may drift away from it.”
: Hebrews 2:1 NLT. Drift is a gradual
: occurrence, often unnoticeable to you.
: Honestly examine your schedule, motives, and
: affections; examine your heart for God. And
: welcome the loving scrutiny of the Holy
: Spirit. But far more important is a day when
: every person, young or old, will stand
: before God. “So then each of us will give an
: account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12
: NKJV. See 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
: NLT/Revelation 20:11-12 NIV. That is a day
: on which you will not be left unexamined, a
: day without excuse for being unprepared. See
: Romans 1:20-22 NIV.
: My prayer for you today is that you will
: refuse the false refuge of an unexamined
: life.
:
: K-Love’s Encouraging Words:
: I will praise you forever, O God, for what
: you have done. I will trust in your good
: name in the presence of your faithful
: people.
:
: ~ Psalm 52:9, NLT
:
: ~ Get Busy Living, or Get Busy Dying ~
:
:
: ~Long Live Real Cowboys~
:
:
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