For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those who cannot control their temper start fights and get themselves into all kinds of other sins. Learn to control your temper if you desire to live a godly life. I have always striven to control my temper, but I am not always successful.

    God will hear and answer our call when we cry out from despair. No matter how desperate we are God can, and will, help us when we call on Him. Each and every one of us, if we are honest with ourselves, knows that we could not stand before God if He kept a record of our sins. It is only because He is willing to forgive us time and again that we can come before Him. The only reason we have the opportunity to learn to do right is because God will forgive us when we do wrong and keep no record of our failures. We can count on God and any hope we put in Him will be rewarded.

    The church at Thyatira was commended for their love, faith, service, and endurance. The only thing they were condemned for was allowing a false prophetess who promoted sexual immorality to teach among them. Rather than teach sexual purity, the church allowed this woman to remain among them teaching that it was not only OK, but spiritually beneficial to practice some sort of sexual immorality (the passage does not tell us what type, and it does not matter). The key here is that false teachers often use sexual immorality as a hook to lure people away from the true Gospel. We need to teach the importance of sexual purity in our churches. I will note that, even though the church here is condemned for allowing this “prophetess” to remain among them, those who refused to follow her teachings were praised and encouraged. Even though the church allowed her to be among them, there were still those (by my reading a significant number) who remained faithful. This gives me hope for those in churches which today are accepting, to an ever greater degree, teachings which say that various forms of sexual immorality are not sin.
    I have always though that the message to the church at Sardis was the one which should give us the greatest pause. The church at Sardis had a reputation for being a vibrant, active, faithful congregation, but the message to them was that they were dead. I am not sure what was going on here, but I can guess. They had the forms of an enthusiastic, faithful congregation. Their worship services were vibrant, with messages which hit all the right points. Those in attendance were filled with excitement and joy, but that was it. When the service was over, they left and went about their lives no different than the people around them who did not attend their services. This is such an easy trap to fall into. Our church can teach all the right things, but no one in it does anything which makes any difference in the world around them. Even here there were a few people who were faithful, which shows us that we cannot let ourselves off because we can point to others in our church who are doing the will of God. What are we doing to change the world around us for the better?

    Amos relays God’s message that He had brought drought, famine, and plague, one after another. Yet the people refused to repent of their sins and worship God. They continued to oppress the poor and mistreat the needy. Amos warns them that God will bring judgment against them for their sins. A society which hates honest judges and despises those who tell the truth will soon face more troubles than any person can bear. God’s judgment will soon fall upon it.
    God’s judgment is coming upon all who fail to do good and flee from evil. However, God will be the helper and defender of those who hate evil, love good, and seek justice for the poor and powerless. Those who lounge in luxury while the poor suffer and starve will face God’s judgment.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    As I read these two proverbs they each remind me of someone in the news. Both of those men have demonstrated that they should have spent more time studying God’s word. Words alone are not enough to bring about a change of behavior. It is only when those in authority take some action that people will change their behavior. Those who speak before thinking through the implications of what they are about to say have demonstrated themselves to be the worst sort of fool.

    I truly believe that this psalm is a prophecy. Those who hate Jerusalem and the Jewish people will be turned back in defeat.

    Every year when I read the messages to the seven churches I am blessed. A couple of things struck me today. The first is that Jesus had a message for each of the churches about what they were doing right, but He also had a message about what they were doing wrong. And His message about what they were doing wrong included Him saying that they needed to repent, or He would bring judgment against them. It is not enough to get it partly right, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to continue transforming us until we are perfected (which is not going to happen in this life).
    The first church, the church at Ephesus, was commended for their hard work, their endurance, and their ability to recognize false teachers. However, Jesus found fault with their lack of enthusiasm. They no longer had the energy for the Gospel which they had when they first accepted it. I have observed that these two things, the positive and the negative, often go together. Those who patiently work hard at doing the Lord’s work and have an instinct for recognizing false prophets/teachers are often boring, uninspired followers of Christ. God wants us to not only patiently endure while working hard at the tasks He has given us. He wants us to be enthusiastic because of the rewards which our faith tells us will be ours.
    The third church, the church at Pergamum, was commended because they were willing to stand up for Christ in the face of persecution, even persecution which led to death. However, they accepted false teachers. In particular, they accepted some who taught that sexual immorality was OK and who encouraged people to be materialistic and greedy. It is not enough to be enthusiastic about proclaiming our faith in Christ. We, also, need to follow His commands about how we live our lives.

    Only the second church, the church at Smyrna, was only given commendation. They were poor and faced persecution. Yet they remained faithful. They were poor in material goods, but in the things which have eternal consequence they were wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Let us seek out the kind of wealth which the believers in Smyrna possessed.

    When Amos began to prophesy I can imagine that his audience cheered as he listed enemy after enemy of the people of Israel and told how God’s judgment would come upon them. It must have really heartened them to hear him say, “The people of … have sinned again and again.” However, they were probably not so enthusiastic when Amos got to them. It is important for us to recognize that God almost never sends a prophecy that is not also a warning to us. Let us examine ourselves to see if we have forgotten how to do right. Have we filled our houses with wealth taken by theft and violence?