JAMES-I & II PETER-I,II & III JOHN, JUDE, REV. 1-2

What a wonderful day we had at Church yesterday!  Wonderful.  It was truly amazing to see all that God did in our midst.  The Spirit of God moved and we were blessed.  The singing was amazing, the fellowship was dear, and the preaching was ok too.  God blessed us!  This Monday morning, I woke up long before anyone else and started reading with a cup of coffee.  Here are a few thoughts: 1) WRATH DOES NOT WORK RIGHTEOUSNESS- James 1:20 says:  "For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."  In verse 26, it says:  "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."  Wrath and anger and malice are things God's Word tells us to "put away".  These are items the old man has in plenty, but we are to have in short supply as believers.  Let us not be angry Christians.  James says that our religion is vain (religion being that outward profession) if we don't stop speaking in anger.  2) ROYAL LAW- James 2:8 says:  "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:"  This is also called the second commandment by Jesus, and now the royal law.  To love others is indeed the teaching of Jesus Christ to all who profess to know Him.  Let us keep the Royal Law in effect each day! 3) FINALLY... - After teaching about wives and husbands and their responsibilities in I Peter 3:1-7, Peter now says in verses 8 and 9 to both:  "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:  Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing:  but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing."  These are mutual obligations of the Husband and Wife.  We are to be compassionate one towards another.  We are not to respond to anger or evil in like fashion.  We are to act Christian towards each other! 4) KNOWING AND LOVING- I John is only five chapters long, but power packed verses they are.  In them we see that God wants us to know, and God wants us to love.  The word "know" is mentioned 27 times; "knoweth" is mentioned 6 times;  "Love" is mentioned 33 times, and "loveth" is mentioned 9 times.  We can see by this that there are things God wants us to clearly KNOW, and people God wants us to clearly LOVE.  Let us be KNOWING and LOVING Christians!! Well, I have so much more I could write about, but I will close here.  I hope you have a blessed day!  Pastor Mike Mutchler