Shalom Saints,
“Uh, uh, Sharon … here is … uh … 25 cents on that … uh … five dollars I owe you.” I looked at Ronnie and wanted to call him trifling and sorry! But, I just said, “Keep the quarter. You can pay me later.” He mumbled some pitiful excuse and a half-hearted promise to pay me back next week.
Ronnie was one of our twenties-something group that hung out and partied together. Ronnie always talked a good game, but rarely followed through. He was good at giving “lip-service.” I knew when I loaned him the $5.00, two months earlier, that it was a very slim chance that I would ever get it back. That was the reason I only “loaned” him $5.00. Everyone in our group knew Ronnie’s character, but we liked him for his jovialness and back in the day, he would have been called “hip” and “in the know.”
Some years later after the group had move on to different cities, gotten married and had children, I spoke to a friend of Ronnie’s. She told me that he had died.
I said, “Wow! He was only in his late forties or early fifties. How did he die?”
“He was doing community service when he had a heart attack and died.”
“Well, at least he turned his life around and was doing good deeds before he left here.”
“Oh no, Sharon. He was on probation and was doing Court Ordered community service.”
Before diving into 1st Peter, Arthur passionately talked about the necessity to walk out our faith and not just give “lip service” to the declarations we speak over our lives. We have to walk the talk!
Summary of the Teaching
Peter’s overriding message is to provide us with instructions on how to live our lives as we wait on the revelation of Yeshua. Yeshua’s revelation is when He will be revealed, His second coming, His appearing. However, Arthur firmly states that NO man knows the day or the hour when Yeshua will return.
Arthur’s review of the Renewed/New Covenant was full of details on how Yeshua ratified the Covenant at the last supper; that it is impossible for the New Covenant to already be fulfilled; and our reasonable response to the cruel and usual punishment Yeshua suffered for our salvation.
I admire Arthur for being fearless when it comes to controversies that must be addressed. Arthur doesn’t go looking for a limb to walk out on, but he has no problem dealing with a fight when it is part of his being an Ambassador for the Kingdom and squashing deception.
Listen as Arthur tackles the issues of:
- Who are the “sons of God” in the Old and New Testaments?
- Are Fallen Angels trying to have families and blend in with humans?
- Why should we follow Messiah?
- In what situation, by default, are we believing and living our lives according to what other people say about us?
- What is the real Fountain of Youth?
- What happens when saints in the “one body” have unresolved issues with one another?
Listen as Arthur explains the two things he always focuses on when he reads the Bible.
This teaching makes me think of something my Grandma Walton used to say, “I had 14 children and not an ugly one in the bunch!” I have listened to more than 500 of Arthur’s teachings and there is not a dud in the bunch!
This is another blockbuster teaching you don’t want to miss!
Buzz on the Teaching
As we were driving home, Floyd and I were talking about all the times that we fell for the “okie-doke” from folks that gave us “lip service.” Lip service is a nice way of saying “lying.” As we reminisced, we also saw the pattern of reaping what you sowed.
Probably the biggest snare I fell into was in 1990 when I was hired as an Educational Psychologist for a Home for neglected and abused children. My job description was ONLY to test the children and forward my assessments and educational plans to the instructors.
Well, that blew up the first day on the job! (I’m chuckling now as I write this!) There were no teachers and I was asked to go and get the children out of bed and teach a multi-level class spanning elementary to high school. Now, most rational folks would have run from the scene, but I did not want to go into another job search and I believed the owners, a nice looking married couple, when they said it would only be for a few days.
Let me give you a bit of the “backstory.” First, I had NEVER taught in the public schools. Although, I had taught college level classes in statistics and writing, I was not licensed to teach public school anywhere. Second, I was new in town and probably all the other local teachers knew that the Home was on probation with the Michigan Dept. of Social Services.
OK, back to me dragging children from under beds in the morning and trying to get them to stop the constant talking. “Hey Teach! Where did you get ‘dem square-toed, jive looking shoes?” This was in reference to a pair of Scapirelli shoes I brought with me when I moved from NYC a few months earlier.
The owners would frequently drop in to encourage me and tell me, “just a wee bit longer and we will have teachers.”
On the Monday morning of my third week, I arrived to an empty building. Over the weekend, the Dept. of Social Services had removed all the children and all the staff except me, the Children’s Services Manager and one financial person. I was dumb-founded! I was told that the Home needed me and the other two staff there to keep their license valid while the owners pleaded their case.
Well, I found things to do for at least a month before the Home was permanently closed for embezzlement of funds and equipment on the part of the owners. It was a big splash in the local newspapers.
Interestingly, my next job was at a University and the former director of the Dept. of Social Services worked down the hall from me. After we became friendly, I did confide in him that I worked at the Home that he had shut down.
13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. - Hosea 10:13
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. - Galatians 6:7
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. - Galatians 6:8
Saints, let us always be honest in all things and let our lips speak of the service we do unto Yehovah.
Until next time… Blessings to You and Yours,
Sharon
Last Updated on December 27, 2016 by