What is Failure?

II Samuel 17:14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalo   II Samuel 17 tells us the story of a traitor. Ahithophel, who had been an advisor for David, helped David's son, Absalom, when he rebelled against David and tried to rend the kingdom from him.   The Bible tells us of how David fled, but left a trusted friend named Hushai to counteract the advice of this traitor, Ahithophel. Sure enough, Absalom asked for advice of Ahithophel, who gave him lethal advice that probably would have defeated and killed David and given victory to Absalom. Playing his part, Hushai counteracted that good advice. Absalom followed the advice of Hushai and ignored the advice of Ahithophel.    In the brief account of Ahithophel, you learn a couple of things by his life and death. By his life, you surmise that he was a man of great savvy and intelligence. He gave good advice, by which we mean its practical value, not its moral value. The effective advice he gave was to an evil end, and that is why God scuttled his mission. God allowed the bad advice of Hushai to be taken because it was to a good end.   Verse 23 says, "And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father."   From his death we surmise that he was a man of great pride. Most of us would not hang ourselves if our advice was not taken, but to Ahithophel his advice was his very identity. We gather that he was a man who was thorough. He didn't just hurt himself; he hanged himself. He was also a man who was organized. He put his household in order.   So here is a man who would prepare his house and then take his own life. The question is "What kind of success is that?" What kind of success is it to give great advice to an evil man and to be thorough in taking one's own life? Ahithophel reminds us that failure is simply succeeding at the wrong thing. Ahithophel was a man of great influence, intellect, organization, and pride, but he employed all these things to his own self-destruction. No such story can be considered a success story.   Today, I need to be concerned not only with improving my skills, but employing my skill to things that matter and that please God. Click to read a Special Word about West Branch in Williams, AZ  Enjoy more devotionals, sermon audio, and articles on our website!

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Jimmy DeYoung's Daily Devotional

May 2015 Thank you for reading my Prophetic Daily Devotionals!   Please visit my website to learn more Bible prophecies being fulfilled in these last days.    I John 4:17   Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.   For further study -  I John 4:1-21     We will read the entire chapter of I John 4 for our extended reading today. I John 4 is a marvelous description of what and who "love" is in our world today. Verse 8 jumps right out at me as I read about "love", from verses 7-21. In fact the word "love" is used 26 times in these verses.   John tells us "Who" love is in verse 8, "God is love". John then defines "love" by what God did, He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to become sin for us so that we might be saved, verse 10.   Then we are told to follow God's example by "loving" one another, since God "loved" us. John tells us how we can know God and know that He dwells within each of us, it is by "loving others," verses 10 & 12.   Verse 17 tells us how "our love" will be made perfect when we stand in boldness in the "day of judgment." Verse 18 tells us how to "cast out fear" by "loving" God and others.   John gives us a test so that we can know for sure that we "love" the Lord, Verse 20. This verse states that if we "hate" our brother, fellow man, and say that we "love" the Lord, we are "liars." How could we truly "love" the Lord Whom we have not seen and yet hate those whom we have seen.  I John 4 is a great statement about "love"; however, it is very interesting to see that the first four verses of this chapter deal with another issue all together. John warns us to not believe every spirit, but to try them, hold them up to the standard of the Word of God.     The reason for this is especially true for the days in which we are living today. The reason is that there are many "false prophets" out there.   John gives us another test, this one to determine the nature of these spirits or teachers that come our way. A true spirit or teacher that represents the one true God is the one that admits, confesses, that Jesus is the Son of God, come in the flesh.     If the spirit or teacher says Jesus was not the Son of God, then it is the spirit of "Antichrist." Any religion that claims "its god had no son" and that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God in the flesh is an "Antichrist religion."   That's God's Word, not mine, and God's Word is absolute. We live in a day of many false teachers and religions, these are the days preparing for, and leading up to the Antichrist, the last days.     PRAYER THOT: Help me dear Lord to love You and others as I abide by Your Word and follow Your example.   Visit our website at http:/www.prophecytoday.com

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IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? [Jer. 8:22, 46:11]

LAMENTATIONS 3

Pastor Rick Jackson

 

I. JEREMIAH’S PERCEPTION [v. 1-20]

 

1. The Perception of a Righteous Man in a Sinful Nation [v. 1-13]

 

2. The Perception of a Righteous Man to a Sinful Nation [v. 14]

 

3. The Perception of a Righteous Man in a Sinful World [v. 15-20]

 

II. JEREMIAH’S PORTION [v. 21-39]

 

1. Trust in God’s Person [v. 21-26, Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him…]

 

2. Trust in God’s Process [v. 27-32, Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me…]

 

3. Trust in God’s Purpose [v. 33-39, Job 23:10 …when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.]

 

III. JEREMIAH’S PRESCRIPTION [v. 40-66]

 

1. Seek God’s Face as a Nation [v. 40-41, 2 Chr. 7:14]

 

2. Forsake Sin as a Nation [v. 42-47, Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.]

 

3. Keep Yourself Right No Matter What Others Do [v. 48-66, Joshua 24:15 … as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.]

LET’S TALK ABOUT JESUS [Part 3]

                                                                                         REVELATION 1:4-18

 

Pastor Rick Jackson

 

I. BECAUSE OF JESUS WE KNOW WE HAVE A TRUSTWORTHY TESTIMONY [v. 5, 10-11, 16, 19]

 

1. We have a Book That Warns [Ezek. 3:17-20, Acts 20:31, 1 Corinthians 4:14, Col. 1:28, 1 Th. 5:14]

 

2. We have a Book That Washes [v. 5, Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5]

 

3. We have a Book That Works [Isaiah 55:11, 1 Pet. 1:23-25]

Unbeliever- “We can’t Believe any book where the author is unknown”

Believer-“ Do you know who wrote the multiplication table? No? Then I suppose you don’t believe it?”

Unbeliever- “Well, I believe it because it works!”

Believer- “So does the Bible!”

 

II. BECAUSE OF WHO JESUS IS WE HAVE A SUFFICIENT SAVIOUR [v. 5-6, 17-18, John 6:37] “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

 

1. “him”= any him, rich/poor, weak/strong, cultured/vulgar, male/female, any “race,” any language, from anywhere

2. “that cometh”= not worketh, not payeth, not joineth, not “is baptized” – this breaks pride

3. “to Me”= Jesus! Not Buddha, Confucius, Sun Myung Moon, Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, Steven Hawking

4. “I will”= receive not cast out. Jesus can say “I will” because “He would” and “He did”

5. “in no wise cast out”- no way, no-no!, Once in- in for good Rm. 5:8-11

 

III. BECAUSE OF WHO JESUS IS WE HAVE A CONQUERING CHRIST [v. 7-8, 13-18]

 

1. He is Sufficient to Destroy the Works of the Devil [1 John 3:8]

 

2. He is Sufficient to Do Away with the Wages of Sin [Romans 3:19-26, 6:22-23; 1 John 2:2, 4:10]

 

3. He is Sufficient to Deliver Us from the World [Galatians 1:4, 4:3, 6:14]

Question of the Week: Does Egyptian Chronology Prove the Bible Is Unreliable?

Egyptology and the Bible Egyptology, originally expected to support the history recorded in the Old Testament, has produced a chronology that contradicts the Bible. Discrepancies between traditional Egyptian chronology and the Bible are used to attack the Bible's historical accuracy. Instead of simply assuming the accuracy of traditional Egyptian chronology and modifying the Bible, people should carefully examine traditional chronology to see if it is as reliable as some claim it to be.   Learn More →   Get Equipped Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus Purchase the DVD 〉

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John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Somebody asks, "Is it wrong to yoke up with unbelievers? I see some who do are being blessed." Yes, but you haven't seen the end of the story yet. You follow Lot, and wait till the end. You follow Samson, and wait till the end. You can't tell by first appearances. - John R. Rice

Somebody else asks, "If it is wrong to yoke up with unbelievers, why doesn't God slap them down right now?" Well, would you want God to slap you down the first time you make a mistake, the first time you are wrong? Wouldn't you rather have mercy? Wouldn't you rather God be long-suffering, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy? Wouldn't you rather God would give you a chance, and deal kindly?
Oh, the mercy of God, who waits so long before He brings judgment on the child of God who compromises! But God does bring judgment. - John R. Rice

In the long run you can be sure that your sin will find you out. The Bible says about liquor, "At the last it biteth like a serpent" [not at the first]. And the Bible says about the harlot woman. "But her end [not the beginning] is bitter as wormwood." "Sin, when it is finished [not the beginning] bringeth forth death," says the Scripture. - John R. Rice

If you want to win souls then set out to please Jesus Christ instead of sinners. Even a lost sinner knows that a good Christian ought to stand up for Christ and the Bible.
Let us boil the thing down simply. Whatever the Bible says, we ought to follow it. No one ought ever set up one Scripture against another and try to cancel out a plain command of Scripture by a twisted interpretation of another Scripture. - John R. Rice

Some people in the past have thought that the world is getting better and better, that the Gospel, combined with civilization and education and democracy and technological improvements, would after awhile make the world Christian and bring in the golden age. However, events in history prove what the Bible has long since declared, that the course of this age is a course of war, trouble, and decline. That is true religiously as well in morals and in righteousness. - John R. Rice

Again, let me say it plainly: I am against the Devil's crowd and I am for the Lord's people, those who are out and out for Christ and the Bible and say so, and seek to please Him. - John R. Rice

The Old Testament has a good many statements of spiritual truth sometimes in type and ceremony but often in direct teaching. In type, the Jews were clearly commanded not to yoke up an ox with an ass. They were never commanded not to yoke up an ox with another ox that had been yoked up with a donkey. The picture was of separation of God's people from the Devil's people. - John R. Rice