Loving the Word with the MudPreacher

The Congressional Medal of Honor was conceived in 1861 The Medal of Honor is awarded in the name of Congress to a person who, while a member of the Armed Services, distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against any enemy of The United States. The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his comrades and must have involved risk of life.

• The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States.
• Presented by the President “for gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty”.
• President Truman: “I would rather have the blue band of the Medal of Honor around my neck than be President!”
• Recipients are always saluted, regardless of rank.
• Since 1862 only 3,465 medals have been awarded to 3,446 men.

Honor is very important to our God. Learning to Value what He considers important is the key to seeing His Blessings upon your life, to seeing His Pathway, His Will for your Life.

We have examined the role of Honor in understanding and learning the Ways of God.

• If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” Exodus 33:13 (NIV)
• Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. Psalms 27:11 (NKJV)
• Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Psalms 25:4 (NKJV)
• Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. (Ps 86:11)

You have to make a decision who you want to follow. You can follow God, or you can follow anything that is left. Following God involves Honoring who and what He says to Honor. That Honor brings rewards. Those rewards involve the presence and power of God in your life. What you do, who you follow determines whether you will enjoy God’s full reward or not.

Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 2 John 1:8

Finally I would like us to consider the Ultimate Honor. That thing or person we should value so much, it will open up God’s Pathway of Blessing in our lives.

What is the Ultimate Honor, as Far as God is Concerned?

Now remember, honor means value, weight. When it comes to God and His creation, what is most important? I contend that the Ultimate Honor we can give God is to See the Value God Places Upon our Life. When We See the Value of our Life, and all that God gas done to give us Life, we will have an entirely new and radical focus on LIFE. The Ultimate Honor does not involve a religion, a set of rules to obey, it involves the Value we place on that which Gives us LIFE. I’m not talking about your momma and your daddy. For I don’t care how much you think you are alive, you are dead unless you see the realize the importance of this Ultimate Honor. To understand, realize the problem that Jesus had with the religious authorities of his day.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you–Moses, in whom you trust. John 5:39-45 (NKJV)

The Pharisees and other religious leaders thought they were giving the proper Honor to God. They were honoring one another. But Jesus said they were not seeking the Honor that comes from only GOD. Jesus went so far as to call them HYPOCRITES:

Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” Matthew 15:6-9 (NKJV)

You can honor people, authorities, even God, but if you do not do that which brings the ultimate Honor, you are wasting your breath. For the Ultimate Honor we can partake of is the Honor God bestows upon us! Jesus said:

Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. John 8:54 (NKJV)

What can I do that would make God want to honor me?

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” Psalms 91:14-16 (NKJV)

“That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” John 5:23 (NKJV)

God Honors Us

The greatest Honor in the world is when we are crowned with God’s Honor. The only way to receive this Ultimate Honor is to Honor His Son, Jesus Christ. When we Honor His Son, We are crowned with Glory and Honor, because Jesus was crowned with glory and Honor.

God is calling us to Honor His Son, and when we do, we receive the ultimate Honor. Jesus is the Word. He is God’s revelation of Love and Wisdom. He is the source of Proverbs. He is in every page of this Bible.

Each one of us has a choice. Each choice determines whether we will live lives crowned with Honor from the Lord, or crowned with shame. Whether our lives will have impact and influence for eternity, or whether we will just be a grave marker. Who will you choose to honor? What or Who are you going to consider the most important thing in your life. If you seek after God and His Son, He will crown you with Honor. That will give Him Honor!

CONSIDER ELI:

But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. (1 Samuel 2:30-33)

God wanted a Priest who would obey Him over pleasing himself or people. That is why God chose to replace Eli with Samuel.

CONSIDER ABRAHAM:

Abraham finally had Isaac at the age of 100. He had waited 25 years for this promised son. He loved him more than anything in the world. Sometime later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. Genesis 22:1-3 (NLT)

“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” Genesis 22:12 (NLT). God honored Abraham becasue he chose to honor God above even his only son.

CONSIDER MOSES:

Now a lot is left out from this account, and most people ignore these verses because they make no sense. Why would God try to kill Moses after He had just sent Him to Egypt to lead His people home? I think we can fill in the blanks. Imagine this scene:

Moses goes into the kitchen and tells his honey Zipporah that they have to pack the bags and move to Egypt. God has a special job for him. Zipporah, being the loving wife she is, says great, I’ll start packing. Moses says, God reviewed His covenant with Abraham with me, and told me I must circumcise our two boys….Wll, iprah says, lets start with Gershom, he’s the oldest. Ziprah watches as Moses performs the circumcision. She watches as Gershom screams out in agony, and then writes in agonizing pain on the ground. It hoorifies her. What kind of God would demand something so bloody and cruel? So Mom steps in and refuses to let four year old Eliezer be circumcised. She gathers him in her arms and says over her dead body will you circumcise Eliezer. A terrible fight erupts. It may have gone on for hours, but finally Moses gives up, after all he has an important job to do. He gives in and says, let’s go. On the way to Egypt, God comes into the camp to kill Moses because Moses honored his wife above honoring what God told him to do.

Zipporah realizes Moses is about to be killed and so she races to circumcise Eliezer and then casts the bloody foreskin at Moses.

Now why didn’t God try to kill Zipporah? Because Moses had been told to do something by God, and Moses was responsible to carry it out. Moses compromised and honored his wife above God. Moses nevermade that mistake again.

HONOR GOD ABOVE ALL

Who are you choosing to Honor in your life?

• When you lay your head on your pillow, what occupies your thoughts?
• When you awake in the morning, what occupies your thoughts?

Those are the things you honor more than God. We are to Honor God above all. In seeking to honor Him first, we bring honor upon our lives. That in turn honors God.

How Does Honoring God bring Honor upon our Lives?

When Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared to Abraham. Turn to Genesis 15, verse one. Abraham had honored God rather than riches when he refused the spoil from the King of Sodom. He had honored God with a tithe of all he possessed. He may have had doubts about continuing to honor God, because God had not given Him a son, as God had promised. When God repeated again that He was going to reward Abraham for honoring Him as his God, Abraham said how can I know this?

God gave him a grocery list, and said to cut the animals in half. He had to look at them for a few hours, and wonder what it meant. He even had to keep the buzzards away. Finally it grew dark, and Abraham fell into a deep sleep. This was not a peaceful sleep. He was filled with horror and deep dark blackness. I don’t know how long it lasted. It appears to have been into the next day. I believe God was speaking to his subconscious. When we encounter Holy God, it reveals the horribleness of our heart. God spoke to Abraham, and revealed His covenant with him. As God told Abraham of the future, all of a sudden a smoking oven and a burning torch passed between the pieces. And God pronounced His covenant with Abraham and his descendants.

What were the smoking oven and burning torch? They were symbols of God Himself.

God was passing between the bloody pieces. God could only swear by Himself that He would accomplish this covenant. In effect He was saying that if he did not accomplish His word, then may he be as these bloody animals, cut apart!

The one passing between the bodies is always the one responsible for keeping the covenant.

Now why should we Honor God? And how does that bring honor to us?

Because God has made a covenant with each one of us. God wants each one of us to fall into a deep sleep, dead from the influence and concerns of this world. He wants us to see how horrible our sins are to Him, how horrible the judgment of Hell that is upon us will be. Then He wants us to wake and look up and see His Son hanging upon the cross, His body broken and bloody, for He has become the Assurance of God’s Covenant of Honor with us. Jesus Christ has appeared suspended between hell and heaven, Satan and God, Unholy Man and Holy God. Jesus body was pierced by the sword, symbolizing the sacrifice cut in two. His blood was shed because God’s Covenants are ALWAYS BLOODY covenants, for God has said that LIFE is in the blood. If we are to have LIFE as God intends it, we must enter into this bloody covenant with God. It has been secured by Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. God has honored us with His Son. The Ultimate Honor is having Peace & Life through His Son.

COVENANT OF PEACE and LIFE

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21 (KJV)

God made a Covenant with us so that we would Honor Him and walk with Reverence before His Name. In return, we have His Peace, His Life, and His Honor! We can live in Honor before a Righteous Holy God!

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Ephesians 2:13-16 (NKJV)

My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. Malachi 2:5 (KJV)

To refuse to Honor God with our lives is to spit upon God’s Love, to slap the Son of God and say with clinched fist “I DON’T NEED YOU”. I don’t need Peace with God! If you refuse to Honor Jesus Christ with your life, you refuse to Honor Holy God. You refuse to Honor the Covenant of Peace which God has offered each one of us.

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3:8-12 (NKJV)

When we take communion we are renewing our covenant with God through His Son Jesus Christ. We are also renewing our covenant to Love one another, to love those who are our brothers and sisters.

Are You Kicking at the Cross?

God asked ELI: Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me?

Some of you may be kicking at God, some of you may be kicking at Jesus, some of you may be kicking at fellow Christians, some of you may be kicking at parents, in-laws.YOU ARE BRINGING SHAME ON YOUR LIFE AND YOU ARE BRINGING SHAME ON THIS BODY AND ON JESUS CHRIST. YOU ARE NOT SEEKING WISDOM. YOU ARE NOT SEEKING TO HONOR THE LIFE THAT GOD GIVES YOU IN JESUS CHRIST.

YOU ARE MAD AT A FAMILY MEMBER. YOU ARE MAD AT AN IN-LAW. YOU ARE UNFORGIVING OF A CHRISTIAN BROTHER OR SISTER. YOU ARE TALKING BAD ABOUT THEM.

SOME OF US ARE KICKING AT FALLEN BROTHERS. HOW? BY IGNORING THE SITUATION, OR TALKING BAD ABOUT IT. EVEN TALKING BAD ABOUT EACH OTHER. YOU MAY THINK YOU ARE RIGHT, BUT I ASSURE YOU SUCH DOES NOT HONOR GOD, IT DOES NOT HONOR HIS WORD IT DOES NOT BRING HONOR TO YOUR LIFE.

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness–indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. Romans 2:1-11 (NKJV)

We are not to Kick anyone when they are down:

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; Hebrews 12:11-15 (NKJV)

I want our church to be a place where people can experience the Covenant of Life and Peace that God made with us through His Son. I want us to be a church that honors God by honoring the downtrodden, those that are broken. I want our church to experience the ultimate Honor, being Honored by God because we seek to Honor the Life of Jesus Christ living in us by Faith.