The Anabaptist Voice
06/17/2009

Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God:  Love, Joy and Peace in Jesus.

Dear friends,

       How are you?  We pray you are well under our wonderful Heavenly Father’s love.  We are fine and are grateful for God’s love.  We are told that the monsoon season has now started here in southern Arizona, so we are looking for some rain.  Typhoons  and hurricanes are stormy but the monsoon here is only rainy… that is what we experienced so far.
       The sunshine here is beautiful and wonderful, but we miss the rain.  When it rains much, our Mexican sage plants bloom fully.  That happens after most heavy rains.  They are amazing plants.  We thought that plants bloom only once a year, and not several times a year.  God can do wonders for us to enjoy.  Thank you, Lord.
       We are enjoying the wild rabbits and birds, too.  We’re putting out bread crumbs for the quail and their babies.  Sadly we lost five newborn baby quail a few days ago when they drowned in our 3 inch deep bird water pan.  So we changed to a shallow water pan that they can’t drown in.
       Last Wednesday night we went to the Canyon Del Oro church that we used to attend because a special speaker, Kerry Mauldin, was there.  He is a missionary to India and also serves at the Special Touch Camp that Naomi attended.  It was wonderful to listen and meet a servant of the Lord who is helping the poor people in India.
       On Friday night we went to the Continental Baptist Church to listen to five young people from the International Bible College in Tempe, Arizona, a pastor and four students.  The preaching was wonderful.  He told us that we are to choose the Way of the Lord all the time.  The students were so well prepared and performed wonderfully, and they were such good singers.
       Our son Mike calls us every Monday evening, and we are so glad that we can chat with him.  He is doing well with his new job.  Thank you, Lord.  We pray for David and Jim that they too will get a good, God chosen job.  We lift them up to You, Lord.
         May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.  (2 Cor 13:14)

Your brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639 
 www.AnabaptistChurch.org

Jesus said, "People will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another."  (John 13:35)

 

 

Heaven or Hell?

       We all know that one day we will die but we don’t expect it too soon.  Here are photos from a traffic camera of an accident at an intersection where a man is walking across the street (can you see him on the left there?) when two cars crash and one of them rolls over him.  (The video of this is at www.snopes.com/photos/accident/pedestrian.asp.) Death can happen like that, when we least expect it.  Are we ready to meet our maker? 
       Life after death will consist of either eternal joy in heaven or eternal pain in hell.  Jesus said that the wicked will be thrown into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  (Mt 13:42-43)
       So which one are we:  righteous or wicked?  The Bible doesn’t give an in-between choice, does it?  Let’s examine that.
       Jesus said, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16-21)
       God, who made us, loves us and wants us to come to Him, to live with Him in love and in peace and eternal joy.  He is calling us…

Will Only a Few Christians Respond to His Call?

       Someone asked Jesus if only a few people going to be saved.  Jesus replied yes, so try your hardest to enter through the narrow door for many will try to enter and will not be able to.  (Luke 13:23-24)
       The sad fact is that most believers will not enter heaven; they will not be saved from the fires of hell.  We see an astonishing example of that in John 8:31-59.  Jesus told some believers that if they would accept His teachings and live according to it, they would be set free from their sinful lifestyle.  However, these believers did not believe that they were living a sinful life and became angry with Him; they got so angry with Him that they tried to stone Him to death!
       In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells of ‘super’ Christians who prophesy, cast out demons and do miracles in His name but He calls them evil doers because they do not obey His teachings.  (Mt 7:21-23)
       These are examples of believers who will not enter heaven.  James tells us that belief in Jesus without actually following His teachings is worthless.  (James 2:20)
       Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken are Spirit and they are Life.”  (John 6:63)  In order to be free of sin, in order to live a holy life, a person must try to live according to the teachings of Jesus.  In the Great Commission, Jesus told His ministers to teach their people to obey all of His commands.  (Mt 28:20)  And we can do this by the power of His Holy Spirit.
       God loves us so much that He sent His Son to teach us how to live a godly life.

Iniquity is Disobeying Jesus?

       Jesus began His ministry by telling people to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  (Mt 4:17)  The apostle Paul wrote that everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.  (2 Tim 2:19)  Iniquity (adikia in Greek) in the New Testament includes disobedience to the commands of Jesus.  It means unrighteousness, living in sin. 
       The apostle John wrote quite a bit about how sin is breaking the laws of God and that anyone who belongs to God will not continue to live in disobedience to Him.  (1 John 3:4, 6, 8, 9, 5:18)  John says that those who sin, who disobey the commands of Jesus, are of the devil (1 John 3:8).
      However, it seems that most Christians, like those in John 8:31-59, do not believe in Jesus enough to actually try to live according to His teachings.  They do not think that disobeying the commands of Jesus is iniquity.  They do not think that they should have to try to obey all of the commands of Jesus in order to enter heaven; they call that ‘legalism’ or ‘works’.  They will say, yes, we are to obey Jesus but they do not actually study His commands and attempt to live according to them.
       Jesus said that we are to love our heavenly Father with all our heart, all our soul and all of our strength and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  He gave us hundreds of commands and instructions on how to actually do that, such as:  “Do not swear an oath.”  “Do not resist an evil man.”  “Love your enemies and pray for them.”  “Do not store up wealth.”  “Sell your processions.”
       If you tell a typical Christian that swearing an oath is of the devil and leads to condemnation they probably will not believe you and may even get angry with you, just as the believers did in John 8:31-59 when Jesus told them that they had to obey His teachings in order to be set free of sin.  Yet, Jesus, in Mt 5:37, and James in James 5:12, both tell us that swearing an oath is an act of iniquity, an evil deed.  How many Christians believe that?
       Jesus said, “Blessed are they who hear the word of God and obey it.”  (Luke 11:28)  “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”  (John 14:15)  “Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me.  He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”  (John 14:21)  “If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”  (John 14:23)  “He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching.”  (John 14:24)  “If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love.”  (John 15:10)
       The apostle John wrote:  “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands.  The man who says, "I know Him" but does not do what He commands is a liar.”  (1 John 2:3-6)
       Is believing in Jesus, accepting His death on the cross for our sins, is that sufficient to be welcomed into heaven when we die?  Or do we have to actually live as Jesus taught?

The Pearl of Great Price

       One of the indications of our eternal destination is our response to these parables of Jesus:  “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  (Mt 13:44)
       “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”  (Mt 13:45-46)
       Do we seek the kingdom of heaven like that?  Do we recognize the great love that our Heavenly Father has for us and His call to come to Him?  Do we love Him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength, and do we love our neighbor as ourselves?  The Good News of the Kingdom of God is the love, joy and peace that is there for us who faithfully follow Jesus in obedience.

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