CURRENT RADIO SERIES Epic Adventure   CURRENT TV SERIES Lifeworks

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” Proverbs 1:20 If you are familiar with security systems, you probably have one in your car or in your home. You know how important that is in these days to protect your family, to protect your household goods. Therefore you most likely have an alarm system of some kind to protect you and your family. But, oh how important it is, to not only protect ourselves physically, but spiritually and emotionally in the spiritual preservation of our hearts. The book of Proverbs is filled with choices regarding life decisions. One of the choices that you must make for yourself and your family is this, to drink or not to drink! Now it may surprise you that Proverbs, in fact all of the Word of God, deals very specifically regarding the question of the use of alcohol. Alcohol is a drug that does more damage to Americans than any other drug. If you add up heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, and put it all together, there is more damage done by alcohol. Science will tell you alcohol is a drug. It is a depressant, it is a narcotic, and it is a drug which destroys more lives, more homes, more souls, than any we know. If alcohol is offensive to other believers, and it is damaging to our testimony to unbelievers, we should come before God and say, “Lord, give me the strength and wisdom to do the right thing my conscience and my faith is telling me and say no to alcohol this day.”   IF ALCOHOL LEADS YOU AWAY FROM WISDON, THEN WISDOM WILL LEAD YOU AWAY FROM ALCOHOL

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Purging Fruitful Vines

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”

John 15:1–4

In our day, it is common for Christians to declare that because of grace they have freedom to do things that believers through years of history have regarded as wrong. Tradition is not our guide, but the Bible is, and it has not changed. Things that were wrong fifty or one hundred years ago are still wrong today. When it comes to the subject of questionable things, we must have an unchanging standard by which to decide, and that standard must be the Word of God.

We must never forget that God’s plan involves removing things from our lives—the process of purging—to make us more fruitful and productive for Him. His intention is not for us to see how much we can get away with, but to see how much we can do that is right and helpful. If that is our standard, then we will make the right decisions when questions arise.

The great evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman said, “The rule that governs my life is this: anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult, is wrong for me, and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it.” The desire of our hearts should be to serve Jesus effectively, and we should be willing to give up whatever that requires in order to fulfill His calling.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

If we realize God’s purposes, we will not respond negatively to His purging to make us more fruitful.