““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ” Exodus 20:8 NIV

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) What a beautiful promise of God’s love for us, and why we love Him so much. But this got me thinking about how God has loved us. And while there are so many ways, let me just give a couple to get our thoughts moving in the right direction – And one admonition to keep us moving towards His wonderful love. God Loves Us with an Everlasting Love: “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him.” (Psalm 103:17a) God’s Love Towards Us is Unchanging: “I, the Lord, do not change.” (Malachi 3:6a) & “Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:26) God’s Love Us Without Limits: “May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is.” (Ephesians 3:17b-18) God Loves Us in Our Rebellion: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners (His enemy), Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8) God’s Love is Sacrificial: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Therefore, let’s not be like the Church of Ephesus who left their “First Love.”

“Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) The battle for our minds is real, and the enemy is out to tear down the foundations of our faith through a campaign of misinformation and lies. So Paul makes a passionate, aggressive, Spirit-filled plea to defend the truth against false apostles and teachings contrary to the gospel. He begins by saying we are to cast down and demolish these arguments and every presumption that tries to counter the truth of God and His word. What Paul describes is nothing less than spiritual warfare we need to engage in, because we do not fight against flesh and blood, that is, those who falsely proclaim it as truth, but against the powers behind these individuals who have deceived and are using them in their deception. Paul is getting at this: we need to expose and overturn every claim against the truth of God and the revealed truth of His word. We are to actively engage with these false worldly and religious views and beliefs using the truth of God’s word, which has never been proven false but has always been proven true. And it begins with all the junk and false teachings we have grown up with, bringing them into line (taking them captive) with Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Bible. Every thought must come under the obedience of Christ's teachings. This requires a conscious effort to align our thinking with the teachings and example of Jesus. Therefore, obedience to Christ is the ultimate aim of apologetics and of personal holiness. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) Over the years, I have had many such discussions, and it has always come back to the claim that the Bible isn’t true and cannot be trusted. Without evidence to counter, we leave these false apostles and teachers with their talking points, unsupported by proof. I have written several teachings that have helped. These can be found in our statement of faith under “The Bible.” mesquitelivingwaters.com/mes… I hope these help.

“We love because he first loved us. ” 1 John 4:19

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ” 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

“God Cares” I thought about saying, “Know God Cares,” but while many of us know God cares, we don’t believe He cares for us. In other words, God cares for us, but that knowledge doesn’t do much good unless we believe it. So how does God care for us? We see it best in what King David and the Apostle Paul tell us about God as our Great Shepherd caring for us. King David said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). As our Shepherd, the Lord provides, protects, guides, and corrects. And the Lord cares for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Paul says in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 promises that provision for our needs rests entirely on God’s faithfulness: He will provide what is truly necessary for our lives. This promise concerns our needs, not necessarily our desires. These needs include physical, emotional, and spiritual needs, and He provides His strength, wisdom, and endurance for each. Further, every provision comes from God’s grace through our union with and in Christ Jesus and is provided from the inexhaustible riches of His glory, not from earth’s limited supply. Know and believe for certain that God cares for you.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 NIV

“Regular or Premium” Our attitude greatly shapes how we see and experience life. To become more like Jesus Christ, we need a transformation that begins with our attitude and the focus of our minds. The Bible says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man.” (Matthew 15:19-20) My first car was a 1963 Buick Riviera, and it was bad to the bone. When I revved the engine, trees and houses shook. I didn’t lose many races. Back then, there were only two types of gasoline: regular and premium. When I used the cheaper regular, the car didn’t run as smoothly and would ping. But when I used premium, the car would purr. God created us to be high performers. Yet we often bypass God’s way, filling our minds with cheap gas—meaning the world’s junk—and then wonder why we’re pinging instead of purring. So, are we putting in regular gas, the baloney of the world, or premium gasoline, the filet mignon of God’s word? Remember, what goes in is what comes out. “As a person thinks in their heart, that is who they are.” (Proverbs 23:7a)

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 NIV

“Can You Hear Me Now” Back in 2002, Verizon began a marketing campaign titled “Test Man.” It showed a guy with a cell phone to his ear saying, “Can you hear me now?” It immediately became viral. “Can You Hear Me Now?” I think this also reflects what the Lord is trying to get across as He tries to reach us. Jesus said, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:9) And to several of the churches in Revelation, He said, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Revelation 2:17, 29; 3:22) This then got me thinking about how well we hear. When my daughter was young, she had problems hearing, but we didn’t know it at the time. We just thought it was cute how she would say a word and it would have a sort of odd sound to it, like “balloon” was “a boo.” When we took her to the doctor, he found a blockage in her ears and inserted tubing to keep the opening from closing and fusing. When we asked the doctor how she was able to hear, he said she was hearing as if she were underwater. And I wondered, “Is this the way we hear God?” That is, since we are under sin, do we hear a distorted message? When it comes to God and His word, are we hearing a distorted message because we are under sin and Satan is distorting it, or do we have selective hearing - that is, we don’t like what we’re hearing, so we tune God out, or are we too busy with our own thoughts to take time to listen to God? Therefore, are we really listening to God?

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:11 NIV

“Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”” Mark 4:9 NIV

“Offense and Defense Needed” In sports, a team succeeds not only when the offense scores more points than their opponent, but also when the defense limits the other team’s ability to score. So, it’s not all about offense; it's also about defense. It’s a mix of both that gets it done. The same is true of our spiritual life. It’s not all about offense; defense matters, too. Consider the armor God gives. God gives us offensive weapons: the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and praying in the Spirit, that is, prayer directed by the Holy Spirit, which I consider God’s long-range weaponry (Ephesians 6:17b-18). Then you have the defensive armor so the enemy can’t take us out, including the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of peace, the helmet of salvation, and the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:14-18). This is a spiritual battle, not a physical one. Paul conveys this in his letter to the church in Ephesus. He wrote, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (strategy) of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12) This is also seen in what the Apostle James said. He said, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:7-8) Therefore, let’s put on our armor to resist the devil and pick up our weapons to draw near to God. It’s both offense and defense that win. But the greatest offensive and defensive weapon we possess is our faith and trust in God.

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ” Ephesians 6:11 NIV

As I began to meditate on this verse and on the journey we’re on as God’s people, I realized it leads us away from the world’s bondage and toward God's promises, especially the land of promise we are to inherit and inhabit. To fully understand this verse, we need to understand its historical context. A couple of months earlier, God delivered Israel from 400 years of slavery to the Egyptians and set them on the road to the Promised Land. They arrived at Mount Sinai, where God commanded Moses to come and receive His commandments. But while Moses was away, the children of Israel played and sacrificed to a golden calf, committing a great sin (Exodus 32). God was about to wipe out Israel and start over with Moses, but Moses interceded on Israel’s behalf, and God relented, sending them on their way and saying, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). Moses’s response has stayed with me throughout my own faith journey. He said, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” (Exodus 33:15) For me, the Lord told me, through a passage in Jeremiah, to leave the church I pastored and helped start over 20 years earlier and to move out of Las Vegas. He said I could stay if I wanted, but His presence wouldn’t be with me anymore. When I told the church, the Lord gave someone a word about the next step I needed to take. As believers, we have God’s presence with us, for the Holy Spirit has set up His temple within us (1 Corinthians 6:19) and guides us in God's word, will, and way. The question is, will we walk and live in the presence of God, or take the way of the world? As believers, we should never want to be anywhere without God’s presence. In His presence is joy, peace, purpose, and rest.

“The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”” Exodus 33:14 NIV

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ” 2 Corinthians 9:6.

Psalm 19:14 is a plea that every word we speak and every thought we have align with God’s word, will, and way. Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) Given this, Proverbs offers this advice. “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Proverbs 18:21 also warns us that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Therefore, we need to ask the Lord to search our hearts. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24) When God searches, He looks not only at what is said but also at the thoughts, motives, desires, and plans hidden within. The key is our obedience to repent and turn away from all that displeases our Lord and Savior, our Rock and the Redeemer of our souls. Then we become acceptable in God’s eyes, and the Apostle Paul tells us that, as servants of Christ, we are to seek God’s approval, not man’s (Galatians 1:10). Thank you. Take care, and God bless

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalms 19:14 NIV