DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 5.14.22

Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love By Anne Peterson "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in ChristJesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 Of all the lies the enemy of our souls tells me, one of the biggest is this: God isn’t with you, you’re in this all by yourself. Satan is really good at being bad. He knows our weaknesses, and he knows when to hit us. Just as he led Jesus into the wilderness,do you remember when he did that? Right after Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John. Right after God publicly declared that Jesus was God’s Son in whom he was well pleased (Matthew3:16-17). And what does the enemy tempt us with? It depends on what our need is at the moment. In Jesus’ case, Jesus was tempted with turning stones into bread because he was hungry. …neither death nor life As I have stood near graves of my loved ones, the enemy tries to tell me God is far away, and has left me alone. But God tells us that death nor life are not a reason for God’s love to diminish. What comforting words. It is times like those that we need tohold onto truth with both hands, ignoring what our feelings are telling us. …neither the present nor the future As I’ve gone through losses, my mind tries to make sense of what I am experiencing. Then it will shift to what my future will look like without this loved one. I cannot fathom how this could ever be a good thing, and at that very moment, I am unable to believethat God could work that circumstance for my good. Any time I try to understand an infinite God with my finite understanding, I come up empty. …nor anything else in all creation… While in times of weakness, Satan seems powerful, but God’s Word tells us “neither angels nor demons, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from God’s love.” God continually reminds me his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts are higher than mine. I remember the day it hit me that God and I must not think alike. I think I heard God chuckle that day. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are in Christ. And those who are in Christ are in God. The Bible tells us when we accept Christ, we are given eternal life and no one can pluck us out of the Father’s hand (John 10:28). Now that’swhat I call secure. Intersecting Faith & Life: Maybe there have been times in your life when you’ve felt a big gulf between you and God. I would venture to guess that the enemy has tried telling you the same lie. In those times, when it feels like God has stepped back, we need to rely on God’s Word. And when we can’t understand what God is doing, we need to trust God’s character. For God doesn’t lie (Numbers23:19). I always get in trouble when I rely on my feelings. Feelings are fickle. One moment you feel one way, but those feelings can change so quickly. Our feelings can’t be trusted. And yet, when we decide to trust what God has told us in His Word, we have something solid to hold onto. And in those times when we feel a little shaky, we can always reach out to Him. He’s always there, loving us as only God can. His Hand I do not understand my life, It’s difficult for me, Some questions have no answers, at least that I can see. And yet, with every year I’ve grown, there is a truth that God makes known. I do not have to understand, but simply hold my Father’s hand. © Anne Peterson Father, God, thank you so much for Your Word. That we can open the pages and read Your love letter whenever we have doubts about what is happening in our lives. We can get grounded in the truth instead of believing what is happening around us. God, thankyou for loving us so much and for your promise that nothing can separate us from You. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen. ---------------------- ThingsWe Cannot Do Without �But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?� (James2:20) We can well do without many things in life, but there are at least seven things a Christian simply cannot do without. 1.The Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking of the heathen nations before Christ, Paul said: �At that time ye were without Christ,...having no hope, and without God in the world� (Ephesians2:12). 2.Christ�s shed blood. �Without shedding of blood is no remission.� �Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,...But with the precious blood of Christ� (Hebrews9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-19). 3.Christ�s sinlessness. The Lord Jesus �was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin� (Hebrews4:15). Therefore, He could die for our sins. 4.Faith in Christ. �Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is� (Hebrews11:6). 5.Faith-generated works. True faith in Christ inevitably produces good works. As our text reminds us, �faith without works is dead� (James2:20). 6.True holiness. �Follow...holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord� (Hebrews12:14). Genuine faith in Christ both receives His imputed holiness and also generates practical holiness in the believer. 7.Heavenly chastisement. Unconfessed and unforsaken sin in a Christian�s life must receive chastisement from the Father. �If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye...not sons� (Hebrews12:8). Without saving faith in the Lord, we have nothing of eternal value, but with Him, we have �all things� (1Corinthians 3:21). HMM --------------------------- ATest for False Prophets “Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, andye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.” (Deuteronomy13:4) Our text for today seems somewhat out of place, for it is tucked into a passage dealing with false prophets, instructing the people of Israel in ways to detect one who would lead them into false worship. The penalty was death, “because he hath sought to thrustthee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt” (v. 10). The purpose was both purification and example, for “all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you” (v. 11). The chief test of a prophet was not his ability to perform signs and wonders (v. 1). Elsewhere the test of total, lifelong accuracy was applied. “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing whichthe LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously....that prophet shall die” (Deuteronomy18:22, 20). A more immediate test lay in the absolute harmony of the prophet’s message and deeds with the revealed Word of God, and the wholehearted commitment to the Lord Himself. This test takes the form of the holy standard set forth in our text. Note that an inward attitude will be expressed, as given in the six action verbs. If we are to please God, we must “walk after” or “pursue” Him, and “fear” or “reverence” Him in all things. Furthermore, we must “keep” His commandments, striving to “obey” Himon every issue He addresses. He expects such a one to “serve” Him: to do His bidding. Finally, we must “cleave” or “cling” to Him, holding fast to Him in an ever-deepening relationship. To do less is to fail the test used to discern false prophets, incurringat the least His displeasure, at the most His wrath. JDM --------------------- Be Still and Know By Emma Danzey Psalm46:10 says, “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’” How to Be Still The Hebrew word, har·pū means be still and is found only in one place in Scripture, Psalm 46:10. MatthewHenry says in Blue Letter Bible that Psalm 46 “was penned upon occasion of David's victories over the neighbouring nations (2 Sa. 8), and the rest which God gave him from all his enemies round about.” Maybe you feel as if you have been in a spiritual, physical, or emotional battle recently. Perhaps you are so worn out that you do not know what to do with your exhaustion. Just as God invited David into resting in Him by being still, He also invites ustoday. In order for us to be still, to har·pū, we need to stop. Just like a car can only be on an interstate for so long without needing to go get filled up with gas, we cannot run at a rapid pace forever without slowing down and getting nourished. --------------- ThePromise of Liberty “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome,of the same is he brought in bondage.” (2Peter 2:19) This chapter consists of a strong denunciation of false teachers. They are, among other things, sensuous, beguiling, covetous, and accursed (v. 14). They desire personal wealth (vv. 15-16), but their message is empty, and even destructive, and will be judged(v. 17), appealing to the pride and lusts of their hearers (v. 18). In our text we see the false teachers are quick to make promises. Promises are cheap; they cost nothing. Satan first revealed himself to mankind with a promise: “Ye shall be as gods” (Genesis3:5), and later attempted to seduce the Son of God with “all the kingdoms of the world” (Matthew4:8). Empty promises are Satan’s golden hook, and many are the foolish ones who take the bait. In this case, the false teachers promise liberty—liberty to act without the shackles of responsibility and moral law. But they themselves are “servants of corruption,” slaves of a most abhorrent mentality. And who are they to offer liberty? These are indeed “great swelling words of vanity” (2Peter 2:18), for slaves cannot rightly offer liberty. How is this promise kept? Bondage. Bondage to that which has overcome. The liberty that sin promises is slavery, and the greater the sinner, the greater the bondage to the sin. There is perhaps no more wretched a state than to be in bondage to abject corruptionin the name of liberty. It is a bondage of the spirit; a captivity of the soul. Of all states of slavery, it is the most lasting. On the other hand, through grace we can “stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,” with no need to be “entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians5:1). JDM -------------------- TheMother of Us All “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” (Genesis3:20) Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was called the mother of all “the children of promise” (Galatians4:28), and the wife of Noah was the mother of all post-Flood mankind, but Mother Eve, alone, was “the mother of all living.” “Adam was first formed, then Eve,” Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:13, and so-called “Christian evolutionists” have never yet been able to explain God’s unique formation of Eve’s body in any kind of an evolutionary context. Eve, as our first mother, experienced all the great joys and great sorrows that all later mothers would know. She evidently had many “sons and daughters” (Genesis5:4) and probably lived to see many generations of grandchildren. With Adam, she had even known paradise, but sin had entered their lives when they rebelled against God’s Word, and God had to say, “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children” (Genesis3:16). The greatest sorrow was no doubt when Cain slew Abel, and as with another mother whose Son’s innocent blood was shed many years later, it was like a sword piercing her own soul (Luke2:35). Nevertheless, as near as we can tell, after her first great sin, Eve trusted God’s Word henceforth and received His forgiveness and salvation. Later, as the mother of Seth, she taught him and her grandson, Enos, about the Lord and all His promises. “Then beganmen to call upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis4:26). Most Christian believers are looking forward to seeing their own mothers again someday—restating their love and appreciation for all they did in bearing them, and in caring, teaching, and praying for them. But it will be a wonderful experience to meet our firstmother, also, as well as Sarah, Hannah, Mary, and all the other godly mothers of old. HMM ------------------------ Tragedy in the Church House Matthew5:14-15 Every Sunday countless people all over the world sit in church buildings with a false sense of security. They assume that their morality, lifelong church membership, or baptism will earn them a place in heaven. While many of these folks sincerely desireto please God, they are confused about what the Christian life is all about. They think in terms of doing rather than being. So they imitate the actions of good Christians: going to a weekly service, praying, reading the Bible, and trying to be decent people. However, salvationis not the product of good works. We come into the world with a corrupt nature, and all our wrongdoing is born of a heart turned away from the Lord. Because we are sinful people, we sin. It's that simple. The good news is that in the salvation experience,we are given a brand-new nature (2Cor. 5:17). Our sin is wiped away because Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for us. From the moment we trust in Him, the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts so that we can live righteously. The world values action, but the Father prioritizes relationship--specifically a right relationship with Him. People who scurry about flaunting religiosity are missing out on the deeply satisfying and joyous intimacy between a believer and the Lord. We can help turn others' tragic misunderstandings into triumph by being ready to explain why we have hope (1 Peter 3:15). Speak of thepersonal relationship with Christ that's possible when a person admits his need and trusts in the Savior. If your light shines, it reflects well on the church. -------------------------- HeCounted Me Faithful “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me intothe ministry.” (1Timothy 1:12) The testimony of a changed life is perhaps the best evidence that God is alive and active today. The fact that at salvation a dead slave to sin is given life and a new nature comprises the only rational explanation for one who lives in victory and power aftera lifetime of defeat. Take Paul, for example. Our introduction to him is at the stoning of Stephen (Acts7:58), after which his ardor for the Jewish traditions and hatred of Christianity caused him to wreak “havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison” (Acts8:3). This was not just casual opposition, for he was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts9:1). He was a “blasphemer, and a persecutor [not only of Christians, but of Christ Himself—Acts9:5], and injurious” (1Timothy 1:13). However, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I [Paul] am chief” (1Timothy 1:15), he said. Paul “obtained mercy” (v. 13), not receiving the punishment he deserved, through “the grace of our Lord [which] was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (v. 14), even though he was not even seeking God(Acts9:1-5). To a greater or lesser degree, God has worked that same work of grace in each life that now belongs to Him. Paul called himself the chief of sinners, but each of us has done or has been capable of equally heinous acts. Through His grace, we are not only rescuedfrom addiction to sin, but rehabilitated and empowered and given, as we see in our text, missions to accomplish that are of eternal significance. Let us “thank Christ Jesus our Lord” with Paul. JDM ---------------------- The Most Important Tablets of All - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. �Exodus 20:6 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-most-important-tablets-of-all/- Listen Tablets are so much a part of our lives today. We read our emails on them, follow social media on them, and watch movies on them. Well, God had the original tablets�and atech company didn�t make them. He gave them to Moses, engraved with His words by His very finger. We call them the Ten Commandments. At little more than three hundred words in English, the Ten Commandments form the foundation of the legal system and are at the heart of Western civilization. Most peopleacknowledge that the Ten Commandments are important and are true, but very few people know the Ten Commandments. A recent survey revealed that only 14 percent of Americans could name the Ten Commandments. If can remember details like the names of the Beatles or all the kids in the BradyBunch, we could manage to memorize the Ten Commandments. But we need to do more than memorize these commandments; we need to internalize them because they�re not obsolete. They�re absolute. In fact, Psalm 1 tells us, �Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in thelaw of the Lord, meditating on it day and night� (verses 1�2 NLT). In other words, if you keep God�s commandments, you will be a happy person. The commandments are not like the bars of a prison to keep us inside. They�re like walls of protectionto keep evil out of our lives. God has given us the solution to all our problems in the Scriptures, and they�re broken out for us in the Ten Commandments. He has given them to us for our own good, so we can go from hopelessness to happiness. -------------------- Start Here - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org You must not have any other god but me. �Exodus 20:3 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/start-here/- Listen It�s interesting to me how God chose to begin the Ten Commandments. He started with two commands that deal with everything: �You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anythingin the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods� (Exodus 20:3�5 NLT). That covers it all. If you get this down, then you will have the Ten Commandments working in your life. Jesus said, ��You must love the Lord your God with all your heart,all your soul, and all your mind.� This is the first and greatest commandment� (Matthew 22:37�38 NLT). If we love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, then we�re not going to have another God before Him. We�re not going to bow down before a false image of God. We�re notgoing to take his name in vain, and we�ll set a day aside to worship Him. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we�re not going to steal from them. We�re not going to lie to them. We�re not going to murder them. The reality of it is that if we love God, we will do the right thing. We will want to honor Him in the right way. However, it all starts with how we prioritize God in our lives because we will serve what we worship. If God is number one in our lives, then everything else will find itsproper balance. On the other hand, if God is not number one in our lives, then everything else will be in chaos. --------------------------- Selfish Christianity John 6:22-27 Which interests you more�who Jesus is or what He can do for you? I�m afraid that too many of us are more concerned about what He can give us than we are about getting to know who He is. But this is nothing new�Jesus had this problem when He walked on earth. The crowds often sought Him out for what He could do for them. Even though their needs were quite often legitimate, Christ knew their motives. There is a fine line between selfishly trying to use the Lord to get what we want and humbly coming to Him with our needs and struggles. Some of the issues we bring to Him are so pressing and urgent in our minds that our desire for Him to take action inthe way we want becomes greater than our willingness to submit to His will. At times, what we call �faith� is really a demanding spirit. We must remember that our needs will come to an end, but Jesus Christ will remain forever. If our prayers have dealt only with presenting our requests to the Lord, we�ve missed a great opportunity to get to know the One with whom we�ll spend eternity. Let�sinvest time in pursuing intimacy with Christ. Then we can enjoy the benefits of that relationship forever. How much of your communion with God is devoted to your needs�even legitimate ones? Are you spending any time getting to know the Lord? Although God delights in our prayers and tells us to pray about everything, He also wants us to come to Him just because we enjoy beingwith Him. ------------------------------ A Reasonable Response - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org We love Him because He first loved us. �1 John 4:19 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-reasonable-response/- Listen Some people imagine the God of the Old Testament as harsh and mean, while the God of the New Testament is loving and kind. But that is nonsense. There is only one God of boththe Old and New Testaments, and He is a God of love. He is a God who is gracious and a God who is full of mercy. But He is also a holy God and a righteous God. And He gives us absolutes to live by. We find those absolutes in the Ten Commandments. And when God gave these commandments to the people of Israel, He also gave the motive for keeping them: �I am the Lord yourGod, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery� (Exodus 20:2 NLT). Notice the Lord didn�t begin by threatening or scaring them. He started by reminding them of what kind of God He is: a loving, caring God who delivered them from their misery. God was saying, loosely paraphrased, �Hey, I took care of you guys. I delivered you from your bondage in Egypt. You were a slave there.� We might think, �Well, that�s nice, but I�m not an Israelite who was delivered from bondage in Egypt.� Yes, that�s true, but if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, then you were a sinner who was delivered from the bondage of your sin, were you not? Think about all that God has done for you. Because of that, you should want to reciprocate. You should want to honor Him in the way that you live. The apostle John remindsus, �We love Him because He first loved us� (1 John 4:19 NKJV). He has certain expectations of us. Our love for God should be a response to His love for us. ----------------------- TheLinen Clothes �Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jewsis to bury.� (John19:40) The Jews of Jesus� day prepared bodies for burial in a much different fashion than we do today. In our text the word �wound� actually means �to bind, tie, or wind,� and bodies were tightly rolled up in long strips of linen cloth. Parallel passages in Matthew27:59, Mark 15:46, and Luke 23:53 employ words derived from the Greek hellisso, meaning �to coil,� from which we get our word �helix.� The tightness of the winding can be inferred from the raising of Lazarus from the dead. After Christ had called him back to life, �he that was dead came forth, bound [same word as �wound�] hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with anapkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go� (John11:44). On resurrection morning, after hearing the news of the missing body of Christ, Peter and John ran to the sepulcher. �Peter...went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes,but wrapped [same word as �wound�] together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple...and he saw, and believed� (John20:6-8). John recognized, as we should, that only a miracle could account for the state of these linen clothes. If thieves had stolen the body, they would either have taken the clothes, or the clothes would have been strewn around, not lying in the same location andshape as they had been when the body was present. Previously, John �knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead� (v. 9), but when he saw the linen clothes, he �believed.� Christ miraculously rose from the dead. John believed; we have his eyewitness testimony. Can we do less? JDM --------------------------- A Jealous God - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parentsupon their children; the entire family is affected�even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. �Exodus 20:5 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-jealous-god/- Listen God calls himself a �jealous God.� But does that mean He�s insecure and is therefore jealous? We tend to always think of jealousy in a negative sense. After all, it was Shakespearewho referred to it as �the green-eyed monster.� We envision a jealous person as someone who may fly into a rage for the slightest reason. But when God says He�s a jealous God, He means it in a different way. Imagine if a wife said to her husband, �Honey, I love you so much. And by the way, I�m going on a date tonight. I don�t know when I�ll be back. Maybe I�ll see you tomorrow.Bye. Love you!� No clear-thinking husband would go along with that plan. But we�ll say, �Oh, Lord, I love you so much,� and we�ll effectively have another god in our lives. The Bible says, �Little children, keep yourselves from idols� (1 John 5:21NKJV). And having another god is easier than we may think. A lot of things can become idols in our lives. A vehicle or a house can become an idol. So can a career. Even a ministry can become an idol. Other people can become idolsin our lives. When we take our eyes off the Lord and become more passionate about a hobby or some other thing we do for fun, that can become an idol as well. When the Bible says that God is a jealous God, it means that He oversees your life. You are not in charge of it. God cares about you. He�s a Father who sees the potentialof His children, a father who is brokenhearted when that potential isn�t realized, or worse yet, when we waste our lives. God is a Father who loves us and wants the very best for us. And He doesn�t want to share us with anyone or anything else. ---------------- TheFaithful Lord �But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.� (2Thessalonians 3:3) The Lord Jesus Christ has many wonderful attributes, not the least of which is His faithfulness. That is, He is believable and trustworthy, sure to do all He promises. He will keep us from the evil one and from being overcome by evil in our lives, as promisedin our text. Also, �God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted [that is, �tested�] above that ye are able� (1Corinthians 10:13). Why does He care for us so? In the first place, He is our Creator and has a distinct purpose and will for our lives. Therefore all who are His can safely �commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator� (1Peter 4:19). He will keep us to the end; Paul said, �I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.� Then follows his confident assurance: �Faithful is he that calleth you, who also willdo it� (1Thessalonians 5:23-24). Even when we yield to the temptations along the way, and fall into sin, He promises: �If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness� (1John 1:9), because He has paid the penalty for all our sins, and He is �a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people� (Hebrews2:17). With such a faithful Savior and Lord, we surely ought to trust Him fully. In spite of this, we often doubt Him and His Word, but even this does not change His love toward us. �If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself� (2Timothy 2:13). Indeed, �God is faithful, by whom ye were called� (1Corinthians 1:9), for His very name is �called Faithful and True� (Revelation19:11). HMM -------------------- A Misunderstood Commandment - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. �Exodus 20:7 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-misunderstood-commandment/- Listen I think one of the most misunderstood of the Ten Commandments is this one: �You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltlesswho takes His name in vain� (Exodus 20:7 NKJV). It�s probably one of the most easily broken commandments because it�s so misunderstood. The term �in vain� means to use in a frivolous or insincere manner. One of the obviousways to do this is by using profanity. And by the way, �damn� is not God�s last name. The Bible tells us, �Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name� (Philippians 2:9 NKJV). When a person uses the name of Jesusin vain, I think in a way they�re acknowledging there�s power in His name. For instance, some people who claim to be atheists will use God�s name frivolously and even use the name of Jesus Christ. Curiously, if you�re an atheist and don�t believein God, then why would you use the name of Jesus Christ to make a statement? If I hear someone use the name of Jesus to punctuate a point, I�ll react to it. More than any other profanity, this offends me, and I know it offends God. So, I�ll say somethingalong the lines of, �Careful, He might answer you sometime� or �You know Him too? He�s my best friend.� We also take His name in vain when we text �OMG� or say the equivalent of it with no thought of the Lord whatsoever. But perhaps the easiest way to take His name in vain is by being a hypocrite. Jesus said, �So why do you keep calling me �Lord, Lord!� when you don�t do what I say?� (Luke6:46 NLT). The hypocrisy of the church is far worse than the profanity on the street. Let�s not take His name in vain.