Quote from Forum Archives on August 1, 2010, 11:18 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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Now available FREE OF COST for BIKER MINISTRIES is the "WORDS for the ROAD"
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to provide this to a ministry at the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota but that
has not worked out. So the booklet is available with the words "Sturgis
Rally Edition" on the cover or without it. Or if you have a ministry
directed toward a different rally I can add your rally name to the cover.
Just let me know. Send me an email at wrather@dobsonteleco.com or
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The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 932 new subscribers since January 1, 2010!!
There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

08.02.10

Jesus Wouldn't Approve

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come
to destroy but to fulfill. - Matthew 5:17.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall
it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a
basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:13-16.

Nayara Gonclaves did what many people would not do; she tried to talk a
robber out of his robbery. 37-year-old Israel Camancho walked into the cell
phone store which Nayara managed and pulled out a pistol demanding money.
Nayara told Camancho that Jesus "wouldn't approve" of his robbing. Camancho
claimed that he was a Christian, but that he was out of work. Nayara told
him that she would try to put him into contact with friends who would help
him find work. As Camancho left the store without the money Nayara told him,
"You know you don't need to do that. You know Jesus. He can help you!"

Apparently, Camancho had second thoughts because a couple of hours later he
walked into a shoe store a few miles away and again demanded money at the
point of a gun. This time no one tried to talk him out of it. He was
identified by the store surveillance video and arrested two days later.
Police officials said that Camancho had begun his criminal career back in
1988, and has been in and out of jail since then.

There are many things that we know Jesus wouldn't approve of and robbery is
one of them because commandment number eight of the Ten Commandments (Exodus
20:1-20) says, "You shall not steal." We know that Jesus wouldn't approve of
murdering someone because commandment number six says, "You shall not
murder." We know that Jesus wouldn't approve of sex outside of marriage
because commandment number seven says, "You shall not commit adultery."

In our tolerant society, it has become something of a taboo to tell anyone
that they shouldn't do anything because that is being judgmental; because
that is being hypocritical. However, I can remember a few times when people
have stepped up and told me that a Christian wouldn't do what I was doing. I
am thankful for them. Nayara should be commended for not only being the
"salt" that Jesus commands us to be but for doing so in a very difficult
situation.

Have Christians in our society bowed down to the worldly pressure to never
be critical of any behavior? Have we lost our salty flavor? What if every
time someone did something they knew they shouldn't do that someone would
say to them, "Jesus wouldn't approve of that"? If you knew every time you
sinned you were going to be confronted about your sin it would be a major
discouragement from going forward with the sinful activity. Of course, some
people would lash out at the Christians, who had the nerve to say anything
about anything, but it looks to me like Jesus wouldn't approve of our never
saying anything about anything.

Are we going to be the salt and light of the world or not? The time is here,
the time is now, to live the Christian life like we know it ought to be
lived.

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

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Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
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