Christian Resources Lk. 24:49 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
When you listen to Christian radio today, you keep hearing the word “resources” referring to books, CD’s, DVD’s, etc. that are offered to the listeners at a price. I have often thought to myself, “Where were all these Christian resources after Jesus ascended into heaven?” If these things are so essential to your spiritual growth then Jesus surely cut his disciples short by withholding all of these indispensable Christian resources.
In reality, do you know what all these Christian resources are? They are merchandise. And you are a market. Preachers, teachers, psychologists, musicians, politicians, and so forth see you as a lucrative market for their “resources” and so they write and produce and speak in order to make a living off of you. Some just scam you with prayer cloths and the like. Others essentially try to help you; they don’t intend to sell you something that’s just going to make them money. But you need to understand something. Selling you “resources” is how they make their living. Believe me, they know this whether you have figured it out or not.
The big problem for me is not that they want to be adequately compensated for their work. My big problem with all of these resources is that you are buying them, reading them, watching them, studying them and neglecting the “resources” that Jesus left here for you and me. Now if you are relying on Jesus’ resources and you then find a Christian author’s book helpful in dealing with a specific area of your life, well, “Amen.” But if you are not relying on Jesus’ resources because you are so full of the resources these men and women are selling you, “Not good; not good, at all.”
Before, you make your next purchase, why don’t you spend plenty of time with what Jesus left you. You will probably find that you already have all you need. We do have some vital resources that Jesus left us. The Christian resources provided by Jesus are:
The word of God – Lk 24:44-45. Anything and everything you need to live spiritually is in your King James Bible. All the doctrine, prophecy, instruction, reproof, correction, and news you need is in that book. Reading it, studying it, and hearing it preached and taught will literally transform your life. God will fulfill Is 50:4 in your life just like he did in Jesus’ life.
The Spirit of God – Lk 24:49; Acts 1-2. The Holy Spirit gives us knowledge by teaching us. He gives the words of God to us by inspiration. He gives us power. And he gives us comfort and fruit and direction and assurance and discernment. Through him we can mortify the deeds of the body.
The prayer of God – Acts 1:14. Praying to God is not reciting the prayers of religions, or the prayers of authors, or the prayer of Jabez. Praying to God is real, personal, fervent, effectual prayer that changes you and draws you as close to God as you can get on this side of eternity. This kind of prayer brings you right to the throne of grace. You can say anything you need to say and ask for anything you need to live and the Lord will listen and answer in your best interest [Rom 8:28] according to his will.
The church of God – Acts 2:41-47. As soon as people started getting saved after the Spirit of God showed up, they were added to the church. You are forsaking one of the greatest resources God gave to his children when you stay out of a good Bible believing, Bible preaching, Bible teaching church. When you can make it to church but you only show up once a week or less you’ll be so weak that all of the resources offered on the radio for an entire year aren’t going to fix your problems. And when you are in a weak, shallow church you are going to have a weak, shallow spiritual life.
The peace of God – Jn 14:27. Most of the time people feel compelled to look for Christian resources because they are confused and out of whack spiritually. Ultimately you can trace this back to their lack of peace. Jesus gave us his peace [enough to sleep through a storm that was about to capsize a boat he was on]. And we access this “peace of God, which passeth all understanding” through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving when we are careful for nothing.
The love of God – Rom 5:5. In Acts 1:14 the disciples “continued with one accord”. They were able to stay in one accord because of the love of God. Charity is essential to the Christian life and we can do all things with charity because we have been given the love of God [1 Jn 4:19-20]. Without the love of God we can’t hold together.
The hope of God – Rom 8:24. In Acts 1:11 the disciples were assured that Jesus would be coming back. And he is. He is our blessed hope. Before we were saved we had no hope [Eph 2:12]. Now we have superlative hope. We can face any danger and any sorrow because we know that Jesus is coming back and when he does everything is going to be all right. No matter what, there is nothing to worry about; we are getting out of here.
Conclusion: you ask, well how are these things going to help me straighten out my finances, raise my kids, solve my marital problems, help me with my job, and help me deal with my psychological problems? And I say, if you would quit looking in all these Christian resources for the next quick fix, settle down in a great Bible believing church, read and do daily with your family what the King James Bible says, trust the Spirit of God to lead you, pray fervently and effectually to the Lord for wisdom, live in the peace of God and avoid everything that upsets that peace, communicate in the love of God, and keep your hope in God, not only could God help you straighten out your messes but you could begin to grow as a Christian and abound in the love and peace of God. These vital resources given to us already by Jesus Christ would literally change your life forever.