⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

• We can not claim to be a Christian and a follower of Jesus if we will not obey His Word.
• A Hypocrite is someone who claims to be a Christian but their life does not show it.
• Many non Christians remain non Christians because they don’t see the point in changing when so many self professed “Christians” don’t live their life any differently. The challenge is to obey God or don’t say you’re a Christian, because otherwise you are giving Christianity a bad name.
• Jesus tells us in the next couple scriptures what happens when you make Him the Lord of your life and what happens if you are a faker.

⁴⁰ A student is not greater than the teacher. But the student who works hard will become like the teacher. NLT

• I would love to be like Jesus. This scripture says the student has to work hard.
  
• What hard work could I do to become more like Jesus? Pray and read the Bible everyday, fast, listen to sermons, surround myself with strong Christian people that have good character, be obedient to God’s word, and learn to wait on God to hear His voice.

• IF, that is a serious word when put with forgiveness…forgive others THEN you will be forgiven. That means we can not hold on to bitterness we plan to be forgiven ourselves.

³⁵ “Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don’t be concerned that they might not repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked. NLT

• WHAT? You want me to do WHAT?? But God they are jerks, they are mean, they are bad, they are evil…whatever excuse we may come up with God’s response remains the same: love your enemies and do good to them.
• Have you ever tried to help someone who is unthankful? It is SO frustrating! Well, I definitely want to be acting like a “child of the Most High” but being kind to someone who is unthankful is hard.
• God help me to be more like you and to have a good attitude about my enemies or even just toward those that I don’t like.

¹⁹ Herodias was enraged and wanted John killed in revenge, but without Herod’s approval she was powerless. ²⁰ And Herod respected John, knowing that he was a good and holy man, so he kept him under his protection. NLT

• We need to be careful of who we hang around. Herod did not want to kill John but he kept Herodias around who did want to kill him and eventually she got her way.

³² “Do you think you deserve credit merely for loving those who love you? Even the sinners do that! NLT

• We are called to be different. Anyone can love someone who is nice to them…

³⁰ Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. NLT

• Now that is a new concept. Give your stuff away and don’t try to get it back. That would require being self-less instead of selfish…that is a hard character trait to find these days.
• That means we need to not get too attached to our stuff.
• God help me to be excited about you and what you want to do. I don’t want to love my stuff so much that I have a hard time letting it all go.

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. NIV

Well I want to understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God! It tells me in the previous 4 verses just how to do that.

Prov 2:1-4

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands with in you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding and if you look for it as for silver and search as for hidden treasure,

So how do I do those things? Well verse 6 says God gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. So, if I read God’s word and accept it for truth, store up His words from the Bible by memorizing scripture, listen for wisdom from the scriptures and from the pastors I listen to at church those should help me. Come on knowledge of God! That is what I need!

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. NIV

It can be so easy to see myself as wise. God help me to learn from others that are wiser than me and to always be obedient to you.

Fearing the Lord is something that I have had to learn how to do properly. We are not supposed be afraid of God but we are supposed to view Him as holy and treat Him with respect.

Shunning evil seemed to be a pretty simple command yet figuring out what that looks like became complex. If I am to shun evil, then I should run from temptation, be careful of what I am thinking about, and stay away from people who are happily living in sin but calling themselves Christians.

2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out,” Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”

3 So the Lord relented.

“This will not happen.” The Lord said.

Whoa! Talk about the power of prayer! Amos prayed (which means he spoke to God) for the nation of Israel and God not only heard his cry but changed things to honor his prayer.

God help me to remember the importance of talking to you and please help me stay sensitive to be able to hear your voice. I pray for our nation, that You will forgive our sins and that You would draw this nation to You and give us all a hunger and thirst for You and for Your word.