Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” – Matthew 13:24-30 NKJV

Warrior;

Matthew 13 is an interesting chapter, there are parables upon parables, and they are all moving in a specific direction. The disciples even asked, why all the parables? The great thing about chapter 13 of Matthew is that Jesus explains Himself well, so we are not going to explain the parable above, Jesus did that, but let’s look at some of the deep meanings in this parable. Matthew 13:10-11 answers the disciples’ questions of why He talks in parables: And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” God was separating, God is separating, and God will soon finally SEPARATE! In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 12, Jesus is extremely specific about what He is doing: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (v49-53) Look around America and see the hatred, the vileness, the venom spewed at Christians and a President that supports Christians and people of the Books.

Leader, He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? (Luke 12:54-56) A farmer knows when it is time to harvest by THE SIGNS in the field. In the King James version, the Greek word ‘zizanion’ is defined as spurious wheat, darnel; a plant that grows in Palestine which resembles wheat in many ways but is worthless. It also EASILY CONTAMINATES wheat seed. So the original Greek word can also be called a darnel, some translations use the word ‘Cockle’, these “weeds” look exactly like wheat while both are growing as blades. When the wheat is ready to be harvested, the tares can finally be distinguished by their lack of fruit, or the DARK SEED that is produced, and they may be separated easily. In some translations, the use of the word WEEDS can cause us to lose some of this pertinent meaning. During Christ’s incarnation the Jews had an agrarian culture, they farmed. When they were taken into captivity in Babylon, they learned business and never went back to the AG business. Many farmers depended on the quality of their crops as their primary source of survival and commerce. An enemy sowing TARES or DARNEL would have sabotaged a business, and many lives. The tares in the parable were likely darnel because that weed, until mature, appears as wheat. Without modern weed killers, what would a wise farmer do in such a dilemma? Instead of tearing out the wheat with the tares, the landowner in this parable wisely waited until the harvest. After harvesting the whole field, the tares could be separated and burned. The wheat would be saved in the barn. There is only one way to get into the BARN, and out of the FIRE: That is by the ONE WHO SOWED THE GOOD SEED- JESUS!

Conduit, how does all the BAD SEED, this DARK SEED get into the field? Jesus told us, “The enemy has done this”. The good news is that the TIME IS NOW to harvest! Jesus told us in Matthew 9:37 and Luke 10:2 that the Harvest is Plentiful, but the workers are few! Many people believe that all are the Children of God and that Jesus is this soft mushy deity that just needs people to like Him and accept Him, but don’t worry about anything they are doing or anything they believe, or how they are talking, thinking, acting or voting. Remember there are sins of omission and sins of commission. In other words, there are things we are to do, that we DO NOT DO, and there are things we are NOT TO DO, yet we DO. To believe that we are all following after the same God- is a lie from the ENEMY. When Jehovah walked with the Israelites, IN THE BEGINNING, in the EXODUS and in the DESERT- He separated and segregated. The Israelites were NOT to marry the gentiles, eat like the gentiles, or think like the gentiles. They were to maintain a pure bloodline, and identity. It is the same today and it will be the same in the closing days of the TIME of the Gentiles. In Matthew 25:31-41, Jesus says He will gather up all people when he returns to the earth as King. He will divide them into two groups, the sheep, and the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. He will then say to the people on His RIGHT, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father!” He is talking to those who lived a truly converted life and obeyed God- “Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world.” Then Christ will turn away from the sheep and state to those on the LEFT, to the ‘goats’, “Away from me, you that are under God’s curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!” The sheep are symbolic of those who follow and obey Christ, while the goats represent those who choose not to follow Jesus, but do what felt right to them. 1 Corinthians 6:20 states: for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. In 1 Corinthians 7:23 He doubles down: God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world. We must soberly understand like the Wheat and the Tares, one is of value to the SOWER and one is of no value. The same with the sheep and the goats! God considers one set of animals HIS, but the other, He does not! Jesus is the true shepherd over the sheep-those willing to follow him and do what he says. However, Jesus does not claim ownership or responsibility over the goats- those who are rebellious and stubbornly refuse to follow HIM, HIS will, HIS way, His life, HIS WORD! The ultimate fate of the goats is like the tares: to be thrown into the lake of fire. There are only 2 teams. You are either on Jesus’ team, or the other team. Jesus is separating- THE TIME IS NOW- GET OFF the World’s team and get on TEAM JESUS!

David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark, because the oxen had stumbled. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah; so he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day. – 1 Chronicles 13:8-13 ESV

Warrior;
This is an interesting situation that makes little sense to we humans. We can reason that Uzzah was treated unfairly. What did he do that caused God to strike him dead on the spot? This one story shows us clearly that what we think we are doing, and what God sees us doing can be quite different. To understand this situation we need to stop making God into our image. Genesis 1:26 tells us: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….” We are made in the God class, we were made to create, to reason, to have free-will, to have moral power and the capacity to attain Holiness. Even though we are in the God-class, we are still also lower than the angels. We cannot fully reach our potential without God’s help, God’s grace, and mercy, without God’s ACTIVE ministry of reconciliation. We also must remember that we are NOT God, or don’t become God’s, we can’t even think in the way of Jehovah. It is written: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) We need to stop making God into our image and using our finite reasoning to justify our actions and our anger toward God. The God who is INFINITE and OMNISCIENT- perfect knowledge!

Leader, this shows you the awesome responsibility of leaders. Uzzah’s death was ON DAVID- Uzzah’s blood was on David’s hands. David was a man after God’s own heart, (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22), he had good and noble intentions. See the reason for moving it- ibid v1-4, see how he sought counsel from the people. See how David and all Israel were celebrating before God WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT! Yet, God has laws. The ark of the covenant was the place of God’s presence. While the Lord was present among His people in the exodus (Ex. 13:17–18, 21–22), He localized this presence in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was constructed so that the Lord would be among His people: “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Exodus. 25:8). But in an even more specific way, the ark served as the place of HIS PRESENCE. “There I will meet with you … on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you” (Exodus 25:22; emphasis added). This was the equivalent of the HOLY OF HOLIES in the Temple. The Holy of Holies was accessible only to the Israelite high priest. Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the high priest was permitted to enter the small, windowless enclosure to burn incense and sprinkle the blood of a sacrificial animal on the mercy seat of the Ark. By doing so, the high priest atoned for his own sins and those of the people. The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the tabernacle/temple by the veil, a huge, heavy curtain. The curtain was so heavy and formidable that it was said to take 40 priests to move it. Holy and UNHOLY cannot co-exist. There was separation from a Holy God, and an unholy creation. That shows you the SERIOUSNESS OF SIN. We are so defiled, that a HOLY GOD cannot, WILL NOT allow uncleanness in His presence. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Conduit, when God was walking with the Israelites in the desert, He had them create a shadow of things in heaven and He was extremely specific on how things were to be made and how things were to be done. “And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to CARRY”. (Numbers 4:15 emphasis mine) So Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service. And four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But to the sons of Kohath he gave none because they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be CARRIED ON THE SHOULDER. (Numbers 7:6-9 emphasis mine) David was responsible for knowing GOD’S LAW, David was responsible for searching the law, for having the Priests go through the BOOKS, and make sure that all of God’s requirements were met. He had gotten lackadaisical- David lost a bit of the reverence that GOD deserves and demands! As the leader, David had Uzzah’s blood on His hands. When we do not seek God’s Word, Will and Way, we can have the blood of others on our hands! Read God’s WORD and you will learn 2 things: Life ‘aint no fair’, and ‘life is hard’! We need to stop putting our morals, our beliefs and our sense of fairness, or SOCIAL JUSTICE- onto God. We were made in the image of God, let us STOP making God unto our likeness, our image, our way of thinking! You are a leader, the question is this: Are you leading people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, or will you have their blood on your hands for not knowing and sharing the WORD OF GOD, as…IT IS WRITTEN? How can you Lead people to eternal salvation if you do not seek HIS WILL and HIS WAY, through HIS WORD? If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. (Ezekiel 3:18) Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 1 Corinthians 1:8-10 ESV

Warrior;
How can you FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT, if you are not in a battle? One of the Apostle Paul’s famous lines of scripture is in 2 Timothy 4:7. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy is considered Paul’s last letter, his final writing to his spiritual son, Timothy, before his martyrdom in A.D. 67. It shows his unwavering faith and unyielding love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you have this love, or is your love for this world, for comfort, or justice? We must realize we are in a battle if we are TRUE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST. The Biden administration, which is clearly being driven by the Spirit of the Antichrist, declared that the biggest threat to their plans is WHITE CHRISTIANS. Where are our black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ? We have too many people who IDENTIFY as Christians fighting THIS WAR like NON-BELIEVERS. We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) We must remember, be reminded, that the Christian life is a struggle against evil—within ourselves and in the world. Hear the Word of the Lord; Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (John 15:20)

Leader, Paul, who wrote almost 2\3 of the NEW TESTAMENT, was always reminding his Spiritual children to “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. (2 Timothy 2:4) There are supposed Christians out there wrapped up in CRT, BLM and NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE? What are you doing getting wrapped up in civilian affairs, it is NOT your battle. Our Battle is for the LORD, to make HIM KNOWN and to KNOW HIM. To get closer to His likeness and to be about HIS FATHER, our FATHER’S BUSINESS! The World is IN THE FLESH, fighting these distractions. The Called-OUT ONES, the ecclesia, is to be fighting in the SPIRIT, dealing with things of eternal implication, not temporal implications. The good book tells us 2 things: 1- Life Ain’t NO FAIR. 2- Life Is Hard! We must put on our SPIRITUAL EYES, and our BIG BOY\GIRL pants and realize that God is not interested in our COMFORT, he is interested in our becoming like CHRIST. Jesus Christ was treated unfairly, He was abused, He was abandoned, He was beaten, He was ridiculed, He was unfairly, unjustly, and falsely accused. Isaiah describes The Christ this way in Isaiah 53: He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:3-5,7)

Conduit, Isaiah 53 was written about 700 years before Jesus came incarnate, and yet it perfectly describes His life, death, and resurrection. We have in this chapter, the Gospel, the Good News of the coming of Jesus Christ. Quit being LIKE THE WORLD, be like Christ! Jesus Himself, on the road to Emmaus, said this; Hear the Word of the Lord: And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26) God cares how we suffer. God uses all the unjustness, the unfairness and the cruelty of man, and this world to make us into the image of CHRIST. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4) Paul wants to know in your WHINING and complaining about how UNFAIR AMERICA IS to you- are you a CHRISTIAN? “Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm”. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27) Paul didn’t tell you to play the victim, or feel sorry for yourself…he told you the opposite- IF YOU ARE A CHILD OF YAHWEH, a son\daughter of JEHOVAH. Under the heading of TESTING OF YOUR FAITH, James, who was one of the first church leaders to be martyred, says the following, Hear the Word of the Lord: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”. (James 1:2-4) You have been played, player. Quit complaining like the earth-dwellers. Quit buying into the wiles of the devil with White Privilege and Black oppression, quit acting like the world with CRT and BLM and start suffering like our Lord, like the called-out ones, like true followers of the RISEN CHRIST!

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be borne will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. – Luke 1:34-37 ESV

Warrior;
What a first CHRISTMAS! ‘Mas’ is more, and what we all need is MORE CHRIST! What a beautiful story that we have heard so many times, we might miss so much more, than we hear and see. HOW WILL THIS BE, or what most of us say, “HOW CAN THIS BE”? This is a sticking point for many. We attempt to answer the things of God with our finite mind and thoughts. How do you put the PACIFIC OCEAN into a Dasani water bottle? How can we take the omniscient, prescient, eternal knowledge and wisdom of an infinite God and put it into the finite, little, human brain? In Job 38 God blesses us with an answer after being questioned by Job and his friends about Job’s predicament: Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:1,4-7) Read all of Chapter 38 of Job for God’s full dissertation.

Leader, Isaiah 55:8–9 says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God’s infinite thoughts are far greater than our limited ability to comprehend them. Might I suggest if you can figure out everything about your God, then your GOD IS TOO SMALL! The psalmist exclaimed, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17). God’s thoughts and His ways DO NOT and WILL NOT, always make sense to us, but we can rest in the knowledge that He is ALWAYS, ALL TIMES good, and, therefore, everything He does is good (Psalm 13:6; 100:5). God is GOOD, all the time! ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD! And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:27-30)

Conduit, God HAS THIS! God is NOT SURPRISED by anything; Not Covid, not the fall of a prideful America, not your situation or my struggles! There has NEVER been an emergency meeting of the TRINITY, this is all GOD’S MASTER PLAN! As Gabriel said to Mary; NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD! Jesus said the same thing to the Rich man who wondered what must He do to enter the kingdom of God: The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (Mark 10:26-27, also see Matthew 19:16-26) God has plans for us, plans to prosper His Children, not to harm them. God has a HOPE and a FUTURE for those who call on the name of JESUS! The prophet Micah, and the prophet Isaiah spoke of this, hundreds of years before the incarnation of Jesus that is recorded in Luke 2. Micah spoke of the Messiah coming out of the city of David, Bethlehem. The same city that David was born in 1000 years before Luke 2 and 700 years after Micah 5 was written. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. (Micah 5:2-5a) Today as we enter into the worship of our Lord at the Christmas season, the question is, “IS HE YOUR PEACE”? We gave the baby Jesus 3 gifts, but the number of gifts that the baby JESUS gave us are too many to fit under all the trees of the world! No matter how dark the world gets, no matter how great the fall of BABYLON, or shall I say, AMERICA- let us pick up and put on the great gift of PEACE, that our LORD and SAVIOR brought to planet earth in the form of a BABE IN A MANGER! May the peace of the LORD, bless you and your family! Lift your hands, cry out to the LORD and be mindful that WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Today on Like It Matters Radio Mr. Black goes into The Toolbox. Tools make things get done quicker, better, more proficiently, and at a greater quality/quantity. In this journey called our life, we have many tools available to us. The problem with tools, is that their power and usefulness is increased or decreased based on the users knowledge and skill set. Tune into Like It Matters Radio for an hour of power as Mr. Black opens up: Tools of the trade.
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In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. – 2 Samuel 11:14-17 ESV

Warrior;

We must realize the value of leadership and the understanding that ALL MEN fall short of the glory of God.  David is King, a good man, a lover of God, and to fulfill prophecy, Jesus (The Messiah) was to be in the bloodline of David, it is considered the BLOODLINE OF THE KING  The Bible calls David a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). In fact, it is God Himself who calls David that. Yet, as we all know, David committed some particularly egregious sins. Along with those egregious sins, he is shown to be a man who has plenty of lesser sins too. If David is the MODEL King, and the Model of the type of man and the type of Leader that we should want to attain to be, what is the message, what are we to take from this, as we look at the Man, David, in his entire catalogue of actions, what we call our lives?

Leader, the internet is full of articles about what it means to be a “Man after God’s own heart”. Here is one I found: The following words describe the heart of David as seen in his own writings: Humble – Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. (Psalm 62:9) Reverent – I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:3) Respectful – Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. (Psalm 31:9) Trusting – The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1) Loving – I love you, O Lord, my strength. (Psalm 18:1) Devoted – You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. (Psalm 4:7) Recognition – I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. (Psalm 9:1) Faithful – Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:6) Obedient – Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. (Psalm 119:34) Repentant – For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. (Psalm 25:11) David’s example is a great road map for how we are to live our life. As great as David was, look at today’s verse. David committed adultery with his servant’s wife, while he was serving the king in battle. Then he attempted to cover his tracks with trickery, and when that did not work, David had Uriah purposely killed. So David conspired to commit murder, and then committed murder and was so brazen as to make his loyal servant- Uriah, carry his death sentence himself to Joab, who would set up the murder to happen.

Conduit, not only did David have Uriah killed, he was responsible for the death of Uzzah- see 2 Samuel 6:1-7 and 1 Chronicles 13:9-12. David also is responsible for getting 70,000 others killed by another act of sin. Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell. (1 Chronicles 21:1,7,14) Since we are tracking the deaths caused by David’s sin, let us also consider his sons and those who died in the battle for the kingdom when his son Absalom formed a rebellion against David and in one battle alone 20,000 were killed. By my counting we are approaching 100,000 dead, directly as a result of King David’s sin. So here is a “Good Man”, an example of who to follow, yet look at how flawed and how broken David was. You can also find people in the Bible who DID NOT follow after God, who were NOT men after God’s own heart, and God used them as well and actually Called them His servants. Cyrus: Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed. ( Isaiah 45:1) Nebuchadnezzar: Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation. (Jeremiah 25:8-9) The Bible is clear NO ONE IS GOOD, only GOD IS GOOD. The Bible tells us the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. God Himself REGRETTED creating man just 5 chapters past, IN THE BEGINNING. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Genesis 6:6) “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” The only perfect is GOD\JESUS. And yet, we are called to Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. We cannot expect any man to be perfect, so we must quit looking TO MEN, to Presidents, to Parents, to Pastors to be perfect, and voting for the BEST MAN, because we are all flawed. We must look to JESUS; For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:14) Those leaders that have FRUIT, that most of the time are geared toward His children, those leaders who support Christians, and support LIFE, and support Israel- as flawed as they are- they are the ones to follow! Following a man\woman who the world says is good, but yet they have policies and beliefs that God says is BAD- is not going to get you closer to God! There is only one perfect, remember that, and follow those people who are men and women AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART, not the praises of men; For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Keep your focus on Jesus!

Today on Like It Matters Radio Mr. Black wants to discuss the power, potential dangers of being childlike.  The Good book tells us that if we want to enter the Kingdom of God we must be like a child. Yet, children are very vulnerable, pliable, and in the process of being programmed. We fear and fret over the safety of our children and yet we seem to be in a world that is more and more, targeting children. What is the power, what are the problems and what is the potential of being childlike? Tune into Like It Matters Radio for an hour of power as Mr. Black unpacks: Like a child.
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Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant Moses. They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand. O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”- Nehemiah 1:5-7,10-11 BSB

Warrior;
Nehemiah is such a great example of the type of Leader, God is calling us to be in these last days. We must remember WHO WE ARE, and WHOSE WE ARE, and WHY WE ARE HERE! We are to do things IN THE WORLD, but we do them because we are IN THE KINGDOM. The things on this planet are temporal, but we were made for ETERNITY, the ETERNAL things. We get to earn our GIFTS in Heaven, by what we do in the battle for our LORD on this planet. Since we are not of the world, but in the world we are called to fight the good fight. 1 Timothy 6:12 is clear: Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. If we are to fight and be victorious we need to make sure we PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD, and be AWARE that we are in a battle and that the PRINCE OF THIS WORLD, the Prince of the Power of the air is working against us through His people and God’s people! We must stay on mission for our Lord and beware of the wiles of the enemy. The Enemy is deceptive, the enemy has false motives, the enemy shows up in many forms and the enemy was to distract us. Look at the temptations of Christ in the desert. In Matthew and Luke, Chapter 4 we hear the devil misquote scripture and play on the details of the moment to dissuade and distract, to demean and delay, to doubt and to do us in! When tempted and distracted, Jesus always responded with- IT IS WRITTEN. The only way to combat the LIES OF THE DEVIL is with the TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE. We must identify the lie, and replace it with the Truth!

Leader, in Matthew 5:21-28, Jesus covers the 6 contrasts: You have heard it said…but I say…. As we saw with Daniel, he was familiar with scripture and let it guide him. When we understand His Word, we are able to better ascertain HIS WILL. We have a whole society built on lies. Scripture says the evil one is the prince of this world (John 14:30). We have lies about what is beautiful, lies about what it means to be successful, lies about God, lies about creation, etc. John 8:44 tells us this about the devil; When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. When you add all that to the fact that the devil even deceives with his identity. The expanded bible puts it this way: This does not surprise us [And no wonder, since…]. Even Satan ·changes himself to look like [disguises himself as; masquerades as] an ·angel [messenger] of light [C trying to fool people into thinking he is from God, who is pure light]. (2 Corinthians 11:14. Nehemiah is a great example of how to overcome the devil and his trickery. First, he did it by discerning the lies of the enemy. The enemy hates anything of God and anyone who represents God. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites. (Nehemiah 2:10) I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me, and what the king had said to me. “Let us start rebuilding,” they replied, and they set their hands to this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” (Nehemiah 2:18-19) Once we realize this, the enemy hates things and people of God, we can realize we are in enemy territory. “Then the Jews living among our enemies came and said this to us ten times, “Our enemies are all around us. They are everywhere we turn.” (Nehemiah 4:12) If you are a child of God, you are living in a fallen world and you must realize: THE ENEMY IS ALL AROUND YOU! This is not your world!

Conduit, When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left—though to that time I had not yet installed the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to go down to you?”(Nehemiah 6:1-3) Once we have discerned the lies of the devil, and realize the enemy is all around us, now we must stay on Mission. Nehemiah gives us a great example: Nehemiah didn’t come down for the STUPID STUFF. This is a distraction. Realize the world is going to hate you, it is full of haters- and that you are called to a greater good! This allows you to stay on Mission no matter the distraction. Stay focused, stay on mission, and stay true to HIS WORD and HIS WAY. Since this is a battle, and since God has no secret agents, it is time to come out of the closet! We live in a time when everybody else has come out of the closet. If it is ok to share your homosexuality and your hatred of all things good and all things God, then why are there still Christians playing SECRET AGENT? Closet Christians NO MORE. Get OUT of the closet, be bold, be proud to be a servant, and agent, an ambassador-in-chains, a CHILD OF THE RISEN KING! We are to be building the KINGDOM of God, while we are defending ourselves from the attacks of the enemy. Again, another lesson to learn from Nehemiah, through his actions. They had to build and fight. The story gives us the vivid picture of these men with a brick in one hand and a sword in the other. And that certainly says something about our work, about our function. We must use the Word of God to build ourselves up. But we must also watch and guard and fight. The day we put the Sword down the devil will break through and steal! …each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped to his side while he built….(Nehemiah 4:17-18) Soldier on and remember our simultaneous tasks: Build for the Kingdom and defend with His Word.