Have Ye Not Read

Good Morning, 

Here are a few similar statements from our Lord. It seems He made it a practice to “get in the face of His critics.”

Matthew 12:3 “…Have ye not read…”      

19:4 “…Have ye not read…”    

21:42 “…Did ye never read in the scriptures…”

22:31 “…have ye not read that which was spoken unto you…”

Mark 2:25 “…Have ye never read…”

These religious leaders had read, studied, and even memorized much of the Bible, yet they missed it.  Jesus had to point out passages and truths accented with the question, “have ye not read?” 

To read is a beginning, to apply to our lives is entirely different.  To memorize a passage is great, but to allow it to change the way you live is the Christian life in its fullest.  To read and not implement the truth into our lives is, in fact, disobedience. 

The Bible is not just a book to be studied, but a Book to live! In each of the above passages, Jesus was correcting the behavior of the religious leaders with the Word of God.

To America’s casual Christians I would say, have ye never read “come out from among them and be ye separate;” have ye never read, “go unto all the world and preach;” have ye never read, “look not upon the wine,” have ye never read, “a woman shall not put on that which pertaineth to a man,” and on and on.  Our society wants a Christianity that does not bother them or make them misfits in society.   

By Peter, we are called “strangers and pilgrims.” 

With all that said, I would like to suggest that we read, “call unto me … and I will shew thee great and mighty things,” and then, “open thy mouth wide and I will fill it,” as well as, “ask and it shall be given.”  Believing in answered prayer,  I would like to challenge you to join me, and to seek to accomplish something great for God. Pray for souls to be saved and baptized, and for the Lord to call our young people to the ministry.  

In addition:

1. I would like to challenge you to keep doing what you have been doing, and to start doing anything God is nudging you to do.

2. I would like to challenge each of our members to be financially prudent on earth, and to invest in things eternal for the days to come.

Here are some projects for us to prayerfully consider:

• $120,000 for roofing the back half of our Sunday school building

• $60,000 for a beautiful patio/picnic area behind our Sunday school building

• $60,000 for continued remodeling of our auditorium bathrooms

• $1.3 million for a spacious auditorium

Have we not read, “…ye have not, because ye ask not?” 

Pastor