GODS WORD ..... Part 1

                                                           

  Knowledge & Obedience

     If you want mass appeal, attaboys & applause.....tell them...you are a diligent searcher of   truth! However...if you really want to see people annoyed, upset, & downright riled up ..... tell them ... you have found it! WHAT... What do you mean you found it ? You can't say that...who do you think you are? YOU...You HAVE found TRUTH? Then ..... only then do you reveal to them that it is the Bible...the innerrant Word of God...that you hold here in your hands, right here in front of them! Then ..... watch them go mad/crazy/berserk right in front of you! You see, to them what is more appalling than your claim to have found truth ... is that you attribute it to GOD!

     One of the hardest things to do in this pursuit of truth is when yet another facet of it is revealed and you recognize right away that you know not one person who sees this as you do. Then after much research....& more research, there it is...the Truth of the matter. And you think, "Oh no...what am I going to do?"...because you know this will not be a popular understanding of this doctrine. In the same moment, you know what you must do.

     Obedience is sometimes... easier said than done. It's now that time we call the "rubber meets the road time"! It's the time where we have to answer the question what will you do
with this truth? HIS Truth! Of course it's really simple when you get right down to it. When God gives you understanding concerning a teaching/doctrine, you don't then look for what you should do with it & when. It was revealed to you to ...obey...now!  Though it might seem like the hardest thing to go straight from believing to immediate obedience.... don't sweat it, for it was in His timing that He showed it to you, and He is faithful to give us of His strength to perform it (Philippians 2:13)
     Disobedience to Gods word is sin. So... think about it, if someone says God revealed a truth to them but does not require obedience for 6 days/6 weeks/6months, then ... that would be the equivalent of saying ... 2 things ... that God approves of sin (not an option), and/or that His grace is not enough for you (remember...Paul?) to endure it! When we stop & think about it we understand that God showed/shows us these things for several reasons. The first reason is ... for His glory! When God reveals His truth to us, it is (at the same time) to draw us closer to Him, while also using us to be a part of His revealing it to someone else. Then there is also the modeling of obedience to Him as we submit to His word! In other words, we may teach this to others by spoken word, or by observed obedience!
     In some ways it can be a very tough & lonely road to stand on His word. Some will be defensive (when... there's been no attack) and feel indicted by simply being in your presence. Some will be angry, not because you have done anything in particular, but because your obedience reminds them of their lack of it. As you grow stronger in His service,  you feel His presence more & more, and only want to serve Him more! When you feel lonely...wrap yourself in His word... the softest, warmest, most comforting blanket I've ever known!
     The fact is..... GOD is not silent... He has spoken, and according to scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17) ALL of His word is inspired by Him for doctrine/correction/&instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. None of scripture is to be passed over, wrongly handled, or disobeyed.
     In summation ... when the man who has been widely heralded as the greatest evangelist of the 20th century begins to teach that Jesus is NOT the only avenue to the Father, and that their will be people from all kinds of different world religions that will live eternally with God, even if they never so much had heard of Jesus.....what do you do with that?! Well...obviously... you continue to revere him as much as ever.....for that is what has been done with Billy Graham. He has done/said these things on national television in interviews with Dr. Robert Schuler (Hour of Power/Crystal Cathedral) and Larry King (Larry King Live.) Where are the men of God that He has given local or even national platforms to speak from? The word of God says quite clearly that we are to rebuke and reprove such false teaching. In these days that we live in, tolerance is the cry instead of obedience.
     I do not want to stand before Him and be asked, "why did you disobey and despise my word? DO YOU ? Now...THAT... IS THE QUESTION! What will your answer be?
   

My Testimony

C'mon Bud, they're waitin' on the Word! 

My Story

     I was born and raised in the "bible belt" of this great country. My parents were ( and are to this day) two of the finest people you could be blessed to know. Along with my two brothers and one sister we were raised mostly in the country approximately 40 to 50 miles north of Dallas, Texas.

     during our upbringing, my siblings and I were at church it seems whenever the doors were open. Sunday morning and night, along with Wednesday night were a regular thing, while Friday night was a special time for us boys to attend/participate in our churches equivalent of  "Boy Scouts" for Christian boys. I believe there was a (similar) class for the girls also. 

     At approximately 10 to 11 years of age we began attending a different church denomination than I was accustomed to. Having been raised attending the "Assemblies of God" church, we began attending the "Church of God ( 7th Day)". my older brothers were in their teens, while my younger sister was only five or six years of age. With me being in the middle of us 4 children (as far as age goes) I imagine it affected us each differently. However, at my age, although things did change somewhat, life goes on and you adjust.  

     My senior year of high school I attended and graduated from Spring Vale Academy high school in Owosso Michigan. This was the boarding school of the "Church of God (7th Day)" and it was truly a special senior year!

     Most of my adult church life was spent moving from one church/denomination to another trying to find the one that was right for me. Not wanting this to become an autobiography, I'll skip ahead. 

     As each church, one after another, didn't seem to have what I needed, I decided there was no point in being there. From there it was a quick and continuing spiral downward. Suffice it to say that the next 20+ years of my life were spent growing used to and accommodating my sin. I was the King of justification and rationalization. Fast forward to a courtroom where I had been told (even by my own attorney) to expect a 3 to 5 year sentence and to be aware that it could be more. Okay, so you're wondering, hold on...how did we get to here? Well... Alcohol, drugs, and everything that went with that lifestyle is how we got to here. I believe that in a testimony for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we should not spend too much time on the sinful acts that accumulate during a life of disbelief and disobedience. All right, let's move forward. 

     But God..... In the midst of my sins, caught my falling soul, and brought me to his Son. He opened my blinded eyes, unstopped my deaf ears, and showed me the cross where He died. I had heard the gospel message many, many times and yet I was hearing it (spiritually) for the first time! there is a song (written by: Squire Parsons) that I sometimes sing now that says it all. It says: He came to me...yes, He came to me... When I could not come to where He was, He came to me.  Bound by my own sin I could not come to Him. As the Scripture says, "with man this is impossible; but with God all things are possible!" If you are saved (as I am) you should be smiling and saying Amen right about now! If you're not, check yourself!

     Oh yeah, about the courts..... I stood in the courtroom and told "my story" to the judge (who had replaced the judge I was supposed to see) and he looked at me and said I don't believe I'll be seeing you again unless it's in the house of God singing and/or preaching his word! The only time I spent behind bars was back when I was arrested. From the time I was arrested, it took close to a year and a half before I was brought to trial. It was during this time that God "arrested" me!

     He has called me not only as His child, but also to His service, and after a pastorate of close to seven years, I have been blessed to be able to serve God (with the help of my wife) as an evangelist to the body of Christ (the church)! My (our) desire from here forward is to uplift and edify the body of Christ as He wills! As we begin to embark on an evangelistic ministry singing/preaching the words of God, as well as being instruments of giving whatever, whenever, however and to whomever He has ordained!

     OK, you are up to speed now! That/This is who I was, and now am in Christ! I am.....

                                                                       .....Gr8ful 4 Grace, 

                        Greggory Dale Hall 

                                           (A.K.A. the DOGpreacher)

                                        [that's another story]