2nd Commandment
10 commandments part 2
Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
We are endeavoring to teach the kids at PureHeartChildren’sFund the 10 commandments. Why? ?To teach them that they are impossible to keep! ? We are all sinners (commandment breakers). ? The wages of sin is death. ? The 10 commandments, the beatitudes, Matthew, Mark and Luke all show us that we can not go to heaven on our own. ?Last week we learned not to have any God’s before the True one and only God. ? ?How many GOOD mothers will put their beautiful baby before God? ?I am guessing a lot. They are a sinner, they deserve hell, but the Good News is Jesus died for us sinners.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Now God said not to have graven images? ?First thing that comes to mind is what exactly are heaven images?? ?Comic strips? tvs, iPhones and computer screens. Confusing right? ?What about flags, crosses, crucifixes, ?art, tatooes, and sculptures? ? A graven image is something you worship. ? Is TV a heaven image to me? ? No. But it might be for an old lady who can not stop watching tv 24/7. ?iPhones? ?Not for me, it’s my machete (how I what I use to take care of and provide for PureHeartChildren’sFund.). ?But it might be for a 16 year old girl. ?
A Graven Image is anything you look at to worship in place of God. Sometimes people get so frustrated trying to be right with God that they just walk away. ?God’s not looking for perfection, He knows us too well, but we are. ?Look at the rich ruler in?Luke 18:18-30. He was trying, but his money was his god, not the Lord God Almighty. ? He walked away (hopefully not permanently, but we don’t know.( ? Hearing about Jesus’ exploits, seeing a lot of much better Christians than I am, reading the 10 commandments and the beatitudes makes me just want to throw in the towel sometimes. ?
I am such a failure. ? Then I remember Deannie and Winnie Jr learning how to walk. ? They would fall down. ?Laugh. ?Get up, and come at papa another time. ? The 10 commandments teach us to get up and run to Jesus.
Matthew 18:2-5 Good News. He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Understanding the 10 commandments gets easier once you understand one thing. ?The first 5 commandments cover our relationship with God. The last 5 commandments cover our relationships with our fellow man. ? You may see that the total would be 11 commandments right? Wrong. ?The fifth commandment about how you treat your mom and dad says a lot about your relationship with God and man.
Ex. 20:12 “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
I degressed. What does Exodus 20:4 (Graven Images) mean? First off, it says don’t make graven image for yourselves. There is a need for all us to worship something. ? Everyone has that need to worship, even avowed atheists. ?Go into any 12 year old girls room. ? Pure idolatry haha. ?Pictures of Ricky Martin or whatever plastered on the walls. ? Pictures of their bffs. Drawings etc. ? These things are needed by human beings from a young age. Indians that I worked with in Panamá and Colombia had their little ugly gods made out of corn husks etc. that they gave cocaine, cigarettes and whisky to. ? Voodoo and Santeria followers have their even uglier images. ?We all do. ? It’s a need that built into our DNA before ?to worship something that is greater than ourselves. ? It’s called ‘the law written in their hearts’. ?Indians who never heard the Gospel know that something created them, and He is not happy. ? They know lying, stealing and murder is wrong. ? No missionary has to tell them that.
Romans 2:15 “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;”
I was talking to my catholic brother and I asked him why catholics liked Rosary beads and statues. ? Without a pause he asked why evangelicals like ‘the Chosen’ and ‘the Jesus movie’. ? Ok, he got me! ? (You DO know it’s ok to be nice and have conversations with people who don’t believe like you do right?). We all have our need to worship something. ? The catch is, do we make use images to help us to worship the one TRUE GOD, or do we make our own image to worship to worship instead of God. Do we worship God Almighty in spirit and in truth? ?
Evangelicals, Catholics, Indians etc. all have their graven images, the question is, do you worship them or God. ? Go to your baptist church. You’ll see graven images (the old rugged cross, the gigantic Bible turned to Psalm 91,the baptist flag, the altar, the pulpit etc). ? The only group I know of that goes out of their way to have no graven images are the Amish (ie their Ragedy Anne Dolls don’t have faces. Their snowmen neither). ? The rest of us make all kinds of graven images. We are creating graven images when we sketch birds and volcanoes. ? We create graven images when we take pictures, videos, ?illustrate books or write comic books. ? ?When Moses took so long getting the 10 commandments, what was everyone doing? ? I suggest that at the moment they started making the golden calf, that God wrote ‘don’t make images’. ? God is all knowing, and everywhere at the same time. ?You can see how God doesn’t like people not worshiping other things right?
Exodus 3:24 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
Besides the fact that God Himself guided them out, not a calf, where’s the sin? ? Answer the question with a question? ? Where are the bones of Moses? ? Where are most of the original manuscripts of the Bible? ? Where’s the Ark? ?Where the Ark of the Covenant? Where’s the Cross? ? For the same reason that we shouldn’t make for ourselves a heaven image. ?God knows we will worship things instead of Himself. ?God is Spirit. You can’t touch or see a Spirit. ?He’s jealous! ? He doesn’t want you looking for images on trees or tears coming out of statues. He wants you looking at Him in the spirit.?Nothing more. ? Not a mold spot or water damage to a dry wall. ?Not a statue. Not a triangular piece of black coal.?Not a painting.
John 4:24 God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The expats (old, angry, bitter Americans living down here) are a tough crowd. ? They, for the most part, say that they like what we do. They all say something similar. ?‘We will help you IF you stop talking about Jesus.’ ? ?Well, ?no thank you. I don’t need that kind of help. ? I am not doing this so people say ‘Praise Dean’. ? No will I let the kids say ‘praise the rich expat for donating a hundred dollars. ? Do not worship any one or anything except God. ?We are the bride of Christ. God is a jealous husband.?
Deuteronomy 6:15 For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you?
The ONLY reason we at PureHeartChildren’sFund do what we do is to bring God all the glory and honor. ? Our only goal is to hear people say ‘Praise the Lord, Praise Jesus!’ and that they get saved. ? That they look to the only true God that can and will deliver them from the Egypt of sin, bondage and death. ? Couch potato Christians (and heathens alike) love to post stupid memes and criticizing overseas Christian missionaries for posting pictures of feeding centers and what we do, insinuating that we do this as a business. The Holy Spirit never mocks. ?That is satanic. Personally, I was an extremely successful businessman before I got saved. ? Without Jesus, I would still be that selfish, competative, self absorbed succesfull businessman in the states. There are some great Christian businessmen, who God annointed to provide for missionaries, but I wasn’t one of them.? ?I even tried to go back to Egypt to make bricks for Pharoah, but I was a dismal failue.? ?I only want to do this.? Time is short.??I get a nice retirement. I do what I do because Jesús rolled up His sleeve and pulled me out of that stinky garbage can that I personally called ‘success’ and saved my soul, and gave me an abundant life here, and an eternal life in heaven. ? What we do in PureHeartChildren’sFund is to bring God all the glory.
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
The take away is, evaluate your life. ? What do you worship in your life that isn’t God. ?What is your graven image? I have a friend, a Christian, who has a fantasy military life. ?It’s called stolen valor. ?He was probably in the military. ?Probably good at his job. ?But as his fantasy grows and grows and he elaborates his heroic exploits more and more. ?Now after 40 years he’s lost. ? I think he’s saved, but his graven image is his fantasy about being a Rambo while he was just a normal leg soldier probably. ? It kills his testimony. ? It affects his spiritual life. ? Besides that, no one wants to hear it. ? Graven image, in his mind. ? Women that were abused 60 years ago. ?All they talk about, all they think about, is being abused. Their graven image is their abuser, or their husband that cheated on them. ?Again, no one wants to hear it. ? They’re saved, but their testimony and walk is affected. ? Bodybuilders, ex jocks, ex cheerleaders, again boring. ?No one wants to hear about you. ? They don’t want to hear about your graven image. ? They want to know about the one true God. ? That’s what will help them. ? ?Our God is Christ and Him Crucified. ?Look only at Him. ?He is more than enough.
1 Cor 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Don’t forget, there are still 40 kidnapped children in Gaza. Pray for them and the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee! ?
www.PureHeartChildrensFund.org
MATCHED DONATIONS AGAIN FROM NOW UNTIL 2024! HELP US TO HELP THE?2000+ FAMILIES WE SERVE (APPROX 6000 PEOPLE)?OUR STAFF, and FRIENDS OF PUREHEART.
SCHOOL IS GOING ON SUMMER VACATION IN A MONTH. DESCIPLESHIP AND ENGLISH CLASSES ARE GREAT. FEEDING CENTERS WILL BE GOING ON AS USUAL, THOSE NEVER STOP.
HUNGER DOESN’T TAKE A VACATION
PSALM 91
PRAYER REQUESTS.
1. We have paid all taxes, lawyers, AND CPA. ?BUT AGUINALDO DUE NEXT WEEK (AROUND 4,000 :(
2. FOR A 2nd floor. ? Giving more room for the school, and a place to house 10 Children and a house mom. 50k just for the construction. But this could very easily be the start of an orphanage.
3. FOR THE ORPHANAGE THAT I KNOW IS IN OUR FUTURE. NOT ONLY AN ORPHANAGE, BUT AN OLD FOLKS HOME AS WELL. I THINK THE TWO CAN BE SIDE BY SIDE ON THE SAME PROPERTY, IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF MONEY. IT WOULD BE A BLESSING TO THE OLD FOLKS TO HEAR KIDS PLAYING, AND IT WOULD BE A BLESSING FOR THE KIDS TO HAVE ABUELAS AND ABUELOS.
4. AMERICA!
5. WINNIE`S AND MY HEALTH.
PRAISE REPORTS
1. Summer vacation is COMING, much needed. Everyone is getting to BE ABLE TO relax. Winnie and I WILL BE DOING only doing the ENGLISH/DISCIPLESHIP CLASS, and feeding center in the dump until school starts again in Feb
2. Since I have started tithing my retirement I have had no stress about finances. ?2 years now.
3. A much lighter atmosphere. We have been oppressed for a long time. Even though we have more problems and ever growing dynamics, there isn’t that horrible pressure. I think it was spiritual and your prayers are working. I feel victory.
4. Looking forward to giving away 1900 christmas presents and pastors conference in January
5. Personally, I am healthier, just really tired. ?I have to take care of Winnie. Please pray for her healing.
PLEASE KEEP ON DOING WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU`RE DOING, IT'S WORKING!! pray, donate, and spread the word about us, what we are doing and the needs here! Please share this letter on FB and with your friends, churches & civic groups!
Thank you!!! Dean and Winnie Peters
Joyfully serving the 'least of these' in Nicaragua for the glory of God
MATCHED DONATIONS UP UNTIL 2024. ?ANY FORM OF DONATIONATIONS TO PUREHEART ARE 100% TAX DEDUCTIBLE AND 200% GOES TO FEEDING THE KIDS.
Paper checks;
PureHeartChildren’sFund
Box 703
Burton Ohio 44021
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