Gaining

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Gaining Strength Through Hardships

Psalm 138:3

"In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul."

Going through hard times is good for you if you will approach them the right way. In fact, the hard times will make you a stronger person if you take the proper steps while enduring them. When I was in high school I had the privilege of playing several sports. One of the things I did not enjoy was the preparation it took to get ready for the game or event. Everyday when we practiced for a game we would have to run wind sprints. Though none of the players enjoyed these, their hardness created an endurance that helped us to stay fresh through the fourth quarter. You could say that we became stronger through hardship.

When you read the Psalms, you will see the Psalmist expose his feelings and actions through his hard times. At times you can see him in despair, and yet at other times you will see his overcoming spirit. However, in each hardship that the Psalmist faced, you will see that he got stronger. The verse above shows us the pattern that he followed when the hardships came.

Let me first say that hardships will come. There would have been no reason for the Psalmist to cry out if there were not hardships. Though I don't mean to be a prophet of doom, I do know that everyone will face hard times. You must not go through life thinking that you will escape them, but you must prepare yourself as to what you will do before they come.

Second, you will notice that the Psalmist felt helpless. He said, "...when I cried..." This no doubt was the Psalmist facing the darkest hour of his hardships. When you go through hard times, you will come to a point when you will feel that it is hopeless. Not only will hopelessness set in, but despair will also come. It is when you are at this point that God can finally help you. The reason is because you have come to the end of yourself, and now God can show you His strength. Christian, God cannot help you until you realize you are helpless.

Third, when you come to the point of realizing you are helpless, cry to God. Nobody can help you like God can. He knows what you are facing at this very moment. Don't be afraid to pour your heart out to God. He wants you to come and expose your heartfelt feelings to Him.

Fourth, God will answer your prayer. The Psalmist said, "...thou answeredst me..." God will answer your cry only if you call upon Him. He cannot answer your prayer if you don't pray. I encourage you to call on the LORD, for He will answer your prayer.

Fifth, he did not quit. Though the Psalmist felt hopeless, he did not quit. Too many Christians quit before they have the opportunity to see God work. You have to get past the quitting point if you want to see the LORD work. Yes, hopelessness and despair may come, but you have to keep on going knowing that God will answer and help you.

Last, strength came because he kept on going. The Psalmist said, "...and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." When God answered him, he found that God's answer was strength. For what was the strength? It was to help him face his hardship. Christian, you will find if you will call on God, that God will deliver you from your hard time, but probably not in the way you think He will. He will deliver you by giving you strength to go through it. When you have the strength to face the hard times, then the hard times may be hard, but not overwhelming.

Call on God and you will find that He will give you strength. Don't quit in your time of hopelessness, but keep going. When God answers, strength will be given to help you through your hard time.

A Word

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A Word Which Is Able to Build You

Acts 20:32

"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."

It seems that every generation fights the authority of the Word of God. It all started in the Garden of Eden when Satan questioned the authority of God's Word. Since that time many so-called experts have questioned the authority and validity of God's Word. Why they would do this is beyond my imagination. We need every word in the Scriptures to be the Christians that God wants us to be.

The importance of an every word Bible is found in this verse. You will notice that the only way a person is built up in the LORD is through Scripture. Notice the wording of this verse says, "...and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up,..." God made it very plain that a Christian will only grow through the Word of God. Let me give you a few thoughts about this important subject.

First, don't let the experts intimidate you. Just because they may have a few degrees behind their name does not mean that they are smarter than God. God promised that He would preserve every word when He says in Psalm 12:7, "Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Therefore, when a so called expert says that God's Word is not inspired or that there are errors in It, then they are wrong and God is right.

Second, God says in Proverbs 30:5, "Every word of God is pure:..." If every word is pure, then it would be important for God to preserve each of those pure words. It is important for every word to be preserved because if they were not, then we would have an impure Bible. It is the combination of every word that makes It pure. If you were to take one ingredient away from what makes It pure, then the only thing you would have left is impurity.

Third, we need every word so that we can grow in the manner in which God wants. If one word was taken out of the Word of God, then that one word would keep us from being built up. Some may think this is extreme, but we have an extreme God Who believes His Word is worthy of preserving. He preserved It not just so that His Word is true, but also so that we can properly grow. Imagine if one promise were left out of the Word of God. That one promise would hinder our faith from being built. Imagine if one sin was left out from being named. That one sin being left out could cause us to go into sin, thus hindering our ability to be built.

Christian, it is important to have every Word of God. The importance is so that you can be built as a Christian. Therefore, if God's Word is what builds your Christian life, then be sure to read and follow every word that God gives you so that you can be built up in the manner in which God wants you to be built.

Circumstances

 
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Overcoming Your Circumstances

Acts 16:25

"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them."

Life is filled with adverse circumstances, but your outcome from those circumstances is completely up to you. Paul and Silas faced some difficult circumstances, but they did not allow their circumstances to destroy their spirit. Because they chose to control their circumstances, they were able to see the miraculous conversion of the jailor. There were three keys to Paul and Silas overcoming their circumstances.

First, they looked inward instead of looking outward. Instead of looking at being in prison, they looked at something that nothing from the outside could take away; their salvation. Your disposition should never be determined by outside circumstances. You may face many adverse circumstances in your life, but you must not let them determine whether you are going to be on top side. In order to overcome circumstances, you must learn to dwell on the inside. Once you were saved, your salvation is yours forever. Therefore, because nothing can take your salvation away, you must learn to dwell on it while going through adverse circumstances. Sickness cannot take away your salvation. Disease cannot take away your salvation. Financial struggles cannot take away your salvation. Loss of job cannot take away your salvation. False accusation cannot take away your salvation. True accusations cannot take away your salvation. Parents being divorced cannot take away your salvation. Your spouse leaving you cannot take away your salvation. Put your situation at the front of these sentences and you can always say that it cannot take away your salvation. If you will dwell on your salvation and the Holy Spirit of God Who dwells within you, then you can stay on top of your circumstances.

Second, they prayed. When they decided to look inward, they knew that the next step was to pray for God's help through their circumstance. Likewise, when adverse circumstances come your way, you need to learn to pray. Griping and complaining about your circumstance is not going to change it, only God can change your circumstance. Too many Christians tend to gripe and complain about their circumstances for the purpose of getting pity from others. Your circumstances do not change when others have pity on you. This is why you need to stop looking for pity from others and talk to God, the One Who can change your situation.

Third, after praying they sang God's praises. Singing is a great way to help lift your spirit in times of adverse circumstances. Of course, you are not going to be able to sing until you have poured your burdens upon God. After you have prayed, then find some uplifting Christian songs to sing. Even though you may not feel like singing, you need to force yourself to sing. The reason is because singing directly affects your spirit. When you sing, it is like giving a vitamin B12 shot to your spirit. Singing uplifting songs will direct your spirit from looking outward at the circumstances to the inward of your salvation.

Notice the result of Paul and Silas following these three steps was that God intervened and others were helped. When you follow these three steps, you will also find that God will be inclined to help you, thus you will be able to help others. Stop letting your adverse circumstances dictate what your spirit is and follow these three steps so that you can overcome your circumstances and help others.

Perspective

Keeping the Man of God in Right Perspective

Acts 10:26

"But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man."

The story from the verse above is about a man named Cornelius who waited a long time for Peter to come and preach the Gospel to the Gentile world. The Scriptures say that Cornelius gathered a group of people to whom Peter could preach. When Peter walked into the house of Cornelius, he fell down at Peter's feet to worship him. However, Peter immediately told him to stand up and reminded him that he was just a man.

I was recently talking to a preacher, and our conversation was about different men of God who were used in a great way. Our discussion was how people were so attracted to the great works of these men that they would nearly worship them. This preacher made a statement to me that every Christian needs to grasp. He said that there were no great men, but that there were men whom God has used in a great way. If every person would grasp that mentality about men of God, it would keep them from ever becoming disillusioned with men of God and from following them into error.

Men of God are sinners like everyone else. One of the mistakes we make is that we forget that preachers are men as well. If you are not careful, you will place a preacher higher in your estimation than you should. No preacher should be worshipped. Only one person should be worshipped and that is God. God is the only One Who deserves the worship of man. Therefore, be careful about lifting a man up to deity level. Remember that all men are fallible.

On the other hand, the man of God deserves respect and honor, not because of who he is, but because of the position that he holds. The position of a man of God is a lofty position. It is lofty because of Whom they represent. Therefore, you should be very careful with your treatment and respect of the man of God. The Scriptures teach that the position of the man of God deserves honor and respect. Yes, you should love your preacher, but you should also respect and honor him because of his position.

Finally, because all men are sinners and fallible, remember that everything they teach and preach should be based upon the Word of God. The danger of lifting a man of God higher than you should is that you will take everything he says as gospel. There is no preacher who deserves a blank check to do or teach whatever he wants. He represents Christ, therefore he should only teach and do what the Scriptures command him to do.

If you will keep your preacher in proper perspective, then you will keep yourself from being disillusioned and from being taken into false doctrine. Be sure to respect and honor your pastor, but remember that he is a man and he will make mistakes at times. Don't crucify him when he makes a mistake, but remember he is still a man. However, be sure that you treat him with the respect that his position deserves.

God's Why

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You Don't Have to Know God's Why

John 12:16

"These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him."

Often when you read the Scriptures you will see that people did things when they had no clue about the greatness of their actions. For instance, many of the men whom God used to pen the Scriptures on paper wrote about things that had not yet happened. However, they obeyed what God told them to write and would often understand what they wrote later when the Scripture was fulfilled.

The story from the verse above is about the triumphal entry of Christ coming into Jerusalem. The Scriptures say that as Jesus entered Jerusalem that the people pulled down branches of palm trees and strawed them along the way as they cried, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." When these people were obeying the leading of God, they did not know that they were fulfilling Scripture. In fact, the verse above teaches that it wasn't until later that the disciples realized that what they did was prophesied earlier in Scripture.

One of the reasons that you should do right all the time is because you never know what your obedience will bring. There are hundreds of stories of people who obeyed what God told them to do, though they didn't understand why God told them to do it. Yet, because they obeyed, God blessed their obedience to accomplish something great through them. 

One illustration of this would be Philip. Philip was preaching a revival meeting when God told him to leave the revival and go out into the desert. Though Philip did not understand why God wanted him to leave this great revival meeting, he obeyed and met the Ethiopian eunuch. When Philip saw the eunuch reading the Scriptures in his chariot, he stepped inside the chariot and led him to Christ. Many believe that the eunuch went back to his homeland and led many to Christ which resulted in a great revival. It wasn't until after Philip obeyed that he understood why God wanted him to do this.

You don't have to understand why God wants you to do something in order to obey. You must realize that if God tells you to obey that the command is what you are to follow. Understanding always comes after obedience. Too many people miss being used greatly by God because they wait for understanding before they obey, when if they would just obey they would eventually understand. Understanding never comes before obedience. If you wait until you understand, then you will end up disobeying God and miss His will.

Christian, decide right now that you are going to start obeying Christ whether or not you understand why He tells you to do something. Yes, it takes faith to obey Christ, but living by faith always pleases God. When you step out by faith and obey what God tells you to do, then you will find understanding after you obeyed.

Approval?

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Man's Approval Results In God's Disapproval

John 9:22

"These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue."

It was just another Sabbath day for this young blind man. He did not know that on this day his life would change forever. It would change because of Who would pass by his way. We don't know if this young man was simply feeling his way through town, or if he was standing by the wayside begging, but we know that Jesus passed by his way. When Jesus saw this young man, knowing that he was born blind, He had compassion on him and healed his blind eyes.

The problem with this story is that the Pharisees didn't think that Jesus should heal on the Sabbath day. When they asked this young man who healed him, he said he didn't know who it was. The Pharisees didn't believe that he used to be blind, so they went to the parents to ask them if their son was really born with no sight. They confirmed that he was born blind, but out of fear of being thrown out of the synagogue, they wouldn't confirm how he received his sight.

Herein is the problem with many Christians. Too many Christians are more concerned with the approval of man than they are with the approval of God. They are more worried about what man can do to them than they are about what God can do to them. When you live for the approval of man, you can rest assured that your life will be disapproved by God.

Let me remind you that God is greater than man. People are so afraid of what man can do to them when they don't realize that God is the One Who ultimately determines what He allows His children to go through. You should always keep God's approval of what you do as your highest priority.

Furthermore, if you live for the approval of man, you will find that you will never succeed. If one group of people approve of you, then there will be another group of people who will disapprove of what you have done. Compromise starts when you start living for man's approval. Living for God's approval is easy, for you will only have one set of rules to obey. When you live for God's approval, you will find an inward satisfaction when you have accomplished this lofty goal.

Christian, be careful about living for the approval of man. Live your life to please God. Don't be concerned with what man thinks about you, but be concerned with God's approval of your life. If you will live to please God then you will find that you will be able to live a fulfilling life.

Relevance

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The Relevancy of God's Word for Your Life

John 1:1

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

If you were to listen to what society says about the Word of God, you would think that God's Word is just a bunch of stories that are entertaining to read. Most of society views God's Word as the writings of men and not the very Word of God. However, when you study the Word of God you find that every Word in the Bible is the very Word of God.

In John 1, you will also find that God's Word is relevant to your life. Though some may think that God's Word is out of date, when you study It you see that It's principles are relevant to your life and every situation you currently face. In fact, God's Word has the answer for every problem that you face. If God's Word doesn't have the answer for your problem, then you don't have a problem. In John 1, you can see several ways that God's Word is relevant to your life.

First, everything begins with the Word of God. It says in the verse above, "In the beginning was the Word..." You will notice that God started this world with His Word. You should always start everything you do with God's Word. Start your day off in the Word of God. Start your marriage off by using the Word of God. Start your business by following the Word of God. When you look at the founding of the United States of America, you will see that the principles of the founding documents came from the Word of God. If you start anything without the Word of God, then you are starting it off the wrong way.

Second, God's Word gives life. John 1:4 says, "In him was life;..." We believe that the King James Bible is the inspired and preserved Word of God because without inspiration there is no life. God's Word gives life through It's inspiration. The only way your life will sustain excitement, interest and vibrancy is by wrapping your life around the Word of God. Without God's Word, you will find your interest will waver in your pursuits. However, with God's Word involved in every pursuit, you will find that life and excitement will be sustained.

Third, God's Word gives life. It says in the second part of John 1:4, "...and the life was the light of men." God's Word is a light that shines upon the pathway of life. When you are wondering which direction you should take in life, God's Word will shine a light upon the right pathway. When you are making decisions, you will find that God's Word will give you light so you can clearly see the proper decision.

Fourth, God's Word is truth. John 1:14 says that God's Word is "full of grace and truth." If you are looking for absolutes, then look no further than the Word of God. The source of all truth is found in the Word of God. Only God's Word can guarantee what It says to be true.

Fifth, God's Word gives grace. Not only is God's Word full of truth, but It also shows you how to be gracious as you live It's truths. In other words, grace is having the people skills to properly apply truth without running everybody off. Don't get me wrong, God's Word will offend some people, but if you will properly apply It's principles, you will learn how to get along with people.

Christian, you need God's Word in your life. It is relevant for your every need. I can never stress enough the importance of daily spending time in the Word of God. Don't let church be the only time you open It's pages, but let the pages of the Word of God bring It's relevancy to your daily life by reading It and living what It says.

Keep your distance

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Keeping Your Distance

Luke 22:54

"Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off."

Have you ever been around someone with whom you wanted to keep your distance? The reason you wanted to keep your distance from them was because you were either not sure about them or you just didn't quite want to be identified with them. When you kept your distance from them, it wasn't that you didn't want to be around them, for you were still close enough to be in their presence, but you kept your distance because you didn't want to deal with the fallout of being hurt from whatever you were afraid of about them.

In the verse above, "Peter followed afar off." The whole reason why he followed Jesus at a distance was because he didn't want to leave Jesus, yet he didn't want to face the persecution and potential hurt that could come from being close to Him. How sad that Peter closely followed Jesus for three years, and now that Jesus faced crucifixion he backed off because he didn't want to carry the shame of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. However, though Peter followed afar off physically in the verse above, he had already followed Jesus afar off in his heart. Luke 22:34 says, "And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." Jesus knew when He made this statement that Peter's heart was afar off. The action from the verse above was simply a follow through of what was already going on in his heart.

Christian, are you keeping your distance from Jesus in your heart? Maybe you have already started to physically keep your distance from Jesus. Why would you keep your distance from Jesus? Are you afraid that Jesus is going to hurt you? Are you afraid to identify with Jesus? Let me briefly deal with both of these areas.

First, why would you be afraid that Jesus is going to hurt you? Jesus has never let any person down. Anyone who has ever put their faith and trust in Jesus and what He commands us to do has never been hurt. People may hurt you when you get close to them, but Jesus will never hurt you. Proverbs 18:24 says about God, "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." You can count on Jesus always being there for you in your time of need. Not only will He be there for you when you need Him most, but He also will never hurt you when you open your heart to Him. Though you may have been hurt by people to whom you have been close, you can count on the fact that Jesus will never hurt you when you open up to Him.

Second, don't keep your distance from Jesus because you are afraid to identify with Him. Let me remind you that it was Jesus who died and paid for your sin. He was willing to go to the cross to pay for your sins, the least you could do is identify with Him. Let me ask you, what has the world ever done for you that you would be more willing to identify with it rather than with Jesus? The only thing the world has ever done for you is hurt you. Though identifying with Jesus may bring shame and criticism from the world and backslidden Christians, it will also bring a closeness and security that He will never leave you and will be there to help you through every facet of your life.

If you are one who has kept your distance from Jesus, let me implore you to stop it. Whether your distance is in your heart, or maybe you have physically kept your distance from Jesus, you are making the greatest mistake of your life by doing so. Decide to close the distance by opening your heart to Jesus and pouring your heartaches and worries upon Him. Physically close that distance and decide that no matter what criticisms may come that you will identify with Jesus every place you go.

Focus

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Heaven's Focus

Luke 15:7

"I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."

One of the mistakes I made in my early ministry was focusing on the rebel more than I focused on those who needed and wanted my help. Though God used me in spite of my mistakes, there were many who I could have focused upon and helped in a greater way. When I realized that my focus should be on helping those who wanted my help, it resulted in many more people being helped.

Often you see ministries that seem to focus upon the rebel. Christian schools many times will ruin the good child because they focus so much on how to salvage the rebel. With the focus being upon how to salvage the rebel, the good child slips through the cracks and ends up not being helped in the way that they could have and should have been. Many different church ministries will focus upon the rebel, when they should focus upon the ones who really want to be helped.

In the verse above, you will notice that Heaven's focus is upon restoring the lost. There are three parables in Luke 15. Two of the three deal with the lost and one deals with the loss of a rebel. It is interesting to note that Heaven's focus was not upon the rebel. Don't get me wrong, I believe we should pray for the one who has rebelled, but too much focus is placed upon the prodigal when it should be placed upon the lost. You can see from the verse above that Heaven rejoices when one sinner repents. Yes, Heaven is thrilled when people are right with God, but the thing that gets Heaven to throw a party is when the sinner repents.

The purpose of the church is to be a spiritual hospital. I often say that a church is an emergency room where patients who are sick and wounded from sin come every Sunday and Wednesday to get help. Churches must be careful about losing that focus. When a Pharisaical attitude starts creeping into the church, then the sinner will not feel that they can get help from that church. Sinners should feel welcome in every church. No, they shouldn't feel that they can continue in their sin and feel good, but they should feel that they can get the help they need and feel loved and wanted at the same time.

Furthermore, be sure to place the focus of every ministry in the church on helping the ones who need and want our help. Ministry leaders should not give the rebel the attention they want, but rather they should focus on helping the one's who are desperately wanting their help. When you focus on the sinner who wants help, then that lets the rebel know that their rebellion is not the way to get the attention they desire.

Moreover, parents need to be careful to help the children that want their help. Parents often spend much of their time trying to bring the rebellious child back and end up forsaking the other children who need and want their help. Parent, let God deal with the rebel and focus your attention on the child who will respond to your help.

Last, every Christian should focus on bringing the lost to Christ. Though the parables in Luke 15 deal with saved people, I still believe that the principle of Heaven rejoicing over one sinner repenting applies to those who are lost in sin. Be busy every week doing your best to win the lost to Jesus Christ.

Always remember that a clean emergency room is an unused emergency room. If the church is doing what it is supposed to do, you will find the sick and hurting throughout the church. Be sure that your focus is the same of Heaven's focus and that is helping the sinner to repent.

Some Fell

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Some Fell, But One Got Up

Luke 8:15

"But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."

There is a valuable truth that is often missed in the parable of the sower. The phrase, "some fell" is mentioned four times in this parable. The seed fell in four different situations, and only once will you see that the falling of the seed produced stable growth. In the verse above, when the seed fell on the good ground it came back up and brought forth fruit.

No matter who you are, and no matter what your status in Christianity may be, you will fall. Notice that God said, "some fell." Everybody is going to fall sometime in their Christian life, but only in one instance will they get back up from their failure and produce. The reason we know that everyone will fall at some time is because everybody is a sinner. Romans 10:13 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" The Scriptures reinforce this statement by saying in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" In both of these verses God makes it obvious that everyone will sin. Therefore, you will fall through failure or sin. The hope is that once you fall that you will rise again. The parable of the sower shows the key to getting back up after failure is what you fall into.

First, some fall because of wrong associations. The seed that fell by the wayside illustrates those who fall because they were influenced by wrong associations. One of the reasons your associations are so important is for the fact that when you fall in this area, the possibility of getting back up is rare. Therefore, because it is rare to recover once you fall into wrong associations, be careful about those with whom you choose to associate.

Second, others fall because they won't listen. When God talks about the seed falling onto the rock, He is illustrating someone who won't listen because of a hard heart. My question to you is this, do you ever think you are wrong? Are you one who always blames wrong on others? It scares me when I watch people in church who never go to the altar to get things right with God. The reason it scares me is because I see people whose hearts are so hard that God can't get through to them. If you won't listen to the preacher, authority or friends who warn you about mistakes, then the possibility of getting back up once you fall is scarce. If you won't listen now, then you probably won't listen once you fall.

Third, some fall because of worldly cares. The seed that fell among the thorns never recovered. Likewise, those who fall because of worldly cares rarely, if ever come back to God. Christian, this is why you need to set your affections on things above, and not on the cares of this world. If you fall because of your worldliness, then it will most likely take over your life and cause you to never recover spiritually.

Last, some fall while serving God, but when they fall, they have the Word of God that picks them up. The last seed fell, but it fell on good ground. The result was that it came back up and produced fruit. If you will wrap your life around the Word of God, then It will give you a tender heart that is capable of learning from mistakes. The Word of God is the rebounding agent for God's people. When a person makes their life about fulfilling the commands of God's Word, then when they fall, that failure will teach them to be a better person once they get up. Christian, become like the last seed that fell on good ground. Let the Word of God cause your heart to become that fertile ground that causes you to rebound once you fall.