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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for November 2, 2009
“Is Your Heart Turning Back to Egypt?”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
You know what saddens my heart?
When I find out that a Christian who gave up drinking has gone back to drinking.
When a Christian who gave up smoking has gone back to smoking.
When a Christian who gave up the clubs and the party life has gone back to it.
It grieves me because I’ve seen them when they get saved. I’ve seen their bright faces radiating joy and hope and peace and purpose. Their burden is lifted and they have been set free!
The love of God has been poured into them, and their life is changed. They were in darkness, but now they are in light. Their life is headed in a new direction.
And then it happens. They start to look back and fondly remember their previous life. They remember the laughs and minimize the heartaches.
Then they look around at people who live like they used to and start to think, “Man, I’m missing out. They’re having all the good times. What would be wrong with me enjoying myself once in a while?”
And then they add something like this. “I’ll go back, but not all the way; and I’ll take Jesus with me.”
I’ve seen people do this, but nothing good comes from it. One reason is that they are being deceived. They are falling for the lie that the world has something good to offer that God doesn’t.
And they know that, or they knew it originally, which is why they came to Christ in the first place, and why Christ was so refreshing at the time.
In our home Bible study last week we talked about how refreshing it is just to be around people who keep their word. That’s the way good Christians are. We keep our word, and that really stands out in this old world.
That’s just one tiny example of how different things should be in the church compared to those days back in “the world.”
But people start to look back fondly, and it’s so much like the Israelites after Moses led them out of Egypt. God delivered them from slavery and bondage, but then their life as free people wasn’t everything they dreamed it would be so they started looking back.
Acts 7:39 puts it this way: in their hearts they turned back to Egypt.
So let me ask you, are you turning back to Egypt? Are you fondly looking back at some of the old worldly days?
Well this is your warning. Don’t do it! Don’t fall for it!
The world has nothing to offer. It may promise great things, but it has no power to deliver them. As it says in James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
And don’t miss that important little tag at the end of that verse. God does not change like shifting shadows. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the solid rock, the firm foundation upon which you can build your life.
Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, so don’t turn back to Egypt! Don’t turn back to the world as if it has something. It doesn’t. Even when it looks good for a second, it suddenly changes, like shifting shadows, like an ever-moving kaleidoscope.
Listen to Revelation 2:4. Jesus said this to the church in Ephesus. “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
It’s like falling in love and getting married. You start running a household and raising kids and maybe it sucks some of the romance out of your marriage. Maybe you start looking around and maybe other people start looking better than your spouse. You are in danger of losing your first love. Your first love is to be that one person on earth that you are “one” with. That is your first love in an earthly sense.
And in a spiritual sense, the Lord is our first love. He is our all-in-all, our everything.
But when we start to look back to the things of this world, we are in danger of losing our first love.
And what was Jesus’ advice to the Ephesians? He said, “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”
So if you find your heart turning back toward Egypt, repent! Turn from that and return to your first love. Stop doing the old worldly things and return to doing the things you did when your love for God was new.
This is your warning. The world has nothing to offer you. Don’t listen to its siren song. Don’t turn back to Egypt. It was a place of slavery, not a place of joy.
Instead, keep your eyes set on our Heavenly Father, from whom comes every good and perfect gift, and who does not change like shifting shadows.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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