Observe & Do What the Lord Requires
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<David said to Solomon,>” (2) I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, (3) observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to Him, and keep His decrees and commands, His laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go.”’ (1 Kings 2:2-3)
The context of this verse is David is giving Solomon wise advice upon his deathbed. It is not only good for Solomon (and us) to follow these instructions, but it is also to provide Solomon the promise that God gave David, that he would always have an heir upon the throne of Israel, per 1 Kings 2:4. David’s advice is what makes a Bible-believing, Faithful church successful; it is obedience to the Word of the Lord, and not to waver or stumble when being obedient. In return, we have a Savior in Jesus, a King who is a descendant of David!
A church is strong when its leadership and its congregation is in unison in following this advice. It is not tangible or something one can count out or detect by audit that a church is successful. It is how well a church walks in obedience, how well a church keeps the whole doctrines, decrees, precepts, and commands God has provided. Today there are churches that seem to be prosperous, their pastors have jets to fly to various locations, or the church’s walls have goldleaf trim. Yet these signs of prosperity go against the very Word they are to uphold; where is the humility that Jesus demonstrated and told them to display in Matthew 23:12?
There are churches where the congregations demand a doctrine that lifts them up, and there are churches where the pastoral leadership demand a doctrine that lifts them up. When this happens, the church fails – regardless of the secular success it may have. The only successful churches are those that proclaim only the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are to be held high and lifted up, avoiding the Progressive doctrines that ignore parts (or sometimes all) of the Bible, that preach a doctrine that God changes. God never changes, he is the Solid Rock which we are to build on. All other doctrines that come from man can only shift and fail upon the sands they have built upon. Make sure you belong to a church that is sound in doctrine. Biblical Christianity can never be progressive, and Progressive Christianity can never be biblical.
