"Conversation: Guidance To Salvation"
Psalms 50:23 – "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and
to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of
God."
Reminder: In the King James Version of the Bible, whenever the word
"conversation" appears, it never carries the verbal connotation that
we have given it: a transaction of words or for one’s mouth to utter words.
Instead, although each meaning deals with communication, each instance has a
different meaning—-all of which are non-verbal.
This week we see how our conversation is our guidance to God’s salvation.
Now when we think of salvation, we normally think of deliverance from hell.
Even though this is true, salvation has a deeper and fuller meaning than the
one it is limited to by "traditional religion."
Salvation comes from the Greek word "Soteria" and the Hebrew word
"Yshuwah." It means deliverance, protection, preservation,
prosperity, safety, soundness, healing, and the ministry of angels. Now if we
personalized this definition and said, "Salvation means for me to have
deliverance from all things (habits), protection from all evil, preservation of
every good and perfect gift from God, prosperity in every area of my life (not
one "broke" day), safety every moment in my life, soundness (the
absence of instability), healing from every disease, and angels ministering
unto me every second of everyday," everyone not saved should be saying,
"Yeah!!! I’m ready to get saved."
Even those of us who have been saved for years should be saying, "I
want all of these things and I really want to know what I must do to get
them." Well, here are two steps to getting everything salvation has to
offer.
(1) Praise & Glorify God Constantly
Our text starts by stating, "Whoso offereth (constantly offers) praise
glorifieth (constantly glorifies) me." God is more than worthy of the
praise and glorification. One way to praise and glorify Him is to acknowledge
Him as your source. For example, if a person says, "My job is my only
source of income" then God will allow that job to BE your only source of
income. The danger in that is this: what happens when the business goes
bankrupt or you get laid off or fired? At this point that person has NO income
because remember he/she stated that his/her job was the ONLY source of income.
Even if you work at Citicorp, which was founded in 1812, tomorrow is not
promised to you. God has been "in business" much longer, and trust me
He will always be "in business." So praise God, acknowledge Him, and
make Him your ONLY SOURCE.
(2) Set your ways "Right" in God’s sight
The second part of our text tells us this, "and to him that ordereth his
conversation aright." This means that we set our ways right in the sight
of God. Those old things have to be let go to walk in the fullness of
salvation. If you want deliverance in every area of your life you have to
release those ungodly things in every area of your life. Through salvation, you
have the power to cast out the enemy, but you can’t cast him out of darkness if
you remain in the darkness. In other words, if you dwell in the devil’s house
you can’t cast him out of his house. You first have to leave his domain
(darkness) and walk into the light (the domain of God).
Now just for a moment, we need to talk to you about religion and tradition.
Now, if you have always believed that salvation of Jesus Christ was mainly
"fire insurance" (to keep you from going to hell) or it is for
helping you cross the "rough side of the mountain," we really need to
talk. For years I thought the same thing and this is why people DO NOT OPERATE
IN THEIR SALVATION. This is why people go to the clubs on Saturday and church
on Sunday. However, by doing so they are negating their power of salvation. Through
salvation, strongholds are lifted and deliverance from bondage occurs. Yet, if
the Saturday night/Sunday morning thing is happening then the power of
salvation is pretty much null and void. Sure, at least the fire insurance
policy will still be in effect, but dwelling in the wrong places could bring
cause for that policy to be cashed in sooner than expected.
Also, and this is very, very, very, very important. If you are attending a
church that is not praising and worshiping God, go deep, deep, deep into your
prayer closet for your church. Again, religion and tradition have gotten the
children of God so "spiritually numb" that many believe that church
is a where we go on Sunday just to fulfill an obligation (to make that minimum
payment on the fire insurance policy). The children of God should not be
saying, "Well…. I’ve got to go so I’ll just go." There should be a
spirit of expectation when we go to church. There should be the feeling of not
knowing what’s going to happen but at least knowing that, as Oral Roberts says,
"Something good is going to happen to you!"
If you’ve been wondering what you need to do to stop struggling, here’s the
beginning. Stop being stuck by tradition because Mark 3:13 states this:
"Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed
down. And you do many things like that" (NIV). Don’t worry about how
"mama ‘nem" used to do it or how it’s been done since 1979. Praise
God, give Him the Glory, set your ways right in His sight, and walk in the full
power of salvation.