Chronicles of a Watchman by Dr. James P. Norman Jr.

2 Timothy 3:1-9 The Message (MSG) Difficult Times Ahead 3 1-5 Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people. 6-9 These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them; women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself “truth.” They get exploited every time and never really learn. These men are like those old Egyptian frauds Jannes and Jambres, who challenged Moses. They were rejects from the faith, twisted in their thinking, defying truth itself. But nothing will come of...

  In a fact of God Holiness is moral purity, not only in the sense of absence of all moral stain, but of complacency in all moral good. God is holy in that he is the source and standard of the right. The only rule for the divine will is the divine reason: the divine reason prescribes everything that is befitting. God is not under law, nor above law. God is law.   Let’s talk for a moment what Satan has chosen to do in the face of this. He has chosen to kill and to steal anything that would allow the works of God to lead us. He will try to destroy the true church and undertake the development of true holiness the way God is.The Word of God is not paper and ink. It is God’s plan for man. God is righteous by nature and necessity…God is the source and author of law for all moral beings. Satan has been so clever in keeping our saints attention on things that look so easy and so humanly natural.   We may have a better definition of holiness by saying that holiness is that...

God will do good and surprising things! When Jesus is here he is in and Satan is out. Jesus is the only one that makes life worth living. When we are brought to a moment of despair we must stay in Jesus care. If you say “I can’t at the moment” God will reply “I never said you could without me giving direction”. You will be a bigger failure than expected without him. True repentance is not the past, but facing the facts of life that are going on right now. NOW FAITH IS. God is looking through us to redeem those that are lost in his flock. The lamp of light that shines continually upon this ministry will keep us safe from the darkness and shadows that evil hides in. Repentance is a continuing state of change. I need to keep in place the thing that I need to continue to perform and that what God has apprehended me to accomplish. True faith will always use what God has made by his word, and it will also use the leading of the Holy Spirit. If it wasn’t for true faith I would no...

THE SPIRIT FILLED LIFE (part one) You know when God comes in he doesn’t come in to abide. He comes in to take over! Where there is holy worship, he takes over. Let’s try some problem solving by the word of God! 1.       See that there is a problem 2.       Examine the problem 3.       See what the word says about the  problem 4.       Put yourself in the problem as a problem solver 5.       Solve the problem with strong ACTION 6.       Then move to the next problem CHURCH GOING CHRISTIANS   Jesus had a role to play in the Christian. Jesus is in our lives, as savior but Jesus Christ has been the object but not the origin. My moves must come from him as the origin. My moves must come from him as the origin not just going to heaven. He must be the object as well as the origin of all my activity. He must...

TO BE IN CHRIST – THE SALT THAT YOU NEED (PART FIVE)   The resurrection life of the Lord Jesus is imparted to the true believer by the presence of the Holy Spirit! The Lord Jesus said "he that believeth on me out of his inner most being shall flow rivers of living (not stagnant) water". But this spoke he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Spirit, was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified John 7:38-39. That is to say, salt at the source! Salt at the spring of the waters II Kings 2:21.   This Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. The King granted him all of his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him Ezra 7:6. It is a wonderful thing to be in such a relationship to God that everything you need for any circumstance is always yours by the good hand of your God upon you!   For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek ...

TO BE IN CHRIST – SALT (PART FOUR) Salt speaks of the risen life of Jesus Christ, imparted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to the redeemed sinner. It is the salt for barrenness! As you have been reconciled to God by his death, you are constantly to be saved by his life. It is only the life of the Lord Jesus, his activity, clothed with you and displayed through you that ultimately will find the approval of God. As a forgiven sinner, you are a member of a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:5). It is that Lord Jesus Christ alone who makes your sacrifices acceptable to God. Only what he does in you and through you merits his approval and God can and will accept nothing less! Every oblation of the meat offering shall though season with salt; neither shall you suffer the salt of the covenant of the God to be lacking from the meat offering, with all your offerings you shall offer salt. (Lev 2:13) Under no circ...

TO BE IN CHRIST – THE CARNAL CHRISTIAN (PART THREE)   You say, I thought a carnal Christian was a backslider somebody for instance who used to go to church but has run off with somebody else’s wife! Oh no! That is only one kind of carnal Christian, and I would not suggest that you were that kind of carnal Christian.   No, No! I am talking about some Sunday school teachers. I am talking about some Sunday school superintendents. I am talking about some Pastor in his pulpit. I am talking about some missionary on the field. I am talking about many ordinary average earnest Christians. They are wonderful people. You would love to meet them. They talk all the language of salvation and they mean every work. They say they are not hypocrites.   They are overwhelmed inwardly with a sense of defeat, frustration, futility and bareness. When you meet them they will smile sweetly and they will mean the smile they give you. They will grip you by the hand and they will say ...