A Visit with the Joneses

Carol Jones Saint: Hello, hello there. Come right in to enjoy a special time of family devotions at Home Sweet Home. We have been waiting for your arrival. We look forward to these visits and it's just good to gather together to think about the things of the Lord. Sometimes we gather together for fellowship and sometimes it's good to meet with your friends to have a time of singing or maybe you even gather together and have a good time around the table eating and fellowshipping together. But in this visit, we've gathered to ask God's blessings on each of us.

Bert Jones: What a prayer. Breathe upon us from above with old time power. And I'm reminded as Carol has been singing that opening segment of our radio visit that we read in the scripture of the day when people will not know the power of godliness. It's in 2 Timothy chapter 3. The chapter begins with these words. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.

Oh my. My oh my. What a phrase describing people in the last days.

Carol Jones Saint: How true.

Bert Jones: In the last days, perilous times shall come and there will be those having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away. God forbid that it should ever be said of any of us. You have a form of godliness, but you deny the power thereof. Instead, let us make a prayer that says, Lord, send the power.

Carol Jones Saint: It is only as we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our churches and in our institutions that sinners will be converted and all shall be edified. And so for family devotions, I want us to think together about this very interesting verse of scripture. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. There's a beautiful autumn evening. There was an autumn moon and the autumn leaves were coming down. The corn shocks had turned to brown. The leaves were gold and red.

Guest (Female): Oh, I can see the picture.

Bert Jones: And then on that autumn evening about 7 o'clock, the doorbell rang. I said to the family, I wonder who that is. And so I went to the door and and going to the door and opening it, there stood before me a creature that looked like a devil.

Guest (Female): Like a devil?

Bert Jones: A creature all dressed in red and a long scrawny red face with horns.

Guest (Female): Oh, you must have been petrified.

Bert Jones: Well, I almost was. And yet I really wasn't. It looked like a devil, but I really wasn't afraid because I knew that creature was not a devil because it did not have the power to be the devil. It was just one of my little next door neighbors who was about 9 years of age.

Guest (Female): Oh, so you really weren't as scared as what you could what you might have been.

Bert Jones: Right. A few moments later, the doorbell rang again and I opened it and and there was a strange creature that looked like the biggest rabbit I've ever seen in my life. It was a rabbit about 3 and 1/2 ft tall and it had great big white rabbit ears that must have been surely 18 or 20 in tall. But I wasn't concerned. I wasn't really worried because even though it looked like a huge oversized rabbit that could really have a battle with man, it did not have the power to be a rabbit.

Guest (Female): Well, you know the next time the doorbell rang and I went, I was frightened at first because there stood a man from outer space.

Bert Jones: Oh my.

Guest (Female): And he was the strangest looking creature with oh, I just can't even hardly describe it to you, but but it was it was weird and it was scary.

Bert Jones: But then suddenly you realized it's not a man from outer space. It may look like it. It may have the form of a man from outer space.

Guest (Female): No, but he didn't have the power to come from outer space to this earth.

Bert Jones: Right. Now, do you remember the scripture we were talking about?

Guest (Female): A form

Bert Jones: Having a form but not the power. Consider a fine vibrant statue of a runner. It's a statue in the center of one of the parks. A beautiful form. Oh my, what an athlete. This beautiful statue seems to be but this statue cannot win a race. And even though those muscles are so wonderful and so strong and so well developed, it can't run a race and it can't get a prize and it can't hear the clapping of the crowd because that statue in the park, even though it has the form of a runner, it doesn't have the power to run.

The form but no power. Consider a a fine model car I saw at the auto show. They were saying this is the car of the year 2000. Oh, what a beautiful beautiful form. The lines, the design, it just well, we don't yet have anything to really look like it. But there it was at the auto show. But then I noticed they had to push it in and they had to pull it out because there was no motor inside. It was nothing but form but no power. Having a form but no power. I was thinking back to the days when we used to broadcast direct live by direct network lines.

We had two or three microphones here in the living room and the mics were here all the time. But we only had to worry about those mics picking up what we said or did or our practice sessions. We only had to worry for about 15 minutes before we went on the air because you see they look like mics and you could stand in front of them and sing and preach, but the message wouldn't go anywhere because they had no power.

Carol Jones Saint: Someone at a destination other than at our Home Sweet Home had to turn the power on to let our voices come through the airwaves.

Bert Jones: Exactly. There came a time about 15 minutes before airtime when we flicked the little switch here on a box and then downtown at the radio station they flicked the switch and suddenly power went surging all across the network lines right into that microphone and then we had to be careful because every word we would say, every sound we would make, every note on the organ or every bit of practicing would go over those microphones and carry the message to well, who knows where all through western Pennsylvania reaching Ohio.

Guest (Female): In other words, no longer was the mic just a form, but it was a form with power.

Bert Jones: Right. Now, the text speaks of those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. And the scripture says that this will occur in the last perilous times. Well, I believe we are living in very late hours. I believe we're living in late hours when it's later than most people want to think. And I also believe that along with the other characteristics of men that are listed here in 2 Timothy 3, characteristics of men and women, we also have this very very critical characteristic listed as having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.

The scripture you will note speaks of the form of godliness and and godliness has many forms. For instance, you look at a church and you see immediately the vision of a Christian church or a Hebrew synagogue or or a Roman Catholic church. We have the forms of ritual, the forms of sacraments, the forms of morality, generosity, Bible reading, prayer, testimony, kindness, sincerity, particular religious experiences. All of these are the form of godliness, but the scripture says that you can have the form without the power. As I was talking about some of the children with false faces and masquerade costumes, you know, I have seen in cities some beautiful large Gothic structures.

They had all the form of Christianity. They with their steeples pointed men upward to God, but in reality they were nothing but piles of stone connected by cement because the power was gone. But not only in the city, out in little country towns I have seen beautiful beautiful little country churches. Country churches white and gleaming in the sun, the kind of church you want to take a picture of with your Kodachrome camera. And yet sometimes I've been in lovely little country churches that look so beautiful and have all the form of Christianity and the form of godliness, only to discover that the power was gone long ago.

This scripture also speaks of the power of godliness, not only the the form of godliness, but the power of godliness, the power that is found in God himself, the power that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ who gives pardoning power and who has infinite power and who has power over nature and miraculous power and power to give eternal life. And the scripture also speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit. When he is come upon you, you shall receive power, regenerating power and sanctifying power and enabling power. Yes, this scripture speaks of the power of godliness, but it also speaks tragically of the denial of godliness.

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. How do we deny the power of godliness? How do we deny godliness and its power in our lives? The picture is that of one who wants the form and its resultant blessings, one who has the form but does not want the power which makes form reality. Well, I am sure that we deny the power of godliness in our lives and in our institutions, in our churches, in our religious organizations when we are ashamed of the gospel. We read the words of the apostle Paul, Romans 1 6, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.

Now, if you and I are ashamed to live the gospel and ashamed to witness the gospel and ashamed to stand alone and ashamed to stand for right against wrong, then we are denying the power of God.

Carol Jones Saint: That was sort of like Peter was when they said, why you're one of his. And he said, why no, I'm not.

Bert Jones: And he denied the power of God, you see, immediately. And you and I do so also. When we doubt that power of God in our lives and we are ashamed to witness of that power before others, God forbid that you or I should deny the power of God by being ashamed of Jesus Christ.

Carol Jones Saint: Ashamed of Jesus that dear friend on whom my hopes of heaven depend, knowing I blush to be this my shame. That I know no more revere his name.

Bert Jones: Second, I am convinced that we deny the power of godliness in our lives and in our institutions and in our churches when we substitute other things for the power of the preaching of the cross. We read in 1 Corinthians 1 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God. When we substitute other things for the preaching of the cross, we deny the power of godliness. For instance, I've known churches that have substituted the power of godliness by program and they're programmed to death.

But there's no power to carry out the program. We substitute other things for the power of the cross such as we substitute other ways of being saved, better environment and social activities and and methods. All of these are very important, of course, but when we substitute these for Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life, then we've lost the power. We have the form, but we don't have the power. There are churches that don't want a blood religion. And I know right now a pastor who was voted out of his church because he preached that we must have the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

The official board had told him several times, we don't want you talking about the blood of Christ. And when he continued to say that it is through the shed blood of Jesus that we are saved, they voted him out. They didn't want the cross. They substituted other things for the preaching of the cross. When we substitute broadmindedness, when we substitute good intentions or good works or activities or good words or a sincere attitude, when we substitute any of these instead of the preaching of the cross, then we have denied the power of the cross.

Carol Jones Saint: How tragic.

Bert Jones: And we've denied the power of godliness. I received a call from a preacher in another state and he called and said, brother Bert, you're scheduled to be here next week for a weekend of meetings. But he said, I I hope you'll just have music. We don't want any preaching.

Carol Jones Saint: That's pretty bad.

Bert Jones: And I said, well, our music is of course preaching and we use music as part of the message, but I said we're not entertainers. What was happening when he said, our people have had enough preaching? He was substituting other things for the power of the cross and the preaching of the cross. Third, I believe that we deny the power of godliness when we fail to let the power of God be real in our own lives and in our own institutions. When we fail to allow the power of sonship to be real, remember we read that he gives power to them who come to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

When we refuse to allow that to happen, then we deny the power of godliness. I'm thinking of another pastor right now who has been criticized severely and will probably be voted out at his next election because he has been giving altar calls at the end of his service. And the official board said, we don't want altar calls. What are they doing? They're denying the power of sonship whereby we read that to them who are the sons of God, he gives power to become the sons of God to them who believe on his name. How long since anybody found Jesus at your church?

Maybe it's because the form is there, but the power is denied. I remember being in a women's prayer group in a very fashionable section of a city. Not this city. And they were praying for revival down in the slums in the ghettos. But never once did they pray for a revival in their own lives and in their own homes in that beautiful fashion fashionable suburban area. They were denying the power of God in their own lives. And then of course we read in the scripture of the power of the Spirit, Acts 1 8, that when he, the Spirit of Truth is come upon you, ye shall receive power.

Power like a dynamite, power like a dynamo that will flow through you to fail to let the power of God be real in our own lives and in our own institutions and in our own churches is to deny that power and have nothing but powerless form. You know, like the statue that had no power to run, like the model car that had no power to move, like the dead mic that could not send out a message because it had no power to send forth that message, like a dead human being who should be a living creature in Jesus Christ.

Let me remind you that form plus power is life. But form minus power is nothing but a corpse. Which are you? A living life because it's form plus power or nothing but a corpse. Form minus power is death, a corpse. Make it your prayer today.

Carol Jones Saint: Lord, send the old time power. The Pentecostal power. Thy floodgates of blessing on us throw open wide. Lord, send the old time power. The Pentecostal power. That sinners be converted and thy name glorified. Lord, as of old at Pentecost thou didst thy power display with cleansing, purifying flame. Descend on us today. Lord, send the old time power. The Pentecostal power. Thy floodgates of blessing on us throw open wide. Lord, send the old time power. The Pentecostal power. That sinners be converted and thy name glorified. What a very special joy it has been to have you visiting at Home Sweet Home.

And it is our prayer that the thoughts that we have shared together have been of special inspiration to you. Remember that if you are writing to us and want the mailing address, that's Post Office Box 575 Erie, Pennsylvania, E R I E and the zip code 16512. If you want to write to us by email, the email address is visit Joneses as one word at aol.com. Don't forget there are many expenses in this ministry and gifts to the ministry are tax deductible. Just make your check out to A Visit with the Joneses. In this time of devotions as we have been thinking of these very interesting thoughts regarding having the form, but not the power, as we come to the close of this visit, let's join in singing that old hymn entitled Fill Me Now.

The instruments will be playing and if you know it, sing right along. Fill Me Now, Fill Me Now. Jesus come and Fill Me Now. Sing along. What a very special joy it has been to have you visiting at Home Sweet Home. And it is our prayer that the thoughts that we have shared together have been of special inspiration to you. Remember that if you are writing to us and want the mailing address, that is Post Office Box 575 Erie, Pennsylvania, E R I E and the zip code 16512. If you want to write to us by email, the email address is visit Joneses as one word at aol.com.

Don't forget there are many expenses in this ministry and gifts to the ministry are tax deductible. Just make your check out to A Visit with the Joneses. In this time of devotions as we have been thinking of these very interesting thoughts regarding having the form, but not the power, as we come to the close of this visit, let's join in singing that old hymn entitled Fill Me Now. The instruments will be playing and if you know it, sing right along. Fill Me Now, Fill Me Now. Jesus come and Fill Me Now. Sing along.