Wait for it, It's Coming

True messengers of God want you to submit to Christ, this is a clue as to whether we are in a legalistic and tradition based church or in a Holy Spirit led gathering. No where in the Bible does God tell us to place our trust in a human leader, nor does He tell us to submit to a leader no matter what they say or do. We submit to leaders only in so far as they obey Christ. We submit to others as they submit to Christ. If they do not obey Christ we are not to obey them.

James 4:7
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Romans 8:7
"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot."

1 Peter 5:6
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,"

Ephesians 5:21
"Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."

James 1:22-26
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless."

Ephesians 5:21-33
"Submitting to one another OUT OF REVERENCE FOR CHRIST. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ..."

Ephesians 5:1 "5 Therefore be IMITATORS OF GOD, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Notice capitolized words in Ephesians 5, "out of reverence for Christ" and "imitators of God."

When we submit to governing authorities who have asked us to sinfully accept that which is unbiblical we must decline the leader to obey Christ.

If a woman were told by her husband that she must abort her baby, she must say no to him to obey God in not murdering innocent human life.

If a woman is asked to watch pornography with her husband, she must say no to obey Christ.

There are many other examples, but two should be enough to make the point.

Acts 5:28-30 "…28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.” 29 But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.…"

When the apostles were commanded by the authority over them not to preach the gospel, they were bound by Christ to decline to obey the authority to obey Christ.

Anyone who chooses to judge another believer for refusing to do sinful things when commanded by their authority, these people are walking is rebellion against God and have no right to judge those who obey Christ. The best thing to do with these people is to get away from them while ignoring their counsel. They have the power to destroy your witness and even your marriage along with other relationships.

If a disobedient rebellious person attempts to ruin your relationships, they will only be able to do it with those who are not true friends, let those friends go as they choose to believe the gossipers.

There is no more joyful place to be than in the center of God's Will. Let the gossipers do their thing, they can never destroy our joy through their tactics, because the devil that motivates them has no power over the Holy Spirit Who lives in us.

They can isolate us, demean and mock but they can never remove our joy, our peace and our resolve to obey Christ. Remember....the reward is coming, not on this earth, but soon, it is worth waiting for and will last an eternity. Hallelujah!!!

Superior Attitudes Kill Spiritual Growth

With the peace of Christ Who lives in us we are not interested in provocation and contention. It is the devil who desires to cause violence, contention and turmoil.

When we meet someone who loves to fight and argue, we are encountering a spirit of contention.

Those who love the Lord want to discuss for the purpose of learning, engaging in conversation in order to grow in holiness.

Those who love the argument for arguments sake are walk in pride, not at all interested in gaining truth through discussion in the Word. Their only aim is to appear superior, intimidate and manipulate others to elevate them to a position of superiority.

Avoid these people they are full of pride and bring nothing good.

Proverbs 13:9-10 "…9 The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked goes out. 10 Through insolence comes nothing but strife, But wisdom is with those who receive counsel."

Proverbs 21:24 "24"Proud," "Haughty," "Scoffer," are his names, Who acts with insolent pride. "

Romans 8:8-10 "8 Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit gives you life because of righteousness."

Where there is a spirit of contention there is the devil orchestrating what he can to destroy the truth and relationships.

In God We Trust?

I will take this phrase "in God we trust" more seriously when I see people repenting of the many sins of this country and turning to Christ. Until then it holds little importance for me. Perhaps if we left it off our money and actually did it, I would feel better about it.

I am wondering if we became so comfortable with this phrase on our money and the mantra, "God Bless America", that we as a culture felt it was enough merely to say these things, doing them was not very important.

God is not impressed with "ritual", He wants our hearts, fully worshiping Him and obeying His principles.

Flattery Kills

We need to tell the truth much more often than we do. Flattery is condemned by God and does not quicken the heart to sin. Our world is full of flattery, those who use it think they are winning someone, they maybe, but they are winning the person they flatter to themselves, not to Christ. Christ condemns sin and sinners who do not repent. We do no one any favors or help them to come to Christ by making them feel good about being bad.

Psalm 12:2-3
They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things;

Psalm 5:9
There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue.

Psalm 55:20-21
He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has violated his covenant. His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.

Psalm 62:4
They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position; They delight in falsehood; They bless with their mouth, But inwardly they curse. Selah.

Isaiah 26:10 " 10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD."

When is the Last Time You Grieved Over Your Sin?

Christ Alone is Our Authority

Christ is the authority, no man has authority over our learning, only Christ.

Fantasy lifestyle is the new normal. I see most people living in a world of make believe more than they do reality.

If we happen to adhere to the Word of God, we are labeled all kinds of things to diminish the truth God has given to us through His Word.

I was once told I could not know truth about the Bible because I didn't go to seminary. I asked a question in order to show the foolishness of that statement, the question was, "oh, you mean the Holy Spirit only goes to Seminary?"

One of the main ways "believers" are living in this fantasy is through Bible interpretation according to man's wisdom rather than what God actually said in the Scriptures.

I can't count the number of times people have said to me, "this is what that scripture means to me." My question to them is "why do you think that you can determine what God meant according to your own thinking?" My statement to them is "We do not interpret the Bible in terms of our own minds, but rather, what God meant by it."

Far too many people are throwing out a scripture in an argument, that has nothing to do with the discussion, merely to make the Bible fit what they want to believe.

There almost more misconceptions in the church than truth. Yes, we often get it right that Christ died on the cross for our sins, but then we proceed to negate Him by dismissing His wisdom in favor of mans, in our daily lives.

Some of the most hostile people I have met, who fight against Bible truth have been those who claim to be Christians. These same people will not honestly sit down for prayer and searching scripture to come to an agreement, they merely dismiss us and God out of hand while displaying a sort of antagonism toward anyone who wants to seek the Word for truth.

These people have decided already what they choose to believe based on their favorite apostate teacher and refuse to search the word for themselves. Their aim is not to discover truth, but rather to justify their disobedience.

Acts 17:10-12 "10 As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.…"

When the culture as a whole has elevated "Bible School grads" above all other believers as the source of all wisdom and truth, it is the same as throwing out the Holy Spirit. God clearly stated that He is our teachers.

John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you."

1 John 2:26-28 "…2 6I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught. 28 And now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.…"

Notice these passages do not say "the Bible school educated" will lead you into all truth. Those who have been educated by man, need to search the word and seek the Holy Spirit for themselves. There is no model of "Bible School" education in the Word of God. Only Godly men led by the Holy Spirit teaching others who would also be led by the Holy Spirit.

When formal schooling and man's wisdom is held up as the standard of "experts", then we have a problem, it is no longer the Holy Spirit that teaches but man who is held up as the authority.

Matthew 16:15-17
"15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. "

When Seminary teachers become the authority in our lives then Christ no longer is the One we look to for truth. It is best to test all teachers by comparing what they say to the Scriptures. When the teacher does not agree with the Bible, then we throw out what the teacher says we do not twist the Bible to make it say the same thing as the teacher.

When we have idols, those we elevate as the authority, then the Holy Spirit is ignored and worse, even maligned.