Having come out of that RCC system myself I see more clearly the similarities to the "Protestant churches" than someone who has never been there.
The first century church gathered all day, they had their meals together as well as prayer and preaching. We are so far from the first century church model our gatherings do not resemble what the first believers did.
They were so on fire and without modern distractions that gathering together all day was a joy and met with anticipation each week.
We are so seriously distracted by worldly pursuits that our culture is anxious to get out of the building as soon as the clock strikes noon. As though something terrible would happen if we went one minute over the designated time. A sort of "obligation" mentality that we remembered from our Catholic days.
The Sunday mass was called "an holy day of obligation." Think about that, who wants a friend who visits out of obligation waiting impatiently for the time to come when they can leave. If I were God I would hate obligatory visits, and He does.
Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”…"
OBLIGATION really!!!!! If we are only worshiping to get it over with so God will not be mad at us, then I am here to tell you God is mad about that, He hates it. Just as we are hurt by a visist from someone who has no real interest in us. Those doing it need to repent and ask Christ in them to bring back the love for God they had when they were first born again.
Ignore your feelings of getting out of the building to do other things and pray for fervor once again.
"Fervor" = zeal and passion! For the Lord!!!!
Friday, April 26, 2019
Trials Bring Growth and Understanding
Every Believer is Led by the Holy Spirit
All the believers in a gathering participate in the worship. The only leader is the Holy Spirit. When we place one man as the leader, then the others do not participate, they become spiritually lazy for lack of moving of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:26
"What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation Let all things be done for edification."
The body of Christ is not a gathering of silent pew dwellers while one man speaks his own mind. The body of Christ is a gathering of people who are ALL led by the Holy Spirit to participate.
Our modern idea of one man preaching and everyone else sitting in the pew looking like lumps without substance is disobedience against the Word of God.
It is easier to follow a man who tells everyone else how to think than it is to trust the Holy Spirit to speak to each one in the gathering. Laziness, is what I call it, as well as fear of the false authority that stands in the pulpit.
An authentic man of God does not desire to control anyone, he knows he is merely the messenger who brings truth, lives by example and leaves all the rest to the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 5
"5 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
The elders are to feed the flock and live by example. No where are they instructed to force or intimidate others into submitting to them.
Those who are led by the Holy Spirit will heed the words of the teacher, as well as evaluate them according to God's word on their own to be sure the teachers is speaking truth.
Anyone who believes everything the speaker says without evaluating it according to God's Word is a foolish hearer and will probably believe everything they like while ignoring whatever they don't like. These people are lazy and self absorbed, they need to repent and begin again to seek the Holy Spirit.
Stop following man!!!! Begin again to follow Christ. We are only led astray when we want to be led astray.
John 16:13-14 "3 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.…"
This instruction in John 16 is for EVERY believer in Christ, EVERY!!!!
1 Corinthians 14:26
"What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation Let all things be done for edification."
The body of Christ is not a gathering of silent pew dwellers while one man speaks his own mind. The body of Christ is a gathering of people who are ALL led by the Holy Spirit to participate.
Our modern idea of one man preaching and everyone else sitting in the pew looking like lumps without substance is disobedience against the Word of God.
It is easier to follow a man who tells everyone else how to think than it is to trust the Holy Spirit to speak to each one in the gathering. Laziness, is what I call it, as well as fear of the false authority that stands in the pulpit.
An authentic man of God does not desire to control anyone, he knows he is merely the messenger who brings truth, lives by example and leaves all the rest to the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 5
"5 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
The elders are to feed the flock and live by example. No where are they instructed to force or intimidate others into submitting to them.
Those who are led by the Holy Spirit will heed the words of the teacher, as well as evaluate them according to God's word on their own to be sure the teachers is speaking truth.
Anyone who believes everything the speaker says without evaluating it according to God's Word is a foolish hearer and will probably believe everything they like while ignoring whatever they don't like. These people are lazy and self absorbed, they need to repent and begin again to seek the Holy Spirit.
Stop following man!!!! Begin again to follow Christ. We are only led astray when we want to be led astray.
John 16:13-14 "3 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.…"
This instruction in John 16 is for EVERY believer in Christ, EVERY!!!!
We are all in Boot Camp
Often God does not rid us of difficulties because they teach and train us for when we will rule in the millennium. We are in boot camp on this earth, to learn God's ways and see how that fleshes out in real life with real people. Rulish people, that is those who depend more on ideas and rules than they do on Christ, will often get it wrong. They depend on their idea of the rules rather than thinking with the mind of Christ.
Just "knowing" something in our head does not teach us much. We must experience what we know in life to have full understanding. Its sort of like the intern fresh out of college who thinks now that they have learned from books they know more than those who have not had the books but much more life experience. Many unlearned godly people know far more than those books have within their pages. After all, men wrote the books, but God authored the Bible.
If someone has never burned themselves on a hot iron or stove, they might know that high heat is dangerous because others have said so, but they will not understand the full impact of the knowledge until we have actually been burned.
We do not like hardships, personally I wish we could learn good lessons without hardship or trials, but the reality is we cannot really learn something unless we have experienced it.
There are those who like to judge others as weak because they express that they are having pain. I have met several people like this in my life, they have little to no empathy for what others are going through. Mainly they do not believe those who have pains, therefore they are the ones who cannot hear the hard things.
This is one of the reasons I am so disgusted with "prosperity preachers", they accuse people going through trials as lacking faith. The truth of the matter is that those who go through trials are more than likely the strong ones because they can face trials and call them what they are. Their faith is immense because it has been tried, tested and come out greater than when they first began. The weak person cannot face trials or truth, it is too much for them to have to admit reality.
Nehemiah 8:10 "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.
God instructed us to focus our gaze on Him, because He knows our human emotions will cause us to falter, we must ignore our emotions to believe God.
When we face trials, call them what they are by name and trust the Lord, He becomes our strength, ultimately He is glorified.
God is not glorified in the lives of those who depend on their own strength to be their god. These people diminish the trials of others to elevate themselves. These are the weaker ones, who think they are stronger. They are not stronger they are just in denial about truth. Fearing they will appear weak to others they indulge their "appearances" while remaining weak in their spirit.
We have all heard it said that the wiser stronger man is the one who can face things and call them by name, this is true.
Pretenders are completely dependent on their own false view of themselves rather than on Christ. They can be recognized by their lack of empathy toward others who are hurting as well as their reluctance to show any weakness within themselves. Its not that they are strong because we do not see weakness, its that they are only hiding their weakness. Those who can say "I am weak but He is strong" are the ones who grow in the strength of Christ.
Isaiah 41:13
"13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’"
The prideful narcissist cannot depend on anyone else not even God. They must "appear strong" outwardly but inwardly they are cowards.
James 1:19-21
"19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls."
Next time you are tempted to evaluate someone else's pain or trials, keep in mind that we cannot know the depth of pain anyone else is going through. We only have our own limited experience. Hopefully we have had enough experience in our lives that we can draw from that to understand others in their trials.
Praise the Lord, He, through the Holy Spirit can give us empathy when we have a lack of it. He can give us understanding when there isn't any within ourselves.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,"
Christ can help us to interpret events and people when we are too weak to see truth.
John 8:44
"You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies."
Isa 41:10
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
God upholds the righteous just as we build up the brethren in faith.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing."
Jude 1:20
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,"
Hebrews 10:24
"and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,"
Ephesians 4:15
"but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,"
Just "knowing" something in our head does not teach us much. We must experience what we know in life to have full understanding. Its sort of like the intern fresh out of college who thinks now that they have learned from books they know more than those who have not had the books but much more life experience. Many unlearned godly people know far more than those books have within their pages. After all, men wrote the books, but God authored the Bible.
If someone has never burned themselves on a hot iron or stove, they might know that high heat is dangerous because others have said so, but they will not understand the full impact of the knowledge until we have actually been burned.
We do not like hardships, personally I wish we could learn good lessons without hardship or trials, but the reality is we cannot really learn something unless we have experienced it.
There are those who like to judge others as weak because they express that they are having pain. I have met several people like this in my life, they have little to no empathy for what others are going through. Mainly they do not believe those who have pains, therefore they are the ones who cannot hear the hard things.
This is one of the reasons I am so disgusted with "prosperity preachers", they accuse people going through trials as lacking faith. The truth of the matter is that those who go through trials are more than likely the strong ones because they can face trials and call them what they are. Their faith is immense because it has been tried, tested and come out greater than when they first began. The weak person cannot face trials or truth, it is too much for them to have to admit reality.
Nehemiah 8:10 "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.
God instructed us to focus our gaze on Him, because He knows our human emotions will cause us to falter, we must ignore our emotions to believe God.
When we face trials, call them what they are by name and trust the Lord, He becomes our strength, ultimately He is glorified.
God is not glorified in the lives of those who depend on their own strength to be their god. These people diminish the trials of others to elevate themselves. These are the weaker ones, who think they are stronger. They are not stronger they are just in denial about truth. Fearing they will appear weak to others they indulge their "appearances" while remaining weak in their spirit.
We have all heard it said that the wiser stronger man is the one who can face things and call them by name, this is true.
Pretenders are completely dependent on their own false view of themselves rather than on Christ. They can be recognized by their lack of empathy toward others who are hurting as well as their reluctance to show any weakness within themselves. Its not that they are strong because we do not see weakness, its that they are only hiding their weakness. Those who can say "I am weak but He is strong" are the ones who grow in the strength of Christ.
Isaiah 41:13
"13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’"
The prideful narcissist cannot depend on anyone else not even God. They must "appear strong" outwardly but inwardly they are cowards.
James 1:19-21
"19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls."
Next time you are tempted to evaluate someone else's pain or trials, keep in mind that we cannot know the depth of pain anyone else is going through. We only have our own limited experience. Hopefully we have had enough experience in our lives that we can draw from that to understand others in their trials.
Praise the Lord, He, through the Holy Spirit can give us empathy when we have a lack of it. He can give us understanding when there isn't any within ourselves.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,"
Christ can help us to interpret events and people when we are too weak to see truth.
John 8:44
"You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies."
Isa 41:10
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
God upholds the righteous just as we build up the brethren in faith.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing."
Jude 1:20
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,"
Hebrews 10:24
"and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,"
Ephesians 4:15
"but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,"
Their Own Advice is all they Need
Self centered narcissists only need one person's advice, their own.
When we ask advice from a narcissist they see us as weak and foolish. They may even withhold helpful advice to watch us fail.
Here's the truth: everyone needs advice from time to time from others. The wise person finds the person who was successful at what they have done and ask that person how they managed.
Proverbs 12:15 "15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel."
Since a narcissist needs to be special they have a low tolerance for instruction or correction. They never ask for advice and if it is unsolicited they become angry.
As a child I noticed that people were always offering unsolicited advice, but in our culture now, unsolicited advice is seen as an affront and will not be tolerated.
Proverbs 11:14
"Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory."
Proverbs 13:10
"Through insolence comes nothing but strife, But wisdom is with those who receive counsel."
Proverbs 19:20
"Listen to counsel and accept discipline, That you may be wise the rest of your days."
When we ask advice from a narcissist they see us as weak and foolish. They may even withhold helpful advice to watch us fail.
Here's the truth: everyone needs advice from time to time from others. The wise person finds the person who was successful at what they have done and ask that person how they managed.
Proverbs 12:15 "15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel."
Since a narcissist needs to be special they have a low tolerance for instruction or correction. They never ask for advice and if it is unsolicited they become angry.
As a child I noticed that people were always offering unsolicited advice, but in our culture now, unsolicited advice is seen as an affront and will not be tolerated.
Proverbs 11:14
"Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory."
Proverbs 13:10
"Through insolence comes nothing but strife, But wisdom is with those who receive counsel."
Proverbs 19:20
"Listen to counsel and accept discipline, That you may be wise the rest of your days."
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