Forgiving While Neglecting the Command to Confess!

Why do so many people quote verses about forgiving but neglect the ones that say to confess and repent? Both are necessary and two sides of the same coin.

When we say to one person to "forgive" but don't say to the offender to "confess", we are playing favorites, the offender skates to plunder another day but the offended must grovel before the offender. Makes no sense according to the Bible.

And, let me be clear, we don't become bitter when someone will not confess to become forgiven, the one who will not repent is bitter.

Born-again believers love to forgive when there is genuine repentance, but also know that the offenders remains in his sorry state without growth or peace until they repent. To say we forgive for our own sake is selfish, we ought to be concerned for the relationship and reconciliation based on that whole coin; confession and forgiveness.

Also, it is a form of bad parenting to allow offenders to have no consequences for their actions.

Luke 17:3-4

"If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him.”

Notice in this passage that the offender is coming to say I repent every single time. Why do so many people ignore this!?

Looking for Exciting Miracles Shows Little Faith

Anyone looking for "experiences" in miracles has little faith. Great faith is when we believe God even though we cannot see what He is doing.

Matthew 16:4 " 4 A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away. "

Hebrews 11:1

"11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

I don't need to see any more of a miracle than the fact that God gave me life and all the words in His Bible that show me the prophecy that has been fulfilled.

I see His handiwork in every tree growing from a tiny seed into a tree 200 feet tall. I see His work in the flowers, the seasons, the blue sky, the night sky and everything else we live with every single day.

Those who need to see unusual miracles are missing blessings of thankfulness every day all around us.

Did you know the scientists cannot figure out what holds the planets together, its the hand of God, I can't think of a bigger miracle than that.

The Holy Spirit in Every Believer

The Holy Spirit lives in every born-again believer, He is the authority over the person in whom He dwells. No man can be authority over a person who has the Holy Spirit, that would mean that person has authority over the Holy Spirit.

When we look to men for our authority it is the same as ignoring the Holy Spirit in us.

Those in leadership lead by example and by preaching and teaching not by authority over. Everyone who preaches and teaches is accountable to all the others who have the Holy Spirit.

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.…"

Notice that everyone participates in the Body and everyone is subject to the Holy Spirit. If one party forgets to speak from the Holy Spirit another person will correct and help them return to truth. No one is exempt from correction or teaching.

2 Timothy 2:23-25 "…23 But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling. 24 And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. 25 He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.…"

In this passage, this translation says "able to teach" for a leader but the original language conveys; "teachable himself." A leader is only qualified to teach if he is teachable himself.

May each one of us seek the Holy Spirit to fulfill what He has called us to do. Let us not think up our own way but seek His will for us.

We All Have A Calling

Everyone in the body of Christ has a job to do, no one is above another, the jobs are just different. No one is more valuable than another just different.

1 Corinthians 12:14-26 "14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?

20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,

24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,

25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."

Idols are an Abomination

If someone speaks to a statue expecting to get prayers answered they have an idol. If someone prays to a dead relative they have an idol and are practicing necromancy.

Psalm 115:5-8

"5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak;

They have eyes, but they cannot see;

6 They have ears, but they cannot hear;

They have noses, but they cannot smell;

7 They have hands, but they cannot feel;

They have feet, but they cannot walk;

They cannot make a sound with their throat.

8 Those who make them will become like them,

Everyone who trusts in them."

Deuteronomy 18:10-13

"10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. 13 You are to be blameless before the Lord your God."

I Love Him Because He First Loved Me

"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

Isaiah 53:2

Someone just unfriended me and said she lost all respect for me because I said that Jesus Christ was not a handsome man that anyone would desire Him. I was merely quoting Scripture.

I presume that in order to love Jesus Christ she has to believe He was handsome even though God said He was not. It is human nature to love those who look good on the outside and to despise and ignore those who are perceived to be lacking in good looks.

God didn't want anyone following Him merely because He was handsome. He wanted them to love His Son for His character and what He would do for mankind.

It is common now for someone to interpret your words in terms of how they think and unfriend you before you have a chance to explain.

I do not love Jesus Christ because of the way He looked, no one knows how He looked except those who were with Him at the time He was on the earth. I love Jesus Christ because He loved me so much that He died for me and gave me eternal life.

The Monstrous Doctrine of Calvin

Punishing someone in hell for not choosing Christ when God never gave him the ability to choose Christ is the monstrous doctrine of Calvinism. The best way to deal with this false religion is to reject it entirely!

Calvinists say God pleasures in the death of the wicked in hell.

God says the opposite!

Ezekiel 33:11 "Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?"

Someone is either a Calvinist or they are in Christ, it is not possible to be both. When the first thing out of a Christians' mouth is "I am a Calvinist", I know they are dedicated to Calvin more than Christ. Otherwise, we would hear something more like; "I follow Christ."

God clearly told us not to follow any man.

1 Corinthians 3:3-5 "…3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? 4 For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.…"

Notice that using a man's name to describe yourself comes out of pride. It also elevates the men they follow to the level of a god, it is idolatry.

If a man quotes the Bible and speaks the Words of God then we are to give God the glory, the glory that belongs to God should never go to man.

John 16:13-15 "…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. 15 Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you."

It is a monstrous sin against the Holy Spirit to follow a man. Think about it!