"3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality."
Thursday, May 3, 2018
The Deception of Gossip
I have complained many years about family drama, manipulation and gossip, even being accused of gossip myself for complaining about what others were doing in my life. I do not consider it gossip when we speak of the things we are dealing with personally.
However, it is gossip when we see people doing things that do not pertain to us personally, especially without strong evidence and details about what we think we see.
For many years there has been family gossip based on the testimonies of those who were jealous and chose to view an action that they had few if any details about and that did not pertain to them.
One of the most damaging forms of gossip is when people judge our marriages based on one or two elements of it without understanding the whole matter, even without knowing exactly what has occurred.
Having encountered those who felt superior, allowing themselves the privilege of interpreting minor scanty events or language based on their own biases against us, they will blow something benign completely out of proportion to justify their prejudice against us.
When you encounter those who have a propensity to judge matters that are none of their business, it is time to release them as friends or family. There is no value in doing such things as these except to elevate themselves.
Their personal bias and judgments do nothing except to cause trouble in the lives of those they gossip about.
When we share with a dear confidant, a friend we can trust, something important to us, we will know it will not go any further and they will pray for us. It makes no sense to share our deepest things with someone who is given to gossip, they will not care about you, only about having information about you.
Don't beat yourself up over perhaps ignorantly sharing private important information with someone, only to find out later they loved the tidbits to glean what they wanted from it to be able to use half truths in gossip against you. We have all had disloyal friends that we didn't know were disloyal until they shared and twisted information about us to others.
Sadly most people will not ask us the truth, they will enjoy the morsels of twisted gossip choosing to believe the first thing they heard. Many are even afraid to ask for fear of the reaction of the person who was the target of gossip, but inwardly they sort of believed it, while nothing is ever cleared up, the truth is never told and the loss of friends and family over it is hard and cannot be reconciled.
When we know someone who gossips regularly turning people against one another we must remove them from our lives. It is better to let them tell out and out lies than for them to have half truths to disseminate.
Keep in mind that half truths cause people to believe the lie because part is true so the rest must be true too.
I remember years ago a family member thought she was telling on us when she spread through the family that we were at the bar drinking on a Saturday morning. We are not bar people, but many of them were.
This person saw our car parked in a parking lot where there was a bar but the bar was closed. My husband and I were across the street at a flea market where the lot was too full so we parked across the street in the bar parking lot. When we finally told the story as we chuckled a little, some chose not to believe us, because they liked the lie they heard first.
Most of you could probably relate to this nonsense, someone took an innocent event and turned it into something ugly and everyone hearing it chose the lie over the truth when they finally heard it.
Hitler said once that if you tell a big enough lie long enough, eventually everyone will believe it. It is also true that if we tell a half truth once, that is the lie people will believe, whatever is heard first will be the choice of those who love their gossip.
For believers in Christ it is best to say, "I don't know " a lot when we do not have all the facts. Guessing what could be true based on one or two bits of information is not for the believer, we are not to pass on information without all the facts and only if those facts pertain to others.
Proverbs 16:27-29 "…27 A worthless man digs up evil, While his words are like scorching fire. 28 A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends. 29 A man of violence entices his neighbor And leads him in a way that is not good.…"
Notice that God equates gossip and trouble makers with violence.
1 John 3:14-15 "…14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. "
Gossip is hatred, hatred destroys the reputation of good men for no other reason except to cause others to hate just as the gossiper hates.
We need to expose false prophets and teachers and public people who are leading others astray, there must be good evidence of their lies, after all they are public and destroying the faith of many, this is not the same as forbidden gossip.
Ephesians 5:10-12 "…10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord. 11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.…"
It is proper to expose false teachers and the gossiper, that people would avoid those who lead others into lies.
However, it is gossip when we see people doing things that do not pertain to us personally, especially without strong evidence and details about what we think we see.
For many years there has been family gossip based on the testimonies of those who were jealous and chose to view an action that they had few if any details about and that did not pertain to them.
One of the most damaging forms of gossip is when people judge our marriages based on one or two elements of it without understanding the whole matter, even without knowing exactly what has occurred.
Having encountered those who felt superior, allowing themselves the privilege of interpreting minor scanty events or language based on their own biases against us, they will blow something benign completely out of proportion to justify their prejudice against us.
When you encounter those who have a propensity to judge matters that are none of their business, it is time to release them as friends or family. There is no value in doing such things as these except to elevate themselves.
Their personal bias and judgments do nothing except to cause trouble in the lives of those they gossip about.
When we share with a dear confidant, a friend we can trust, something important to us, we will know it will not go any further and they will pray for us. It makes no sense to share our deepest things with someone who is given to gossip, they will not care about you, only about having information about you.
Don't beat yourself up over perhaps ignorantly sharing private important information with someone, only to find out later they loved the tidbits to glean what they wanted from it to be able to use half truths in gossip against you. We have all had disloyal friends that we didn't know were disloyal until they shared and twisted information about us to others.
Sadly most people will not ask us the truth, they will enjoy the morsels of twisted gossip choosing to believe the first thing they heard. Many are even afraid to ask for fear of the reaction of the person who was the target of gossip, but inwardly they sort of believed it, while nothing is ever cleared up, the truth is never told and the loss of friends and family over it is hard and cannot be reconciled.
When we know someone who gossips regularly turning people against one another we must remove them from our lives. It is better to let them tell out and out lies than for them to have half truths to disseminate.
Keep in mind that half truths cause people to believe the lie because part is true so the rest must be true too.
I remember years ago a family member thought she was telling on us when she spread through the family that we were at the bar drinking on a Saturday morning. We are not bar people, but many of them were.
This person saw our car parked in a parking lot where there was a bar but the bar was closed. My husband and I were across the street at a flea market where the lot was too full so we parked across the street in the bar parking lot. When we finally told the story as we chuckled a little, some chose not to believe us, because they liked the lie they heard first.
Most of you could probably relate to this nonsense, someone took an innocent event and turned it into something ugly and everyone hearing it chose the lie over the truth when they finally heard it.
Hitler said once that if you tell a big enough lie long enough, eventually everyone will believe it. It is also true that if we tell a half truth once, that is the lie people will believe, whatever is heard first will be the choice of those who love their gossip.
For believers in Christ it is best to say, "I don't know " a lot when we do not have all the facts. Guessing what could be true based on one or two bits of information is not for the believer, we are not to pass on information without all the facts and only if those facts pertain to others.
Proverbs 16:27-29 "…27 A worthless man digs up evil, While his words are like scorching fire. 28 A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends. 29 A man of violence entices his neighbor And leads him in a way that is not good.…"
Notice that God equates gossip and trouble makers with violence.
1 John 3:14-15 "…14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. "
Gossip is hatred, hatred destroys the reputation of good men for no other reason except to cause others to hate just as the gossiper hates.
We need to expose false prophets and teachers and public people who are leading others astray, there must be good evidence of their lies, after all they are public and destroying the faith of many, this is not the same as forbidden gossip.
Ephesians 5:10-12 "…10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord. 11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.…"
It is proper to expose false teachers and the gossiper, that people would avoid those who lead others into lies.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Secrecy is not of God
Secretive people have something to hide, it is transparency that is God's way.
2 Corinthians 4:1-3 "1 Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.…"
2 Corinthians 4:1-3 "1 Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.…"
Monday, April 30, 2018
Christ Must Do It In Us
The false doctrine that one can lose their salvation is becoming common now in these last days of apostasy, that one can lose what they never earned simply by doing a sin. Eternal Security is not Calvin's invention, God promised us that we became a new creation and that He changed us into it, we never changed ourselves and our own works to do save us or keep us. We repented and chose Christ but He did all the work in us.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 1:13-14 "13 And in Him you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, having heard and believed the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. 14 The Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.…"
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 "17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
1 Corinthians 6:10-11 "…10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
2 Corinthians 2:16-18 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
We never turned ourselves into a new creation when we were born again, God did that to us when we wanted Him to cleanse us and change us.
If anyone is attempting to keep their salvation by works or thinks they earned it by their works, then they have a false religion of works, not at all the gospel of peace and hope. All the pagan religions believe they have to work their way to heaven, that if they slip up they will lose the salvation.
God said our works are as filthy rags, no one can do anything to gain salvation and no sin will lose it for them. Our Spirit is changed but we are trapped in this body of sin.
When we sin God disciplines those who are His, as a father disciplines His children.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"
God tells those who belong to Him to confess their sin to be cleansed.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When we become born again it is because we wanted God to make us into a new creation. We had no ability to make ourselves anything, our hearts were bent toward sin, our only hope was that God would do a work in us.
When we changed our mind about our sin, becoming convicted of it by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, not resisting Him, but submitting to the conviction, then is when we confessed what we were, sinful and helpless to be anything else, only then will Christ change our heart into what it should be. He changed our heart and our spirit into His Spirit when we trusted Him.
If someone is still trusting their own heart to do right on any level, they will not be accepted by God and often revert back to the old nature, rather than growing in holiness they will regress in sinfulness, remaining arrogant about their perceived goodness, while heaping upon themselves judgement for their self righteousness.
Those who cannot admit when they sin are still in their sin, they cannot confess because they have not been changed. As believers we are confessing and being cleansed all our lives, hating the sin that remains in our bodies as the Spirit within us guides us.
One cannot come in the back door to Christ, they must have a change of mind toward their sinfulness, confessing it desiring to be cleansed. Those who have not done this are not saved. Those who are attempting to build themselves into a new creation by their own effort are not saved. They have only superficial veneer that is slathered over themselves to hide the real them.
Matthew 23:27-28 "27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. 28 In the same way, you appear to be righteous on the outside, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
If you want to become born again, you must confess that you are a helpless sinner without the ability to change yourself while asking Christ to change you. As you trust Christ and believe that He paid the penalty for your sin, then you will be changed into that new creation.
Remember we have to want it, grieve over what we are, confess it to God and then He does all the work in us. This passages in Ephesians bares repeating one more time.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 1:13-14 "13 And in Him you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, having heard and believed the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. 14 The Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.…"
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 "17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
1 Corinthians 6:10-11 "…10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
2 Corinthians 2:16-18 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
We never turned ourselves into a new creation when we were born again, God did that to us when we wanted Him to cleanse us and change us.
If anyone is attempting to keep their salvation by works or thinks they earned it by their works, then they have a false religion of works, not at all the gospel of peace and hope. All the pagan religions believe they have to work their way to heaven, that if they slip up they will lose the salvation.
God said our works are as filthy rags, no one can do anything to gain salvation and no sin will lose it for them. Our Spirit is changed but we are trapped in this body of sin.
When we sin God disciplines those who are His, as a father disciplines His children.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"
God tells those who belong to Him to confess their sin to be cleansed.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When we become born again it is because we wanted God to make us into a new creation. We had no ability to make ourselves anything, our hearts were bent toward sin, our only hope was that God would do a work in us.
When we changed our mind about our sin, becoming convicted of it by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, not resisting Him, but submitting to the conviction, then is when we confessed what we were, sinful and helpless to be anything else, only then will Christ change our heart into what it should be. He changed our heart and our spirit into His Spirit when we trusted Him.
If someone is still trusting their own heart to do right on any level, they will not be accepted by God and often revert back to the old nature, rather than growing in holiness they will regress in sinfulness, remaining arrogant about their perceived goodness, while heaping upon themselves judgement for their self righteousness.
Those who cannot admit when they sin are still in their sin, they cannot confess because they have not been changed. As believers we are confessing and being cleansed all our lives, hating the sin that remains in our bodies as the Spirit within us guides us.
One cannot come in the back door to Christ, they must have a change of mind toward their sinfulness, confessing it desiring to be cleansed. Those who have not done this are not saved. Those who are attempting to build themselves into a new creation by their own effort are not saved. They have only superficial veneer that is slathered over themselves to hide the real them.
Matthew 23:27-28 "27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. 28 In the same way, you appear to be righteous on the outside, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
If you want to become born again, you must confess that you are a helpless sinner without the ability to change yourself while asking Christ to change you. As you trust Christ and believe that He paid the penalty for your sin, then you will be changed into that new creation.
Remember we have to want it, grieve over what we are, confess it to God and then He does all the work in us. This passages in Ephesians bares repeating one more time.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Saturday, April 28, 2018
They are Back in the Land Hallelujah!!!
Hallelujah!!! We watched prophesy being fulfilled in 1948!!!!! They are back in their land and prophesy is progressing right on schedule.
Follow the Link:
https://www.facebook.com/WeAreTheJews/videos/836797229760067/?hc_ref=ARQO9qL8AutQSvIKHS5XAoQi6mds1GRFXBa6Oh_Xza1pwBgR4Uip_keBPCwscanPhrA
Follow the Link:
https://www.facebook.com/WeAreTheJews/videos/836797229760067/?hc_ref=ARQO9qL8AutQSvIKHS5XAoQi6mds1GRFXBa6Oh_Xza1pwBgR4Uip_keBPCwscanPhrA
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Love is Clearly Seen
1 John 4:16
"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
1 John 4:8
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Zephaniah 3:17
"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."
Romans 8:37-39
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
1 John 4:8
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Zephaniah 3:17
"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."
Romans 8:37-39
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Loving Them From Afar
We can love people from afar as we pray for them. The Bible is full of commands and instructions about not keeping company with those who have heard the gospel and will not obey. God doesn't need us to influence them, He can do it all by Himself and with others.
Christ was not honored in His own town among His own family either, we can expect the same thing. There is freedom in following Christ without the continual drama and foolishness that comes with superficial and unsaved family. Such peace came over my soul when I decided it was time to exit family gatherings. Now I desire to be in fellowship with those who love the Lord.
If the Lord brings someone into my life temporarily for His purpose, one of those who has rejected Him and me, then I will engage, but not just because family pressures me to do so.
Most Christians today are not obeying Christ even though they say they read the Bible, they disobey most of it, because they want to seem superior in knowing the Bible, but care little about loving Christ or the Brethren.
Christ was not honored in His own town among His own family either, we can expect the same thing. There is freedom in following Christ without the continual drama and foolishness that comes with superficial and unsaved family. Such peace came over my soul when I decided it was time to exit family gatherings. Now I desire to be in fellowship with those who love the Lord.
If the Lord brings someone into my life temporarily for His purpose, one of those who has rejected Him and me, then I will engage, but not just because family pressures me to do so.
Most Christians today are not obeying Christ even though they say they read the Bible, they disobey most of it, because they want to seem superior in knowing the Bible, but care little about loving Christ or the Brethren.
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