1 Corinthians 5:6-8 "6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
God made it clear that we were not to associate with Christians who were sinning. We are to remove ourselves from them because to associate with them is to validate their sinful activities.
1 Corinthians 5:11-13 "11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Divorce and remarriage are rampant in the church today because so many Christians think they are being kind by accepting people who have no interest in obeying God. What they are really doing is enabling people to feel comfortable in their sin; this is not love.
Love operates to help one another to confess sin and lead others to obedience to His Word. We are not helping someone to obey Christ by coddling them in their sin. Being happy and friendly toward them while they remain in sin only damages their relationship with God if they were saved in the first place.
If we love others, we speak the truth of God's word and avoid those who refuse to listen. When those who are sinning repent and want to obey God, then we restore them in a Spirit of gentleness.
Galatians 6:1-2 "1Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
Remember it is not love to enable others in their sin. It is love to warn them and then to restore them when they repent.
Friday, January 23, 2026
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Nice Verses Kind
Needing to be seen as "nice" is more about appearances than authenticity. Kindness is associated with truth. Nice is superficial, and kindness is deeper with purpose.
Nice is associated with keeping the peace at the expense of truth. Kindness is driven by the truth that deepens character.
Ephesians 4:32 "32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
Niceness cannot sustain a relationship; without depth, the relationship cannot grow. Growth depends on two people being honest and authentic to resolve life issues with the well-being of others in mind.
"Nice" care only about getting along, even if it compromises truth to keep a sense of peace.
Nice very rarely helps fix relationship problems. Assertiveness with kindness grows individuals and makes the relationships deeper and more long-lasting.
Ephesians 4:15 "15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,"
Growth rarely comes without facing things we would rather not face. The things we avoid in our character are the things we must admit and confront. IF we love one another, we will seek to help one another grow.
Christ was hated for being openly truthful, and so will we be hated for speaking boldly. Yes, we share with others to help because we love them. If they do not receive the love and fight and argue to do whatever they want to do that may harm them, we are no longer responsible to continue the attempt to convince them.
Prayer is necessary so that we will be bathed in the Holy Spirit as He guides us.
Nice is associated with keeping the peace at the expense of truth. Kindness is driven by the truth that deepens character.
Ephesians 4:32 "32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
Niceness cannot sustain a relationship; without depth, the relationship cannot grow. Growth depends on two people being honest and authentic to resolve life issues with the well-being of others in mind.
"Nice" care only about getting along, even if it compromises truth to keep a sense of peace.
Nice very rarely helps fix relationship problems. Assertiveness with kindness grows individuals and makes the relationships deeper and more long-lasting.
Ephesians 4:15 "15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,"
Growth rarely comes without facing things we would rather not face. The things we avoid in our character are the things we must admit and confront. IF we love one another, we will seek to help one another grow.
Christ was hated for being openly truthful, and so will we be hated for speaking boldly. Yes, we share with others to help because we love them. If they do not receive the love and fight and argue to do whatever they want to do that may harm them, we are no longer responsible to continue the attempt to convince them.
Prayer is necessary so that we will be bathed in the Holy Spirit as He guides us.
Our Companions Reveal Us
If I am around people who think about small things, I will think about small things. If I am around those who love the depth of truth, I will think more deeply.
1 Corinthians 2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
Our culture enjoys superficiality and crassness that degrade our character when we hear them regularly. This is why God said, "Come out from among them and be separate."
As born-again believers, we ought to seek out those who speak God's truth and emulate the very love of Christ.
I confess that I do not know how to manipulate people to believe the truth. I am more open and honest, which this culture does not seem to be able to handle. They want calculated words of affirmation to create positive feelings.
When we dance all around the truth to create an environment that feels good, the truth gets lost, and only the feelings dominate. Considering how we come across can be good, but if we are focused on making someone like us, we will be useless to them and dishonest with ourselves.
Christ and the apostles didn't worry about causing people to like them; they never thought that, because of how friendly they were, those hearing will like the message. They spoke boldly, leaving the response up to the hearer.
Isaiah 52:11 "Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD."
Revelation 18:4 "Then I heard another voice from heaven say: 'Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues."
1 Corinthians 2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
Our culture enjoys superficiality and crassness that degrade our character when we hear them regularly. This is why God said, "Come out from among them and be separate."
As born-again believers, we ought to seek out those who speak God's truth and emulate the very love of Christ.
I confess that I do not know how to manipulate people to believe the truth. I am more open and honest, which this culture does not seem to be able to handle. They want calculated words of affirmation to create positive feelings.
When we dance all around the truth to create an environment that feels good, the truth gets lost, and only the feelings dominate. Considering how we come across can be good, but if we are focused on making someone like us, we will be useless to them and dishonest with ourselves.
Christ and the apostles didn't worry about causing people to like them; they never thought that, because of how friendly they were, those hearing will like the message. They spoke boldly, leaving the response up to the hearer.
Isaiah 52:11 "Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD."
Revelation 18:4 "Then I heard another voice from heaven say: 'Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues."
The Most Dangerous Business
The most dangerous business in recent times has been the media, including television and movies, which have twisted the minds of a generation that worships entertainment and elevates false information above truth.
Most "information" of today is tainted dramatically with spin and lies that dull the sense of right and wrong. It entices people to base their judgments on feelings rather than biblical truth.
Discernment has been lost, causing people to fight over the right to believe the lies. Unable to hear correction or the truth, they persecute those who love God's truth and His ways.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 "And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,"
1 John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."
Most "information" of today is tainted dramatically with spin and lies that dull the sense of right and wrong. It entices people to base their judgments on feelings rather than biblical truth.
Discernment has been lost, causing people to fight over the right to believe the lies. Unable to hear correction or the truth, they persecute those who love God's truth and His ways.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 "And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,"
1 John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Walking with Christ Brings Steadfastness Without Fear
As we walk through this world full of 2 Timothy 3 types, we must remain calm, unaffected by attacks, and unresponsive to their rudeness.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "Difficult Times Will Come
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
When the devil sends someone to assault us verbally or emotionally, it is our job as born-again believers to allow them to be them and not allow them to cause a reaction from us that matches their rudeness.
There is nothing more satisfying to the devil than to cause a believer to look just like the rager. When we remain calm, without anger and state the truth plainly, avoiding discussion after the first angry response, we have remained faithful to God without becoming like the angry individual.
The only way to achieve calmness and righteousness is to not care if we convince the angry one of anything. The desire to convince someone who is resistant comes from the neediness of being validated and accepted by them. When we don't care if they like us or believe us, we can remain calm.
Calmness and silence are great powers; they are dependence on God rather than our emotions or neediness to be validated.
Proverbs 26:4 "4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes."
Telling the truth once and removing ourselves is the only way to handle a fool. They are wise in their own eyes and have no tolerance for an opinion other than their own.
In other words, it is silly to continue to try to convince anyone who loves to fight and argue to win. We don't have to win anything, we can speak the truth openly, and honestly with calmness and disengage when the hearer begins the raging.
I cannot count the many times ungodly family members attempted to start a fight through their contentiousness without rational reasoning. As soon as the short discussion begins to give us credibility, they shut it all down with personal attacks or raging that frightens people into silence.
1 Corinthians 2:12-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment."
They do not like "fanatical Christians" because we believe in actually following the Bible in our allegiance to and love for Christ.
We find the same dynamic in the churches of today, as well as the gatherings of unsaved people who love themselves above all else.
Our greatest defense against the attacks of the devil is to completely rely on Christ without concern about how others perceive us. People pleasing ruins lots of Christians, causing fear in their hearts that someone will not like them.
1 John 4:6 "We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception."
I understand now more than ever why God said to "come out from among them and be separated." When we are the only authenticly born again believer in a room full of ungodly people who are hostile to Christianity, no one in the room will hear the truth. They will gang up on the one who speaks the truth and validate one another in the lie.
This is why I prefer to visit with only one couple or an individual, so there are no flying monkeys to support the lie. People tend to "pack-up" when they are in groups.
I have been in women's Bible study groups where the leader said something patently wrong. I addressed it, the room heard it, and they all ignored what I said, isolating me for being the "trouble maker," even though I was calm and asked that we look at the context.
The silliest comment I have heard more than once from women leaders has been, "What does this verse mean to you?" I attempted to explain that we should examine every verse in context and according to what God intended, rather than being subject to our own interpretations.
Anyone who challenges with the Word any leader is seen as rebellious. In the minds of those who follow those leaders, the leaders are the experts; they hear from the Holy Spirit, but no one else in the room has this special blessing. Again, totally against the Word.
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."
When the Holy Spirit speaks through each of us, God gets the glory, but when teachers do not allow others to challenge them, remaining, in the minds of the students, superior to the others, then no one is allowed to correct or interject except to praise the leader. The leaders are the ones glorified, not God.
It is possible, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to remain calm always so that any accusation about us is a total lie. It is better for the wicked to tell a total lie about us than to have a half-truth because we allowed our emotions to vent.
We can love God so much that He responds for us so that we remain guilt-free from the assertions of the ungodly.
The less I am around the ungodly except to witness Christ, the stronger I become in the ways of God.
Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
2 Timothy 1:7 "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Never allow an unbeliever to trigger you; if you are controlled by the Holy Spirit nothing will trigger you.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "Difficult Times Will Come
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
When the devil sends someone to assault us verbally or emotionally, it is our job as born-again believers to allow them to be them and not allow them to cause a reaction from us that matches their rudeness.
There is nothing more satisfying to the devil than to cause a believer to look just like the rager. When we remain calm, without anger and state the truth plainly, avoiding discussion after the first angry response, we have remained faithful to God without becoming like the angry individual.
The only way to achieve calmness and righteousness is to not care if we convince the angry one of anything. The desire to convince someone who is resistant comes from the neediness of being validated and accepted by them. When we don't care if they like us or believe us, we can remain calm.
Calmness and silence are great powers; they are dependence on God rather than our emotions or neediness to be validated.
Proverbs 26:4 "4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes."
Telling the truth once and removing ourselves is the only way to handle a fool. They are wise in their own eyes and have no tolerance for an opinion other than their own.
In other words, it is silly to continue to try to convince anyone who loves to fight and argue to win. We don't have to win anything, we can speak the truth openly, and honestly with calmness and disengage when the hearer begins the raging.
I cannot count the many times ungodly family members attempted to start a fight through their contentiousness without rational reasoning. As soon as the short discussion begins to give us credibility, they shut it all down with personal attacks or raging that frightens people into silence.
1 Corinthians 2:12-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment."
They do not like "fanatical Christians" because we believe in actually following the Bible in our allegiance to and love for Christ.
We find the same dynamic in the churches of today, as well as the gatherings of unsaved people who love themselves above all else.
Our greatest defense against the attacks of the devil is to completely rely on Christ without concern about how others perceive us. People pleasing ruins lots of Christians, causing fear in their hearts that someone will not like them.
1 John 4:6 "We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception."
I understand now more than ever why God said to "come out from among them and be separated." When we are the only authenticly born again believer in a room full of ungodly people who are hostile to Christianity, no one in the room will hear the truth. They will gang up on the one who speaks the truth and validate one another in the lie.
This is why I prefer to visit with only one couple or an individual, so there are no flying monkeys to support the lie. People tend to "pack-up" when they are in groups.
I have been in women's Bible study groups where the leader said something patently wrong. I addressed it, the room heard it, and they all ignored what I said, isolating me for being the "trouble maker," even though I was calm and asked that we look at the context.
The silliest comment I have heard more than once from women leaders has been, "What does this verse mean to you?" I attempted to explain that we should examine every verse in context and according to what God intended, rather than being subject to our own interpretations.
Anyone who challenges with the Word any leader is seen as rebellious. In the minds of those who follow those leaders, the leaders are the experts; they hear from the Holy Spirit, but no one else in the room has this special blessing. Again, totally against the Word.
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."
When the Holy Spirit speaks through each of us, God gets the glory, but when teachers do not allow others to challenge them, remaining, in the minds of the students, superior to the others, then no one is allowed to correct or interject except to praise the leader. The leaders are the ones glorified, not God.
It is possible, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to remain calm always so that any accusation about us is a total lie. It is better for the wicked to tell a total lie about us than to have a half-truth because we allowed our emotions to vent.
We can love God so much that He responds for us so that we remain guilt-free from the assertions of the ungodly.
The less I am around the ungodly except to witness Christ, the stronger I become in the ways of God.
Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
2 Timothy 1:7 "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Never allow an unbeliever to trigger you; if you are controlled by the Holy Spirit nothing will trigger you.
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