Proverbs 27:5-7
"…5 Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. 7 A sated man loathes honey, But to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet."
Those who receive a rebuke in humility will grow in holiness with great joy.
Those who refuse to receive a rebuke in rebellion will not only not grow in holiness but they will regress as well as lose what joy they have.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
He Allows Us to Self Destruct
YES, we are seeing the mass destruction of the family and the babies. God does not have to send plagues and storms, He can merely take His hands off and allow rebellious hearts to self destruct. After all, have we not pushed Him away, forbidden His principles in our government and schools?
Our culture is a mess on every level, while those who live in stubbornness believe they are living a good life, so blind by their arrogance that they cannot see what a mess they are.
Revelation 3:14-22 "14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
"These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”"
Our culture is a mess on every level, while those who live in stubbornness believe they are living a good life, so blind by their arrogance that they cannot see what a mess they are.
Revelation 3:14-22 "14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
"These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”"
Helper and Counselor
Women in the church are to be helpers and advisers, not the leaders over men.
Women can teach children, the younger married women and each other, even men at times as Aquilla and Priscilla taught together, a husband and wife team, but the roll of leader as in elders in the church gathering, is not the job of the woman. The woman has every right and has been designed to counsel men when needed, but she is not to usurp their authority. When a man resists the godly counsel of a woman led by the Holy Spirit, he then resists the ordinance of God.
In the military the generals continually have counselors around them that they listen to as well as heeding their warnings or instructions. This is similar to the position of the wife to the husband.
When a husband will not listen to his wife, continually making decisions without her counsel, he is in disobedience to God.
Ladies please remember that your roll does not mean you are lesser, only different. To aspire to anything other than what God meant for us is to disobey God's Word.
Article / Produced by TOW Project:
"While many devout Christians see a woman's function as a subordinate to a man, the word ezer in the original Hebrew overturns that idea. The woman was not created to serve the man, but to serve with the man. Without the woman, the man was only half the story. She was not an afterthought or an optional adjunct to an independent, self-sufficient man. God said in Genesis 2:18 that without her, the man's condition was "not good." God's intention in creating the woman for the man was for the two to be partners in the many tasks involved in stewarding God's creation. "
There are those who would judge a wife as a usurper merely for counseling her husband, this is not so and lacking understanding of God's Word. Remember that often our cultural teachings are not from God but man's idea based on personal desire.
It is God's Word we want not the opinions of unspiritual men or women.
Women can teach children, the younger married women and each other, even men at times as Aquilla and Priscilla taught together, a husband and wife team, but the roll of leader as in elders in the church gathering, is not the job of the woman. The woman has every right and has been designed to counsel men when needed, but she is not to usurp their authority. When a man resists the godly counsel of a woman led by the Holy Spirit, he then resists the ordinance of God.
In the military the generals continually have counselors around them that they listen to as well as heeding their warnings or instructions. This is similar to the position of the wife to the husband.
When a husband will not listen to his wife, continually making decisions without her counsel, he is in disobedience to God.
Ladies please remember that your roll does not mean you are lesser, only different. To aspire to anything other than what God meant for us is to disobey God's Word.
Article / Produced by TOW Project:
"While many devout Christians see a woman's function as a subordinate to a man, the word ezer in the original Hebrew overturns that idea. The woman was not created to serve the man, but to serve with the man. Without the woman, the man was only half the story. She was not an afterthought or an optional adjunct to an independent, self-sufficient man. God said in Genesis 2:18 that without her, the man's condition was "not good." God's intention in creating the woman for the man was for the two to be partners in the many tasks involved in stewarding God's creation. "
There are those who would judge a wife as a usurper merely for counseling her husband, this is not so and lacking understanding of God's Word. Remember that often our cultural teachings are not from God but man's idea based on personal desire.
It is God's Word we want not the opinions of unspiritual men or women.
Rational & Reasonable?
Our culture no longer has the ability to think in rational reasonable terms. I am not describing the minority of people who do have these abilities, but the majority in the culture that flies by the seat of their emotions and desires, even those who claim to be Christian.
The inability to evaluate each matter according to the Word of God comes from a worldly focus rather than a heavenly one.
1 Peter 4:11-13 "11 If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.…"
The challenge: Seek Christ daily for His will and purposes. When we do this, many around us are not going to understand, they see everything from the perspective of the culture rather than from God's perspective as written in the Scriptures.
When we are spiritually minded, scripture versed and desiring to hear from Christ, then everything we do will be according to His promptings. When we fail to ask Him for direction, we will quickly confess it, learn from it and begin again to seek Him.
Psalm 14:2
"The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God."
The inability to evaluate each matter according to the Word of God comes from a worldly focus rather than a heavenly one.
1 Peter 4:11-13 "11 If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.…"
The challenge: Seek Christ daily for His will and purposes. When we do this, many around us are not going to understand, they see everything from the perspective of the culture rather than from God's perspective as written in the Scriptures.
When we are spiritually minded, scripture versed and desiring to hear from Christ, then everything we do will be according to His promptings. When we fail to ask Him for direction, we will quickly confess it, learn from it and begin again to seek Him.
Psalm 14:2
"The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God."
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