Sunday, June 28, 2020
Evidence it More Valuable than Words
It is more valuable to watch a person's life than to listen to their verbiage. I do this with politicians all the time. I see the nuances of their life, their body language and their facial expressions.
Its amazing what one can see when we have discernment.
Just believing what someone tells us without any other proof of their words is foolish. Many people are saying lots of things about their own lives that have no evidence in reality.
Narcissists have elevated views of their own abilities that are not warranted.
1 John 4:1-6
Testing the Spirits
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this, you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses (by their life) that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
The word "confess" here is more than words, its lifestyle. Just as the word "conversation" is used to describe a woman's life, not what she says but how she lives.
1 Peter 3:1 "Likewise, wives, [be] subject to your own husbands, that, even if any are disobedient to the word, they may be gained without [the] word by the conversation of the wives,"
The word "conversation" is the old English meaning "lifestyle."
Sadly I see so many people willing to believe whatever a preacher, politician or authority tells them without any evidence as to its credibility.
In our day "feelings are facts" and "words alone" are true. This is utter foolishness. We must examine the evidence to know the whole truth. We listen to words long enough to go and evaluate the evidence.
Its amazing what one can see when we have discernment.
Just believing what someone tells us without any other proof of their words is foolish. Many people are saying lots of things about their own lives that have no evidence in reality.
Narcissists have elevated views of their own abilities that are not warranted.
1 John 4:1-6
Testing the Spirits
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this, you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses (by their life) that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
The word "confess" here is more than words, its lifestyle. Just as the word "conversation" is used to describe a woman's life, not what she says but how she lives.
1 Peter 3:1 "Likewise, wives, [be] subject to your own husbands, that, even if any are disobedient to the word, they may be gained without [the] word by the conversation of the wives,"
The word "conversation" is the old English meaning "lifestyle."
Sadly I see so many people willing to believe whatever a preacher, politician or authority tells them without any evidence as to its credibility.
In our day "feelings are facts" and "words alone" are true. This is utter foolishness. We must examine the evidence to know the whole truth. We listen to words long enough to go and evaluate the evidence.
Believers are not Sinners Saved by Grace, God calls us Saints!
There is a debate going around about the term, "sinners saved by grace", this phrase is not found in the scriptures.
Paul referred to the people in the churches he wrote to as "saints."
I was once Catholic, the church taught that it was arrogant to call ourselves saints, they were only supposed to be declared so by the Catholic church. This practice was arrogance, allowing mere men to declare who is a saint and who is not. The Bible tells us who are saints, they are those who are born again through faith in Christ. We can call ourselves saints not because we are good but because Christ Who saved us is Good. He calls all born again believers saints.
Revelation 14:12
"Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus."
Psalm 30:4
"Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name."
1 Corinthians 14:33
"For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,"
Romans 6
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Romans 6:17-20 "17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification."
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Pauls letters begin like this:
To the saints at Colossi
To the saints at Ephesus
To the saints at Corinth
To the saints at Rome: Romans 1:7
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nowhere does God refer to born again believers as sinners.
Paul referred to the people in the churches he wrote to as "saints."
I was once Catholic, the church taught that it was arrogant to call ourselves saints, they were only supposed to be declared so by the Catholic church. This practice was arrogance, allowing mere men to declare who is a saint and who is not. The Bible tells us who are saints, they are those who are born again through faith in Christ. We can call ourselves saints not because we are good but because Christ Who saved us is Good. He calls all born again believers saints.
Revelation 14:12
"Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus."
Psalm 30:4
"Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name."
1 Corinthians 14:33
"For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,"
Romans 6
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Romans 6:17-20 "17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification."
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Pauls letters begin like this:
To the saints at Colossi
To the saints at Ephesus
To the saints at Corinth
To the saints at Rome: Romans 1:7
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nowhere does God refer to born again believers as sinners.
Do Not Mourn the Past
To continue to morn those old forgiven sins is like believing God never forgave them. It is the devil who wants to constantly remind us of our failures. The best thing to do is remind the devil and our weak flesh that God forgave and covered those past forgiven sins.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…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:…"
Remember to remove from your lives all those people who would like to keep you mourning past sins that God did away with long ago.
Those who love to remind us of past sins have not been forgiven of theirs or they would never accuse anyone else of the past.
Born again believers know what they used to be and rejoice that they have been changed into a new creation by Christ. They have no interest in keeping others stuck in the past who have also been changed by Christ.
The devil is the accuser of the brethren, he is full of pride and hell-bent on ruining the witness of the believers!
Revelation 12:10
"10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God."
Do not allow others to accuse you of what is done and gone. Simply answer with "yes I was dead in my sins Christ saved me and am now cleansed from them, you can have this too."
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…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:…"
Remember to remove from your lives all those people who would like to keep you mourning past sins that God did away with long ago.
Those who love to remind us of past sins have not been forgiven of theirs or they would never accuse anyone else of the past.
Born again believers know what they used to be and rejoice that they have been changed into a new creation by Christ. They have no interest in keeping others stuck in the past who have also been changed by Christ.
The devil is the accuser of the brethren, he is full of pride and hell-bent on ruining the witness of the believers!
Revelation 12:10
"10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God."
Do not allow others to accuse you of what is done and gone. Simply answer with "yes I was dead in my sins Christ saved me and am now cleansed from them, you can have this too."
The End is Near!
We are living in the end times now. We cannot stop what is happening and we are not a part of it. We are missionaries in a foreign land, that is earth, and we are to bring the gospel. Nothing that happens here changes our mission.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."
Matthew 24:36
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."
Luke 21:36
"But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:44
"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
Ephesians 6:12
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."
Matthew 24:36
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."
Luke 21:36
"But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:44
"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
Ephesians 6:12
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)