The Smoke from the Fires

Right now with the air quality, we are dealing with it might be good to wear those face masks outside. 

One night we had our windows open expecting a hot day the next day. I woke up with a slight sinus headache from breathing that smoke all night long. Today we kept our windows all closed. 

The smoke has been so thick it has blocked out the sun and kept everything cooler than it usually is this time of year. 

The dogs went outside and came back in smelling like smoke as though they had been hanging out at a campfire.
We are all going to be more grateful for clean air when it finally arrives.

John 10:26-28

"…26 But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. 27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.…"

Judging: Good or Bad: Be Careful

In order to make the "don't judge" mantra work, one has to leave out a lot of scripture.
The Bible does not tell us not to judge. God said not to judge someone for a sin that we are doing also. The Bible is full of admonition to evaluate our companions and to discern false prophets. We are to be careful not to have ungodly companions, we have to judge to be able to obey God.

Matthew 7
Judging Others
7 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye."

"and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

In this passage, the one everyone uses to say we should not judge they seem to completely ignore "the way you judge will be measured back to you." In other words, if we judge someone for overeating and we overeat ourselves we are violating this scripture.

The gist of the scripture is the "not judge" phrase but judging rashly about others when we are doing what they do that we judge.

Then the passage clearly says to go and judge the person after we have cleansed ourselves of the very same sin. So many people miss the part that says "then go to your brother." Perhaps they read only a part of the command and ignore the rest.

1 Corinthians 15:33 " 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”"

In order to know who is evil company, we have to know the Word of God, walk in the Spirit, and judge that. We make judgments every single day about everything, if we do not we will be like a fool who believes everything we are told.

Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Matthew 7:17-19…17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.…"

1 Corinthians 5:11-13 "…11 But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those insides? 13 God will judge those outsides. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”…"

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 "…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. 16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.…"

Of course, it is wrong to judge a person's actions when you did not see those actions for yourself. It is also sin to judge a person's activities when you were never around to see those activities. OR, even worse to judge someone based on what you wish to believe about them without seeing anything merely by listening to gossip.

It's one thing for a friend to tell you things about others based on their personal encounters, it's quite another to pass those confidences on to others. Usually, they are never the same after the second repeat.
Listening to the woes of a friend and their encounters is helpful to your friend. Repeating what they say to you to others is gossip that should not be shared with others.

I know of a woman who was shunned by her entire family because of one gossip who heard the ordeal and repeated it with her own spin.

This sort of gossip is like a story I heard once. The story goes like this; someone took a feather pillow to a high mountain on a windy day, slit it open, and shook the feathers to fly to the four winds. Once the feathers have blown many miles to many places there was no way one could gather them all up again and put them back in the pillow slip.

Once a reputation has been ruined by family gossip there is no way to restore all the broken relationships that occur because of it. No one who heard the gossip would come to the victim of it to see if it was true, therefore it remains unresolved forever. One side is told and the other side is never heard. Seems deeply unfair does it not?

We must judge but we must judge righteously according to God's Word.

John 7:24
"24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
Only a fool refuses to judge at all, however, I find it interesting how many people will judge evil people as good and get angry when others judge those evil people. If we are not to judge according to their logic wouldn't it follow that we should not judge someone as good either?
If anyone's mantra is "don't judge" then they had better not judge someone in a good way either.
Just saying!!!!

Judging Those in the Body of Christ

God said that we are to judge those in the body.

2 Corinthians 13:5 5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you— unless you actually fail the test?"

It is love to confront someone who lacks the fruit of the Spirit to challenge them to ask God if they have been born again. There are many pretenders in the church today who are confident they are going to heaven but will end up in hell.

Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

The greatest love we can show a brother or sister is to help them be sure they are born again.

The fruit of the Spirit is not works although works do follow, it is the fruit, the character qualities of Christ that we can see as we view people in the Spirit rather than the flesh. No one with the fruit of the Spirit will walk in the flesh as a lifestyle.

Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

Those who have the Holy Spirit can discern this fruit in other believers.

Matthew 7:17-19…17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.…"

1 Corinthians 5:11-13 "…11 But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”…"

If we love our brothers and sisters we are more concerned about whether or not they are saved than we are about their momentary feelings. If we love our brothers and sisters we will be more concerned about their salvation than whether or not they will like us for the moment.

Becoming Born Again Before Its Too Late!

How to be born again if you have not yet trusted in Christ.

A person becomes born again when they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. After that Christ comes to live in them and begins the cleansing process all of our lives. Sometimes we mess up along the way but God will always bring us back to obedience. He is the One Who does all the work in us. The scriptures below answer all of this. 

Christ saves us because we trust in Him for our salvation, for cleansing us from sin, and for sealing us with the Holy Spirit so that we will never lose our salvation. We cannot do it through our own works it is all Him. Once God works in us to be born again He does all the rest of the work in us until the day He takes us home. 

John 3:1-13 "3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.
12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life."
Ephesians 2:8-10 "…8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.…"

Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 2:8-10 "…8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.…"

Ephesians 1:13-14
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also [b]believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

We are not called to accomplish anything to be saved, only to believe in Christ and He will do all the rest in us.

However, to grow in holiness and develop a closes relationship with Him we must read His word and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom. We can quench, or silence, the Holy Spirit when we do not listen to Him or seek Him for counsel.

If we mess up and do something in the flesh that dishonors Him, He will bring His child back to obedience by a conviction of sin and consequences in life. The Holy Spirit teaches, trains, and helps in everything, never leaving us. If we have trials He will go through them with us, we are never left alone, even if people leave us we still have the most powerful of all help, that is the Holy Spirit. 

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

1 Thessalonians 5:18-19 "…18 Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not extinguish the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt,…"

After we are born again God no longer regards us as being in the flesh, we are in the Spirit as far as He is concerned. Our citizenship is in heaven. 

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 "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!…"

We no longer think the same way we did before, all things in us are brand new, but we must choose to grow in holiness through prayer and Scripture reading. 

When we leave this world our body will be changed but our Spirit is changed at the moment of salvation.

Philippians 3:20-21
"20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."

Understanding How to Pray