IF WE CONFESS is the Important Phrase Here

1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I find it interesting that our culture places the emphasis of forgiveness on "forgiveness" alone. In the minds of many people, forgiveness stands alone all by itself.

But wait a minute.......the verses that speak about forgiveness also speak of "confession" of sin to be forgiven. The most important part of this verse is not forgiveness but the confession of sin.

It is the confession that brings cleansing and spiritual growth. Forgiveness comes after the confession and it is for the purpose of reconciling a relationship.

Often I hear...Forgive, forgive, forgive but why do I not hear....confess, confess, confess? One would think that if we say "forgive" so much we would at least say "confess" as many times as we say "forgive."

Here is why we hear "forgive" and not "confess." It's because everyone wants to be forgiven without having to do the difficult and embarrassing thing, that is confessing openly and with humility.

It is humbling that people resist, it makes the cleansing unimportant.

There can be no cleansing without confession of sin, God said so in this very verse. "If you confess He will cleanse."

It is the confession and the cleansing that the devil does not like. He wants everyone to believe God forgives without confession of sin. This way he sends a false message that everyone is saved and forgiven no matter their attitude toward God.

It is psychology that surmises human nature must always be forgiven to sense love. But God says He is love, His love extends beyond superficial feelings of euphoria. His love brings healing from sin through confession and cleansing. Forgiveness is conditional to confessing. Cleansing is also conditional to confessing. Forgiveness is the last and final act that reconciles a broken relationship.

Without the steps of confession and cleansing forgiveness becomes mute and senseless.

The devil has managed to intimidate people into forgiving prematurely leaving the relationship and the offender broken and unchanged. All that occurs is the offender keeps on offending, the offended senses no peace or resolution and things remain broken and even growing worse. The forgiveness offered without the offender being sorry does nothing at all. It manages to make someone feel better at the moment they are saying it but there is a hole in the soul of the one who didn't see confession and attempted to extend forgiveness with mere words. Forgiveness is not mere words, it is a cancelling of a debt allowing the two parties to reconcile with a new outlook on the relationship. Done God's way this process will make the two parties closer than they were before.

Forgiveness all by itself without confession is the devil's tool to badger the innocent who was offended while empowering and enabling the wicked to grow more wicked. The devil doesn't want the real solution, the deeper reconciliation that leads to close friendship. He wants things to remain broken.

Luke 17:3-5 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”…"

This is God's formula for relationships, spiritual and emotional growth and justice for the offended. God is not interested in sparing people's feelings, he is interested in justice, cleansing and reconciliation. None of these things are accomplished just by "saying" I forgive so I feel better.

2 Timothy 3 Mentalities Walking Among Us! They have a form of religion but are Pretenders

What a comforting thing that is to know we are not responsible for the results and we are allowed to walk away when someone rejects Christ or His Word.

Matthew 10:14 "And whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust off your feet."

I have personally encountered more people who would not discuss a matter far more than anyone who wants to hear and discuss something.

We live in a world full of 2 Timothy 3 mentalities, people who are full of arrogance, know-it-alls who refuse to hear any matter that does not agree with them.

2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 This know also, that in the last days perilous (ragingly insane) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."

Do not be intimidated or pressured to remain with those who want nothing of our God or His ways.

Anyone who says they are a Christian but reject His Word and His Ways is lying, they are a pretender. God says to avoid those who say they are Christians, meaning they have a form of religion but deny God in the way they think and the way they live their lives.

Just saying!!!!

Have You Been the Object of Gossip? Well, So was Christ!

Have you ever been the object of gossip, in which no one would speak to you about what they heard about you to hear your side of things?

Welcome to the world of the born-again believer. Those who hated Christ lied against Him, we can expect this too.

Narcissists will be bothered by our peace and joy. They would rather we be miserable like them. One way they do this is to concoct in their own mind what they wish to believe about us and pass it on as fact. Even our good deeds will be punished with misinterpretation and suspect.

The Pharisees were jealous of the miracles Christ did so they claimed the miracles were of the devil. They claimed He was of the devil to negate whatever He did, even though all He did was loving and kind. He lived a perfect life on this earth, something the arrogant and self-righteous Pharisees hated. The Pharisees wanted to be seen as special and superior, the idea that there was someone walking the earth superior to them was aggravating to them.

Matthew 23:4-6 “…4 They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6 They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,…”

Why would you or I think we would be treated any differently from how our Lord was treated?

John 15:19-21 "…19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. 20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well. 21 But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.…"

Most family groups are not born again, they rely almost entirely on the family for their validation and their companionship.

When we are born again we break out of those cult-like existences in search of brothers and sisters who are not blood-related but who are born of the Spirit of God. Those who love Christ and walk with Him daily are those who are our real brothers and sisters, our eternal ones that love one another.

If you have a family that gathers at holidays and birthdays you have probably experienced pressure to come to these things only to be treated with indifference or even contempt while you are there.

Unsaved family members are very uncomfortable around the Holy Spirit. They often want you there so you can see them but are not really interested in enjoying you. To come to their gathering is a sort of validation of them in their mind, but they have no interest in validating you. As born-again believers we don’t’ attend things to be validated but we do attend them to have sweet fellowship with like-minded people or to witness Christ to those who might be open. Unfortunately, often believers will attend ungodly gatherings without ever speaking about Christ. This is a sort of validation of ungodliness by silence.

Just hanging out with unbelievers because there is a family connection does not influence the gathering. The reason I say this is because there is strength in numbers. As long as the unbelievers are surrounded by other unbelievers they will pack up and attack the believer if anything is mentioned about our Lord.

I prefer to visit with unsaved people one on one, that way there are no “family mobbings” that can occur. Like-minded unsaved people “pack up” so that no one in the room hears a thing we say or we are prevented from speaking altogether.

There is a lot of jealousy in family structures, we know this because of all the problems that arise continually among extended family. When a family is mostly unbelievers, the believers who come are outnumbered and can have little influence.

The idea that we must be loyal to unsaved family works against God’s Word. He states clearly that we must leave behind family to follow Him unless family members become born again too.

Psalm 1:1

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.”

Proverbs 1:15

“my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.”

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Luke 16:15

“And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Proverbs 13:20 “One who walks with wise people will be wise, But a companion of fools will suffer harm.”

When we walk with the ungodly for all the holidays and all the birthdays as well as other gatherings we will end up becoming like them. We will respond to life the way they do or worse we will be drawn into their attempts to fight with us.

We must not make ungodly family members our primary companions, they influence and pressure us to conform to their ways and believe what they believe. We know this because of the divorce and remarriage rate within the church as well as the language I am hearing Christians use that should never fly out of their mouths.

Many things Christians believe today come straight from the ungodly psychology of unsaved family members.

Just saying!!!!

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The Solution is to Look Up!

There is nothing to do about what is going on now in the world, that is the continual exponential growth of evil. It is prophesied and any attempt to stop it will be distracting and even futile. When we see these things happening, our orders from God are to "look up" waiting for Him while preaching the gospel and encouraging the believers.

Luke 21:27-29 "…27At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28When these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” 29Then Jesus told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.…"

What is the "fig tree"? The fig tree is a representation of Israel. Israel became a nation in 1948.

God also said that this generation, that is when the nation of Israel became a nation, would not pass away before Christ comes in the clouds for His church. We are that generation of the beginning of the nation of Israel.

Matthew 24:33-34 "…33 So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened."

May 14th, 1948 is when God established the nation of Israel and began calling the Jews back to their land. Paul preached to the Jews, when they rejected Christ he moved to the Gentiles, now the time of the Gentiles is over and God is moving back to the Jews for one last chance to trust in Christ. Two-thirds of the Jews will be destroyed but the remaining one-third will trust in Christ because of the miracles He will do on their behalf. Israel is the only nation that will be or ever has been fully and completely dedicated to Christ as an entire nation.

These last days are prophesied to become worse and worse until they are "ragingly insane", as the Bible puts it.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult (ragingly insane) 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."

There will be a form of religion in the Christian churches but no dedication to Christ Himself.

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts."

Families will be broken and there will be little to no regard for parents of adult children. Respect is not present in adult children nor in grandchildren. There has been little regard for marriage for several decades now.

Luke 12:51-"Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

The more we express our dismay at the way people act the more intensely they express their hate and anger toward us.

Proverbs 22:24-25 “ 24 Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, 25 or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.…”

God gave us clear instructions in His word not to be the companions of those who are competitive, mean-spirited or those who judge things they know nothing about as well as anyone who has a lifestyle of the 2 Timothy 3 end times characteristics.

These people are plentiful in our day even in the churches. In fact, perhaps there are only about 3% of the people who are authentic Christians who claim to be Christians, in our day. This is a higher number than what Lot and Noah saw in their day, nonetheless, it is a devastating count. It can be discouraging at times when we speak the truth of God only to be disparaged and mocked for speaking God’s Word.

The good news for the born-again believer is that we still have work assigned to each one of us, we still have work to do before our Lord snatches out to join Him in the clouds. We have no reason to be discouraged or depressed when we know our purpose and the end of the story.

Hallelujah!!!

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How Envy And Low Empathy Go Hand In Hand

Jesus Christ Who Is He!