Chastisement is Blessing from the Lord

The apostles never waited for people to ask them about Christ, they just obeyed God and went out to any stranger who would listen.

There are those who are saying we cannot just walk up to a stranger and start talking about the gospel. They say we must develop a relationship with them first and wait for them to want to know or ask. This could not be farther from the truth.

There is another lie going around and that is that we should not offer unsolicited advice. This also is not Biblical. God tells us many places in the Bible to speak the truth, it is love to speak truth. It is not love to withhold truth when it might save someone from hell.

Mark 16:14-16 "14 Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.…"

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."

Proverbs 27:5-6 "…5 Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed. 6 The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."

Psalm 141:5

"Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked."

Psalm 141:5

"Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities."

A Changed Mind Results in Changed Behavior

Repent: a changed mind resulting in a changed behavior.

"Without works the faith is a dead faith." Authentic faith always results in a change in actions because the mind has been changed, it does not think the same way anymore. The changed mind must come first for there to be an authentic change in behavior.

It is a change of mind that results in changed behavior. Without a change of mind, the lifestyle can not change. The definition for "repent" is "express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin."

Without deep regret for sin, there can not be a permanent change in behavior. Some people can change their behavior to be accepted by others but it if its not a heart change then it will not last and is phony.

The WAY we think determines our behavior and our choices. I think it's sort of like "faith without works is dead." Real faith determines our attitudes and actions.

A change in actions means nothing without a changed mind.

If the sin does not stop and there is no regret for the sin, then there has not been a changed mind.

Please Watch This Video Before Judgement Day

Remarriage After Divorce is Adultery

Mark 10:11-12
"11 And He *said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.” 

It is ongoing adultery as long as one remains with their adulterous spouse. 

Do we believe God or do we believe the lies the culture has told for the past 70 years?

Blood of Christ Cleanses from Sin

Too many people are using the excuse that since the blood of Christ covers our sin, we can sin all we want and God is alright with that. NO!!!!!

Remaining in sin breaks our fellowship with Christ. The Holy Spirit will go silent as long as we are walking sinfully.

1 Thessalonians 5:19

"19 Do not quench the Spirit."

We stop the whisperings of help and instruction from the Holy Spirit when we refuse to obey Him.

Ephesians 4:30

"30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

If someone does not care that they grieve the Holy Spirit by their sin then they are not born again.

1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.…"

1 John 2:29

"If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him."

Faith Without Works is a Dead Faith

"Believing" is more than just knowing in our heads, the devil knows and he is going to hell. Believing means to desire what God wants for you, to desire His cleansing, and trusting in His provision and wisdom from His Word.

If someone says they "believe" in God it is not evidence that they are saved.

James 2:18-26 "18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect?

23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.

24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting what He did on the cross in paying our debt for sin, the response to the belief will be good works. We are not saved by good works, they are evidence that we have been changed into a new creation by Christ.

The faith comes first and because of the faith, there are works.

There are many people in the church who think their works are evidence they are born again. Sadly these some of these same people have no interest in searching the Bible to obey the Word of God.

Those who are working their way to heaven will not make it. God if we are seeking Christ for His truth and wisdom, for His direction that is the evidence that we have been changed and are submitted to Him.

John 14:21

"Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him."