One Must Repent to be Born Again

When Jesus Christ while He was on the cross, asked His Father to "forgive them they know not what they do" it was not a prayer to forgive individuals, it was a prayer to extend forgiveness to the world because of His sacrifice on the cross.

 
When Christ forgave people who were repentant when He walked the earth He said; "your sins are forgiven", but when He prayed to the Father He asked the Father to count His sacrifice as a substitute penalty for all those who would repent and trust in Him.

 
Christ never forgave the thief on the cross who was not sorry, but He did forgive the one who defended Christ. He said; "this day you will be in paradise with me."
No one is forgiven by God who does not repent.

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

Remember: "if we confess" are the key words that so many exclude from this passage.

2 Corinthians 7:10 "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

Facebook Friends Are Real Friends

There are those who mock our friends on Facebook saying they are not real friends. Others are saying they have heard this too and with the same exact verbiage I have heard by people who don't know each other.

I have to believe it is the devil attempting to discourage believers from engaging with other believers in a world that is so isolating. One of the favored tactics of the devil is to attempt to isolate us from other believers to break down our faith and joy.

We are living in the last days of apostasy, and there are few believers within our community that we have to reach outside our community to find them. God has given us the internet to connect with one another.

I have heard too that Facebook friends are not real friends. Only those who are jealous that we are connecting with people we love and who love us are saying these things.

They say, "but you have never met them in person", and I say; "I have never met Christ in person either but He lives in me."

Some of these people are involved in genealogy on the internet to find their relatives but no one is saying it is foolish because they have never met them. I have little interest in dead relatives that I have never met, they are just names on a page to me, I have no evidence of whether or not they loved Christ and I cannot communicate with them so I have no fascination with it.

Paul connected by letters that we are reading right now in our Bibles. Many believers he never met person to person but had a tender and loving heart for them because the same Christ that lived in him lived in them too.

The same people who say we should stay in long-distance communication with family because they are family will deny the wonderful connection of believers one to another on the internet.

I have to believe the purpose of those who attempt to discourage believers from connecting on the internet is being influenced by the devil to break our hearts, but it won't work because greater is God in us than Satan in them.

Believers I have connected with on the internet have encouraged and enhanced my walk with Christ while those who are family nearby have worked to undermine my walk with Christ.

I choose long-distance love, kindness, and edification through the saints on the internet over nearby mean-spirited relatives who do not love Christ, any day.

The Fool Says No to God

The fool is not denying God, he is just saying no to Him.

 
1 For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.

Here is another case in which the words "there is" have been added making the meaning incorrect.

 
The fool doesn't believe there is no God, He knows there is a God and deliberately says no to Him.

 
The correct rendering should say; "the fool says in his heart "no God."

Proverbs 1:7
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

There is no reason to "hate" what you do not believe exists. The fool, as we say; the atheist, knows God and hates Him, deliberately denies Him, knowing full well He not only exists but does not want God to control his life.

Loving Christ and Truth More than Self

Weeping is God's natural stress reliever, it is there for a reason. Only pride says we should not cry, good sense says it is necessary at times.

Christ wept, and we do too!

Those who say; "don't cry" don't want to be bothered with our pain, they don't like to see it so they tell us not to do it, it's selfish!

God said this:

 
Romans 12:15
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited.…"

Those who lack empathy and kindness cannot share in the joys or trials of others, they will disappear as soon as they perceive we are doing better than they or we have a trial to endure when we need someone to stand beside us.

Harmony means to live without contentiousness, conflict and strife. It means living in agreement with those around us not compromising truth but elevating above all else.

 
It is God's will that we live in cooperation with one another. Where there is no cooperation there is no friendship.

 
When two people resolve to be an asset to one another there is joy and peace. These are those who can be lovely lifelong and eternal friends.

1 Corinthians 12:26 "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

1 Peter 3:8 "Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble."

Galatians 6:2 "Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, / who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

Such a blessing when we find a friend who loves Christ and truth more than they love themselves.!

What the World Brings to Believers

Spiritual Fruit Christ's Character

Only believers can discern the fruit because of the Holy Spirit Who lives in them. The fruit is the character qualities of Christ. They are spiritually discerned and inner heart character.

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

If Anyone is Trusting in Themselves for Salvation they are not Born Again! They must stop trusting in self and begin Trusting in Christ!

Those who are still trusting in what they consider their own good works for salvation are not trusting in Christ.

When Christ changes us into a new creation it is He that does it not ourselves. He changes our nature entirely, the old nature is gone. We can never go back to the old nature again.

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?"

God promised that we are eternally saved, that means forever when we become born again.

There are no scriptures that say the Holy Spirit Who resides in the born again believer ever leaves us.

"Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,”

He told us that we are His for eternity.

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 the promise,
14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."
The scriptures that say someone walks away from God are clearly those who have never been changed by Christ, they decided on their own without trusting in Him to join the "Christian" group wanting to come in their own way. These are those who are described in Matthew 7:21-23 where God says; "I NEVER knew you."
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.’"

Most people in our day who would say they are Christians are pretenders who have never been born again. Those who walk away do it because they do not have the strength of the Holy Spirit to follow Him, they are walking in their own fleshly way without Christ.

Christ paid it all on the cross for us, we have no part in our own salvation except to agree with God that we are sinful and desire to be changed by Him.