In the modern apostate church, many have placed their trust in the teachings of educated men above Christ. When they have a question the first thing they do is go to "the pastor", instead of to prayer seeking Christ and His Word the Bible.
Stop seeking men and begin to seek Christ, you will be amazed at how wide open your eyes will become to all the errors and traditions that have been a part of your thinking.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 "…12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Search the Scriptures Daily
If we want to be completely Biblical as far as we are able, then it is profitable to research in the Scriptural principles, sometimes going back to the Greek and Hebrew to see the meanings of words. Then compare what we know with the traditions we have been following. If there is no Biblical example for what we do, then it would be good to eliminate that tradition from our lives.
Since I have done this, my life is far more peaceful and much less expensive. Most people who enjoy the holidays do not realize just how exhausting they are and how quickly they are forgotten until they eliminate them.
Isn't following Christ and maintaining a peaceful life far better than a faded memory of a happy time. We can live our joy in the present, never having to look back to gain joy from those things that are no longer happening.
Each day is a new day, let this one be lived in the present, in the joy and happiness for this day. Attempting to get back the feelings we had in the past is an exercise in futility. The feelings we had at the time can never be recreated, they really have no value in the present.
Philippians 4:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Luke 9:62 “Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Those who live in the past rarely enjoy the present. The yearning for bygone days only tugs at the emotions leaving a feeling of hopelessness that we have lost something we will never get back.
I prefer to live in the present, in the moment, only remembering the lessons I learned that brought me to where I am today. Those who attempt to keep us stuck in the past have not grown into maturity. How can we grow if we refuse to leave what is in the past....in the past.
When we trust in the Lord for each day, we are full of joy, nothing from the past can compare to that present and current joy. Nothing from the past can control or affect our lives anymore, they are gone and done with forever.
Philippians 3:13 "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended it, but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,"
Since I have done this, my life is far more peaceful and much less expensive. Most people who enjoy the holidays do not realize just how exhausting they are and how quickly they are forgotten until they eliminate them.
Isn't following Christ and maintaining a peaceful life far better than a faded memory of a happy time. We can live our joy in the present, never having to look back to gain joy from those things that are no longer happening.
Each day is a new day, let this one be lived in the present, in the joy and happiness for this day. Attempting to get back the feelings we had in the past is an exercise in futility. The feelings we had at the time can never be recreated, they really have no value in the present.
Philippians 4:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Luke 9:62 “Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Those who live in the past rarely enjoy the present. The yearning for bygone days only tugs at the emotions leaving a feeling of hopelessness that we have lost something we will never get back.
I prefer to live in the present, in the moment, only remembering the lessons I learned that brought me to where I am today. Those who attempt to keep us stuck in the past have not grown into maturity. How can we grow if we refuse to leave what is in the past....in the past.
When we trust in the Lord for each day, we are full of joy, nothing from the past can compare to that present and current joy. Nothing from the past can control or affect our lives anymore, they are gone and done with forever.
Philippians 3:13 "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended it, but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,"
Another One of Man's Traditions
There are many cults who teach false doctrine, from women should never speak about the Lord to others to women who speak in the pulpit as leaders over men. Both of these ideas are not Biblical, there is another view that is Biblical but most cannot wrap their minds around .
This other view comes from 1 Corinthians 11 in which the order of the service is explained. Women are permitted to share in the Lord's supper, praying, expounding on the Word and singing as long as they are covered. In most gatherings that have elderships and the women are covered, the woman does not speak during the worship, that being the Lord's supper.
The misunderstood passage that says women must remain silent, is easily explained in the original language.
1 Corinthians 13:33-35 "…33 For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church."
The word "speak" in this passage does not have to do with sharing in prayer or the Word, it would negate the 1 Corinthians 11 passage that tells a woman to be covered when she prays and prophesies in the gathering. In these passages the woman is not the leader but she does share as led by the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 13 the women were chattering, asking their own husband in the middle of the teaching, being disruptive, so they were commanded to remain silent and ask their own husbands at home. This was the beginning of the church in which many did not know much about the Bible and did not have the New Testament in their own homes to read.
From Christian Corner "Silence in the Church"
"Sigao" is a verb that denotes not whimpering, complaining or disruptive, it is not that a woman cannot speak at all, it's that she is to be under submission and is to be led by the Holy Spirit. If she is not led by the Holy Spirit then she is to remain silent.
"(1) One who has the gift of tongues is to keep silence if he has no interpreter to use with his alien audience (28).
(2) If a brother is speaking, and another receives a more current revelation, the former is to keep silence (30).
(3) Finally, women are to keep silence (34)."
Unquote
If total silence were the command in these passages then 1 Corinthian 11 would contradict that and allowing women to sing would also violate it.
The woman is not to be teaching in a public setting over men as the leader, however she is allowed to share in the general gathering along with all the other saints in the Lord's supper and teaching the younger women as mentioned in Titus 2.
Titus 2:3-5
"3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may [a]encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
When we are in a gathering that has the rule that woman should remaining silent, we can adhere to their rules without hindering our own worship. There is no place I have heard of that understands these principles, we have lived under the ritual of the woman not speaking at all for so long now, most cannot wrap their minds around it, but that's alright. It's not a salvation issue that we should be arguing over.
A woman who goes into a gathering in which the women are commanded and expected to remain silent, except for the singing, we can adhere to that so as not to draw attention away from the Lord. Our worship toward the Lord is more important than exerting our right to pray or speak on the Word aloud.
I wonder though how the leaders who taught total silence for women came up with the allowance to sing? If anyone has an answer to this I would be interested in hearing it. If total silence were the command as they think, then why are the women permitted to sing. It sounds like a concession toward women that was invented by men. I see no place in the Word that says "women must be completely silent except to sing."
Traditions of men leave many unanswered confusing questions as well as being inconsistent.
This is just one more misunderstanding because of our English translations that were translated in a time when women were expected to be seen and not heard. This too was not Biblical but it was the condition of the culture of the time of the translation.
When an unbiblical rule is in place that is not a salvation issue, then we need to place Christ first and take a back seat to the traditions that men have hung onto for so many years.
It is interesting that men have done away with the head covering as well as the women sharing in the Lord's supper. They seem to go hand in hand.
Please do not misunderstand this post as a stab at "women's lib", anyone who knows me understands how much I despise the women's lib movement. I have spent 47 years at home as the keeper of my home in spite of nearly every woman I know who was asserting their rights to work outside the home and mocking my choice as a homemaker.
It is not my desire to assert myself in the gathering, however, it is my desire to know truth, that is more important to me than fitting in with the traditions of men. And believe me, there is precious few that I fit in with, in this age where the traditions of men are valued over the truth of the Scriptures.
Just saying!
This other view comes from 1 Corinthians 11 in which the order of the service is explained. Women are permitted to share in the Lord's supper, praying, expounding on the Word and singing as long as they are covered. In most gatherings that have elderships and the women are covered, the woman does not speak during the worship, that being the Lord's supper.
The misunderstood passage that says women must remain silent, is easily explained in the original language.
1 Corinthians 13:33-35 "…33 For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church."
The word "speak" in this passage does not have to do with sharing in prayer or the Word, it would negate the 1 Corinthians 11 passage that tells a woman to be covered when she prays and prophesies in the gathering. In these passages the woman is not the leader but she does share as led by the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 13 the women were chattering, asking their own husband in the middle of the teaching, being disruptive, so they were commanded to remain silent and ask their own husbands at home. This was the beginning of the church in which many did not know much about the Bible and did not have the New Testament in their own homes to read.
From Christian Corner "Silence in the Church"
"Sigao" is a verb that denotes not whimpering, complaining or disruptive, it is not that a woman cannot speak at all, it's that she is to be under submission and is to be led by the Holy Spirit. If she is not led by the Holy Spirit then she is to remain silent.
"(1) One who has the gift of tongues is to keep silence if he has no interpreter to use with his alien audience (28).
(2) If a brother is speaking, and another receives a more current revelation, the former is to keep silence (30).
(3) Finally, women are to keep silence (34)."
Unquote
If total silence were the command in these passages then 1 Corinthian 11 would contradict that and allowing women to sing would also violate it.
The woman is not to be teaching in a public setting over men as the leader, however she is allowed to share in the general gathering along with all the other saints in the Lord's supper and teaching the younger women as mentioned in Titus 2.
Titus 2:3-5
"3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may [a]encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
When we are in a gathering that has the rule that woman should remaining silent, we can adhere to their rules without hindering our own worship. There is no place I have heard of that understands these principles, we have lived under the ritual of the woman not speaking at all for so long now, most cannot wrap their minds around it, but that's alright. It's not a salvation issue that we should be arguing over.
A woman who goes into a gathering in which the women are commanded and expected to remain silent, except for the singing, we can adhere to that so as not to draw attention away from the Lord. Our worship toward the Lord is more important than exerting our right to pray or speak on the Word aloud.
I wonder though how the leaders who taught total silence for women came up with the allowance to sing? If anyone has an answer to this I would be interested in hearing it. If total silence were the command as they think, then why are the women permitted to sing. It sounds like a concession toward women that was invented by men. I see no place in the Word that says "women must be completely silent except to sing."
Traditions of men leave many unanswered confusing questions as well as being inconsistent.
This is just one more misunderstanding because of our English translations that were translated in a time when women were expected to be seen and not heard. This too was not Biblical but it was the condition of the culture of the time of the translation.
When an unbiblical rule is in place that is not a salvation issue, then we need to place Christ first and take a back seat to the traditions that men have hung onto for so many years.
It is interesting that men have done away with the head covering as well as the women sharing in the Lord's supper. They seem to go hand in hand.
Please do not misunderstand this post as a stab at "women's lib", anyone who knows me understands how much I despise the women's lib movement. I have spent 47 years at home as the keeper of my home in spite of nearly every woman I know who was asserting their rights to work outside the home and mocking my choice as a homemaker.
It is not my desire to assert myself in the gathering, however, it is my desire to know truth, that is more important to me than fitting in with the traditions of men. And believe me, there is precious few that I fit in with, in this age where the traditions of men are valued over the truth of the Scriptures.
Just saying!
Friday, March 30, 2018
The Murder and the Lying is in the Heart First
Christ said that we have murder in our hearts if we so much as hate someone. The act itself does not have to occur for us to have murder in our hearts. Every evil act starts with what is already in the heart. If we never murder but we wish we could, we are judged the same as if it had happened. God looks at the heart.
The modern church gets this backward, some will say, while in sin, "God knows my heart", yes He knows you have sin in there, the act proves it. We ought to stop accepting the excuse that God knows the heart to justify sin.
Someone once said to me that we are not liars just because we told one lie. If we were not already liars we could not tell even one lie. The outward lying is evidence of what is in the heart.
Christ died for man kind before most of us were born. He did that because He knew our sinful hearts. Those that think they have no sin because they don't carry out the desires of their heart must be hiding, hiding from God and hiding from others. Every sin is preceded by a heart that is sinful.
There are those who have never committed what they think are the big sins. The ones that destroy people's lives or cause devastating consequences. These people often think they do not sin, when in their heart dwells jealousy, anger and self-will that are seen by God and those who are discerning. Character can be seen even without acts, in the prideful expression of self goodness.
Self righteousness is a sin, that all by itself is enough to plunge someone into hell. There are many people like this in church gatherings today, they are hell bent on earning their way to heaven by their deeds or lack of sin. One cannot become born again, who thinks they can be good enough to gain heaven.
1 John 1:8-10 "…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."
1 John 3:14-15 "…14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. "
1 John 4:19-21
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Our good deeds done in the flesh are nothing to God, they are even rejected by Him. It is only the good that Christ does in us that counts, because it is only Christ Who counts. He loves us, but not because of us, rather in spite of us. I know this is hard to hear, but we cannot love unless Christ loves through us.
Self righteousness is not love for others or God, its only love for self. We cannot love as God loves when we are self focused. Christ was "others" focused, He died for man kind while we were still sinners, while we had no love for Him, that's God's kind of love. Man tends to sacrifice a little for someone to gain the love of others. God sacrificed Himself to give His love to those who could not love Him back. He wants to create authentic love in us through Him.
Man loves to get something, Christ loved when we had nothing to give Him. When we love like Christ loved, then we will be letting Him work in us to be the love for others that He would be. We cannot take credit for our Christlike love, it is all Him in us.
Self righteousness is based on how good we think we are, but Christ righteousness is based on how good Christ is, a very big difference.
There can be no arrogance or grandiosity in those who have been changed into a new creation by Christ. We had to come to Christ over our own sinfulness, after that we no longer think of ourselves as good or better than others, our focus is on Who Christ is, that Perfect and Wonderful Savior Who did it all for us.
Galatians 3:13-15 "13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
1 Peter 1:18-19
"Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."
The modern church gets this backward, some will say, while in sin, "God knows my heart", yes He knows you have sin in there, the act proves it. We ought to stop accepting the excuse that God knows the heart to justify sin.
Someone once said to me that we are not liars just because we told one lie. If we were not already liars we could not tell even one lie. The outward lying is evidence of what is in the heart.
Christ died for man kind before most of us were born. He did that because He knew our sinful hearts. Those that think they have no sin because they don't carry out the desires of their heart must be hiding, hiding from God and hiding from others. Every sin is preceded by a heart that is sinful.
There are those who have never committed what they think are the big sins. The ones that destroy people's lives or cause devastating consequences. These people often think they do not sin, when in their heart dwells jealousy, anger and self-will that are seen by God and those who are discerning. Character can be seen even without acts, in the prideful expression of self goodness.
Self righteousness is a sin, that all by itself is enough to plunge someone into hell. There are many people like this in church gatherings today, they are hell bent on earning their way to heaven by their deeds or lack of sin. One cannot become born again, who thinks they can be good enough to gain heaven.
1 John 1:8-10 "…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."
1 John 3:14-15 "…14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. "
1 John 4:19-21
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Our good deeds done in the flesh are nothing to God, they are even rejected by Him. It is only the good that Christ does in us that counts, because it is only Christ Who counts. He loves us, but not because of us, rather in spite of us. I know this is hard to hear, but we cannot love unless Christ loves through us.
Self righteousness is not love for others or God, its only love for self. We cannot love as God loves when we are self focused. Christ was "others" focused, He died for man kind while we were still sinners, while we had no love for Him, that's God's kind of love. Man tends to sacrifice a little for someone to gain the love of others. God sacrificed Himself to give His love to those who could not love Him back. He wants to create authentic love in us through Him.
Man loves to get something, Christ loved when we had nothing to give Him. When we love like Christ loved, then we will be letting Him work in us to be the love for others that He would be. We cannot take credit for our Christlike love, it is all Him in us.
Self righteousness is based on how good we think we are, but Christ righteousness is based on how good Christ is, a very big difference.
There can be no arrogance or grandiosity in those who have been changed into a new creation by Christ. We had to come to Christ over our own sinfulness, after that we no longer think of ourselves as good or better than others, our focus is on Who Christ is, that Perfect and Wonderful Savior Who did it all for us.
Galatians 3:13-15 "13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
1 Peter 1:18-19
"Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."
Thursday, March 29, 2018
The Inklings of the Holy Spirit
Many Christians do not understand the working of the Holy Spirit in believers. I have been mocked by Christians when I say the Holy Spirit speaks to me. They equate speaking in terms of verbal expressions or visions, but that's not it, we hear the Holy Spirit in spiritual inklings that cannot be explained to people other than those who have experienced it.
I know when the Holy Spirit is speaking and I know when my own thoughts are just me, there is a big difference.
John 16:13 "However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come."
I know when the Holy Spirit is speaking and I know when my own thoughts are just me, there is a big difference.
John 16:13 "However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come."
Ephesians 3:16-21
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Hallelujah!!!!
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Hallelujah!!!!
Respect, Practice It!
Remember if someone is speaking down to you or treating you like a child, this is disrespectful, move on to more healthy relationships that value you! This form of mocking is a violation of scripture.
Philippians 2:3 "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than himself."
Condescending is unscriptural, we must treat others with respect, allowing them their own personality. Mocking and demeaning people is not a personality trait it is pride and sin.
Philippians 2:3 "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than himself."
Condescending is unscriptural, we must treat others with respect, allowing them their own personality. Mocking and demeaning people is not a personality trait it is pride and sin.
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