I find no commandment from Christ in the Bible to build a building. It is a distraction! God told us to go into the world to make disciples and bring them back to the gatherings as believers. The church has brought in the unsaved and watered down the teaching to make them comfortable so they will stay. If we love the unsaved we will give the gospel and if we love the believers we will not pollute the worship with those who do not yet love God.
We use buildings that we have and that's alright, but that does not mean we must have one.
Many Christians are fearful of speaking boldly about the Lord to non-believers. They are more afraid of man's rejection than they are concerned about their souls for eternity.
Recently I disagreed with someone on the matter of "lifestyle evangelism", in which one just lives a good life, no need to speak of Christ and if the unbeliever likes us they will ask about God.
This is not only not Biblical it is cowardly. We are to speak the truth! If we have love we will be more concerned about a person's eternal destination than whether or not they like us. It is Christ we want them to see, not us.
There are also those who believe the lie that if we have offended someone with the truth we have done something wrong. There are those who say "we must say it in a way that they will receive it." This too is not Biblical.
If we are the ones responsible for the rejection that comes against us, then no one who heard the gospel would reject it if it were done just right, AND, God would have given us a fool proof formula, but He did not.
But wait a minute....they hung Jesus Christ on a cross because they rejected Him. Did Christ do something wrong in His delivery? Of course not, He was rejected because of the evil hearts of men. Just as we will be rejected for the same reason, when we obey Christ.
If you have lived a Christian life long enough you will notice that we are rejected just for living our life differently from non-believers. They are intimidated by the Holy Spirit that lives in us as well as the jealousy that we have great joy.
Sadly, I am here to tell you that many of those who reject us will be those who call themselves Christian. They love their superficial fun filled lives, but cannot endure correction or disagreement. They must be elevated and validated to feel good about those around them.
There is a saying that I love, I don't know who said it but it makes very good sense.
"One of the elements of holiness is the absence of self awareness."
We must not be focused on self, we must be focused on Christ. That alone will make many people irritated, some to the point of rage.
When Christ is our focus we feel no need to rage in disagreements, nor do we ever feel a need to dominate or intimidate others. We speak the truth boldly and walk away when others do not receive it.
When Christ is our defender we have no need to fight with anyone.
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Evil Flourishes because the Culture Remained Silent
"If you can't say anything good don't say anything at all", is the very mentality that got us to the mess we are in now. Our culture stopped calling evil what it is, we stopped correcting and rebuking, causing the sin to flourish.
Friday, June 1, 2018
Obedience or Legalism
Obedience is obeying God's Word, legalism is obeying man's rules that are not in God's Word. Its pretty simple, but because so many churches make rules that are not specifically mandated but seem moral, people become confused about what are God's commandments and principles and which are mans. I never obey man's rules if they don't make sense to me. I obey God, sadly there are those who misuse the scripture to justify their man made rules and then intimidate others into obeying them.
1 Peter 5:2-4 "…2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."
1 Peter 5:2-4 "…2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Pretense or Genuine
If we are godly on the inside it will show on the outside. The inside comes first. So often ritualistic people attempt to clean up someone's outside before there is a heart change. Only managing to cover up the darkness that is inside, leaving everyone believing everything is alright. When we cover up the darkness on the inside to please others, we are walking in hypocrisy.
When Christ makes a change in someone, then that change will be permanent and real. When someone tries to pretend on the outside without a heart change, then it does not last and those watching become shocked that the one who looked so good returned to their vomit eventually.
Man cannot keep up pretenses, eventually they will fall back to the old unregenerate self for all to see.
When Christ does the cleaning we are changed never to return to what we were in the past. Hallelujah!!!!
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…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! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
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."
When Christ makes a change in someone, then that change will be permanent and real. When someone tries to pretend on the outside without a heart change, then it does not last and those watching become shocked that the one who looked so good returned to their vomit eventually.
Man cannot keep up pretenses, eventually they will fall back to the old unregenerate self for all to see.
When Christ does the cleaning we are changed never to return to what we were in the past. Hallelujah!!!!
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…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! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
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."
Mark 3 Enlightens Us
Mark 3: read it to learn how you will be treated when you seek to follow Christ.
Mark 3 is a perfect example of the lengths to which rebellious people will go to silence those who uphold righteousness.
The Pharisees were hell bent on making Jesus Christ look like the bad guy when all He did was good His entire life.
When He healed the sick, they criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath and assigned to Him the power of the devil in casting out demons. I suspect that they were jealous that He healed at all, they had no power to do it, so they undermined His reputation through their accusations and gossip.
This is what we can expect as believers. We will do good things and be accused of evil motives or faulty thinking, when actually we obeyed God.
If you set a nice table for guests you will be accused of putting on heirs. If we choose to avoid wicked family gatherings we will be accused of snobbery. When we choose not to attend the wedding of divorced and remarried people we will be criticized, even called hateful and judgmental. Notice they are judging that we are judging. Irrational and controlling people are never consistent because everything they do is based on emotion rather than reasonable facts.
All one has to do as a born again believer is obey Christ and you find yourself under attack.
I recall the time a friend's family decided not to have a television anymore. They found it distracting to the family time and school work, not to mention all the evil that the children thought they wanted to watch.
After the decision to throw out the television, without telling anyone else about it, the relatives came to their home, noticed it was gone, asking why. After receiving the answer the relatives called the parents self righteous, even saying they thought they were better than everyone else.
Sometimes I am astonished that believers will judge someone over the removal of a television but those same people will become enraged if anyone else calls them to account over real and damaging sin in their lives.
Was removing the television from their home a wicked or self-righteous thing? NO, it was a personal choice for the family that pertained to them alone, and yet they were "judged" for their own choice in their own home.
When extended family feel free to judge non-sin issues merely to appear superior, that is when it is time to remove the family from those who would undermine our personal choices in order to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is convicting to those who love their rebellion. Those who want to be free from conviction of any kind will rage at us for our own personal choices.
I noticed too over the years that those who judge on non-sin issues, usually about home decorating or clothing styles, have little depth when it comes to spiritual matters, even though they claim to be "Christian."
Those who love to act superior over us based on our own personal choices for our life that are not sin, are themselves self-righteous. These people hate that we are moving forward in spiritual growth, leaving behind all the bondages of the superficial life style.
Narcissists always want us to be inferior to them and they are enraged when we do not follow their way. The anger builds inside of them, this is why they rage at the silliest things, they are releasing their anger, sort of like a relief valve. They cannot hold in the contempt very long, it must be released for them to "feel" better, but only for that one time, it will have to be released again, the next time we make our own choices.
Proverbs 29:9 "If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest."
The purpose of these little essays? Its simple, when we understand the enemy we are not in bondage to their tricks. When we are confident that we are obeying Christ, the enemy has no power over our decisions and we do not live in fear of the reactions of others over our own personal choices.
Hallelujah!!!!
Mark 3 is a perfect example of the lengths to which rebellious people will go to silence those who uphold righteousness.
The Pharisees were hell bent on making Jesus Christ look like the bad guy when all He did was good His entire life.
When He healed the sick, they criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath and assigned to Him the power of the devil in casting out demons. I suspect that they were jealous that He healed at all, they had no power to do it, so they undermined His reputation through their accusations and gossip.
This is what we can expect as believers. We will do good things and be accused of evil motives or faulty thinking, when actually we obeyed God.
If you set a nice table for guests you will be accused of putting on heirs. If we choose to avoid wicked family gatherings we will be accused of snobbery. When we choose not to attend the wedding of divorced and remarried people we will be criticized, even called hateful and judgmental. Notice they are judging that we are judging. Irrational and controlling people are never consistent because everything they do is based on emotion rather than reasonable facts.
All one has to do as a born again believer is obey Christ and you find yourself under attack.
I recall the time a friend's family decided not to have a television anymore. They found it distracting to the family time and school work, not to mention all the evil that the children thought they wanted to watch.
After the decision to throw out the television, without telling anyone else about it, the relatives came to their home, noticed it was gone, asking why. After receiving the answer the relatives called the parents self righteous, even saying they thought they were better than everyone else.
Sometimes I am astonished that believers will judge someone over the removal of a television but those same people will become enraged if anyone else calls them to account over real and damaging sin in their lives.
Was removing the television from their home a wicked or self-righteous thing? NO, it was a personal choice for the family that pertained to them alone, and yet they were "judged" for their own choice in their own home.
When extended family feel free to judge non-sin issues merely to appear superior, that is when it is time to remove the family from those who would undermine our personal choices in order to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is convicting to those who love their rebellion. Those who want to be free from conviction of any kind will rage at us for our own personal choices.
I noticed too over the years that those who judge on non-sin issues, usually about home decorating or clothing styles, have little depth when it comes to spiritual matters, even though they claim to be "Christian."
Those who love to act superior over us based on our own personal choices for our life that are not sin, are themselves self-righteous. These people hate that we are moving forward in spiritual growth, leaving behind all the bondages of the superficial life style.
Narcissists always want us to be inferior to them and they are enraged when we do not follow their way. The anger builds inside of them, this is why they rage at the silliest things, they are releasing their anger, sort of like a relief valve. They cannot hold in the contempt very long, it must be released for them to "feel" better, but only for that one time, it will have to be released again, the next time we make our own choices.
Proverbs 29:9 "If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest."
The purpose of these little essays? Its simple, when we understand the enemy we are not in bondage to their tricks. When we are confident that we are obeying Christ, the enemy has no power over our decisions and we do not live in fear of the reactions of others over our own personal choices.
Hallelujah!!!!
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