Obey God Rather Than Man

No person, man or woman, should submit when someone is telling us to disobey God. Some of our examples are Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Abigail, and Paul when he told the authorities that the apostles are to obey God rather than man when the government forbade him from preaching the gospel.

 
Husbands are not the Authority over the woman; the Holy Spirit is, and she obeys Him first. Authority over is different from a leader. Leaders lead by example and teaching, but they do not have the authority to usurp the Holy Spirit.

 
It is lovely when a husband encourages and teaches what is right, making it easy for the wife and the children to follow. However, when the husband is rude, mean, and disrespectful, we have an obligation to inform him of his sin and that we will not follow as long as he acts this way.

Matthew 20:25-28
"25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them, and those in high position exercise authority over them.
26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant,
27 and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Those who think they can influence others by forcing, punishing and demeaning to keep others in line according to their own idea of righteousness are not only in disobedience to God they are ruining their own witness as well as destroying relationships.

There are couples who teach that the woman should obey the man even if he tells them to sin because they believe he is their leader, equating leader with "authority" over.

 
One person told me years ago that God may have a purpose in the woman disobeying God to obey her husband, this is a form of blasphemy because it places the husband in authority above the Holy Spirit.

 
No one is above the Holy Spirit as an authority over the born-again believer, man or woman.

 
We submit one to another in obedience to the Holy Spirit but never submitting to sin.

 
Ephesians 5:21-6:4
"21 and subject yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
22 Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
28 So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
30 because we are parts of His body.
31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless, as for you individually, each husband is to love his own wife the same as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband."

Notice that the wife is choosing joyfully to follow her husband when he follows Christ. She supports him whenever he obeys God. She counsels him as his helpmate when he deviates from the ways of God. If he refuses to listen and goes the way of sin then she can do nothing about that, but must not be supportive of his disobedience.

 
Remember Ananias and Sapphira? God said they both conspired together to lie to the Holy Spirit, and God killed them both. Sapphira neglected her calling as the helpmate and went along with what her husband planned on doing.

 
Acts 5:1-11
Ananias and Sapphira
5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
2 With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events."

It is the responsibility of the wife to counsel her husband as she helps him understand that what he is about to do will dishonor God. Sapphira obeyed her husband in the sin, and God considered it "conspiring together."

 
When we seek Christ in all things we will not be led astray by humanistic religious teaching devised by men to keep others under their thumb.

 
When we are dedicated to Christ in all things there will be times when others will judge us as rebellious or usurping, because they do not understand the working of the Holy Spirit and the purpose of marriage.

Rather than listening to people about our calling and the nature of marriage it is best to go to the Bible and prayer to find the answers. It will offend many people who do not know Christ but claim they do. They are living in a paganistic world based on fallen human wisdom and a desire to dominate others.

 
Seek Christ and you will not go wrong, even if everyone around you hates you for it, you will still be blessed.

 
Psalm 118:26 "26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you."

We should all submit one to another when it does not involve sin, this is for everyone not just husbands and wives. 

Ephesians 1:21 21 and subject yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ."

Grumpy Old People Who Miss Their Fun

The people I have known who think they must have their fun first never stop seeking adventure, even in their old age. They become sad and grumpy in their old age because they struggle to appreciate the simple things in life. They tend to be selfish, never building quality and enduring relationships.

Understanding Salvation!

So many Christians do not understand that when we become born again, it is not because we lived our lives in obedience to Christ. This might offend some people because most do not understand.

 
When we trust in Christ because He paid our debt for sin, realizing and acknowledging our sinful nature is beyond our own repair, we accept that Christ paid the price and believe and depend upon Him to change our wicked heart.

 
Those who work hard all their lives to appear spiritual on the outside but harbor anger and self-righteousness in their heart will "have a form of religion but deny Christ" through their disobedience to His Word.

They claim to be good people, avoiding the big bad sins but covertly treat people disrespectfully, using false doctrine to justify their rude attitudes. They claim things God said that He never said and act superior to others who challenge them to look deeper into the word of God.

These people are madly in love with their own religious version of themselves. I witness this all the time that some who say they are Christians disobey more of the scripture than they obey, while making up their own idea of spirituality that God never gave.

These pretenders use scripture out of context and impose their false assertions on others. Judging others as sinning who are not, as well as gossiping to anyone who will listen to undermine the walk of those who are obedient to the scriptures.
We are not obedient to gain heaven, we become obedient because Christ changed our nature, and the sin we used to love, we now hate, and we love what He loves.
There is no one more convincting to the pretender than those who expect the pretender to adhere to what God said rather than follow their own perverted version of religion.

 
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds."

We walk among many people who are pretenders. They reject us as much as other unbelievers. They are unbelievers in disguise, full of self-exaltation and rebellion against God.

 
What to do about this problem we face often? We walk in obedience to God, speak the truth as led by the Holy Spirit and avoid those who have a false religion devised in their own minds.

 
1 John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

2 Timothy 4:3-4 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

God warns us how it will be in the last days and tells us to avoid those who pretend to be Christian but undermine the Bible. They will even claim they are "Bible believers" while they fight against sound doctrine with those who are faithful to the word.

 
2 Peter 2:1 'But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction."

Do not be discouraged, this is not about us. When they become angry that we corrected them or chose to walk away from them, their anger is on them; it tells us their heart. We need not feel guilty or less joyful. Our calling is to tell the truth and leave all the results to God; if we obey in this, then we will be at peace.

 
Keep Looking Up, soon we will be celebrating the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the greatest feast ever observed with the Lord Jesus Christ at the center.

Elders of the Ekklesia: The Role of Elders in Early Christian Assemblies

From Larry Jones: Amen, Amen!!!

Do not obey Men, Obey Christ!!!!

I used to worry about how I said something to someone so they would receive it. I gave that up when I realized it meant I was not trusting the Holy Spirit for my delivery and that my delivery didn't determine the response.

 
When someone is offended by the truth of Christ, I walk away. It is not possible to "reason" with a stubborn heart.

 
There is always the possibility that God will send a stubborn person 20 other people, and the last person to tell them will be the one to see the heart that was softened by the other 19 encounters. Or ten thousand more encounters will not change a hardened heart, but the hearer will be responsible before God for what decision he made for or against Christ.

 
Since all that is up to God, we can freely walk away and leave it to Him. He knows what will happen and what someone may need.

Believers need to stop "second-guessing" their delivery and be confident that the Holy Spirit will give them what they need when they need it.

 
Mark 13:11 "11 And when they [a]arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you at that time; for you are not the ones speaking, but it is the Holy Spirit."

I am convinced many Christians do not speak the gospel to people out of fear, doubting that they will say the right thing or worrying that someone will be offended.

 
Here's the thing: people will be offended no matter how friendly we are or how careful we try to be. When we fear what people will say, think, or react, we will never be able to share the gospel with anyone. We must be unconcerned about our delivery as we depend entirely on the Holy Spirit to speak through us.

 
Perhaps most Christians do not trust the Holy Spirit in their lives; they try to figure out what will be acceptable to the culture, leaving them impotent and weak.
It is only through the leading of the Holy Spirit that we can be fearless and bold, able to share the truth with anyone as led by Christ. I do believe God holds us back at times because He knows those we should be talking to and those left to others.

Acts 16:6-7
"6 They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;
7 and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;"

When we set aside all man-made rules and formulas for witnessing or anything else, we will be able to hear from the Holy Spirit to do what He specifically directs us in all situations.

 
No worries, not figuring things out littered with doubt and no pressure from others. What freedom from the culture we have when we seek Christ in all things!!! Hallelujah!

Sinless Perfection is the Devil's Lie to Keep People from Confessing their Sin to be Cleansed

Those who believe in "sinless perfection" after salvation will never grow in holiness. If we cannot admit our flaws, we will defend them as justifiable, further solidifying a hardened heart.

Blaming others for the problems of the hardened heart only serves to destroy relationships and impede emotional and spiritual growth. And, it may be an indication that someone was not ever born again.

 
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Notice the words; "if we confess our sins", clearly stating the condition for cleansing. God will not cleanse anyone who ignores or defends their sin. They will experience the consequences without help from Him. Or, He will discipline those who are stubborn until they break under the weight of their own guilt and eventually confess.

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?"

If they do not confess, they will go before the Father in heaven. When the dross is burned off, there will be little or nothing left for a reward.

Colossians 3:23-24
"23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people,
24 knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."

As believers, we do not "work heartily" for salvation, but only for rewards. If our work was for salvation, then the sacrifice on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ would be silly. He paid the debt of our sin that we could not pay. If we cannot pay the debt ourselves through our own works, then what makes us think we can lose it through our own works?

The confusion arises when people appear to walk away from the gospel, or there is no evidence of a difference in their lives as a result of being changed by Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:13-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?"

Pretenders do not change much because they are doing their works of righteousness in the flesh, not by the power of God. They tend to be prideful about themselves because they are "doing" what they believe to be right. This is the reason they make no progress in holiness; they are depending on their own way instead of the principles and commands of Christ.

 
God said we will be able to know these people by their fruit or lack of fruit. Some believers appear to have fruit, but it is not lasting and it is fleshly without authentic fruit.

 
This fruit is Spiritually discerned by those who walk in the Spirit of Christ Who lives in them.

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

Matthew 7:16-21 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?
17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 So then, you will know them by their fruits.
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 will enter."

Those who say "we cannot know another man's heart only God does" is quoting scripture out of context. God has shown the born-again believer the heart of men through these passages. It would make no sense to give us the criteria of a heart changed by God or not changed by Him unless it was instruction to know what to look for and how to hear from the Holy Spirit when He warns us in knowing who is real and who is not.

 
Why do we need to know who is authentic and who is not? We are told that light has no fellowship with darkness. We will not be one in Spirit with those who are pretenders; they will hinder our walk, and worse, they will influence baby believers to be like them.

 
Many of the "Christians" I know lack love, they lack joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, and self-control. It is not a matter of having an occasional fall in weakness; these traits are absent in those who live a lifestyle of lack of these traits. This lack of the fruit is a habit without conscience and even defensiveness when confronted with the truth about themselves.

 
Those who have the fruit of the Spirit live in a constant lifestyle of love, demonstrating the fruit without having to think about it. This fruit is so much a part of their being that they automatically operate according to the fruit of the Spirit. If they fall momentarily, they quickly confess and hate what they did. These moments of fall are rare in their lives because the fruit of Christ dominates them continually.
Sometimes it is difficult to discern who is who because Christians can be stubborn and resistant to correction. These are the ones who will have all the dross burned away on judgment day, leaving nothing for rewards, but they will still be saved. 1 Corinthians 3

When I am not able to tell if someone is saved or not I have a rule of thumb I follow. If someone says they are a Christian but resists the Word of God, I maintain a distance from them because God said to correct a brother or sister, and if they will not listen, do not keep company with them. They may be a pretender with whom we have no fellowship with darkness, or they may be a disobedient sibling that God tells us to avoid.

 
Our fellowship with believers has to be according to the Word of God and in agreement. Someone is not going to change their heart because we hang around acting friendly. More than likely they will solidify the rebellion through acceptance of their condition.

 
James 5:16 "Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail."
As believers, our job is to preach the gospel to the lost and to edify the brethren. If a sibling in Christ is contentious and will not hear the truth or follow it, they must be removed, or we will become like them. The more we tolerate sin in our brothers and sisters the more we will be influenced by it. The same thing is true of unbelievers who are pretenders.

 
The practice of the culture of our day is to worry more about someone's feelings than we are concerned about their spiritual condition. It is a selfish stance to remain silent so that we do not incure the anger of the one who does not want to hear the truth.

If we care about our brothers and sisters, we will help them with the truth. If we care about the lost, we will help them with the truth. If they become angry, refusing to hear, then that is on them, and we are not only free to walk away but commanded to do so.

 
Our culture likes to blame the truth teller for making someone angry by exposing sin. We do not make someone angry with the truth; they choose it, and their response is not on us.