Are You Born Again?

http://truth459.blogspot.com/2011/03/christian-or-born-again-101blog.html

Divorce and Remarriage

http://truth459.blogspot.com/2010/04/remarriage-101blog.html

God's Way or Man's Way?

We are to defend the weak and helpless and threatened.  If we do not defend these people we will be held accountable before God for our protection of the evil person.  Our culture is backward in this now.  As a culture we protect the evil person over the well being of the victims, it is absolutely ludicrous.  

This thinking reminds me of the story of the two psychiatrists walking down the road and encountering a broken and bleeding man lying in a ditch.  The two psychiatrists look upon the man with horror and proclaim to one another....this is just terrible.....than man who did this needs our help. 

This thinking is wicked and selfish, perhaps we don't want to punish the wicked because we may do evil some day and we don't want to be punished......just thinking.

Killing is not always murder, sometimes it is justice and other times it is self defense.

When God said "thou shalt not kill, He was referring to innocent human life, as in the case of abortion or innocent people who have not been accused of crimes.  However in the case of the guilty, we are to defer to state authorities in this matter according to Romans 13:1-5.  There were many examples in Scripture pertaining to the Mosaic Law demanding killing for crimes.  Christ did not change this when He came, Romans demonstrates this. 

Our attitude about killing murderers is adhered to a lesser degree in the more subtle sins among believers.  We tend to protect and defend the believer’s right to their sin by minimizing its offense against a holy God.

We operate the way of the psychiatrists when we chastise a believer who is chastising another believer.  It is not the sinful person who is rebuked, but the righteous for rebuking the one who commits sin. 

1 Timothy 5:20 “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest may fear."

Titus 1:13 "This testimony is true. There fore rebuke them SHARPLY, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth."

Rebuke and correction is not just for the individual, but also for others to see the impact of evil and it's seriousness in the heart of a person.

We are told we should not tell someone they are wrong, while we are being told we are wrong for telling someone they are wrong.  Does anyone notice the hypocrisy here? 

I am reminded of the scripture that says of the last days....men will think in reverse and oppressive terms.  The men of today exchange the truth of God for the lie and because they have no compassion for the victim or the righteous, they ultimately persecute them by defending the perpetrators of evil. 

Isaiah 5:20 "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

I have to wonder if people of these last days identify with the evil doer to such a degree that even though they would not do the crime themselves, they know they are guilty in their own hearts and do not want to be judged for their own wickedness, so they protect and defend the evil doer.

How many of you dear believers have experience the harshness of those who do not like your stand for God's righteousness?  My guess is that some of you who stand boldly for the principles of Christ....encounter and endure this regularly. 

Thankfully God said "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."   Matthew 10:22 We will endure to the end, God said in Ephesians 1:13-14 “"In Him you also [trusted], after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." 

We will endure, it was God's promise to us, and those who mistreat us because of our stand for Christ will be dealt with by God, we can trust Him to take care of that too. 

Our mandate from the Lord is to keep speaking truth in the love of Christ, resolving to do what is best for them, no matter their reaction to us.  That is the love of Christ, that we love God first and our neighbor second.  The two greatest commandments, and that we love them God's way, not man's way.  When we trust the Holy Spirit to do this in us, then we do not have to worry that it will be done right. 

Our job is to fill our hearts and minds with the Word, and when it is needed, the Holy Spirit will bring it forth, His timing, His Way. 

Luke 12:11 “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:"

God really can do it and better than we think we can.  Trust Him, for each moment, each day and praise Him for all that you will see. Often, what He does will look very different than what we would have thought.

Little Clay Men

We are the clay He is the potter. If I had made little clay people and they did to me what we did to Christ, I would smash them up in a little ball, and start over with new ones. Thankfully our God is not like us, His love gives chance after chance to these little arrogant, sneering, autocratic (desiring absolute power over ourselves), haughty, self willed clay pots with big attitudes. We actually think we deserve our salvation. When we see God for Who He is, and we see who we really are, how can we be anything but ashamed and humbled?

Help What Is That?

"Help is the offer of assistance we extend to those who truly need it and want it. Help is not chasing after someone to give them something we think is of value even when they haven't asked for it and show no appreciation for it. Help is not visiting the same issues with someone over and over again when they've already heard the same thing a million times and haven't displayed any motivation to change." From the book "Character Disturbance" by George Simon.

Why do believers continue to stay in the lives of those who have no interest in the things of the Lord, have spurned our wisdom and abused us emotionally? I don't see Christ or Paul remaining in the lives of those who have rejected His Truth, so why do we?

The Lord has shown me in recent years, that when I see that my wisdom is not respected or desired, it is time to walk away. When I interject into conversations and regularly are demeaned or ignored, then I allow this for a time, until I realize that it has become a regular pattern with certain people, then the Lord says to me, "walk away, leave them to Me."

Why do we allow unresponsive people to dominate our lives and intimidate us causing frustration, only to leave us ineffective for the Lord. When God said "come out from among them and be ye separate" I am convinced that He knew what He was talking about.

When we surround ourselves with rebellious people, eventually we begin to respond and act like they do. God said "bad company corrupts good character." Continual company with superficial unteachable believers and rebellious non-believers will impede our spiritual growth and even cause us to reverse in our walk.

If we desire to think and act like Christ, depending on Him, deeply devoted to His Word, then we must surround ourselves with loving mature believers who encourage our determination to obey God.

The day I realized this very important principle, was a day of emancipation from the Narcissist, the manipulator and the pretentious. There is no value in wallowing in the sewage over and over again, we need to come away from the dung and wash in the fresh water of the Word to be with others who are washed.

YES... go into the sewer to bring the Good News but do not stay there with the unwashed that refuse to follow us out to be cleansed.

For those who want to come out, we will see a ravenous hunger for Christ's Word, a teachable and humble Spirit that receives the wisdom we offer from the Word with joy and gladness. These folks will not fight to justify their sin, nor will they be encumbered with pride of appearance, they have come to the Lord in brokenness over their sin and are delighted with being made a new creation by our Lord.
They do not hide from God or their brothers and sisters; they are transparent and ready to grow.

Morals Without Christ

I have just revisited a movie I was introduced to a couple of years ago that demonstrated some very simple principles from the Word that have been ignored in our culture today and for many years.

The name of the movie is "Time Changers." We have attempted to create a cultural moral standard apart from the name of Christ Jesus. We have taught our children not to steal while at the same time too embarrassed to say that the rule was because Christ said not to steal.

We have done the same thing with our politics. We say it is wrong to murder babies, but we don't say that Christ said not to murder babies. As soon as the name of Christ rolls off our lips we are labeled a religious fanatic and left wide open to ridicule, so we carefully omit the name of Christ to spare ourselves embarrassment and rejection.

Rather than boldly proclaiming our Christianity we state our political views, thinking that we have proclaimed our faith when in reality we have not.

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."

When we find every way we can to skirt around the clear Gospel message and speak boldly the name of Christ and His principles, then we have effectively denied Him. Those who hear us, can easily dismiss our views as just a political opinion, rather than authority from God.

I have noticed that non-believers are more tolerant of our differing political views than they are at the mention of Christ. We know it and that's why we choose to hide behind the effeminate skirt of politics. Sadly, it is also true of the church, believers often are more comfortable with conversation about politics than they are about Christ.

Is it any wonder why the church has little influence on our culture, we have removed Christ from our discussions and replaced Him with cultural norms. 1 Corinthians 3:19 in which God says, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their [own] craftiness";

The Lord told us in these last days we would see this, and over the years I made a mental list of attitudes and actions that prove this is true. Much of the time we like to name the big sins of abortion, homosexuality and drunk driving as those that are a depiction of the 2 Timothy 3 passage, but those are not what most believers are tempted to do, so they are safe in naming them. Modern Christianity deals more with arrogance and self will than it does with these "monster" sins we feel so free to quote, thinking they do not pertain to us.

The "big" sins of homosexuality, abortion and drunk driving are not what we are tempted to do, but we have the same mind in us that motivates the "big" sins of others. Pride comes to mind. Many young people lecture the older folks about things rather than asking questions, permeated with the dilution that they know more than those who have lived twice as long as they.

What is "this" that the Lord has told us?

2 Timothy 3
"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themeselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"

We see this everyday, the arrogance can be seen in the face, lack of response and lecturing the young people do to the older folks. But notice what they lecture about....healthy food, excuses for sin and tolerance toward all things. When the younger folks are corrected they react in snapish tones, manipulation and cold shoulders to show their preponderance to need to be in control of the conversation and others. If they can demean the older folks, they are nearly assured that they will silence them.

Unfortunately this tactic has worked in most families. The older folks have given up precious ground in meaningful conversations, in fear that they will be alone without help or companionship. Might I encourage the older folks to say their mind and trust that the Lord will take care of them when they are rejected.

May I also encourage the older folks that when we are set aside and abandoned for our stands for Christ, God will bless us with others who love us and value our wisdom. We need not ignore the last phrase of the passage in 2 Timothy 3 that says "from such turn away." God does not mandate that we keep in our lives those who dishonor Him and will not listen to counsel. This passage has been a comfort to me, during this time of leanness of respect and dishonor.

God can and does provide all our needs and lifts us up as we honor His Word. I know there are many older folks who encounter the meanness mentioned in 2 Timothy 3, because we are living in the last days and God warned us to encourage us. As we see the day approaching we can expect more of this, but know that Christ is our constant companion and when it is all over, we will enter the gates of heaven with a clear conscience and a blessing from our Lord, "well done good and faithful servant."

Blessings and thanks to all those young people who are not acting like this, you are rare and treasured, for your honor and attentiveness to the wisdom of those who have lived so much longer. May the Lord give you greater and greater wisdom as you honor Him and His principles.