It seems that people think the legalization of sin is tantamount to God's approval!
We must read the Bible to be able to discern right from wrong, not trusting in our government laws.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
You Can Do Better!
"Self esteem" is just another word for "pride", and we know what God said about that. God's kind of encouragement leads us to say to people "you can do better."
Proverbs 11:2 "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom."
Proverbs 16:5 "Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished."
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 26:12 "Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.'
James 4:6 "But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Proverbs 11:2 "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom."
Proverbs 16:5 "Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished."
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 26:12 "Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.'
James 4:6 "But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Giving Without Work Is Not Love
Giving Without Requirements Is Not Love
I have been running into lots of people who seem to believe
that nothing should be required of others in our giving.
When God told the farmers to leave the edges of their field,
not harvesting them, that those who were poor could come and gather the
harvest, called 'gleanning', He never said pick up all the edges and just give
them to the poor, He told them to leave edges that those who were poor would
come and work to get them.
When we require nothing in return for goods we rob the poor
person of the dignity of gathering for himself, learning thoughtfulness of
others, that they not inconvenience them and the gratefulness that comes from
being able to have food that they worked to get.
The same principle applies in relationships concerning
repentance.
When we require no repentance for wrongs done, we rob the
offender of an opportunity to grow and become more holy. Not requiring
repentance in an offender is selfishness. It is much easier to pretend nothing
is wrong, than to expect accountability when we know we may lose a friend.
Matthew 18:15 ""If your brother sins, go and show
him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your
brother."
Our charity must be with the welfare of the poor person in
mind, not just their immediate need, but their overall well being. Giving
without any requirements hardly ever fosters change in another person's heart,
it merely enhances and reinforces an entitlement mentality, this is true of
material goods as well as forgiveness.
We have been fostering laziness and ungratefulness by
requiring nothing from those who have offended or refused to work.
Of course we require nothing of an invalid who cannot work,
but this does not include all those who claim to be "disabled", but
seem to have the ability to walk all over town doing things they want to do.
We should be giving freely without requirements to those who
are elderly or infirmed physically who cannot get out of their beds. These are
not the majority of cases that we see. If someone can walk or drive down to the
food bank to get free food, then they are able to do something to earn it.
We have an "enablement mentality", in our country.
We want others to think well of us, so we think giving without requirements or
rules, is godly, but in fact it is not always so. The focus of our giving is
ourselves, to be glorifed ourselves, to be admired and liked by the community.
If we have a deep concern for the poor we would teach them
to fish instead of just giving them the fish already caught.
Salvation and spiritual growth is much more important than
someone's feelings. Those who would resist helping or working to earn their
food, are in a state of rebellion and laziness. A decent person who is grateful
will want to work for their food, and may want to do extra work to be able to
share with others.
Ephesians 4:28 "28 Let the thief no longer steal, but
rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have
something to share with anyone in need."
Work shows us our inner character, it develops skills and
enhances the health of the body. When we rob the poor of the opportunity to
earn what they get, we are only thinking about ourselves.
Proverbs 18:9 "Whoever is slack in his work is a
brother to him who destroys."
Our charity must be with the welfare of the poor in mind,
not only their bellies, but also their spiritual inner man.
We have a culture that looks only at the outside of a
person, they want food so we give it, neglecting the need for the poor to
develop their inner man and enjoy the fruits of their own labor.
We are a fast food culture, we want to do the easy thing,
just throw money and goods at the problem, then we will not have to take the
extra steps of interacting with the poor, helping them see their need for work
and spiritual growth.
JUST GIVING WITHOUT REQUIRING WORK AND JUST FORGIVING
WITHOUT REQUIRING REPENTANCE IS NOT GODLY BUT SELFISH.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Self Esteem Mentality has Destroyed our Country
My husband heard a report on the news this morning that in all the areas of the country where the standard for school academics was raised, there was a high drop out rate. What does this tell us? We are living in times when the children do not want to do anything hard, they like things to be easy and lots of praise for doing almost nothing. They drop out of school when things get tough and they do the same in marriage when the road gets rough. Bailing out of difficulties seems to be the mentality of this generation. Parents have not allowed their children to struggle or sweat, but jumped in every time the little darlings cried, rather than spurring them on to greater accomplishments.
This is what the teaching and training of self esteem has brought to our country. The children do not know how to do anything with diligence, but what they do they must receive praise.
Our children are praised even when they could do better, to spare their "self esteem." What we have created are arrogant and unteachable people who will not work hard and who will expect great perks for doing little. These people refuse to work unless they can have the top jobs right away, they will not work hard starting at the bottom as previous generations did.
This mentality has infiltrated the church and caused leaders to dumb down the gospel message to please the hearer, rather than challenge and convict. We have an entire generation of whiners.
There is only one solution for this mess, and that is to bring the gospel to this generaton and let the Lord work in their hearts.. Attempting to explain hard work and the principles of God to an unregenerate heart, will be of no help. They will not hear until they have realized their lost condition and need to be changed on the inside.
Beginning on the outside to change their behavior before they are born again, only produces pride and most of the time will only make them more rebellious. When a person who is not saved asks us for advice we can give it, but if we offer advice when it is not solicited, before someone has a changed heart, our advice will be spurned and rejected.
We must speak the gospel message whether anyone wants it or not, but advice for life must wait until they want it or they have been regenerated by Christ.
Proverbs 23:9 "Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words."
Ezekiel 2:7 ""But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious."
This is what the teaching and training of self esteem has brought to our country. The children do not know how to do anything with diligence, but what they do they must receive praise.
Our children are praised even when they could do better, to spare their "self esteem." What we have created are arrogant and unteachable people who will not work hard and who will expect great perks for doing little. These people refuse to work unless they can have the top jobs right away, they will not work hard starting at the bottom as previous generations did.
This mentality has infiltrated the church and caused leaders to dumb down the gospel message to please the hearer, rather than challenge and convict. We have an entire generation of whiners.
There is only one solution for this mess, and that is to bring the gospel to this generaton and let the Lord work in their hearts.. Attempting to explain hard work and the principles of God to an unregenerate heart, will be of no help. They will not hear until they have realized their lost condition and need to be changed on the inside.
Beginning on the outside to change their behavior before they are born again, only produces pride and most of the time will only make them more rebellious. When a person who is not saved asks us for advice we can give it, but if we offer advice when it is not solicited, before someone has a changed heart, our advice will be spurned and rejected.
We must speak the gospel message whether anyone wants it or not, but advice for life must wait until they want it or they have been regenerated by Christ.
Proverbs 23:9 "Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words."
Ezekiel 2:7 ""But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious."
Jealousy destroys gratitude!
When we are jealous of what others have or their talents and gifts, we can only be walking in ungratefulness for what was given to us, thinking that we need what others have to be elevated or successful.
James 4:2-3
"You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
We cannot praise God and be jealous of others at the same time.
James 4:2-3
"You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
We cannot praise God and be jealous of others at the same time.
Gratefulness Makes All The Difference
It is only possible to worship God when we are grateful.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Hebrews 12:28
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and worship God in reverence and fear in a way that pleases him."
1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Hebrews 12:28
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and worship God in reverence and fear in a way that pleases him."
Monday, August 4, 2014
Are You a Virgin With a Full Lamp
I have been told a number of times that believers need to prepare for the rapture.
How would we prepare as believers for the coming of Christ? Those who say we need to, never tell us how to do this.
I see no mandate in the word to "prepare" for the Lord's return. The only preparation that needs to be done, is the work Christ already did when he made us into a new creation. It is His preparation that declares us ready.
The story of the ten virgins had to do with five virgins who were prepared because they were born again, the other five were not prepared because they were not born again.
Five virgins had oil (Holy Spirit) in their lamps, and the other five had no oil ( Holy spirit) in their lamps.
Matthew 25:1-13
"
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.2 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, l‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
The parable of the virgins drives home the point that is made in Matthew 7, that many will think they are safe, a member of God's family, but they are not. They run with the group of Christians, just as Judas ran with Christ and the apostles, but they were never born again. Frightening as it is, these people will expect to be taken in the rapture, they will expect to be going to heaven, but they will not be going there, they will be rejected and cast away.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
1 John 2:19
"They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."
There are many in the church today who are confidently going about their business expecting to go home to Christ, but have never experienced the oil of the Holy Spirit, Who is the cleansing balm for their soul.
These people have been expecting to get to heaven, accepted by Christ because of their own good works. They are confident that they have been good enough to make it. Sadly, these same people are the hardest to reach for the Kingdom, because they enjoy their own goodness so much that they take the credit for it, rather than giving all the credit to Christ.
These are proud people lacking humility and brokenness over their sin. Had they been broken, openly confessing their sin to Christ and others, they would have been made into a new creation by our Lord. He would have cleansed them and sealed them with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee. But these people are too prideful to admit their sinful nature and go on thinking they will enter the Kingdom through their own merits.
Psalm 34:18
"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
When we come to the place that we realize we are unable to be anything good, and that Christ alone is good, then we can confess openly that we need His blood to cover our sin in payment for our penalty that we owed, then He will come to dwell in us as the guarantee of our inheritance.
Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
When we become born again we are changed into a new creation, no longer to return to the old.
2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
These are the 5 virgins who are going up in the rapture, those who have confessed they are sinners and have trusted Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the shedding of His blood for them, that will be indwelt with the Holy Spirit, becoming the bride of Christ.
The other 5 virgins are those who will not trust Christ, but are expecting to gain heaven by their association with other believer or by their own merits. Whoa unto those who will not weep over their sin and trust Christ, their eternity is very bleak.
May we pray for those we know who have not trusted Christ, that they will do so before it is too late......and that could be very soon!
How would we prepare as believers for the coming of Christ? Those who say we need to, never tell us how to do this.
I see no mandate in the word to "prepare" for the Lord's return. The only preparation that needs to be done, is the work Christ already did when he made us into a new creation. It is His preparation that declares us ready.
The story of the ten virgins had to do with five virgins who were prepared because they were born again, the other five were not prepared because they were not born again.
Five virgins had oil (Holy Spirit) in their lamps, and the other five had no oil ( Holy spirit) in their lamps.
Matthew 25:1-13
"
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.2 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, l‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
The parable of the virgins drives home the point that is made in Matthew 7, that many will think they are safe, a member of God's family, but they are not. They run with the group of Christians, just as Judas ran with Christ and the apostles, but they were never born again. Frightening as it is, these people will expect to be taken in the rapture, they will expect to be going to heaven, but they will not be going there, they will be rejected and cast away.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
1 John 2:19
"They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."
There are many in the church today who are confidently going about their business expecting to go home to Christ, but have never experienced the oil of the Holy Spirit, Who is the cleansing balm for their soul.
These people have been expecting to get to heaven, accepted by Christ because of their own good works. They are confident that they have been good enough to make it. Sadly, these same people are the hardest to reach for the Kingdom, because they enjoy their own goodness so much that they take the credit for it, rather than giving all the credit to Christ.
These are proud people lacking humility and brokenness over their sin. Had they been broken, openly confessing their sin to Christ and others, they would have been made into a new creation by our Lord. He would have cleansed them and sealed them with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee. But these people are too prideful to admit their sinful nature and go on thinking they will enter the Kingdom through their own merits.
Psalm 34:18
"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
When we come to the place that we realize we are unable to be anything good, and that Christ alone is good, then we can confess openly that we need His blood to cover our sin in payment for our penalty that we owed, then He will come to dwell in us as the guarantee of our inheritance.
Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
When we become born again we are changed into a new creation, no longer to return to the old.
2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
These are the 5 virgins who are going up in the rapture, those who have confessed they are sinners and have trusted Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the shedding of His blood for them, that will be indwelt with the Holy Spirit, becoming the bride of Christ.
The other 5 virgins are those who will not trust Christ, but are expecting to gain heaven by their association with other believer or by their own merits. Whoa unto those who will not weep over their sin and trust Christ, their eternity is very bleak.
May we pray for those we know who have not trusted Christ, that they will do so before it is too late......and that could be very soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)