Ever Learning and Never Coming to the Knowledge of the Truth

A person does not become a Christian by learning a lot about the Bible. The devil knows the Bible better than anyone and he will go to hell along with all the Bible scholars who thought they would gain heaven by their knowledge or their good works.

Ephesians 2:8-9

"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Matthew 7:21-23

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.

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 miracles?’

23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"

Those who are born again, having been changed by Christ after having faith in Him, will do good works but they are not saved by the works, they are saved by Christ because of their faith in Him.

Many people who are highly educated in the Bible and have attended Bible schools and seminaries securing a degree to be able to be a hireling by church gatherings, will go to hell for their trust in their education and degrees.

Never at any time did God say we must get a formal education by the hand of human beings, He told us to trust in Christ, read His Word, and obey what it says after we are born again, to be able to become wise. This wisdom does not come from human institutions but from Christ Himself.

Ephesians 2:9

"Not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Romans 12:1-21

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. "

Nowhere in the Bible do we see a command to build a college to teach men for the ministry, what we do see is commands to seek the Holy Spirit for all wisdom.

John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"

Next time someone says to you; "we need human teachers" just ask them if they believe the Holy Spirit is a better teacher than a man. Then ask them if they believe the Holy Spirit speaks to everyone who is born again. Then ask them if they believe the Holy Spirit comes to live in each believer with all His gifts and fruit.

Believe me, we have teachers every one of whom is fallible, yes we enjoy some of them, but we fully trust no one. Only Christ can be fully trusted to show us the truth.

Many preachers would tell us to never place our trust in Gold while intimidating us to trust in them instead of Christ. They live their lives acting as though we ought to trust in them first and then Christ. In other words, we are to interpret the Bible their way rather than interpreting the Bible the way God meant it to say.

God clearly said; "Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man."

Jeremiah 17:5

"Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord."

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Mark 7:13 "13Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”"

The modern church is so full of human traditions it is hardly recognizable when comparing it with the first Century church begun by Christ and the Apostles. The takeaway from this article is that we can listen to godly men while evaluating all they say by the Scriptures. Never place a man on equal footing with Christ, He is the only one we ought to elevate.

Worship Toward God Every Day

What is worship toward God?

A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1-2

Dedicated Service

"12 Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

What is our spiritual service toward God?

Our bodies a living and holy sacrifice to God.

To not be conformed by the world.

A transformed mind by knowing the scriptures and letting it (powerful words of God) change us.

I see nothing here about outward physical gestures and mantras, I do see, however, prayer and scripture reading for the purpose of becoming a transformed person.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Rituals determined by men is not worship but legalistic gestures to make people feel like they have done something special. Fulfilling an obligation of outward gestures is not worship and does not please God.

People can go to church gatherings all their lives, sing the songs, repeat the prayers and bow before the altar and not be born again. They can do all the things expected of them by others and never ever worship God's Way, which is through the power of Jesus Christ in them continually being transformed as the one worshiping obeys God in their life.

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘ These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”…"

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Confession and Forgiveness both Necessary in a Relationship Reconcile

One does not necessarily hold onto anger just because they do not forgive an unrepentant offender. Forgiveness is for reconciling the relationship, without confession of wrongdoing there is no reconciliation.

No one becomes automatically bitter when they do not forgive the offender. We love them, we treat them respectfully but that is not forgiveness.

Luke 17:3-4 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” "

We are to pray for those who offend us but we are not required to forgive unless they express repentance for their act. We are to treat with respect the one who offended us, giving them the respect they didn't show us, but that is not forgiveness. We are not to do revenge but that is not forgiveness.

To say that we are to forgive for ourselves is psychology, not Bible. We forgive for the other person just as the offender confesses for the other person. Each party does what is necessary to reconcile the relationship, that is confess and forgive, two sides of the same coin, both must be present.

Why do so many people pressure the offended party to forgive but rarely pressure the offender to repent? Just asking!

So many victims are being bludgeoned by ignorant Christians who have bought into the lie of psychology that we will be bitter if we do not forgive someone who is not sorry. The truth is, we are more likely to become bitter because there has been no justice and yet we are pressured to forgive.

Satan knows just how to mess people up, that is to place pressure on godly people to do what is against God's Word and further empowers wicked people to grow worse.

Is it any wonder that crime has increased since the criminals know they will not be given the justice they deserve because everyone is just trying to seem the nice guy by letting them off without consequences?

Satan has managed to make sin look good and good look sinful just as the Bible said He would. There is a greater purpose in withholding forgiveness toward the unrepentant than just personal good feelings.

2 Corinthians 7:8-9 "8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it, I now see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time. 9 And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.…"

Sorrow over sin breaks the stubborn will of the sinner, allowing him a greater chance of confessing to be cleansed by Christ. We remove the opportunity for sorrow over sin by forgiving prematurely. We can see how our culture has degenerated coddling the sinner while punishing the one who desires to keep him accountable.

Perhaps if Christians would stop taking their instruction from the secular world and began obeying the Word of God there would be a little more justice and spiritual growth within the church.

Respect and Honor are nearly Gone from this Culture

It is not possible to honor God while dishonoring parents. In this generation, many adult children think they have a good reason to be disrespectful to their parents, often when an innocent comment or action was said or done. 

This generation is hypersensitive to correction or disagreement, they see these things as personal attacks by people who hate them. And yet, they feel free to express disrespectfully their own thoughts as they misjudge their parents. 

We are living in a generation that does not listen and even worse does not want to hear anything that doesn't elevate them as special. They will rage at those they should treat with respect and elevate those who are disobeying God. 

Don't let this discourage you, brethren, keep your eyes on Jesus Christ and all the arrows coming from the devil will fall to the ground without harming us. 

Honoring God by Honoring Your Parents

Those who do not honor their parents are in disobedience against God, they do not honor God either.  It is not possible to honor God while dishonoring your parents. 

Love and Serve Like Jesus

Amir Tsarfati's Bible Bite message for today:
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Bible Bite: Love and Serve Like Jesus

It seems as though the significance of the moniker we wear as the body of Christ is lost on many in the church today. When we tell someone we are a Christian, we are not informing them of our religious affiliation nor are we identifying ourselves with an organization. When we say we are a Christian we are saying we are “like Christ”, for this is the very definition of the term.

Now before we wander into despair as we think about what we are like and what Christ is like, or before we lapse into the unbiblical thinking that Christians can and should arrive at a state of moral perfection in this life, we need to remember this:

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
This gives us the duration of the task of making us “like Christ” which will last until we meet Jesus.

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

There is an old saying that; “If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it.” As a Christian, our aim is to be like Christ, and Christ has committed himself to the task of working on us until we see Him. But we also need to remember that John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God” not we will be children of God when we are like Christ. John, as Paul did in Philippians, said this aim to be like Christ is going to be our goal the whole of our lives on earth, and only when we see Him will we finally be fully like Him.

So what was He like? His self-description in Matthew gives us a portion of our target to aim at in a Christ-like life:

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The first aspect we note of the Lord’s self-description is He offered rest to the weary and heavy laden.

Galatians 6:2-3
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

As Christians we should be known as burden-bearers, people who can be counted on when others fall apart, people who are a support to others in their distresses. After all, the One we claim to be “like” endured the cross though He despised the shame. (Hebrews 12:2) He also prayed that if possible that this “cup” would pass from Him. 

However, He also prayed that the Father’s will would be done. (Matthew 26:39) We too will encounter and endure unpleasant and unwanted things. Yet, the presence of a Christian in any situation should be a calming one to others, not a source of agitation. People should sense something in us that puts them at rest or ease.

We also see that Jesus sought to yoke Himself with others, so they could learn from Him. This, too, should be our aim when interacting with others. Our relationship and identification as a Christ follower should infiltrate every encounter and relationship we have. In other words, people should see and hear in us something that is distinct, calming, assuring, like Jesus was to those around Him.
We also see that Jesus was gentle and lowly in heart.

Philippians 2:3-4
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

The heart, being the source of thoughts, feelings, and emotions paired with gentleness of the words that come from the heart, gives us an even clearer picture of what we are saying when we say that we are a Christian. We are saying we are like Jesus in that we lighten the burdens of life in those around us, and others learn of the attributes of Jesus by watching us and hearing us.

Some years ago it was not uncommon to hear a pastor say if they came to your work to arrest all the Christians, would you confess to being one? The weakness of this quip is simple; if they came to arrest the Christians at your work, everyone should already know you are one.

Saying you are a Christian is the most significant claim that anyone will ever make in life, let’s live so our lives look like that of Jesus. Amen!
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.

Compelled by the Holy Spirit

If you are walking daily with the Holy Spirit, and you are having a bad sense about someone or something then ask Him to reveal more to you. When the Holy Spirit speaks it is not a "feeling" it is a strong "sense" or a "compelling" about something.

Whenever I have gotten this sense, every time I learned later why the Holy Spirit was warning me or redirecting my actions to a better way I couldn't see ahead.

When we plan things out of fear or personal desire we cannot hear the Holy Spirit. When we ignore the Holy Spirit we suffer things we need not suffer.

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."

When we desire to lean on Christ, believe His Word and obey Him, He will direct us.

James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"