Ungodly Influences in Our Lives

Jeremiah 2:1-5,13 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

1Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says:

‘I remember the devotion of your youth,

your love as a bride,

how you followed Me in the wilderness,

in a land not sown.

3Israel was holy to the LORD,

the firstfruits of His harvest.

All who devoured her

were found guilty;

disaster came upon them,’”

declares the LORD.

 

4Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel. 5This is what the LORD says:

“What fault did your fathers find in Me

that they strayed so far from Me?

They followed worthless idols,

and became worthless themselves.”

 

“13For My people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken Me,

the fountain of living water,

and they have dug their own cisterns—

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

 

Forsaking The Lord

 

Believing in Jesus Christ is not a one time event which takes place in our lives which guarantees us entry into God’s heaven when we die. All is well which ends well, not all that begins well and then fizzles out to nothing as time progresses. We don’t just “get saved” and now we can live however we want and still spend eternity with God in His heaven. The Bible teaches that we are saved (past), we are being saved (present active), and we will be saved (future) when Christ returns provided we continue to live for Him.

 

[Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 9:23-26; John 8:31-32; John 15:1-12; Romans 6:16; Romans 8:24; Romans 11:17-24; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; Hebrews 3:6,14-15; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5,9; 2 Peter 1:5-11; 2 Peter 2:20-22; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6,24-25]

 

So, if we profess faith in Jesus Christ with our lips, and for a while we are faithful in service to Him, but then we get captivated by the world and by the sinful pleasures of the flesh, and if that is where we remain, and if we do not repent of our sins, and if we do not go back to serving the Lord with our lives, we are not guaranteed heaven as our eternal destiny. For Jesus said that not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the ones DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Matthew 7:21-23).

 

Our Earthly Fathers

 

Our earthly fathers can include our birth parents, but they can also include our spiritual leaders which we had throughout our lives. And they can include public or private school teachers, or Sunday school teachers, or Bible study leaders, or pastors or elders or deacons, or anyone in a position of authority, especially in spiritual authority over us as we were growing up and into adulthood. These are people who have left their mark on our lives and who had enormous influence over our beliefs and over our practices.

 

Some of them may have been people of integrity, honesty, moral purity, and uprightness who set good and godly examples for us in how we are to live as followers of Christ. Others may have been legalists who insisted on non-essentials while they were liars, thieves, abusers, and adulterers, i.e. they were hypocrites. And others may have been idolaters who were putting on a performance of righteousness while they sinned in secret, or those who taught we do not have to obey God and repent of our sins. All kinds!

 

Their Examples to Us

 

So, we may have had some good and godly examples in our lives, and/or we may have had some really horrible examples in our lives of what being a Christian should look like in daily practice. Either way, we are all individually responsible to God for our own actions. For we all know right from wrong. We all can discern good from evil if we choose to. So if we forsake the Lord, and if we go after the idols and the sinful pleasures this world has to offer us, it is on us, not on anyone else. We must answer to God for what we do.

 

Sadly, we live in a day and time (in the USA, we do) when so many people are listening to the wrong voices and so they are following after what those voices are telling them rather than searching the Scriptures themselves to see what they teach in their appropriate biblical context. And context is critical to correct biblical interpretation. Too many false teachings come from Scriptures being taught out of context and thus twisted to say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. So, be discerning people.

 

The Gospel

 

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

 

For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven (see Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1-3).

 

Ungodly Influences in Our Lives

An Original Work / October 19, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

For Our Nation 

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

https://vimeo.com/379406352

Neither Cold Nor Hot, Video

This is the last of the writings to the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3. This is the church in Laodicea who was neither on fire for the Lord nor were the people totally against the Lord, but they were spiritually lukewarm. So Jesus was about to spit them out of His mouth. This is like those today who profess faith in Jesus with their lips but who still make sin their practice and not obedience to God. And so the Lord is calling them to repent of their sin and to obey His commands. So He is calling out to His wayward church to let Him back into their lives so that in the end they would have eternal life with God.

https://youtu.be/KfiklxpK2YI 

By Him Who's to be Treasured

May I tell you truly, 

You who’re so unruly,

Life is to be measured

By Him who’s to be treasured.

God, who is The Righteous,

Is a God of justice.

He declared His wisdom

Through those who had His vision.

They foretold the future,

Of nations in a stupor,

Of times like that of Noah,

Of people in a coma,

A time when God must judge us,

For He must bring us justice,

To turn the hearts of people

Away from all their evil.

An Original Work / October 19, 2023

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37-39 ESV

Get Yourselves Ready

Jeremiah 1:13-16 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

13Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?” “I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.” 14Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land. 15For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD.

 

“Their kings will come and set up their thrones

at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.

They will attack all her surrounding walls

and all the other cities of Judah.

16I will pronounce My judgments against them

for all their wickedness,

because they have forsaken Me,

and they have burned incense to other gods

and worshiped the works of their own hands.

 

For All Their Wickedness

 

Translated to our world today, this is speaking of the judgment of God against all who profess the name of Jesus but who are living the opposite of what God requires of us who profess His name. This is against all who have forsaken the Lord to go after the idols of this world, who are living immoral, sinful and wicked lives. Among them are those who engage in what is illegal, fake, manipulative, twisted, seductive, sexually immoral, and/or rebellious, and they do this habitually with hard hearts while faking the opposite.

 

Among them are those who are predators who spin webs of deceit in order to catch others in their snare. They are liars and deceivers who profess one thing with their lips while they live the opposite, who lead others astray with their lies, and who will lead others into sin, and/or who willfully misrepresent someone who is following the Lord Jesus, out of hatred and jealousy, and in order to destroy them and their reputation. Although they might profess love for God with their lips, their lifestyles and habits speak the opposite of that.

 

They Have Forsaken God

 

Sadly, so much of what is called “church” today, here in the USA, are businesses of human origin being marketed to the people of the world. They are designed to attract the world to their gatherings, and so they use gimmicks and entertainment to draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings. Therefore, they also dilute and alter the gospel of our salvation so as not to offend the people of the world and to be more acceptable to those who are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin.

 

So many of them now are teaching that all we have to do, in order to be saved and on our way to heaven, is to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, done deal! But the Scriptures teach we must deny self, die to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to His commands, in life practice, if we are to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For Jesus died and rose from the dead in order to deliver us out from under our slavery to sin so we will now serve Him with our lives in walks of obedience to His commands.

 

The Judgments of God

 

Now, all throughout the Scriptures we learn of the judgments of God which are to take place in these last days before the return of our Lord. I believe we are already beginning to see some of those taking place throughout the world and within the USA, which is where I live. I believe the beast is rising and he is already conquering people and nations throughout the world, and a one world order is already being formed. Lies and liars abound just about everywhere you look these days. It makes it hard to believe other people.

 

All is in God’s timing, though.

 

Jeremiah 1:17-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

17Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them. 18Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.

 

As Followers of Jesus Christ

 

So, as followers of Jesus Christ, what is our response to be to all of this? We are to be spreading the truth of the gospel of Christ to the people of this world. And right now, the internet (at least in the USA) is still wide open for us to be declaring publicly the truth of the gospel of Christ. But already I am beginning to see the potential of censorship taking place to where we will be limited to what we can say or not say in the near future. So the time for us to do this is now and it may be soon that this censorship will take place.

 

But… We are not to compromise the gospel message. We are to keep speaking the truth in love to the people of the world. We are not to allow ourselves to be intimidated by those who want to censor us, and who want us to dilute the gospel message to make it less offensive to the ungodly. And who are the ungodly? They are all who are living in addictive sin who have not surrendered their lives to Jesus and who are not walking in obedience to His commands, whether or not they profess faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Keep Speaking The Truth

 

Yes, we are to obey the authorities over us, but we are not to disobey God by compromising the truth of the gospel to be less offensive to the ungodly. Remember that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Jesus Christ, Peter, John, and Paul, et al, stood against those in authority over them when the authority over them commanded that they not obey God. And we are to do likewise. We must keep speaking the truth of the gospel to the people for them to be delivered out of sin and to now obey God with their lives.

 

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

 

Get Yourselves Ready

An Original Work / October 19, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Should I Not Preach Jesus

 

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13

An Original Work / July 4, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.

I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.

I make myself a slave to ev’ryone

To win their hearts to Christ.

All this I do for my Lord Jesus,

And for the sake of His Name;

Do it for the sake of His gospel,

So that I, its blessings gain.

 

Scripture notates the sins of others;

Written down for us as examples

To keep us from setting our hearts

On evil as did those of old.

Do not worship other gods of man;

Do not give your hearts to them;

Not partake in immorality.

Do not test your Lord and King.

 

So, be careful if you think you are

Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.                        

God has given His word to warn us,

So through faith we will not fall.

No temptation has o’ertaken you

Except what is commonplace.

God is faithful to not let you be

Tempted past what you can bear.

He gives the way of escape.

 

https://vimeo.com/116057811

Hypocritical Liars and Abusers, Video

This was the church in Philadelphia. This is a short summary of the 6^th of the 7 letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3. This was an encouragement to the church who kept God’s word and who did not deny His name during trying times. Jesus was letting them know that He could open doors of opportunity for them that no man could shut and that He can shut doors that no man can open. And those are comforting words! But to those who belonged to the synagogue of Satan, Jesus would bring them to their knees, and they would acknowledge one day God’s love for His followers.

 

https://youtu.be/gynWkvTcGs4

Why Was Jesus Hated?

Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God,

Taught the narrow way, not the way that’s broad.

Did not participate He in the ways of man,

But He followed God, and He lived God’s plan.

Walked the narrow way, led a righteous life,

Obeyed God’s commands, free from sin and strife.

Shared the gospel truth, He opposed the lies,

Called out hypocrites, told them they would die.

Said to follow Him we must deny self,

Die to sin each day and put self on shelf.

Said if we hold on to our lives of sin

We will lose our lives, not be forgiven.

If we die to sin and we live to Christ

Free from sin’s dark grip, in Him we’ll have life.

So, repent of sin, obey His commands,

Walk with Him in truth, your life in His hands.

An Original Work / August 12, 2023

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

P.S. If you walk the walk that Jesus walked, and if you speak the truth as He spoke the truth, the Bible teaches that you will be hated and persecuted as he was hated and persecuted, even by those closest to you.

See: [Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21]

Called of God

Jeremiah 1:4-5 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

4The word of the LORD came to me, saying: 5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

 

Called of God Before Birth

 

Before Jeremiah was even formed in the womb of his mother God knew him, because God is the one who formed him in his mother’s womb, i.e. God created him. And before Jeremiah was even born God set him apart and He appointed him as a prophet to the nations. And God created all of us. He formed us in our mother’s wombs. Those God foreknew “He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” He “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

 

See [Romans 8:29; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; Ephesians 1:3-4; 1 Peter 1:14-16]

 

“13For You formed my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise You,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

15My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in secret,

when I was woven together

in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-16 BSB)

 

Called to Share the Gospel

 

Jeremiah was called of God to be a prophet of God. But not all of us are called to be prophets. However, all of us who are of faith in Jesus Christ, who have died with Christ to sin, and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to His commands, we are called of God in much the same ways in which God called Jeremiah. For all of us are called of God to share the message of the gospel of our salvation with the people.

 

Sharing the Gospel: [Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:34-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:16-18; Romans 10:14-15; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 5:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 2:3-6]

 

We are to let our lights shine before men, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven. We are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that Jesus Christ commanded us. And we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and we will be God’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. And we are to proclaim the virtues of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

 

Jeremiah 1:6-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

6“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!” But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak. 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.

 

9Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me:

“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”

 

No Excuses

 

Now, I don’t believe that Jeremiah was just making excuses for why he could not obey God in this. I believe he just lacked the maturity to comprehend what all God was capable of doing in his life, and all that God could do in him and through him in the power of God. So the Lord explained to him that it would be God sending him, and that God would give him the words to speak, and that God would be there to deliver him from all who might oppose him. So he was not to be afraid of the people or what they might do to him.

 

But I do believe there are many who God has called to ministry who have made excuses for why they cannot serve the Lord according to the calling He has placed on their lives (and on all of our lives). For all of us who are faith in Jesus Christ are to be sharing the truth of the gospel, as taught by Jesus and by His New Testament apostles, in the correct biblical context. And we are to call the people to faith in Jesus Christ, to deny self, die to sin, and follow Jesus in walks of obedience to His commands, empowered by God.

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

So, listen for God’s voice. Hear what He says. Then obey Him in practice.

 

Called of God

An Original Work / October 18, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Near the Cross 

 

Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869

Music by William H. Doane, 1869

 

Jesus, keep me near the cross;

There a precious fountain,

Free to all, a healing stream,

Flows from Calvary's mountain.

 

Near the cross, a trembling soul,

Love and mercy found me;

There the bright and morning star

Sheds its beams around me.

          

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,

Bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day

With its shadow o'er me.

 

Near the cross I'll watch and wait,

Hoping, trusting ever,

Till I reach the golden strand

Just beyond the river.

        

In the cross, in the cross,

Be my glory ever,

Till my raptured soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5gong-PNmY

 

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