Hold To The Truth

1 John 3:1-3 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

God’s Great Love

Because of God’s great love for us, we who are sinners by nature, and who are separate from God, because of our sin, can be reunited with God. For, God the Father sent his Son Jesus Christ to the earth to take on human form, and to die on a cross for our sins, so that we could be delivered from our bondage to sin and have eternal life with God.

We, who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, who are being led by the Spirit of God, are the children of God. We are those who have been united with Christ by faith, who have crucified sin in the flesh, by the Spirit, and who are now walking (in lifestyle) in agreement with the Spirit of God, also by the Spirit (Rom. 8:1-17; Lu. 9:23-25).

We are walking (conducting our lives) in the light (truth, righteousness) of God, by that same Spirit, and we are no longer walking in (practicing) the darkness (sin, wickedness), for Jesus Christ set us free from our slavery (addiction) to sin (Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Tit. 2:11-14).

They Don’t Know Us

The people of this world, who are still walking in the darkness, and not in the light of Christ, though, will not be able to understand us and why we do what we do. And, this will include many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, too, who are still caught up in the ways of the world, and who have truly not ever surrendered their lives over to Jesus Christ in death to sin and in living to righteousness.

They won’t understand why we must live holy lives, separate from the world of sin, and separate unto God and to his service. They won’t see that we must forsake our lives of sin in order to follow Jesus Christ in surrender and in obedience to his will. And, this is because they do not truly know God. Though they may have made a profession of faith in Christ, they were never truly born anew of the Spirit of God, because they were unwilling to be crucified with Christ in death to sin and to walk in obedience to his ways.

For, those of us who have truly put our hope in Jesus Christ, and who truly are believing in him (present tense), understand that daily we must, by the Spirit, be putting to death the deeds of the flesh. And, daily we must be putting on (not faking it) Christ and his holiness. And, we must be, by the Spirit, purifying ourselves, as God is pure, for we are to be like God in all that we do and are and say, not necessarily in perfection, but daily growing in our walks of faith in holiness, purity and in maturity in Christ.

1 John 3:16-18 ESV

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

A Perfect Description

This is actually a perfect description of this word “love.” It is to lay down our lives for others, for their legitimate needs, because we care about them, and that they may also come to faith in Jesus Christ and be delivered from their bondage to sin. For, love gives of oneself for the legitimate needs of others, and it does for others what is best (beneficial) for them, as God determines best. And, since this love prefers what God prefers, which is what is pure, holy, honest and righteous, it won’t do what is harmful to others, either.

While it is true that we should not be hypocritical, and that we should not just talk about doing stuff and then never do it, this is not saying that talking with our lips is to be excluded in how we demonstrate love to others. For, Jesus not only healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, comforted the sorrowful, delivered people from demons, and fed the hungry, but he preached repentance for forgiveness of sins, warned of divine judgment, and he called people to a walk of obedience to him to follow him in his ways.

And, that is what got him killed, because he confronted people in their sin and he told them that what they were doing was wrong and that they needed to do what was right. And, they hated him for it, especially the religious leaders did, because he called them out on their hypocrisy and their false religion, and because he exposed their wicked hearts. And, so they put him to death. For, they wanted to hold on to their false religious practices, and to their self-righteousness, and to their secretive sins.

Laying it All Down

And, the same is true for us today. If we, out of love for others, do what Jesus did in calling people to leave their sins behind to follow Jesus in obedience, we will be hated, persecuted, falsely accused, rejected, ostracized, and maybe even kicked out of fellowships, etc., because we are teaching the truth, and people don’t want to hear the truth. They want to hear the lies, for the lies coddle them in their sins. The lies tell them that they don’t have to stop sinning and that they don’t have to obey Jesus.

So, when we tell the truth, knowing that many will hate and reject us in return, we are laying our lives down for the same reason Jesus laid his life down, and that was so we can be delivered from our slavery (addiction) to sin and so we can walk (in lifestyle) in his holiness and righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). But, we better be prepared that we may lose friends, be rejected by family, and be ostracized by some within the institutional church. And we may, at times, feel like we are all alone. But, this is sacrificial love.

Yet, we, too, must not neglect people’s physical needs. If God makes us aware of a need, and we know that it is real (not a scam), and that what we give is actually going to get to the people in need; and if we have the resources to help, even if we must sacrifice meals or things we want, we must reach out and help those in need, for this is putting our faith into practice, too. For, it is following the model that Jesus gave us for how to love others with his love.

But, this should never be to the exclusion of sharing the gospel, too, for people need to hear it so that they can believe. So, we must stand strong on our faith, and keep sharing it, even if we are mistreated in return, so that many can hear, and so they can believe, and so they can be delivered from their sins, walk in obedience to their Lord, and have eternal life with God.

Courageous! 

An Original Work / December 24, 2013 

Based off Various Scriptures

The Word of God throughout taught.

Some people heard, but did doubt.

Still others had faith in Christ.

By grace He purified them.

They turned from sin

And they obeyed Christ.

He opened up their blinded eyesight;

Turned them from darkness

To the true Light;

Forgave their sin by His might.

He strengthened them in their faith.

He said, “Remain my faithful.”

He called them to obedience.

By faith, they were so grateful.

By faith, they were to follow Jesus;

To daily sit and listen to Him;

To have such faith

That mountains could move;

To love those whom He gave them.

Be on your guard; courageous.

Stand firm in faith. Be thankful.

Take up the shield of your faith;

Protect against all evil.

Do not move from

The hope that you have.

Your faith in Jesus let it endure.

Hold to the truth;

Your conscience be clear.

Endure with perseverance.

https://vimeo.com/112338495

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Cleverly Devised Plans

1 John 3:4-10 ESV

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Making a Practice of Sinning

Those who make a practice (habit) of sinning are considered addicts. And an addict is one who devotes and surrenders himself to whatever his obsession or habit is (M-W), i.e. he surrenders himself to his idol(s).

The Bible uses the term slave for this, i.e. that we are a slave to whatever masters us, i.e. we are a slave to the one we habitually obey (follow after), “either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness” (Rom. 6:16). So, we either devote and surrender ourselves to obedience to God, or we devote and surrender ourselves to sin.

This brings to mind the word “porneia,” which is the root word for our English word “pornography.” This carries with it the same or a similar meaning as that of addict, too, for it means "a selling off (surrendering) of sexual purity.” And, it means fornication and whoredom, i.e. idolatry, too (1). For, it means we give up our sexual purity in order to engage ourselves in (to surrender ourselves to) whoredom (idolatry) of many kinds.

So, when we make sin our practice, we are, in essence, giving up our purity we could have, by faith in Jesus Christ, in order to surrender ourselves to what is impure, unholy, evil, vile, and immoral. And, this is not speaking just of sexual sin here, but of all sin, i.e. whatever we surrender ourselves to.

And, what we learn in the scriptures is that we can’t be slaves to both at the same time. Either we are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or we are slaves to obedience to Christ, which leads to righteousness.

Masking the Sin

Anyone familiar with addiction can tell you that addicts, in order to hold on to their habit or obsession, may lie and manipulate and scheme and trick in order to hide their addiction. They will be threatened by anyone trying to bring their addiction into the light, too. And, they will be known to do whatever it takes, even attacking and falsely accusing those trying to help them to freedom, even to the point of devising a plan for that person’s destruction, in order to keep on in their slavery to sin.

So, it isn’t just that they try to mask their sin, i.e. what they are doing in secret, hoping no one will find out, but that they scheme and trick, too, in order to take out anyone they see as a threat to their secretive lifestyles.

So, their “cover” for their sin may not just be fakery of some kind, pretending that they are something they are not or that they are doing one thing while they are doing another. But, their cover may be to give a false impression of their situation in order to gain sympathy and attention for themselves, and in order to make themselves appear as though they are the victim when truly they are the perp. For, they are very clever con artists, always working at trying to throw people off their scent and to redirect them to someone else who they want to cast the blame on, instead.

So, they have a stockpile (an arsenal) of weapons that they use, which they have stored up in their hearts, but not just as defensive weapons, but as offensive (preplanned) weapons of mass destruction which they will use in order to make themselves look good, or to makes themselves appear as though they are the ones being mistreated, and to make others look bad.

Some of these who are addicted to whatever will threaten suicide, for instance, as a means of controlling others, or as a means of drawing attention and sympathy to themselves and in order to make the one(s) trying to help them appear evil. And, they may even confess some sins, too, in order to hide ones more nefarious. And, this, too, is to try to get people off the scent, and distracted, so that they don’t see what else is going on that is a whole lot more sinister.

They are really good at manipulating and deceiving, and many of them can be quite charming, actually, and very convincing. They are great actors, and performers, playing mind-games with people and toying with their emotions. But, all this is the result of pride, for it is all focused on self. They are always lying, scheming, tricking, performing, and shifting the blame to someone other than to themselves as they busily work to bring others alongside them to support them in their masquerades.

Religious Justifications

So, those who are addicted to sinful practices not only may lie, manipulate, trick, and scheme in order to cover-up their secretive sins, and in order to gain sympathy for themselves, and in order to cast the blame onto others who are probably trying to help them, but then they will excuse away their sinful practices with false religious beliefs adopted by them in order to console themselves in their sin and to alleviate their guilt.

So, they convince themselves that Jesus died on that cross merely to forgive their sins and to promise them heaven when they die, and that God requires no repentance, obedience or submission to Christ as their Lord (master).

So, in order to do this, they have to pull a few select scriptures out of context, such as Romans 10:9-10, for example, and thus they build their entire doctrine of salvation around these few out-of-context verses while they ignore the bulk of New Testament scriptures with regard to salvation and eternal life.

One of the scriptures used most often by those who are sexually addicted or who are addicted to porn is Romans 7. They love to quote this and imply that Paul regularly struggled with the flesh, meaning he regularly gave in to it. And, if Paul did, then that consoles them in their sinful addictions.

But, Romans 7 must be read in the context of Romans 6 and Romans 8. And, it must be understood that Paul was speaking (in Rom. 7) of the battle of the sin nature. But, then he goes on in chapter 8 to talk about being rescued from the control of that sin nature over his life.

And, then he goes on to explain, not only that it is only those who are walking (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit of God who have eternal life with God, but that if we walk (in practice) in sin, according to the sinful nature, that we will die in our sins. So, he could not say the things he said in Romans 8 if he was still living in Romans 7, or he would have been a huge hypocrite. Then, how could he tell people to imitate him.

The Truth

The truth, though, is what is spelled out for us here in this passage of scripture. If we make sin our practice (our normal course of behavior), we don’t know God, and he doesn’t know us. In fact, we are of the devil, not of God. For, no one born of God makes sin his practice (lifestyle, habit), for Jesus delivered us out of slavery to sin, and he now lives within us by his Spirit, and if his Spirit abides in us, we cannot keep on sinning.

This is not saying we will never sin, though (1 Jn. 2:1-2), but that sin should no longer be what we practice. It should not be our normal course of what we do and how we live. It should not be what rules or controls our lives, for we should now be under the control of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, righteousness should now be what we practice (our habit, our course of conduct). But, if it is not, then we are not of God.

Again, this is not speaking of sinless perfection here. It is not saying that we will never fail. The scriptures are real clear on this subject. Either we are enslaved to sin or we are enslaved to obedience to God, to Jesus Christ. We can’t be both. But, if we say we have fellowship with God, but we still walk (in practice, in habit) in sin, then we are liars who do not live by the truth.

We can’t pray some prayer or make some profession of faith in Jesus Christ and yet not repent of our sins and not obey Christ and not submit to his Lordship. Yet, this is a daily thing here. Every day we must, by the Spirit, be putting to death the misdeeds of the flesh and taking up our cross and following (obeying) Jesus, and putting on the armor of God. And, we will continue in this until the day we die or Jesus returns. For, this is all part of the process of our salvation (sanctification) until one day, when Jesus returns, our salvation is complete.

But, just know this, when you commit your life to Jesus Christ, to walk in his ways, and in his truth, you will likely become an enemy of those who are still addicted to sin, and you may even be one of those who they are plotting evil against in order to destroy you or your reputation. But, don’t let that frighten you, for God is still God! And, he will carry you through whatever comes your way. And, he will turn it around for good. So, trust him!

Follow Him 

An Original Work / February 21, 2013

Based off Luke 9:22-25

Jesus, Son of God,

Died for us on a cross.

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself and follow.

He must take up his cross daily;

Die to sin and self each day.

Father, God above,

Loved us so: gave His Son.

If you want to save your old life;

Keep on sinning, follow your ways,

You will lose your life forever;

Hope of heaven gone away.

Spirit of our God

Gives us life in God’s Son.

Nonetheless, if you die to self;

Forsake your sin; follow Jesus,

You will live with God in heaven,

And forever praise His name!

https://vimeo.com/117316842

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

(1)       https://biblehub.com/greek/4202.htm

Daily

I woke up a little after midnight after having only had about an hour of sleep. The song “Full Release” was playing in my mind, so I read the lyrics. The word that stood out to me in each stanza was the word “daily.” From that I sensed the Lord wanted me to write on the subject of “daily.” So, I did a word search in the scriptures for that word, and it rendered several scriptures here that I believe the Lord would have me talk on today.

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 ESV

This was Jesus talking. He was letting us know that, if we want to come after him, i.e. if we want to believe in him as our Lord and Savior, first of all we must deny ourselves. We must humble ourselves before him, owning up to our sin, and willingly die with him to sin so that we might live with him to righteousness. We can’t hold on to our old lives. We can’t retain control over our own lives, either. We must surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and make him truly Lord (owner-master) of our lives, and let him have control.

But, we don’t do this just one time and then it is over. We must daily deny ourselves. We must daily yield to his Lordship over our lives and surrender control of our lives over to him. Daily, by the Spirit, we must be putting to death the misdeeds of the body. Daily we must be putting on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s temptations to do wrong and his evil attacks against us. And, daily we must follow our Lord in obedience to his will and to his ways, and we must do what his Word teaches us we must do.

“And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.” Luke 19:47-48 ESV

Daily we should let our lights shine before all people. Daily we should be a witness for Jesus Christ and for his gospel of salvation. Sometimes this will be just through our lives, and through how we conduct our lives day in and day out, but that should never be our total witness for Jesus Christ. For, God called us to be his holy people that we might proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. For, people need to hear the gospel if they are ever to be saved from their sins.

And, not only are we to daily be a witness for Jesus Christ and for his gospel, but we are to do so even in the face of great opposition. We are to do so even if people are seeking to destroy our lives, for many people are. We have to stand strong on the Word of God, and tell people the truth about the gospel, even in the face of most certain death. For, people’s lives depend on them hearing the truth. So, we have to care more about them than we do about our own comfort, or more than we care about our own lives.

“So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” Acts 16:5 ESV

Since “church” today has become synonymous with organizations and businesses of men, and with buildings, and with denominations, many people have this idea that the church increasing in numbers has to do with adding people on to church roles through church memberships and baptisms. But, that is not what this is talking about. For, the church is the people of God, not a building or a business. The church is the people who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior.

So, when the people of God, when we who believe in Jesus Christ are strengthened in our faith, no one will have to tell us to share our faith with others. We will want to share the love and grace of Jesus with others. We will want to share the message of the gospel of our salvation so that others can be saved from their bondage to sin, too. And, when the church is on fire for the Lord, and is spreading the gospel message, many will be added to the church, the body of Christ, via faith in Jesus Christ, and this should be happening daily when the church is spreading the message of the gospel.

“Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Acts 17:11 ESV

Whenever we hear the Word of God preached or taught or shared in some way or another, or whenever we hear anyone proclaim anything about a particular scripture or a belief or a doctrine, we should examine what we hear against the Word of God to make sure that what we are receiving is true or not. But, we have to do this in context, i.e. we have to read scriptures in the context in which they are written to get the full meaning of what they are saying, for many false beliefs come from scriptures taken out of context and made to say something they are not saying at all.

I don’t know if this is something we will do daily, but daily can also mean habitually, as a matter of habit, of practice. This should be a regular and consistent practice to examine what we read or hear others say about the scriptures so that we are not led astray by those who are in error. We should be in a regular practice of testing what others say or teach to make sure what they are teaching lines up with the Word of God, for many people are twisting the scriptures to their own advantage to make them say what they want them to say in order to appease the flesh. So, we need to be wise and discerning about this, lest we are led astray, too.

“And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.” Acts 19:8-9 ESV

Since so many Christians today, and so many institutional churches today have gone the way of the world, and have cheapened God’s grace, and have diluted his gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh, much of the church, here in America at least, has rejected the true gospel of our salvation, and along with that those who are proclaiming the true gospel, too. And, thus they have driven dedicated followers of Jesus right out of their gatherings. In reality, they have driven out the Holy Spirit, too.

And, so God has placed many of us out on the internet where daily we are sharing the truth of the Word of God, not just with the world, but with the church, too. For, there is no opportunity for us within many gatherings of the church to truly share what the Lord is teaching us through his Word for the encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ, since so many church congregations have adopted the ways of the world, instead. And, so God has given us a place in the public to do what we are not able to do within the gatherings of the church.

“And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” 2 Corinthians 11:28-29 ESV

If we are truly following Jesus Christ with our lives, and if he is truly Lord of our lives, and his heart has now become our heart, then daily we should feel much concern for the part of the body of Christ which has become so worldly and fleshly. We should be very burdened for them that they hear the truth, and that they follow the truth. It should break our hearts that so many pastors and teachers of the Word are diluting the gospel message in order to appease the world, and that they are leading people straight to hell.

It should concern us greatly that so many pastors and leaders within our churches, and so many of our men who are supposed to be leading us spiritually, have gone AWOL spiritually because they are addicted to porn or to lust of their flesh in other respects.

And, it should break our hearts that they are feeding the people in their congregations lies which tickle their itching ears and which tell them what they want to hear but not what they need to hear. We should be crying out to God with tears streaming down our faces because of the spiritual and moral decline of the church and of families, and concerning the breakups of marriages and homes because of sinful addictions.

This should make us indignant! If it doesn’t, then something is seriously wrong with us! For, if we have the heart of God, then it should break our hearts that sin, in particular sexual sin, is allowed to run rampant within the church, and among the church leadership, and that the gospel of salvation is taking a hit because of it, and that people are being given a false hope of salvation based on a lie, and that our children are addicted to porn, too.

We need to be crying out to God for him to send revival to our churches and to this nation or to other nations because our churches and our nation(s) are headed for disaster. We need to pray that they will return to God.

Full Release  

An Original Work / April 15, 2012

Walking daily with my Savior

brings me joy.

Loving Father; precious Jesus;

He’s my Savior and my Lord.

Gently leads me; follow Him.

I’ve invited Him within.

Now abiding in His presence,

oh, what peace.

From my self-life

He has brought me,

By His mercy, full release.

Hope and comfort,

peace and safety Jesus brings

When I daily bow before Him;

Obey freely; do His will.

Follow Him where’er He leads.

Listen to Him; His words heed.

Now obeying his words fully,

oh, what love

That He gives me

through salvation,

By His Spirit, from above.

Loving Father; precious Jesus,

He’s my friend.

With my Savior, by His Spirit,

I will endure to the end.

Share the gospel, tell what’s true.

Witness daily; His will do.

Tell the world of how their Savior

bled and died.

On a cruel cross He suffered

So that we might be alive.

https://vimeo.com/115169203

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Keep Speaking the Truth

Matthew 22:37-40 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Love is the fulfillment of the law. But, this is not the kind of love based on feelings. This is not the kind of love expressed in just being “nice” (agreeable, pleasant, polite) to everyone, either. This is God-like love which is based in the character and will of Almighty God. This kind of love, thus, prefers what God prefers, which is what is holy, just, righteous, godly, pure, honest, moral, upright, and humble, etc.

So, if we love God with this kind of love, with our whole being, we will give ourselves wholly to God, holding nothing back. We will surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives, and we will live for him and no longer for ourselves. We will walk in fellowship with the Lord, doing what he says, daily putting sin to death in our lives, by the Spirit. And, we will walk in his righteousness, all in his power and strength at work within our lives.

And, this will carry over into how we love one another, too. Our love for others also will not be based in feelings or expressed in just being nice to everyone. For, this love takes on the character of God, of Jesus Christ. And, Jesus is our model, too, for how to love one another.

So, if we love others like Jesus loved (and loves) us, then we will be much more concerned about the legitimate needs of others then we will be about our own selves and our own comfort. We will be much more concerned about their salvation from sin and their eternal destiny than we will be concerned about our own reputations, too. In fact, when we truly demonstrate, by our lifestyles, this kind of love to others, we should expect to be hated, and even accused falsely, and mistreated in return.

Luke 6:43-45 ESV

“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

When we truly love others with Jesus’ love, not only will we do good to them, even to those who hate us and who mistreat us, but we will speak the truth in love to them, too, for this is also for their good (their benefit, their welfare). Thus, we won’t tell them what they want to hear, but we will tell them what they need to hear. For, this is what Jesus did all the time.

For, it isn’t love to lie to people just to make them feel good. It isn’t love to avoid telling them the truth they need to hear, either, because we don’t want to upset them or make them feel bad. Most of the time, if we do this, it isn’t because we are really concerned about their feelings, but it is that we are afraid if we tell them the truth that they will hate and reject us, or that they will gossip about us to others and will turn others against us, too.

So, if we truly love others as Jesus loved (and loves) us, we will put ourselves aside. We will put our own reputations aside, too, just as Jesus did. And, we will say what they need to hear. And, what they need to hear is not that they can have some nebulous faith in Jesus Christ that guarantees them heaven when they die regardless of how they live their lives from this point forward. And, they certainly don’t need to hear that God says that they don’t have to stop sinning and that he says they don’t have to obey him.

They need to hear the truth, for their eternal destiny depends on it, as well as does the quality of life they have while they still live on this earth.

They need to be told that Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). We need to tell them that faith in Jesus Christ is from God, and thus it submits to God, and thus it dies with Christ to sin so that it might live with Christ, daily walking in his purity, holiness and righteousness. For, this is the righteous life that God requires for us in order for us to have eternal life with Him (Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17).

If we want to be followers of Christ, be saved from our sins, and have eternal life with God in heaven, then we must give up our lifestyles of living for sin and self, and we must surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, and then walk in his ways and in his truth. For, this is not only what scripture teaches us, but this is true grace which just doesn’t just forgive us our sins, but which delivers us from our slavery (addictions) to sin (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Eph. 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

Matthew 15:17-20 ESV

“Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

So many people get caught up in externals and in religious performance, and they think or they deceive themselves into thinking that they are serving the Lord if they do these certain good things. In fact, a lot of them will even go so far as to try to make others feel as though they must follow the same religious rites, and if they do not, then they will try to convince them that they are out of God’s will or that they are disobeying God.

Yet, none of us are considered righteous before God because of religious performance. We are not saved by externals, nor can we appease God by religious acts, either. Yet, many people today, just like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, will do “good deeds” hoping to find approval with God and with other humans, but while they are hiding secret sins inside. In fact, many of them will do “good deeds” as a means to cover-up their wicked deeds, hoping that the good will outweigh or will mask their evil deeds.

And, this is not just the legalists who do this, either. These are also those who hold to the cheap grace gospel who do this, too. For, they believe deep down inside, even if they confess something different with their lips, that they can live in sin and still have heaven guaranteed them. But, they don’t want people to know about their secret sins, and so they do “good deeds” as religious performance to try to look as though they are following the Lord, when, in fact, they are living like the devil.

Then, when the light of the truth is shined into their hearts, they will often resist the truth, and they will fight against it, and they will fight against those who are proclaiming it, too. For, they don’t want to give up their sins, even if they will verbalize that they do.

So, when they are confronted with the truth, they will sometimes lash out at those who are speaking the truth, and they will viciously attack them. Yet, they may or may not do this to their face. They may, instead, maliciously gossip about them behind their backs in hopes to destroy their reputations and in order to shut them up, too. And, this is being done in spades!

For, not only are many people today convinced of, and are spreading this cheap grace gospel absent of the cross of Christ in people’s lives, but they are coming out against those who are teaching the truth, and with lies they have made up in hopes not only to shut them up but to discourage others from listening to them, too.

And, so the big lie that is being spread is that, if you teach repentance, obedience and submission to Jesus Christ as Lord (owner-master), then you are teaching works-based salvation, and thus no one should listen to you. And, they have convinced a lot of people this way to reject the truth and to follow after the lies, being convinced that they can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but that they can still live in their sins, and that it will not impact their eternal security. And, this is of Satan, who wants us to remain enslaved to sin.

But, the scriptures oppose that philosophy. And, they teach that, if we walk (in lifestyle, in practice) in sin, according to our flesh, that we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God. And, in fact, we will reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. So, know the truth, and live the truth (Gal. 6:7-8).

And, if you are on the receiving end of these false accusations, and this malicious gossip and vicious attacks because you are teaching the truth which delivers people from the bondage to sin, then be encouraged! Don’t be afraid!! Keep speaking the truth!! For, many need to be saved.

Courageous!  

An Original Work / December 24, 2013  

Based off Various Scriptures

The Word of God throughout taught.

Some people heard, but did doubt.

Still others had faith in Christ.

By grace He purified them.

They turned from sin

And they obeyed Christ.

He opened up their blinded eyesight;

Turned them from darkness

To the true Light;

Forgave their sin by His might.

He strengthened them in their faith.

He said, “Remain my faithful.”

He called them to obedience.

By faith, they were so grateful.

By faith, they were to follow Jesus;

To daily sit and listen to Him;

To have such faith

That mountains could move;

To love those whom He gave them.

Be on your guard; courageous.

Stand firm in faith. Be thankful.

Take up the shield of your faith;

Protect against all evil.

Do not move from

The hope that you have.

Your faith in Jesus let it endure.

Hold to the truth;

Your conscience be clear.

Endure with perseverance.

https://vimeo.com/112338495

Monday, February 25, 2019

Hope or No Hope?

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

For Welfare

God has a design for each one of our lives. This design is his intended purpose for us. And, that is that we be conformed to (match) the image (likeness) of Jesus Christ, God the Son. We are to become like Jesus in our thinking, attitudes, character, conduct (behavior), passion and purity.

His plan for our lives, too, is that we be sound (whole) spiritually, no longer damaged (controlled) by sin, but now in good spiritual condition, restored to fellowship with God by faith in Jesus Christ, delivered from our slavery to sin, now walking in holiness and purity in the power of God at work within our lives. For this is for our benefit (welfare), and for our hope and future.

Not for Evil

Although we are born into this world with sin natures, God the Father’s plan for our lives is not that we live our lives for sin and for self. And, that is why he sent His only begotten Son Jesus (the Christ) into the world, to take on human form, and to die on a cross for us. For on that cross Jesus became sin for us, so that when he died, our sins were put to death with him.

But, the purpose of this was not just so that we would be forgiven our sins, and be set free from the punishment of sin (eternal damnation), and that we might have the hope of heaven when we die. Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). This is the essence of the gospel.

For, when we believe in him with God-like faith, which is persuaded of God as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our need to be like him, we die with Christ to sin, we are born anew of the Spirit of God, and we are given new lives in Christ, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (See: Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

Hope and Future

The hope and the future that we have in Jesus Christ, too, are not just that when we die we are going to go to heaven to be with our Lord. For, Jesus died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us; and to live it now, in the present, one day at a time (2 Co. 5:15).

Therefore, our hope is present. Our future is present, too, i.e. it is every day, one day at a time, moment by moment, and not just in the far off distant future.

Our hope is that we are no longer bound by slavery (addiction) to sin. Amen! For, Jesus set us free! And, our hope is that we can wake up every day and have a purpose for why we are here, and that we can fulfill that purpose, too, in the power of God. Our lives are not without meaning or direction.

Even when bad things happen to us, or to those we love, we can still hold on to hope. We have to believe that our God is absolutely sovereign over all that he has made, that he has power over all evil, and that he is absolutely all good and all loving. And, when we truly accept this, then we can accept whatever it is that he brings into our lives, that he has allowed it for a reason, and that he will bring good out of it in some way.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 ESV

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Seeking and Finding

This is not a guarantee that everyone in this world is going to call upon God just because they have heard the truth of what Jesus did for them on that cross. For, not everyone combines what they hear with faith.

But, it is a guarantee that if we seek the Lord with our whole heart that we will find him. But, we need to understand what that means. For, this is not talking about repeating some words after someone else, supposedly in prayer to God, whereby we say we receive him or accept him as Savior of our lives. For, words can be cheap if they are not accompanied by true faith.

For, if we seek God with all of our heart, that means that our whole (entire) being, the core of who we are, is committed to finding him, and to knowing him, and to obeying him, too, because we can’t know him if we will not obey him.

All Your Heart

So, what does this look like, this seeking the Lord with all our heart? It definitely begins with humility. We have to humble ourselves before the Lord, own up to our sins, willingly turn away from them, and then turn to walk with Jesus in obedience to his teachings (his instructions to us).

But, we don’t do this in the flesh. First we are drawn to Jesus Christ by the Father. Then, God gifts us with the faith to believe in him. And, this faith is divinely persuaded of our need to leave our lives of sin behind us to follow our Lord in surrender to his will and his purposes and plans for our lives.

Thus, the faith to believe in Jesus Christ is submission to Him as Lord (owner-master) of our lives. It is dying with Christ to sin and living with Christ in purity, holiness, honesty, integrity, faithfulness and love. It is not saying we will be perfect, or that we will never sin again, but it is saying that Jesus is now the commander of our lives, and our lives are given to him.

And, it is also saying that we no longer walk (conduct our lives) in darkness (sin, wickedness), but we walk (in lifestyle) in the light of God’s love and truth, and according to the Spirit of God in faithfulness, purity, etc. as a matter of course, of lifestyle, of practice. And, we do this because we love God with all our heart.

Not Everyone Does

Not everyone who claims faith in Jesus Christ, though, truly has sought the Lord with all their heart, nor do they love him with all their heart. Many make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ for multiple reasons which have nothing to do with committing their lives to the Lord in surrender to his plan.

I believe that some of these people were sincere in their decisions they made, but that they were ill-informed, sometimes willfully, as to what it means to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. So, they buy into a lie, with human faith, thinking it guarantees them heaven as their future, but while life goes on mostly as it did before.

And, this is why it is so critical that we are sharing the whole truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not half-truths or diluted truths intended to give people a false hope while leaving them still bound in slavery to sin.

For, if God’s plan for our lives is truly to give us true hope and a real future, and if this plan is to be for our good (benefit) and not for evil, then the only gospel message that can be true is the one that puts sin to death in our lives so that we might live in peace with God, and in victory over darkness.

For, there can be no true hope with a message that tells you that God says that you don’t have to stop sinning. What kind of hope is that? Or, if it tells you that you don’t have to obey God? It’s the same message of hopelessness! For, it still leaves us addicted to sin, and that is no hope at all!

Follow Him  

An Original Work / February 21, 2013

Based off Luke 9:22-25

Jesus, Son of God,

Died for us on a cross.

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself and follow.

He must take up his cross daily;

Die to sin and self each day.

Father, God above,

Loved us so: gave His Son.

If you want to save your old life;

Keep on sinning, follow your ways,

You will lose your life forever;

Hope of heaven gone away.

Spirit of our God

Gives us life in God’s Son.

Nonetheless, if you die to self;

Forsake your sin; follow Jesus,

You will live with God in heaven,

And forever praise His name!

https://vimeo.com/117316842

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Opposite of Christ

Proverbs 14:22 ESV

“Do they not go astray who devise evil? Those who devise good meet steadfast love and faithfulness.”

1 John 2:18 ESV

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.”

“Anti” means “against.” So, antichrist means against Christ, opposed to him and to who he is, and to what he did, and to why he came, and to what he stands for. And, it is also opposed to his gospel message of salvation from sin, which says that we, by faith, must die to sin and live to righteousness.

But, it also means “opposite of.” If Jesus is righteous, he is unrighteous. If Jesus is holy, he is unholy. If Jesus is pure, then he is impure, etc. etc.

Thus, this “against” is not necessarily with words, but it definitely is with actions. For many antichrists are wolves in sheep’s clothing, i.e. they are those who masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves, liars, deceivers, and adulterers.

So, one can say with his words that he is a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ, but his actions may speak just the opposite. His actions (behaviors, practices) may actually be opposed to what Jesus Christ stands for and what he is all about, which is righteousness, purity, honesty, love, humility, selflessness, kindness, faithfulness and freedom from slavery to sin.

Therefore, if one’s actions (practices, behaviors) are to cheat, lie, steal, manipulate, and deceive, and if they are to make a practice of selfishness, anger, hatred, abuse, adultery, sexual immorality, viewing porn, being prideful (arrogant), etc., then he is antichrist (against, opposed to Christ, and the opposite of Christ, not like him).

And, you know what? This describes a large majority of professing Christians and even pastors, in our day and time, here in America, especially among men, who are more susceptible to porn addiction and to sexual immorality than generally are women, though they are certainly not excluded.

But, this is how we know we are living in these last days, because sin is rampant, even within the church and among its leadership. And, the men in the church, who are supposed to be leading us spiritually, have largely gone AWOL when it comes to standing up and doing something about it (See 1 Corinthians 5). And, this is not the exception to the rule. This is the new norm in a large majority of the church, and that should break our hearts!

1 John 2:19 ESV

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Ok, this is not about leaving the gatherings of the institutional church, which is not the true church, for its head is the government and the world, not Christ, for it is a business of men, not the children of God. For, the true church is not a building. God does not dwell in buildings built by human hands. The true church is not Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran or Episcopalian, either, for those are organizations of human origin, not of God.

The true church is comprised ONLY of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives, who by the Spirit of God have died with Christ to sin that they might live with Christ to his righteousness. She, the church, is a living organism, not an organization.

So, when this says “they went out from us,” this is not saying they stopped coming to the Baptist, Methodist, Charismatic or Non-denominational church, etc. What this is saying is that they deserted Christ and his gospel and his people to go after their lusts, their adulteries, their idols, their pride, and their selfishness. They chose self over God, and self over spouses, and self over children, and self over the body of Christ, the true church.

And, again, the sad reality of this all is that it truly describes a large majority of the church in America today. Mostly it describes the men, who are supposed to be the ones leading the church to righteousness, and leading their families spiritually, and loving their spouses. But, instead, they are engrossed in their lusts. They have abandoned us all. And, the church, marriages, spouses, children and families are suffering greatly for it, too.

1 John 2:20-23 ESV

“But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Again, this is not speaking about a verbal denial necessarily. For, many who are antichrist want people to think they really are for Christ. And, so they fake their relationships with Jesus Christ in order to try to fool others, and also as a cover-up for their adulteries, their cheating, stealing, gossiping or whatever other evil they do. Some fake being Christians for political reasons, too. While others fake it so that they can trick others into believing their lies.

So, the main way in which any of us truly deny Jesus Christ is not so much with our words, but it is with our actions. It is like a man or a woman saying to his or her spouse, “I love you,” all the while he or she is cheating on that spouse with another person, or with images on a screen, or with self-gratification, or via secretive chats or texts or emails, etc.

It is like telling Jesus that we are his, that we love him, and that we are his followers. But, then we do what we want. We may not do some things we know we are not supposed to do, but then willfully, and often secretively, do other sinful things we know we ought not to do, and regularly, and as a matter of course. And, I am not suggesting here that this is about perfection. It isn’t. It is about what we practice (See: Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

If we are Christians, or if we profess to be Christians, and so we have been exposed to the truth of God’s Word, then we know the truth, or at least we have access to the truth. But all people are without excuse the Bible says, for God has put the knowledge of himself and of his divine character and will within every one of us. For he has revealed himself to us through his created works (Rom. 1:18-32).

So, the problem isn’t that we don’t right from wrong, though seriously there are people who have claimed to believe in Jesus most of their lives who will still say that they didn’t know what to do or how to stop, as though that is somehow an excuse for willful sin against God and against their spouses. They have no excuse! For, the problem isn’t not knowing, it is not doing!

1 John 2:24-25 ESV

“Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.”

So, what must we do to correct this situation? Individually we must submit to Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, and let him rule our hearts and lives. We must turn away from our lifestyles of sin and turn our hearts over to Jesus Christ to walk in his ways, and in his truth, and in his power and strength.

Then, we must daily die to sin and self and take up our cross and follow (obey) Jesus Christ. We must do what the Word says, not ignore it, and not twist it to our advantage. We have to read scriptures in context and not pull them out of context and build entire doctrines around just a few verses. For, many people are being led astray to follow lies this way.

We must resist Satan and flee temptation. And, we must throw off every weight which hinders and the sins which so easily entangle us. We must cut out of our lives everything that is leading us into habitual sinful behaviors. And, we have to get radical with this if we truly want to be free! And, that may mean going back to a flip phone, having no private internet access, and having accountability procedures put into place.

And, yes, I know that I am mainly focusing here on sexual sin, and for good reason, because this is what is killing our lives, our marriages, our children, our families and our churches in rapid succession. And, the church is on a speedy moral and spiritual decline “like nobody’s business,” i.e. “to an extraordinarily high degree or standard” (Google). Thus, the 1 Corinthians 5 church is all over the place here in America. And, that means they are consistently persecuting and denying Jesus Christ, too.

Fully Ready! 

An Original Work / June 19, 2013

Based off Acts 20-22, 26; Mt. 28:18-20; Ac. 1:8

Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?

I’m fully ready to suffer for Christ.

If I must die for the sake of His name,

I am convinced it will not be in vain.

Glory to God and to His Son Jesus,

Who has redeemed us; bought with His blood.

May I speak to you? Jesus came to me;

Asked of me, “Why do you persecute me?”

He said, “Now get up and stand on your feet.

Go, and you’ll be told all I have for you.

I have appointed you as a servant,

And as a witness; you have been sent.”

“Go into the world and preach the gospel.

Open the blind eyes. They will receive sight.

Turn them from darkness to the light of Christ;

From power of the evil one to God,

So they may receive forgiveness of sins,

And a place among those who’re in heav’n.”

https://vimeo.com/115439432