Run With It: April 2022

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Adulterous Eyes

An Original Work / April 30, 2022

Adulterous eyes are no surprise,

The eyes of those who’re hypnotized

By lusts of flesh and pride of life,

Without concern for hurting wives.

The lusts of eyes lead one to strife

Against the God who gave them life,

Lead some to sin habitually,

So they not live eternally.

Conflicted they are – good, or bad?

They make wrong choices, it’s so sad.

Determined they are, pride to rule,

Instead of smart, they act a fool.

They’re driven by the flesh, you see,

For from their sins they do not flee.

Habitual liars, that they are,

The door to sin they leave ajar.

They act like everything’s okay,

But truth be told, it’s just a play.

Their body language says it all,

That they have taken a big fall.

They’ll not admit they failed again,

For pride won’t let them. They abstain.

So stubbornly they now insist

Their innocence, the truth resist.

The cycle of habitual lies

Behind continued adult’rous eyes

Goes on and on, no end in sight,

For faithfulness has taken flight.

Lest it be told this just for men,

Reverse it then, now for women,

The man you married, faithful be,

Adultery you must now flee.

Do You Have the Holy Spirit, Really?

In 1 John 1-4 we learn these truths: If we say we have fellowship with God while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin), we lie and we do not practice the truth. If we say that we know the Lord but we do not obey his commandments (New Covenant) we are liars and the truth is not in us. No one who abides in Christ and Christ in him makes a practice of sinning.

If sin is what we deliberately practice we do not know the Lord Jesus. For it is whoever practices righteousness who is righteous, as God is righteous. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For anyone who does not love with the love that is from God does not know God, because God is love.

And since this love comes from God it will align with the character of God and with his will for our lives. So, it will prefer what God prefers, which is what is holy and righteous, and it will not deliberately and habitually sin against others, knowing that harm is being done to them. Instead it will be honest, morally pure, faithful, kind, compassionate and tenderhearted.

1 John 4:13-17 ESV

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.”

Now, not everyone who makes a profession of faith in Jesus Christ knows Christ or abides in him or has the Holy Spirit living within him. For it is not enough to just profess faith with our lips but we must no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, and we must walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in righteousness, and we must love our fellow humans.

And confessing Jesus as God and as the Son of God is more than a mere verbal acknowledgment of him, as well. For the word “confess,” in a biblical context, means to fully agree with God, to have the same mind as God, to align with God, and to speak to the same conclusion as God. So, if we have the same mind as God about Jesus we will submit to Jesus as Lord, we will forsake our sinful practices, and we will walk in obedience to his commands.

Also to abide in love is not about our emotions. For love is not what we feel, it is what we do. So, if we love others with the love of Christ that he has for us, we will treat others the way in which Jesus treats us. And for one, he speaks the truth in love to us. He tells us what we need to hear, not necessarily what we want to hear, and sometimes the words may be hard to hear, for they might cut us to the heart (see Hebrews 4:11-13).

Also, Jesus willingly gave his life up for us on that cross so that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, that we might be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And so we need to lay down our lives by being willing to tell people the truth of the gospel which will deliver them from their addiction to sin.

They Shut Him Out

But not everyone agrees with that. Many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ look at their salvation from sin as merely forgiveness of sins, escape from hell, and the guarantee of heaven when they die. Many today within the gatherings of what is called “church” have not forsaken their sinful practices, and they are not walking in obedience to the Lord, and many of them believe they don’t have to. And they call that “grace.”

So, they shut out the Holy Spirit from their lives and from the gospel for they do not accept him as God’s inner voice within them counseling, directing, guiding, convicting, urging and empowering them to forsake their lives of sin and to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands. They see their salvation as a done deal that guarantees them heaven and so they go on with their lives, assuming that when they die they will go to heaven.

Instead, the teachings of mere humans (not inspired by God) and marketing books and movies, etc. are what they are listening to and what they are following, like the teaching that says faith (undefined) is enough and nothing else is required – no submission, no obedience, and no repentance. Or the teaching that says not to share the gospel but to just “be the gospel” which is not much more than just good deeds and making friends with the world.

So, we don’t have the Holy Spirit if we won’t listen to the Holy Spirit, i.e. if we shut him out and we remove from the gospel his workings in our hearts and in our lives. For it is those who are led by the Spirit who are the children of God. It is those who are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh who are true children of God, not those who merely make a profession of faith in Jesus.

So, if we are walking in obedience to our Lord and we are not walking in sin, and we are submitting to Christ as Lord, we have the hope of eternal life.

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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By Faith Abraham Obeyed

Hebrews 11:1,6 ESV

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen… And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

The faith that it takes to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin comes from God. Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith, and faith is gifted to us by God. We can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ, i.e. unless he first persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness, and as to our sinfulness, and as to our need to repent of (turn away from) our sin to follow Jesus in obedience to his ways.

[Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3-4]

Faith is also action and it is obedience. It is not a mere intellectual or emotional assent to who Jesus is and to what he did for us on that cross in dying for our sins. And Hebrews 11 gives us many examples of people of faith and of the things that they did by faith. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. And by faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

And there are many more examples of faith in action listed for us here in Hebrews 11, only a few of which will I cover in this devotion.

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

Now, what if Noah told God, “I believe you,” but then he didn’t do what God said to do? Would his faith have been genuine? I mean, he obeyed God, and he did what he said, and he built the ark under God’s instructions, and he and his whole family and two of every kind of animal, fish, and bird, etc. were saved from the flood that destroyed everyone and everything on the earth. But what if he had not obeyed? He and his whole family and all the creatures of the earth would have perished in the flood. His faith, therefore, would have done him no good.

And we can certainly parallel this over to our own salvation. For, like James said, “Faith without works is dead.” It is just like Jesus said when he said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will inherit the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God. And he said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. Our faith is shown by what we do.

So, just like if Noah had not obeyed, he and his whole family would have perished in the flood, if we do not obey Jesus Christ with our lives, we also will perish. We will not inherit eternal life with God. It is what the Scriptures teach. We not only must walk in obedience to our Lord but we must also NOT continue walking (in conduct, in practice) in sin. For this is the essence of the gospel message that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

Hebrews 11:8,12 ESV

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going… Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

And what about Abraham? How good would his faith had been if he had not obeyed the Lord? The nation of Israel of the Old Covenant would not have been birthed, and Jesus would not have been born through that nation. Now, God certainly is not hindered by the disobedience of humans. So, God’s plans for humanity would still have taken place, but Abraham would not have been the one through whom these things came.

But the point of this is that faith must be accompanied by obedience or it is not genuine faith. And that is what we are taught all throughout the New Testament with regard to our faith in Jesus Christ, too. For, genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in us dying with Christ to sin and being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him. And our faith is proved genuine by our obedience, for if we continue living in deliberate sin we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God. But if we walk in obedience to our Lord, then we do have eternal life with God. So, faith = obedience.

And then we have many more examples here of such faith in action, such as Moses obeying the Lord and freeing the children of Israel from their captivity in Egypt and then him leading the people for forty years in the wilderness and him giving them the laws of God. And then the children of Israel crossed the Red sea as on dry land by faith, and by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after the people had encircled them for seven days, etc.

And then there were many who were tortured, who suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. And some were stoned, and some were sawn in two, and some were killed with the sword. Many were destitute, afflicted, and mistreated, some wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. They all endured such suffering by faith in God (in Christ) and because of their faith.

So, just know that faith in God, in Christ, if it is genuine, results in action and in obedience to the Lord or else it is not genuine faith. So, we can’t just profess with our lips that we have faith and then continue living in sin and in willful disobedience to our Lord. For Jesus died on that cross to free us from our slavery to sin so we will now live holy and godly lives, pleasing to him.

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

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

Don't Believe Every Spirit

1 John 4:1-3 ESV

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”

This passage of Scripture is an example of a passage of Scripture that should not be interpreted on its own without the larger context. And that larger context goes beyond just the book of 1 John but reaches to all passages of Scripture which talk about false prophets and what makes one a false prophet or teacher. For one, our English words don’t always capture the true meaning of the original writings and words.

Take for example this word “confess.” In the English language it can mean merely to admit something verbally. So many false assumptions have been made by people about such passages of Scripture as in 1 John 1:9 where it says, “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is not speaking of a mere verbal admission of sin. Plus we need to read that in the whole of 1 John.

This word “confess,” in this context, literally means to fully agree with God, to speak to the same conclusion as God, to have the same mindset as God, and to align with God regarding our sin. And what does God say about our sin? He says that we must die with Christ to sin, that sin must be put to death in our lives so that we are no longer enslaved to sin but so we are now becoming slaves of God and of his righteousness. So, this we must do.

Now, with regard to this passage in 1 John 4, it would read “every spirit that fully agrees with God, that speaks to the same conclusion as God, that has the same mindset as God, and that is aligned (united, allied) with God regarding Jesus Christ and who he is, that when he walked the face of the earth he was God incarnate, God in the flesh, fully God yet fully man, this one is from God. And this alignment with God should be obvious.

But then we have to look at other passages of Scripture which describe what it means to be “from God,” for there are many other stipulations. And then we should also look at other Scriptures which define false teachers for they are not ones who teach the truth. But, and this is important that we realize this, they are charlatans, fakers, pretenders, and this is why we cannot go by a mere verbal confession coming from their lips, for they are messengers of Satan who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

So, when we test the spirits, the words and the character of human beings, and we test what they say and what they do against the Scriptures, in their context, then we can begin to see who is of God and who isn’t, and again, that goes way beyond just a profession of who Jesus is. For 1 John alone says that if we say (with our lips) that we have fellowship with God while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin), we lie and do not practice the truth (1 Jn 1:6).

And then we read on that by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep (obey) his commandments (New Covenant instructions). For if we say (with our lips), “I know him,” but we do not make obedience to our Lord’s commands our practice, but sin is what we practice, then we lie, and the truth is not in us. We do not really know the Lord if we do not keep his commandments and if we continue to live in deliberate sin (see 1 John 2-3; also Matt 7:21-23). So, we test the spirits against these verses, too.

Therefore, the moral of this lesson is that we cannot go merely by what people say with their lips. Now, if with their lips they are clearly teaching what is false, we can test that. But if with their lips they profess faith in Jesus Christ, maybe they do and maybe they don’t have faith. That is tested by other words they say and teach and it is tested by what they do, too. But we should do this prayerfully and carefully so that we don’t misjudge, too.

1 John 4:4-6 ESV

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

This is yet another way we can test those who say they are from God. Those who are false believers in Jesus and/or who are false teachers of the faith are from the world, and they speak from the world. And to speak from the world means that what comes from your lips is mostly all about what is of the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life – all this is not from the Father but is from the world. And if we embrace and prefer the world, then the love of the Father is not in us (1 Jn 2:15-17).

So, what do you talk about the most? What do you talk about with your co-workers, with your family and friends, on social media, with your hairdresser, and with your fellow Christians, etc.? Do your conversations primarily revolve around your walks of faith in Jesus Christ and what you are learning from the Scriptures, or are your conversations primarily or always about what is of this world? What do you talk about most? Unless of course it is work-related and so your primary conversation at work is about work, which it should be, what we talk about most shows where are hearts are.

It grieves me to get on social media, and in some cases to see so many Christians talking about all things that are of this world but rarely ever talk about Jesus Christ and his word unless it is Easter or Christmas. And then their conversations are mainly just the story of Jesus’ birth and death, but rarely do they speak about what that means for us in our lives, and what God requires of us. So they go through the motions of religion, but their conversations are full of the world.

So, either their faith in Jesus Christ is not genuine, and what they have is religion but not a genuine walk of faith in Jesus Christ, or else they are Christians but presently they are not walking according to the Spirit but they are walking according to the flesh. Now, if a person professing faith in Jesus Christ has never truly repented, and never truly surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, but they just made a verbal profession of faith, but then continued on in their sin, according to Scripture, they are not saved.

The Scriptures also appear to show us that it is possible for Christians to move away from their pure devotion to the Lord and to fall back into sin and to need to repent and to be revived and brought back into true fellowship with their Lord. And the Scriptures also indicate that if this does not take place, but they continue living in sin, they will not inherit eternal life with God.

Now, if those who profess faith in Jesus Christ have genuine faith they should be willing to listen to others of genuine faith who are speaking the truth of God’s word. But so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ want nothing to do with hearing the truth of the Scriptures but they only want to hear what tickles their itching ears and what makes them feel good, and they are also ones whose conversations are mostly about the world. And this is a very sad reality.

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

Caution: This link may contain ads

Friday, April 29, 2022

The Calling to Which We Have Been Called

Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Do you who read the Scriptures in their context ever wonder how in the world people come up with some of the beliefs that they do, especially the one where they say that God requires no works of us at all – no submission to him as Lord, no repentance, and no obedience to his commands? I mean, all throughout the New Testament Scriptures we are taught that our walk must match our profession of faith in Jesus Christ and we must obey Jesus.

So, when Paul says, “I urge you,” that is an imperative. It is not a casual suggestion he is making. And he is not teaching works-based salvation. He is saying here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that it is essential that we walk (in conduct, in practice) in a manner (way, conduct) worthy (fitting, suitable, appropriate) to the calling to which we have been called of God.

And what is it we have been called to? We have been called to belong to Christ, i.e. that we are now his possession and thus he is our Lord (Owner-master), i.e. he is the one directing our lives. And we are called to be saints, and a saint is a called out one, one who is holy unto God, who is separate (unlike, different) from the world because he is being conformed to the likeness (character) of Jesus Christ.

We have also been called according to God’s purpose and his purpose for us is that we die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, that we no longer walk in sin, but that we now walk (in conduct) according to the Spirit in holiness and righteousness, in the power of God’s Spirit. And it is that we submit to him as Lord of our lives, that we honor him with our lives, and that we walk in obedience to his commands in humility.

And we are also called to freedom from slavery to sin, so sin is to no longer have dominion over our lives, for Jesus bought us back for God (he redeemed us) with his blood so that we would now honor God with our bodies. So our bodies are no longer to be given over to the sinful passions of the flesh, but we are now to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the power of God. And now we are to be slaves to God and to his righteousness in the power and working of God’s Spirit in our lives.

[Rom 1:6-7; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-29; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 1:9; 1 Co 3:17; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Gal 5:13-21; Eph 1:3-4; Eph 2:10,21; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22; Col 3:12; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 2 Tim 2:21; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 1 Pet 2:5-9,24; 2 Pet 1:3; Tit 2:11-14; Lu 9:23-26; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 2:3-6]

Ephesians 4:25-32 ESV

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

I don’t know how it can be more clear than this. All throughout the New Testament we have instructions in godly living, and in the things that we are to put off (out of our lives) and the things that we are to put on (applied to our daily walks of faith in Jesus Christ). Again, how is that so many people are buying into a false gospel which tells them that all they have to do is “believe” (undefined) in Jesus, and now their sins are forgiven, heaven is their eternal destiny, and nothing can take that away from them?

Not only do the Scriptures make clear what needs to go out of our lives and what must be part of our lives if we are to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, but we have plenty of passages of Scripture with lists of sinful practices. And we are told that if these sins and others like them are what we practice deliberately and habitually, and if we do not repent and turn away from them to follow Jesus in obedience, that we will not inherit the kingdom of heaven but hell will be our eternal destiny, instead.

So, we need to take the word of God seriously, and we need to stop listening to humans who are not teaching the word of God in context, but who are pulling Scriptures out of their context and are twisting them to say something the Scriptures do not teach. And by context I mean biblical (historical and doctrinal) context. For example, we are no longer under the Old Covenant, but the New Covenant is not lawless. We are still required to obey the Lord and to not walk in sin, for this is part of the faith that saves us from our sins and which promises us eternal life with God.

So, know the truth by studying the Scriptures in their context and by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Don’t build your doctrine of salvation around a few select Scriptures taught out of context. And certainly don’t build your doctrine of salvation merely from the teachings of other humans who could be in error. Test everything you read and hear against the Word of God, but in context. And let the Word of God and the Holy Spirit lead you to all truth. For many liars and deceivers are out there.

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:28-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:16; Rom 8:3-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Matt 7:21-23]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

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

Speaking the Truth in Love

Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

By Every Wind of Doctrine

God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – gave ministers and spiritual gifts and ministries to the church. And he gave us godly people who love the Lord, who will speak his messages, who will help us to grow to maturity in Christ, and who will equip (prepare, train) us for the work of the ministry. And “the work of the ministry” is not just something that official “ministers” do. It is something that all of us who believe in Jesus Christ are to be doing.

But sadly, not everyone who calls himself a “minister of the gospel” is one. Wolves in sheep’s clothing abound! They are charlatans, who by their cunning and craftiness in deceitful scheming are leading many people astray and straight to hell on the promise of heaven when they die. For they are not teaching them the truth of the gospel but an altered gospel message based largely in Scriptures taught outside their context and then twisted.

So, we who are following Jesus Christ with our lives need to be discerners of truth and lies, and we need to be students of the Scriptures who study them in context and who compare them with other Scriptures, and to do so prayerfully, asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that we correctly handle the word of truth and so that we do not end up teaching what is false. And I know many of us as children were taught some things wrongly.

And one of those things that comes to my mind is that little poem we learned as children, which came with hand motions, which says something like this: “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and see all the people.” It was instilled in many of us as children and then reinforced in our adult years that the church is the building, that it is God’s house, and that we enter God’s house when we walk inside the building.

But as I began to study the Scriptures for myself I learned that the church is the people of God. We who trust in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior are the church, the body of Christ. We don’t “go to church.” We are the church. And the church is universal. It meets in lots of different locations throughout the world, but the locations are not the church, i.e. for example, the church at Laodicea is the church, the body of Christ, in that specific location, but Laodicea is not the church. The people are the church.

The Truth of the Gospel

Another thing I learned when I was young was a gospel presentation called the “Four Spiritual Laws” and other such presentations which presented the gospel by taking a few select passages of Scripture out of their context to fit with the plan of salvation they were presenting. But out of context, not all those Scriptures were taught in truth. And it wasn’t until I began reading the Bible in context, verse by verse, that I began to see some of these discrepancies between what I had been taught and what I was reading.

One example of that is Romans 6:23. I think Romans 3:23 came first to show that we are all born sinners who are separate from God and who are not capable in ourselves to be acceptable and approved by God. And then came this: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And then they taught that we just needed to pray a prayer to invite Jesus into our hearts and now we had eternal life.

But that is not what that verse is teaching. All of Romans 6 is teaching us the truth of what it means to be “in Christ.” If we believe in Jesus with genuine faith we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Christ. For our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be ENSLAVED to sin, but so we would now be slaves to God and to his righteousness. By his grace we are saved through faith.

Therefore, and here comes the warning, we are to not let sin continue to reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions, for sin will have no more dominion over us because we are under grace. God’s grace does not free us to keep on sinning deliberately and habitually only now without guilt. God’s grace frees us from our addiction to sin so that we will live our lives in freedom from the control of sin over our lives.

Therefore we must know that we are slaves of the one whom we obey, either of sin, which leads to DEATH, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness leading to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.. In other words, if we continue in slavery to sin, in deliberate and habitual sin, which is what many are doing, it will end in death, not in eternal life with God, for the free gift frees us from our slavery to sin and empowers us to live godly lives.

So, if we do what it teaches us here in Ephesians 4, we will be people who will speak the truth of the gospel to one another, not the lies, and we will be those who expose the lies for what they are, and for the building up of the body of Christ to maturity in Christ, which involves daily dying to sin and daily walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands (New Covenant). And this will happen if each part of the body does its work assigned by God in ministering to one another the truth and by exposing the lies.

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

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

In Love with Self, Not God

Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

They Call it Love

Many people today are confusing lust with love. They call it love when it is actually lust. For it has nothing actually to do with loving anyone, and it is totally based in self and in the flesh and in what the flesh desires, and in what makes the flesh feel good. It is being called love when how someone looks or feels or smells makes the flesh of another feel good. But that is all centered on how one person makes another feel, not on loving others.

Many people are building relationships with others totally on how that other person makes them feel emotionally and/or physically and then they want to continue to feel that emotion. So if that emotion dies out in one relationship they will try to find it in another, and if that one fails to satisfy that feeling, they will go to another. Or some people are going to pornography or to sexually charged and/or romantic movies to feed their lust for that feeling.

Especially if they are feeling down emotionally and/or depressed or if they are feeling lonely they will feed their flesh to make it feel better. They may fantasize about past relationships or about someone present in their lives, or they may have an extra-marital affair, or view pornography, or do something sexual to gain attention for themselves. Or they may self-gratify, which is having sex with oneself. But it is all about feeding one’s own flesh.

But they are the immature, the foolish, the self-indulgent, the addicted who are totally just thinking about themselves and what they want regardless of what that does to others or to their spouses or even to their children. And so they do foolish things and cruel and hateful things to others just to feed their own flesh and to protect their own addiction so that they can continue to feed their own flesh unhindered. This is called slavery (addiction) to sin.

For their own flesh has become their god which they worship and bow down to. They are devoted to gratifying their bodily appetites and they freely indulge in sensual pleasures. This can involve outrageous conduct and indecent behaviors, even in public, and it can lead to acts of violence and abuse against others, particularly against the weak and the vulnerable. And this is completely selfish without thought for how this will harm others.

You Must Not or No Longer

If we are truly in Christ, by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, this is to not be the way that we live, living for the sensual pleasures of our flesh to please ourselves even at the expense of others. If this is how we once lived, we are to no longer live that way. Living for sin and for sensual pleasures, especially to the harm of others, is to have no part in the life of a true follower of Jesus Christ. For, if that is how we live, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

For the grace of God instructs us that we must say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and that we must live self-controlled (not out-of-control), upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon return. If we want to come after Jesus, we are to deny self, take up our cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) Jesus, for if we hold on to living to sin and to self we will not have eternal life with God (see Luke 9:23-26).

For, you cannot walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh and according to the Spirit at the same time. The two are opposed to each other. So, you can’t honestly claim faith in Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life with God if you are still addicted to living in sin and for the sinful pleasures of the flesh without regard for God or for his commands or for who you are hurting in the process by your prideful and rebellious spirit (Gal 5:16-21).

Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV

“But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

And here we have the other part of the problem. We have teachers of the Scriptures and preachers and authors of books telling prospective believers in Jesus, and those professing faith in Jesus Christ, that all they have to do is believe (undefined) in Jesus and their sins are forgiven them and they now have heaven guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live their lives on this earth. So they are giving people carte blanche to sin.

Some of them are taking it so far as to tell them that God no longer requires repentance (the forsaking of and dying to sin), obedience to his commands (New Covenant), and submitting to him as Lord of our lives. For they teach that Jesus does it all and that we do nothing other than “believe” which is not really explained other than as a mere acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, of his forgiveness of our sins, and of his promise of eternal life.

But Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven (Matt 7:21-23). And the apostles taught the same thing that we must turn from our sins and we must walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant) or we don’t have salvation from sin and the hope of heaven when we die.

[Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:28-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Rev 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Matt 7:21-23]

So, if you are being told that a casual acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins secures you heaven when you die regardless of how you live while you are still on this earth, then you are being lied to. That is not how you should have learned Christ and should have been taught the gospel of our salvation. You should have been taught the truth that is in Christ Jesus and not the lies, but sadly the lies are what are permeating the church today.

For the truth in Jesus is that we are to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. For this is the essence of the gospel message that Jesus and his apostles taught, that we must die with Christ to our old lives of sin, be born again of the Spirit of God, and now walk in holiness and in righteousness in the power of God living within us.

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

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

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Shining as Lights in the World

Philippians 2:14-16 ESV

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

Grumbling and Disputing

So, we are to do all things without grumbling (murmuring, muttering, and complaining against God) or disputing (back-and-forth reasoning that is self-based, centered in the rights of self). The context appears to be primarily with regard to our obedience to the Lord. We should not murmur against God and against his directives for our lives. We should not dispute with God with regard to his commands and to his instructions to us.

This is not saying that we should never protest or object to or be upset with false teaching, with lies, and with liars, or with deliberate and habitual sin permeating the church and causing the moral and spiritual downfall of the church. For the Scriptures teach that we are to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness, and that we are to speak out against sin and false teaching, and that we are to warn of the consequences of unrepentant sin.

We should also not murmur against the Lord nor should we dispute with him over our circumstances, accusing him of wronging us, or complaining that he is not doing right by us when things go bad, which they sometimes will. For God never promised us “smooth sailing.” He promised us persecution, false accusations, false arrests and imprisonments, people hating and rejecting us, and even our family members or our fellow Christians turning against us.

So, instead of murmuring against and disputing with the Lord because we don’t like our circumstances or how we are treated, we should bring these things to the Lord in prayer, in humility before him, in tears, where tears will flow, cry them out to him, and let him teach us what we need to learn through them, which one thing is that God is sovereign over our lives and so nothing touches us but what God allows it for a purpose.

So, instead of griping and complaining, we need to see what the Lord wants to teach us through our difficulties, and then submit to him and to his will, and willingly accept his sovereignty over our lives, no matter what comes. We must acknowledge and accept that God is in control over all things and that he knows what we need, and that even discipline is for our good, which involves pain, but it is for our maturity in our walks of faith in Christ.

And one more thing on this subject is that we all have to guard against complaining about the little stuff. I know I have to guard against this stuff. It is the little stuff that I have to watch. The big stuff, well it kind of smacks us in the face and we can’t miss it, so we consciously are more aware of it and of our responses. But it is those little things, like our food not being exactly to our liking. Those are the kinds of things I have to watch my attitude on.

Blameless and Innocent

This is not saying that we will be absolutely sinless and perfect, although lack of perfection is certainly not a viable excuse for deliberate and habitual sin against God and against other humans. But if we do all things without grumbling against and disputing with God, we will be blameless and innocent of opposing the Lord and of fighting against him, and we will be those who are submitting to him and who are walking in obedience to him.

We will also be those who are not blemished by sinful rebellion and by disobedience, but we will be those who shine as lights, representing Jesus Christ and his righteousness and holiness, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, in which we are presently in the midst. And this is not saying that those of us who shine as lights are absolutely perfect people, but it should mean that we are not deliberately and habitually living in sin.

For we can’t live in sin and walk in righteousness at the same time. We can’t shine as lights in a crooked generation if we are still walking in darkness. We need to be walking in the light as God is in the light if we are going to be able to shine as lights in the midst of this present crooked and twisted generation. And we need to be walking in obedience to our Lord and living upright, godly, morally pure, honest and trustworthy lives.

And we need to hold fast the word of life, and this has to do with us believing the Scriptures and what they teach us who are in Christ, by faith in him, and then we need to be doing what the Scriptures teach Christians they must do. And we need to be having the mindset of Christ and not of the flesh, and desire our Lord to do his will, and then we can share with others how they can walk in obedience to the Lord Jesus, too.

You are Loving and Forgiving

An Original Work / February 19, 2012

Based off Psalm 86

You are loving and forgiving,

Jesus, Savior, King of kings.

You provided our redemption.

By Your blood You set us free.

You are gracious; full of mercy.

No deeds can compare with Yours.

Great are You; there is none like You.

Glory be to Your name.

Teach me Your way, and I’ll walk in it.

O Lord, I will walk in Your truth.

May I not have a heart divided,

That Your name I give honor to.

I will praise You, O Lord, my Savior,

For great is Your love toward me.

You have delivered me from my sins.

Your grace has pardoned me.

You, O Lord, are full of compassion,

Slow to anger, bounteous in love;

Faithful to fulfill all You promise;

Glory be to Your name above.

Hear, O Lord, and answer Your servant.

You are my God. I trust in You.

Turn to me and grant Your strength to me.

You are my comforter.

https://vimeo.com/117066958

For His Good Pleasure

Philippians 2:12-13 ESV

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

As Obedient Children of God

Paul wrote this to the saints in Christ Jesus, the called out ones who God has called out from the world to be different from the world now that we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. We are the beloved of God, his children. We are those who have died with Christ to sin and who were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like Christ in true righteousness and holiness.

If we have believed in Jesus with God-given faith, we were delivered from our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin so that we might now become slaves of God and of his righteousness. Our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Therefore, we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions, for sin shall have no dominion over us.

For we are slaves of the one whom we obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness and to sanctification, which then ends in eternal life with God. For we are called of God to obedience to Christ/God, to leave our lives of sin behind us, and to now walk (in conduct, in practice) by the Spirit in holiness and righteousness and no longer in sin. For if we walk in sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

Therefore, if we are in Christ Jesus, by genuine faith in him, we should also be those who are walking in obedience to our Lord, who are listening to what he says and who are DOING what he commands (New Covenant). And as obedient children of God we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure, i.e. the work we do we do in the power of God under his direction.

Now, this is not teaching “works-based salvation.” It is not teaching that we work to earn or to deserve our own salvation, for we are saved by God’s grace, through God-given faith, and this is not of ourselves, not of our own works done in our own flesh in our own power of our own choosing. But it is teaching that works are required of us, but they are the works of God which he planned in advance that we should walk in them in his power.

[Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:21; Tit 2:11-14; Jn 15:1-11; Tit 3:8; Jas 2:17]

Because We Love Him

So, what this is saying is that we can only be saved from our sins because of God’s grace, and because of Jesus’ sacrifice on that cross for our sins, and we can only live with Christ for eternity because Jesus was resurrected from the dead in victory over death, hell, Satan, and sin. But Jesus died to deliver us from our slavery to sin and to empower us to live godly and holy lives to his glory and praise, so we do have a part in our salvation.

But the part we have in our salvation is only because God is working in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. We can only do the works of God because our God is living within us empowering and strengthening us to do the works he called us to do. So, when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we submit to his will and purpose for our lives and we follow him in obedience as led and as empowered by his Spirit.

Now, we do this, not only in the power of God and under his direction, but we do this with fear and trembling. We do this in the fear of God, with all due respect and honor to our Lord who saved us and who called us to a holy calling. We take God and his word seriously, and we give our Lord the respect and honor due him. And we do not take lightly that he called us with a holy calling to his service to love and obey him in all things.

Also, what we do in all due respect to our Lord, and in obedience to him, with regard to our walks of faith in him and our spiritual maturity in Christ, is to obey his will and for his good pleasure. Because we love our Lord, we obey him, and we want to do what pleases him. We are not in this to please ourselves and to do whatever we want while claiming Jesus as our Lord and heaven as our eternal destiny.

For Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross so that we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us and who was raised from the dead. He didn’t die just to save us but to transform us, and not just so we can go to heaven when we die, but so that we will serve him, and walk with him, and obey him while we still live on this earth. So, if you have not yet done so, I pray that you will surrender your life to Him today.

You are Loving and Forgiving

An Original Work / February 19, 2012

Based off Psalm 86

You are loving and forgiving,

Jesus, Savior, King of kings.

You provided our redemption.

By Your blood You set us free.

You are gracious; full of mercy.

No deeds can compare with Yours.

Great are You; there is none like You.

Glory be to Your name.

Teach me Your way, and I’ll walk in it.

O Lord, I will walk in Your truth.

May I not have a heart divided,

That Your name I give honor to.

I will praise You, O Lord, my Savior,

For great is Your love toward me.

You have delivered me from my sins.

Your grace has pardoned me.

You, O Lord, are full of compassion,

Slow to anger, bounteous in love;

Faithful to fulfill all You promise;

Glory be to Your name above.

Hear, O Lord, and answer Your servant.

You are my God. I trust in You.

Turn to me and grant Your strength to me.

You are my comforter.

https://vimeo.com/117066958

Run With It

Habakkuk 2

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Adulterous Eyes

Do You Have the Holy Spirit, Really?

By Faith Abraham Obeyed

Don't Believe Every Spirit

Friday, April 29, 2022

The Calling to Which We Have Been Called

Speaking the Truth in Love

In Love with Self, Not God

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Shining as Lights in the World

For His Good Pleasure

Original Works

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