We Need a Revival!

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 ESV

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.”

Sexual immorality is rampant in our society, most certainly. But the sad reality of it all is that it is rampant in the gatherings of the church (or in what is falsely being called “church”). And this is way beyond a singular man having his father’s wife. But this is about men with men and women with women sexually, and all sorts of mixtures of sexes and sexual identities. 

But it isn’t just that. It is that, according to statistics, as much as 75% of “Christian” men and as much as 35% or more of “Christian” pastors are regularly engaged in the viewing of sexually explicit pictures and videos and movies. And women and children are now addicted to such images as these, too, and this is on the increase. And what is the church doing about it? Largely nothing! But why are they doing largely nothing? 

Well, for one, many of them are the ones engaged in sexual idolatry themselves, and so they won’t do anything. And number two, it is because the gospel of our salvation has been so diluted that it leaves room for the “believers” to continue in deliberate and habitual sin while claiming “who I am in Christ” in order to alleviate guilt, and while claiming heaven as guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live. For sin has been made acceptable in this diluted gospel.

I mean I hear it from people all the time. It is very easy to pick up on immediately when they start talking about how they fail all the time, and then how they move from that to talking about God’s grace, and how none of us are saved by our own works. And it progresses. And yes, we are saved by God’s grace, through God-given faith in Jesus Christ, and this is not of ourselves. But let’s look at God’s grace for a moment here:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14 ESV

And then let’s look at Ephesians 2:8-10:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

So, yes, we are not saved by our own fleshly works. We can never be good enough in our flesh to earn or to deserve our salvation. But works are not absent of the life of the believer in Jesus. It is just that they are the works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them, if we are indeed his by God-given faith in him. For our faith is not of ourselves or of our own choosing, but it comes from God and is gifted to us by God, and it means to be persuaded by God, too, as to his righteousness and holiness.

And God’s grace to us is not just a get-out-of-jail-free-card. It is deliverance from our lives of slavery to sin, and it is empowerment of God to now live godly and holy lives, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, in the power and wisdom and strength of our Lord. And if we choose to continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and we choose not to walk in obedience to our Lord, in his righteousness, then we don’t have salvation from sin, and we don’t have eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

So, do you want to know why our nations are in the mess that they are in? It is because so much of “the church” today is no longer behaving like the body of Christ in complete servitude to our Lord Jesus, but they are easily putting up with these false gospels of men who are giving them the freedom to continue in their habitual sins without conscience and without guilt, but still with the promise of heaven when they leave this earth. And this should not be!! And so they have emasculated themselves!

So, what does that look like? It means they have made themselves spiritually weaker and less effective by accepting a diluted gospel which gives them the liberty to continue in deliberate and habitual and gross sin against God and against other humans, even against those who they are supposed to love and to protect. But it isn’t just that. It is that they are still promising them that they are forgiven all their sins, even future sins, and that God can no longer see when they sin, and so heaven is still their home.

And so we have a large body of people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are making excuses for why they are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin and who are condoning their sins under the guise of God’s grace. But are we perfect people? No! We won’t be absolutely perfect until we are in heaven with our Lord and we are no longer in these flesh bodies. But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin.

Now I said the church was largely doing nothing about the sexual immorality running rampant in the church. But if they do anything at all, it is usually to form support groups, mainly for men, for those who are sexual addicts, where they try to help them overcome their addiction, largely with psychological philosophy, and largely without the use of the Scriptures in their gatherings. And from what I have heard of these groups, many men never are delivered fully from their addiction, and some of these gatherings end up just being times to commiserate with each other.

Now, I am not saying that these support groups never help anyone, but that they are largely not handled in a biblical manner, and it appears that the men are being given support even though they are the sexual offenders, while those who they are sinning against aren’t always being given support, and perhaps are treated shamefully and harshly by church authorities, or else they are being ignored or silenced. And I know some of this from personal experience, but also by reading the stories of others.

So, what’s the bottom line here? It is that the gospel of our salvation is being so diluted that it is making room for these kinds of sins to run rampant in the gatherings of what is called “church.” And it is that the church is largely emasculated spiritually and is no longer operating as the body of Christ is Scripturally to operate. And it is that so many of our “leaders” are worldly and ungodly men who are so bound in sin themselves that they are not leading their people to genuine salvation and to genuine walks of obedience to the Lord, in walks of holiness and righteousness.

So, we need a revival! And only God can bring that about, in reality!

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

Faithful Stewards

Video Talk

1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ESV

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

This was Paul speaking to the church in Corinth, and he included “and our brother Sosthenes” in his initial greetings to the church (chapter 1). So, he could have been speaking here about himself and Sosthenes, or he could have been thinking of himself and the other apostles. And from reading what he wrote here it appeared to me that he and/or they were experiencing some level of persecution and criticism against themselves, which Paul frequently faced. And Paul frequently, as well, had to come to his own defense against those false criticisms and false accusations.

Now he was addressing these words to the church, even though they were not all walking with the Lord as they ought, and so he was having to correct them in some matters. But he was appealing to them to regard him and the other apostles, and possibly including this man Sosthenes, as servants of Christ and as stewards of the mysteries of God. So, he was asking that they honor him and show him respect, not out of pride, but because if he was to teach them they had to acknowledge that he had the authority of God to teach them and that they were indeed genuine servants of the Lord.

And then he spoke of the importance of being faithful to the calling of God on our lives to be his stewards, i.e. those who are entrusted with the word of the Lord and who are his faithful servants. And we are all called to be faithful to the call of God on our lives to be his followers, and to forsake our sins, and to obey his commands, and to live holy and godly lives, to the glory of God. But if we are faithful servants of the Lord in today’s Christian culture, and we take God and his word seriously, and we are walking in that truth, we, too, will be criticized and falsely accused and thought to be oddballs.

And then he talked about people judging him by human thinking and reasoning, and not justly and according to the Scriptures. And this will happen to us, too, when we are serious about the Lord, and when we are following him in truth and righteousness. For not everyone is going to accept us and be thrilled over our commitments to Christ, not even many professing Christians will these days. So others will make false judgments against us based on their upbringing or based on their culture or their traditions or based on their own personal prejudices, or whatever.

And they may judge us prematurely without knowledge and without understanding. But judging others prematurely may also entail condemning them and writing them off as no good when God is not finished with them yet. But this is not saying that we cannot judge according to the Scriptures or that we cannot judge righteously, for in 1 Corinthians 5 we are instructed that we are to judge the church, and in the rest of the Scriptures we are taught to judge rightly according to the truth, and to test the spirits, and to reject the lies and to embrace the truth.

And I like it here that Paul, although he was claiming innocence in the matter of which they were making a judgment about him, he was not claiming that somehow he had arrived and that he was absolutely perfect. And I faced something like that quite a few years back where I was being falsely accused, and I let my accusers know that I was not guilty as charged, but that I was not claiming absolute perfection. I was just innocent with regard to the specific accusations being made against me. But Paul was a righteous man who lived what he claimed to believe and what he taught.

And that is how we are to live, too, in humility, but in faithfulness to our Lord and to his calling upon our lives. And it is perfectly okay to defend yourself against false accusations against your character. Paul did that regularly, and so did Jesus. Yes, Jesus remained silent during part of his mock trial, prior to them putting him to death on the cross, but he was not silent through it all, nor was he silent throughout his time of ministry on the earth. He came to his own defense many times when he was being attacked by his opponents. But sometimes he didn’t, and he found other ways to turn them away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge-4ujvlItY

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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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Followers of God, Not of Man

 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 ESV

“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human?

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.”

Now today we might relate this to those who follow Arminianism or who adhere to Calvinistic doctrine. And please don’t ask me what those are for I never remember. But you can look them up. Basically they are theologies of men and of their biblical interpretations and leanings. Or we might relate this passage today to someone saying he is Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian or Episcopalian or Church of God (charismatic) or whatever. And this can go to the issue of being followers of man in place of being followers of God and of his word, as led by the Spirit of God.

I can recall that years ago there would be people who would try to identify me with a particular church denomination to which I would respond that I was a Christian. But they weren’t satisfied with my response. For they thought that I had to be Baptist or Methodist, etc. And they would insist on it, for that was their upbringing that we had to be one of these. And then I have had people ask me about my theology, but I don’t adhere to a particular theology, but I just follow the Scriptures and what they teach. But did I use to identify myself with a particular church denomination? Yes, I did.

Now I used to teach women’s Bible studies, mostly in people’s homes, but some in “church” buildings, too. And this one time I was teaching on the deity of Christ, showing in the Scriptures where it taught that he was God and not just the Son of God. And this one woman tried to argue with me that Jesus wasn’t God but that he was only the Son of God, because that is what she thought she had been taught. But then she asked her dad who was a deacon in the church and he told her that Jesus is God, and she believed him.

But many times in these Bible studies I would ask questions and I would attempt to lead the women to learn from the Scriptures themselves and not to rely on what they were taught by another human. But, if what the Scriptures were clearly teaching was opposite of what their pastor was preaching, they would choose to believe their pastor and not the Scriptures, for they believed their pastors were God’s voice to them and that they were correct because they were ordained or because they went to seminary. And sadly that is instilled in many people of church denominations.

So, what is Paul saying here? For one, we are not to raise one servant of the Lord over another as though one is superior to the other unless one is clearly following the Lord and the other is clearly not being led by the Spirit but by the flesh and by the teachings of man. So, just because someone is a man, or he is a deacon or an elder in an institutional church, or just because he holds the title of “pastor” and because he went to Bible college and/or seminary, it doesn’t make him superior in biblical knowledge and in the wisdom of God to a woman or to someone who hasn’t gone to seminary.

For, no matter who we are, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, in truth, and if we are students of the Scriptures who are diligent in making certain that we correctly handle the word of truth, and who are not willfully teaching what is false, but who are adhering to the Scriptures and to the leading of the Spirit, then we are equal, i.e. one of us is not better than the other. And we should not follow one while rejecting the other. For we are all servants of the Lord doing what God has assigned us to do individually, walking in his power and strength. And he is the one who brings the increase, not us.

Now one of the dangers here is that people end up following personalities, and typically they are drawn to people who are more gregarious and witty and charming and who appear to be knowledgeable and who are smooth-tongued, and who know how to draw in large crowds of people from the world. But this isn’t always the case. And some people are drawn to credentials, i.e. if you have a Bible college degree or a seminary degree or if you are a reverend, etc., you tend to get more respect than someone who does not have credentials, and this shouldn’t be our criteria for godly or not.

So, Paul called this kind of thing of the flesh and representative of spiritual immaturity and an indication of professing Christians behaving in a human way rather than in a godly and spiritually mature way. And sadly, so much of what is called “church” here in America is largely of the flesh of man, and they are following after church denominations and theologies of men and personalities and credentials and marketing schemes, and most seem to not be following the Lord and his gospel message and the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And so what is happening is that many professing Christians are following after lies and not the truth because they have put their faith and hope in other humans they admire, who they sometimes worship, and who have become God’s voice to them in place of God’s voice. And many of them are, thus, rejecting the truth of God’s word and of his gospel message because it doesn’t agree with what their pastor is teaching, or because it doesn’t agree with their church denomination or their biblical theology which they got from theologians of old (from dead men).

So, what is the lesson here for us? It is to be followers of God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit – and not followers of other humans, especially not based on worldly qualifications. We are not to be followers of church denominations nor of theologies of men nor should we be followers of personalities nor prejudicial against someone who doesn’t have all that worldly stuff. But we are to be followers of God who listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us in our spirits and who do not quench the Spirit by rejecting what is of God in favor of what is of man (of the flesh).

Testing the spirits: [Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25] 

Just a Closer Walk with Thee  

Hymn lyrics by Anonymous/Unknown

Music by American Melody

“For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you” (2 Co. 13:4 NASB).

I am weak, but Thou art strong;

Jesus, keep me from all wrong;

I’ll be satisfied as long

As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Through this world of toil and snares,

If I falter, Lord, who cares?

Who with me my burden shares?

None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,

Time for me will be no more;

Guide me gently, safely o’er

To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee,

Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,

Daily walking close to Thee,

Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Ks49apflE 

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Have Theologians Replaced the Holy Spirit?

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Several years ago I listened to a Q&A of a famous preacher who said that he got his sermons from “dead men,” meaning from the theologians of old. And he holds a great deal of stock in Calvinism and reformed theology. He does not accept all the gifts of the Spirit as being valid today, he sometimes mocks those who do, and he doesn’t believe we can be led by the Spirit in any way other than just by reading the Scriptures. 

For he doesn’t believe that the Spirit speaks to our hearts and to our consciences other than through the written word, and only from the strictest sense of biblical and theological interpretation. But then he says he gets his sermons from “dead men,” i.e. from these dead theologians “from whom we come,” he says. He is a biblical scholar, and he doesn’t teach “cheap grace,” but still he raises up these theologians almost to “God status.”

Now, is most of his theology correct? Probably. And he does have a very large following. But I believe he quenches the Spirit when he denies that we can be led by the Spirit via the Spirit’s voice within us speaking to us and leading us in what to do, and in where to go, and in what to say, and to whom, etc. For we are not to despise the gifts, but we certainly are to test them to make certain that they do agree with the Scriptures.

“Do not quench the Spirit, do not utterly reject prophecies, but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 NASB).

Now, is there a lot of abuse of spiritual gifts? Absolutely!! Is there a lot of fakery and deception coming from people supposedly “hearing from God”? No doubt! Yes!! Is there a lot of false teaching coming from those who are claiming to have certain gifts of the Spirit? You bet! Is this a serious issue? YES! Do we need to address this? YES! But we must be so careful that we don’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” i.e. that we don’t discard the true gifts of the Spirit and the leading and the guidance of the Spirit in our lives along with what is false and deceptive and spiritually dangerous.

 

For we need to pay close attention to Paul’s words here. For his speech and his message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And yet this preacher holds much stock in the wisdom of men (these theologians of old) from whom he gets his sermons, and from whom he says we come. And this should not be!

So, we are not to deny the gifts of the Spirit nor the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we are to be spiritually discerning, and we are to test the voices we hear in our heads against the Scriptures, in their full context. But we should also be testing the words of these men who say that certain gifts of the Spirit no longer exist and who claim that we cannot hear from the Holy Spirit other than through the written word of God, but then who raise men up as though they are God’s voice to us. 

Theologians versus the Holy Spirit

So, what is this saying, in essence? We are not to rely on theologians and Bible commentaries and church denominations to tell us what to believe and what not to believe, for they are not God, and they can be wrong. But we are to be students of the Scriptures who study the Scriptures in their context, and who compare Scripture with Scripture to make certain that our understanding is consistent throughout the New Covenant teachings, in particular, and who are being led by the Spirit of God and not by the flesh of man. And we must be discerning people who test everything we hear.

So, read through the New Testament and see how often the people were led by the Spirit in where to go and in what to say in very specific ways intended just for them personally. And Paul said that his messages were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, i.e. in the wisdom of biblical scholars and theologians who may or may not have been hearing from the Lord, nor in the wisdom of wolves in sheep’s clothing who are deliberately distorting the Scriptures to teach what they do not say.

Now I will tell you straight out here that I do not choose each day what to write on. I don’t pick the subject nor the Scripture passage nor the song included in the writing. The Holy Spirit leads me to the passage of Scripture and he puts the song in my mind, and I let the Spirit lead me in what to write so that I am hearing from him and not from the flesh of man, and not from my own flesh nor from the teachings of man. Yet, this doesn’t mean I am perfect, so please test what I write against the Scriptures, and if you believe I am in error, then please let me know, kindly.

And I believe the Lord led me today to talk about this preacher. And who he is doesn’t matter. But what he is teaching does matter. For if we rely on the wisdom of man (theologians) to lead us in what to believe, and if we reject the gifts of the Spirit and the Spirit’s voice within us guiding us in what to do and to say, and in where to go, etc., then we are in grave danger of putting out the Spirit’s fire, i.e. of quenching the Holy Spirit and of turning our faith into a dead man’s religion rather than a faith that is daily being led of the Spirit like Paul was, and like the Christians of old were being led.

So, yes, the Scriptures are to be what we follow, and we can follow them strictly, and we can live pure and holy lives, but still we can miss out on the purpose for which we were created by God if we refuse to hear the Spirit speak to us personally and to tell us to “go there” and to “speak to that person” and “I will give you the words to say.” Yes, this requires much spiritual discernment, for we can be guilty of quenching the Spirit, or we can be guilty of misusing the Spirit and his gifts to us. But it is best if we can be guided by the Spirit and to speak in the Spirit under the power of the Spirit.

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.

http://youtu.be/_XQkomPFz4Y

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Now Overcoming Evil with Good

Romans 12:14-21 ESV

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

When we follow Jesus Christ with our lives, in walks of obedience to his commands, faithfully, and we are living holy lives pleasing to him, and we are not walking in sin, but we are walking in righteousness, we are going to be persecuted, even by others who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and even by some pastors of churches, or of what are falsely being called churches. And especially if we are verbally and publicly sharing the truth of the gospel, we are going to be opposed, even by the same people mentioned here.

Now, if we bless someone, we are going to do for or say to that person what is beneficial for them. For the word “bless” means to speak reason which confers benefit, as God defines “benefit,” not as man does. For “bless” is used of God blessing people, so this isn’t about doing what is fleshly and worldly, and this isn’t about lying to people to make them feel good, either. But it is about doing what is good (as God defines good) to people, which is the opposite of doing evil to them, and it is the opposite of cursing them.

And along those same lines, when we rejoice with those who rejoice, we are not to rejoice over what is evil, or over what is opposed to God and to his word. So if someone is rejoicing over evil they have done to another person, we do not rejoice with them. And we are not to rejoice with people over how they managed to trick someone, etc. But we are to rejoice over what is good and holy and righteous and beneficial to others, by God’s standards. And we are to weep over the things God weeps over, which may not agree with man.

Living in harmony with one another also does not involve compromise of morals nor of truth nor of righteousness. We are to remain faithful to our Lord in holy living and in walking with integrity even if it means not being in harmony with other human beings. But where it is possible, without compromise of what is godly and holy and righteous, we should try to get along with other people, and we should never be hateful and nasty and backbiting and vicious, no matter what the circumstances.

We, as well, should not walk according to the wisdom and thinking of this world and of our human flesh. But we should be those who are walking in the wisdom of God and of his word. So, we don’t make decisions based on worldly thinking and reasoning, but on the wisdom of God. Yet, I am not saying that we can’t make just and right decisions or that we are incapable of making logical and rational decisions, but that we should not rely on our own wisdom in place of the wisdom of God, and we should not be prideful.

And we are not to “trade tit for tat,” i.e. we are not to get even with people who do evil to us, repaying them equally for the evil that they did to us. Instead, we are to love our enemies, and pray for them, and do good to them, and do for them and say to them what is beneficial for them in the eyes of God, not according to the flesh. So, if our enemies are genuinely hungry and thirsty, then we should feed them and give them something to drink, for we are to repay evil with good, as a testament of God’s love.

For we are not to be overcome by evil, but we are to overcome evil with good. So, no matter the evil that others do to us, we are not to retaliate, but we are to forgive them. This doesn’t mean we are granting them permission to keep on doing evil to us, though, but that we refuse to do to them as they have done and are doing to us. And instead we choose to love them and forgive them and do good to them in return. And in this way we will overcome evil with good and we will not be overtaken by evil.

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go  

George Matheson / Albert L. Peace

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee;

I give Thee back the life I owe,

That in Thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,

I yield my flickering torch to Thee;

My heart restores its borrowed ray,

That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day

May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to Thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain,

That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from Thee;

I lay in dust life’s glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt69WDtYNLo

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Are You Pretending Love?

Romans 12:9-13 ESV

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

If our love for God and for our fellow humans is genuine, first off it is the love that centers in moral preference (agape), which is divine love, which prefers what God prefers, for he is love. And what God prefers is what is holy, righteous, godly, upright, morally pure, honest, and faithful, etc. So when we love with this kind of love we are going to be morally pure and honest and faithful to our Lord and in our dealings with other humans. And we are not going to lie to them, cheat them, nor do any kind of evil to them willfully, deliberately, habitually, and especially not premeditatedly.

Also, if our love for God and for others is genuine then it is not fake. It is not something we are just faking and putting on as an act to try to convince them that we love them when we may be doing the opposite of love towards them. But many people do this. And in some cultures this is socially acceptable to pretend love on the outside while those who are faking their love for someone, or for God, are treating them with hate, gossip, slander, and rejection, etc. And some people do this to try to cover up the evil that they are doing in secret. But discerning people should recognize this.

Also, according to the Scriptures, if we love God we will obey his commands under the New Covenant. But if we do not make obedience to our Lord our practice, but instead we make sin our practice, then that isn’t love. So if we say that we love God or that we know God, while we refuse to do what he says, and while we do the opposite of what he says to do, then we are liars. And the truth is not in us. So love is not just something we profess with our lips, and it isn’t a feeling, but love is what we do. And it is only love if how we treat God and others is truly loving them and not mistreating them.

So, this goes right along with abhorring what is evil and holding fast to (clinging to) what is good. For if we are those who love (prefer) evil, and who are doing evil, and who are not doing the good that we ought to do, then we can certainly call it “love,” but it is not “love.” 

For instance if you tell your spouse that you love him/her, but then you deliberately cheat on your spouse via lust, sexually explicit viewing, extramarital affairs, even light flirtations, and private conversations your spouse doesn’t know about, etc., then that is not love. Please read what the Scriptures say about that. For our spouses are to be number one in our lives after God, who is number one. And we are to treat our spouses with honor and respect, and in love, and not with hate, abuse, lying, and cheating.

Now, with regard to our service to our Lord, many people are teaching today that we can believe in Jesus, have all our sins forgiven, be on our way to heaven, but regardless of how we live. And many are teaching or they are suggesting that we do not have to repent of our sins, that we do not have to obey the Lord, and that no works are required of us whatsoever. Well, those who are teaching that are speaking lies, for that is the opposite of what the Scriptures teach. And so they need to read the Scriptures and they need to obey the Lord and his New Covenant commands.

For the Scriptures are very clear that if we are to follow Jesus Christ with our lives that we must repent of (turn away from, die to) our sins, and that we must now walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. And, yes, we are not saved from our sins of our own doing, by doing good works in the flesh to try to earn or to deserve our own salvation. But our salvation is not absent of works, for we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14).

Now the hope that we are to rejoice in needs to be biblical and it needs to biblically apply to our lives. For many people are believing that they are saved from their sins and that they are guaranteed heaven when they die, and so that is their hope. But for many of them it is a false hope based on a lie, because they have not been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and they have thus not been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For they are still walking in sin and not in holiness.

But if our hope is genuine, we have died with Christ to sin, and daily by the Spirit we are putting the deeds of the flesh to death, and so we are now walking by the Spirit, according to the Spirit, and no longer according to the flesh. We are obeying our Lord in practice, though not necessarily in absolute sinless perfection (see 1 John 2:1-2), but lack of perfection should never be used as an excuse for continued, deliberate, and habitual sin against God and against other people. For if we walk in sin we will die in our sins and we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

And if our walks of faith in Jesus Christ are genuine, then we are going to be faced with tribulation, persecution, rejection, false accusations, and with people hating us, despising us, wanting nothing to do with us, and with us generally just being discarded as though we are trash. But in these times of trial and tribulations we are to be patient, and we are to remain steadfast in faith, and we are to be constant (continuing) in prayer, trusting the Lord with our circumstances, believing in his sovereignty, and obeying his will.

Now, we should also be generous people who see needs and who help to meet others’ needs, particularly those of the saints of God who are following the Lord in obedience and who are serving him in ministry and who are doing his will, according to the Scriptures. We do need to exercise spiritual discernment in this, though, for there are many con artists out there, even within the gatherings of the church, who are just waiting to take advantage of us and our generosity. So, always pray before you give so that you give according to the will of God and for the benefit of others.

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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Gifts of the Spirit

Video Talk

Romans 12:3-8 ESV

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Now I am well aware that this is a very controversial subject and that many people have very strong beliefs and opinions with regard to the gifts. For some people are dismissing some of the gifts as foundational gifts, which they claim are no longer active today. But I see no solid biblical support for that stance. I believe what the Scriptures teach regarding the gifts, and that they are all alive and active today, and that they are all necessary to the proper working of the body of Christ.

Now, I also see these gifts on a pendulum or like on a see-saw (teeter-totter), and that on one end we have those who are denying the gifts of prophecy, tongues, miracles, and healings, while they support the gifts of mercy, generosity, teaching, and serving, etc., which are considered the more “safe” gifts of the Spirit. And on the other end we have those who are misusing and abusing the gifts of the Spirit, and they are doing all kinds of wild and crazy things claiming that they are of the Spirit of God.

So, we must be very discerning people. But we need to read what this says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22:

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

So, what is this saying? It is saying that we should not deny the gifts of the Spirit as though some of them no longer exist, for in doing so we may be quenching the Holy Spirit. Yet, we are not to just blindly accept any gift of the Spirit that someone says he has, but we are to test everything against the Scriptures, in context. And we should compare Scripture with Scripture because if we just pull out what one Scripture says on a subject without considering what the Scriptures teach on that subject, as a whole, we may misinterpret and misapply what the Scriptures are actually teaching.

Now with regard to the misuse of the gifts, we should be people who use the gifts biblically. So, if someone says he has a word from the Lord, that word should agree with the Scriptures, and that word must not be against (contrary to) what the Scriptures teach. So if your “word” is telling people that they are all going to be successful and wealthy and that nothing bad will happen to them, then you are teaching against the Scriptures which tell us that we are going to be afflicted, and that we will be hated and persecuted, and that we are going to suffer for the sake of the gospel of Christ.

Also, if your gift leads you to do what is out of control to where you lose control over your own body, then that is against the Scriptures, for they teach that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and SELF-CONTROL. So if the spirit you are listening to is leading you to do what is lacking in self-control, that spirit is not of God, and it is not the Holy Spirit. And so it is likely a demonic spirit. And if your speaking in tongues is created by you babbling, which is self-produced, then that is not of the Spirit of God who gives gifts as He wills.

And then I want to touch lightly on the subject of women and the gift of prophecy, for it is clear in the Scriptures that the gift of prophecy is given both to men and to women. And I am not speaking here of future telling nor am I speaking of adding to the Scriptures additional words supposedly coming from the Lord. Biblically speaking, at least under the New Covenant, I see prophecy more in the category of preaching, and both men and women are to prophesy. So this is more about sharing the truth of the Scriptures in ways which are practical and applicable to our lives and our world today.

Now with regard to the silencing of women, as some Scriptures do teach, I believe that we have to look at those Scriptures in their context, and also we should compare them with other Scriptures to see how Jesus regarded women, and how women are gifted of the Spirit, and how all of us are to be used within the body of Christ, too, as “each part does its work.” 

Now those passages that mention that women should be silent in the gatherings of the church also say that if they have questions that they should ask their husbands at home. So the idea there seems to be that these women were causing a disturbance and that is why they were being silenced. Anyway, the Lord has given me other writings dealing with the subject of women in ministry, so I will put the links to those writings at the end of this in case you are interested in reading them.

So, what’s the bottom line here? We should not quench the Spirit by denying the gifts of the Spirit, but we should test the spirits biblically to see if they are of God. And we should not tell other members in the body of Christ that we have no need of them and that they are to go “someplace else where they will be a better fit.” Now if they are out of line, biblically, then we don’t have to accept the abuse of the gifts, but we need to make certain that we know what the Scriptures teach on that subject so that we are not out of line by rejecting another Christian’s gifts and end up quenching the Spirit.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfLXHWSQM6Q

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Constantly Abiding 

By Anne S. Murphy, 1908 

There’s a peace in my heart that the world never gave,

A peace it cannot take away;

Though the trials of life may surround like a cloud,

I’ve a peace that has come here to stay!

All the world seemed to sing of a Savior and King,

When peace sweetly came to my heart;

Troubles all fled away and my night turned to day,

Blessèd Jesus, how glorious Thou art!

This treasure I have in a temple of clay,

While here on His footstool I roam;

But He’s coming to take me some glorious day,

Over there to my heavenly home!

Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;

Constantly abiding, rapture divine;

He never leaves me lonely, whispers, O so kind:

“I will never leave thee,” Jesus is mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opnmojpwHb0

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Women in Ministry

Role of Women in the Church

The Silencing of Women

https://runwithit.blog/2019/08/04/women-in-ministry/

https://runwithit.blog/2019/05/12/honoring-of-women/

https://runwithit.blog/2020/09/20/faithful-to-his-design/

But Be Transformed

Romans 12:1 ESV

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” 

What are the mercies of God? God the Father sent his Son (God the Son) to the earth to be born to a human mother, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man. So, God the Father was Jesus’ birth father. So, Jesus Christ was not born with a sin nature as we are, but he was still tempted to sin as we are, and he, in his flesh body, was capable of sin, also, yet he never sinned. And God the Father sent him to the earth ultimately to be our sacrifice for sin to take away the sins of the world that we might be delivered from sin.

Now Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, walked this earth about 33 years. The last 3 years of his life on this earth he called twelve men to follow him as his disciples, and he trained them to be his followers. And they went with Jesus wherever he went, and they learned at the Master’s feet. And Jesus healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, comforted the sorrowful, performed many miracles, fed the hungry, and preached repentance for forgiveness of sins and obedience to his commands for eternal life.

[Matt 4:17; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 11:20-21; Matt 12:41; Matt 21:28-31; Mk 1:14-15; Lu 5:32; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 13:1-5; Lu 15:2-7; Lu 24:45-47; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:31-32,51; Jn 10:27-30; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:1-11] 

Initially Jesus had many people who followed after him wherever he went, largely because of the miracles that he performed and because he was healing the people of their infirmities. But many followed him superficially. So, when he taught them the truth that is in Christ Jesus regarding what it means to be a Jesus’ follower, many deserted him because they said his teachings were too hard. For Jesus didn’t teach the “light and fluffy” gospel message that so many are teaching today.

Jesus taught that if we are to come after him we must deny self, die daily to sin and to self, and follow him in obedience. He taught that to follow him meant giving up our former lives of living in sin and for self and to now die to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he taught that we must suffer with him, not only in death to sin, but in being hated and persecuted as he was hated and persecuted, and that we must leave our former lives behind us and go with him wherever he sends us.

And he taught that, if we will not give up our former lives to follow him in obedience, we are not worthy of him. And if we love our family members more than we love him, we are not worthy of him, and that when we take up that cross to follow him, there is no looking back. Following Jesus Christ with our lives means death to our old lives, and surrender to Jesus Christ and to his will for our lives, and going with him wherever he sends us, and doing whatever it is he commands us to do, for our lives are no longer our own.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,37-38; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 9:62; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21]

Now Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross in order to put our sins to death with him so that we will die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died, too, that we might now live for him and no longer for ourselves, and in order to buy us back for God with his blood (to redeem us) so that we would now be God’s possession and so that we would now honor God with our bodies (1 Peter 2:24; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21; Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 4:17-24).

Therefore, because of what Jesus did for us, we are to present our bodies (our lives) to God as living sacrifices to God on his altar. And by the grace of God we are live holy lives, acceptable to God. And to be holy is to be different from the people of the world, not like them, because as His followers we are to be becoming like him, being conformed to His likeness and no longer conformed to the flesh and the ways of man. And if you want to be a worshiper of the Lord, we do that by surrendering our lives to him.

Romans 12:2 ESV

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Since we are now to live holy lives, different from the world, because we are now being conformed to the likeness (in character) of Jesus Christ, if indeed we are, we are not to be conformed to (adapted, fitted, consistent with) the ways of this sinful world. So, we are not to look like, act like, sound like nor be like the ungodly in character, thought, words, and deeds (actions). We are not to be doing the same kinds of things as the ungodly, thinking the same thoughts, watching all the same TV shows, movies, and videos, and speaking the same words. But we are to be like Jesus in character.

So, instead of us conforming to the ways of this sinful world, we are to be those who stand out as different (odd, peculiar). The world should not love us as its own, but we should be hated by the people of the world and by the ungodly, even by the ungodly who give lip service to the Lord but who deny him by their actions (including by their thinking and attitudes). They should not accept us as their own, but we should be people of God who are being shunned, cast aside, rejected, snubbed and disliked. And this is because we are being transformed in heart and mind to be more like Jesus.

Constantly Abiding 

By Anne S. Murphy, 1908 

There’s a peace in my heart that the world never gave,

A peace it cannot take away;

Though the trials of life may surround like a cloud,

I’ve a peace that has come here to stay!

All the world seemed to sing of a Savior and King,

When peace sweetly came to my heart;

Troubles all fled away and my night turned to day,

Blessèd Jesus, how glorious Thou art!

This treasure I have in a temple of clay,

While here on His footstool I roam;

But He’s coming to take me some glorious day,

Over there to my heavenly home!

Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;

Constantly abiding, rapture divine;

He never leaves me lonely, whispers, O so kind:

“I will never leave thee,” Jesus is mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opnmojpwHb0

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Deliver Me!

Video Talk

Psalms 43:1-5 ESV

“Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

    against an ungodly people,

from the deceitful and unjust man

    deliver me!

For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

    why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning

    because of the oppression of the enemy?

“Send out your light and your truth;

    let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

    and to your dwelling!

Then I will go to the altar of God,

    to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the lyre,

    O God, my God.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,

    and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

    my salvation and my God.”

I am super tired today. I read this passage of Scripture several times today and it just did not plug into my brain in what direction the Lord wanted me to go with it, for it could be the basis for many different discussions. And so I struggled with it in wondering what I was supposed to do with it, and with what I would say. 

Then the Lord Jesus encouraged me to just trust him. So, I got out my phone/camera/computer and I began to talk, having absolutely no idea where he was going to take this. And even now as I am writing this portion of it I can’t be sure I can recall what he had me say in the video or even if it has to be the exact same wording. For when I do these videos, I don’t have a script that I am following, not usually anyway, so I never know what the Lord is going to put into my mind to say. But I trust him.

Well, I believe the main focus the Lord led me to was to talk about pastors and elders and church people who mistreat those who are following the Lord in obedience, and how they do so apparently based upon some modern teaching and philosophies they are following. And the Lord just recently had me write several devotions on that subject, using Paul’s experiences and my own experiences to illustrate how we can expect to be treated, even by others who claim to be Christians, if we are living holy lives, and if we are taking God and his word seriously.

And the overwhelming thought I had in my mind today was that I just don’t understand how those who claim Jesus as their Savior can be so mean and cold-hearted towards those who are following Jesus with their lives. But Jesus faced this kind of treatment, and so did Paul and the others, and so will we if we are following Jesus like we are supposed to. And honestly a lot of these pastors are being trained in who they should want in their “churches,” and who they should “discard,” for my husband and I went through some of that training, and we have seen it put into practice.

One of their common phrases they use in order to dismiss you, but to do it in such a way to make you feel as though they care about you is this: “I think you should go someplace else where you will be a better fit. And I would be glad to help you find that place.” I have heard that said to me, or to me and my husband, at least three times, as well as I have heard at least one pastor express it publicly from the platform to the whole congregation if they felt they could not get on board with his marketing schemes, basically.

But then I have had others who didn’t sugar-coat it at all but who outright attacked me and accused me falsely of things that I did not do, and they had no proof that I did anything wrong. And one of these pastors told me that he was warned about people like me in his training, i.e. “people with strong convictions.” And that is when he invited me to go where I would be a “better fit.” But Jesus had strong convictions, and so did the prophets and the apostles, for they were the convictions of God and of his Holy Spirit.

But we live in this “fast food” generation which appears to mostly want everything lickity split. They want to “get saved” once, have all their sins forgiven, and be guaranteed heaven when they die, but for it not to interfere with their lives and their daily activities. And that is why so many of them are buying into this teaching which is telling them (or suggesting to them) that they do not have to repent (turn away from) their sins, and that they do not have to obey the Lord, and that no works are required of them. But that just isn’t biblical.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Anyway, this prayer is for deliverance from such deceitful and unjust people as this who are people of influence and/or who are in positions of power and authority over others – and over others who will believe whatever they tell them. And this is an encouragement to put our trust in the Lord and to take refuge in him when we experience such deceitful and unjust treatment. And this is an encouragement not to get downhearted over being treated as though you are a throw away, but to let the Lord lead you in the way that you should go regardless of how others treat you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9h0_ftiNLU

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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.

http://youtu.be/_XQkomPFz4Y

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Remembering

Remembering those who gave their lives

To share the truth, and not the lies,

Who sacrificed their lives so we

From sin and self, we would be free.

They served us well, if truth be told.

They spoke the truth, and they were bold.

They were not liked, not by the many.

They were the few, and not the plenty.

They did not care much for their lives

That they not give such sacrifice.

But love us, love God, that they did.

They told the truth. They did not fib.

Now some of them, they were the hated,

Not the admired, not highly rated.

They did not look for man’s approval,

But hoped for man’s sins, for removal.

An Original Work / May 29, 2023

Encouragement for the Faithful

Philemon 1:4-7 ESV

“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”

Nice to be Encouraged

It is always nice to hear encouraging (uplifting, positive) words, isn’t it? For we all need encouragement. But, and I am not intending to put a damper on this, we must make certain that the encouragement applies to us. For if it doesn’t, then it isn’t truly encouragement, for then it becomes a lie. And lies are never kind nor are they true biblical encouragement, although they may feel good when we hear them.

Now the reason I am beginning this way is that, number one, these words were spoken specifically to Philemon, and so they only apply to us if the words are true about us. And the second reason is that many professing Christians are applying the promises of God and biblical words of encouragement to themselves when they do not apply to them. For the promises of God all have conditions that we must meet for those promises to be fulfilled in our lives (1).

And one other thing on this subject is that we live in a day and time in the culture of today’s modern market-driven “churches” (businesses) where it is being pushed on us that we should only speak positive and uplifting words to one another, and we should not be “negative,” i.e. we shouldn’t talk about sin, judgment, repentance, obedience, holiness, and submission to Christ as Lord. But we should only speak words which make people feel good. But that is not honest, and fundamentally it is selfish in nature.

So, let’s take a close look at Paul’s words to Philemon and then apply them to our lives only where they are true about us. And if what is being expressed here, in the way of encouragement, doesn’t apply to us, but biblically it is how we should be living, then we should submit to our Lord in this and obey him in doing what we are supposed to be doing for these words to be true about us, so that they can encourage us, in truth.

Biblical Love and Faith

Now, for us to have biblical love and faith, it means that we are walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant, that we are walking in holiness and righteousness, and not in sin, and that we are doing for others what is godly and pure and righteous, and not what is impure and sinful and harmful to them, on purpose. It means we are fundamentally selfless, not selfish, and that we are putting God and the true needs of others above ourselves, and in place of selfish desires.

Now, if we are being effective in the sharing of our faith for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ, what should that look like? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is how Paul said that he taught the whole counsel of God. In other words, he did not hold back the truth of the gospel in any way in order to not offend people with the truth of the gospel. He spoke the whole truth, and not these half-truths (lies) that so many are speaking today in the name of Jesus Christ.

The second thing that comes to mind is that we should not be teaching above what we are living, i.e. we should not be hypocrites who are encouraging others to live in ways in which we are not living in practice. Now, this doesn’t mean we are perfect people and that we never err in any way. For we are still human beings, and we still live in flesh bodies, and we are still capable of sinning, as well as we will continue to be tempted to sin. But not one of us should be walking in sin, making sin our practice, and not making righteousness and obedience to our Lord our practice.

And if we are truly loving God and our fellow Christians, we are not going to be filling their minds with false promises or with false compliments just to make them feel good so that we are being “positive” and not “negative.” For the love of God compels us to speak the truth in love to one another and to not lie to one another, but to exhort, urge, and provoke one another to walk in holiness and in righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, and to not walk in sin. And this, too, is encouragement!

So, refreshing the saints is not lying to them so that they feel good about themselves, which is what many are doing today. For so many are telling those who profess faith in Jesus Christ that, although they are deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord, many in sexual addiction, that if they start to feel guilty about their sin that they should just “claim who you are in Christ.” But who we are in Christ is not a status. It is a reality in our lives in how we are living in walks of obedience and holiness and moral purity and faithfulness and honesty, and not in deliberate and habitual sin.

So, if we are going to give out true encouragement, and if we are going to sincerely and in truth refresh the hearts of the saints of God, i.e. those who are walking in obedience to the Lord, then we must speak the truth in love and not the lies. Yes, be kind, but lies are never kind. Yes, be encouraging, but be truthful. Don’t tell people just what they want to hear. Tell them what they need to hear. And if a fellow Christian is serving the Lord faithfully, then let that person know that you see that, and praise the Lord for that.

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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(1) https://runwithit.blog/2023/05/29/his-benefits-have-conditions/ 

His Benefits Have Conditions

Psalms 103:1-5 ESV

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

    who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.”

Yes, we should be so thankful to the Lord Jesus for all that he did for us in dying on that cross, and in taking our sins upon himself, and in putting our sins to death with him so that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, no longer living as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, and for the glory and praise of God (1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:1-23; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21). 

Nonetheless, we must know that this salvation, and this forgiveness of sins, and this promise of eternal life with God are conditional on us walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living, and on us not walking in sin.

Psalms 103:11-14,17-18 ESV

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

    he remembers that we are dust.”

“But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children's children,

to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.”

Now the fear of the Lord is not just Old Testament teaching. The fear of the Lord is also New Testament teaching. And to fear God is to revere, respect, honor, worship, and obey him. To fear God involves believing that what he says he will do, that he will do it, whether promises of blessings or promises of judgments, and then to act accordingly in obedience to him. It means to do what is right and acceptable to him and to make it our goal to please him. And it involves acceptable worship of God and cleansing ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion. 

[Matt 10:28; Luke 1:50; Acts 9:31; Acts 10:34-35; Rom 3:10-18; Rom 12:1-2; 2 Co 5:6-11; 2 Co 7:1; Php 2:12-13; Heb 5:7; Heb 12:28-29; Rev 11:18; Rev 14:7; Rev 15:4] 

The New Testament also has much to say on the subject of obedience to our Lord Jesus. We must follow the Lord in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). If we love him, we will keep (obey) his commandments. And God will love us and they will make their home with us. And we will abide in God’s love. And we will have the hope of entering into the kingdom of heaven when we are doing the will of God the Father. But if we do not obey the Lord it will result in eternal condemnation and in the wrath of God. For if we claim to know him, but we are not doing what he says, then we are liars.

So, what we need to understand from all of this is that we are not saved from our sins and guaranteed heaven when we die based on giving lip service only to the Lord Jesus. We must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer living as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Sin must no longer have mastery over our lives, for if sin is what we obey it will end in death, not in life eternal. But if obedience to our Lord is what we obey, that will lead to righteousness and to sanctification, and its end is eternal life.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 8:51; Jn 10:27-30; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:10; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 10:1-22; Php 2:12-13; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 5:9; Jas 1:21-25; 1 Pet 1:1-2; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10,24; 1 Jn 5:2-3; 2 Jn 1:6]

So, when this passage of Scripture in Psalms 103 lets us know that God’s promise of forgiveness of sins and of removing our sins far from us is conditional on us walking in the fear of the Lord, we need to take that seriously, and we need to not write it off as Old Covenant teaching and thus as if it does not presently apply to us, for it does.

Therefore, contrary to popular belief, we don’t just “get saved” once in our lives and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future) and now heaven is guaranteed us when we die. That is not what the New Testament Scriptures teach. That is the teaching of human beings who are teaching Scriptures out of their context and who are making them say what their tickling ears want to hear. We have to read all of the New Testament if we want to get an accurate picture of what it means to be saved from our sins and to have the hope of eternal life, for it has conditions for us to meet.

And one of those conditions is that we must obey the commands of the Lord under the New Covenant, in practice, not necessarily in absolute perfection. But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against other humans who we are supposed to love and care about. And the other main condition is that we must not walk in sin. Sin must not be what we practice. 

So we must walk in obedience to our Lord and not in sin, and we must live holy lives, too. And then we must remain steadfast in those walks of faith until the very end.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

My Jesus, I Love Thee

Hymn lyrics by William R. Featherstone, 1864

Music by Adoniram J. Gordon, 1876

My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;

For thee all the follies of sin I resign.

My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;

If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I love thee because thou hast first loved me,

And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;

I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;

If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,

And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow,

If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight;

I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright;

I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;

If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHrF4_1r-qA 

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Just Keep Praying

Acts 28:25-28 ESV

And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

“‘Go to this people, and say,

“You will indeed hear but never understand,

    and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

For this people's heart has grown dull,

    and with their ears they can barely hear,

    and their eyes they have closed;

lest they should see with their eyes

    and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

    and turn, and I would heal them.’

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

If you are at all in tune with what is happening in today’s institutional church, you are probably aware that the truth that Jesus taught, and the truth that Paul taught is largely not what is being taught as the gospel here in America, not in its fulness. For so many people are now diluting and altering the gospel message and the character of God/Christ to make them more acceptable and appealing to human flesh and to the ungodly.

For so many who profess faith in Jesus Christ are stopping up their ears, and they are closing their eyes to the truth, and they are refusing to listen. For they want to hear that nothing is required of them other than some obscure faith in Christ that is of their own creation, or that is created in the minds of other humans who also do not want to hear the truth of the gospel. They don’t want to hear that they must repent and submit and obey the Lord.

They like the messages which tell them that they can just believe (not usually biblically defined) in Jesus Christ once in their lives and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live. And so they reject the messages which teach the necessity of dying to sin daily and of walking daily in holiness and in righteousness, in obedience to the Lord Jesus.

So, this isn’t exactly what Paul was generally faced with, although he was to some degree, for he wrote much on this subject of how we need to die to our old lives of sin and how we need to now walk in holiness and in obedience to our Lord. But he generally was up against the Jews who refused to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Messiah, and so that is why the Lord sent Paul to the Gentiles (non-Jews), for they would listen, though not all did.

So, it isn’t that we are being faced much with non-believers who are refusing to believe in Jesus, but what we are up against are many nominal Christians who profess faith in the Lord but who try to find wiggle room around his commands so that they don’t have to obey them. So, in this sense, we are faced with the same situation as Paul, for the Jews had been God’s chosen people, and the promise of the Messiah was given to them first, but the Jewish nation, as a whole, but not every single Jew, has denied Jesus Christ.

So, we should be in prayer for our countries, wherever we live, that God will open the blinded eyes and that he will turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they will receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKiG4fil-Sk

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Constantly Abiding 

By Anne S. Murphy, 1908 

There’s a peace in my heart that the world never gave,

A peace it cannot take away;

Though the trials of life may surround like a cloud,

I’ve a peace that has come here to stay!

All the world seemed to sing of a Savior and King,

When peace sweetly came to my heart;

Troubles all fled away and my night turned to day,

Blessèd Jesus, how glorious Thou art!

This treasure I have in a temple of clay,

While here on His footstool I roam;

But He’s coming to take me some glorious day,

Over there to my heavenly home!

Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;

Constantly abiding, rapture divine;

He never leaves me lonely, whispers, O so kind:

“I will never leave thee,” Jesus is mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opnmojpwHb0

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Shake Off the Creature

Acts 28:1-6 ESV

“After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.’ He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.”

Paul was a prisoner, and he was being taken by ship to come before Caesar, to whom he had appealed. The ship had run into some very strong winds, and eventually they ended up sort of crash landing on this island called Malta. And this was their experience once they got on the island.

Now, I am going to be relating this in a spiritual context to our lives, to our world, and to the church today, so I will be sharing the spiritual application I believe the Lord Jesus is giving me through this passage of Scripture. And so I am going to begin by saying that sometimes we have experiences in our lives which seem to begin well, and where the people are friendly and welcoming, and then something happens, and a “snake” of sorts comes out of seemingly nowhere and bites (attacks) the deeds that we are doing.

I have experienced this multiple times in my life, and if you are one who is serving the Lord Jesus with your life, you have most likely come up against some situations such as this, too. For Satan doesn’t like it when we are being successful in ministry, and when people are listening to us, and when what we are sharing with them is making a difference in their lives. And so he, the snake, will send one of his servant snakes to attack us in order to try to stop us from doing the will of God for our lives.

Now this next part reminds me of the story of Job, for Satan attacked Job first by killing off his children, his servants, and his livestock, and then by afflicting Job with sores all over his body. At first, Job’s friends were sympathetic, but then as Job began to speak, they began to falsely accuse him of sinning against the Lord and to assume that was the reason why he was being afflicted. But that is a false presumption, for the Scriptures teach that those of us who follow Jesus will be afflicted of the enemy of our souls.

But going back to Paul, he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. And Job defended himself against the attacks of his friends who were accusing him of wrongdoing when he had not sinned against the Lord, for the Lord had considered Job a righteous man. And there were many times that Paul had to come to his own defense when he was being attacked by people because of the works of God that he was doing. And so it will be with us, and particularly at times, perhaps, when it seems that all is well.

For that is one of the ways in which Satan works, for he attacks us when things are going well in hopes to defeat us, like in some of my own personal experiences that I have been led of the Lord to share in recent writings, and more. For it can throw us off balance, and it can defeat us if we are not prepared that these things are bound to happen to us, especially when things are going well and when we least expect these kinds of things to take place. So it is good for us to prepare our minds in advance for such things.

But this isn’t just about coming to our own defense. This is about emotionally, mentally, and spiritually shaking off these attacks against our minds and hearts and emotions, and giving them back to the Lord, casting our anxieties on him, for he cares for us who are his by genuine faith in him. When Satan attacks us via other humans, especially when we least expect it, we need to immediately take it to the Lord in prayer and cast it off so that it does not discourage and dishearten us, and so we continue to walk by faith.

Now, in our case, it is Satan and it is our physical enemies who are being used of Satan in our lives who are standing there watching, waiting for us to give up and die (literally or not). And when we do not die, and we do not give up, but we are victorious over the devil and his evil schemes against us, there are not people standing there declaring that we are gods, at least not in my experience. And we may not even have people there encouraging us, either. But we can take courage that, in the strength of the Lord, we were victorious over the enemy and he was not able to harm us. Glory to God!

Have Thine Own Way, Lord 

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907 

Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 

Thou art the potter, I am the clay. 

Mold me and make me after Thy will, 

While I am waiting, yielded and still. 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 

Search me and try me, Master, today! 

Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, 

As in Thy presence humbly I bow. 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 

Wounded and weary, help me I pray! 

Power, all power, surely is Thine! 

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine! 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 

Hold o'er my being absolute sway. 

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see 

Christ only, always, living in me! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z11avpKNLsA 

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The Church Under Fire Book

I have been reading in the book of Acts for a little while now, and I have been reading about the persecutions of Paul, and the Lord has been reminding me of some of the difficult experiences I have had in my life, in the way of persecutions, and of how many of those parallel the persecutions of Paul in some way, and so the Lord had me write several devotions on that subject which he then combined into one book. So I will share the link here to the book:

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rdiWU1NyvWMGWPB4l8aHPLjs9r3cVewOxr1Z9gMmtsk/edit?usp=sharing

Majority Versus Minority

The Church Under Fire

Chapter Seven

Majority Versus Minority

May 28, 2023

I am still reading in the book of Acts. And Paul had just finished giving his defense to King Agrippa. Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.” (see Acts 26:30-32)

Paul then set sail for Italy, still as a prisoner, but the winds were against their ship. So Paul advised those who were in charge of his concern that the voyage would be with injury and much loss. But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. So, the majority decided to put out to sea. But then they came up against a northeaster, and so the ship was driven along by the wind. So they began to throw some of the ship’s cargo overboard. And all hope of them being saved was at last abandoned (see Acts 27:1-20).

Now, as I read through this passage of Scripture, which I have summarized in the paragraph above, I could not help but be drawn to other Scriptures and to more of a spiritual application of this lesson rather than to discuss it more on a physical level. For certain words and key phrases were standing out at me for certain. So this ends up being a perfect parable, as well as a historical account of Paul’s journeys. For I see many parallels here to Ephesians 4:11-16, which I will explain.

Tossed To and Fro

The first word that stood out to me in this passage in Acts 27 was “winds.” And that took me to Ephesians 4:14-15 ESV:

…“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”… 

 

And it was Paul who penned these words, as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit. And if you read all of the book of Acts, and all of the books of the Bible penned by Paul, you should soon realize that Paul regularly warned against such “winds,” that they would result in the spiritual injury and loss of many lives. But these are not Paul’s words in reality, for he was given these words by God, and now they are regarded as Scripture. And truly many people in charge (pastors, elders) are ignoring these warnings. And so they are indeed leading their flocks to death, not to life eternal.

In fact, so many pastors these days have become these men who are spreading these winds of doctrines via human cunning and by craftiness in deceitful scheming. And many of them are being taught to use cunning and craftiness and deceitful scheming and mind manipulation in order to get their people to go in the direction they want them to go. But that is not the way that the Lord wants us to go, for it is not the way of the cross of Jesus Christ, but the way of humans who are diluting and altering the character of God, of Christ, and of the gospel, to appease and to attract human flesh.

For they are telling them that all they have to do is to make a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is now guaranteed them when they die, but regardless of how they live. And many of them are not teaching repentance, submission to Christ, holy living, and walks of obedience to the Lord. And some (or many) are literally teaching that we do not have to repent of our sins, and we do not have to obey the Lord and live holy lives. And so they are sending their recipients to hell on the promise of heaven.

And So the Majority

So, the words and phrases “winds,” “advised,” “those who were in charge,” “injury and loss,” didn’t “pay attention,” and “so the majority” were all standing out to me at this point, and now I want to focus on “so the majority.” And I am going to relay to you a small encounter I had a few years back with a friend of mine and of my husband’s. For I had been writing on Facebook at this time, and I was examining (testing) two main writings against the teachings of the Scriptures. 

The first was some of the writings of John Eldredge. The second was the writings of the Missional Movement in their book, “The Tangible Kingdom Primer.” And this friend of ours was a follower of John Eldredge, and he and his wife were in a home Bible study group with us at the time, and we were all going through this book, “The Tangible Kingdom Primer,” which was passed off as discipleship training. And, as a disciple of Christ who has learned to test what I hear, I was looking into these writings and sharing my findings on Facebook, and this was upsetting this man friend of ours.

Then he (and his wife, I think) came over to our house, and he took me to task, and he screamed at me, and he tried to convince me that, since I was in the minority, I must be wrong, and that I needed to get with the majority, because, according to his estimation, the majority was right. So, since I was testing these people’s writings against the Scriptures, in his estimation I was wrong, but if I just accepted their teachings without question, then according to him, I would be right. But that way of thinking is so anti-biblical!

For it isn’t the majority who are in the right, for they are the ones following the broad road which leads to destruction and not the narrow road leading to life eternal with God (see Matthew 7:13-14). For those who are following the truth, who are walking in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord, are not the majority. We are the minority, which seems to be shrinking by the day. For so many people today are buying into these various “winds of doctrine” via the cunning, craftiness, and deceitful scheming of many men (and some women) calling themselves “pastors.” And it is leading them to destruction.

So, the majority decided to put out to sea, and then they came up against a northeaster, and then the ship was driven along by the wind. And all hope of them being saved was at last abandoned. And sadly, this is where much of “the church” (the ship) is situated right now in America, being driven by these winds of doctrine via these men in their deceitful scheming, and so all hope of them being saved from their sins and having eternal life with God is being abandoned because they will not listen to godly counsel, but they are following the majority and the counsel of these “wolves in sheep’s clothing” disguised as servants of righteousness. So, don’t be fooled by them!

Jesus Christ said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self and take up his cross daily and follow him. And when Jesus took up his cross he definitely denied self and he put sin to death with him on that cross. So, we must deny self and die daily to sin and follow our Lord in obedience. For, if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ we die with him to sin and we live to him and to his righteousness, then we have eternal life in him (see Luke 9:23-26). So, please take this seriously, for your eternity depends on it.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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