Life's Ups and Downs

Now life, it surely has its ups and downs.

We never know when they will come around.

We cannot know what tomorrow will bring,

So, in every trial, we must sing.

We have no control over floods and storms,

Over things that happen not in our norms.

We can’t anticipate everything.

We have to remember Jesus is King.

So, we give it all to Jesus our Lord,

Trusting our lives in His hands, one accord.

Letting go of that o’er which no control, 

Trusting in Him, not in part, but in whole.

For He has a plan, a plan for it all

That on Jesus we will certainly call – 

Learn from Him all that He wants us to do

When the trials of life we will go through.

An Original Work / December 30, 2022

Are You Burdening God with Your Sins?

“Thus says the Lord,

    who makes a way in the sea,

    a path in the mighty waters,

who brings forth chariot and horse,

    army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

    they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

‘Remember not the former things,

    nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

    and rivers in the desert.

The wild beasts will honor me,

    the jackals and the ostriches,

for I give water in the wilderness,

    rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

    the people whom I formed for myself

that they might declare my praise.’” (Isaiah 43:16-21 ESV)

The new way that our Lord Jesus Christ made for us to cross the river (figuratively speaking) into our promised land is the way of the cross of Christ, the way of our salvation from bondage to sin so we can now walk in holiness and in righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord Jesus. For Jesus was put to death on that cross so that our sins would die with him, so that by God-persuaded faith in him we might be crucified and buried with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him.

Thus, our old way of living in sin and for self is now to be put behind us. It isn’t that we will totally forget our past in all our memories, but that the life we once lived we are to walk in no more. For Jesus died on that cross to deliver us out of our slavery to sin so that we will now become slaves of God and of his righteousness. Therefore we are to not let sin reign (be in control) in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires, for if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to God, it will lead to death, not to life eternal.

The new way of the cross does not leave us in slavery to sin. The new way of the cross eradicates our sins so that we can now walk in freedom from addiction to sin, from those sinful patterns of our past lives, provided that it is in the past and not still in the present. But a lie is what is commonly being taught today, which is that Jesus forgives our sins so that we can continue living in sin only now without conscience, guilt, or remorse. But he died so that we will die to sin and now live to him and to his righteousness.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

“Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

    but you have been weary of me, O Israel!

You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

    or honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

    or wearied you with frankincense.

You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

    or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

    you have wearied me with your iniquities.” (Isaiah 43:22-24 ESV)

Translated into New Covenant terminology, this would be like the Lord saying to many who profess his name that they have not forsaken their sins, but that they are still walking in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. They have not presented themselves to the Lord as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, but they have presented themselves still as those bound in their sins, still living to please self and the flesh. They may call upon the Lord, but not in truth and in righteousness, but in hypocrisy.

For they are the self-indulgent, the lovers of intoxication to sin. They are liars, deceivers, and manipulators who lead others into sin and who gossip and make cutting remarks about those whose ways are pure and who are walking in the ways of the Lord. They put on a show of righteousness, and they portend true faith in Jesus Christ, but while they are still sinning against the Lord and against other humans in secret, usually in sexual immorality, for that is the predominant sin permeating the church here in America.

As professers of faith in Jesus Christ, not only are we to be walking in the ways of the Lord, in holiness and in righteousness, and in obedience to the Lord, and no longer in sin, but we are all to be sharing the truth of the gospel with others so that they also can die with Christ to sin and now live to him and to his righteousness in obedient walks of faith. And we are to be refuting the lies which tell people that lip service only will get them into heaven regardless of how they live, for that will send them to hell.

And some of us are doing that, but not all are. Many are still living for the sinful pleasures of the flesh, still walking in sexual immorality, impurity, dishonesty, fakery, and unfaithfulness, in rebellion against the Lord and in sinning against him and against other humans on a habitual and deliberate basis. They are lazy gluttons who feed themselves but who are not ministering to the body of Christ and to the people of the world in the ways of the Lord because they are still feeding their own flesh, sadly so.

And so the Lord is calling out to all who have forsaken his ways, and to all who have not known his ways, to forsake their lives of living in sin and for self and to now follow him in obedience to his commands in holy living. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord, and not holy living, then we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what our lips profess. So please take this to heart, for your eternity depends on you knowing and living the truth of God’s Word.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

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

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

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

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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

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Do You Now Believe?

Jesus warned his disciples that he was getting ready to leave them and of the kinds of things they would face once he was gone. He told them that they would be put out of the synagogues and that whoever killed them would think he was offering service to God. And they would do these things because they did not truly know God the Father nor Jesus, their Messiah, the Christ who they had been promised. And after he said much more, then his disciples claimed that they believed that he had come from God. Then…

“Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’” (John 16:31-33 ESV).

Prior to Jesus letting his disciples know that they were all going to desert him, he told them what was going to happen to them once he was gone. And then, even after he told them that they were all going to desert him, he let them know that they were going to have tribulation but that they were to take heart, because Jesus overcame the world. So, in their specific case, even though he let them know that he knew that they would desert him, he gave them the assurance that they would still be his disciples.

Now this is not to be taken as a general promise to everyone who claims to believe in Jesus Christ, that if after they claim to believe in him that they can then desert him by continuing on in their sin and that they will still be secure. And that is apparent by the things that Jesus said all throughout the New Testament. For the things Jesus said would happen to them after he was gone were things that did happen and are still happening, even some here in America, to those who are following the Lord in obedience.

But a couple of things were standing out to me about this passage of Scripture. The first was that after they claimed to believe that Jesus had come from God, Jesus said, “Do you now believe?” But then he told them that they were all going to desert him. So I don’t think he was asking them to tell him if or if not they believed, for they already said that they did. I believe this was a kind of question like, “Really? Do you really believe?” But then he let them know they would desert him, which would show what?

For what this reminded me of, but not exactly the same as their situation, is all the people who claim to believe in Jesus but then immediately they do desert him because they keep right on in their sin and they don’t submit to him as Lord, and they don’t surrender their hearts and lives to him to do his will, for they feel as though they got their “ticket into heaven” and now they are good to go. And many people are telling them that they are, and that they can live in sin and still have eternal life with God. Wrong thinking!!

Another thing that stood out to me is what Jesus said about how, even though they deserted him, that he was not alone for the Father was with him. And this, combined with him telling them that they would be kicked out of synagogues and put to death for the sake of him and their faith in him, led me to think about how we are being treated and will be treated when our lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ and when we are following him in his ways and in his truth and righteousness.

Sometimes we will also be deserted by friends and family and others who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and they will turn against us. And there may be times when we are all alone, for we have no one to give us the support and encouragement that we need. But we have to keep standing even if all desert us like they did to Jesus, for if we are his and we are following him, he will never leave us nor forsake us. We are not alone, even if all people desert us and leave us alone and/or turn against us.

“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Video Talk

https://youtu.be/bkKC5Zx-psE

Caution: This link may contain ads

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 

Caution: This link may contain ads

Why Do I Do What I Do?

Why do I do what I do each day?

Why do I trust God and to Him pray?

Why do I give my life up to Him?

Why do I live for Him, not for a whim?

I have learned many things in my life.

Some things I learned from Him, learned in strife.

Empty, hurting I was, needed Him.

Needed the light of truth, not what’s dim.

Needed a fortitude, strength within.

Needed my sins forgiv’n, life in Him.

Needed a purpose, a plan for life.

Needed lies not believe that are rife.

In Christ I found what my life’s all about.

My faith increased in Him, not with a doubt.

Living for Him I now do ev’ry day,

Doing what He says to do and to say.

I find fulfillment in my life in Him.

And that is not going out on a limb.

For I do not operate now in myself.

In Christ, I find in Him, all of my wealth.

An Original Work / December 30, 2023

Let Us Be Reasonable

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

    they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

    they shall become like wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

    you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel,

    you shall be eaten by the sword;

    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:18-20 ESV)

To reason together means to prove, decide, judge, rebuke, reprove, and correct. It means to exercise common sense and to not go by our feelings. And how do we do this with God? We must be those who are willing to listen to him and to what his word teaches us we must do as his followers. For we cannot reason together with the Lord if we are holding on to our own stubborn ways and opinions and if we will not consider the teachings of the Scriptures in their full context. We cannot shut God out!

For reason has to do with wisdom and with good sound judgment and considering all the facts and having our minds and hearts open to having our thinking changed if our thinking has been wrong because of sin or because we have been deceived or because of brainwashing and/or human tradition, etc. For many of us were taught things wrongly early on in our lives. So if we are reasonable people we will be willing to see where we have gotten things wrong and we will be willing to change course.

For if we hold on to what we have always believed or been taught, and if we are not willing to read the Scriptures in their full context and to accept that we maybe had some things wrong, if we did, indeed, then we are not being reasonable, but we are being bull-headed and stubborn. For to be reasonable people is to be sensible, rational, practical, realistic, fair, logical, and levelheaded. But it is to be openminded, too, not to contradicting the Lord, but willing to see if we have maybe gotten some things wrong.

And what was the Lord asking them to be reasonable about? Well, they were those who professed his name and that they were his children, but they were living in open rebellion against the Lord. They were living in sin. They were evildoers who dealt corruptly. They had forsaken the Lord. They were utterly estranged from him. But they were those who went through the motions of religious practice, which God sees as hypocrisy. And so he counseled them to cease to do evil and to learn to do good.

So, what is the Lord asking of us who profess his name today to reason with him about? Well, for one, many who are professing his name are still walking in sin, still making sin their habit, their practice, deliberately and habitually. And many are doing this without conscience for they have accepted the lies as the truth and they have rejected the truth as though it is a lie. So he wants them to examine with him what the Scriptures teach, in full context, so that they can see that he is not okay with them living that way.

For many are teaching today that we can make a profession of faith once in our lives and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is now secured for us when we die, and nothing can take that away from us, but regardless of how we live. But that is not what Jesus taught. And it is not what his NT apostles taught. For Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience. And if we don’t, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

So, it is not those who merely profess faith in Jesus Christ who are forgiven of their sins and promised heaven as their eternal destiny. It is all who are willing and obedient to the Lord who have forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life with God. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven. And many will stand before him one day claiming him as Lord and all that they did in his name, and he is going to reject them.

And this is not just OT teaching. This is what the NT teaches. We must walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. We must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience. We must forsake our lives of living in sin and for self, and we must surrender our lives to the will of God to now walk in his ways if we want to have eternal life with God in heaven. For if we rebel, and we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

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

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

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

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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

Caution: This link may contain ads

They Have Forsaken the Lord

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;

    for the Lord has spoken:

‘Children have I reared and brought up,

    but they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows its owner,

    and the donkey its master's crib,

but Israel does not know,

    my people do not understand.’

“Ah, sinful nation,

    a people laden with iniquity,

offspring of evildoers,

    children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken the Lord,

    they have despised the Holy One of Israel,

    they are utterly estranged.” (Isaiah 1:2-4 ESV)

The children of Israel were in a unique situation unlike we who believe in Jesus Christ are today. For they were God’s chosen people by physical birth as physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah. But this did not mean that all of them believed in the Lord with genuine faith, and it did not mean that all of them followed the Lord in righteousness and in holy living and in obedience to the Lord and to his commands. And that was evident, too, during the time that they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

Now we are God’s chosen people only by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, a faith which is evidenced by us dying with Christ to sin and us living to God and to his righteousness. But it is possible for a true believer in Christ, at some time in his life, to wander and to need to be brought back into fellowship with the Lord. And we do have many professers of faith in Jesus Christ, too, who give lip service to him only, but who have never died to sin and who have not, thus, been born again to new life in Christ.

So, presently within the gatherings of the church we have those giving lip service only to the Lord but whose lives have never surrendered to Jesus Christ. And we have those whose lives are committed to the Lord to walking in faithfulness to God and in holy living. And we have those who once walked with the Lord in holy living but who have fallen back into sin and who are presently wandering like many did in the wilderness. And then among us are also those who have never made a profession of faith in the Lord.

But the people being spoken of here, in today’s world, are those who have knowledge of God and of his word and of what he expects of us who profess him as Lord and Savior. They are not the spiritually ignorant, but they are the spiritually void of genuine faith and/or of walks of obedient faith in the Lord Jesus in holy living. Many of them are wandering. Some of them make strides towards obedience to the Lord, but in the flesh, and so they always fail. They always come up short because they are not yielded to God.

So these are people like the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for forty years, who did not obey the Lord but who went their own way, instead. They know the truth, but they are avoiding having to obey the truth. For they are those who, even though they know the right way, have chosen to go the wrong way, for they are those who desire evil and not God, and not his righteousness and holiness. For they are the sexually immoral, the idolaters, the revelers, the worldly, and the rebellious who go their own way.

But they are also the unsettled, always looking for something that will satisfy the deep longings of their souls, but who are looking for fulfillment and peace and satisfaction in all the wrong places. They know the right way, and they know what they need to do to walk in the ways of the Lord, but they continue to go the wrong way, instead, for that is what their flesh craves. That is what their hearts really desire. And they don’t follow the Lord because they know that means giving up their sins. So they don’t.

“Why will you still be struck down?

    Why will you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

    and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even to the head,

    there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

    and raw wounds;

they are not pressed out or bound up

    or softened with oil.

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

    learn to do good;

seek justice,

    correct oppression;

bring justice to the fatherless,

    plead the widow's cause.” (Isaiah 1:5-6,16-17 ESV)

Those who know the way of righteousness but who refuse it are miserable people. They are the wanderers in the wilderness who know there is a promised land on the other side, who can see it, and who sometimes make strides that direction, but who ultimately fail because they are still walking in the flesh, still trying the “my do it” approach that never produces anything good. And it is because they don’t want to let go of their pride and their lusts and their sinful practices. But we cannot live in both worlds.

So they are not at peace. They are unsettled in heart and mind. They are the angry, the resentful, the bitter, the unforgiving who hate what they cannot achieve themselves in the flesh. And so they hate those who are walking in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord. For the truly righteous are an offense to them. For the truly righteous are always a reminder to them of where they should be but are not. And that bitterness comes out in how they may treat those who are walking in faith.

And so the counsel here to these wanderers is to wash themselves, not physically, but spiritually, and not in their own strength and power, but by yielding control of their lives over to the Lord to now submit to his will and purposes and to walk in his ways and in obedience to his commands. But this involves them first dying with Christ to sin so that they can be reborn of his Spirit to new lives in Christ. And then they can walk in his ways in his power by the grace of God in the strength of the Lord.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296 

What are You Searching After?

“Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live,

    but he who pursues evil will die.

Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord,

    but those of blameless ways are his delight.

Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,

    but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

“Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor,

    but evil comes to him who searches for it.

Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind,

    and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

    and whoever captures souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:19-21,27,29-30 ESV)

What do you want out of life? What are you searching after? What has your attention, your heart, your mind? What do you think is going to bring you fulfillment? Satisfaction? Purpose? What are your goals, your dreams? Do you even have goals? Or are you wandering aimlessly just filling up space and time with no real purpose or direction? Many people are doing just that. 

Are you a seeker of truth and righteousness? Or are you a seeker of what is of the flesh and the lusts of the flesh? Are you living to please God or your own flesh? What makes you happy? Serving the Lord with your life? Or doing what you want to do? For we are one or the other. Either we are serving the Lord with our lives, in practice, or we are serving the flesh.

And these are life or death choices. For whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live. And this is not just OT teaching. This is NT teaching. If we live to the flesh, to please the flesh, we will die in our sins. But if we live to God to please him and to obey him and to walk in his holiness and righteousness, in the power of God, then we have the promise and the hope of eternal life with God. But we must continue steadfast in that faith.

For as those who profess faith in Jesus Christ we are to be followers of Christ who make it our practice to obey him, to deny self, and to die daily to sin, in his power and strength. We are not to be those who pursue evil, for if we do, we will die. For those of crooked heart who are seeking the things and the pleasures of this world are an abomination to the Lord, and they will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what faith in him they profess.

For many are those who give lip service to the Lord but their hearts are far from him, for they are still those who are seeking after sinful pleasures and not to please the Lord with their lives. For they are workers of evil and not workers of good. Their hearts and minds are hardened to the Lord and to the truths of his word because they want to hold on to their sinful practices and to continue to feed the flesh. For they want their sin more than anything.

So, what are you searching for? Righteousness? Godliness? Purity of devotion to the Lord? Steadfastness of faith? Moral purity? Honesty? Faithfulness? Or is your heart bent towards evil? And you are searching for the sinful pleasures of the flesh? Is your sin more important to you than your relationship with the Lord? With your spouse? And so you are holding on to your sin while you let these other relationships go?

For whatever you search for and whatever you seek after, that you will find, for good or for evil. So if you search for evil, it will come to you. And it isn’t all that hard to find these days with computers and smartphones and easy access to a whole world of evil at our fingertips on the internet in the privacy of a corner of a room, even a crowded room. But if evil is what you want and not faithfulness and honesty and moral purity, that is what you will find.

But when you choose evil over good, and you choose the lusts of your flesh over faithfulness to God and to spouse, and then you lie to cover up your sins that you commit in secret, you do damage not only to your own life but to the lives of the people whose lives you touch with your wicked ways. You hurt those who you are supposed to love. But so many are so hardened by sin’s deceitfulness that they don’t care who they hurt, sadly enough.

But what is the end result of all your evil and wicked pursuits? You gain nothing but you lose everything. You lose out on the marriage that you could have had with your spouse, and you lose out on being a godly influence for your children, and you lose out on the ability to impact other people for faith in Jesus Christ, all because of your pride and your selfishness and your desire to have your sins regardless of who you hurt in the process.

But for those who trust in the Lord, and who are walking in his holiness and righteousness, in obedience to his commands, in the power of God, and who are sharing the truth of the gospel with others for their salvation from sin, and who are refuting the lies of the enemy so that others will not be trapped by sin’s deceitfulness, they are not only wise in the eyes of the Lord, but they are blessed for their walks of faith and for their service to the Lord.

So, please make the right choices because your life and your future and where you end up for eternity depends on you making godly and righteous choices and not selfish choices in favor of the lusts of your sinful flesh.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296 

Treated Like Jesus was Treated

“…and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’

“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!’ And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.” (Luke 22:13-23 ESV)

Jesus Christ knew that the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death. And he knew, as well, that one of his twelve disciples, Judas Iscariot, had gone to the chief priests and officers with the full intent to betray Jesus to them. So, he knew his time had come and now he was going to be put to death on a cross in order to put our sins to death with him so that, by faith in him, we might die to sin and live to his righteousness. 

So, he knew that this was his last meal with his disciples before his arrest and his trial and his death on that cross. And what he did next was symbolic of what he was about to suffer. But it was also symbolic of the suffering that we must endure if we are genuine followers of Jesus Christ. For the cup was a cup of suffering, and the fruit of the grape they drank was symbolic of his blood that was shed for us on that cross, and the bread symbolized his body which was put to death for us on that cross for our freedom from sin.

And Jesus said that if we are going to come after him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. And Paul wrote that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And Peter wrote that Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. So this is about us putting sin to death in our own lives, too, by the Spirit.

[Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Peter 2:24]

So, when we go through the motions of taking communion, however often we take it, we should remember that this isn’t just a remembrance of Jesus’ physical death on that cross, but it is for us to call to remembrance why he died on that cross, which was to deliver us out of our slavery to sin so that we can now honor him with our lives. And it is a time for us to reflect on what that means for us which has to do with us dying daily to sin and us daily walking in obedience to his commands in holy living, by his grace.

But it isn’t just that. For Jesus said that if we follow him with our lives that we are going to be hated and persecuted and mistreated just like he was. We will be falsely accused of wrongs we did not commit, or we will be judged falsely on the basis of what other humans do, i.e. by themselves. And we will have people who will come against us and attack us and fight against us who will try to trip us up with our words, just like they did to Jesus. And some of us will literally be put to death for our walks of faith in our Lord.

Thus, we are going to have friends and family and others who profess faith in Jesus Christ who will betray us, who may tell lies about us to get others to not like us, and who will speak evil against us. And some of them may come against us fiercely with hate and with venom because they so strongly disagree with what we are teaching, even though what we are teaching is what the Scriptures teach, in context, but just because it doesn’t fit with what they want to believe or with their traditions, like what Jesus faced.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

So, if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, you will be one of his followers. And as one of his followers you will walk with him in obedience to his commands, in practice, and you will walk in righteousness and holiness and no longer in sin. And as his followers we are to be those who are living the life Christ has for us to live before others and who are teaching others the kind of life that followers of Christ are to be living. And we will be refuting the lies of the enemy, too, for the lies are sending many to hell on the promise of heaven.

[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]  

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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Sent of God to the Tenants

And Jesus began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 

“And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone’?

“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Luke 20:9-18 ESV)

Do you know that is perfectly within the divine authority and purpose and will of God to even send women to speak to “Christian” men when the men are not acting within the will and purpose of God, but when they are rejecting the Lord and his commands? 

Now, not exactly in the same context, but our Lord did send the women at the tomb to go speak to his male disciples and to let them know that Jesus had risen from the dead, and he did send the Samaritan woman at the well to go share with her townspeople what Jesus had said to her, which resulted in many of them believing in Jesus Christ. And he approved of Priscilla and Aquila helping Apollos to teach the Scriptures more accurately. And both men and women prophesied on the day of Pentecost out in public.

For we live in a day and time when so many men professing faith in Jesus Christ are spiritually AWOL, including many pastors of “churches.” For so many of them are all caught up in the world and in worldliness, and many are living in addiction (slavery) to sin, in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against other humans, including against their spouses and children, and particularly in sexual immorality. This is huge! And this is permeating the American church at large, but not in every congregation.

And if our Lord can use a donkey to speak to a false prophet (Balaam), then he can certainly choose to use women as his messengers to those who are speaking falsely in the name of the Lord and to those who are teaching a false gospel of men and who are not adhering to the commands of God. So in our day and time, some of these messengers (servants of the Lord) who are being sent of God to the “tenants of his vineyard,” i.e. to pastors and elders of church congregations, may, in fact, be women.

Why? I believe it is because there is a drastic shortage of men, at least here in America, who are walking in holiness and in righteousness and in moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness to God and to their spouses, who are living for the Lord and who are willing to be the Lord’s messengers (servants) in taking his messages to those “tenants of the vineyard” who are not doing the will of God but who are doing opposite of the will of the Lord. There is a huge shortage of “Christian” men in America living in obedience to God.

Now I have no idea how many servants of the Lord (male or female) the Lord is presently using here in America to speak to the church and some to the leaders of these church gatherings. I know there are some of us that he is using and has used to be his messengers to the gatherings of the church, and some to the pastors and elders of those congregations, though some of this more in indirect ways, i.e. in ways we were not anticipating or seeking out but just how the Lord led as he opened the doors for that to happen.

But I can speak from experience that when the Lord sends you and/or he puts you in a situation where he opens that door for you to speak, and so you speak what you are given to say, all within the appropriate means of communication, that in such settings as this where the leaders are followers of man in place of followers of God, and where they are marketing their churches to the world rather than winning people to faith in the Lord via the truth of the gospel, you may be told to “hit the road and don’t come back.”

But if we are truly following the Lord Jesus with our lives, and if what we are speaking is the truth of the Scriptures, as being led by the Lord, then when they reject us and our messages, they are truly rejecting Jesus Christ and they are giving him the same message. And so they “kill” the messenger, figuratively speaking, because they want to “kill” the message. And that is because they are teaching a false gospel in order to attract the world to their gatherings, for they don’t want to offend the ungodly.

And one day God is going to judge his adulterous and idolatrous church because they have refused the Lord’s messages, which come from his word, because they favor the words of man which tickle itching ears and which do not offend the ungodly who they desire to have in their gatherings. And this is because they want to grow their earthly kingdoms and so they are saying what the people want to hear rather than what they need to hear. And so they reject the truth in favor of the lies because the lies don’t offend them.

But we are not saved from our sins and on our way to heaven based on lip service to God. We are saved by God’s grace, and not of ourselves, yes, but that grace instructs us to renounce (say “NO!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. And Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. And he said that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven.

[Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23]

So, don’t be taken in by the lies, but be willing to listen to those who are speaking the truth of God’s word (male or female) who are also living (practicing) what they preach, in practice. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness and holiness and obedience to our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what faith our lips profess.

[Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Hear my Voice 

An Original Work / July 9, 2012

Based off Psalm 27

The Lord is my great salvation.

He’s the stronghold of my life.

When my enemies attack me,

My heart will not fear at all.

Though a war break out against me,

Confident in Christ I’ll be.

Of the Lord, I ask that I may

Live with Him eternally. 

Hear my voice, Lord, when I call you.

Merciful to me You’ll be.

Though my relatives forsake me,

My Lord God will receive me.

Teach me Your way, O my Jesus.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

I will sacrifice to my Lord.

I will sing with joyfulness.

I am confident that I will

See the goodness of the Lord.

All the richness of His blessings,

My Lord has for me in store.

He asks me to be of courage;

To be strong and to take heart,

Patiently as I wait for Him,

And from Him to ne’er depart.

https://vimeo.com/119813963 

If These Were Silent

“As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’

“And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’

“And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be a house of prayer,” but you have made it a den of robbers.’

“And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.” (Luke 19:37-48 ESV)

I live in the United States of America, a nation which is touted as a “Christian” nation, “one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” For “Christianity” is the number one religion in the USA, but on a fairly worldly scale overall, based upon what the Scriptures teach. For it appears that the majority of professers of faith in Jesus Christ in America are following more after the teachings of humans than they are following after the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles, in full context.

The masses appear to have largely accepted an altered and diluted gospel message created in the minds of human beings which does not require death to sin and walks of obedience to the Lord and to his commands. And it promises its adherents that if they just profess faith in Jesus Christ that now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), that heaven is now guaranteed them, that nothing can take it away from them, and that they can sin as much as they want and still go to heaven when they die, basically.

So, many of those followers of Christ who are still holding to the tenets of the faith, as taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles, in full context, who are openly and publicly sharing the truths of the Scriptures, are largely being ignored or rebuked or silenced, and are being called “legalists” and teachers of “works salvation” and “negative,” and thus to be cast out and aside and treated as though we are the enemy. I had one pastor tell me he was warned about people like me, people with “strong convictions.”

But Jesus says, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” 

And so Jesus weeps over the USA, too, because so many who profess his name are blinded from seeing the truth and are following after the lies, instead. Those who are still teaching the truth of the gospel don’t normally have large followings, though some do. But those who are teaching what people’s itching ears want to hear have people flocking to them by the hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions, for they are teaching what the people like to hear, not what they need to hear.

And although I do believe that my nation is under the judgment of God, and that one day our physical enemies are going to come against us to destroy us as a nation, right now we are being destroyed from within by the many wolves in sheep’s clothing (charlatans) among us who have deceived the minds and hearts of so many people. And they aren’t all preachers, but many of them are politicians and our government heads, too. They are the enemies within who are killing our nation from within its own borders.

They are the ones who are tearing us down to the ground because they have been able to deceive the masses into following them and believing in their lies. And they are the ones who have obliterated, not only the truth of the gospel, but the character of Almighty God and the true meaning of “church.” For they have turned the gatherings of what are called “churches” into businesses of men, being marketed to the world just like any other businesses. And thus they alter what is of God to make it likeable to man.

But Jesus says, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers” (or into a marketplace).

And “his house”, i.e. the church, is not a building, and it is not a church denomination, and it is not a corporation under the state, and it is not a social club or a civic center, and it is not a house of entertainment, and it is not a business to be marketed to the world, although this is what it has been made into. But “his house” is his body, the body of Christ comprised of all who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ who are denying self, dying daily to sin, and who are following the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands.

So, if we are out there teaching the truth that Jesus and his NT apostles taught, in context, and if we are sharing the truth of the gospel, and the truth about who the church really is, and how she is supposed to function biblically, and if we are refuting the lies of the enemy coming against us, then we are going to have people who are out to destroy us and to silence us and who will try to keep others from hearing our messages because they don’t want the people to hear the truth. They want them believing the lies.

Hear my Voice 

An Original Work / July 9, 2012

Based off Psalm 27

The Lord is my great salvation.

He’s the stronghold of my life.

When my enemies attack me,

My heart will not fear at all.

Though a war break out against me,

Confident in Christ I’ll be.

Of the Lord, I ask that I may

Live with Him eternally. 

Hear my voice, Lord, when I call you.

Merciful to me You’ll be.

Though my relatives forsake me,

My Lord God will receive me.

Teach me Your way, O my Jesus.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

I will sacrifice to my Lord.

I will sing with joyfulness.

I am confident that I will

See the goodness of the Lord.

All the richness of His blessings,

My Lord has for me in store.

He asks me to be of courage;

To be strong and to take heart,

Patiently as I wait for Him,

And from Him to ne’er depart.

https://vimeo.com/119813963 

Take His Yoke Upon You

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

Many of us are going through trials and tribulations and difficult circumstances which test our faith, and which may trouble our minds and hearts and bring us to tears and move us to call out to God in our distress, which then move us to pray for his intervention in our trying times. For some people in the world, what they are going through is enormous! It is tragic beyond words, and I grieve for them and what they are going through.

By comparison with what many people in the world are suffering who are suffering greatly at the hands of their enemies, our suffering may appear minute. But that doesn’t make it less for us. It is still hard to go through such difficult times, and so we feel the hurt and the pain and the suffering, some of us daily. But the Lord says to bring our burdens to him, to come to him with our burdens, and he will give us rest (inward peace in suffering).

But what does it mean to come to Christ? It means that we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands. It means we must forsake our former lives of living in sin and for self, and we must now follow our Lord in obedience to his will for our lives. He must now be Lord and Master of our lives, and we must now let him be the one in control, and then we must yield to his control over our lives and do his will.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

And this is the only way we are going to find rest in all our trials and tribulations. For we can’t just call on his name and then expect him to do what we want. We must be those whose lives are surrendered to him to do his will and who are listening to him and who are following him wherever he leads us. And then we must also accept his sovereignty over our lives and yield to his will, even if it means more suffering for us.

For the peace and rest that he gives us is not necessarily via the absence of conflict, but in spite of the conflict. We can be at peace and at rest within our minds and hearts even if all hell is breaking loose all around us. And this isn’t saying that we won’t feel fear, but that our Lord, if we trust him with our circumstances, will help us to overcome that fear and to respond in faith despite what is going on in our lives.

But we have to take his yoke upon us. We have to do what he says to do and to go where he goes and to not fight against him and to not try to do it our way. For this involves submission to Christ as Lord and surrender to his will for our lives, even if that will is that we suffer for the sake of his name and for the sake of his gospel, and for the sake of his truth and righteousness and holiness. When we yield control to God, we are at peace.

And the reason that his yoke is easy and his burden is light is because we are giving the weight of what we are going through over to him and we are not carrying that burden on our shoulders alone. For we are resting in him and we are letting him lead us in the way that he would have us to go despite our difficult circumstances. For it is kind of like a book I read a long time ago called, “Feel the Fear But Do it Anyway.”

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Video Talk

https://youtu.be/Y6cupFkbNLc

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Rest for the Weary  

An Original Work / April 23, 2011

Based off of Matthew 11:28-30

Rest for the weary; 

peace for the soul.

Light in the darkness; 

mercy untold.

Perfect salvation; 

pardoned and free,

For Jesus died 

so that all may believe.

While we are waiting 

for Your return,

Jesus, Redeemer, 

let our hearts yearn

For your soon coming 

to get Your bride,

Washed in Your blood, 

having been sanctified.

Father, Son, Spirit, 

all three in One

Giveth salvation 

through redemption.

Jesus provided 

the sacrifice

For our sins blood bought, 

for He paid the price.

https://vimeo.com/117068847

Calling Him Lord versus Him Being our Lord

 

Courage When Rebuked and Silenced

As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. (Luke 18:35-43 ESV)

Have you ever been silenced and/or rebuked for seeking the Lord Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? For seeking after his grace and mercy? For pursuing his love and kindness? For going after his truth and righteousness? For desiring his healing touch upon your life? And by the people in the front? By elders and deacons and pastors of what are called “churches”? This is how I relate this story to my life. Do you identify?

My husband and I had just had a conversation on that topic and then I read this passage of Scripture and immediately I saw how it related to my life and experiences. And I assume that others, like me, have encountered some of the same types of situations which may have discouraged them, but which may not have discouraged them. For they may have continued to pursue the Lord, his truth, and his will for their lives despite those who silenced them.

For we live in a day and age when “the church” at large is very worldly and is following the teachings of man often times over the teachings of the Scriptures taught in full context. Many of them have been trained in following after other men and their marketing schemes for how to grow their “churches” numerically by altering the character of God and of the church and of his gospel to make them more appealing and acceptable to flesh.

So, if you are a seeker of truth and righteousness, who desire the Lord, who want to obey him, who want his healing touch upon your life, you may find yourself in conflict with the marketing schemes and manipulations and tricks that are being used today to “draw in large crowds of people from the world.” And you may find yourself like a fish going against the flow, in the “rare” category, and seemingly all alone on many biblical issues.

And so you may also find yourself being silenced and rebuked for seeking after the Lord and his truth and his righteousness, in earnest, because you do not fit with their marketing schemes for how to “grow their churches.” But I just love the courage of this blind man. He did not let the people “in the front” intimidate him into giving up and running away. He stood his ground and he cried all the more for the Lord to have mercy on him. Love it!!

This is the kind of courage and determination we should all have if we are earnestly seeking the Lord and his touch upon our lives. We should not let the treatment we receive from others and their opinions and their perceptions and beliefs and practices, which they might try to force upon us, hinder our walks of faith. We should not let their abuse, their false judgments, their criticisms, and their hushing of our voices stop us from honoring Jesus with our lives. I admire this man’s determination!

For, you see, this isn’t just a story about Jesus healing a blind man. This story is about a man who was seeking Jesus Christ and his touch upon his life and the opposition that he faced from those “out in front” who wanted to keep him from that relationship with Jesus Christ, who wanted to keep him from being healed, who wanted to put a damper on his faith, to squelch it, to silence him. And this is a story of his courage and determination to keep pursuing the Lord despite those who were trying to silence him.

And because he didn’t give up. And because he would not be silenced. And because of his faith and his courage and his determination to keep calling out to Jesus, Jesus listened to him, and he healed him. Praise the Lord! So we can’t let other people, no matter who they are, determine our destiny for us. We can’t just shut up because they say we must. We must keep speaking the truth, and we must keep calling out to Jesus, and calling for him to heal broken lives and marriages and families, and not give up hope.

We need to keep believing the Lord Jesus for miracles despite what other people do or say. We need to keep believing the Lord in all things and in all situations and even in all the persecutions and opposition that we face along the way. Even in those dark valleys, we need to keep believing the Lord and calling out to him and pursuing him, even when things seem hopeless, and even when we are silenced and rebuked because of our faith in the Lord, and for our earnestness in seeking his face and his truth and righteousness.

For God is not limited by what men do. They have no power over him. So don’t let other people determine your life situation for you. Don’t let them determine for you who you are and who you are to become. Yes, other people can have a certain amount of control over us, depending upon where we live and what those circumstances are, but they can’t determine what is in our hearts and who we are and who we become, by the grace of God. So, we must not let them have that kind of power over us. Love this man’s faith!

Mary, Did You Know?

Songwriters: Greene Lee Rufus / Lowry Mark Alan

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy

Has come to make you new?

This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you

The blind will see, the deaf will hear

The dead will live again

The lame will leap, the dumb will speak

The praises of the Lamb

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy

Is heaven's perfect Lamb?

That sleeping child you're

Holding is the great, I Am

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

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Watch Out for the Fakes!

“And he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, “Look, there!” or “Look, here!” Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 

“’Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 

“’On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.’” (Luke 17:22-33 ESV)

I believe we live in a present day and time, at least here in America, where so many things are being faked and altered and made to look one way when they are actually another. And so if we are people who are seeking after the Lord and after truth and righteousness, we may have to sift through a whole lot of fakery and altered truth to finally unveil the truth and to get to the real biblical Jesus. For so many people today are altering the truth of the character of God and of his church and of his gospel to attract the world.

For, although many profess faith in Jesus Christ, many are those who are following an altered Christ and gospel created in the minds of human beings which is presently permeating the church in America at large. For they are writing over and covering over the truth of who Jesus is and of why he died on that cross and of his gospel message in order to make him and his gospel more attractive and appealing to human flesh and to the ungodly. So what they are presenting is not biblical Jesus nor his biblical gospel message.

And this is being done via cartoons, movies, TV shows, music lyrics, social media memes, short (or long) videos, books, devotionals, poetry, sermons, and various other means of spreading their messages to the people of this world. The mediums themselves are not evil, for righteousness is being spoken through many of these mediums, too, but so is so much fakery and lies and deceptions which add on to and which cover over the truth of who Jesus is and the truth of his gospel message, and many are deceived.

So, we are being cautioned here to be discerning people and to not follow after the fakes and the phonies and the false gospels of men which are intended to present a different Jesus and another gospel other than the Jesus and the gospel message of the Scriptures. For it is the self-indulgent, the disobedient, and the pleasure-seeking who are altering the character and the word of God to make it more attractive to human flesh. For so many are teaching that a mere profession of faith in Christ is enough to secure for us salvation from sin and eternal life with God in heaven.

And so we live in a day and time when so many who are professing faith in Jesus Christ are living not much different from those who make no such professions of faith. So we are living in the days of Noah, basically, when so many people, professing Christians and not, are living for self-pleasure and for what feels good, and for sinful pleasure and not for the will of God, and not in walks of obedience to his commands, and not in holy living and moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness. For they are being convinced that they don’t have to and that they can continue in sin and still go to heaven.

And so we are being warned here of the dangers of living for self and for self-pleasure and not for the will of God, according to his commands. And the warning is a strong encouragement to change course and to remove from our lives all that is in opposition to the Lord and to his commands. For we are to be his holy people who are living in moral purity and uprightness and in godly living and who are no longer walking in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord. And this is a warning, too, to cast off all these false and altered teachings which are leading so many people astray.

For if we go our own way, and we ignore our Lord and his commands, it will not end well for us. 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 Jesus we deny self, and we die with him to sin daily, and we walk in obedience to his commands, in practice, then we have the hope of eternal life with God. For not everyone who says to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

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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Don't Let Them Sweet Talk You into Backing Down

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:31-35 ESV)

So, when I first read this I thought, “What? The Pharisees are concerned about Herod wanting to kill Jesus?” These were Jesus’ enemies, although perhaps not all of them. But they mostly wanted him dead. So this made no sense to me. So I looked it up in an old commentary, and the author said basically what I was thinking, that this was a trick to try to get Jesus to stop what he was doing, which seems evident by Jesus’ response when he called Herod a “fox,” for that indicates deception, trickery, and a con job.

And Satan is going to use the same methods on us who are following Jesus with our lives to try to get us to stop obeying the Lord and to stop sharing the truth of the gospel and to stop refuting the lies of the enemy. For he doesn’t want people to know that Jesus said that if we are going to come after him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (daily die to sin) and follow him in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). And they don’t want us to tell people they will die in their sins if they don’t obey God.

So, one of Satan’s methods (tricks) to try to get us to back down from obeying the Lord and from doing what he has called us to do is to have someone show concern for us and to try to sweet talk us into backing down from serving the Lord in the way in which he has called us to serve him, and for us to take a break or a vacation and to not take things so seriously. And it may be under the guise that they are concerned for our health or they are concerned that people are coming against us and attacking us, etc.

And I am not saying that there are not people out there who care about us and who are genuine in their concern for us, but whether knowingly or not, a lot of people, well meaning or not, are being used as tools of Satan to try to get the Lord’s servants and messengers to back down from serving the Lord in the way in which the Lord has called them to serve and to be more like everyone else, more like the world and less serious about God. And we can’t give into the temptation to withdraw by believing those who seem to care.

We need to respond like Jesus did. For if truly we are doing the will of the Lord, and we are obeying him and his word, and we are fulfilling his purposes for our lives in encouraging the body of Christ in holy living, and in sharing the truth of the gospel, and in refuting the lies of the enemy, then we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be talked out of that, but we must keep doing what we are doing today and to do it tomorrow and the next day, and the next, until we die or until Jesus returns and he takes us to be with him.

And then, like Jesus, we should be people who grieve over those who are putting their hands up to their ears and to their eyes and who are refusing to see and to hear the truth of what God’s word teaches, because they prefer the lies instead. For the lies convince them that they can keep living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, and against other humans, but while they profess Christ as Lord and Savior and heaven as their eternal destiny. It should pain us deeply that they will not yield to the Lord.

And then we should pray for them that they will surrender their lives to Jesus Christ, and that they will submit to Christ as Lord of their lives, and that they will now forsake their sinful practices and that they will now walk in holiness and righteousness and in moral purity, uprightness, integrity, honesty, and faithfulness to the Lord and to his commands. And pray that they don’t keep resisting the Lord until it is too late to the point to where they hear Jesus say, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” And it was because they would not obey the Lord.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Video Talk

https://youtu.be/IKVD2Fkmb7Q

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My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263 

Lip Service is Not Enough

“He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 

“’When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us,” then he will answer you, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” But he will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!” 

“’In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’” (Luke 13:22-30 ESV; cf. Matthew 7:13-14,21-23)

Yes, the Bible teaches that few in number will be those who will be saved from their sins and who will enter into the kingdom of heaven. For few are those who enter by the narrow (controlled, restrained, regulated, restricted) gate (door, entrance into heaven). For it is few who surrender their lives over to Jesus Christ, who submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of their lives, who deny self, who die to sin daily, and who follow him in obedience. For the narrow way that leads to life is hard, and the many prefer the easy way.

So we are to endeavor to enter through the narrow door. So what this is saying is that we don’t enter into God’s eternal kingdom merely by a profession of faith in Jesus Christ once in our lives. Our salvation and our eternal life with God are contingent on us dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and on us walking in faithful obedience to his commands in holy living, in moral purity, honesty and faithfulness to our Lord. And we must continue in these walks of faithful obedience until our Lord returns.

For not everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ will be saved in the end and will have eternal life with God. For many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are walking the easy path that leads to destruction, and they are not walking the hard path that leads to eternal life. For they have bought into the lies of the enemy who is telling them that they can “believe” in Jesus, have all their sins forgiven (past, present, and future), be guaranteed heaven when they die, but regardless of how they live on this earth.

For not everyone who says to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven. For once he shuts that door, there is no more chance for entry. And many are going to profess that they knew him, and that they were in relationship with him, and that they had their salvation secured, and that they did all sorts of things in his name, and that they faithfully attended weekly church services, and that they read their Bibles, etc. But he will tell them that he never knew them and that they are to depart from him, “all you workers of evil.” 

Why? Because they would not submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of their lives, and they would not walk in obedience to his commands, and they would not forsake their sinful practices, but they continued on living in sin and for self and for self-pleasure rather than for the will and for the pleasure of God. They were still lord of their own lives, doing whatever they wanted to do, regardless of what the Scriptures teach we all must do as followers of Christ if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. But they thought they could take the short-cut. But there are no short-cuts.

And this is a very sad reality that so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are taking the short-cut thinking that it is going to get them into heaven, but while they continue living life the way that they want rather than in submission to Christ as Lord of their lives. And so they are not going to be given access into God’s eternal kingdom, but they will be among those who are in a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, instead. For they refused the truth of the gospel in favor of a lie so that they could live however they want rather than as God requires of us all.

So, please know that it is not a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that is going to guarantee you entrance into God’s heaven. It is denying self, dying to sin daily, and walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, by the Spirit, by the grace of God, in the power and strength of God, in submission to his will and purpose for our lives. For if sin is what you practice, and if righteous and godly living and moral purity and obedience to the Lord are not your practice, you 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] 

Fit for Service 

 

An Original Work / October 5, 2011

Holy Spirit, come within us.

Cleanse our hearts, 

and from sin free us.

Make us holy vessels fit 

for service to the King.

Fill us with Your love and power.

Anoint us within this hour

To be living witnesses 

For Jesus Christ, our King.

Our praise to Him bring.

Father God, our heart’s desire,

Come and speak to us in power.

Revive our hearts to obey You;

Live for You always.

May we love and serve You only,

Walking with You; 

Not a phony.

May we always tell the truth,

And show integrity.

Your true servants be.

Jesus, Savior, sanctify us.

Purify our hearts within us;

Be transformed into Your likeness,

Holy unto You.

May we always listen to You

Speaking Your words 

Now within us.

May we heed Your counsel to us;

Follow You today.

Do all that You say. 

https://vimeo.com/113979906

Tradition versus Relationship

“Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your disability.’ And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 

“But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, ‘There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.’ Then the Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?’ As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.” (Luke 13:10-17 ESV)

There are many such people as these who criticized Jesus who live among us today. They are those who are locked into tradition and culture to the point to where they are not capable of seeing when God is working in people’s lives. They are so locked into their traditional practices that they will openly criticize those who have escaped those non-biblical traditions to truly worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. And they will even accuse you of being unfaithful to the Lord because you do not adhere to their religious practices which are not in accord with the teachings of the Scriptures.

And it won’t matter to them if people are being healed, and if people are hearing the truth of the gospel and if they are trusting in the Lord for their salvation. It won’t matter to them that the gospel is going out to people in many nations across the globe and that the body of Christ is being encouraged and exhorted by the truths of the Scriptures to walk in righteousness and in holy living in obedience to the Lord. What matters to them only is that you are following their traditions, and if you are not, you are regarded as someone who is not following the Lord Jesus.

This is how Jesus got treated, and in some cultures this is how we will get treated, too, if we break with tradition to truly follow the Lord Jesus with our lives in truth and in righteousness and in obedience to his commands.

But let me preface this all with this: The church is the ekklēsía, the people of God who are called out from the world and to God. We are God’s holy people who are to be different from the world because we are being made to be like Jesus in character, word, and deed. We who have been crucified and buried with Christ in death to sin and 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, we are the church, the body of Christ. And there is only one church, but we gather in different locations throughout the world. 

But human tradition and culture have largely made “the church” into a building, an institution of human origin, a social club, a civic center, a church denomination, a corporation under the state, and a business of human making being marketed to the ungodly in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world and to incorporate them into their gatherings. And human tradition has them gathering mostly on Sunday mornings for a song service and to hear a preacher preach until the next week, then repeat. Some of them also do have small group gatherings throughout the week.

But these gatherings are not the biblical church, the body of Christ, because they are a conglomeration of the people of the world, the ungodly, the rebellious, the habitual sinners, the government, big business and worldliness and godlessness all combined together. And most are not following the biblical pattern for the purpose for why we gather together as the body of Christ, and many have even eliminated much of what the Scriptures teach is the purpose of our gatherings, because they are trying to attract the people of the world to their gatherings.

Now the Scriptures clearly teach that we are to come out from among such gatherings as these which are worldly minded and worldly focused and which are not doing what the body of Christ is supposed to be doing in their gatherings. For we are not to turn our gatherings into a marketplace to be marketed to the ungodly. And we are not to be unequally yoked (united) together with unbelievers (with the ungodly), and we are not to be in fellowship with them. But we are to come out from among them and to be separate so that we don’t take part in their sins and in their punishment.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

But if you separate yourself from the worldly market-driven “church,” then you are regarded as out of fellowship with God and as the ungodly, even if what you are doing is what the Scriptures teach that we are all to be doing. For the church is made up of all of us of genuine faith in Jesus Christ and we all have a job, an assignment of God, and we have all been given spiritual gifts, and we are to function in those assigned areas of ministry as God assigns us, utilizing the spiritual gifts we have been given to minister to one another and to encourage one another in our walks of obedience to Christ.

And we are to be those who are taking the truth of the gospel to the people we know and to worldly professing Christians and to the people of this world. And we are to be daily exhorting one another as Christians so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. And we are to be speaking the truth in love to one another so that we are not led astray by men in their deceitful scheming. And we are not to be telling one another that we don’t want them or need them or that they should go someplace else just because they don’t fit with human marketing plans. But we are to be loving one another.

[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]  

But if you are someone who is doing all that, who is following what the Scriptures teach, and you are taking the gospel message to the ends of the earth, and you are daily exhorting and encouraging your brothers and sisters in Christ in holy living and in walks of obedience and surrender to our Lord, but you have obeyed the Lord and you have come out of these institutions of man which are in fellowship with the world and with the government and with the ungodly, then you are regarded as a backslider of some sort because you do not attend their Sunday gatherings.

And please see that this is the same as what the religious hypocrites of Jesus’ day did to him when he healed people on the Sabbath. He was doing the good that he ought to do but they were more concerned that he not do it on their Sabbath day, mainly because they did not really comprehend the purpose of the Sabbath, which was for the good of the people, not to do them harm. For man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man, Jesus said, and he was Lord of the Sabbath. And now Jesus is our Sabbath rest and we worship him in spirit and in truth anywhere on any day of the week at any time of the day or night, for his Spirit lives within us.

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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