Folly to Those Who are Perishing

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

 

“’I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

 

“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25 ESV)

 

First of all, this is not teaching that the message of the gospel of Christ is folly or that it is foolishness or that it is weak and powerless. But it is saying that to those who do not accept the truth of the gospel, to them the message is foolishness. And it is foolishness to them because the message of the cross is that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living, in daily practice (Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).

 

So to those who do not want to deny self, and who do not want to die to their sins, and who do not want to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and to come under his authority and rule over their lives, the message of the cross, i.e. the message of the gospel of Christ is foolishness. For they want to hold on to their own lives. They want to be in control over their own decisions and choices. And they want to live their lives according to their own pleasure and desires, and not according to the will of God.

 

And so many of them will reject the gospel message altogether and will not even consider any kind of confession of Christ as Lord and Savior. But then there are others who want to believe in Jesus because they think it is going to get them a free ride into heaven when they die and that they will escape hell if they just make a profession of faith in him. And so they will accept or they will participate in creating an altered and diluted gospel message which cuts out repentance and submission and obedience to the Lord Jesus.

 

So, although they may consider themselves to be wise in their own eyes, in the eyes of the Lord their wisdom is folly, and he is destroying and he will destroy all wisdom that is earthly and that is not of him and that is contrary to him and to the teachings of his word and of his gospel message. Obviously that kind of earthly wisdom has not yet been totally destroyed which is why we have so many false teachings and teachers today that so many people are believing in place of believing in the truth of the gospel.

 

But the Lord is presently destroying the lies through his servants and messengers who are taking the truth of the gospel to the people, and who are refuting the lies of the enemy and all these “gospel” messages which are diluted and altered in order to appease human flesh and to not offend the people of the world. For they don’t want to offend the world because they are trying to attract the world to their gatherings. And so they are modifying the gospel to make it more appealing and acceptable to human flesh.

 

So, please know what the truth of the gospel of Christ is so that you don’t end up believing the lies and end up in hell and not in heaven, and so that you live the Christian life that God has for you to live and not the selfish life that your flesh wants you to live. But the only way that you can be sure that you are hearing the truth is if you study the Scriptures for yourselves, where possible, but you must study them IN CONTEXT. For many false teachings stem from Scriptures taught outside of context.

 

For example, Ephesians 2:8-9 is being taught absent of verse 10. And so many people, thus, are teaching that as Christians we don’t have to do any works at all. And many are teaching that we do not have to obey the Lord, either. But verse 10 says that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them. And Titus 2:11-14 teaches us that God’s grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.

 

And many are teaching John 10:28-30 absent of verse 27 which tells us who verses 28-30 apply to. For verse 27 says that Jesus’ sheep listen to him, he knows them, and they follow (obey) him. And they have eternal life, and they will never perish, and none of them can be snatched out of the Lord’s hands. So this is not a general promise to all who make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but is only for those followers of Christ who are listening to the Lord and who are following him in obedience, in life practice.

 

So, please be people of God who study the Scriptures in full context, and who do so prayerfully, willing to obey the Lord in every way. Please don’t accept the wisdom of this world in place of the wisdom of God. And please don’t accept teachings that are taken out of context and taught against what they teach if taught in context. Please surrender your lives to the Lord Jesus, and follow him wherever he leads you in doing all that he commands you to do. And then be his witnesses in sharing the truth with others.

 

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

 

Video Talk

 

https://youtu.be/KXkFK67ISzo

 

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Myopic  

 

An Original Work / August 19, 2013

Based off 2 Peter 1:3-11

 

Jesus has given ev’rything

Needed for life and godliness.

His great and precious promises

Free us from our sin and distress.

 

Add to your faith His goodness;

Knowledge; patience; godliness;

Brotherly love and mutual affection;

Kindness and unselfishness.

 

If you possess these qualities,

Growing in your maturity,

They will keep you from vanity.

You will bear fruit effectually.

 

Nonetheless, if you lack them;

Forget you’ve been cleansed from sin,

Nearsighted are you; you can’t see Jesus.

You have closed your heart to Him.

 

Therefore, beloved, confirm, then,

Your calling and your election.

Do this by showing diligence:

Obey your Lord; be repentant.

 

Practice all these qualities

God provided on a tree.

He died for our sins so we’d be given

Life with Him eternally.

 

https://vimeo.com/115839336

Myopic

If these spiritual qualities of goodness, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love we possess, by the Spirit, and if they are increasing in measure in our lives, they will keep us from being ineffective or unfruitful in all practical knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ – in all intimacy of relationship, and in applied truths (obedience). In other words, if in our faith we supply these qualities, we will live lives which are effective in testimony, service, character, relationship, lifestyle, and in result (fruit). 

Nonetheless, if we lack these spiritual qualities (listed above), we are nearsighted (myopic) and blind. A nearsighted person in this sense is lacking in foresight, prudence, insight, precaution, discretion, wisdom and good judgment. And a blind person is unable - due to being nearsighted - or is unwilling to perceive or to understand his own spiritual condition. He is lacking in both purpose and good sense. 

A nearsighted (and blind) person will thus walk right into sin because he or she did not have the forethought, wisdom and discernment to guard his or her heart against it. He or she has not taken advantage of all that God has given to us by his divine power for life and godliness, but has instead decided to go his or her own way and to follow after his or her own evil desires.

Myopic  

An Original Work / August 19, 2013

Based off 2 Peter 1:3-11

Jesus has given ev’rything

Needed for life and godliness.

His great and precious promises

Free us from our sin and distress.

Add to your faith His goodness;

Knowledge; patience; godliness;

Brotherly love and mutual affection;

Kindness and unselfishness.

If you possess these qualities,

Growing in your maturity,

They will keep you from vanity.

You will bear fruit effectually. 

Nonetheless, if you lack them;

Forget you’ve been cleansed from sin,

Nearsighted are you; you can’t see Jesus.

You have closed your heart to Him.

Therefore, beloved, confirm, then,

Your calling and your election.

Do this by showing diligence:

Obey your Lord; be repentant.

Practice all these qualities

God provided on a tree.

He died for our sins so we’d be given

Life with Him eternally. 

https://vimeo.com/115839336

No Divisions Among You

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ 

“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:10-18 ESV)

In today’s vernacular, this could be like saying, “I am a Baptist,” or “I am a Methodist,” or “I am a Lutheran,” or “I am a Catholic,” or “I am Pentecostal,” or “I am a Presbyterian,” etc. Or, it can be like, “I follow Rick Warren,” or “I follow Billy Graham,” or “I follow Max Lucado,” or “I follow John MacArthur,” or “I follow Steven Furtick,” or “I follow Joel Osteen,” etc. Or, it can be like, “I am an Arminian,” or “I am a Calvinist.” For what it all comes down to is being followers of man over being followers of God, of Christ Jesus. It comes down to identifying more with a human being than with Jesus Christ.

Years ago I recall some people coming to my front door (back when I lived in a house, and not in an apartment) and asking me what religion I was. I told them that I was a Christian. But that is not the answer that they wanted. So they tried to get me to say that I was a Baptist or a Methodist or a Lutheran or a Presbyterian, etc. But I just kept answering back to them that I was a Christian. So then they were trying to tie that in with a particular church denomination, for they just couldn’t understand that I identified as a follower of Christ alone and not as a follower of any man or church denomination.

Now, I am well aware that Paul’s list of men were all men of God who followed Jesus Christ with their lives. At least, that is my understanding. But my lists include some men and/or church denominations and/or church theologies who/which are or were false teachers and teachings or they are or were those who diluted and/or altered the message of the gospel to make it more appealing to human flesh. And I include them in these lists because the greater danger here is not just in being man followers but followers of false theologies or church doctrines and teachings regarding Christ’s gospel.

But the bottom line here, in reality, is that we are not to be followers of men (or women), nor should we be followers of church denominations and their particular theologies, some of which, or many of which are now succumbing to the flesh of man and to marketing schemes for how to attract the people of the world to their “Christian” gatherings. But we are to be followers of Jesus Christ and those who study the Scriptures for ourselves (IN CONTEXT) under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, and who are willing to change our belief systems if we find them to not agree with the Scriptures.

For if we are truly followers of Jesus Christ then we should be able to be united together with other followers of Christ, and we should not be divided by church doctrines and theologies and denominations and affiliations, etc. And we should all be those who are paying close attention to what we are being taught and who are testing whatever we hear and read against the teachings of the Scriptures, in their full context. For so many false teachings stem from Scriptures taught outside their context and made to say what they do not say if taught in the appropriate biblical context.

Now I began teaching the Scriptures at the age of 16 and I am now 74. I had a period of time where I was not teaching, so I probably have taught for 50 years. And I have learned a lot over those years, and I had to unlearn some things I was taught wrongly, too. And I am still learning and growing in my understanding of what the Scriptures teach. But I was teaching a ladies’ Bible study and I was teaching what the Scriptures taught, but some ladies objected because that is not what their pastor taught them. But even though they could see what the Scriptures said, they chose their pastor.

And this is what I am seeing on a much larger scale today as so many people calling themselves “Christians” (followers of Christ) are really followers of man, and they will choose to listen to what men are telling them rather than to listen to what the Scriptures themselves are teaching, if read and understood in their appropriate context. And many of them will absolutely rebel at the thought that what they are being taught may not be the truth (or the whole truth) and that they may be being led astray by lies, instead. And if you try to show them the truth, they may hate you for it.

So, what is the point of all of this? We are not to be followers of man, and that includes being followers of church denominations and particular church theologies which may or may not be true to the Scriptures. But our lives are to be surrendered to Jesus Christ alone, and we are to be students of the Scriptures who study them for ourselves (IN CONTEXT), and who rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us to all truth. Can we use Bible helps? Absolutely! But we should not let Bible helps replace the Holy Spirit or the pure word of God. But we must trust in the Lord to guide us into all truth – His truth!!

But by doing that we must be willing to receive from the Lord that we may have gotten some things wrong. And we must be open to being corrected and to changing our beliefs if the Lord shows us through his word that what we had been taught is not what the Scriptures teach. And we must cease being followers of man and instead be followers of Christ alone. And we must cease raising up man to God status and to think that any man (or woman) is infallible (without error). For not one of us is without error, and we won’t be complete until Jesus returns and takes us to be with him.

For the gospel of our salvation that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught is that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, and not godliness and righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, then regardless of what our lips profess, we will NOT inherit eternal life with God.

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

So, please take this to heart. Please believe what these Scriptures teach, and please study them in their full context. Then please follow Jesus in obedience to his commands and live holy lives, pleasing to him, because you love him. 

My Heart’s Desire  

An Original Work / June 29, 2013

Based off Romans 10:1-21; Luke 9:23-26; Ephesians 4:17-24

Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire

Is that you might come to Jesus.

Many appear zealous for God,

But they do not trust in Him.

They have not submitted to the One

Who saved them from their sins;

Not forsaken their sins,

Nor have they obeyed their King.

The word of the Lord is near you:

The word of faith we’re proclaiming:

That you must confess your faith

In Jesus as your Lord and King:

Believe in Him as your Lord, 

And follow Him where’er He leads.

Share the gospel; be a witness,

And meet others’ needs.

Beautiful are the feet of those

Who bring the good news of Jesus:

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself today;

Die to sin and self, and

Let the Spirit transform you in heart;

Put on your new self in Jesus,

Yielding to the cross. 

https://vimeo.com/115643303 

Joy and Peace in Believing

“For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“’Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,

    and sing to your name.

“And again it is said,

“’Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.’

“And again,

“’Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

    and let all the peoples extol him.’

“And again Isaiah says,

“’The root of Jesse will come,

    even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;

in him will the Gentiles hope.’

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:8-13 ESV)

Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the promise of God to the Jews that God would send them a deliverer, their Messiah, the Christ, i.e. Jesus was the promised seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16). But he also came in fulfillment of many prophecies concerning him being a light to the Gentiles (non-Jews). For Jesus Christ came to this earth to bring salvation to all people. And when he died on that cross, he died for all people. He died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us (1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21).

True belief in Jesus Christ is God-given, God-inspired, and God-persuaded. We believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith, which is divinely persuaded as to his righteousness and holiness, and as to his will and purposes for our lives. Thus, we submit to God’s will for our lives, and we surrender to his purposes, and we yield to the control of the Holy Spirit and to the Lordship of Christ in our lives, by genuine God-persuaded faith in our Lord Jesus.

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44]

True belief in Jesus Christ also turns us from lifestyles of sin to walking in fellowship with our Lord in obedience to his commands. And this is because we have been divinely persuaded as to God’s will for our lives. And we want to follow our Lord in obedience. In the power of the Holy Spirit we have been translated from death to life, from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that we receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 26:18).

True belief in Jesus Christ, thus, results in death to sin and in living to righteousness, of the Spirit of God. This is called being “born again,” or “born of the Spirit,” for we are given new lives to be lived in the Spirit, for God, and for his will and purposes for our lives. And, in this we have hope, not just the hope of heaven when we die, but the hope of eternal life with God from the moment we believe and on forward; the hope that we can now be free from the control of sin and we can now live for God in his holiness.

So, what is the gospel message? It is that Jesus Christ, God the Son, left his throne in heaven, came to earth, took on human flesh, suffered as we suffer, and was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin. He preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins, death to sin, living to righteousness, and obedience to his commands. And He said that if we want to come after him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self), and follow (obey) him (Luke 9:23-26).

While he was on this earth, he ministered to the needy, the afflicted, the sick and the sorrowful. He brought hope and healing to many. And many people initially followed him. But many of the Jews, in particular among the leadership within the temple, hated him, were jealous of him, and so they made it their mission to try to take him down. When they couldn’t, they decided to put him to death on a cross, which they accomplished.

But, in his death, Jesus took upon himself the sins of the entire world, and he put those sins to death. Then, he was resurrected from the dead victorious over sin, hell, Satan and death, on our behalf. 

And because of what he did for us via his death and resurrection, through faith in him we can be delivered from our slavery (addictions) to sin, and be set free to now live to his righteousness. We can be filled with his Holy Spirit, who lives within Jesus’ followers. And via the Holy Spirit, God now lives within us giving us comfort, encouragement, hope, healing, guidance, wisdom and strength to live godly and holy lives pleasing to Him.

But holy living is not optional for the believer in Jesus Christ. We must deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant), in practice. For if obedience to our Lord and if righteous living are not what we practice, and if sin is what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we profess with our lips. So we must walk the walk and not just talk it if we want genuine salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

[Isaiah 53:1-12; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 26:26-29; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 17:25; Jn 1:1-36; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:24,58; Jn 10:27-33; Jn 20:28-29; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 9:5; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 11:23-32; 1 Co 15:1-8; 2 Co 5:15,21; Eph 4:17-24; Php 2:5-11; Col 2:9; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 1:8-9; Heb 2:14-15; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 John 3:4-10]  

Here I Am To Worship 

Songwriter: Tim Hughes

Light of the world

You stepped down into darkness.

Opened my eyes, let me see.

Beauty that made this heart adore You

Hope of a life spent with You

I'll never know how much it cost

To see my sin upon that cross

Here I am to worship,

Here I am to bow down,

Here I am to say that You're my God

You're altogether lovely

Altogether worthy,

Altogether wonderful to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaUTv1pXRyU 

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My Witnesses

“…the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers” (Revelation 17:14).

I know the Lord gave me the words and music for this song, so I first wanted to look at the phrase “will be called” in the Bible to see what it rendered. I learned that “will be called” meant that this is what “you will be.” The prerequisite for being a witness for Jesus Christ is first to be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit of God, then we will be his witnesses. That is what we will be called, not in name only, but in practice and in character. 

In Isaiah 58:12, God called his people: "Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

 

We, as God’s people, are a city, i.e. we are the City of God, a City on a Hill (Matthew 5:14), the New Jerusalem. So the walls that need repaired are the spiritual fortifications, borders, hedges of protection, boundaries, etc., which are provided for us by God for when we are in a true and right relationship with him. 

These spiritual “walls” get broken down and get holes in them when we give way to sin in our lives and when we allow the world and its influences into our hearts and lives to live and to reign, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit of God to rule over our lives. So, we, as God’s Holy City, need to repair and to restore spiritually the broken lives of those within those walls, i.e. those lives of true believers in Jesus Christ, who have wandered from their pure faith, back to a right relationship with God. I believe this is what it means to be a witness in Jerusalem. For our witness to be unto God, I believe, means we do this repairing and restoring as a service to others as unto Jesus Christ (See Matthew 25:31-46).

My Witnesses  

An Original Work / April 26, 2011

You shall be called My witnesses 

Unto Me in Jerusalem.

Harken to Me, won’t you believe

Jesus is calling you home?

Trust in Your Lord and God to save

Everyone who trusts His name.

Let everyone who says he’s saved

Honor and magnify My name.

Won’t you believe in Me today?

I have provided the Way.

I lay My life down for your soul.

Won’t you trust Me to make you whole?

Oh, how I love and care for you.

Would you abide with Me in truth?

Listen to Me, now hear My plea, 

Won’t you trust Me with your all?

I gave My life, so you go free.

Won’t you bow down on bended knee? 

https://vimeo.com/117327206 

In Accord with Christ Jesus

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:1-7 ESV)

When the Scriptures were originally written, they were not written with chapters and verses. Those were added much later to make it easier for us to find specific passages of Scripture, I believe. And the book of Romans was not written as a book, but it was all one continuous letter. So if we want to understand what the Scriptures are teaching us, it is best if we read them in their full context. For example, this passage of Scripture in chapter 15 is a continuation on the subject of what was written in chapter 14.

And chapter 14 addressed the subject of those who were “weak in faith.” And by that was meant those Jewish believers in Christ who were not able to let go of some of the Old Covenant practices. For when Jesus Christ died on that cross to deliver us out of slavery to sin, and to give us new lives in Jesus, he did away with the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions that the Jews had to follow under the Old Covenant. But he did not remove God’s moral laws!

But some of the Jewish believers in Christ still held to the dietary laws and restrictions, and they still considered one day sacred above the rest. And so Paul was telling those believers who were free from these laws not to pass judgment on their brothers and sisters in Christ whose faith was weak and who were not able yet to get to that point. And he was telling those who still held on to some of those laws to not judge those who were free from them. For they were to show love, one to the other, even if they had differences.

So, when this says here in chapter 15 that we who are strong in faith have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves, this was not speaking of bearing with the sinful practices of professing Christians who still have not let go of their sinful habits, but who are still deliberately and habitually engaging in what they know is sin against the Lord Jesus and against other humans. And it is not saying that we are not to judge them and that we are not to confront them with their sins.

And pleasing our neighbors does not ever engage tolerating and accepting of deliberate and habitual sin in the life of one who calls himself a follower of Jesus Christ. For that is not love! Love tells people the truth about their sin in the hopes that they will die to their sins and now walk in obedience to their Lord in holy living. For we are to put no stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother or a sister in Christ, either related to the matter of differences of opinion or related to the area of sinful practices.

In other words, we are not to do anything within our power that would cause a fellow Christian to do what is biblically regarded as sin or to do what is against their own consciences with regard to days in the week and with regard to food that they eat. But we are to judge sin. And we are to call out sin. And we are to call for repentance and for walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And we are to warn of the consequences of continuing in deliberate sin and of not walking in obedience to the Lord.

So, when this is speaking of us all living in harmony with one another, this is not teaching that we are to tolerate sin in one another, and that we are to remain silent with regard to deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those who call themselves Christians. This is speaking totally of us living in harmony with other Christians even if we have disputable differences over subjects that do not matter for eternity. For too many “Christians” end up fighting with one another over non-essentials, and that should not be!

So, when it comes to matters that are not matters of sin but of differences of religious practices only, or that are any other differences of opinion over anything else, we should follow the teachings of Romans 14:1-23 and Romans 15:1-7. And we should agree to disagree but to not allow our differences to divide us. And we should harmonize together in the areas where we can agree, as long as we are talking here about differences of opinion and not about deliberate and habitual sin within the church.

For, we cannot with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ if some of us are living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and not in holy living in walks of obedience to the Lord. For the Scriptures are really clear on this subject. If we claim to be in fellowship with God, but while we walk in sin, we are liars. And if we claim to know God, but while we don’t walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands, then we are liars. And if sin and disobedience are our practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

We should always be kind to everyone, and we should forgive everyone who sins against us, but we are not to be tolerant of sinful practices and of those “believers” who refuse to repent and who refuse to follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands. And a refusal to repent doesn’t have to be verbal at all. For the true refusal is shown by one’s actions. For someone can claim to have repented, but if they continue in deliberate and habitual sin, that is not genuine repentance that forsakes sin and walks with God.

So, please understand the difference here between “failings” which are just a matter of diet and days in the week, and “failings” which are the result of deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against other humans. And don’t treat them as equal, because they are not equal. One requires tolerance and understanding and acceptance of those whose opinions differ from our ours, whereas the other requires that we speak the truth in love and that we help others to come out of their sinful lifestyles to follow Jesus.

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

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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Make Certain You are Speaking the Truth

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.” (James 3:1-5 ESV)

All of us who are followers of Jesus Christ need to be those who guard what we say to make certain that what we are speaking is not contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures and that it is not contrary to the character of Christ which we are to be portraying as his followers. And this certainly is not saying that any of us will be perfect in our speech, but that we should be those who make it our practice and our purpose to always glorify the Lord with our words and not to speak what is against the Lord and his Word.

Especially if we are those who are teachers of the Scriptures or who share our daily devotions that we have with the Lord with the people of the world, we need to be listening to the Lord, and we need to be studying the Scriptures in their context, and we need to endeavor, in the power of God’s Spirit living within us, to speak the truth as we know it and understand it. And so we should always be seekers of truth and righteousness and who seek the Lord for truth, and who don’t rely on humans to tell us the truth.

And this requires a close walk of faith and obedience to the Lord so that, before we try to share the truth with others, that we make certain that we are obeying the truth of God’s word, as far as we understand it, and as applicable to the lives of followers of Jesus Christ. For we shouldn’t be trying to talk something that we know that we are not walking. Or if we are not walking it, we should at least be honest in saying that we are not. But if we are not, then we shouldn’t really be trying to convince others to walk it.

Now I can’t say that I fully understand what is meant by what this says about teachers being judged with greater strictness, but I do know that, if we teach others, that we are responsible for the words that we speak to them, and that we should take that responsibility very seriously. Thus, we should endeavor to always speak the truth of God’s Word and not the lies that so many people are spreading today in the name of Christianity and in the name of Christ and of his gospel of salvation. So many teach lies!!

And this is not saying that we are always going to get everything right or that we won’t ever misspeak, but that we should, in the power and guidance of God’s Spirit, always endeavor to make certain that what we are speaking is the truth and not the lies that so many people are spreading these days, and that the majority of professers of faith in Jesus appear to be accepting as truth. For if we spread the lies and not the truth, there will be many people who will not be in heaven one day, even if we said that they would.

But I am finding that so many people, especially on social media, are relying on other humans and on memes and song lyrics and daily devotionals to be the word of God to them. And if they sound good to their ears, they accept them as truth, and they may even pass that truth along to others. But it is good to share the truth with others, but it needs to be truth that has been tested by us and found to be the truth, which we can only know by our own personal times of Bible study, reading it in context.

My main concern here is that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been so diluted and so altered and so widely accepted in its altered form that the lies have come to be accepted as the truth, and the truth is largely being regarded and taught as a lie. And this appears to be what the majority of professers of faith in Jesus Christ are accepting and spreading. But the gospel is not just “ask Jesus into your heart,” or just “believe and receive,” or just “believe and confess” and now heaven is guaranteed you when you die.

Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and we are following Jesus in obedience to his commands, we have eternal life with God. He also said that not everyone calling him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

And Paul taught that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires, for if sin is what we obey, it leads to death (judgment). But if obedience is what we obey, it leads to righteousness and to sanctification, and its end is eternal life with Jesus Christ, our Lord (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).

So, please be those who do not rely on other humans and books written by other humans, and memes and daily devotionals, to be your Bible. Go to the Scriptures yourselves and study them in context under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and let God speak truth to your hearts. And CONTEXT is critical to getting to the truth, and that is why I stress it. Yes, read daily devotionals and memes and books, for God gave us to each other to encourage one another, but then test everything you read and hear against God’s Word.

And then be those who are spreading the truth of the gospel, that by faith we must die to sin and now live to God and to his righteousness, in his power and strength, by his grace. For if sin is what we practice, and if godliness and righteousness and walks of obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips have professed. But we will face the wrath of God because we did not submit to him as Lord, die to sin, and now walk in obedience to his will.

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

The Lord’s Anointed  

An Original Work / December 16, 2011

Based off Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;

Anointed to preach the Good News;

Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;

Proclaim freedom for the captives.

He sent me to preach release for pris’ners

Who are walking in sin’s darkness;

Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;

And tell them about God’s judgments;

Comfort all who mourn;

Give crowns of beauty;

Oil of gladness and thanksgiving. 

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,

A planting of our Savior, God,

For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and

They will rebuild God’s holy church.

God will renew them, and will restore them,

And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.

You will be ministers of our God, and

You will rejoice in salvation.

The Lord loves justice;

He is faithful to 

Reward those who are seeking Him.

I delight greatly in the Lord;

My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.

He has clothed me with His salvation,

And in a robe of His righteousness.

He has given me priestly garments to wear, 

As the bride of Jesus Christ.

As the garden of our Lord and Savior, 

He causes us to grow in Him.

He makes righteousness, 

Praise, and thanksgiving

Spring up before all the nations. 

https://vimeo.com/114836524

Not False to The Truth

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:13-18 ESV)

The Lord may be leading me here to take this a slightly different direction while not deterring from what is being taught here, but perhaps as an offshoot of what is being taught here. For we all go through experiences in life, some good, and some not so good, which are ultimately for our good to help us to grow in our walks of faith in the Lord and to mature us spiritually in our obedience to God’s will and purpose for our lives. And so I am sensing the Lord would have me share with you today one of those experiences.

The year was 1980. I was 30 years old and pregnant with my fourth child, and my uterus prolapsed 3 months into pregnancy. I had to spend the last half of the pregnancy off my feet, so I was not able to take care of my preschool age children. So I had to put them in daycare, which was extremely emotionally painful for me to have to do. So I had a lot of time during the day without children to care for, and so I spent a lot of time in Bible study and in prayer, growing in my walk of faith in the Lord Jesus.

Fast forward to 1982. Our pastor taught on Spiritual gifts and he gave all of us a form to fill out, sharing where we believed God had gifted us and expressing our areas of ministry we would like to be involved in and/or that we believed we were called of God to do. And the expectation was that we would now be called upon and asked to serve the Lord in a specific area of ministry. But a year had gone by, I believe, and no word, so I asked the pastor to come to my house so I could speak with him about that.

He did. And I asked him why I had not heard anything. And please know here that this man and I had no relationship, so he did not know me, and I don’t believe we had ever really talked to each other before. But his response just “blew me away.” He began accusing me falsely of all sorts of things I did not do. And then he asked, “Would you say you have been crucified with Christ?” I answered, “Yes!” And he said, “I would say you haven’t!” Wow! That hit me “like a ton of bricks.”

I was so hurt by his vicious attacks against my character, which I believed to be totally unwarranted, and I really felt that there was not anything that I or God, in reality, could do about it. For I had grown up being abused by my father and I really believed that this man, this pastor, had power over me that God could do nothing about. And so I retreated. But then as I was reading the story of Jonah to my children one day the Lord impressed upon my heart that I was running away like Jonah did. And he encouraged me to “fight this through.” My response: “But God, you don’t understand!!”

Yet, I called the pastor on the phone and he suggested I speak with the elders of the church, so I invited them to my house, and they began ganging up on me and accusing me of things I was not doing. And this (today’s) passage was what they quoted to me, and they were trying to convince me that my desire to serve the Lord in ministry stemmed from selfish ambition, so that I “could be seen by others.” And so they wanted me to pray about this, and I did, but that was not my motivation at all. I wanted to serve the Lord because I love the Lord and I want to follow him in obedience.

To make a long story even shorter, what it eventually came down to is that they were judging me by themselves. For they admitted that their motivation for volunteering for ministry was to be seen by others, and since I was volunteering for ministry, they assumed that must be my motivation, too. So they were comparing me to themselves and they were deciding that I must be like them, and so they cast false judgments on me on that basis. But I wasn’t like them. In this case my motivations were from a pure heart.

So, why did the Lord have me talk about this story today? I believe it was to caution us against judging others’ character and motives by our own, or by our own traditions or religious philosophies or thinking with regard to what the “wisdom from above” should look like. For so many people, at least here in America, are adopting the culture and values of the world, and they are listening to people who are speaking in the flesh, and not in the Spirit, and they are casting judgments based on the flesh and not on godly wisdom.

So, if we really want to understand what it means to walk in the wisdom of God and not with earthly wisdom, then we need to be in close walks of faith and in obedience to our Lord so that we know the will of God. And we need to guard against adopting worldly philosophy and cultural traditions and fleshly ways of thinking and of judging and of discerning. And when we judge, it needs to be by God’s standards, and by his word, and not according to our own flesh, and not according to worldly thinking.

So, bottom line here is that the teachings of the Scriptures are to be defined by God and not by human flesh. So wisdom and good conduct are to be defined by the word of God and not by the wisdom of man. And it is the Lord who searches the hearts and who knows our true motivation for why we do what we do. But wisdom is willing to hear people out, and to take what they say to the Lord in prayer, and is willing to do self-examination and to admit error. But then we are not to be false to the truth, but we must speak truth.

And if we claim, “Not guilty” as charged, that is not necessarily a sign of pride, and it is not necessarily a profession of absolute perfection, either. It just means that we have taken what they said to the Lord in prayer, and we have allowed the Lord to examine our hearts and to show us if our motivations are wrong, and if our wisdom is of the flesh and not of the Spirit. And it is to speak the truth that we know, in love, and ask for some understanding and recognition that we are not all the same as each other.

And that is exercising this wisdom that is from above, and it is putting it into practice in our day to day situations which we will encounter, and it is to humble ourselves, and to be willing to admit wrong where we are wrong. For that is wisdom that is gentle and open to reason and is impartial and sincere, too. For we should be open to correction if needed. But we also need to be honest and not false to the truth. But we should speak the truth in love, and love those who mistreat us, who accuse us falsely.

Reach Out to Jesus

By Ralph Carmichael

Is your burden heavy as you bear it all alone?

Does the road you travel harbor danger yet unknown?

Are you growing weary in the struggle of it all?

Jesus will help you when on His name you call.

Is the life you're living filled with sorrow and despair?

Does the future press you with its worry and its care?

Are you tired and friendless, have you almost lost your way?

Jesus will help you, just come to Him today.

He is always there, hearing every prayer, faithful and true,

Walking by our side, in His love we hide all the day thru.

When you get discouraged, just remember what to do.

Reach out to Jesus, He's reaching out to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43bKx6sRL9M

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My Sheep

When Jesus spoke of his sheep, he was speaking of his true followers. They hear the voice of the Lord, they listen attentively to his words, they obey what he says, and they follow him wherever he leads them. They find forgiveness and salvation. This is the mark of a true disciple of Jesus Christ. 

A stranger, whom he called a thief and a robber, is a false christ or a false teacher whose mission is to lead the sheep astray into another gospel – a gospel of men. Jesus’ true sheep will not know intimately the voice of a false teacher, in fact, they will discern the error, and thus will not follow the stranger, and, in fact, will run away from him. 

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-30 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 

You Need to Endure!

"But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

 

“’Yet a little while,

    and the coming one will come and will not delay;

but my righteous one shall live by faith,

    and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.’

 

“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:32-39 ESV)

 

The writer of the book of Hebrews, believed by many to be the apostle Paul, was writing to those who professed faith in Jesus Christ in a time period when Jewish followers of Christ were transitioning from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant the Lord now had with his people Israel (now both Jew and Gentile who put their faith in Christ Jesus). So he was explaining to them how the New Covenant was not like the Old Covenant, but how God’s moral laws and his requirements for eternal life with God have not changed.

 

And so, while he was explaining the New Covenant versus the Old Covenant, he was also reinforcing the truth of the gospel which is that by faith in Jesus Christ we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and now follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands in holy living. And he gave all sorts of strong encouragements and warnings against falling away and drifting and wandering from the truth of the gospel at the risk of losing the salvation that they believed that they had attained by faith in Jesus Christ.

 

For he explained to them that genuine faith in the Lord Jesus results in obedience to our Lord in holy living but that disobedience to and rebellion against the Lord will result in facing the wrath of God, instead. And he used the example of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness and who disobeyed the Lord and who walked in sin and in idolatry and in rebellion against the Lord, and how they were killed and how they did not enter into God’s eternal rest. For faith = obedience, and disobedience = unbelief.

 

But the Christian life has its ups and downs, and no matter how faithful to our Lord we may be, we are still human beings. And we will not be made perfect (complete) until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful bride to be with him for eternity. For only then will our salvation be complete and will we inherit eternal life with God, but only if we remain faithful to our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands and in holy living and not in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. But we are a work in progress.

 

And so Paul is speaking still to all of us today who profess faith in Jesus Christ that we be careful that we don’t drift away from our pure devotion to the Lord and that we don’t rebel, like many of the Israelites did in the wilderness, and that we don’t fall back into sinful lifestyles and forget that we were bought back for God (redeemed) out of our lives of slavery to sin by the blood of Christ shed on that cross so that we will now follow our Lord in obedience, and so that we will honor him with how we live our lives.

 

But because we are humans, and we still live in flesh bodies, and because if we are genuine followers of Christ we will be hated and persecuted and cast aside as unwanted, and so we may get discouraged, we are being encouraged here to not lose heart, and to not lose faith just because life got so much harder. We must keep persevering. We must keep on keeping on in our walks of faith and in obedience to our Lord, and we must guard against falling back into our old ways of the flesh.

 

So, just because life has gotten much harder, and perhaps we are facing many obstacles in our way, or many persecutions, or many sufferings and trials and tribulations, we are not to lose heart, and we must not give up the fight. And we should not let other people nor our circumstances dictate for us how we are going to live. For Jesus never promised us that the Christian life would be easy and free from trials and tribulations and persecutions. In fact, he promised us the opposite of that if we follow him in obedience.

 

Therefore, we need to have God’s perspective on life, and we need to accept that the trials and tribulations that we face in this life are ultimately for our good, to teach us perseverance and endurance, and to strengthen us in our walks of faith and in obedience to our Lord. And they are given to us to test the genuineness of our faith, for if our faith is weak or not genuine at all, we will not survive the onslaughts of the enemy against us, but we will most likely fail, and perhaps give up altogether, for we will conclude it is too hard.

 

So, don’t let your circumstances or how other people treat you determine who you will become and dictate for you how you should live your life. Surrender your all to Jesus Christ, deny self, die daily to sin, and follow the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands, regardless of how you are treated in return, and regardless of the trials and tribulations which will come to test you. For great will be your reward in heaven. But if you shrink back, and you choose your sin over obedience to Christ, you will face the wrath of God.

 

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

 

Reach Out to Jesus

 

By Ralph Carmichael

 

Is your burden heavy as you bear it all alone?

Does the road you travel harbor danger yet unknown?

Are you growing weary in the struggle of it all?

Jesus will help you when on His name you call.

 

Is the life you're living filled with sorrow and despair?

Does the future press you with its worry and its care?

Are you tired and friendless, have you almost lost your way?

Jesus will help you, just come to Him today.

 

He is always there, hearing every prayer, faithful and true,

Walking by our side, in His love we hide all the day thru.

When you get discouraged, just remember what to do.

Reach out to Jesus, He's reaching out to you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43bKx6sRL9M

 

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If We Go on Deliberately Sinning

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV)

This passage of Scripture directly follows after some instructions on spiritual cleanliness in relation to our faith in Jesus Christ and to our salvation from sin, and on the subject of us Christians stirring one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging (exhorting) one another, and all the more as we see the Day of judgment or the Day of our Lord’s return drawing near. So this is to clarify for us, even in more depth, what it means to be saved from our sins and to have eternal life with God, and who that does not apply to, even if they profess faith in Christ.

And this is important that we understand what this is teaching us, especially in our day and age, for it appears that in our Christian culture today that many have rebelled against the Lord’s teachings on the subject of salvation from sin and eternal life with God, and they have recreated the gospel message by diluting it and altering it and lessening the message of it in order to appease human flesh and to not offend the ungodly of the world. And so this modern gospel message is giving carte blanche to professers of faith in Jesus Christ to continue living in sin, only now without feeling guilt.

So, even though you will hear many messages today which tell us that we can believe in Jesus (rarely biblically defined), have all our sins forgiven, be on our way to heaven, and that it can’t be taken away from us, regardless of how we live, that is not the gospel that Jesus taught, and it is not the gospel that his NT apostles taught. For they taught the necessity of dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and of walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in practice, if we are going to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God in heaven.

And they taught that if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and of the fires of hell. And it does not matter what our lips have professed. For Jesus said that if we call him “Lord” but we don’t do what he says, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. His apostles taught the same, that if we say we are in fellowship with God or that we know him, but we still walk in sin, and we don’t obey him, then we are liars. For if sin is our practice, hell is our eternal destiny, not heaven.

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

So, don’t be fooled by those who are telling you that you can believe in Jesus (not biblically defined) and now all your sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed you and it cannot be taken away from you, but regardless of how you live. Please read the above Scriptures in their context, and you will see that Jesus and his NT apostles taught the opposite of that. Somewhere along the line of time someone created this false and cheapened form of the true gospel so that sinners could feel assured of heaven as their eternal destiny while they continued in deliberate and habitual sin against God.

That is not of God, but of the devil who has gotten so many people to believe his gospel and to reject the true gospel as the lie, which is absolutely a sad reality. For many people are being promised forgiveness of all sins and heaven guaranteed them when they die while nothing really changes in their hearts and lives, but while they continue living in sin and not in walks of obedience to the Lord, and not in holy living. And one day we will all stand before God and he is going to say to some professing Christians, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior

And your testimony is separate from Him.

Your words not matching your actions today.

Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.

Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,

For you profess one thing, but other you do.

Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.

Not living in truth to what you confess.

Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.

Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.

Your heart is not given to your Lord God.

Because of how you live, you are a fraud.

Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

https://vimeo.com/287303934

Our Hearts Sprinkled Clean

 

Meet Together to Encourage One Another

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:19-25 ESV)

From what I understand, the book of Hebrews was largely written with the purpose to explain the transition from the Old Covenant God had with his people Israel to the New Covenant our Lord now has with his people Israel, who are now both Jew and Gentile by genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ. And he let us know what things have changed, and what things have not changed. For example, we still have to obey the commands of God, but those under the New Covenant. And we still must forsake our sins.

For faith in God (in Christ Jesus) still requires that we turn away from our sinful practices and that we now follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands. So faith in God/Christ = obedience. And disobedience to God = unbelief. And we are given the examples of the Israelites who disobeyed the Lord in the wilderness, and who were put to death, and who did not enter into God’s eternal rest, as examples to us so that we will not set our hearts on evil as they did and then suffer the same consequences.

[Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22]

For God’s moral laws did not cease to exist with the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, just the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, including God’s requirement for circumcision. All those were done away with. But the requirement to forsake our sins and to follow our Lord in obedience to his commands, in practice, have continued. And if we do not walk in them, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we profess.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-29; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

So, we are now to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 

So, what is this a picture of? Well, if we can think of this in a spiritual context of what takes place physically in our bathrooms, at least here in America, for example, what we do in them is that we relieve ourselves of feces (filth) and urine (waste) and we flush them down the toilet, and then we wash our bodies with clean water so that all the excess and waste material and filth is gone and we are now renewed and made clean.

In other words, when we believe in Jesus Christ with God-persuaded faith in him, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. The old has gone (been flushed away) and the new has come via a spiritual cleansing of our hearts, minds, and souls. But then we must walk (in conduct) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh to be promised eternal life with God.

[Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26]

For our salvation from sin is not the result of a once-in-a-lifetime confession of Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord. We have to walk now in obedience to our Lord in daily living in obedience to his commands in righteousness and in holiness, in practice, and we must no longer walk in sin, in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord and against other humans. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord, and not holy living, then the Bible says that we will not inherit eternal life with God. For our God is faithful to all that he promised that he would do.

And then we, as his body parts, within the body of Christ, the universal church, are to be stirring one another up to love and good works, which are the works that God prepared in advance that we should walk in them as his creation and as his workmanship. For Jesus Christ 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 (see Ephesians 2:8-10 and Titus 2:11-14). So, works are required by God, but they are of him.

And this is the purpose for our gatherings, that we would encourage, exhort, urge, counsel, teach, instruct, and urge one another to forsake our sins and to follow Jesus in obedience, and to do the works that God prepared in advance that we should walk in them, and to warn against false teachings and false teachers, and to proclaim the truth of the gospel as Jesus taught it, and as his NT apostles taught it (in context). We are to lead one another to the truth and then to encourage one another to walk in that truth.

So, when traditionalists tell you that this means that you have to sit in a pew or in a chair in a building called “church” on a Sunday morning, at a particular hour, in order to sit and listen to one person do all the talking and to sing songs only that a select person gets to choose, and then when the service is over you can now go home and resume normal living, they are lying to you. The whole purpose of our gatherings is so that the body of Christ can encourage one another to follow Jesus with our lives.

And these gatherings can be anywhere, in people’s homes, at a restaurant, at a park, or wherever believers in Christ decide to meet together in order to encourage one another in our walks of faith and obedience to the Lord, and where we can use our spiritual gifts and our body assignments to help one another to grow to maturity in our walks of faith in Jesus Christ. And if we are to have leaders, then they need to be people who meet the biblical qualifications for elder or deacon, and not be those who are worldly.

For too much of what is called “church” today are just businesses of human making being marketed to the world just like other businesses. And so many of them are following marketing books and business practices above and/or in place of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the teachings of the Scriptures. And so many are diluting and altering the character of God and the gospel of Christ so as not to offend the people of the world, so that the ungodly will be drawn to attend their gatherings.

So, please understand here that Hebrews 10:25 is not a call of God to attend a service at a building called “church” on a Sunday morning where all you do is sit and sing along with music someone else picked out, which may or may not be very spiritual and biblical, and then for you to listen to the same person talk week after week, even if it appears from what he teaches that he is very worldly, and that he is diluting and altering the character of God and the gospel of our salvation to make it more appealing to human flesh.

Gather together, instead, with other believers in Christ who you know are serious about their walks of faith and who want to participate with you in encouraging one another and in helping one another to grow in our walks of faith and in obedience to our Lord in holy living. For to this we are called.

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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My Prayer

When we accept God’s invitation to his great salvation by his grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, he indwells us with his Holy Spirit. We now have the Spirit of God within us leading, guiding, counseling, helping and directing us in the ways of the Lord and in his truth. 

Yet, the scriptures also talk about being filled with the Spirit. In Ephesians 5 we read that we should not get drunk on wine, but we should continually be being filled with the Spirit. This is written in the context of chapters 4 and 5 where we are taught to put off what is of the flesh and to put on the things of the Spirit. The more we throw off the sins that so easily entangle us so we can run the race set before us with perseverance, and the more we yield to the Spirit’s control in our lives, the more we are filled with the Spirit of God. When we are filled, we then know his power in our lives.

This is a prayer for God to fill us, to help us, to empower us, to help us to overcome; to lead us and teach us how to follow him, and to show us how to be his faithful servants. Yet, it is also a call to others, asking them to come and follow Jesus Christ with their lives. Amen!

My Prayer  

An Original Work / May 30, 2011

“Fill me with Your Spirit; 

help me to love others;

Let me know Your power; 

be an overcomer.

Show me how to follow 

Jesus Christ, my Savior;

Be His faithful servant 

to obey Him always.

“Lead me with Your presence; 

help me know the right way;

Teach me love and kindness, 

generous compassion.

Give me grace and courage 

to be Jesus’ witness,

Teaching His salvation 

to a world who needs Him.”

Won’t you come and follow 

Jesus Christ, your Savior?

He died so you’d be 

free of control of your sin;

Free to follow His ways 

in complete surrender;

Living sacrifices – 

let His grace transform you. 

https://vimeo.com/122052093 

Sure of Better Things

“Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:9-12 ESV)

If we read the New Testament Scriptures thoroughly, book by book, and chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, in context, and we pay attention to the context, as a whole, we will be taught what it means to be saved from our sins and to have the hope of eternal life with God. And it is NOT what so many people are teaching today. For it is not that we can just confess Jesus with our lips and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed us, but regardless of how we live.

Let’s Look at the Context

So context is critical here. For in the previous verses the writer of Hebrews (possibly Paul) was encouraging the believers in Jesus Christ to move on to maturity in Christ and into the deeper things of God and of our faith. And then he spoke of how those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and then have fallen away, that it is impossible for them to be restored again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God.

Now, that can be somewhat open to interpretation, and I believe other Scriptures may say something which may appear to be in opposition to what this appears to be saying, so we may have to look further into this to get its true meaning. For example, in James 5:19-20 we read that if anyone among us who are believers in Christ wanders from the truth and one of us brings him or her back from their wandering, we will save their souls from death and cover a multitude of sins. So they would have to repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord in renewed faith in Christ, would they not?

And then we read the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 where 5 out of the 7 had wandered from the faith in some form or another and so they were being called to repent and to turn back to the Lord or God would judge them. And so there must be a difference between wandering from the faith and falling away from the faith. And if you read several commentaries on this, you will find a variety of opinions on what this is actually saying. 

But let’s simplify it by stating what Jesus and the NT apostles taught, and that is that if sin is what we practice and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God. So, if you are professing faith in Jesus Christ, but you are still living in sin, and you are deliberately and habitually sinning against God and other humans, if you do not repent and turn to God or back to God, but you go on living in sin and not in walks of obedience to the Lord, then heaven is not your eternal destiny. And you are not saved from your sins.

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

Though We Speak in This Way

So, when he said, “though we speak in this way,” he was referring to what he had just said about those who fall away and cannot be restored back to true faith in Jesus Christ. Definitely, if they are in that fallen condition when our Lord returns, according to many Scriptures, they will not inherit eternal life with God. And this is why we are encouraged in the Scriptures that we must continue in our Lord steadfast in faith and in walks of obedience, and not in sin, and in walks of holiness, until the end, if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

So, what do verses 9-12 tell us? He was sure of better things of those to whom he was addressing these words – things that belong to salvation. So, what things belong to salvation? Well, that is another debatable subject, but if we search the Scriptures, and if we read them in context, we will soon learn that what belongs to salvation is obedience to our Lord, no walking in deliberate and habitual sin, but walking in holiness and righteousness. And it is doing the works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them, and it is to love God and our fellow humans and other believers.

And then pay close attention to the wording in verses 11-12, for they state what I was talking about two paragraphs prior to this one. We must continue in earnest and in steadfastness of faith in walks of obedience and in doing the works of God and in our service to our fellow Christians (the saints) until the end, in order to have that full assurance of hope to the end. And it is through these walks of faith, by the grace of God, and in His power and strength, that we will inherit the promises of God. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those DOING the will of God the Father (Matthew 7:21-23).

God is Not Unjust

But let me add a positive word of encouragement here to all you followers of Jesus Christ who are serving the Lord with your lives in ministering to the body of Christ and in the sharing of the truth of the gospel with the people of the world. God is not unjust. He will not overlook our work that we do in love response to God, and in obedience to his will and purpose for our lives, and according to the gifts he has given us individually, and with regard to the individual assignments he has given us within the body of Christ. 

For if we are, in truth, serving the Lord Jesus in ministry, in doing what his word teaches that we all must be doing, we are going to be faced with persecutions, false accusations, mistreatment, and abandonment, and we will be cast aside as unwanted because we do not fit the modern day profile of what a “good Christian” looks like. For we don’t fit with the modern day “church” model. So we will be regarded by the majority as weird or as crazy or as “hyper religious” or whatever is negative and not complimentary.

But we can be encouraged that God has called us, and he has equipped us, and he is using us in the ways in which he intended for us even before we were born into this world. And he will complete the work he began in us as we continue to yield our lives to his control, and as we continue to walk in his ways, and not in the ways of this sinful world, and if we continue to honor him with our bodies and to be his servants and witnesses in encouraging the saints of God and in sharing the truth of the gospel.

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 

Don't Be Slothful in Zeal

“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.” (Romans 12:9-13 ESV)

From what I understand, most every time we see this word “love” in the New Testament Scriptures, it is agape love, which comes from God, and which centers in moral preference, and which prefers what God prefers. This is not human love which is based largely in our emotions and in the one we are loving. And it is not sensual love nor sexual attraction to someone. But when we love with this love, we are preferring to live through Christ and to obey his choices for our lives, in the power of God, and by his grace.

And if this love is genuine, it will be without hypocrisy, and it will be sincere. It won’t be faked or put on to give off an image that is not the truth just so other people will like us or so that they will include and not exclude us. Nor will it be faked in order to cover up hate and sinning against others, acting like we really care about them when, in fact, we are doing the exact opposite of that in our actions toward them. And this applies to our relationships with God, too. For if we say that we love God, but then we deliberately and habitually sin against him, that is a lie. It is not genuine love.

For agape love prefers all that is holy, righteous, godly, upright, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. And so when we love with this kind of love we are also going to hate all that is evil, so we are not going to be deliberately and habitually sinning against our Lord and against other humans. But we will put evil far from us, and we will resist the devil, and flee temptation to sin, and we will draw near to God in full assurance of faith, and we will do what God says we must do.

And then we are also to love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with a family type love, which cares about them as though they are our flesh and blood brothers and sisters. But this also reflects agape love which prefers what is holy, honest, morally pure, faithful and obedient to our Lord, and so we are not going to willfully sin against the Lord and against our fellow Christians nor against any other human. And we should show the same concern for our Christian family as we do for our blood family members.

Now, as we have read in other passages of Scripture, there are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ whose zeal is misdirected, for it is not based on God’s design and purpose for our lives, but what the flesh wants to do. Or it is founded in religious rituals and practices that really have nothing to do with our intimate relationships with Jesus Christ and the surrender of our lives to him for the purpose to forsake our sins so that we will now follow our Lord in obedience to his commands in holy living.

So, there is zeal which is of God, and there is zeal which is of the flesh, and there are works that are of God, and that are required of God, and that God created us to do, as his people. So not all zeal for God and not all works are of the flesh. So we need to know the difference. And therefore we are not to be those who are slothful in zeal for the Lord and for his work, but we are to be fervent in spirit in serving our Lord in the ways he has called us to serve him and to live for him as his possession, with him as our Lord.

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

For if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine God-persuaded and God-gifted faith, then our hearts’ desire should now be to walk in obedience to our Lord and to serve him in the ways in which he has called and commanded that we serve and obey him. So when he gifts us with Spiritual gifts that we are to use for the encouragement and edification of the body of Christ, we should want to do that. And when he gives us our assignments within the body of Christ, we should rejoice and have zeal for doing those assignments.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

For this is the life of the true Christian. For Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to his righteousness. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now honor and obey the Lord with our lives, in service to him. And that should be a joy to our hearts, and we should be fervent in spirit in wanting to do God’s will for our lives, even if it means being hated and rejected and persecuted, even by other professing Christians.

[1 Peter 2:24; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23; Luke 9:23-26]

But we are to be patient in tribulation, knowing that God has called us to himself for a very specific purpose which he wants us to fulfill, and so all that we go through in service to the Lord serves his purposes in our own lives, in maturing us and strengthening us in the Lord, and so that we are more humble and compassionate, yet very determined, too, to hold fast to the word of the Lord and to not make compromises with the world. For us to be his witnesses, we must be faithful to the truth of the Scriptures.

And then we are to be those who have open two-way communication with our Lord around the clock to where we can talk with him any time of day or night and to where he can speak to us, the same, and we will listen and obey him when he speaks. And in these times, as well, is when he will put it on our hearts to give to a specific need of someone or to pray for them or to invite people to our home for a meal in order to show them the love of God and because we genuinely do care about them and about their needs.

Trust and Obey  

Words by John H. Sammis, 1887

Music by Daniel B. Towner, 1887

When we walk with the Lord 

in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, 

He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey. 

Not a shadow can rise, 

not a cloud in the skies,

But His smile quickly drives it away;

Not a doubt or a fear, 

not a sigh or a tear,

Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, 

not a sorrow we share,

But our toil He doth richly repay;

Not a grief or a loss, 

not a frown or a cross,

But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove 

the delights of His love

Until all on the altar we lay;

For the favor He shows, 

for the joy He bestows,

Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet 

We will sit at His feet.

Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, 

Where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB4KcleYiWM