The Lord is Exalted

Isaiah 33:1 ESV

“Ah, you destroyer,

    who yourself have not been destroyed,

you traitor,

    whom none has betrayed!

When you have ceased to destroy,

    you will be destroyed;

and when you have finished betraying,

    they will betray you.”

Intoxicated by Sin

There are many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are not walking the straight and narrow but who are still living in sin, living to please the passions of their sinful flesh, while claiming salvation with Christ through faith alone and heaven as their eternal destiny.

They are those who are lovers of self instead of lovers of God. They are intoxicated with sin and with self-indulgence and with whatever high or buzz they get from their idol, their sinful addiction(s) of choice. They will not humble themselves in submission to Christ as Lord, because they still want to be on the throne of their own lives.

Although they profess faith in Jesus Christ, they are fruitless regarding God’s eternal kingdom for they have not submitted to Christ as Lord, they have not left their sinful lifestyles behind them, and they are not walking in purity of devotion to Jesus Christ in obedience to his will for their lives.

Thus, they are stubbornly holding on to the flesh, and they are defiantly continuing to live in sin. And, they are doing so even knowing all the destruction that their sin has caused themselves and their relationships with God and with other people. They don’t care. Their consciences are seared.

So, they continue to do what is in accord with their sinful nature. And, they regularly (habitually) give in to the sinful cravings of their flesh. And, yet many of them will say they are “struggling” with certain sins, but what that usually means is that they are habitually yielding to the flesh, on purpose.

So, many of them, in order to pacify themselves in their sin, or to make allowances or excuses for it, or to justify themselves, or to reconcile their sinful lifestyles with their professions of faith, will buy into or they will create a different gospel which will permit them to continue living in sin.

The Different Gospel

But this different gospel is a BIG FAT LIE. For, it saves no one from sin, even though it promises to do so, but it deceives its followers by telling them that heaven is guaranteed them while knowing that it is sending them straight to hell. For this different gospel comes straight from hell.

This different gospel is not of God, not of righteousness or holiness. It is a creation of the flesh of man intended to appeal to human flesh and to pacify people in their sin. So, it leaves its adherents still bound in sin, in chains of addiction, while it comforts them with lies and deceptions which will betray.

It is, thus, double-dealing, for it promises one thing, but it will deliver the opposite. It promises freedom but it delivers more bondage. It promises heaven, but it will deliver hell. It promises a life of joy and peace, but it delivers a life of depression, unfulfillment, tragedy, and destruction.

Yet, people are buying into this cheap grace gospel by the droves. For, liars and deceivers are masquerading as servants of righteousness. They are smooth talkers and charmers who are luring people away from Jesus Christ and his gospel to another Jesus and a different gospel. And many people are following these pied pipers who are leading them to their deaths. 

But one day the Lord is going to, or he is presently acting in judgment against those who are following this cheap grace gospel, in order to turn their hearts back to the Lord. And, when he has finished using the enemies of God to discipline and to revive his wayward people and to bring to true salvation those who have bought into the cheap grace, then he will come against those whom he used as his divine instruments of judgment.

Isaiah 33:5-6 ESV

“The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;

    he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,

and he will be the stability of your times,

    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;

    the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.”

For, our Lord will be exalted above all other gods, which are not God. He will not be superseded by any other gods. His purposes cannot be thwarted. They will prevail. His Word will last forever. No enemy raised up against the Lord will be able to stand for long. God will accomplish his purposes through it all, and many lives (not the majority) will be saved for eternity.

He will do whatever needs to be done to awaken his slumbering people and those who are deceived so that they will turn their hearts to the Lord or back to the Lord. And, he will deliver them from their bondage to sin, and he will empower them to live righteously and to walk in his ways and in his truth.

And many who are now still walking in darkness will see the light of truth and they will surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. They will turn away from their lifestyles of sin, they will be changed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and they will now walk in obedience to our Lord until Jesus comes to take us home to be with him for eternity.

And, those who have been delivered out of darkness, and who have been brought into God’s wonderful light, will begin to share with others how they can also be free from their chains of addiction. But when they do, the enemy will come against them to tempt them or to persecute them because he wants them back.

Yet, they must not give in to him at all! They (we) must stand strong in our faith against the enemy of our souls, and we must speak the truth in love, for many are dying in their sins and they need the Savior. We must keep speaking the truth which will set people free no matter what opposition may come against us. For, our Lord is with us, and he will carry us through it all.

Be with Me, Lord

By Thomas O Chisholm 

Be with me, Lord – I cannot live without THEE,

I dare not try to take one step alone.

I cannot bear the loads of life, unaided,

I need THY strength to lean myself upon.

Be with me Lord, and then if dangers threaten,

If storms of trial burst above my head,

If lashing seas leap ev’rywhere about me,

They cannot harm, or make my heart afraid.

Be with me Lord! No other gift or blessing

THOU COULDST bestow could with this one compare –

A constant sense of THY abiding presence,

Where’er I am, to feel that THOU ART near.

Be with me, Lord, when loneliness o’ertakes me,

When I must weep amid the fires of pain,

And when shall come the hour of “my departure”

For “worlds unknown,” O Lord, be with me then.

Copyright status is public domain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJrS9ppeWk

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Delivered From Fear

Psalm 34:4-7 ESV

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me

    and delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant,

    and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him

    and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps

    around those who fear him, and delivers them.”

What do you fear? Do you fear a virus? Death? Riots? Coups? Takeovers of nations? The “other” political party? Lies being spread? Persecution? Racial tensions? Joblessness? How you will survive? How you will pay your bills? Abandonment? Your own personal safety at risk? Loss of freedoms?

Are any of these real possibilities? Yes! Viruses are a part of life. Death is inevitable for all of us unless Jesus returns to take us all home. Factions, uprisings, and takeovers of nations have always happened, and they are prophesied in Scripture for these last days. Lies and deception are everywhere. Anarchy, too. And, financial crises are a fact of life, as well. 

And, according to Scripture, things are not going to get better. They are going to get much worse. And, according to Scripture, we are called of God to suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus, and for the sake of the gospel, and for the sake of righteousness. But God is still in control!

So, what do you do? Well, worry is not an option. Have you ever known worry to ever make anything better? Has worry ever changed anything in your life for the good? If you fear anything, does it make it go away? Not usually. Fear only debilitates you, makes you sick physically and/or emotionally, and it paralyzes you so that you don’t trust God and you don’t move forward. Fear will keep you from obeying God.

So, what do you do? Well, the first thing is you pray. You call on God. You ask him for his counsel, for his guidance and for his help. You put your life in his hands, and you trust him with your circumstances. He is still King. He is still sovereign over all that he has made. None of what you are going through is a surprise to him. And, there isn’t anything he is not prepared to handle. So, rest in him, obey him, and trust him to work it all out.

And, accept the reality that we are not promised that everything in our lives is going to go in our favor. In fact, we are promised the opposite. Jesus never said that if we follow him that we are going to have everything we want, and that we will have no troubles or heartaches, and that everyone will love us. He just promised us that he would see us through it all.

So, who are we to fear? We are to fear God. If we don’t believe in Jesus, we are to fear for our lives, knowing that God is going to judge people and that many will spend eternity in the lake of fire.

If we are followers of Jesus, we have no reason to fear hell, but the fear we are to have for God is respect, honor, and obedience. It is to believe him, to take him seriously, and to believe that he will do the things he said he would do. And, it is to trust him with our lives, to leave our lives of sin behind us, and to go with Jesus wherever he takes us, one day at a time.

Psalm 34:8-10 ESV

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,

    for those who fear him have no lack!

The young lions suffer want and hunger;

    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

Yes! Again, trusting in the Lord doesn’t mean we will not have to suffer or that bad things will not happen to us. The goodness of God doesn’t mean we won’t have to go through trials and tribulations. For, we get to know the goodness of God when we learn to trust the Lord even in the hard times.

Yes! We are blessed of God when we put our trust in the Lord and when we take refuge in him, and when we don’t try to solve things ourselves or take refuge in what is sinful and in what is contrary to the Lord. When we give our circumstances over to the Lord, and we trust him through them, we will experience much peace and joy. For, he is in the driver’s seat, not us.

When we go through difficult times, but we trust the Lord, and we don’t give way to fear, we mature in our walks of faith, we grow closer to our Lord, we learn perseverance, we are humbled, we are being made holy, and we also learn love and compassion for others who are suffering, too.

Also, when we rest in the Lord through our trials, and we trust him, we are blessed of God in seeing how he works his perfect will through our circumstances for his glory and for our good and for the good of others, too.

Psalm 34:11-14 ESV

“Come, O children, listen to me;

    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

What man is there who desires life

    and loves many days, that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil

    and your lips from speaking deceit.

Turn away from evil and do good;

    seek peace and pursue it.”

When we are faced with difficult circumstances, whatever they may be, we need to be those who get alone with God and who listen to his voice. So many times, as humans, we react first in the flesh, and then later we call on God. We need to be those who learn to step back immediately from what we are going through, and who talk with and listen to the Lord first.

And, yes, the Lord does use our trials to teach us the fear of the Lord. Amen! And, that is a good thing! We need to learn to treat God with honor, value, and respect and to obey him and to do what he says. We need to learn to listen to him more. And, honestly, sometimes that means we must go through tough stuff to get us to that place.

That is why the Bible says that God disciplines us for our good so that we may share with him in his holiness. And it says that it is painful, not pleasant, too. But it is to purify us, to prune us, to make us holy, to teach us to fear the Lord, to instruct us in the right ways, and to humble us, etc.

And, this is so that we will turn away from evil, and so that we will do good, and so that we will seek peace (the peace of God) and pursue it. This peace, though, is not the kind of peace the world gives or even what we may think of as peace, which may be the absence of conflict. This peace has to do with soundness of mind and completeness in Christ and our spiritual wholeness.

And, this only comes through surrender of our lives to Jesus Christ, the forsaking of our sinful lifestyles, the honoring of Jesus as Lord, and walks of obedience to our Lord and to his instructions to us, his saints. 

And, all this is by God’s grace, through God-given faith in Jesus Christ, and in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God living within us, and not from ourselves.

So, if you are battling fear, trust God with your life, submit to his purposes, turn from any sin, and walk in obedience to his commands, and he will fill you with his peace. And, you will see how God will work all things out for the good of those who love (obey) him, who are called according to his purpose.

Light the Fire

Songwriter: Curtis Matthew Kirkwood

I stand to praise You

But I fall on my knees

My spirit is willing

But my flesh is so weak

Light the fire

In my soul

Fan the flame

Make me whole

Lord, You know

Just where I've been

So light the fire

In my heart again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY70HGk1OX4

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We Can Be Free!

Psalm 119:153-154

“Look on my affliction and deliver me,

    for I do not forget your law.

Plead my cause and redeem me;

    give me life according to your promise!”

Many people are professing faith in Jesus Christ, and they are believing him for their salvation from sin. They want the Lord to deliver them from the penalty of sin, and from the shame of sin, but not many truly are willing to let the Lord deliver them from their bondage (addiction) to sin.

They want to have eternal life with God. They want to claim the promises of God over their lives. But they aren’t willing to do what the Word of God teaches they must do to have eternal life with God. And, this is not works-based salvation.

The Scriptures teach that faith in Jesus Christ is humbling ourselves before God, that it is surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ, making him Lord (owner-master) of our lives. They teach us that salvation from sin is death to sin and it is living to God and to his righteousness (Lu. 9:23-26; Rom. 6:1-23; 1 Pet 2:24).

They teach us that the gospel according to Jesus Christ means that we leave our lives of sin behind us, and that we are transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and that now we follow our Lord Jesus in surrender and in walks of obedience to his commands (Eph. 4:17-24; Rom. 8:1-17).

However, one of Satan's biggest lies, which is permeating the gatherings of what is called "church," is that we can't be free from our slavery to sin, and that the best we can hope for is just to be forgiven our sins. But Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to his righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).

So, you don't have to live in bondage to sin. You don't have to give in to temptation time and time again, making sin your practice. Jesus died to free you from addiction to sin. Don't believe the lies that tell you there is no way out. There is!! Freedom is possible by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:1-23).

Satan wants to keep you trapped in sin feeling there is no way out. He wants to keep you feeling hopeless. He wants you to believe addiction is something you can't be free from or that it will take years to be free. Don't believe the lies. Believe the truth that Jesus can/will set you free! (Eph. 4:17-24).

Psalm 119:155-156

“Salvation is far from the wicked,

    for they do not seek your statutes.

Great is your mercy, O Lord;

    give me life according to your rules.”

But not everyone has faith. Not everyone is willing to believe Jesus for salvation from sin. Even many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ don’t truly believe him for salvation from their bondage to sin, because they don’t truly want to be free. And, they don’t want God to be in control of their lives.

And, the reason for this is that they want to retain control over their own lives. They want to retain the option to sin if they want to sin. For, they want to live in self-indulgence and in self-pleasure when it suits them. They don’t want to have to give up the self-life. But some of them also want the “Christian” life, too. So, they try in their own flesh to be good, at times.

But they find it futile to try to conquer sin in their own flesh, because they can’t, because flesh cannot put flesh to death, and because it is not really in their heart to be free from slavery to sin. Mostly they just want to perform, to look good to others, so others will think they are good Christians, but while they still maintain power and control over their own lives.

So, although they claim to have faith in Jesus, and even though they may even be claiming to be a Jesus follower, they are still the ones in the driver’s seat, manipulating, scheming and maneuvering how things are going to go. Thus, they are pressing forward in their own strength, not in the strength of the Lord, which is why they continue to fall back into sin.

For, they are unwilling to obey the Lord. They are unwilling to take full responsibility for their own lives, to do what they know they ought to be doing. So, they are spiritually lazy, slothful, and apathetic regarding holiness, righteousness, and obedience to the Lord. Thus, they are fruitless regarding God’s eternal kingdom, too.

They are self-centered, self-absorbed individuals who are living immature and irresponsible lives, unwilling to submit to the authority of God over their lives, but who make a pretense of living the Christian life while they continue to hold on to their sinful practices, rather than to give them up and to allow the Spirit of God to truly set them free.

For, we can’t make up the rules. We can’t decide what we will do or not do for our Lord. He is the one who sets the rules. He is the one who determines the boundary lines we are not to cross over. If we want to have eternal life with God, then we must submit to his rules (his commands).

And, he says that we must forsake our lifestyles of sin, that we must allow him to change us in heart and mind, and that we must now walk in obedience to his commands, and no longer live to gratify the sinful cravings of our flesh (Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

Psalm 119:159-160

“Consider how I love your precepts!

    Give me life according to your steadfast love.

The sum of your word is truth,

    and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”

As followers of Jesus Christ this is where our heart is to be, but not on a surface level only, and not to impress others with our spirituality, but in truth, and in submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

We must be those who (agape) love (prefer) the commands of our Lord. Now, we are not under the Old Covenant, so we don’t have to obey all the same rules and regulations as did the Jews. But under the New Covenant we are still to obey God’s moral laws, which he explained in much further detail in the New Testament.

For example, Jesus said that we are not to commit adultery, but then he expanded on that by saying that to lust after another (not your spouse) is to commit adultery in our hearts. And, he said that to hate someone is the same as to murder someone.

And, Jesus and his New Testament apostles both taught that to love God is to obey him, and if we don’t walk in obedience to our Lord, we don’t love him, and we don’t know him (Jn. 14:23-24; 1 Jn. 2:3-6).

They also taught us that to be in relationship with Jesus Christ and with the Father means to die with Christ to sin and to live to Christ and to his righteousness, and that if we don’t die with Christ to sin, but we keep on living in our sin, that we won’t have eternal life with God (Lu. 9:23-26; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8).

So, we need to be those who (agape) love (prefer, obey) the commands of our Lord Jesus. For, in them we will find freedom from sin and life everlasting with God in heaven, all to the glory and praise of God!

Listen to Our Hearts

Songwriters: Geoff Moore / Steven Chapman

So listen to our hearts.

Hear our spirit sing

A song of praise that flows

From those you have redeemed.

We will use the words we know

To tell you what an awesome God You are.

But words are not enough

To tell you of our love,

So listen to our hearts.

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

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The Unfolding of His Words

Psalm 119:129-131 ESV

“Your testimonies are wonderful;

    therefore my soul keeps them.

The unfolding of your words gives light;

    it imparts understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant,

    because I long for your commandments.”

The Bible (Genesis to Revelation) is the living breathing word of God to us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It isn’t just a book of history, poetry, prophecy, and biblical instruction, but it is the life-giving words of God to us, the people of God.

The Bible is Jesus’s love letter to his bride, the saints of Almighty God. Through the reading of Scripture, the Holy Spirit speaks God’s words to our hearts today. But by “love” I don’t mean romantic love or only saying “sweet nothings” in our ears to make us feel good about ourselves where we are.

For, (agape) love isn’t based in feelings and emotions. It prefers what God prefers. For the Christian, it means to prefer to live through Christ in holiness, righteousness, godliness, and integrity. It means we prefer truth to lies, and obedience to disobedience, and self-sacrifice to self-gratification.

And, God’s love for us is like the love a good father has for his children. He wants to guard us and to protect us from harm and from the enemy of our souls. He wants to safeguard us from evil, and from giving way to the flesh. And, so he disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness.

And, so he speaks the truth in love to us through the Scriptures. And, he tells us to “get off this way,” and to “follow me in obedience.” And, he instructs us in what ways are bad for us that need to be forsaken, and he teaches and counsels us in the right way that we should go, that is for our good.

So, these aren’t all “feel good” messages. Some of what we read in the Bible are hard truths. Some of them are warnings and rebukes. Some of what we read is graphic, and some of it is hard to understand and to accept. And, some of it will challenge what we were taught early on, and we will have to change what we believed in error in order to believe what is correct.

But, as we read the word of God prayerfully, our Lord will speak to us personally, bringing words of instruction, counsel, healing, and comfort to our hearts. It is like having him right there with us in person, sitting beside us, talking to us, and us being able to respond verbally to what he is saying. And, we will grow to love the word of the Lord as we love God himself.

Psalm 119:132-134 ESV

“Turn to me and be gracious to me,

    as is your way with those who love your name.

Keep steady my steps according to your promise,

    and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

Redeem me from man's oppression,

    that I may keep your precepts.”

When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, so we can walk with Christ in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).

But we still live in flesh bodies. We still have the propensity to sin, and we will still be tempted to sin (1 Jn. 2:1-2; 1 Co. 10:13).

But, in Jesus’ death on a cross for our sins, he put sin to death. He delivered us from our slavery to sin that we might now be slaves of him and of his righteousness. So, we have the empowerment of the Spirit of God living within us to keep us from sin if we will yield control of our lives over to the Lord, and if we will listen to him and do what he says.

No follower of Jesus Christ should still be living in sin, walking in it, and “struggling” with sinful addiction. The Scriptures teach, in fact, that we are all slaves to the one we obey. If we obey sin, it leads to death. If we obey obedience, it leads to righteousness. We can’t serve two masters.

So, we must resist the devil, flee temptation, and draw near to God. We must put on the armor of God which God supplied that we might fight off Satan’s evil schemes and his evil attacks against us. And, we must take the way of escape that our Lord provided for us out from under the temptation to sin. And, please know this: If we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the cravings of the flesh (Gal. 5:16; cf. Eph. 6:10-20).

And, this really is the bottom line here. We must take that way of escape Jesus provided for us and we must walk by the Spirit, and we will not gratify the sinful cravings of the flesh. But if we play with fire, we are going to get burned, sure as anything. You can’t play with temptation to sin.

Psalm 119:135-136 ESV

“Make your face shine upon your servant,

    and teach me your statutes.

My eyes shed streams of tears,

    because people do not keep your law.”

Do you weep over your own sins? Know this. If our sorrow is genuine, it should lead to repentance. If it is not genuine, it will lead to more sin.

Now I am not saying that a truly repentant believer in Jesus will never sin again. That is certainly the goal, but it is still possible to sin. But a true follower of Christ should no longer be living in sin. Sin should not be what he practices. It should not be his “go to,” his habit. It should be the exception to the rule, not the rule itself.

But here is another thing here. If we are truly repentant, and if we are now walking in the ways of the Lord, and if he is truly our Lord, and if we are in intimate fellowship with him daily, what grieves him should grieve us. We should feel what he feels. So, when we see people caught in sin, it should bring us to tears. And, we should weep over them, and we should plead with God for their salvation from sin and from hell.

If it doesn’t bother us at all that our loved ones are bound in sin and headed for hell, that should disturb us. We should wonder why we feel no compassion for them and no concern for their lost souls. It should concern us that we are so nonchalant about their bondage to sin.

I believe too many Christians have become desensitized to sin and have been programmed to say to people only what is pleasing to them and to not make waves. And, they have been instructed to “stay in your own lane,” etc. And, they have accepted the lies that say we are not to confront people with sin, but we are to just make them feel good about themselves.

But we need to get back to the place, as the people of God, to where we truly weep over the sins of this world, and especially over the fact that so many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ are still living in bondage to sin and are not truly seeking the way out that Jesus provided.

And, then maybe we will be compelled of the Spirit of God to tell people about the gospel of their salvation so that they can turn away from sin and turn to the Lord to follow him in obedience to his ways.

Light the Fire

Songwriter: Curtis Matthew Kirkwood

I stand to praise You

But I fall on my knees

My spirit is willing

But my flesh is so weak

Light the fire

In my soul

Fan the flame

Make me whole

Lord, You know

Just where I've been

So light the fire

In my heart again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY70HGk1OX4

*Caution: This link may contain ads

Back to the Basics

The word “church” means “people called out from the world and to God,” “the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom,” and “belonging to the Lord” (https://biblehub.com/greek/1577.htm).

But the word “church” has come to mean buildings, and denominations (Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc.). And, these denominations of men have, for the most part, united with the government (in the USA) in an unholy union, and they have turned the church into businesses of men, being marketed like any other businesses of men.

So, that is not “the church.” These businesses may be called “church,” but they are not “the church.” For they are united with the world, and their target market is the world, and so they pattern their gatherings after the world in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world.

So, if we unite ourselves with these businesses called “church” we are not living as those who are truly called out from the world and to God. So, we need to get back to the basics. We need to return to what the Scriptures teach about the church and how we are to function as the body of Christ, and we need to leave these institutions of men who are united with the world behind us in order to follow Jesus in obedience to his will for our lives.

Something God gave me to share with all of you on this subject today:

https://vimeo.com/444776230

Zeal for God's House

Psalm 119:137-138 ESV

“Righteous are you, O Lord,

    and right are your rules.

You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness

    and in all faithfulness.”

So many people today have a distorted view of who God is. They think God is altogether like us, but he isn’t. They try to bring him down to human level, but he isn’t on our level. They try to humanize him. So, they give him character traits that are not his, that are not godly. They try to mold him to their image rather than submit to being molded by him to HIS image.

How do I know this? Look at what so many people are teaching about God these days. Look at what they are teaching about his gospel of salvation and forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. So many who profess faith in Jesus Christ have turned the narrow road (the hard way), which few travel, into an easy and broad road, which many travel.

And, they have totally obliterated any requirements of God for repentance, obedience, submission to Christ as Lord, and for righteous living. So, this means they must ignore the bulk of the New Testament teachings on holiness, righteousness, purity, and truthfulness, etc. Thus, they focus on cherry picked Scriptures which they then use to make their case.

The gospel they teach is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, but a gospel of the flesh of man intended to tickle itching ears and to pacify the sinful cravings of the flesh. They teach a salvation that requires no change of heart or conduct, which then implies that they are free to continue living in sin. Thus, they say that God can’t even see when they sin, but that all he sees is Jesus.

So, they totally ignore the righteousness and the holiness of God, for they feel they now can live however they want, only without guilt. They have no use for his commands, so they do not see them as righteous, either. And, yes, under the New Covenant, we must still obey our Lord’s commands to us, his followers. We must still obey God’s moral laws (1 Jn. 2:3-6).

If we have no use for God’s commands and for righteous living, then we have no use for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. We would, thus, be then following the god of this world, instead, who very much wants us to continue living in our sin.

Psalm 119:139-141 ESV

“My zeal consumes me,

    because my foes forget your words.

Your promise is well tried,

    and your servant loves it.

I am small and despised,

    yet I do not forget your precepts.”

I believe we need to do more to distinguish between the church (the body of Christ) and the church (institutions of men), for there is much confusion here. Since "church" is so traditionally associated with buildings with steeples, maybe we should say "saints" when we mean the saints of God, i.e. true followers of Jesus Christ. That is what the book of Revelation does after the proclamation of judgments on the churches.

And, here is why it is high time that we do this. “The church” as most people see it are these institutions of men and their buildings. Even back as far as when I was a child, I was taught a rhyme with hand motions that basically taught the church was a building with a steeple on it and that the people were inside the building.

I was taught, too, that when I entered that building, that I was entering “the house of God,” and that the “sanctuary” (auditorium) was holy ground, and that it was when we entered into the sanctuary that we entered into the presence of Almighty God. And, many “church” people are still teaching this today. But this is not biblical. This is a carryover from the Jewish temple.

The truth is that the church (the body of Christ) is the people who are believing in Jesus Christ, who are walking according to the Spirit of God, and who are not walking (living) according to their sinful flesh. The church is not something we go to. We are the church. But we do gather together.

So, what’s the big deal? Why do we need to make this distinction? It is because these institutions of men are not the church. They are businesses called “church.” They are denominations of men called “church.” The true church may gather with them in their buildings, but the buildings and the institutions of men are NOT THE CHURCH.

So, if we leave these institutions of men, we are not leaving the true church. We are departing from man-made religion. We are departing from being unequally yoked together with the ungodly and with the unbelieving world. We are leaving “Babylon.” We are leaving man-made teachings and worldliness and false gospels which are leading people away from Jesus.

For, this is what most of them are. And, they are being marketed to the world just like any other man-made business. And, that is why we have seen such a massive spiritual and moral decline in the gatherings of the saints of God, for they are intermingling with the world, and thus they are conforming their gatherings to be acceptable and enjoyable to the ungodly.

So, what is often being called “church” really is not the body of Christ, even if some true believers in Jesus do attend their gatherings. It is a mixture of the world, big business, government, and the saints of God, which God forbids. And, it is the saints of God unequally yoked together with unbelievers, which God also forbids. And, it is turning God’s house into a marketplace – the same.

Now, this is not to say that the saints of God can’t gather together in a building. The building is not the problem. The problem is what is in people’s hearts. The problem is idolatry, immorality, and spiritual adultery among God’s people. The problem is disobedience being practiced among those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and it is the absence of the fear of God.

So, that is why Scripture teaches that we must come out from among them so that we don’t share in their sins, which are piled high to heaven. We must separate ourselves from this unholy union with the ungodly. For there is no fellowship between light and darkness. For, we must be a pure bride for our husband, Jesus, untainted by the sinful pleasures of the world.

Psalm 119:142-144 ESV

“Your righteousness is righteous forever,

    and your law is true.

Trouble and anguish have found me out,

    but your commandments are my delight.

Your testimonies are righteous forever;

    give me understanding that I may live.”

In this crazy world of ours, our only hope is in Jesus Christ, our Lord, our God. We, as the people of God, must stop “playing church,” and we must get serious about our walks of faith and holiness with our Lord. And, to be holy means to be separate (unlike, different) from the world, because we are being made to be like Jesus.

And, this means separating ourselves from the worldly church, or these businesses called “church” which are of the flesh of man and not of God, and not of his holiness and righteousness. And, we need to bathe ourselves in the Word of God, do what it says, and surround ourselves with godly followers of Jesus who are not compromising with the world, and who are not diluting the gospel of Christ to make it more palatable to the world.

There’s a Stirring

By Annie Herring

There's a stirring deep within me
Could it be my time has come
When I'll see my gracious savior face to face when all is done
Is that his voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
Is he calling me?

I will rise up, rise up
And bow down
And lay my crown
At his wounded feet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yocTjkB6hV8

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Deliver Us from Sinking

Psalm 69:4-8 ESV

“More in number than the hairs of my head

    are those who hate me without cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

    those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

    must I now restore?

O God, you know my folly;

    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

“Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,

    O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

    O God of Israel.

For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

    that dishonor has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my brothers,

    an alien to my mother's sons.”

Jesus Christ was hated in this way. And, he said that if we follow him with our lives, doing the things he did and saying the things he said, that we would be hated as he was hated.

But the hatred is not always outright. It isn’t always that people’s fists are up in the air and that they are screaming, “Crucify him!” Sometimes the hatred comes through in very subtle ways. Sometimes it comes in forms of manipulation, trickery, and subtle insults or distractions to draw our attention away from the Lord, and away from what he has called us to do.

For, Satan is very clever. He doesn’t always (or usually) attack us in very outward and obvious ways, for his goal is to deceive us. His goal is to lead us away from our pure devotion to Christ. So, he is more likely to try to “gaslight” us in ways that can’t be proven than he is to outright attack us where everyone can see what he is up to.

And, in this way many people are being led astray, and they are falling for the lies of the enemy, because the lies are so clever, and because the lies are masked to appear as something else. So, the unsuspecting and the naïve may easily be taken in by the enemy because they don’t know his tricks.

And, the enemy may lead them to turn against the righteous, too, thinking that they are rejecting what is wrong, because they are deceived.

Psalm 69:9-12 ESV

“For zeal for your house has consumed me,

    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,

    it became my reproach.

When I made sackcloth my clothing,

    I became a byword to them.

I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,

    and the drunkards make songs about me.”

The house of the Lord is not a building called “church.” It is not a church denomination or an institution of human origin. We who believe in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior are God’s house, which is spiritual, not physical. And, Jesus Christ is our chief cornerstone.

So, if zeal for God’s house consumes us, we are not being consumed by anything related to a building or to a church denomination. We are passionate about holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, and purity being lived out in the lives of those who profess the name of Jesus.

Zeal for God’s house is like what Paul expressed when he told the church that he was jealous for them with a godly jealousy, for although he had promised them to one husband, Jesus Christ, he was deeply concerned that their hearts were being led astray to “another Jesus” and to a “different gospel.”

But if you have this kind of zeal for the body of Christ today, you will probably face much opposition from many within the church, even from those in leadership positions. They may accuse you of being overly sensitive or of overreacting, for they have been blinded by the enemy’s lies and they don’t see what you are seeing.

And, they may well mock you and laugh at you, perhaps even thinking you are crazy. And, they may whisper about you behind your back. And, they may even turn others against you. For they may convince them that you are “hyper-religious” or that you are “legalistic,” and that they don’t need to listen to you.

But we must not let their attacks against us unsettle us or deter us from what we know is the right way, the narrow way that leads to eternal life with God. We must continue on the right path, and we must continue to speak the truth in love, in hopes that people will listen and that they will turn from their sins to obedient faith in Jesus Christ as their only Lord.

Psalm 69:13-15 ESV

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

    At an acceptable time, O God,

    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

Deliver me

    from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

    and from the deep waters.

Let not the flood sweep over me,

    or the deep swallow me up,

    or the pit close its mouth over me.”

The Lord delivers us from our enemies in many different ways. Sometimes it is through physical deliverance, but not always. For, he promised us a life of suffering for righteousness’ sake. He promised us we would be hated and persecuted as he was. But he also promised us that good would come out of our suffering, and that we would grow to maturity in Christ through it all.

So, if the Lord Jesus doesn’t rescue you physically from your enemies and from your persecutors, don’t let it unsettle you. Believe in the sovereignty of God over your life. Believe that God is in control. And, believe that God is working all things for good in your life if you love (obey) him and if you are called according to his purpose.

But that doesn’t mean that God is just leaving you to “hang out there to dry,” i.e. to abandon you to danger. Yes, he will allow us to go through some tough stuff sometimes. But that doesn’t mean he has deserted us or that he has left us to our own resources to “figure it out” for ourselves. He is still with us, and he will carry us through it all. We just need to trust him.

But if we lean on him for support, and if we trust in his sovereignty, and if we listen to what he wants to teach us through it all, and if we walk in obedience to him, and if we do what he says to do, he will keep us from sinking. He will keep us from failing in our hearts. He will uphold us, and he will sustain us. And, we will be filled with his joy and with his purpose.

And, we will continue in what he has called us to do, more mature, stronger in our faith, and more determined than ever to get out the truth of his gospel so that many will turn away from their sins, and so that they will turn their hearts to Jesus Christ in submission to him as Lord of their lives. And, all this will be for the praise of God’s glory!

Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer

Lyrics by Margaret Becker

Music by Keith Getty

“Jesus draw me ever nearer

As I labour through the storm.

You have called me to this passage,

and I’ll follow, though I’m worn.

May this journey bring a blessing,

May I rise on wings of faith;

And at the end of my heart’s testing,

With Your likeness let me wake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amqP9rvikvg

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