Religious Hypocrites and False Faith

I was contemplating this evening the subject of hypocritical religion. Many people calling themselves “Christians” give a bad name to Christianity because their religion and their religious practices are tied up in rules and traditions of human origin, not of God, and because they are following the traditions of their cultures and their religious upbringings, and not of God. They call it Christianity, but they are followers of man, and not of God.

I am reading in Matthew 23:1-39.

Jesus talked about such people when he described the scribes and the Pharisees of his day. But he told his disciples that they had to observe (obey) what their leaders told them (not what was against God), but they were not to do the works that they did. For, he said, “They preach, but do not practice.” And he continued by describing them as those who do their deeds to be seen by others, and who love the seats of honor in public.

He called them hypocrites for they lived the opposite of the faith in God that they professed with their lips. He said that they cleaned the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they were full of greed and self-indulgence. So he told them that they needed to first clean the inside of the cup and the plate (referring to their own hearts), that the outside also may be clean. For they made an appearance of righteousness but were full of lawlessness.

And we have many such people today who go through the rituals of religious practice, feeling as though they are being good religious people or good Christians, but it is outward only, not from the heart, and it is not reflected in their words, attitudes, values, morals, and behaviors. For outwardly they attend worship services on a weekly basis and they may do religious stuff, but their hearts are still given over to the flesh and to self-indulgence.

And while they look down on those who don’t do all the same things that they do in all the same ways, they are ignoring God and his commands to us under the New Covenant, and they have not forsaken their sinful practices. And they are living much the same as the people of the world who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, which is not in holy and in godly living as the Scriptures teach that we must do as followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said about these hypocrites that they shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For they neither enter themselves nor do they allow those who would enter to go in. And how is this being done today? It is happening via people teaching us that we can make a one-time decision in our lives to believe in Jesus Christ and now all our sins are forgiven, and now heaven is guaranteed us when we die, and it can’t be taken away from us, but regardless of how we live. But that is a lie from hell. Why?

Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For in essence he said that if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self that we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ Jesus we die with him to sin and we now live to him and to his righteousness, then we will live with him for eternity. And Paul and the other apostles taught that, too (see Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-21).

And Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven. For many will stand before him one day and will call him “Lord,” and they will proclaim all the things they believed they did in his name. But he will tell them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness” because they would not obey our Lord (Matthew 7:21-23).

Therefore, a Christian is not a Christian if he/she is only one outwardly, in form only, and if the Christian has not forsaken his life of sin, and if he has not bowed the knee to God in submission to our Lord and to his will for our lives, and if he is still deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord and against other humans, and if he is not living a holy life in the power of God for the glory of God. For that is what this teaches us, and here, too:

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

Have Thine Own Way, Lord 

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907 

Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

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

Thou art the potter, I am the clay. 

Mold me and make me after Thy will, 

While I am waiting, yielded and still. 

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

Search me and try me, Master, today! 

Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, 

As in Thy presence humbly I bow. 

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

Wounded and weary, help me I pray! 

Power, all power, surely is Thine! 

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine! 

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

Hold o'er my being absolute sway. 

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see 

Christ only, always, living in me! 

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

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In My Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Earlier this morning I wrote a devotion titled, “How We Tend to Measure Success,” which was spawned by a discussion I was having with people on a Facebook group which was the alumni from my high school. We were talking about what influence our time in high school had on our lives and on our life choices and on our career choices. Several of us mentioned that we had learning disabilities, two of us in the area of reading comprehension, but those without disabilities may not be able to get that. And I understand.

So, my mind was thinking about that and how, in school, we were all graded on the same level, regardless of disabilities or incoordination, etc. For example, my gym teacher had us girls doing the same things the boys were doing, including jumping hurdles. And I did try to jump the hurdle only to have my foot and leg caught in the hurdle which threw me to the floor and ended up in a bloody mess. But even though I tried, I flunked, because I couldn’t jump the hurdle. And I never could do pullups, but I tried.

As I mentioned in my previous writing, all throughout my years of school I had a reading disability, i.e. I had very low reading comprehension, which got me put back in second grade after being in third grade for a month, and which kept me getting low grades in any classes involving the ability to read and to understand what I read. But no one back then identified the problem nor reached out to try to help me with my disability. And so this issue continued on a good part of my life. I still struggle with it somewhat.

And while all this was floating through my mind the Lord led me to this passage in 2 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul was given a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him humble, and to keep him from becoming conceited because of all the great revelations the Lord was giving to him. So, who gave him this “thorn in the flesh,” this “messenger of Satan to harass” him? God did! Who else? Who else would want Paul to not be conceited and to be humble? And who else had the power to do this?

And then that took me in my mind to the learning disability that I had and that I still have to some extent. And then think with me about Psalms 139 where we learn that God/Christ knit us together in the wombs of our mothers, and that all the days ordained for us by God were written in his book before one of them came into being, and how we were wonderfully made by God. God is the one who created us. So he gave me that learning disability for a reason, and perhaps it was to humble me and so that I would have to depend on him for my understanding of what I read.

God’s Grace is Sufficient

Paul pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave him. But God’s answer back to him was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” But some people today are claiming that Paul’s weakness and his “thorn in the flesh” was a controlling sin in his life. But it wasn’t. For God is not the author of sin, so God would not give him a sinful addiction to keep him humble, for Jesus died to free us from our slavery to sin. And God would not refuse to deliver Paul from a besetting sin. See:

https://runwithit.blog/2023/05/13/was-paul-a-hypocrite-ii/ 

We don’t know, though, what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was. Some people believe it was his blindness, but it could have been any sort of physical ailment or it could have been the opposition he faced to his teaching and those who hounded him continually. We don’t know for certain. But does God allow “thorns in the flesh” in our lives to keep us humble? I believe he does. I think my peripheral neuropathy in my right leg is one of those. For I must depend on a walker to keep from falling when I am out in public.

I believe the Lord has allowed many things in my life to keep me humble and to keep me dependent on him, and that is a good thing, although it can be painful, for sure. And his grace is sufficient for me. And he taught me in my 50’s that I could learn if I depended on him to help me to learn, not that I didn’t learn anything before then, but that is when I got over my fear that I couldn’t learn and I trusted the Lord to help me to learn and to understand things that I would never before in my life even attempted to learn.

And so we need to trust the Lord in these things, and rest in him, and rely on him to help us in our weaknesses when our brains or our eyes or our legs or any other parts of our bodies fail us, for I am experiencing much in all these areas right now, including my hearing is failing me, too. But then I am in my mid-seventies, so that is to be expected somewhat. And he will help us when we face insults and hardships and persecutions, too. He will give us the strength to endure it all if we will lean on him for our support.

Mighty in Power

An Original Work / June 17, 2019

Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;

Mighty in power, His name we honor.

He’s our refuge from all evil.

God our righteous, He’s our fill.

He satisfies us with all His blessings.

We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.

Glory and honor, praise to the Father,

Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.

He delivered us from all sin

So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.

He purifies us. His love will guide us.

He is beside us, holy and righteous.

Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,

Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.

He gives courage to be bold in

Witnessing for Jesus Christ.

He teaches all things about our Savior.

New life in Jesus, we found His favor. 

https://vimeo.com/343126112

How We Tend to Measure Success

Psalms 119:59-64 ESV

“When I think on my ways,

    I turn my feet to your testimonies;

I hasten and do not delay

    to keep your commandments.

Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,

    I do not forget your law.

At midnight I rise to praise you,

    because of your righteous rules.

I am a companion of all who fear you,

    of those who keep your precepts.

The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;

    teach me your statutes!”

Fifty-five years ago I graduated from high school, just barely. I had low reading comprehension (I read on a 4th grade level), and I was greatly lacking in confidence. So, with the exceptions of music and Spanish and speech and health classes, I did poorly, and I graduated high school with a 1.4 GPA (D average). My English classes were mainly literature, and since that involved reading comprehension, I did poorly in them, too.

Recently I was encouraged to join a group on Facebook (social media) for my high school. I had been avoiding that for some time but I finally believed the Lord was giving me the go ahead, and so I joined. My first post was just introducing myself and the second post was asking a question about the first name of my favorite teacher (my Spanish teacher). And in my third post I asked everyone what was their favorite memory about high school. 

In my fourth post I asked, "What difference did your years of high school have on your life in the life path or the career choice you made for yourself?" I got some very good and interesting responses. But that got me thinking about how we, as humans, tend to measure success. For I did not succeed in high school to attain what I was supposed to, nor did I in my first round of college. I was still lacking in confidence and in reading comprehension.

But did that make me not successful? Did I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior back then? Yes! Was I following him with my life? Yes, not perfectly, but I was growing in my knowledge and understanding of him and of his will for my life, and I was following his lead in most things, and I was growing in my walk of faith, which was in a forward direction. I was singing in the church choir and I was teaching children’s Sunday School classes.

Then I dropped out of college part way through, got a job, got married, and a few years later had my first child. And then I had three more children over a span of about four years. I still sang in the choir and did solos and duets and trios and quartets, and I still worked with children in the nursery or in assisting my husband who taught the youth group, and I continued to grow in my walk of faith. But did that make me not successful?

In reading the people’s responses to my last post, although the responses were good, I came away with this feeling that success in life was being measured by how well we did scholastically in school and by what kind of career we ended up in and by how well we did in that career choice. I didn’t hear many speak of their “life path,” but mostly on their “career choice.” And I didn’t hear much on how high school impacted their lives in general.

So did that make me not successful because I got poor grades and I dropped out of college and I didn’t have a long and successful and lucrative career in any particular job? By human standards, I was probably not considered as a success. Many times people would ask me, “Do you work?” I always hated that question. They wanted to know if I had a paying job. I answered, “Yes,” because I was a homemaker, a mother of four, and a servant of Christ.

So, I like verse 59 here when it says, “When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies.” And for believers in Jesus Christ, this is what we should do when we think over our lifetime. We should not measure ourselves by the standards of the world but by God’s measurements. And we find those in the Scriptures. Are we following Jesus in obedience? Are we serving the Lord in ministry to others? Are we living holy and godly lives?

Are we loving other people with the love of Christ? Are we listening to God’s call on our lives, and are we following the Lord wherever he leads us in doing what he has called us to do? Are we dying to sin daily, not yielding to it habitually and deliberately? Is Jesus Christ truly Lord and Master of our lives, or are we still running our own lives, depending on the flesh, doing what we want, following the ways of the world, and not following God with our lives?

For God doesn’t measure success in the same ways that humans do. Success in the eyes of the Lord involves us surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ, leaving our lives of sin behind us, and following him in obedience and to whatever paths he has chosen for us individually and collectively. And it may involve rejection and persecution and being disregarded as not successful by other humans. But we should not let that discourage us.

Success is “though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law” (the word of God, the Scriptures). Success is “at midnight I rise and praise you, because of your righteous rules” (the gospel of our salvation, God’s New Covenant). Success is “I am a companion of all who fear you” (who walk in the fear of the Lord in honor and reverence to God, believing God and his word, that he will do as he said, and to act accordingly).

So, don’t measure your life or anyone else’s life by the standards and the thinking and the evaluating and measurements of this world and of human flesh. Measure your life and the lives of other humans by God’s standards, and by his Word (his commandments under the New Covenant and his gospel of our salvation), but in context, please. You may appear as a failure in the eyes of flesh, but you are a success if you follow Jesus with your life.

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

Songs in the Night  

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.

You, my Savior, I now adore.

Hope in heaven awaiting me,

Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,

And I’m bound for heaven.

Jesus set me free from

All my sin, I say.

I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:

Overcame death, my vict’ry won!

Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!

I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!

My sin is but hist’ry!

I am free to please Him

With my life today.

I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me

A new life bought at Calvary.

Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.

Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;

Through my Lord, I’m able

To sit at His table;

Fellowship with Him.

I will thank Him always!

https://vimeo.com/379484387

Don't You Know?

1 Corinthians 5:1-8 ESV

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

“For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

When I begin to think about this subject in relation to the American church at large today, though not speaking of every congregation, it is just overwhelming. For it is not a little leaven which is leavening the whole lump in one city, or in one physical location, but it is a massive amount of leaven which is leavening the whole lump across America and the world. For sexual immorality is abounding in the gatherings of what is called “church” here in America because the gospel has been altered to make room for it.

And I believe there are three major factors at play here. One is the human heart, second is the ease of access to sexually explicit material via smartphones and other internet devices, and three is the diluting and the altering of the message of the gospel to where so many are not teaching God’s requirements for repentance (the forsaking of sins), for obedience to his commands (New Covenant), and for holy and righteous living in moral purity, uprightness, honesty, integrity, and faithfulness, and in practice.

So many today are teaching that we can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ once in our lives and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is now secured us, and it can’t be taken away from us, regardless of how we live. And so we have institutional churches filled with people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still walking in sin, still living for the pleasures of the flesh, still loving the world and the things in the world – the lusts of the flesh and of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Therefore, sexual immorality abounds in the gatherings of the institutional church because not many are doing anything about it, for they are coddling people in their sins, instead, and some of them are giving them excuses to keep on sinning sexually (or otherwise), deliberately and habitually. And so marriages are breaking apart and families are being destroyed and the church is on a massive spiritual and moral decline, and yet so many are proud of their “churches” and their preachers and their praise bands.

For they want to hold on to their sins, and so they are holding on to their altered gospel messages, too. And that is astounding to me that so many people professing faith in Jesus Christ can read the Scriptures and not see that our God demands obedience to his commands (New Covenant), and repentance (the forsaking of our sins) and holy living. It is all throughout the New Testament! You can’t miss it. And so are the warnings that if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin that we do not have eternal life.

No pastor I have met or have talked with about this situation will do anything about it, either. Hopefully there are some pastors somewhere who are taking this passage of Scripture seriously and who are exercising genuine church discipline with the clear objective to help people out of their lives of addiction to sexual sin and to living lives which are holy unto God. I have just not heard of them. But maybe they still exist. Hopefully they do. But so many are putting “Band Aids” over serious sin issues.

But the only hope for the American market-driven and flesh-driven “churches” of today is revival, which engages genuine repentance, walks of obedience to the Lord, doing a spiritual housecleaning like Jesus did in the temple courts of his day, and dying with Christ to sin and saying “No!” to sin daily, and saying “Yes!” to our Lord and to his commands and to his will for our lives as our daily practice. And this means getting rid of the lies and following after the truth taught by Christ and by his NT apostles.

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

When in The Stillness  

An Original Work / September 26, 2011

When in the stillness of this moment,

Speak to me, Lord, I humbly pray.

Be my desire, set me on fire,

Teach me to love always.

Help me to walk in fellowship with You,

Listening to You; sit at Your feet.

Whisper Your words to me, 

Oh, how gently, guiding me in Your truth. 

While we are waiting for Your blessing,

Lord, in our hearts be King today.

Help us to live for you ev’ry moment,

List’ning to what You say.

May we not stray from your word within us,

Help us obey You, Lord, in all things,

Walking each moment, Lord, in Your presence,

Our offerings to You bring.

Help us to love You, Lord, our master;

Be an example of Your love,

Helping the hurting, lift up the fallen,

Showing them Your great love.

Teach them to love You, follow You always,

Bearing their cross and turning from sin;

Walking in daily fellowship with You,

Making You Lord and King.

https://vimeo.com/126984144

Are We Overcoming Evil with Good?

Romans 12:14-21 ESV

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

If we are following the Lord Jesus Christ with our lives, in doing what his word teaches us that we must do, as his followers, then we are going to be hated, rejected, falsely accused, slandered, abused and persecuted for righteousness’ sake, even by many who call themselves Christians but who are not following the truth of the gospel but a diluted and altered gospel message which also dilutes and alters the character of God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit.

Those who persecute us are our enemies, but the NT Scriptures teach us that we must love our enemies and pray for them and to good to them – the good God intends us to do – and we are to bless them, i.e. to speak to them words of reason for their spiritual and perhaps physical, mental, and/or emotional benefit, as well, in like manner in which our Lord blesses us with the things of God and of his word which teach us what we need to hear for our good and for our spiritual and otherwise wellbeing. 

And we are not to rejoice with evil but with what is good, so even if fellow “Christians” are rejoicing over what is evil (wicked, sinful, deceitful, etc.), we are not to rejoice with them, and we should not rejoice with evil in movies or in TV shows or videos or stories or photos or in songs or in anything which glorifies and/or which promotes and/or rejoices (takes pleasure in) what is evil and in what is not of God. And the same applies to weeping, for we should weep with others who weep over the things God weeps over but not necessarily over the same things that the world is weeping over.

And we are to live in harmony with those who are living in unity and in harmony with our Lord and with his Word and with the message of the gospel taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles. But we are not to be in harmony with those who are not in genuine fellowship with Christ but who are still living in conformity and harmony with the world and with the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. For there is no fellowship between light and darkness (sin, wickedness, worldliness).

Basically what this is teaching us is that we are not to be overcome by evil, but we are to overcome evil with good, in how we live our lives, in how we speak, in how we interact with others, and in the things we choose to watch and listen to and participate in and agree with. For we are to be God’s holy people in all our conduct living holy and godly lives, pleasing to our Lord. And holy means separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

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

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

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

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

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

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

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

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

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

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

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

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

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296 

The Functioning Body of Christ

Romans 12:4-8 ESV

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

So much of what this speaks of, and which is also spoken of in parallel passages of Scripture, is being lost today. For so much of what is being called “church” these days is not the body of Christ functioning as God intended, but they are businesses of men being run like any other businesses, created in the minds of humans, and which are being marketed to the people of the world, and which are appealing to the likes and the interests of the people of the world.

So many gatherings of what are called “church” are appealing more to the desires of the world and to attracting the world to their gatherings than they are operating as the biblical body of Christ. And usually one man (maybe more than one) does all the preaching (prophesying), i.e. proclaiming the word of God, making it applicable to our lives today. And so many of them have replaced the role of “teacher” with “facilitator” who is just regurgitating what another human has decided is the truth.

And so many preachers are getting their sermons online or from books and they are following and teaching the teachings of other humans and they are not getting their messages directly from God as being led of the Holy Spirit in what specifically to say to the people that day in their present circumstances. For if you listen to many of them, you will begin to see a pattern among many of them in what they are teaching as truth which is often twisted truth and misimpressions (deceptions, lies).

And so many pastors are now acting more like cult leaders than they are behaving like true shepherds of Jesus’ true biblical sheep. And they are behaving more like businessmen running businesses than they are leading the sheep to follow the true shepherd of the sheep, who is Jesus Christ. And so many are acting as though they are the only “minister” when we are all called to be ministers of Christ in doing what he has called and assigned and gifted us to do and to be as our body parts within the body of Christ.

For, as the body of Christ, His church, we are all gifted and assigned by God specific roles (parts) within the body of Christ which God intends for us to use and to do for the encouragement, strengthening and spiritual maturity of the body of Christ, as a whole. We all have a part in this, if truth be told. And so there needs to be a place within some of the gatherings of the church where we can function as the body of Christ in using our spiritual gifts for the instruction, encouragement and spiritual growth of the body of Christ.

And not one of us is to feel as though we are not important because our body part is not the same as someone else’s. However, we must be those of genuine God-given faith in Jesus Christ who, by the Spirit, were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and who were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves of sin but now as slaves of God and of his righteousness. And we are to be those who are walking in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord and no longer in sin.

For those who are still walking in (practicing) sin are not of God for they are not listening to God and they are not obeying the Lord, in practice, but they are continuing to live for themselves and for the desires of the flesh, and so they have no part in the body of Christ for they have no relationship with Jesus Christ, for they are not in fellowship with Christ. So I am not saying we should include and use everyone who says he is of God and says he is gifted of God, for we are to test the spirits to see which ones are of God.

[Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 John 1,2&3; Matthew 7:21-23]

But for those who are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and who are being led by the Spirit of God and not by the flesh, we are all to have a part in the body of Christ and in ministering to one another according to the will of God and according to the word of God. And we are all to be speaking the truth in love, one to the other, so that we are not taken captive by those who scheme and trick and who tell lies, and so we all come to maturity in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And we are to instruct and teach and admonish one another, and we are to address and speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And we are all to exhort one another, according to the Scriptures, so that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and in order to stir up one another to love and good works, which are the works that God has called us to do, by his Spirit, by genuine God-given faith in Jesus Christ (see Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:17-32; etc.).

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

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

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

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

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

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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

Caution: This link may contain ads

Speak Truth, Not Lies

Proverbs 24:1-2,8-9,12 ESV

1 “Be not envious of evil men,

    nor desire to be with them,

2 for their hearts devise violence,

    and their lips talk of trouble.

8 “Whoever plans to do evil

    will be called a schemer.

9 The devising of folly is sin,

    and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

12 “If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’

    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,

    and will he not repay man according to his work?”

Please know here that the “wicked” are not all who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ while the “righteous” are all who profess faith in our Lord Jesus. For the wicked are all those who make a practice of sinning against the Lord, and against other humans. The wicked are those who do evil deliberately and habitually and premeditatedly and without conscience, compassion, or concern for who they are hurting in the process. So they do include some or many professers of faith in Jesus Christ.

[Jn 3:19-20; 2 Thes 2:9-10; 2 Thes 3:1-2; Jas 1:19-21; 3 Jn 1:10; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 15:18-20; Mk 7:20-22; Lu 6:45; Lu 13:26-28; Jn 5:28-29; Rom 1:29-32; Rom 2:6-10; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; Heb 3:12; 1 Pet 3:12; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

And the righteous, in the eyes of our Lord, are those who make a practice of righteousness which can only be done by those of God-given faith in Jesus Christ. For we are not talking here about self-imputed righteousness. And we are not talking about the false righteousness of the Pharisees who made a profession of faith in God and of obedience to our Lord and to his commands while their hearts were filled with all sorts of wickedness and while they did all sorts of evil. But we are talking of those who are living righteously.

For those who are righteous in the sight of God are not the hypocritically righteous, like the Pharisees, but they are those who are living in conformity to God’s standard, in conformity to God’s own being, to his will, and to his standard of rightness and of what is upright, in practice. And they are doing so by the grace of God, in the power and wisdom of God, and in practice, by genuine God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

[1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7; Matthew 25:34-40; Romans 1:17; Romans 2:13; James 1:22-25; James 2:23; Romans 6:16-20; Romans 8:3-8; Galatians 3:11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 10:35-39; Hebrews 11:4; 1 Peter 3:12]

Therefore, those who practice evil are those who are evil, regardless of what they profess with their lips. And not only do they practice evil, but they devise evil, they plot evil on their beds, for they plan to sin premeditatedly and not just as a gut reaction to their circumstances. And they will also plan out their coverup for their sin in advance, too, in order to hide what they are doing from those they do not want to see what they are up to. So they are liars who do not speak truth and who plot evil against others in advance.

And yes, they are schemers and manipulators and backstabbers and betrayers and adulterers and deceivers. And they can be very convincing in their conniving, and many people believe them because they are so convincing. And some or many of them are pastors of church congregations, some of whom are being trained in marketing techniques in how to be deceptive and in how to manipulate their people into doing what they want them to do. So we need to watch that we don’t get duped by them.

For one of the techniques these liars and deceivers and manipulators who are workers of evil will use to excuse away the evil that they do, in practice, is to claim ignorance. They will say, “I did not know,” when they did know, and some of them have known for a very long time. But God will not accept that excuse (see Romans 1:18-32). But they are usually full of excuses. For our God is going to judge us all according to our works (deeds), and he will repay all humans according to what they have done in this life.

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

Proverbs 24:10-11,24-26 ESV

10 “If you faint in the day of adversity,

    your strength is small.

11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death;

    hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

24 “Whoever says to the wicked, ‘You are in the right,’

    will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,

25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,

    and a good blessing will come upon them.

26 Whoever gives an honest answer

    kisses the lips.”

Do you see here what our responsibility is as followers of Jesus Christ, not only to those of no faith in Jesus Christ, but also to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ? Even if we are being hated, rejected, and persecuted for righteousness’ sake and for the sake of the gospel of our salvation, and for the sake of truth, we should not back down. We should not give up. But we must persevere, for we do not know who is listening or who is reading what we write and how that may be impacting their lives for Jesus Christ.

For we are called of God to rescue the perishing, to snatch people out of the flames, to lead them to repent of (forsake) their sins and to follow Jesus Christ with their lives in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. And we are to tell them the truth of the gospel and we are to expose the lies for what they are, for the lies are leading the masses to follow after another Jesus and a different gospel other than the Jesus and the gospel of the Scriptures.

And this Scripture here could have been written today, for it specifically addresses the situation we are in today. For it appears that the majority of those supposedly preaching the gospel these days are telling the wicked, “You are in the right.” For they are telling them that all they have to do is just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future) and heaven is secured them for eternity but regardless of how they live. And that is a lie from hell!

But we are not to be those who say what people’s itching ears want to hear and just what will make them feel good. We are to be those who are courageous enough and who care about people enough to tell them the truth, even if they hate and reject us in return. So we are to be those who speak the truth of the gospel, in love, and who rebuke the lies and the liars and those who are living wickedly, who know better. For we are to expose the lies for what they are in order to rescue people from hell.

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

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

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

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

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

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

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

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

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

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

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

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

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296