06/28/24 OPTIONAL TO UNNECESSARY
I copied this from a friend. Yeppir.
WHEN CHURCH BECOMES OPTIONAL TO YOU
IT WILL BECOME UNNECESSARY TO YOUR CHILDREN.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
06/27/24 GOD'S REQUIREMENTS
06/27/24 GOD'S REQUIREMENTS
God calls us to salvation from sin and sinning, calls us to follow Christ, calls us to be holy.
God directs us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, to walk in the light, to walk in the Spirit, to walk in love, to walk in faith, to walk in holiness.
God commands us to make our calling and election sure.
If we are not meeting the above standards (of course by God's miraculous, enabling, salvific grace), then we are not elect.
Believe (trust), repent (turn), follow (obey), because either God separates us from sin or sin separates us from God.
If your state of grace does not conform you to the image of Christ, then your grace is graceless.
06/24/24 FREE OR FORCED
06/24/24 FREE OR FORCED
If you do not have a free will, then your service and submission to God is mechanical and legalistic.
God gave us a free will and enables the unbeliever to choose between faith and rejection, and the believer to choose between submission and rebellion. The true believer obeys God because he is a new creation, a new man, a partaker of Divine nature and recipient of redemptive love and transforming salvation.
God actually SAVES us from our sins by redeeming us from every lawless deed and purifying us as a distinctive people, zealous to do good works.
We love him freely and obey gladly. In fact we keep His commandments because we love Him and do that which is pleasing in His sight and His commandments are not burdensome or grievous.
This is why it is Divine salvation. If this is not your experience and relationship and reality, then you need to get saved.
Believe on the Lord and you shall be saved from your sins, including sin's penalty, pollution and power.
06/24/24 READ IT CORRECTLY
06/24/24 READ IT CORRECTLY
Divine sovereignty, justice, righteousness, mercy, kindness, tenderness, compassion, patience, love, jealousy, wrath, vengeance, veracity, asceity, wisdom, knowledge, power are not conflicted or contradictory but rather coordinated and consistent. While each trait is in unity with each other, they are distinct and must not be played against each other.
John 3:16 says...
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God is sovereign, but this verse does not say,
"Because God is sovereign, He sent..."
God hates sin, and is angry with sinning and is vengeful, but this verse does not say,
"Because God is vengeful or angry or because God hates sins and sinners, He sent..."
God is righteous and just, but this verse does not say,
"Because God is just and righteous, He sent..."
God's nature is not conflicted or contradictory and His traits are not in opposition to one another; they are complimentary and in coordination with one another.
God sent His Son to seek and to save the lost (sinners) by dying sacrificially and rising physically from the dead.
But never forget, and never let anyone confuse you, God provided salvation for the lost world because He loved people while they were in their sins. Jesus was sacrificed because of God's love and mercy, not because of His wrath and hatred of sin.
As a sacrifice, Jesus satisfied Divine justice and delivers whoever believes, from Divine wrath.
Christ died for the sins of the whole world because of love, mercy, compassion and grace. He did not die because He is wrathful, hateful, vengeful, or sovereign. God has all of those traits, but salvation came because He does not want any to perish, but that all may come to Him through faith and repentance.
Believe on the Lord and you shall be saved.
06/24/24 CHARACTER COUNTS
06/24/24 CHARACTER COUNTS
If you hear someone criticize the parishioners or pastor of a local church, you need to find out what was the Biblical reason they are no longer a part of that church. This requires getting the facts from reliable sources. Malcontents are angry with Biblical authority and the doctrine of a pure heart and a holy life. They refuse to accept Biblical standards and submit to Biblical authority. It is much easier for them to drift around, looking for gullible churches which allow wild goats to ravage the flock for their own glory.
Humility and submission are essential for Christian living and ministry. Pride and self assertion are expressions of carnality and rebellion, therefore unacceptable in Christian service.
I spoke to our men (teens and older) this past week about the need for men in the church to prepare and to focus on their ministries. This should begin as soon as people are saved, even at a very young age.
It has always been the exception rather the rule to find churches with on-fire, deeply dedicated, young men, even in Bible preaching churches. In our men's meeting I gave opportunity for each one to share observations from their past and their present views concerning the condition of churches today. We agreed that it is highly unusual to find local churches with even one young man on-fire for the Lord.
A person can be a deeply dedicated and aggressively active Christian worker, regardless of his age, gifts, training, personality (temperament). Whether an extrovert or an introvert, bold or reserved, confrontational or quiet, all men of God should be totally committed and actively perfecting their skills to fulfill the calling of God on their lives.
We talked about the "flash-in-th-pan" types that start with great fervor and focus, but then they turn their eyes from God, His word, His glory, His church, His calling, to self centeredness and self promotion. They stop being servants and seek to be served. They stop being kind and become cruel and critical. They are on a mission, but it is a self-serving mission.
Sometimes God calls, blesses, gifts, enables people in extraordinary ways, but they leave their first love; they fail to produce the fruit of the spirit, they become hard headed and hardhearted. People who were loving, tenderhearted, humble, self denying become cold, callous, crass.
I pointed out that if there were 100 churches in a region, which preached a sound salvation message, whether Baptistic, or Holiness or Pentecostal or Ritualistic (Liturgical), and therefore differing in the doctrinal specifics, there would only be a small number of those churches with fired-up young men reaching out to the lost and serving the local believers. Far too many have started out in the right direction, but they were sidetracked or drifted away.
Local churches need men (young and old) to take up Christ's banner and march into the battle against darkness. And many of those, whom God has called, need to repent of self aggrandizement and spend their energies lifting up Christ.
06/24/24 GROWTH IS ESSENTIAL
06/24/24 GROWTH IS ESSENTIAL
Though I have seen many people move away from a firm foundation of faith and godly intent and strong resolve, I have never seen a person outgrow their need for humility, compassion, or obedience, regardless of their age, or their Biblical training, or their spiritual experiences.
Aging does not always include growing or maturing, or developing. We determine our own growth, closeness to God and likeness to Jesus.
God provides the grace, the transformation, the miracle of salvation, and we provide the submission, the willingness, the determination and the vessel.
06/16/24 WISDOM IS THE ELEMENT
06/16/24 WISDOM IS THE ELEMENT
Though our observation of a situation may be accurate, it does not mean our interpretation or evaluation is accurate.
Wisdom can avoid much confusion and division.
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