Pray, and Pray Now – John 16:26-27

At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. – John 16:26-27

We live in a great age in the prophetic timeline. We live in the time of the Grace of God. We now have access to God in a way that the prophets of old so desired, and yet went to their graves not realizing. Moses met with God at the burning bush, had multiple conversations with God, and even went up to Mount Sinai several times to meet with God in the exodus. He saw the Lord descend from heaven in a pillar of fire and smoke. He even had a glimpse of God as he passed by Moses.

Abraham saw the angels of God and even the Son of God, talked with God, and was even called God’s friend. However, neither of these were allowed into the holy of holies. Neither of these had God indwell them with his Holy Spirit.

Even John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets who was on the cusp of the dispensation of the Gospel of Peace and the sending of the Holy Spirit did not have access to the Father as we do today.

We have intimate access to God that was previously not know. Even when Jesus told his disciples these words, “until now you have asked nothing in my name”. But now in that day, in this day we can ask in his name. We have a guaranteed audience and have been given access to the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ. No other religion in the world can make that claim, only Christianity. Therefore, we can ask in his name.

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We are to ask and to continue to ask. Paul says, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). And so in this day we are to pray in his name and to pray continuously in his name. We must understand that we have full access and permission to approach God the Father in the name and authorization of Jesus Christ. For Jesus said, “I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you”. No instead he tells us that I do not need to go to the Father on your behalf, because the Father himself loves you and desires to hear from you directly. The Father loves us because we love his son and obey him. The Father knows that we love his son because we obey him. (John 14:23; John 15:16; 1 John 3:21-22; Philippians 2:11)

The Father testifies of the son on more than one occasion saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5) Because we have loved his Son the Father loves us. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). He knows that we love him because we listen to him, and we keep his commandments. (John 14:15)
But as we read what Jesus said in our text, that the Father loves us “because ye have love me (Jesus), AND have believed that I came out from God.” So then loving Jesus unto obedience is necessary, but also the believing that he is the Son of God, and that he is from God. Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me…” (John 6:39).

What then is the will of him (God the Father) that sent him (Jesus the Son of God)?
• That all that the Father gives him should not be lost, not one
• That all that Father gives him should be raised up on the last day
• That all that see and believe on him (Jesus Christ) should have everlasting life
• That all that see and believe on him (Jesus Christ) should be raised up also on the last day

Therefore we can come before the Father with boldness to lay our petition before him. To pray and to seek and to find. For he says in our text that all we need to is ask. Ask for it. Ask for what it is that you desire of a sincere and concrete heart. In other places he tell us to seek, and to seek earnestly. So then we are to seek in earnest fervent prayer. For James, the half-brother of Jesus tells us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16) In east-Texas we would say that man’s words “hold water”. There is weight in the fervent prayer of a righteous man. It is because of who he is, who he knows, and what they mean to one another. Trusting in someone’s words means to trust that someone. John the one whom Jesus loves, said, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” (1 John 5:14-15) It is with great relief that Jesus tells us in our text that all we need do is to ask.

In the time of the Temple period only the High Priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies. The High Priest had to go through quit a lengthy ritual to enter into the Holy of Holies where the presence of God dwelt. To fail at any point in the preparations could lead to his death. Now we have free access to God. We can enter his gates with full joy knowing that we need not fear death. We do not have to worry if we have been properly cleansed, because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has taken care of all the requirements and removed all uncleanliness from us. We do not have to earn the right, pay a fee, or even plead for the audience. We only have to come and ask. Simply ask. We must never fail to ask. To ask should be our first act.

If one has never asked God for anything, then they must be an unbelieving, unregenerate soul. For if we truly believe that we can have anything we need to please the living God and to be of service to him, to receive the rewards he gives to those who ask, then surely we would ask. It is true that if you do not believe, you will not ask.

Therefore,
• If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God (James 1:5)
• If any lack in our health, let him ask
• If any lack in our homes, let him ask
• If any lack in a sound mind, let him ask
• If any lack in matters of the spirit, let him ask
For we know this, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask of him?” (Luke 11:13). We do not need a formal set of words. We only need to ask. Just as we would to anyone in whom we trust.

We do not need to worry about how accurate our word order is, or how proper our speech. There is no special formula. There is only the sincere desire of the need from a pure and upright heart. Not a seeking of evil, but because of a great care for goodliness and the desire in righteousness. For how can we ask in his name and pour out a selfish desire? Lord, please listen to me for his sake (Jesus).

When I was a young man, I went over to help my dad with a plumbing issue that he had. I did not have the right tools and could not afford the tools needed to complete the task. My dad sent me to the local hardware store. He told me that I should go see the owner and explain what tools and material were needed and who they were for. Then once all the items were totaled up the owner told me all I had to do was to sign on the receipt. I told him I did not have the money for the items, he told me it was ok, because I asked for them in my father’s name, and he trusted my father’s name. He knew that my father’s name was honorable and that he would take care of the bill. I left the hardware store with everything I needed to complete the repairs because I had asked in my father’s name.

You see Jesus says, use my name when speaking to the Father. For Jesus also said, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24) We are allowed to use that honor in speaking to the Father. The honor associated with the name of the only begotten Son who the Father is well pleased in. Therefore, this should be our governance, if Christ would not pray for it then I should not either. If our desire should conflict with the desire of the Father then we should decline our will to his. Who would dare bring shame upon another’s name by asking inappropriately for something that would be out of character for the one of who’s name they are asking in?

Surely if I would have gone into that hardware store and asked for an excess of materials, or for items that were not warranted for me to use for the job I was sent for, then he owner of the store would have been wise and denied my requests. In addition, any other time I approached and used my dad’s name, then he would have had suspicions against my motives. Eventually, he would not let anyone receive goods on my dad’s name. I would have ruined the reputation of my dad’s name. Shamefully many Christians have already ruined their witness for Christ, by abusing his name. We therefore should not, cannot defile the precious name of Jesus with such a request.

What then is the “day”? For Jesus does say, “At that day ye shall ask in my name…”. It is the day in which he has returned to the Father. It is the day in which the Comforter has been sent unto us. In reading the preceding chapter we see that this in all in the context of persecution. In that day, when persecutions arise, you will ask of the Father in my name. One thing is guaranteed that when persecutions arise so does the voices of the children of God.

Was not Gideon found hidden in the winepress while threshing his wheat in order that the Midianites might not discover him? Did not Israel turn to the Lord and cry to him for deliverance because of the persecution of the Midianites? Did the Lord then answer, and give Gideon all that was needed to deliver Israel from the Midianites, and return the prosperity of the land? Undeservedly, they asked. The Lord was gracious in his deliverance. Why? Because he loved them and desired to do good things for them.

The Lord God desires to do good for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Ephesians 2:8-10 – For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Psalms 37:4 – Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Titus 2:14 – Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

If you are in persecution for Christ, then you shall ask in his name, and it shall be done unto you. When they beat upon for your testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, pray, and ask. The Holy Spirit will equip you in your time of need. For the scripture reads, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” (Matthew 10: 19-20)

We pray not only in persecution, but also in deliverance and in the days of plenty. We then give thanks and ask for the continued blessings of God. We ask for wisdom to remain obedient and to never become slack in our praises. Ask and he will give you, because he loves you, and desires good things for you. Pray therefor for your real need. The hunger and desire to the believing is to be in his presence. Does not he say, in that day YOU WILL ASK?

You will ask because it will be your God given desire to pray. The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all things that we have been taught concerning the Lord. It is the Holy Spirit who prays for us and who teaches us to pray. So in our time of Joy we ask, and in our time of trial we ask. In the suffering of those we love, we ask. We ask in his name. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) For the labor of which we must set upon is intensive. We have not yet entered into his rest, for those who have entered into rest, labor no more. We instead look to him and pray in his name, our high priest unto God the Father, knowing that he has provisioned for us access to the grace of God. We can labor then and not faith, because we can pray, and ask what we will, for his will. We can pray, and pray without ceasing. For in that day, this day, we can ask what we will of the Father in Jesus’ name and the Father will give to us, because of the love for us and the honor to the Son. The Father is honored that the Son has been obedient and glorified the Father with his children. Every good Father loves his children. Pray, and pray now.

An Encouragement from Psalm 135:6-7

In Psalm 135:6-7 it reads, “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. “

What a great display of the power and majesty of God. He is over all creation, because he is the creator. He orchestrated all of these things from the very foundation of the universe. He has the power to control the rivers, seas, air, and the earth. He controls the comet, gives light to the stars, and does all kinds of marvelous things that we cannot see with our eyes. Yet in Matthew 10:29-30 it tells us that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our heavenly Father knowing.
He knows us so well that he has numbered the very hairs on our heads.

Colossians 1:17 says, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” He created and sustains all things, living or dead. This same God who created everything, sustains everything, and numbered the hairs on you head, cares for you also. I echo what he told us in John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me (Jesus).” He loves and cares for you. I speak to you who believe on Jesus Christ for encouragement. Some of us are literally going through a storm right now. God is there. Some are dealing with a loss pf income, job, finances, food, a loved one; God is there. Some are dealing with disease, fears and anxieties, even thoughts of suicide or of harming yourselves; God is there. Where ever your dark place is right now, or what ever you are struggling with, Jesus Christ is there with you.

“Let us arise, and go up to Bethel (the house of God); and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” (Genesis 35:3) Isn’t this awesome to know that we can go to the house of the LORD and plea before his alter and know that he will listen, and answer us? In our day of distress we can bring ourselves to his altar and just lay it all out there, and trust in him to handle what we cannot. Something more important for us to understand. His deliverance may not be what you think. Here we see God is praised because he walked through the difficulties with Jacob. God led Jacob through his distresses. Even when Jacob was not obeying God, God still sought to guide Jacob, and to give him counsel.

The previous verse says, “Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments.” (Genesis 35:2) Jacob knew that in order for God to be able to fully bless us, he and everyone in his house and who traveled with him would have to stop chasing other Gods and lean only on the one true God. Let us take the same example, stop pursuing other Gods. Submit to the ONE GOD the Father, through Jesus Christ. Since I am talking to Christians, then you have already professed that he is the LORD. So let us observe him and respect him as our loving LORD who cares for us. Let us trust him. Let us bring our concerns to him and offer ourselves as a clean sacrifice, and accept his will for us. Let us, let him walk with us through the trials, this is our deliverance! Let us rejoice in this time where the God of creation is so near to us, taking our hand, and leading us. Let us be in observance of his love and guidance. We are not alone. We are being held by the creator and sustainer of the universe. Amen

The Message, Not the Messenger

The Message Not the Messenger: Acts 26:16-18

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We often feel we are inadequate or lack enough training or knowledge to share the gospel. Some of us think we don’t have the ability to be a great orator. We get tongue tied, or speak to softly, or stutter. Some of us are held back from the shame of our past. We wonder how could we ever confront someone on what is right or wrong with the things we have done in our past? Maybe its that we are not the right color, or the right age, or that we are just a new Christian. Insecurities creep in from every direction. Our insecurities help is to make millions of excuses why “someone else” should tell people about Jesus and not us.

We compare ourselves to Billy Graham, or some other big named evangelist and tell ourselves that I could never be that useful to God. We may even compare ourselves to the Apostles and say man, I wish I could be like Luke and write amazing things about Jesus and the church. We may tell ourselves, I could never be like Paul and plant churches everywhere I go. To often we look at our own limitations and not what God can do; if we were to just be obedient.

Peter was just an average guy when he was called by Jesus. He was a fisherman who made a living by the sweat of his brow and the sores on his hands. Peter denied Christ when he needed him most. Peter was a man of shame. He had to overcome this in love of Jesus Christ. Paul murdered Christians and suffered beatings, sicknesses, and ridicule. Paul had to be encouraged in his ministry by other believers, and even had to have a personal physician. Paul had to overcome all of this in the love of Jesus Christ. Both men, and even Luke had their failings from the past to look beyond. They had to keep looking forward to the day of redemption, and to be faithful to the commandment from Jesus that they had received. The commandment to go and tell. We however continue to look at our failures and let them assure us that we are unworthy to carry such a message.

The truth is, we are unworthy to carry such a message. However; we are also uniquely qualified to carry the message of hope. We to must overcome our past by the love of Jesus Christ. You see we did not earn the privilege to speak on his name. We received a task that is a privilege to perform for him. We know our dreadful past with all of the horrific things we have done against God and others. But we are not the only ones who know. Those who God sends us to, they know it also. Our friends and family, wives, siblings, children, parents, they all know who we used to be. More importantly, we know who we used to be. But we have something to share with them.

What we share with them is hope. We share with them Jesus and a new life that is free from the past. We show them by our lives that they do not have to be the same way they are. There is a way to live without shame, addiction and rejection. None of us started out the way we ended up. We all wanted to be something better than what we became. We show them how Jesus can make us free to live life in a better way than we ever dreamed. We can have redemption, hope, joy, and love! We can be loved! We can love others too! The gospel of Jesus Christ is that and so much more. But, we hide this important message from them because of our insecurities. We forget that it is not us, but the Spirit of the Living God who resides in us that gives us the ability to bear witness of the things he has done for us, for them.

We don’t see that before Billy Graham was a world renowned evangelist and clergy to the Office of the President of the United States, he was just another guy. He gave his life to Christ at the age of 16. He was a farmer’s son. His first ministry was to lead prayer meetings in a trailer park. He applied to be an Army Chaplain and was denied do to a lack of formal experience. He then became a Pastor of a small Baptist church. He began to host a weekly radio program. Billy Graham looked for opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Eventually he became the first full time organizer of Youth for Christ. This is what God used to open doors all across the world for many generations. Billy Graham was of humble beginnings, without experience, and largely unlearned, and often felt inadequate to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ. But he was obedient. It is God who made Billy Graham, Paul, Peter, Luke, and all the other historic men and women of God who they are today.

In Acts 26 we get a look at Paul, or Saul at this time. It is strange, but; when we consider who would have been the first martyrs of the church we would assume that it would be one of the twelve apostles. You know the guys who were right there, and saw it all go down. I could see Peter volunteering himself to go first. After all, he did tell Jesus that he would go with him unto death! However; this is not the case. Instead, the first martyr recorded was a young man. This youth was named Stephen. Stephen was one of the deacons of the church. He tended to the widows, orphans, and other needs of the church and it’s members. Like other early followers, he was not restricted to just administrative tasks, but was active in spreading the gospel himself. This is something that we should all learn. Even though he was a deacon, he understood that his work for the gospel of Jesus did not end there. He didn’t say, “I’m a deacon, not a preacher”. In fact, if you study the book of acts you will see that all of the first deacons were also preachers, and evangelists.

Scripture doesn’t tell us what seminary or special training that Stephen went though, or how powerful of a speaker he was. It does not tell us that Stephen was anything exceptional. With the exception of this, “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.” (Acts 6:8) Stephen was full of faith! That is it. Because Stephen was full of faith, God did great wonders and miracles through Stephen. So this humble young man who believed enough to share his faith soon got into trouble with the local religious groups.

Stephen was brought up on charges of blasphemy for proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Stephen was stoned to death for his testimony of Jesus. Now a man named Saul, was one of those present and took pleasure at the stoning of Stephen. This Saul, would become known as Paul, the same one who would latter change the world with the doctrine of salvation by grace, hated believers in Jesus Christ. Saul even went further and received authorization to persecute Christians throughout the Providences of Asia. This meant he had permission to go from town to town and arrest, beat, and stone to death anyone who he witnessed or was witnessed to him, as a Christian.

Paul himself testifies of his own evil deeds that he did. He tells King Agrippa that he threw many “followers of the way” (Christians) into prison and saw to it that they were executed. Paul himself would testify against them in courts. He said that he often punished them in the synagogues. He would back them into a corner with his knowledge of scripture and his intellect and force them to commit blasphemy in front of the Pharisees so that they would be stoned to death. When the persecuted fled Jerusalem, then Paul proceeded to hunt them down throughout Asia. Now, I ask you. What have you done that is shameful? What has disqualified you from sharing the gospel? How many innocent lives have you taken? How many followers of Jesus Christ have you condemned to death?

OK, so this Saul was on a hunting trip to catch more followers of the Way. Then while Paul is riding along and anticipating his trophies to be won, suddenly, he runs right smack dab into Jesus. Jesus blinds Saul with his glory and then confronts him on his sin. Saul, like you and I, repented. Saul saw the error of his ways, his foolish pride and arrogance, his sins against God himself. His errors in the past swept before his heart and his mind’s eye. Saul was immediately sorrowful and his shame was displayed before him. He suddenly understood how shameful he was. He was not the righteous soldier of God he had imagined in his vanity. Instead he was a murderer of the ones that truly loved God. Saul had worked his whole life and studied hard to be pleasing to God, and yet he had not seen the light. He was lost, more than any other man. He also knew that his actions, above of all other men’s, could not be forgiven. The pride that had blinded him, was now gone. Saul was broken.

Then something happened. Jesus forgave Paul. He forgave him of everything, with nothing left out to hold over his life. Just like Jesus forgave you and I. But that would not be the only thing that Jesus did for Saul. Jesus sent Saul on mission. Acts 26:16-18 tells of about this, “But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Paul was to rise to his feet, but to never think to highly of himself again. Paul’s humility would be the strength that God would use to spread his gospel of grace by faith. Jesus told Paul, “rise and stand upon thy feet.” Jesus told him to stand up, I have a job for you. Jesus confronted Paul of his sin. Once Paul confessed and repented, Jesus stood him up and gave him purpose. The Lord gave Paul a new life and a new purpose, in and for Jesus Christ. Now that Paul had been delivered, he was not to return to his old life. Paul would no long serve his own purposes. Paul, now that he was redeemed was now a servant of the Lord who had redeemed him.

Paul’s new purpose was to go where the Lord directed and “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

How did Paul start out this mission? He was humble. He was blind. He was dependent upon those around him. He was led about by the hand. He had to wait on the Lord. When Paul first started preaching, no one listened to him. His past immediately came up, and people did not trust him. They didn’t believe in his conversion. Then when they did start listening they tried to kill him. Does this sound familiar? When you first believed in Christ, were you not treated in such a way? Did friends and family disbelieve the sincerity of your conversion? Did they say things like, “Awe you just on a Jesus kick!” Afterward, they would then grow tired of you talking about Jesus and even begin to be confrontational, or avoiding you. See these same things you go through, even the great Apostle Paul went through. All of these feelings of inadequacy. Things that encourage you to just crawl in a hole and not mention the name of the one who redeemed you. They are real things the enemy uses to silence us.

See we are all the same. We are all just servants, none of us is better or more important than the other. We all need to be obedient and follow the calling of Christ. This mission that Jesus gave Saul, it the same one he gave the other disciples. It is the same one he gives us as new disciples. This is part of our inheritance. We have the great privilege to speak life to people in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let us then do like Saul, who became known as Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Let us get up and put our old lives behind us. Live the life and purpose that Jesus has now given to us. Go on mission to tell others about what God has done for you. How he has delivered YOU from death and shame into love and life in Jesus Christ. Have we forgotten that the Lord told the Pharisees, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” We are who the Lord chose to reveal himself to; those who are sick, and feeble, those who are in need. He did not come to call the religious, but those who are lost and need redemption. He did not call the perfect, but those who are broken and distraught. Those who need him are the ones he came to deliver.

We who have believed have now been made anew. Like a new garment that is clean and nicely pressed we have a new life. The Spirit of God has come to indwell this new wineskin, not the old. Jesus had laid his hands upon us and healed us from our infirmities. Jesus removed the shackles of death and the bondage of sin (addictions) that once crippled us. He has raised us up to be glorified in him, to him, and for him. We like Saul have been redeemed, bought, for his purposes. It is by faith that we have been made whole. Faith that God exists. Faith that Jesus if the Son of God. Faith that Jesus dies and was buried for our sin. Faith that we will be resurrected just as he resurrected. Faith that he will return to establish his kingdom here on earth and destroy his enemies. Faith that we are delivered to eternal life through Jesus Christ.

This is our hope in this life. We have this newness of life in Christ. Death died with the old man we used to be. Now we have a new life in Jesus Christ. This new life is free from sin, shame, and death. We have nothing to fear in this life and can then love as Christ has love us. There is nothing that anyone can hold against this new creature in Christ that we have become. Paul told Timothy, “let no man despise they youth”. Let no man despise you’re youth, in age or spiritual maturity, for many elders in the church have gone to sleep spiritually.

So again let us, open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among we which are sanctified by faith that is in us concerning Jesus Christ.

Brief Look at KJV, NIV, NASB, and New World Bible: Sampling of Scriptures

Brief Look at KJV, NIV, NASB, and New World Bible: Sampling of Scriptures

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OK, I had some great comments from the last time I showed you some bible verse comparisons between the KJV and others. I have one or two more here that compare the KJV to NIV, NASB, and the New World Bible. Now I will tell you ahead of time that there has been a constant effort in those who wish to establish a one world religion to remove strong language in the Bible, change our vocabulary, and alter our doctrines in order to make it easier for professing Christians to be more tolerant of other pagan beliefs and other religious practices. The effort is to join east to west and lay the foundation of this New World Order that we know will be eventually ruled by the Antichrist.

“Certain words have gathered theological significance through the years and to change them might be to change doctrine… Do the changes in meanings come from new evidence or simply NEW THEOLOGY.” (Foster)

If subtle changes were then made to the meaning of a word, we could change the word without offending anyone, or we could also choose to use the word and correct the previous meaning. If we say used the word “Christ” then the Christian would assume that we are speaking of Jesus Christ. Then we could use the term Christ as we saw fit. So Christ could actually mean “the One”. At the surface this does not seem like a bad thing, and we could reach a commonality in the term Christ and, the One. On the surface this seems totally acceptable. If anyone argued, we could accuse them of being a hater or an extremist and ostracize them from the norm of society.

On a deeper look we can see in new versions of the bible that where the KJV refers to He (God the Father), or the Holy One the newer versions simply say “The One”. This is the same term used by Universalist and Luciferians to refer to the unknown power that binds the universe, and is seen as a part of the universe. In the New World religion, you will become “one” with the power of the universe when you leave this earth, you trade your mortality for immortality, no sin to worry about. No punishment from God, because we are all a part of “The One” energy of the universe. Thus God cannot judge anyone. He accepts us all, no repentance is needed. This is a lie from Satan, and it is leading billions to damnation and the lake of fire.

In the meantime, the One Word Religion has separated the name of Jesus from the identity of the Christ or Messiah. One step removed. Then someone can easily say that they believe in Jesus. But this does not mean that one believes in Jesus as the Son of God, or the Messiah who was prophesied to come. Instead, Jesus becomes a good man, or a great teacher, maybe even a prophet of great importance. His message becomes a philosophy of love and universal acceptance from god. Since he is no longer the Son of God, then he does not necessarily represent the God of Moses, who calls himself the “I AM”. Instead God becomes a universal principle and not a true persona. If God then is not God, then Jesus Christ is not the only way to him, or to eternal life. In fact, God has nothing to do with real eternal life, if Jesus is not the Son of God. What a complex lie has been weaved to entrap the world.

Once this is done then we need only refer to Jesus in impersonal pronouns instead of his name Jesus of Nazareth, or his title Jesus Christ. We have effectively removed all deity, identity, and relevance to the name of Jesus. Yet for those who still need his acknowledgement we can say that we believe in him, we of course mean that we believe in his ideas. This is the way of the New World, One World Religion (Luciferians). We have not even discussed how to change the meaning of the word “Christ”, but you can see the potentially dangerous slope that we venture on. While Christians argue about which Bible version is the true word of God and confusing the masses, we expose the flock of Jesus Christ to these evil minded antichrists. I want to call your attention back up to the quote from Mr. Foster, notice that they are not talking about just taking the “oldest and best” manuscripts and making sure that they are given a word for word translation. Now I know some of you are saying, you can never have a word for word translation from one language to the next. This is a truth I will not argue, however; you can have an honest Spirit led, God fearing, best effort in translating an accurate reading of the text. What this guy is talking about in this Luciferian scandal is to ignore the text, and change the meaning to fit what they want it to say. This is a transliteration, not a translation.

When a preacher opens up the King James Bible on Sunday morning and begins to read and to preach, he is taking a trusted translation of the Bible and sharing in confidence that this Word has been tested with over 400 years of blood, sweat, and tears. This version of the Bible had been a grand influence in bringing hundreds of thousands to believe on Jesus Christ as the Son of God. This version is what most people heard around the English speaking world who have led people under the direction of the Holy Spirit into a personal, loving relationship with the God the Father. This version is what tells us that those who are saved are done so by the grace of God alone, and that we are adopted children of the God of all Creation. God is not a part of creation, or a universal principle. God the Creator, exists, and for over 400 years, this has been the Bible that has told us the truth.

Now suddenly we are told all of the translators were untrustworthy, uneducated, and charlatans. We are told how the King of England forced them to change the meanings of the text to suit his needs. We are told that it is too difficult for the average believer to read and understand. I think we have listened to too much Catholic influence. The text on most new bibles comes from the very source text that the Catholic church uses for it’s Bible, which is not the one used by the King James Version. These lies and hiding of the text, twisting the word, and only letting the “ordained” read the text and give interpretation are all hallmarks of a cult mentality.

This preacher we mentioned earlier who opens the Authorized Version (AV) and reads and expands upon the scriptures. This God fearing man who brings a message after careful study, heavy prayer and who is relying on the indwelling Holy Spirit to teach him, is now given the weighty task of teaching others. But he is reading the translation to them, then, and only then does he attempt his explanation. He does not just tell them, this is what the Lord says. No, he reads to them what the Lord has said, then he explains to them what the Lord has given him concerning the text. The individual believer is then responsible to search the scriptures themselves to determine in the Holy Spirit whether what the preacher has said is true. This is not the case with a bible that has been transliterated instead of translated. A transliterated Bible is one that the interpreter has stepped out of interpretation and started deciding what the text is meaning, instead of what it says. Often this is done to support the agenda of a particular cult. Jehovah Witness have admittedly done this with the New World Bible Translation.

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures does not follow this common practice. It uses the name Jehovah a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. In deciding to do this, the translators took into consideration two important factors: (1) The Greek manuscripts we possess today are not the originals. Of the thousands of copies in existence today, most were made at least two centuries after the originals were composed. (2) By that time, those copying the manuscripts either replaced the Tetragrammaton with Kyʹri·os, the Greek word for “Lord,” or they copied from manuscripts where this had already been done. (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania)

You need to get busy in your own research, stop being bullied into submission. I think that it is funny that we hear preachers say that you cannot understand the King James, or the 1911 bible. I also want to make note that this is the same excuse the Roman Catholic Church used to gain control of the entire Roman world. They told everyone that they could not properly understand they text of the Bible, (which by the way is the same one your using in a new version), and that it needed to be explained to you by those who were closest to God. I think that preposterous.

The Authorized, 1911, KJVs are still written in what is considered modern English, and were written at what we consider a 6-8 grade reading level, depending upon the study. I want to also remind you that it was written so that the common people could read the text themselves. These common people did not go to school. So what you are saying, is that, even though you went to 12 years of school under the modern “enlightenment” we live in, you cannot read a bible that the common people with no formal education could read. I don’t think that the problem is with the reading level of the version, it is somewhere else. A little bit more, most new versions of the Bible start at an 8^th grade reading level.

Now we see the confusion of the text, and the confusion of the words in the text, and then we have the influx of the New World terminology. Remember the difference that the purposely separating the name of Jesus from his title Christ did in changing doctrine. This is what Mr. Foster was speaking of in the above quote. As a part of this changing of meanings of words and making them irrelevant we can then just drop some of them. Words proper references like Lucifer, the Dragon, Diana, devils, and Satan can then be omitted or changed to more generic terms that still allow the Luciferian to tell the Christian that “we all believe in the same God”. Even though, when you look at the meaning of their terminology, it is painfully clear that we do not! Now that we are all questioning the authority of the “original” texts, the literacy of the language, and the meaning of the words use, we can edit, or delete portions of the scriptures that are no longer valid, or could be misleading to our cause. No one would be any smarter, and no one would even care. If anyone did raise a fuss, we can just tell them that they are ignorant, and do not know as much as we do. We can even train their pastors and teachers coming out of seminary, confusing them right out of the gate. Progressive liberalism, comes from the changing of the text.

Finally, here are some examples for you to consider.


REFERENCE	AUTHORISED VERSION (KJV)	NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV)	NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION (NASV)	NEW WORLD TRANSALTION (NTW)
Matthew 18:11	For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.	Omitted	Subjective foot note	Omitted
Matthew 19:17	And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.	“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”	And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”	He said to him: “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If, though, you want to enter into life, observe the commandments continually.”
Luke 4:8	And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.	Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Omitted Satan	Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Omitted Satan	In reply Jesus said to him: “It is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’ Omitted Satan
Acts 8:37	And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.	Subjective foot note	Subjective foot note	omitted

These are only a small sampling of hundreds of scriptures. I might add also that different versions of the NIV, NASB, and NWT treat the verses differently. Some versions will include omitted verses or phrases, some do not. This should also be a testimony of the lack of reliability of the text in those versions. The acceptance of these translations in the church has weekend the church and kept believers in a shroud of darkness and insecurity. The bold passion that believers in Jesus Christ had is non-existent in the church today. Church pews sit empty while supposed believers are out exploring New Age religions and philosophies. Pagan religions are practiced in many “Christian” homes. Christians seek out their fortune with palm readers and astrological charts in the newspapers or online fortune tellers. This is the very sin that God allow Saul to be killed over.

Instead of reading their Bibles to get wisdom from God and his word, they seek out philosophies, and eastern mysticisms to guide their way. Instead of seeking to live sanctified lives and becoming more like Jesus Christ and God their Father, they are trying to become one with the FORCE. Shame is brought upon the church. They wonder why they cannot win someone to Christ. I will tell you why, a lot of people who “profess to believe” actually do not. They themselves are still searching for God. This is in large part because they are not being taught the whole counsel of God. This discussion we are having here is a major reason. The enemy has done what he always does. He perverts the truth. Mixes lies with truth and causes doubt.

This is what Satan, that old serpent, did to Eve in the Garden of Eden at the very beginning. That devil caused Eve to doubt what God had said, and why he said it. He gave her his transliteration of the word of God. The devil has always caused us to question – what God said, and so do his children. Peter warns us that these days would come. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” (2 Peter 2:1-2) Wow! Peter says that even then there were false teachers among them. While the Apostles were still alive, false teachers were already twisting their words, and changing doctrines. We must take this seriously.

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and told him that he should refrain from being in the presence of false teachers. (1 Timothy 6:3-5) We should not fellowship with those who spread these false doctrines. They cannot be referred to as Christian if they deny the deity of Jesus Christ. I will leave you this last scripture to meditate on.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)

References

Foster, Lewis. Selecting a Translation of the Bible. Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Co., 1983.

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures. 2020. Jehovah’s Witness. 28 04 2020. <https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/nwt/appendix-a/divine-name-christian-greek-scriptures/>.

Abortion and the Failure of the Church

adult alone black and white blur — Photo by Kat Jayne on Pexels.com

I read a telling tale of a young girl who grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian school, and attended church on a regular basis and yet when she had to face the most fearful time in her life, everyone failed her. Yes she made a huge mistake, at the age of 16 she was pregnant, and then again at 17. However; that would not be the worst of what she would have to deal with. She was in great fear. We really cannot blame her. Grown adults, even those who have good finances, and secure lifestyles who have planned for a pregnancy get fearful. Question swell up inside. What will my friends think? How will the father react? How will I care for the child? At her young age these questions are magnified by the prospect of addressing her parents, and friends. What will happen with her schooling, college, and church life? What about all of the stares, and whispers? How could she ever care for a baby? So many unknowns. Advice is far from accessible because of the fear of shame and rejection.

With all of the Christian influences and church people around her she felt that they failed her. “At the time, my church, my pastor, my school, and community never told me there were resources out there to help me—with adoption, abstinence, finances, or help caring for a child.” (Anonimous) The only ones who would be available to give her advice was Planned Parenthood. What was the advice she received? You can probably guess it. She was advised that she did not have to keep the “embryo”. No one asked if she wanted to talk about alternatives to abortion. No other focus was given except to proceed with the abortion.

woman wearing black sweetheart neckline dress with black blindfold — Photo by Ellen Araujo on Pexels.com

She paid $300.00 for the abortion. She described the event as horrible, and painful. She and other ladies that were awaiting the procedure shared how sad they were at the need for the procedure and regretted their decisions. She learned quick to harden her heart and to lie to herself and her family and everyone else she knew. She became depressed and withdrawn, driven by more guilt and shame. She abuse alcohol and herself. Eventually the Lord led her to a group called Embrace. Embrace helps people with abortion and abortion alternatives. She became active in their prayer groups and ministry. Eventually she began sharing her story. Telling the truth is the only way to rid the shame. Her message? “Abortion is NOT freedom! Abortion is making “peace” with death and that is an absolute lie and brings so much destruction to a person’s live that goes beyond the mother.”

Her Christian community around her had failed her. They failed her in educating her on the importance of abstinence and the holiness of the temple of God, her body. The environment that she grew up in was more concerned with condemning her sin then helping her to recover from her sin. In fact they did not help her to recover at all. So how can we change that so that others do not have to go through this shameful behavior from the church? We are to educate, listen, remind, and assist; oh then repeat seven times seven.

It starts from the top down. Pastors, Deacons, Teachers, and other elders of the church need to educate at all levels on the sanctity of marriage, abstinence, and how important each life is to God. (Psalm 139:1-24; Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 127:3; Galatians 1:15; Psalm 22:9-10; Isaiah 48:1) However; we cannot stop there, we need a culture of love and truth in the church. Peter tells us, “And above all things have fervent charity (love) among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) To many times when a brother or sister falls into sin, we are quick to condemn and not forgive. We should condemn the sin, however; we do not need to continue with the same failed anti-abortion rantings that drive the repentant away. We are commanded to forgive one another. Specifically, we are called to confess, repent, and forgive; in that order. (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13) So then this is the first part in combating fear and shame and allows the truth to be shared. Confidence given to the brother or sister who sins, that if they confess, they will be forgiven and will receive love and acceptance.

We must also educate our staff and members on a routine basis on alternatives to abortion, should the pregnancy be unavoidable. Having a list of alternative pregnancy and women’s health clinics that support the woman’s choice to both live and the child to live. Planned Parenthood spent allot of money making themselves the only voice on women’s health available. This is not the truth, there are plenty of other alternatives to Planned Parenthood. There are plenty of alternatives to abortion. They may include adoption, guardianship of another family member, and single mother housing assistance or missions. The church can use volunteers that can serve as a daycare for needy mothers so that the mother can continue in school, collage, and work. Volunteers from the church can be incorporated into a babysitter program. The church can even host an abortion survivors group. Time, equipment, furniture, clothes, food, can all be donated by members of the church. Professional skills can be donated that may include carpentry, mechanical, legal, financial, and even medical can be donated to the church for use in these programs. Heck someone can even help clean the home, do laundry, mentor child raising, and cut the grass.

If your church does not have this kind of thing going on, then start it. The Lord can use you to start this group. In the church I attend a young lady felt a burden for the community after a school shooting, and started a community wide service that the members of the community , churches, and civil authorities could meet under to build up the community and get people in contact with the resources they need. All it took one person saying, “here I am” to the Lord.

Get informed of local ministries that assist in pro-life assistance to expecting mothers and fathers. We must always, as much as possible include the other silent victims, the fathers. There are a many number of men who have these same feelings of guilt and shame, feelings of failure and inadequacy because of abortion. Sadly, many men who would have rather taken the child into their own homes are not consulted by the mother prior to the abortion. The biggest thing we can do that is included in all of these suggestions is to talk about it. We need to bring the truth to the front. People sin, if we didn’t we wouldn’t have needed a savior.

belief bible book business — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Now that we do have a savior, Jesus Christ, who has already paid the price for our sin, and has forgiven us, we should forgive one another of sin. We need to bring the truth the front. Abortion is murder of an innocent life. Murder is a sin, and a violation of the law of the land. There should be no reason to accept the selfish taking of another life. Murder of an innocent can never be justified by man. There are alternatives to abortion, even if the mother does not want the child. The people affected by the sins of sexual immorality and abortion are people that we love. We need to unashamedly reach out to and assist these victims (mother, father, and child) to find alternatives that will not destroy their lives and will encourage them to return to the Lord Jesus Christ who loves them and desires their love. We cannot abandon our loved ones, nor allow them to abandon their loved ones out of fear and mis-education.

Bibliography

Anonimous. abort73.com. 31 Jan 2020. Loxafamosity Ministries Inc . Internet. 10 Mar 2020. <https://www.abort73.com/testimony/2674/>.

Matthew 7:6 Judgement and Spiritual Discernment

Matthew 7:6 Judgement and Spiritual Discernment

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your perls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Jesus starts this chapter off by saying that we should not judge one another. Then he gives the reason why. He says that we do not have proper understanding to judge one another and therefor put ourselves in danger of judgement. Instead, Jesus says that we should concentrate on our own faults and seek to correct ourselves. To assume that you have no faults is to lie to yourself. But more directly Jesus says that you who judge others of hypocrisy would do well to make sure that you are not being hypocritical yourself. This then would mean that we should use wisdom in judgement because there is a terrible responsibility and consequence for not using righteous judgement. In addition, this set of verses is not talking about judging if something is right and wrong. Instead it is a discussion on the weight of the judgment. Remember in this discourse, Jesus has drawn several contrasts and comparisons between the religious and the ones who would seek the Kingdom of God. He corrected misconceptions, in what true sanctification is verses what it was perceived as. He addressed matters of the heart, clarified the Law of Moses and the Law of Reconciliation. Jesus gave us an understanding that God sees what a man is like in his heart and not in his appearance. He also said that love should be the primary motivation in everything we do. In judgement then, we should not judge harshly or put undue burdens of punishment. In these verses in Matthew, it also does not say that we should not judge the brother with a “mote” in his eye. It does say that we should be more concerned with our own sinfulness than someone else’s. Paul says that we should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. In Matthew 7:1-5 we receive a warning that our judgement is subject to review by God who is the rightful judge, so be aware. It does not say that we cannot be discerning. The whole of Proverbs is concerned with us seeking wisdom and making correct decisions in order that we may be prosperous in the will of the Lord. So it is a discussion of judging with a good heart, in love, and in accordance with scripture. So what does scripture say about this?

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your perls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Romans 14:4 it tells us, “who art thou that judgest another man’ servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand”. We are all at different levels of spiritual maturity in Christ, but it is the Spirit that instills knowledge and understanding. To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is a point where we all have to start at. We have to recognize that God exists and is the Creator and source of all existence. Without God nothing can exist. He is the supreme authority over all the Creation. It is God who then establishes all kingdoms, and all their rulers. He established all powers, principalities, and dominions. This includes Pastors, teachers, musicians, church counsels, deacons, and other ministers of the Word. Each God has given authority fit to their position and function. This is established and blessed by God. We also then can trust that God knows what he is doing and that he established these for our benefit. He gives according to his will. He is the master who will ultimately judge the work of his servant. For you to judge his servant is to assume the place of God and thereby expose yourself to judgement from God. We are then forbidden to make judgements of condemnation.

We are warned several times in scripture that there will be those agents from the enemy who will try to infiltrate our churches in order to lead astray the flock with misleading doctrines and smooth talking sentiments of partial doctrines. Those who feed us what we want to hear instead of the truth. The most dangerous lie is one half-based in truth. (Matthew 7:15;24:24; 1 Timothy 4; Ezekiel 13:9; Jeremiah 23:6; Luke 6:26; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; 1 John 4:1-6; Matthew 7:15-20)

That being understood; in our verse, Jesus reveals that we are still to use discernment. Because although we are not to judge hypocritically, we are to discern with scripture and hate evil and the deeds of the wicked. Our opinion is not the standard by which we make decisions judgement of others. Because our opinion is inherently flawed. However, scripture has definite ideas on what sin is, its effects, and how it should be dealt with. Just to note, our opinion of someone should never be used as a basis for judgment either. Bias distorts discernment. Instead we should be looking to be a loving family member, seeking to help our brother or sister in Christ. We should make sound decisions based on the things we have learned and been taught in sound doctrine. The Apostle Paul wrote Timothy concerning this very issue when advising him on ordaining elders in the church and what their responsibilities are. Take a quick look:

For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. (Titus 1:7-9)

So a Bishop (Pastor, Elder) is to hold fast (depend on in obedience) the faithful word (the scriptures and teachings of the faithful) that he was taught (the elder is instructed) so that he will have the ability to teach others and convert the lost by the use of sound (proper, complete) doctrine. Why? Well in verse 11 it tells us so that the mouths of the unruly, vain talkers, and deceivers may be stopped from subverting the teachings. They are to be rebuked sharply (Titus 1:13) Discernment of the believer is an absolute necessity. Even though we love, love does not dictate that we turn our eyes from correcting sin in the church. Just to clarify, correcting sin in the church is not everyone talking about it behind someone’s back. That is gossip and gossip is a sin. I hope also you understand that this is not a lofty gaze on someone who is being the “police” of the church. We should do all things in love and humility.

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” We all like the first part of this verse, Love without hypocrisy, be sincere. However; we also see that a part of loving with sincerity is to hate evil and to cling to goodness. This is a choosing between good and evil. We should choose to be good, not evil. This is a part or our sanctification. “I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.” (Psalm 26:5) We should love those around us, and especially in our church to care enough to confront sin issues. While a loved one is in sin they are out of communion with God, the church, and their family. This is easily seen in cases that involve extreme behavioral sins.

Everyone who sees signs of drug dependency, alcoholism, or spousal or child abuse, knows that there is a sin issue that needs to be confronted. I mention these issue specifically because most everyone understands that these typically require internal and external intervention. These will most often require the removal of the offender for a limited time. This is in order to allow repentance, forgiveness, and healing to take effect. When these are done in love, restoration is always the goal. The separation or removal of the offender is done for love and is best for all parties involved. To allow such behaviors to go on would actually indicate a lack of love and concern for family and church members involved.

Jesus in Matthew 7:6 tells us to be discriminating. “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your perls before swine, …“.

The Apostle Paul give us an example of this in his correspondence with the Corinthians. In 1st Corinthians Paul has to address the issue of sin in the church. In chapter five, Paul is confronting an issue of incest among members of the church. The matter was no small or private thing. It had affected the church on many levels, so much that people outside of the church were talking about it. Paul told the church that they should be ashamed of what was being allowed to happen in the membership of the local church. He accused them of having a false doctrine of love. He said they were puffed up, proud, of their tolerance of the sin, when they should have executed church discipline and confronted the sin. This is what love does. Love confronts sin, it does not turn a blind eye, or become an excuse for acceptance of sin.

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. (1 Corinthians 5:1-3).

Now Paul says that they should be taken away from among you. We must understand that in the verses following this Paul talks about the need for personal sanctification and the detrimental effects that willful sin has on the individual and the church. It takes over the whole of the host that allows it to remain. Paul is saying, for the good of the individual and the church, the sin must be identified and removed. A patient suffering from Cancer has to have the cancer physically removed and follow up medical procedures initiated in order to have any hope of recovery. This is the drastic measure of church discipline. It is never entered into lightly, and should always be done with the end result focused on reunification of the believer in fellowship with God first, and the church second. Christ himself give us the process of moving from individual confrontation of sin to ultimate church discipline.

Have a conversation (Matthew 18:15)
Take a witness to confront again (Matthew 18:6)
If the individual will no listen – Involve elders of the church (
If they still do not listen – bring the matter before the whole of the church (Matthew 18:17; 1 Corinthians 5:4)
If they are unrepentant- Remove them from membership/ fellowship (Matthew 18:17)

This is an unfortunate step that is sometimes necessary. No one likes to have to take this step. We are in the business of the spread of the gospel. However as our verse in Matthew 7.6 tells us, not everyone will receive criticism well. Let’s face it, no one likes to be corrected, especially if they already know what they are doing is wrong. Some will even become violent. In our efforts to reach out to the community in love and care for their needs, we will expose ourselves to some who would take the generosity, but reject the love of Christ.

Unfortunately some will pretend to believe, in fear that if they do not act like a church person, the church will stop helping them. When the church asks them to conform to what they confess, instead of doing what is good, they return the good for evil. They do this because they were never really a believer. Now we must also see that Paul is not calling for condemnation of the rebellious believer. Instead, he says “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that they spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 5:5) Paul is saying that if they desire to live in the flesh, then return them to the world.

There are many benefits to being in fellowship in the church. Those benefits could keep someone living comfortable in sin by absorbing some of the consequences that sin brings. Paul is saying let them go out into the world and suffer the consequences of their actions. This suffering of consequences of sin, may bring them to true repentance, and the allow them to be restored into fellowship with the Lord and the church. This drastic measure does not apply to the majority of believers who sincerely seek to walk in the Spirit and are seeking to grow closer to the Lord, but have a besetting sin, that they are struggling to overcome.

Some believe, but have difficulty in their walk and need close discipleship in order to grow. We must be wise to the difference in trying but failing and not trying but lying. We are called to be discerning. In 1st Corinthians, Paul says “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” Paul later tells them that it is shameful that they are so ignorant that they cannot be discerning among themselves to use proper church authority and discipline. This all being said, Jesus gives his own warning. He said, “lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

They will disregard your sharing of that which is holy, or sanctified (gospel, truth) and treat it like rubbish to be trampled on. Then they will rend you. Rend means to violently tear apart. This is where you hear phrases like: “who are you to judge me?”; “you think you’re not a sinner?”; “they think they are better than me”. Then they spread lies, and even become physically confrontational, and violent. James tell us, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” (James 3:14) James therefore says, if you have contentions in your heart, then stop lying to yourself. If you are filled with hatred and anger then you are not filled with the love of Christ. So then someone who says they are a believer, but responds with arrogance and returns condemnation or violence against someone who loved them enough to tell them of their error before God, instead of repentance is not walking in the Spirit of Christ. They have not clear judgement. This is a point of understanding raised in Proverbs 9:7.

He that reporveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. – Proverbs 9-7

One who corrects a scorner or a wicked man will be turned on by the one they are trying to help.
The wicked man will lash out against the one trying to help them.
Like a dog who bites the one who feeds them.

Interestingly, this verse does not tell us, “don’t reprove a scorner, nor rebuke a wicked man”. The, verses 6-9, of this text draw a comparison and contrast between the wise and the wicked in their response to correction. The correction, or how it was managed, or by whom it was directed is irrelevant to the response. In other words, it would be great if the correction was delivered in a very tactful way, which was discrete and sensitive to the receiver’s feelings and privacy. However; the delivery method does not change the reaction of the rebellious hearted man or woman. Especially in light of the Politically Correct attitude so prevalent today. This generation looks for a reason to be offended where there would otherwise not be one, except that it was invented in the ever self-absorbed, mind of the spoiled child.

What good is this discernment and correction then? Well believe it or not, it is a sort of “leave no man behind” focus of discipleship. We should be concerned with our fellow believers, and their needs, physical and spiritual.

Ephesians 4:26–27 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
Philippians 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
1 Peter 3:8–9 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

The whole reason for discernment and church discipline is based on forgiveness and restoration.

Galatians 6:1–2 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

We should walk in Sprit not in the flesh (Galatians 5:16). So then focus on yourself and encourage others to be vigilant, rejoice in the hope of the Kingdom of Heaven, being patient in tribulation, and in continuous prayer.

There will always be differences in opinion in a church and feelings will get stepped on from time to time. Clergy are human also and will make errors in judgement. Church members will take offence to the preacher and hurt the preacher’s feelings. But we must always keep in mind that we are all part of the same body. When one part of the body is hurt, the whole body suffers. Sin hurts the individual, and it hurts the whole body of Christ. Sin must be dealt with directly and swiftly. In being dealt with we mean that it should be addressed out of love for the benefit of the believer and the church.

1st Corinthians 7:10,11 – Paul’s Underlying Theology on Marriage and Divorce

1st Corinthians 7:10,11 – Paul’s Underlying Theology on Marriage and Divorce

This chapter is so important because it teaches us principles in dealing with intimate relationships. It addresses such issues as celibacy, marriage and separation, mixed marriages, and social and economic relationships. All of these are still issues that we struggle with every day. Let’s take a closer look now at what the Lord tells us through his Apostle to the Gentiles, and the underling theology behind his answer to marriage and divorce.

10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: 11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.

Here Paul makes an important distinction. What he is about to say is not his opinion, rather it is the commandment he received from the Lord in scripture. The commandment is that we should not deal treacherously with our spouse. The putting away of a wife for no just cause, and to marry another is one such treachery. It is a violation of the marriage covenant and profanes God himself. (Malachi 2:14-17) Now if he were writing to only Jews, they would likely know this. However, the gentiles may not have been as familiar with the Law or the Commandments. So Paul informs them that it is the will of God that he now speaks. Since they are all now servants of the Lord, compliance with his will is an expectation not an option based on opinion. Interestingly, Paul does not quote scripture or Jesus, this would lead to believe that they were well aware of God’s view of divorce and were seeking a way to justify divorce for certain circumstances that were not written in the law originally. Possibly verse 12 has the underlying reason. Better yet we should look at all of the questions that were asked concerning marriage and how the relationship was affected by the new birth in Christ. Since we are new creatures in Christ and all sin is done away with, and our previous manner of living is to be left behind, does this include our marriages? This is a good question. What of the marriage we had prior to salvation? Are we bound by that contract? If we were married in a relationship that now would be considered sinful, how do we deal with that marriage relationship now? Paul will address these questions in detail later in the letter. What is important at this point is that Paul gives a stern reminder that God does not sanction divorce. For us we can take a look at Mark 10:2-12.

Here in Mark we see that Jesus trains his disciples in the very same way that Paul is teaching his disciples in Corinth. Jesus give the answer to the Pharisees. Jesus tells us that God created a man and a woman to be together, for life. This is the reason that a man should leave his family. They should cleave to one another. The usage of cleave here is to stick to one another. The husband and wife should be stuck with one another because they are stuck on one another. Nothing should separate them. Jesus says that this cleaving is so sealing that they become intertwined. God sees them no longer as individuals, but at one flesh. This is a picture of the triune God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit = 1 God). So a husband and wife are one person. A couple should not be treated as individuals. They should be viewed, treated, and act like one person. Individuality is lost in the relationship. The Jesus utters those famous words, “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Mark 10:9)

Later to his disciples Jesus gives them a deeper explanation. If a man divorces a woman, and marries another wife, then he is guilty of committing adultery against his first wife, and makes the second wife commit adultery. The same is true for the woman who divorces her husband and marries another. (Jeremiah 3:1; Luke 16:18; Mark 10:11-12) This is such a spiritual principle that Paul uses it in the letter to the Romans to illustrate the far reaching implications of the Law.

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. –Romans 7:2-3)

This is the will of God; that once a man and a woman have joined together, they should live in that relationship and treat one another as if their spouse were themselves. Anything less is sin. Now this is the truth, if we were to do this simple thing in marriage then we would not have to worry about abuse, infidelity, or simple irritations that grow into a mountains that could never be climbed. If we consider our spouse in the love that God gives us and apply it to one another there would be no need to look elsewhere for gratification, empathy, or compassion and forgiveness. Loving God first and then loving our spouse, as we love ourselves, would not allow us ill feelings towards one another. (Ephesians 5:33) This is very important to understand. This is the principle with which Paul basis the rest of his answer concerning marital issues on.

Astonishingly, if you were to ask Christians if divorce is wrong, they will immediately start defending reasons why it might be legitimate under certain circumstances. They would start the “what if” game, and try to get you to consent to their reasoning. They would totally avoid the simple answer. They will never admit the truth in God’s word, it is not the will of God, but a product of sin in full rebellion against the scriptures. Knowing the truth, Christians still move to divorce rather than repentance and forgiveness.

Keeping in mind the spiritual principle of oneness in God, we should understand that a husband and wife should never sin against one another, and should never have a reason for divorce or separation. Divorce and separation of a married couple is then spiritually unnatural. If such an occurrence should happen then the relationship should be restored as soon as possible. Because of the spiritual principle of reconciliation, neither should they marry someone else as long as the other ex-spouse lives. Christians then and now did not want to hear this. This is why Paul had to make a clear point to this.

If you separate or divorce, do not marry another. Notice also, this enforced celibacy is done so that the husband has no reason to divorce her for sexual immorality. This also infers that the husband does not commit sexual immortality either.(Matthew 19:8-9; Hebrews 13:4; Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Jeremiah 3:1; 1 Corinthians 7:39) We must keep in mind that not all couples separate or divorce for reasons of sexual immorality. Some divorce over issues of finances, work stresses, emotional or psychological issues, drug and alcohol abuse, and some just want a change in their partner out of selfish desires. In scripture, any separation of covenant parties is always meant as a means to allow repentance and reconciliation.

This spiritual principle of reconciliation is seen throughout scripture. It is the basis of our faith. That God so loves us that he gave his only Son that if we should believe on Jesus, then we would be reconciled to God in Jesus Christ. (John 3:16). It is also included in Christs and Paul’s instructions of healing of relationships and restoring fallen brothers and sisters.
Scriptures on Reconciliation:
• Ephesians 4:32 – And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
• 2 Corinthians 5:18 – And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
• Matthew 18:15-17 – Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. …
• Romans 5:10 – For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
• Matthew 5:23-26 – Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
• Colossians 1:20 – And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven..
• Luke 17:3 – Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
This spirit of reconciliation is the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How is it that we who profess to being recipients of the love of Jesus Christ, who endured so much for us, cannot forgive one another. We who have had our sinful past removed should see a way to dismiss the past and look forward to the future with hope? The marriage relationship is the most important relationship in life outside of our relationship with Christ. It is so important that God himself uses it as an example of our relationship to him.

God even forgave our adultery against him, and in doing so made a way for us to be reconciled. He did not give up on mankind and just decide to turn his affections to some other creation. Make no mistake, God had every right to divorce us and put us away. Yet his love for us prevented his anger. We should have the same kind of love for our spouse. Love demands reconciliation. Love accepts repentance. Love hopes.

By What Manner is this “Good” Friday?

It is Good Friday! A day that Christians around the world hold holy and dear, a day that we remember the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the day of our dear Savior’s death, but we call it ‘Good’ Friday… how could anyone call the day of someone’s death good unless they were talking of a merciless dictator like Hitler or Stalin? Christ is recognized by the world as being the first real equal rights activist, and one of the first nonviolence practitioners (Funny they forget He took a whip to people, John 2:15), as well as model for most philosophers and philanthropists to follow, so how can we call the death of this overall respected and trusted being to be a good day? This is a day where our Lord suffered through the worst punishment the human body could take, and is described here:

Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against this pretender who allegedly claimed to be the King of the Jews. Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. It is doubtful the Romans would have made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in this matter, but the Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more than forty lashes. The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs.

At first the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped.

The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. Flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used in bundles for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding, the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.

After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were again being whipped the wounds once more begin to bleed. (Dr. C. Truman Davis, 2018)

But that was not the only thing Christ endured before finally dying! Christ carried the cross to Mount Calvary a staggering 650-yard journey with a 75 lbs. weight affixed to His back. Pushing his muscles beyond the point of failure, Christ is recorded to have stumbled 3 times before the Centurion loses his patience and orders a denizen to help Christ with the weight. How can any of this be considered good? How? Even further the death on the cross is regarded as one of the cruelest forms by which to die. Not only are there nails in your wrists and feet, but you are slowly suffocating. To which to breathe you must pull by the nails in your wrists and push yourself up by the nail in your feet, causing even more pain just to breathe and live a little longer. So, again, I ask how can any of this be good? Let me remind you of the prophecy from Isaiah found in Isaiah 53:

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:1-12, KJV)

This is where we begin to see why it is a Good Friday, as Christ was put through all of this to bear our iniquities. But let us read in Romans 5 to get the full picture.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:6-11, KJV)

Christ died for us, while were enemies of Him! And we were justified by His blood. By His death, we were forgiven. Christ presented Himself as a perfect sacrifice for all of our sins! By this we have JOY in knowing that our sins are no more and we no longer have to fear the day of judgement or what comes after death for those who believe. This is why it is Good Friday! Because a good thing has been done, the remission of sins by the shedding of His blood. No one else could fill the sacrifice as God alone could.

If you are in a stage of doubt as to believing that Christ died for you, because you are a good person, we have to remember that everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23), and that where sin is God cannot be (1 John 1:5), and to be without God is death (Romans 2:1-11). Here is the good news, Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to this world to die for our sins because He loved us and all you have to do is believe that He is who He is (John 3:16-17, 1 John 1:9). To accept this free gift of salvation all you have to do is believe in your heart and confess it with your mouth (Romans 10:9-11)! I would encourage you not to wait, because tomorrow is never promised, and there is no better time than the present to begin your walk with God than now (2 Cor. 6:2). This means so much more than just a religion, it begins a relationship with God almighty (1 John 1:3-4). If you have any questions or are interested in finding a good church to be a part of, reach out to us via our contact link or through email at twocministries@gmail.com ! God Bless you, go in peace!

Maundy Thursday: The Command

Maundy Thursday, what does that even mean? I, like most of you, have grown up knowing about Maundy Thursday, but never what does that really mean. So, let us dig in. Grab your Bible and a good bit of spare time we are here to dig in deep to the Word to be enlightened about this special day in our faith.

We are going to be covering 3 things today and another tomorrow, all about and just covering what happened on Maundy Thursday and just how important and vital it is to know! Though, first off what is this word Maundy? The word itself just is not in our normal vernacular. The word comes from the Latin word ‘mandatum’ where we get mandatory from, and it means commandment! So, Commandment Thursday. Now that has a different ring to it, but what commandment has/was given to us this day that this day if forever remembered as Commandment (Maundy) Thursday? We will cover this shortly, today we are here to discuss the Last Supper, Christ’s revelation of omnipotence, and the Commandment of Christ.

The Last Supper as we know it, is a symbol of Christian unity in our time. But to Christ it was something different altogether, this last meal was His opportunity to impart His last few lessons before departing this Earth to accomplish His Father’s will (though not a permanent leave of absence). Often times, we place great importance on someone’s last words or moments before they pass, and with Christ we should make no exception. This last night and meal are filled with lessons and doctrine, so much so, that we are covering even more of this tomorrow! Alright, enough delay, have your Bible handy? Good, turn to John 13:1, Luke 22:13-20)

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. (John 13:1)

And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:13-20)

And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. (John 13:2-17)

With a complete reading of the Last Supper, we see some important things done. First, the creation of Communion, the act of partaking of the body and blood of Christ (symbolized through bread and wine) in remembrance of what Christ was about to do. It is important to note, that this was done with only those who were truly followers of Christ (with the exception of Judas who was already taken by satan’s scheme). To partake of this tradition, legacy, and remembrance, you have to believe and have nothing left between you and God (1 Cor 11:23-34). You are not to partake if you are not already at peace or one with God. You must have confessed your sins to Him and cleared your plate of all things, for this Communion is a pure symbol between Christ and you. To accept the gift of the new testament, you have to have confessed to the truth and accepted the gift of Salvation. Though that is not our focus, what He does after is.

In John 13:2-17, we see another lesson entirely. One of leading through servitude and a reminder that we still will sin and must remember to constantly ‘wipe our feet’ as it were. Christ lowers Himself (once again) to be the lowest of people and clean the apostles’ feet. This was traditionally done by the lowest in social standings of household or group. Yet, Christ not wanting to waste the opportunity to teach in His last moments cleans their feet and tells them that as long as we are in this world, we will become dirty, and we need to constantly turn to Him in confession and repentance. This way we might become clean again. Additionally, we see this wonderful lesson of servitude, that as a follower of Christ we ought to see ourselves as the least of us and serve others. There is no greater way to reach to others and show them just how God loves them than by being the literal hands and feet of God and serving them! Getting down on your knees and helping someone with their uncleanliness.

Through the events of this night Christ makes it undeniably clear to them that He is God and the Son of God. First Christ identifies His betrayer (John 13:18-20), then He tells of Peter’s denials to come (John 13:34-35), but the most important revelation comes after these. Those first two are just Him revealing that He is omniscient (all knowing) and that He sees into the future. Then He lays down the truth of how to get to heaven (though He has before Luke 9:23). In John 14:1-11.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. (John 14:1-11)

Here, Christ lays it bare before His disciples. He told them, this is the way it is, nothing is hidden from you anymore. In Him have they seen the Father, and through Him they would join the Father in heaven and inherit the Earth. Amidst the confusion and panic of the prophesies that He is spewing out about His most trusted followers, He lets them know, that there is a great deliverance for them in faith. He even says that they should go on to do greater things than He has (referring to the work of the ministry). Jesus just lays out the whole picture for His disciples fully knowing that these were amongst His last words before the time of His death.

Next, the Commandment of Christ. After all of this, let us see what commandment Christ has given to us that this day should be known as Commandment Thursday. John 13:34-35 reads “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Now, keep in mind that Christ has already given them and all who heard the commandment that we should love our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and love our neighbor as ourselves, so why is this different? Here He says to love one another as He has loved them! And that is with His life! His entire Earthly life was to bring redemption to mankind despite our sins, despite our fallacies, and despite the rejection by His own people. He tells us that we should love in a way that the world would know us by our love! That is radical in our day and age. Most of the world will easily tell you that Christians are bigoted, close-minded, intolerant, and hateful people. The truth is that most of us who call ourselves by His name, do not show the same love that God did for us.

John 15:13 says this: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” The God of all creation (John 1:1-4) just said that there was no greater form of love than sacrificing yourselves for those you love! Now, He is not asking for martyrs, He is asking that we sacrifice our pride, and our livelihoods to serve Him and one another. He says we are His friends if we keep His commandments (John 15:14-15). Again, right before this saying He repeats the command that we are to love as He loved (John 15:9-10). After that, He goes on reaffirming His divinity by the rites of His Father. No other commandments are given until His ascendance into Heaven where we are left with the great commission. In other words, Christ’s dying wish is that we would love so dramatically that the world would not be able to deny His presence in our lives. There is an old hymn that says “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love” and I challenge you to make that so for your life. If we are truly followers of Christ then we ought to love like it. This does not mean compromising our values or bending over backwards for the world, but more rather as Christ did, teaching, and preaching the truth through servitude and humbleness.

Exodus 20: What do the 10 Commandments Mean for the Christian?

Exodus 20: What do the 10 Commandments Mean for the Christian?

It is true the Law cannot make one righteous. Neither does the keeping of the Law sustain our salvation. However, Paul on several occasions states that we should not let Grace be an occasion for sin. In other words we should not let our freedoms be taken to far, and thus make the reason for our Grace be lost. Turning to Exodus 20 we can get a good understanding of the 10 Commandments and how we can apply them in our Christian lives, not for salvation or works of justification, but because scripture says that we should do works of righteousness. James 4:17 “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” How we choose to live out this freedom that has been given us in Jesus Christ is a direct reflection of the heart. These are just short paragraphs to get you thinking.

The first commandment “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”(.3) is a pretty straight forward translation. The Hebrew words used here are quite easily put to the English text of the King James Version. The word “gods” is the plural form of Elohim. This word indicates that there will be no other rulers, judges, divine ones, angels, works or special possessions of God. The word “before” is the Hebrew word paniym, which means face and is used here to indicate “before my face”, or “in from of” or “in presence of”. So the command is quite clear, Thou (you) shalt (will not) have anything that has authority over you before me. A Christian should not let anything interfere with the sovereignty of God over their lives. No other authority is to reign supreme over the Word of God. No government, carrier, relationship, or other aspect of our lives should be allowed to stop us from obeying the Word of the Lord. We should live outward lives that indicate who has supreme authority over our lives. That supreme authority is God Himself.

The second commandment “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image (v.4) When looking at this commandment we can see that the meaning “to cut or engrave”. Specifically it comes from the Hebrew pecel (peh’-sel) meaning idol or image. So the understanding is that we are not to make any image as an idol. The command goes on to include any likeness of anything that is in heaven, or in the earth, or in the sea, in fact it goes so far to say not even under the earth. Nothing should be made that is to appear to represent God, or any other idol. One should note that an idol is something that is obsessed over. We cannot use anything made by hands or in creation to represent God for worship of any kind. Our affections should be solely placed on God, nothing should be used to represent God, because we run the risk of worshiping what is created rather than the creator. We do not bow to crosses, the Eucharist, or to anything other than God himself. God will not share his worship with anything else.

The third commandment “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (v.7) This commandment is a warning that we should not take (bear), or lift up either literally or figuratively the name of the Lord. The meaning is that we should revere the name of the Lord, and should not take it lightly. We are not to frivolously use the name of the Lord to seal an oath, or to in effect evoke the Lord on our behalf. God is not a djinn to be uses as we will or conjured up for our purposes. With this comes a sense of respect and personal accountability. If we cannot use the Lord for an oath, then we must be honest and trustworthy in our speech and actions. We are to have a name that brings respect to the Lord. We are to honor the name of the Lord. The end of this commandment is frightening. The Lord says that He will defend His own name. Anyone who disrespects Him will be held accountable to Him. We should then live in truth and in Spirit giving honor and respect to the name of the Lord in our speech and our actions.

The forth commandment “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” (v.8) The Hebrew word for remember is zakar (za-kar’), and is used to cause to remember or as a memorial. The later verses further explain that there were seven days that God used to create the earth, and on the last day, God rested. This is a day to be kept in memorial of the provisions of God. In six days he created everything that was needed to sustain his creation. Then he rested. God took a break for his labors because they were completed. The Sabbath is referred to in the Jewish culture as a

Holly day which means basically an intermission. Much like where we get the word sabbatical. This is a time to get away from everything, to make a complete break to clear the mind, and spirit. This is a time of renewal. Even batteries need to be re-charged or replaced from time to time. Jesus said that the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. God knows we need a time to recharge and get away from all or our labors and worried. We need a time to clear our minds and to “just be still”. We need time to relax and remember why we are working so hard. Spend some downtime with the family. Take time off from all work and all work related items. Relax and enjoy the blessings the Lord has brought. If not you will weary yourself and suffer burn out. You will lose productivity. You will lose your joy, and you relationship with Christ will suffer, along with your relationship with your church, family, and friends. Your ministry will suffer if you do not take time away, and push the reset button.

The fifth commandment “Honor they father and thy mother.” (v.12). The word honour in is from the Hebrew kabad (kaw-bad’) and can be used in a positive or negative manner as most root words can. Given the context of the verse, mainly, that it will add longevity to your life or a better quality of life, it can be understood that it is to be used in a positive manner. So then it can be meaning to abound with, or to promote, be rich in, or to be honorable. So then we are to treat our father and mother with abundant honor. How then do we do this? The showing of respect is the primary way that a king is honored. Shows of respect mean; proper use of language in their presence, bringing of gifts, sharing of blessings from God (resources, food, income, health benefits, lodgings, etc…), spending time with them (sharing special moments, letters, birthdays, celebrations), showing affections towards them, respecting and supporting their decisions, understanding that without their guidance and provisions you would not be where you are today. Showing honor is a lifestyle of respect and gratitude.

The sixth commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” (v.13) The sixth commandment seems like such a simple statement. Yet often times it is added to in order to say that capital punishment is not biblical. However, this commandment says that you shall not “kill”. The Hebrew word is ratach (rä·tsakh’) meaning to slay, or murder. To murder is to deprive of life according to the Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language 1828. 1 John 3:15 does specify that the application of this is more than just a physical act. The writer tells us that “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:” This is because God looks into the intentions of the heart. Not only do I need to refrain from murdering someone in a physical sense, but I need to rebuke hatred in my own heart for others that may or may not have offended me. If I have allowed prejudice to establish a beachfront of sin in my heart, to hate, thus to be guilty of murder. This commandment has nothing to do with the power or authority of the government or of law enforcement, but everything to do with love of others; instead of selfish hatreds.

The seventh commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (v.14) This command is actually pretty straight forward. The word for adultery here is the primitive root na’aph (nä·af’) in Hebrew. This word is “to commit adultery” it is usually meant from a man and always refers to the wife of another man. It is a strong word and is associated with idolatry. You will not worship (love, adore) another man’s wife. Wow this is so beyond the physical act of sex with another man’s wife. Now we can see why Jesus said that to look after another man’s wife in lust is to commit adultery. That is because the original command actually says the same thing. No looking at another man’s wife to worship her in your heart, to love her in an ungodly manner. No actual sexual contact either. To do so you actually break not only this commandment, but the first, second, and tenth commandments as well. How dangerous the lusts eyes and the desires of our hearts can be.

The eight commandment “Thou shalt not steal.” (v.15) Now here is one that we always try to shorten, however; when we look at the Hebrew word use here we can see that there is no short order to this command. Ganab (gä·nav’), the Hebrew root, means to thieve (literally or figuratively) by implication, to deceive, or carry away; to get by stealth or deception. What then do we say to this? You will not practice theft either literally or figuratively by obtain by stealth or deception. You cannot take what is not yours literally you cannot. Neither can you take what is not yours through con, or ruse. You cannot take what is not yours through deceptive trade practices. You cannot be dishonest in your dealings would not be too far of a stretch. I think it could be summed up as this, if you want it, work for it. If you agree someone can earn a wage, then give them a fair wage. If you work for a fair wage then give the work that is do.

The ninth commandment “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” (v.16) To bear here means to answer (respond, testify, speak, sing, cry, give). The word for false is pretty simple and it means to lie (false, falsehood, falsely, vain, wrongfully, deceitful). Finally we can see the word witness which in the Hebrew means to evidence either abstractly (conceptually), specifically (explicitly, practically) or in record (as a source). This means you cannot lie about anyone, or any event either as a matter of oath, or as a matter of speculation. Jesus put it this way, let your yes be yes and your no be no. When you start to talk about things or people that you do not know you put yourself in danger of being judged in the same manner that you judged them. If you have to give witness as a matter of record for a court or an incident at work then you should speak plainly, never speculate and only relay the facts. You should avoid answering open ended questions, as these questions are designed to make you speculate. Being a witness is to present the details as you saw them, not others. Keep your conversation clean, no gossip. Be honest in word and in deed. Never lie and never listen to rumor, so you do not spread a lie and become a false witness. Remember loose lips sink ships. More than one church has been destroyed form the inside out because of rumors and innuendo.

The tenth commandment “Thou shalt not covet.” (v.17) To covet is to from the root chamad (khä·mad) in Hebrew and means to desire (take pleasure in). It is meant in a form that means to delight greatly or find desirable of precious. It can be used to mean delight, desire, or to lust after. I think we all know what this means. We can enjoy our neighbor’s good fortune, and celebrate with him in his blessings. We are not to desire to have the blessings that he has though. We should be content with what the Lord has blessed us with. We do serve the same God and we can never be happy for others if we are always comparing what they have to what we do not. The verse gets pretty explanatory, you will not desire your neighbor’s wife, servants, his means of living, any of his possessions, or his lifestyle. Ok that’s my neighbor’s stuff, what about the guy in TV? What about the guy done the block? Well lucky for us the definition of neighbor has already been litigated before the Messiah. Take a look at Luke 10:25-37. In there a lawyer sought to define what a neighbor was with Jesus. Jesus put is simple, everyone is our neighbor and we are to show mercy to our neighbors. We are then to be content with what we have. We are not to look to anyone else but God.

In summation I quote Romans 13:9. “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” We are to treat everyone as we want to be treated. We are to love everyone as God loves us. You see if I love someone, then I want the best for them. I don’t desire to take what they have, because it makes them happy, and I love them and want to see their happiness. This is indeed to true sign of a believer, that we should love one another because God is love and everyone that loves is born again from God and knows God (1 John 4:7).