Ok, short and sweet.
Text: 1 John 4: 7-12
What is love?
Del Cook, of Worldview Academy, once said, "Love is delighting in the delight of others." It is not that WE love God, but that God loved us, and wanted us to delight in his delights and obey his statutes that he sent Jesus Christ into the world so that we might love God. Our sin nature prevents us from loving God, but Christ's death allows us to love Him.
That's all.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
By Their Spirits
Text: 1 John 4: 1-6
Translation: NKJV
Here is where the rubber meets the road. Either you believe Jesus is God, or you don't. And Christians are only supposed to believe those who profess Jesus to be God. Now, we can be led astray by those who do say that they believe; however, we who profess that Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God, incarnate in the flesh, and that the Bible is the inerrant word of God know that we are saved. According to the 6th verse, it is the Spirit of Truth that shows us this, i.e. the Holy Spirit. Soli Deo Gloria!!!! This is why I harp on the whole "unity of belief" theme a lot. If we have unity in what we believe, we can't be led astray as easily, if we don't have this unity then we are pretty well screwed in our witness as Christians, our communal life (church), and our relationship with God (self-doubt about what we believe). This is why in these verses we are given a litmus test of sorts to test people against to see if what they say has any measure of truth to it. I'll leave off here due to shortness in my personal schedule but I will leave you with this:
The more concise, systematic and logical our worldviews are, and the more unity we have on all matters doctrinal, theological, and scriptural, the better witness we present to the world, and the more Godly we may become. Remember, if we can't give the world a reason to see that we are different and for concrete reasons, they will never see the reason to convert to Christianity, because who is ever put under conviction of sin by ideas and a God that seem no different and fallen than they are.
Translation: NKJV
Here is where the rubber meets the road. Either you believe Jesus is God, or you don't. And Christians are only supposed to believe those who profess Jesus to be God. Now, we can be led astray by those who do say that they believe; however, we who profess that Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God, incarnate in the flesh, and that the Bible is the inerrant word of God know that we are saved. According to the 6th verse, it is the Spirit of Truth that shows us this, i.e. the Holy Spirit. Soli Deo Gloria!!!! This is why I harp on the whole "unity of belief" theme a lot. If we have unity in what we believe, we can't be led astray as easily, if we don't have this unity then we are pretty well screwed in our witness as Christians, our communal life (church), and our relationship with God (self-doubt about what we believe). This is why in these verses we are given a litmus test of sorts to test people against to see if what they say has any measure of truth to it. I'll leave off here due to shortness in my personal schedule but I will leave you with this:
The more concise, systematic and logical our worldviews are, and the more unity we have on all matters doctrinal, theological, and scriptural, the better witness we present to the world, and the more Godly we may become. Remember, if we can't give the world a reason to see that we are different and for concrete reasons, they will never see the reason to convert to Christianity, because who is ever put under conviction of sin by ideas and a God that seem no different and fallen than they are.
Monday, May 26, 2008
The Outworking of Love
Text: 1 John 3:16-23
This text is pretty strait forward. We know love because Jesus died for us, and sacrificed for us. We as Christians show our love not just through saying "I love you" but through going out into the world spreading God's love, caring for the needy and those brethren who we see in need. We show love by the combination of works and words, recognizing that our works are empty without the gospel.
The rest of this passage is pretty strait forward.
-Scribe.
This text is pretty strait forward. We know love because Jesus died for us, and sacrificed for us. We as Christians show our love not just through saying "I love you" but through going out into the world spreading God's love, caring for the needy and those brethren who we see in need. We show love by the combination of works and words, recognizing that our works are empty without the gospel.
The rest of this passage is pretty strait forward.
-Scribe.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sin...OOGGA BOOGGA!!!!
Text: 1 John 3:1-12
Alright, there are a lot of issues covered in these 12 verses so I'll try and be relatively brief.
First off: we can only act according to our nature, ergo a sinner will sin a righteous person won't and Christians will be somewhere in between, sinning everyday but striving against their old natures because of the righteousness granted to them by God. Christians (and this is our own fault most of the time) are perceived as a bunch of "Holier than thou art" religious nut jobs. Some of us are, vast majority of us aren't. Why are we hung up on sin? Because we recognize the sin in our lives, hold ourselves accountable to the revealed word of God, his law, and as a result hold the rest of the world accountable in our beliefs. No, I'm not promoting theocracy, merely explaining why we believe what we do.
Secondly: The reason why Christians tick people off- Because we love one another, warts and all, hold each other accountable and point out the stick in our brother's eye (hopefully after taking care of the log in our own) and strive to do Godly men and women. Just by being a Christian we are going to tick people off because Christianity automatically assumes as one of its main presuppositions that man is flawed...that he has sin ( OOOGGGA BOOGGA!) oh my, what an insulting concept: man isn't all good, he is all sin and evil and only God save him.
Questions:
1: Should we love the sinner and not the sin?
2: Is Christianity really that polarizing or is Scribe just mouthing off?
3: How should we love and show love to our fellow believers?
4: What is righteous and what isn't? (Generally speaking, specifics would be nice but not necessary)
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Don't Wast Your Life
There are a lot more related vidoes of the same guy- really great! Check them out.
-Scribe
Friday, April 18, 2008
Calvinism vs. Arminianism
Alright, I'll come out and say it- I'm a calvinist, pure and simple. Some of you might have guessed that from the links I've provided in the resources section. Anyway, here are two articles on clavinism and arminianism that I think will explain the points better than I can.
-Scribe.
Calvinism:http://spurgeon.org/~phil/dabney/5points.htm
Arminianism:http://www.apuritansmind.com/Arminianism/Arminianism.htm
-Scribe.
Calvinism:http://spurgeon.org/~phil/dabney/5points.htm
Arminianism:http://www.apuritansmind.com/Arminianism/Arminianism.htm
Dont Wast Your Life
I found this series and website by reading the rebelution. I STRONGLY encourage everyone to go to this site and visit it, read, and grow.
-Scribe
http://https://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByDate/2008/2700_The_Appearance_of_the_Unwasted_Life_Part_2/
-Scribe
http://https://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByDate/2008/2700_The_Appearance_of_the_Unwasted_Life_Part_2/
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Sermon
Hello everyone. I apologize for the my absence in the past few months. With this post I am going to go a little off course and post a sermon I gave last Sunday at my church. I hope you enjoy it. The text is the woman at the well.
Good morning. Now, even though this is the woman at the well, we are all, men and women, like this woman at the well. All right, let’s start out by with a little background on where this is taking place. This village is off the main highway that ran beside Samaria. It was odd that travelers would come this way, and it was especially odd that a Jew would come to this particular place. Now, Jesus is NOT a gentleman here.. He’s not even a “Nice” person to the woman at the well. Why? This woman is coming out at NOON to get water, which is the hottest time of the day. No one went to a well to get water at noon, so it is fairly safe to assume that this woman is on the fringes of society. She arrives at the well alone and here is this Jew, who is by definition not on friendly terms with Samaritans anyway. And what does he say? He says “Hi, I’m thirsty, give me a drink of water.” He doesn’t say” Why Ma’m, let me help you with that.” His attitude is “I’m thirsty.” Then she says “Look, you don’t have anything to draw water for yourself, why are you even at this well in the first place asking me for water, and how did you know that someone would be here to give you water?” Then he offers her eternal water, she doesn’t get it, he explains some more, and then he she sort of gets it and he says “Go and tell your husband.” She says I don’t have a husband, and then Jesus confronts her with the fact that the man she is living with is not her husband, and she is astounded because there is no way that Jesus, a stranger, could know that about her. She is shown the error of her ways, and accepts Jesus as lord and savior. Then, as if to show the fruits of the Holy Spirit within her, she goes and tell her family.
Please note that Jesus is not acting in a way that we would today call “modern” or “revolutionary” or even caring towards this woman’s feelings. He is acting like God. He isn’t going to help the woman with her water and then walk off, which is an act of kindness, yet still leaving her damned to hell, most definitely not an act of kindness. Jesus really doesn’t’ go in for the mercy ministry silent witness sort of thing. He confronts the woman with her sins, yet doesn’t leave her under the burden of those sins. He offers her salvation. Jesus, during his ministry, doesn’t go around proclaiming himself to be the messiah, he goes around saying and doing everything but that. Here though, he goes ahead and says “I am He.” This is one of the few times when Jesus really lays it out that he is the messiah. He gives her the water of everlasting life and suddenly she is changed; she becomes a Joyous conduit for the Holy Spirit. She is not happy, because who in their right mind goes and tells their family “Hey, guess what- I’m happy”? But she is JOYOUS? when we are joyous we tell people. She is filled with the joy of the holy Spirit and goes and tell her family and as a result many of the Samaritans were saved. This is a perfect example of our attitude as Christian: We have this joy of God within us and we want to tell others. As Christians, we are conduits for the Holy Spirit, through our words people receive knowledge of Jesus. It’s only through God’s word, the bible, spread by Christians, that people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We can be like the Peace Corp. and do good deeds until the cows come home, but people still won’t be saved. We have to be like Jesus, who taught people what to believe and told them God’s will in combination with good works. Good works are not the gospel, the words of Jesus are. Good works are something we do alongside the gospel, recognizing that until people are saved, we have only helped them out momentarily, but not in the long run. We have to awaken in people a thirst for the gospel.
In John 7: 37-38, it says, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote on this passage quote “Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.”
Let me illustrate it like this. In the sport of swimming, the most common injury to happen to swimmers is dehydration. A study done found that the water regulated the swimmers body temperature enough to where they were unaware that they were thirsty, because they weren’t getting hot. Also, since they were already wet, the swimmers were unaware that they were even sweating. They had to get out of the pool and drink water before they realized their thirst. This is how we are as Christians. Originally, we are in the pool of the world, our spiritual body temperatures’ regulated by the water of Satan, so that we do not realize our thirst for God, and we continue on swimming. Then God comes along and brings us out of the water and we realize our thirst and drink from the fountain of eternal life- The Holy Spirit.
We must bring people out of the water of the world, of Satan, so that they thirst. When the disciples asked Jesus if he needed food, he said no, his sustenance came from the Holy Spirit. We want people to partake in our sustenance, which is the Holy Spirit flowing through us to other people as we do God’s work. We must be like the Samaritan woman, forsaking our earthly requirements. She left her pot that she needed to draw water and started serving God. She automatically goes out and tells her family. This is amazing. This is her pot, maybe with a rope on it so she can lower it into the well, that she uses every day. She needs this pot in order to survive, and here she just up and leaves it. This is one of the things in her life that are essential to existence. Why does she leave it? Because her thirst has been quenched. Most of us wouldn’t leave our car on the side of the road if we had a revelation from God, yet this woman leaves something that is more valuable to her than our cars are to most of us. She automatically steps into a role of serving Jesus as if it were natural and she had been doing it her entire life. Why? Because it is natural to her now. The moment she was saved serving God became the most natural thing for her. This is what it is like for us as Christians. Serving God is the most natural thing in the world for us because we are filled with the Holy Spirit, transforming our sinful, rebellious natures into those of conforming servants, ready and eager to do their masters bidding, spreading the gospel to the world. Now, for those of you wondering, “Well, what do I tell people?” Here is the beauty of all of this. In Malikii 3:6 God says, “I am the Lord and I do not change.” God isn’t going to be like neighbor Steve, who changes his football alliances depending on who’s winning the game. God doesn’t change, so we can be confident that what we tell people about God will be true tomorrow, the next day, and so on. Once we know the plan of salvation, and about Jesus Christ, and God’s law, then we already have the knowledge to witness to others.
We are spiritual water taps for the holy spirit, through our words and actions we tell and show people Jesus, and through us the Holy Spirit can work on peoples’ hearts. We have to serve God in a proactive manner in order for the Holy Spirit to be active in saving people. We must serve God as this Samaritan woman did, forsaking what she needed to forsake in order to bring those around her out of the water of the world so that they might realize their thirst
Our hymn of commitment is hymn #736 . For those of you who are unsaved, Do you realize you are thirsty and Do you want your thirst quenched? If so, come forward.
For those who want to make another decision, whether to join this church, or to rededicate your life to Christ, come forward as we sing hymn#736- Rescue the Perishing.
Thank you all for being faithful readers. -Scribe.
Good morning. Now, even though this is the woman at the well, we are all, men and women, like this woman at the well. All right, let’s start out by with a little background on where this is taking place. This village is off the main highway that ran beside Samaria. It was odd that travelers would come this way, and it was especially odd that a Jew would come to this particular place. Now, Jesus is NOT a gentleman here.. He’s not even a “Nice” person to the woman at the well. Why? This woman is coming out at NOON to get water, which is the hottest time of the day. No one went to a well to get water at noon, so it is fairly safe to assume that this woman is on the fringes of society. She arrives at the well alone and here is this Jew, who is by definition not on friendly terms with Samaritans anyway. And what does he say? He says “Hi, I’m thirsty, give me a drink of water.” He doesn’t say” Why Ma’m, let me help you with that.” His attitude is “I’m thirsty.” Then she says “Look, you don’t have anything to draw water for yourself, why are you even at this well in the first place asking me for water, and how did you know that someone would be here to give you water?” Then he offers her eternal water, she doesn’t get it, he explains some more, and then he she sort of gets it and he says “Go and tell your husband.” She says I don’t have a husband, and then Jesus confronts her with the fact that the man she is living with is not her husband, and she is astounded because there is no way that Jesus, a stranger, could know that about her. She is shown the error of her ways, and accepts Jesus as lord and savior. Then, as if to show the fruits of the Holy Spirit within her, she goes and tell her family.
Please note that Jesus is not acting in a way that we would today call “modern” or “revolutionary” or even caring towards this woman’s feelings. He is acting like God. He isn’t going to help the woman with her water and then walk off, which is an act of kindness, yet still leaving her damned to hell, most definitely not an act of kindness. Jesus really doesn’t’ go in for the mercy ministry silent witness sort of thing. He confronts the woman with her sins, yet doesn’t leave her under the burden of those sins. He offers her salvation. Jesus, during his ministry, doesn’t go around proclaiming himself to be the messiah, he goes around saying and doing everything but that. Here though, he goes ahead and says “I am He.” This is one of the few times when Jesus really lays it out that he is the messiah. He gives her the water of everlasting life and suddenly she is changed; she becomes a Joyous conduit for the Holy Spirit. She is not happy, because who in their right mind goes and tells their family “Hey, guess what- I’m happy”? But she is JOYOUS? when we are joyous we tell people. She is filled with the joy of the holy Spirit and goes and tell her family and as a result many of the Samaritans were saved. This is a perfect example of our attitude as Christian: We have this joy of God within us and we want to tell others. As Christians, we are conduits for the Holy Spirit, through our words people receive knowledge of Jesus. It’s only through God’s word, the bible, spread by Christians, that people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We can be like the Peace Corp. and do good deeds until the cows come home, but people still won’t be saved. We have to be like Jesus, who taught people what to believe and told them God’s will in combination with good works. Good works are not the gospel, the words of Jesus are. Good works are something we do alongside the gospel, recognizing that until people are saved, we have only helped them out momentarily, but not in the long run. We have to awaken in people a thirst for the gospel.
In John 7: 37-38, it says, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote on this passage quote “Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.”
Let me illustrate it like this. In the sport of swimming, the most common injury to happen to swimmers is dehydration. A study done found that the water regulated the swimmers body temperature enough to where they were unaware that they were thirsty, because they weren’t getting hot. Also, since they were already wet, the swimmers were unaware that they were even sweating. They had to get out of the pool and drink water before they realized their thirst. This is how we are as Christians. Originally, we are in the pool of the world, our spiritual body temperatures’ regulated by the water of Satan, so that we do not realize our thirst for God, and we continue on swimming. Then God comes along and brings us out of the water and we realize our thirst and drink from the fountain of eternal life- The Holy Spirit.
We must bring people out of the water of the world, of Satan, so that they thirst. When the disciples asked Jesus if he needed food, he said no, his sustenance came from the Holy Spirit. We want people to partake in our sustenance, which is the Holy Spirit flowing through us to other people as we do God’s work. We must be like the Samaritan woman, forsaking our earthly requirements. She left her pot that she needed to draw water and started serving God. She automatically goes out and tells her family. This is amazing. This is her pot, maybe with a rope on it so she can lower it into the well, that she uses every day. She needs this pot in order to survive, and here she just up and leaves it. This is one of the things in her life that are essential to existence. Why does she leave it? Because her thirst has been quenched. Most of us wouldn’t leave our car on the side of the road if we had a revelation from God, yet this woman leaves something that is more valuable to her than our cars are to most of us. She automatically steps into a role of serving Jesus as if it were natural and she had been doing it her entire life. Why? Because it is natural to her now. The moment she was saved serving God became the most natural thing for her. This is what it is like for us as Christians. Serving God is the most natural thing in the world for us because we are filled with the Holy Spirit, transforming our sinful, rebellious natures into those of conforming servants, ready and eager to do their masters bidding, spreading the gospel to the world. Now, for those of you wondering, “Well, what do I tell people?” Here is the beauty of all of this. In Malikii 3:6 God says, “I am the Lord and I do not change.” God isn’t going to be like neighbor Steve, who changes his football alliances depending on who’s winning the game. God doesn’t change, so we can be confident that what we tell people about God will be true tomorrow, the next day, and so on. Once we know the plan of salvation, and about Jesus Christ, and God’s law, then we already have the knowledge to witness to others.
We are spiritual water taps for the holy spirit, through our words and actions we tell and show people Jesus, and through us the Holy Spirit can work on peoples’ hearts. We have to serve God in a proactive manner in order for the Holy Spirit to be active in saving people. We must serve God as this Samaritan woman did, forsaking what she needed to forsake in order to bring those around her out of the water of the world so that they might realize their thirst
Our hymn of commitment is hymn #736 . For those of you who are unsaved, Do you realize you are thirsty and Do you want your thirst quenched? If so, come forward.
For those who want to make another decision, whether to join this church, or to rededicate your life to Christ, come forward as we sing hymn#736- Rescue the Perishing.
Thank you all for being faithful readers. -Scribe.
Let Truth Abide In You
Text: 1John 2:24-27
Translation: NKJV
Alright, so we read through this passage and we think to ourselves, hey, wait a minute, I don't need anyone to teach me how or what to believe, ergo, I don't have to go to church, because they tell me what to believe...etc. etc. There are many variations of this conclusion, but this seems to be the most prominent. Now first off we would be wrong, why? Well, Jesus TOLD people what to believe, he didn't just sit around and let them find stuff out for themselves by osmosis from his speaking in glib, shallow words. He told them what to do, how to pray, and what to believe. John and all the authors of the other books of the New Testament that come after the gospels are expounding upon what Jesus taught and said. Specifically, as John here has "written to you concerning those who try to deceive you." (v. 26) John and other New Testament authors are expounding upon the words of Jesus and adding according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit "abides" in them and in us, guiding us. It is important to note here that even though these books are written by men, they are inspired by the Holy Spirit abiding in them. Any serious, and long study of scripture shows that instead of there being a mishmash of ideas and thought processes, there is in fact a congruent, logical, well thought out flow to scripture. This is because the Holy Spirit abided in John and others, and abides in us today, revealing the meaning of Scripture to us. R.C. Sproul once said, (and I paraphrase),"If , after studying the scripture, you find yourself interpreting it along the lines of universally recognized heretics, then your interpretation is most likely wrong and you need to seriously consider revising it."
The Bible is the infallible word of God, made even more glorious by the fact that the Holy Spirit abides in us, revealing to us through study its meaning. To God be the Glory.
Love that food? Where will your descendants eat it?
Text: 1 John 15-17
Trans.: NKJV
Okay, we all know the praise song that, granted is monotonous and not all that great, "Jesus, lover of my soul". Now, were not supposed to lover the world and not obey fleshly lusts.(say last two words like a Shakespearian actor & it sounds cool) How many of us consider ourselves "materialistic"? Not many, I know I don't. Then I look at my schedule. Tonight, I'm going to meet my friends at a coffee shop for fellowship and good times. Tommarrow, homework and a lot of other things. Now, this is my schedule to a great extent. I go out, do school, come home, repeat, lather and rinse. I am for all intents and purposes a very materialistic guy. Sure, I study the Bible, have a very indepth relationship with God and the rest, but I don't say "Hey, Gordo, maybe you should just relax and be with God instead of surffing the net, watching tennis, or Dr. Who" whatever it is. Then I look at what will come after I die. I like food, but I wonder where I will eat that food, and what my actions of my own will determine where others will eat there's. No one is going to remember that awesome prank I pulled on one of my friends on a youth retreat or what possesions I have ( if they do, they need a life bigtime). I should be more concerned about what I am leaving behind after I die on the passing world. What will my legacy be? Sure, the fellowship with my friends is important, I don't deny it, but at what cost are we as a society, especially those of us who claim to be Christian, paying to enjoy the now when we leave no legacy behind us. This is especially true for Christians today. Look at the bible, at all the geneologies that are in it. They say "Look where you have come from, what you are expected to uphold, and what you must pass on to the next generation." There is an excellent teaching dvd on the subject of legacy that can be found at Worldview Acad.'s website. It is called "The Next Name in the Toledoth". I encourage everyone of you to buy and watch it. Because really, if we don't leave a legacy of not being in love with this world then what reason is there to spread the gospel, go to church or believe in God himself? There comes a time to say, yes that trip with the youth would be fun to do, or yeah I'd like to really go do that, but that trip with the youth might be just another fun trip disguised as Christian fellowship and devotionals, or that trip by yourself could be your way of giving in to your flesh. Don't get caught up in satisfying what you want to do in the present and instead focus on what you will leave behind for the future when you are gone, whether it be death or you simply leave your current situation. If we can't give future generations of Christians something more than a fun outing or a trivial teaching on how Jesus loves kids then they won't have anything to run the race with and our descendants will truely dine in Hell.
There won't be any questions for this post, just this: Granted that man needs material things and stuff of the Flesh, ask God what things need trimming in your life.
Lies, Huh?
Text: 1 John 2: 18-23
Trans: NKJV
Alright, we know about the wolf in sheeps clothing thing. Beware those that claim to be Christians but really aren't and will lead us away from Christ. Now we here about the Antichrist. The person that will blatantly, and mostlikely pretty subtlely, lead the world away from Christ. What is an antichrist? Anyone who is against Christ, bluntly put. Yes, there is THE ANTICHRIST, the end-times guy, the big satan, etc., but there are also antichrists plural, lowercase, who are people NOT endtimes guy, yet are actively against Jesus Christ. How do we know them? They deny the Father and the Son and are therefore liars.
Christianity is based on the very fact of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and of the Father God Creator, and of the Holy Spirit, indweller. To deny this and yet claim to be a Christian is to be an antichrist. Jesus is both God and man, the two natures in one. This is to say that Jesus was perfectly God and perfectly man. The nature of man was perfect, pre-fall, therefore Jesus could and can be and is the second Adam.
How do we know this? We've got the Bible people! If a little light bulb of revelation just went off above your head, congrajulate yourself. The Bible is the truth by which we judge the world because it is the inerrant word of God. We judge our and others actions by it.
How do we know this? We've got the Bible people! If a little light bulb of revelation just went off above your head, congrajulate yourself. The Bible is the truth by which we judge the world because it is the inerrant word of God. We judge our and others actions by it.
Also, if you here people who claim to have gone through church and are here to tell you about Jesus and they can't get off the fact that he is just a man, but seem uncomfortable with him being God as well, they most likely aren't Christian. Why? See what I just wrote above. To claim to be christian and to deny that Jesus is God and then "be a witness" to others "for God" is nothing but heresy.
Yes, I just used the "H" word. Everyone scream bloody murder. Want to know something else? These people should also be anathema. (or cursed and ostricised from our company). That, dear children, is what is known as the "A" word. Christian curse word class dismissed.
Closing: We should be wary of anyone uncomfortable with the fact that Jesus came to earth as both God and Man.
John: The Purpose and the Reason
: 
Text: 1John 2:12-14
Translation: NKJV
These verses are, on the surface, the reason that Paul has written this letter. However, there are some interesting phrases in this passage. Note that when Paul mentions a group of people and the reason that he is writting to them, the reason is actually their spiritual state. The letter is written to be helpful to these people due to there spiritual state, etc. etc.
Questions:
1)What is your own spiritual state as compared w/ the people in this passage?
2)Even though non-believers are not mentioned in this passage, can the book of 1 John still be useful in evangelizing?
3)If yes to #2, how?
Touchy- Feely sort of day.
Text: 1 John 2:3-11
Translation: NKJV
All right, so this might sound like beating a dead horse decides to defend itself but I would like to disagree. The first...well all 9 verses of this passage are very pertinent to the church today.
First off, if a person is committing sin time over and again, attends church, appears for all intents and purposes to not be repenting, then it is extremely possible that they are........*gasp* not a Christian. We as Christian are indwelt with the Holy Spirit who convicts us of our sins. If we claim to be a Christian then we are saying (among other things) that we know we are sinners and are uncomfortable in our sin.
But what should fellow believers do about people that claim to be brothers and sisters in Christ and yet repeatedly sin in a public (or at least pretty blatant) manner? Confront them with their sin privately, one on one. Then is confession and repentance are not forthcoming, repeat what you just did, only with a friend. And if this doesn't work, then take them publically before the church, whether the congregation or in front of the elders or deacons.
Now, some of you might be saying, "Hey, Scribe, that isn't very loving! Shouldn't we just be kind and leave those people with God since we can't look into their hearts?"
WRONG,WRONG, WRONG! A) because, if that person is indeed a born again believer, they need to be told that they are sinning so that their walk w/ the Lord is not compromised, they are no longer a bad influence on other Christians within the Church, and that they are not an influence for evil to nonbelievers.
And B) because if they aren't born again believers, then they are simply lying to themselves that they are and this might be what wakes them up to the fact and actually gets them saved. Also, if it doesn't then at the very least one has gotten a wolf in sheep’s clothing out of the fold.
It is always important to remember that true God does not allow us to feel good in our sin, ergo all believers should not feel good in their sin. This is not to say that if a believer falls into a pattern of sin he will not become complacent, because it does and this has happened to me before. The discernment to see sin for what it is comes from the Holy Spirit, and the discernment to confront people about their sin comes from the Holy Spirit. Also, since there is a standard of living expected of Christians, i.e.- 10 commandments, what Jesus commanded the disciples, great commission etc., we as Christian should realize that it is NOT love to let someone continue on in sin and stand by humming in the storm thinking nothing will come of it. (See points A and B above)
We aren't called to be touchy, feely, goody two shoes wimps who cover our eyes hoping that the evil in the world and the evil that from time to time enters the church will go away because we can't see it. We need to realize that because we are Christians we hold ourselves to a higher authority than ourselves and that we hold the rest of the world up to that standard as well. We should confront our brothers and sister with the speck in their eye (AFTER WE HAVE DEALT WITH THE LOG IN OUR OWN---EMPHASIS ON AFTER), so that they will no longer be a stumbling block to others or themselves. At the same time, this is an effective way to remove wolves in sheep’s clothing. We as a church have focused so much on the personal side of our walk w/ God that we have forgotten that there is also a communal side as well, which can easily be destroyed be someone being allowed continuance in sin.
1 John #2
1 John 2: 1-2
Translation: NKJV
This will be a short post. When we sin, we have and advocate with God(Jesus) and also, we are suppossed to read the Bible more since the things in it (at least this book) were written that we might not sin. Talk about a really good reason to be literate in what the Bible says as well as basic Christian doctrine and theology.
Translation: NKJV
This will be a short post. When we sin, we have and advocate with God(Jesus) and also, we are suppossed to read the Bible more since the things in it (at least this book) were written that we might not sin. Talk about a really good reason to be literate in what the Bible says as well as basic Christian doctrine and theology.
1 John #1
Text: 1 John 1:1-10
Translation: NKJV
In this passage, Johns’ original readers are having some difficulty accepting the fact that Jesus lived in the flesh. Through out verses 1-4 John uses such phrases as "we have heard", "we have looked upon", etc. to emphasize the fact that Jesus was and is real and walked the earth in a human body. Now, this brings up an important question: Is it important for those that believe to have first hand knowledge of Jesus (i.e.- actually seen him, etc.)? Of course not. In the gospels, Jesus says to the apostles that they are blessed because they have seen him and believed, but even more blessed are those that have not seen Jesus and have still believed. Think about it. We as Christians today are more blessed than the apostles because we have believed in Jesus as lord without seeing him. This is pretty awesome stuff.
Another question that arises is this: Christ being flesh and blood, did he die on the cross and rise on the third day for the sins of the elect; and is this important to Christianity?
The answer is an emphatic YES!!! The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is one of the historical claims of the Bible and without it there is no salvation. Christ’s death on the cross assures the elect of remission of sins because he was the last and perfect sacrifice. His resurrection assures the elect of eternal life because Christ conquered death. To not believe in these two major historical claims, in my opinion, greatly weakens the faith of those claim to be Christian and yet do not believe in these two things.
Now, in verses 5-6, John is saying that the message of the gospel they have heard from Jesus and declare to the people, and that if the have (or claim to have) fellowship with God, and yet walk in evil ways, then they should be considered liars. But if they walk in light they are telling the truth. We as Christians need to be careful of our actions. There is a lot of talk in the church today about how we need to focus more on our "Silent witness" and less on the gospel. Well, if you are focusing on our silent witness then maybe we should take a step back and look out how we dress ,act and speak. Are we guilty of not living up to the so-called "silent witness" that we promote. (Just a confession: this is one sin I know I am pretty guilty of).
Verses 8-10 bring up an issue that needs to be addressed. We as Christian do NOT claim to be perfect. What we do claim is that our set of moral standards are right, and we strive to hold ourselves to these standards even though we know that we fail miserably all the time.
Questions: 1)What are some of the disadvantages of having just a silent witness?
2) What are some of the disadvantages of having simply a verbal witness?
3) Can the two be combined?
Translation: NKJV
In this passage, Johns’ original readers are having some difficulty accepting the fact that Jesus lived in the flesh. Through out verses 1-4 John uses such phrases as "we have heard", "we have looked upon", etc. to emphasize the fact that Jesus was and is real and walked the earth in a human body. Now, this brings up an important question: Is it important for those that believe to have first hand knowledge of Jesus (i.e.- actually seen him, etc.)? Of course not. In the gospels, Jesus says to the apostles that they are blessed because they have seen him and believed, but even more blessed are those that have not seen Jesus and have still believed. Think about it. We as Christians today are more blessed than the apostles because we have believed in Jesus as lord without seeing him. This is pretty awesome stuff.
Another question that arises is this: Christ being flesh and blood, did he die on the cross and rise on the third day for the sins of the elect; and is this important to Christianity?
The answer is an emphatic YES!!! The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is one of the historical claims of the Bible and without it there is no salvation. Christ’s death on the cross assures the elect of remission of sins because he was the last and perfect sacrifice. His resurrection assures the elect of eternal life because Christ conquered death. To not believe in these two major historical claims, in my opinion, greatly weakens the faith of those claim to be Christian and yet do not believe in these two things.
Now, in verses 5-6, John is saying that the message of the gospel they have heard from Jesus and declare to the people, and that if the have (or claim to have) fellowship with God, and yet walk in evil ways, then they should be considered liars. But if they walk in light they are telling the truth. We as Christians need to be careful of our actions. There is a lot of talk in the church today about how we need to focus more on our "Silent witness" and less on the gospel. Well, if you are focusing on our silent witness then maybe we should take a step back and look out how we dress ,act and speak. Are we guilty of not living up to the so-called "silent witness" that we promote. (Just a confession: this is one sin I know I am pretty guilty of).
Verses 8-10 bring up an issue that needs to be addressed. We as Christian do NOT claim to be perfect. What we do claim is that our set of moral standards are right, and we strive to hold ourselves to these standards even though we know that we fail miserably all the time.
Questions: 1)What are some of the disadvantages of having just a silent witness?
2) What are some of the disadvantages of having simply a verbal witness?
3) Can the two be combined?
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