The Simple Truth

Are You In or Out?

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When we first got saved, the life we lived was no longer for ourselves but for Him. We were now his. There was an exchange that took place; God totally raptured our hearts, and we had a fire inside of us that could not be contained. But as the years go by, the trials, temptations, testings, more trials and questions can slowly begin to put out the fire we once had at one time. Because of the insecurities, the opinions of others which can easily shape us in the image of what others say about us. Instead of finding our identity in the One who created us can lead us into a downward spiral of comfortable Christianity.

Revelation 3:1-3

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”

Jesus is talking about the church of Sardis. This city of Sardis was known for its luxury, and the easy way of life. But these people were never committed, they were in and out with their faith. Just like the people, the city looked strong from the outside but it had weak points along the city walls. So weak that it got taken over twice! The people however were physically alive but in the spirit they were dead, they were sleep walking, or you could say going through the motions.

“A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest,…”
~Proverbs 6:10

It takes no time for the enemy to rock the Christian asleep, I’ve been there. I have a consistent prayer life and I try to be in the Word at least once a day. But If I am not careful, I can let distractions; those fiery darts from the enemy intervene with what God is asking me to do. That’s why we must put on all the armor of God everyday.

STAY COMMITTED. STAY ALIVE. STAY AWAKE.

Our capacity of knowing who He is will never increase if we stay in our comfort zone.

Questions

1] Are we living for Him only when it’s convenient for us?
2] Are we finding out that we can’t live this life in our own strength?
3] Are we totally dependent on Him?

 

 

To Drink or Not To Drink?

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o-PINT-GLASS-BEER-facebook

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” —Proverb 20:1

This is a topic that easily becomes a debate, my intentions are to draw anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ to step back and realize why it’s wrong to be a sipping saint. Even though I have never had alcohol I strongly believe that anyone who claims to become a follower of Christ should not drink.

 

1. I can’t be sober-minded if I’m not sober.

2. Alcohol has an assignment: destruction.

3. Alcohol is a depressant. Anything that depresses should be avoided at all costs.

4. I don’t want to make my brother or sister stumble in the name of exercising my “Christian liberties.” My choice to drink could lead to someone’s demise.

5. Alcohol skews my judgment.

6. Alcohol leaves me worse, not better.

7. What I do in moderation, my children will do in excess.

8. Even the unsaved know I shouldn’t drink. Bible in one hand, beer in the other—any lost person could point this out as a confusing contradiction.

9. Alcohol doesn’t bring others closer to the Lord when they see me drinking, but further away.

10. Alcohol doesn’t bring me closer to the Lord when I drink, but further away.

11. I want to be fully awake and ready for the return of Christ, not drowsy, sluggish and fuzzy.

12. Show me a family for whom alcohol has made a positive difference in their lives. You won’t be able to.

13. I have never heard anyone say, “Wow, that gin and tonic made me feel so Christlike!”

14. I want to avoid all appearances of evil.

15. Alcohol makes it much harder for me to practice the fruit of self-control.

16. Alcohol causes me to lose my filter.

17. Alcohol is a legal mind-altering drug.

18. Alcohol is addictive.

19. Alcohol is a numbing agent for pain and sorrow only Jesus can heal.

20. Many regrets are associated with alcohol. (I can give you a whole bunch!)

21. No one has ever said, “If only I had taken a drink, things wouldn’t have gotten out of control.”

22. Alcohol causes me to act in ways I normally wouldn’t.

23. Alcohol kills brain cells.

24. Alcohol is a counterfeit and provides a false peace.

25. The Bible says that no drunkards will enter the kingdom of God. Being drunk starts with one drink. I don’t want to see how far outside the lines I can color when eternity is at stake.

26. Alcohol is a waster—money, gifts and talents, destinies and so on.

27. Alcohol leads to really bad behavior. It is a factor in 50 percent of violent crimes.

28. Alcohol distracts and derails you from living the victorious life for which Christ died.

29. Wisdom is the principle thing that I need to pursue at all cost; alcohol makes me stupid.

30. Alcohol has ruined many, many marriages.

31. The only influence I should be “under” is God’s.

32. The Bible tells me to be alert; alcohol delays my reaction time.

33. If I don’t start drinking, I’ll never have to stop.

34. Alcohol severely tarnishes my testimony.

35. Don’t want your teenagers to drink? Yep, same reasons apply to you.

36. God is holy; alcohol is not.

37. Alcohol and prayer don’t mix.

38. Alcohol and Bible study don’t mix.

39. Alcohol lowers my resolve to resist temptation.

40. Alcohol = Brokenness (broken lives, health, dreams and so on)

41. When the world sees us drinking, it sends the message that Jesus isn’t enough.

42. Moderate drinking? How about moderate pornography or moderate heroin use or moderate lying or moderate adultery?

43. Christians are called to live a life of total surrender and separation from the world.

44. Alcohol makes me forget. It can make me forget that I am married, that I am saved and so on.

45. “I don’t get drunk. I only have one or two drinks.” If they didn’t affect you, you would drink soda.

46. I should never look to the glass or bottle for joy, which can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

47. Alcohol fills my mind with impure thoughts.

48. If it could hinder my faith walk or love walk or dishonor the lordship of Jesus Christ, I need to forsake it.

49. Alcohol doesn’t help me run the race that Jesus has marked before me to finish with more accuracy. It does the polar opposite.

50. For any argument that tries to justify Christian drinking, there are at least 50 other reasons not to. The writing is on the wall. It’s not God’s best for Christians to drink.

 

exerted from “50 Reasons Why I Don’t Drink” charisamanews.com

 

“Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.” -Proverbs 23:29-35

 

 

The Modern Day Pharisee

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The PHARISEES were the most considerable sect among the Jews, for they had not only the scribes, and all the learned men of the law of their party, but they also drew after them the bulk of the people. They had their appellation of Pharisees, from parish, to separate, and were probably, in their rise, the most holy people among the Jews, having separated themselves from the national corruption, with a design to restore and practice the pure worship of the most High. That they were greatly degenerated in our Lord’s time is sufficiently evident; but still we may learn, from their external purity and exactness, that their principles in the beginning were holy. Our Lord testifies that they had cleansed the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they were full of abomination. They still kept up the outward regulations of the institution, but they had utterly lost its spirit; and hypocrisy was the only substitute now in their power for that spirit of piety which I suppose, and not unreasonably, characterized the origin of this sect.

Pharisee’s

They looked the part, they acted the part, but they had no recognition of Jesus Christ, who which was God in flesh. Ridiculed, despised and rejected. They had the Truth in front of them the whole time but yet they chose to look the other way. Jesus states in the book of Matthew 23…

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant”.

Jesus begins to tell the crowds and His disciples to watch out for their religious ways. In later scripture, Jesus calls the Pharisees  “you serpents, you brood of vipers”. In earlier chapter of Matthew 15 He warns His disciples and now in chapter 23, He decides to make this public announcement.

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Paul’s Conversion

In Acts 26, Paul testifies to King Agrippa about being a former Pharisee.

“4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.

12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you.

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We all can look the part, but are we living it out? This reason alone is why most people will not attend a church they think “If they think their better than me, and doing the same things I’m doing, why should I go”? That is a great question. Everyone will be judged for what they do, God is a just God, meaning He is fair. The main answer is not to use people around you as a measuring rod, whoever you look up to, being a member of the church, a pastor or a good friend that is “holier than thou” is not the right thing to do, we all fall from time to time and your friends, family and others around you will disappoint you in what you think they shouldn’t do. We all must come to the saving knowledge of Christ and that is what this is all about, don’t look at others as being judgmental or using them as a measuring rod. God is the measuring rod, if you want to be holy go after Him, if you want to do more for the kingdom, go after Him!

Living under law instead of Grace

Paul had to repent – make a
transformation of mind leading to transformed action – instantly. Paul lived a
moral life, so he didn’t have to repent of immorality – but of misguided
religious zeal and wrong ideas about God.

Modern Day Pharisee

Jesus came to give life for those who would call on His name, break the religious spirits that so many people still hold onto today. He is here but yet they choose to look the other way. We can’t make Heaven our home by being a “good person” as we read above that Paul still needed to repent and he was a “good person”. If you are finding yourself in Paul’s place by holding onto a law or a rule that has made you so heavy burden, cast it at His feet, if your tired and weak, searching to find rest, He is here, Call on His name!

A Living Sacrifice

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THE simple truth

SACRIFICE

living-sacrifice

“As we give, we find that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven; and in the end, we learn it was no sacrifice at all.” – Spencer W. Kimball

From the beginning, since the fall of Adam, man has been giving God a sacrifice for the atonement of sin. Christ Jesus, because of Him, our sin’s are no longer remembered; unlike the Old Covenant, we have a interceder. Our sin is not covered, but are washed away, never remembered of the mind of God through repentance. Join me as we look through the scriptures of Cain and Abel as an example to discover the true meaning of sacrifice and how free it is to surrender the very best to God. Because after all, what do we have to lose that is greater than God?

The first question we need to ask ourselves is that “Am I living out God’s scripture in Romans 12?”

Romans 12:1 (ESV)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Definition of Surrender: giving up; to yield to the possession or power to another.

Genesis 4:1-10

 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.

– It’s not exactly what Cain had brought to God as a sacrifice (grain offerings were acceptable before God (Leviticus 2), though not for an atonement for sin). but the attitude that he had presented, “It’s not what we give but how we give it.”

By faith Abel offered up a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain (Hebrews 11:4). Cain’s offering was the effort of dead
religion, while Abel’s offering was made in faith, in a desire to worship God in
spirit and in truth.

Second question, how are we giving our sacrifice to God? 

Are we desiring to give our lives as a sacrifice or is it the same spirit as Cain had; dead religion, not willing to change.

 So, an other question; will we be found walking by faith or giving God a grain offering, the least of a sacrifice that can be given?

be ready