Fear God, and give glory to Him

Feeling inadequate?

• Here's what Moses, the meekest man on earth, said to the Lord,

Isaiah 66

Hello!  It's been a day full of blessings and fellowship for us - eating dinner and supper with dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.  Now it's time to crawl into bed soon, but I wanted to share a bit of inspiration and challenge that I've discovered in the Word lately.

Isaiah 66 (NIV)

Sacrifices

Hello, friends!  I've been wanting to share a little inspiration from the Word, but haven't had time.  Now my daughter Megan is being my babysitter, so maybe I can write a bit...

Hebrews 13:14-16 "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.  By him (Jesus) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."

The Amplified Bible says it this way:

15Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.

    16Do not forget or neglect to do kindness and good, to be generous and distribute and contribute to the needy [of the church as embodiment and proof of fellowship], for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

I was impressed with the thought of these sacrifices that please God - the sacrifice of praise, which we should be offering continually to our heavenly Father, and the sacrifices of good works and hospitality. 

We all know that we should be doing these things, but it takes effort to do them.  And our Father knows that it won't always be easy - that's why He calls them sacrifices.  It takes dying on our part, to just give thanks "constantly and at all times",  and to cheerfully be kind and good, and to "communicate", or share our things or time with others.

Let's look for the opportunities each day to do these things, knowing that "with such sacrifices God is well pleased."  And in this way we will be seeking the city that is to come, whose builder and maker is God.

The Beginning of Wisdom (continued)

 

 

 

The Beginning of Wisdom

 

 

 

 

 

For WHAT Are You Living?

Today my husband repaired a young man’s VW bug, and since he was still working over lunch hour, Rafael's mother Yolanda brought his lunch over.  They both sat with us at the table, and after the meal Yolanda kindly washed up a big stack of dishes for me.  While we worked, we got to know each other better.

In the course of the conversation, she asked me if I don’t miss living in the States.  She thought we are “suffering” here in Mexico, and could be a lot happier if we’d go back to the States.  But I objected – “We certainly aren’t suffering here.  We have so much – we are rich!  The Word of God says, ‘Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.’  (1 Timothy 6:8)  Our Lord didn’t even have a place to lay his head.”

As Yolanda went on to mention, so many Mexicans, as well as people from other Central American countries, want to go to the States, (and do) because they long for a “better”, more comfortable life, with more things.  And for Yolanda, it was hard to understand why we would choose to live here in Mexico, when we were born in the States.

I was glad for the opportunity to share with her.  We are not living for the life here and now – our eyes are set on the life that is to come!  And when our goal is to please our Lord and to be in the place that He wants us to be, we are content and happy wherever He calls us.  We “desire a better country, that is, an heavenly”.  (Hebrews 11:16)  We are looking for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  (Hebrews 11:10)

Oh, let us use this short life that we have to prepare for eternity – the life that is to come.  Can we, like the Lord Jesus Christ, say, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me”?

Our Lord commands, “Love not the world; neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”  (1 John 2: 15 – 17)  Let us live each day for eternity.  

Flexibility

Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will begin our spring housecleaning, and get a  room done each day, and scrub and vacuum, and get organized: 

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:14 – 17)

This is something I am trying to learn.  The Lord has been blessing me with many opportunities to practice, and see how flexible I really am.  Do I allow Him to change my schedule, to upset my plans, whenever He wants to?  I say that His way is always best, but how do I react when I need to change my thinking and readjust my schedule?  Can I do so joyfully, thankfully?  Can I keep my affection set on things above, instead of on things of this earth?  Can I see this change in my plans as an opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven?

When my day already seems too full, needing to clean house and pack suitcases in preparation for a trip, and unexpected visitors appear and stay for dinner... 

When the bed is piled high with sweet-smelling laundry, and I am happily settling down to fold it, and a young mother comes by wondering if I can help her sew for a couple hours...

When I tackle the mending pile with enthusiasm, and shortly thereafter my husband hears about a sick neighbor and asks me to go along and visit...

Of course there are lots of other smaller interruptions – a mother’s life is full of such things – spilled milk just before bedtime, on my little boy who’s fresh out of the bathtub, and then more spilled milk on another clean boy AND my nicely mopped floor.  J

I’m glad to remind myself that the mending pile and  dust in the corners  will be completely insignificant and forgotten in eternity.  And since I want to lay up treasures in heaven, then I will cheerfully lay aside my own  ambitions when an interruption comes, seeing it as an opportunity from the Lord.  

Thank you, dear Father, for these opportunities that you give me each day.  Thank you that You are in control of my life, and that I can rest in Your wisdom.  Father, I want to be faithful and joyfully accept your direction each day, remembering that this life is only a vapor.  Help me to seek Your kingdom first, and righteousness, and keep the duties of this life secondary.  “Your will, not mine, be done.”

Encouragement to Mothers

“Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal. 6:9)

The Lord has been reminding me lately, through my husband and others, that I must continually be on my toes, watching and training our children.  As a mother, I don’t have a break from my responsibility – I must be “on call” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Thankfully I have a husband who is serving the Lord, and carries more than half of the load.  (My husband even works at home most of the time, which is such a blessing!)  But I also know that a lot depends on me.  “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” (Prov. 14:1)   

I thought I’d share with you other mothers these verses from the Word, that have been an encouragement to me in my child training responsibilities.  I have them up on my refrigerator, where I can see them every day. 

“He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” Prov. 13:24)

 “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” (Prov. 19:18)

“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” (Prov. 22:15) 

“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.  Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” (Prov. 23:13, 14)

“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” (Prov. 29:15)

 “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.” (Prov. 29:17)

 "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Heb. 12:11)

 God’s blessings rest upon those who follow His way.  The world today has ideas completely opposed to the way of the Lord.  But “the Word of God… liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Peter 1:23)

Messed up by translations?

Do you receive the Word of God?  I mean, do you really receive it by putting it into practice?  Or have you read somewhere that our Bibles have been really messed up by translators, and that the things that are written are not really MEANT that way?

I use an amplified New Testament, and my wife helps me out with her high school (at home) knowledge of Greek.  We know enough Greek to know that our English Bibles aren't that messed up.  And besides we have quite a few Spanish translations that we check, too. 
 
It boils down to this: God reveals His Word to babes, not to seminary students.  He has hid these things from the wise and prudent.  He hasn't been hiding from little children what His Word truly says, all these years.  I benefit a lot from what the Greek says, and how other translations word things, too.  But you can also use these tools to just erase what the Scripture says, if you feel you really need to.
 
Recently one of my brethren preached a message on "Looking for a Loophole".  If you don't really want to follow Jesus and take up that heavy cross, such as "live singly all your life, because you've separated or divorced and can't get back together with your TRUE SPOUSE", or "cover your head and dress biblically, if you're a woman", or really turn the other cheek and love your enemies, etc, etc.   Not going to war...  You WILL find a loophole.  It seems God has left loopholes there so that you can just find it and BE GONE.  If you want to divorce and remarry, you will hang onto two verses in Matthew, even though all the rest of the NT FORBIDS divorce and remarriage for Jesus-lovers.  And if you don't like the veiling, you'll hang on desperately to verse 15 or 16 of 1 Cor. 11, or the cultural argument, although the 14 verses beforehand are just as CLEAR as day.
 
Or if you want to go to war, and keep a pistol on hand, you'll hang desperately onto the verse, "Sell your garment and buy one."  Or "the father of the family would have watched, and not suffered his house to be broken through," when the rest of His teachings are just as clear as can be.  "LOVE YOUR ENEMIES", "DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU," "VENGEANCE IS MINE". 
 
Or maybe you want to hang onto your jibber-jabber gift of tongues or healing or profecy that you received while still in disobedience to one or more of these demands of Jesus.  Or you still practice your "gift" even though it´s not a real language, or it causes some confusion in the church, or disobeys something else in 1 Cor. 14, which Paul says, "are the commandments of the Lord."  Or maybe you're a woman and you just can't keep quiet in the meeting, or you think God especially called you to teach, or to usurp authority over the man, and not quite be in subjection.  But whatever your "gift" is, you justify it by the verse, "And these signs shall follow them that believe." 
 
Now I should have mentioned this first of all -  Salvation.  Jesus teaches that if we keep His commandments, we'll be His friends, we love Him, and we are saved.  But if you want to keep believing that you can "get saved" before obedience, by some kind of neat experience, you'll hang onto a COUPLE of verses, like "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth...", or "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord...", or the famous one-- "Not of works, lest any man should boast..."  When Jesus and the rest of the New Testament RESOUND with the message of salvation being "receiving Jesus' WORDS and obeying Him, taking up your CROSS and FOLLOWING Him."  "IF we walk in the light, as He is in the light..." we get cleansing by the blood of Jesus.  But the modern church says you can get cleansing by an emotional prayer, some tears, and something that HAPPENS to you, or maybe they say "just baptism could do it."  But of course "you need to 'go on' to obedience," they say.
 
God gives His Holy Spirit to them that OBEY Him.  (Acts 5:32)  And even though many do miracles and MANY great wonders in Jesus' name, He'll say, "Guess what - I never knew you."  You're a Christian when Jesus is your LORD.  That means that HE IS ABLE to tell you what to do.  That means that He's the one directing in your heart.
 
And your divorce, when He says, "That USED to be allowed, for the hardness of your heart," and your remarriage, just show that He's NOT your Lord.  Your earrings, bare head (if you're a woman), immodest dress, and other worldly toys, your anger at those who offend you, your lack of forgiveness, your being a policeman or soldier, your staring at television, and on and on... just show that He can't direct you, and you are judging yourself unworthy of His kingdom and glory.
 
God has no use for these "born-again Christians" who are looking for excuses not to obey Him.  He can't make His abode with those who are looking for what they can get by with, by carefully checking the Greek, Hebrew, or commentary, or some obscure Scripture.  True Christians LOOK for what they can lose for Jesus, so that they might gain Him.  They LOOK for what they can do for Him, to please Him, so that they might be accepted with Him.  And even if He would never thank or reward them, they'd do it anyway, because they count Him worthy.  To the rest I think God says, "Find your excuse, and BE GONE!  Find your loophole, and OUT OF HERE!"
 
 I invite you to join us in finding this pearl of great price, polishing it up, living it and treasuring it.  We're trying to get back to what being a Christian used to mean.  We want to get back to the true Jesus.  It has brought a cross.  We've needed to leave all.  We've needed to leave our evangelical churches that we were a part of, our families and our friends.  "Wherefore we labor, that being present or absent, we might be accepted with Him."  (2 Cor. 5)  Spanish says, "pleasing to Him."
  
                  --Marcus                                             3-5-08

The Lie

Here is a message by our brother Johnathan Hopper.  He is a missionary, and lives in the Philippines with his wife Becky and two sons, Lincoln and Wyatt.

Have you ever been deceived?

Have you ever been lied to or deceived? All of us have been. The problem is we don't know it at the time, because most lies contain a certain amount of truth. This is why it is so difficult to know when we are deceived. What if you were deceived right now? How would you know? I suppose you wouldn't. That is the irony of deception, you don't know it. Let’s apply this to Christianity.

Suppose that someone told you, that in order to be saved you need to "accept Jesus as your personal savior", "believe in His work on the cross" and "receive His promises". Would you believe this; how would you know this wasn’t a lie? Right, we would compare it with scripture. If you wanted to find out if this was the truth or a lie you would simply need to consult the scripture to get to the bottom of it.

If you grew up like me, in the evangelical church you were probably taught something very similar to what was stated above in regard to salvation. This is because it is the accepted model, or teaching. What if we told you that the modern teaching of salvation was a lie, what would you do? Would you quickly close the browser and shrug us off as heretics?     Well, it is a lie and most professing Christians believe it.

The Lie

The New Testament talks about something called "the lie". We read about it in Romans 1.25 and II Thessalonians 2.11. What is the lie?  The first lie in the Bible was when Satan told Eve "you will not surely die". Or in common English he told her "You can go ahead and eat that fruit, there will be no judgment to follow". Perhaps Eve thought something like: "Yeah that’s right, God is loving and kind. He wouldn’t do anything like that to me". There it is... "The lie". The lie is..... "You can live any way you want"..... "You can make your own decisions”..... "You can sin; you won't die”..... "No judgment will follow".

What we want to do in this article is compare "the lie" with the modern "gospel" or salvation message. The modern Gospel is claiming to save men in their sins. However Jesus taught that man has to repent and make some serious changes before he can be right with God. 

The book of Jude tells us that there will be certain men who creep in unaware that will turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. A synonym of lasciviousness is loose living, lawlessness or disobedience. If we compare "the Lie" that Satan told Eve with the modern "gospel", we get a lot of striking similarities.

Lying to yourself

Is it possible that you could lie to yourself? You may think this is absurd, but have you ever seen an obese person dressed in an extremely tight pair of pants, or a young white male dressed up like a gang member, or perhaps a young lady dressed up like a movie star? These people want so badly to be attractive, tough or famous that they have learned to play pretend with themselves. People

In the same way let us suppose that someone has "received Jesus", they go to church, they have been baptized, they are involved in church activities and give tithes. As Christians we would never think to question this person's faith. Rather we would think this person is very faithful, but are all those things really what faith is? Does someone have faith because they have been baptized and go to church? The truth is anyone can do those things and not have any faith at all. Most people's "faith" is nothing more than make-believe. They are playing pretend with themselves like an obese person in a tight pair of pants.

How do you know you have faith? Because you believe you do? Because you believe God's promises are true? Do I have faith just because I believe I do? The Bible tells us, "By faith Abraham obeyed God". Did Abraham have faith simply because he acknowledged God's promise? Imagine that Abraham didn't leave his home, but he did believe in God's promise, he believed it so much that he went all around his hometown telling everyone about the wonderful promise God was going to give him. If this were the substance of Abraham's faith would he have received God's promise?  No... Because, "Real faith is my obedient response to God's demands on my life".

Even the demons believe

We are all familiar with John 3.16. It is one of the most popular verses the modern church uses to teach about salvation. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have ever lasting life"  When I was 7, I was told to believe that Jesus died on the cross, and rose again making Him God, and that if I believed this I would receive the promise of salvation. Is that really believing?

Let us suppose that my name is Earl and I drive a taxi. I pull up next to you in my taxi on a dark night and ask if you want a ride. Although you may believe that my name is Earl and that I drive a taxi, if you question my integrity and don’t get into my car do you really believe in me? No. If you believed in me you would have gotten into my taxi. Do you see the difference in the types of belief? Just because you believe my name is Earl and I drive a taxi doesn’t mean that you trust me to get you home.

We can think of belief in Christ in the same way. Just because we acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross, rose and resurrected doesn’t mean we believe in Him. The word believe means: to adhere to, to put one's trust in, to cling to, and to obey. Truly believing in Jesus is trusting in him, clinging to him, adhering to His words, and obeying them. Just because I believe He died on the cross and rose again doesn’t mean I trust in, cling to, and obey Him.

The Bible says "You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the devils believe and tremble". In other words, even the demons believe in Jesus and tremble at the thought of Him. Even the demons believe Jesus is the Son of God and that He was crucified on a cross, died and rose again making Him the Son of God. Even the demons believe in Christ. Do you see the lie in the way we are taught to believe? 

Twisted Grace 

Most of us are familiar with Ephesians 2.8. This is another popular scripture the modern church uses to "suave" people. ”For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast". The modern gospel has put a twist on this scripture. Like any good lie there needs to be some truth attached to it. It is true we are saved by grace, but what is grace

What do you think of when you hear the word grace? Unmerited favor, mercy, pardon, immunity? All of these things are what the modern gospel teaches about grace. We are taught that grace is God overlooking man's sin. We are taught it is something like a handicap in golfing. Sometimes when people of unequal ability golf together the person who is a better player will "handicap" himself or lower his score to allow the other person a winning chance. This is how we are taught about God's grace; it is Him lowering His righteousness because we aren’t able to achieve His standard.

To take the twist out of this, simply look at the Titus 2.11. "For the Grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." Does this scripture say that God's grace is unmerited favor, mercy, pardon or immunity? It does say that His grace is teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Do you see the difference? God's grace is doing the complete opposite of what the modern gospel is teaching. God's grace isn’t Him overlooking our sin; it is Him teaching us not to sin! It isn't Him looking over His shoulder when we sin. Grace is God teaching us to attain to His standard.

Romans 10.13

"For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" This is another popular scripture the modern gospel uses. Often they take this one scripture and use it by itself. I am not calling this scripture untrue. I am simply trying to weigh this single scripture against the rest of the New Testament.

"Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven". Mathew 7. 21.  Will simply calling on the Lord's name save us? Jesus said not all who call Him Lord will be saved. Is Romans 10.13 wrong? No, but if you weigh it against Mathew 7 suddenly it doesn’t mean what the modern gospel teaches it does. If this is all we do to be saved we will be greatly disappointed when we stand before Jesus and He tells us "Depart from me, you never did the will of the Father".

Many people call Jesus their Lord, but if we do not obey Him and His teachings our profession means nothing because He isn’t truly our Lord. If Jesus is our Lord He has to be the Lord of our lives. To give an example of this read Mathew 5.39. Jesus said if someone slaps you on one cheek we are to turn the other. If someone slaps you on one cheek what do you do...? If you hit the other person back is Jesus really your lord? Are you doing what He has commanded you to do? If Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek and we don’t, he isn’t truly our Lord.

The Upside-Down Gospel

The problem is the "modern church" has the Gospel upside-down. For example, when I was 7 years old I was "saved" and told I needed "accept Jesus as my personal Savior". I was told that Jesus died for me on the cross and gave His blood for my sins. I was told that if I accepted this and believed in it, then his blood would cover my sins. I did accept these facts and I did believe Jesus shed his blood for me. I had already been attending church at this time and would continue to go to church until I was 15 or 16. However when I was 14, I questioned whether I was saved. I knew I was walking in darkness. I knew sinned a lot. I asked my mother if God would save me even if I didn't live like a Christian. She told me,”Yes, salvation is a gift, it can’t be taken away". I still questioned. 

"But if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin"

1. If we walk in the light

2 We have fellowship one with another

3 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin

We all want to be saved. We all want to claim Christ’s Blood. However, Christ’s blood is conditional.
In order for Christ’s blood to cleanse us we have to walk in the light first. "If we walk in the light, then...” The modern Gospel turns this upside- down. It would teach...

1 The blood of Jesus Christ covers us from all sin if we just accept it (get saved)

2 We have fellowship with one another (come to our church) 

3 Clean up the bad things you do and straighten up (stop going to the)

Do you see how it’s upside down? We can’t claim Christ’s Blood until we walk in the Light. Walking in the Light isn't just stopping the really bad things we do. It is Repenting.

Another example of the "modern gospel" being upside-down is in Acts 26.17-18

"...to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to Light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me."

1 To open their eyes

2 To turn from darkness to light

3 From the power of Satan to God that they

4 may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance...

Do you see how it’s upside down? We can't receive the inheritance until we are forgiven. We can't be forgiven until we turn from Satan to God. We can’t turn to God's light until we turn from darkness. We can’t turn from darkness until we have our eyes opened.

The "modern gospel" would teach...

1 You already have the inheritance (you're already saved)

2 You're already forgiven (you just have to accept it)

3 Forget turning from Satan to God and from darkness to Light (this is never taught)

Jesus is telling us right here we have to do something in order to be saved, He cannot accept us "just as we are". We have to turn from darkness to light. We have to turn from Satan to God, so that we can receive forgiveness and the inheritance.

If you want to be saved you have to turn from Satan! You can’t be forgiven until you turn from darkness and repent! You have to have your eyes opened in order for any of this to happen! We cannot be accepted by Jesus as long as we choose to serve Satan. This was the Gospel Jesus gave to Paul. This is the Gospel in the simplest form. If what we preach does not align with this message it isn’t the Gospel.

The conclusion

The "modern church" is lying to people by telling them "you can live any way you want". This was the lie Satan told Eve: "Go ahead and sin. No judgment will follow. You won't die". The "modern church" is telling people the same message. The prophecy Jude gave to the Church has already been fulfilled and we are living in the fall-out of it. In other words, those certain men who will creep in unaware and turn God's grace into lawlessness. These men have already crept in and taken over

"The stone which the theologians refused"

Maybe you are familiar with the account in Mathew where Jesus tells the priests and elders of the Jews "the stone which the builders refused has become the chief Cornerstone".

Peter refers to this same scripture in Acts and tells the Jews again "the stone which the builders refused has not become the chief cornerstone, nor is there salvation found in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by whom we must be saved". Obviously this is talking about Jesus being unknown and rejected by the religion of His time.

Almost inevitably when salvation is taught Paul's teachings are preferred over the Gospels. We are taught to consult Luther and Calvin’s theology from the Epistles of Paul. The problem is Luther and Calvin failed to build they’re theology on Christ’s Gospels, they went to the book of Romans to build their foundational teachings, they went to Paul instead of Christ.

We don’t mean to downplay Paul’s by saying they aren’t the Word of God. Rather we are trying to communicate that Jesus is the teacher and Paul is the disciple. Paul derived his teachings from the Gospel, so what he is teaching must agree with Christ’s Gospel. If we create our own theology based on Paul’s writings we will create a disagreement between him and Christ. If we want to understand what Paul is teaching about salvation we must get a hold of what Jesus teaches first. On top of this some of the things Paul teaches are very complicated, even Peter said he wrote some things which are hard to be understood.

Jesus’ teachings on Salvation are very simple, very easy to get a hold of, but we ignore them because there is a Cross attached to them. They require us to yield, to conform, and to surrender to change. Luther and Calvin’s teachings seem deep and complicated, it takes going to a theological seminary to understand their teachings, yet Luther and Calvin’s teachings do not require anything of us. So in order to avoid the Cross of suffering and self denial we prefer Luther and Calvin over Christ. To this day Jesus is still "the stone the builders rejected".

"The Rejected Teachings"

• Mat 5.19 whoever does and teaches Jesus least commandments, think about it does, doing, carries out etc...
• Mat 7.21  he who does not do the will of the Father will not enter his Kingdom
• Mat 7.24 whoever hears Jesus sayings and does them has built his house on a rock and has hope in the storm.
• Mat 9.9 follow me, does this mean step in Jesus' foot prints or more logically, live like he did? 
• Mat 10.38 take up a cross, does Jesus have an actual cross to lay on our shoulders, no. But he does tell us if we will follow him we have to lose our life.
• Mat 12.50 whoever does the will of My Father is Jesus brother. Does does does does does does see the pattern? Doing is working, works to do the will of God, work makes it his desire, carries out Gods will. You aren't Jesus' brother unless you work....
• Mat 16.24-27 there’s the cross again, we have to lose our life, losing means I have to do something.
• Mat 21.28-31 this one is so clear nothing needs to be said...
• Mat 25.31-46 those who fed visited and clothed and cared for others went to heaven, those who did nothing went to hell, this is what Jesus says will happen to those who do nothing.
• Mat 28.20 we have to observe his commandments to be his disciples, observing means doing or carrying out.
• Mark 5.12 we have to repent to enter Gods Kingdom, if I do nothing have I repented?
• Mark 8.34-35 come after Jesus, is that doing nothing?
• Mark 11.25-26 if I want to be forgiven I have to forgive, if I do nothing I wont be forgiven
• Luke 1.77 remission of sins, remission doesn’t mean forgiveness, it means stopping like cancer going into remission, we have salvation by the stopping of sin, is stopping sinning doing nothing?
• Luke 3.8.14 John the Baptist told people to bear fruits of repentance, he told them "don't do nothing, and do something!" Then he tells each group of people what they have to do to repent. We could stop right here if we wanted to.
• Luke 6.46. This is what Jesus will say if you do nothing.
• Luke 8.15 the person who will bear fruit is the one who hears Jesus word and keeps it, does it does something with it.
• Luke 8.21 Jesus mother and bro and sis are those who hear and do Gods word, if you do nothing with Gods word you aren't Jesus mother sis or bro
• Luke 9.23-26
• Luke 11.28 those that hear and KEEP are blessed, is this doing nothing?
• Luke 12.31 Seek the Kingdom of God. Seeking is doing something.
• Luke 14.26-27
•  Luke 18.18-22 Jesus told this man if he wanted to have eternal life he had to do something, sell his things and follow!!
• John 3.3 you have to be born again before you can see or enter Gods Kingdom is being born again doing nothing? I guess this is the whole argument.
• John 3.21 he who does the truth, we have to do the truth to be born again.
• John 5.29 those who do evil will go to hell
• John 7.16 whoever wills to do the will of God 
• John 10.27 we follow
• John 12.24-26 
• John 14.15 we keep his commandments
• John 14.21 doing
• John 14.23-24 doing doing, doing, doing…

A Last Warning

Don't Judge me"  "Judge Not" 

This is the most quoted scripture in the world. People hate to be told that they are wrong. People hate to be told that they need to change. People hate it when their hearts are exposed, people hate Light.

"This is the condemnation that light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than Light because their deeds are evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved" John 3.17

The Cross, or Good Morals?

This is a letter Marcus wrote a couple days ago, to someone that doesn't see any difference between the Old and New Testaments.  But as you will see here, there's something far more important than understanding theology.  It's obeying the Lord.

Are there many modern churches that condone first-covenant type adultery, incest, murder, stealing, coveting, and dishonoring father and mother?  Yes, I believe there are some, but many more are very good and moral, yet they reject the higher standard of the new covenant.  They more or less keep the LETTER of the law - "Do not commit adultery", but they do not worry so much about Jesus' words, the spirit of the law, the real intent of the law, which is to not even commit adultery by looking on a woman to lust after her.

They do not commit old-covenant style murder, the letter of the law, but they still murder by getting angry because someone tramples their "rights".  Thus they reject the SPIRIT of the law, what God really wants, what He willed that the Mediator of the new covenant should tell us.
 
Yes, many modern churches are still basically moral, but they reject the SPIRIT of the law, which is the way of living Jesus taught us.  Another way of saying this is that they by-pass the way of the cross.  You see, Jesus knew that we would need to die to fulfill the spirit of the law, the new covenant.  You know, friend, that a man has to die to not look on a woman to lust after her, in this our day.  A man must die to not get angry when someone outright steals your favorite tool.  (I live in Mexico, but understand me, stealing doesn't only happen here.)  And you know a man must die to love his enemies, to love those that have done the most harm in his life.  That's why Jesus said if we don't take up our cross, that thing that kills us daily, we can't even be His disciples.  And that is what most good, moral churches bypass - the way of the cross.  It's dying, it's losing our lives, but if we do, you know what Jesus promises.
 
Just tonight a good moral evangelical family had supper with us.  José and Susa and their three girls.  They even try to dress more modest than the normal run, although their clothes are form-fitting and they like a little jewelry.  They were surprised we leave our courtyard door open all day and late into the night.  They told us about some stealing that went on in their neighborhood recently.  Of course we told them about our experiences getting things stolen, even when our patio door was closed, and how a dear little girl of the thieves' family innocently let the cat out of the bag about who did the stealing.  That made our visitors laugh.  Then I told them how we siezed the opportunity to make a cake and give it to that family, and pay them extra money for something we got from them, without mentioning the stealing.  We had done this because we simply wanted to do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us, and we wanted to heap coals of fire on their heads.  José and Susa just shook their heads, saying, "How hard" several times.  Susa said, "But that would just make you angry..."  I said, "And that's what has to die." 
 
You see, that family has considered themselves Christian for most of their married life, but they've never been shown the cross, that instrument of death.  And they pass for very good moral people. 
 
Do you understand these things?  I don't want to give the idea that I think I know it all.  We are learning.  But in trying to get back to simply following Jesus, these are some things we have learned.

              --Marcus                                                                             3-6-08

"Now You're Judging"

             Have you ever heard this?  Or maybe someone said, “Judge not,” or just, “Don’t judge!”  And it seems anyone who has any real concern that they’d like to express, loads their concern with disclaimers, like “I’m not judging, but I really don’t think that man is biblical.”  Or “who am I to judge her, but I didn’t think she was dressed very decently.”  Or perhaps when you ask someone for their opinion about someone’s words, actions or appearance, they just replied, “I don’t really know the person, so I can’t really say.”  Or have you ever heard a typical modern “Christian” try to make an observation, saying something like this:  “It seems like there’s such a fine line between not obeying the Bible at all, and obeying it and becoming a judge.”  Or maybe you’ve been given the idea that anyone who condemns sin has a holier-than-thou attitude, and a judging spirit.

             Let’s look at what Jesus says.  I think this is the only Scripture that most people have noticed, that talks about judging.  It says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”  Does that really mean, “Don’t make judgments about someone, so that you don’t ever get a judgment made about you?”  No.  Whether we’ve ever judged or not, we will be judged!  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,” 2 Cor. 5:10 says, “that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”   The Bible is FULL of this truth.  Whether or not we judge, WE WILL BE JUDGED.  Rev. 20 says, “The dead will be judged out of the things which are written in the books.” 

Okay, so Jesus must be talking about some other kind of judgment.  Let’s read on.  “For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”  Who is this “you”?  Who´s Jesus talking to?  Let’s read on.  “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”  Oh, this person has a BEAM in his eye!  Now, get to verse 5 – “Thou hypocrite!”  It’s a hypocrite that Jesus is talking to, someone carrying a big beam in his eye, trying to get a little speck out of someone else’s eye.  What’s the answer?  Quit judging?  What does Jesus say?  “First cast the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”  Quitting judging isn’t Jesus’ answer.  He is saying, “Quit judging like a HYPOCRITE!  Repent of being a hypocrite.  Get honest and single, and then help ME with this business of getting motes out of people’s eyes.  I don’t like them either.  I want a single eye that’s full of light, like I talked about in Matt. 6:22.”  

Is that not what Jesus is saying?  Let’s look some more at what He says to His people.  Just a few verses later, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”  (Matt. 7:16)  V. 17 – “Good trees bring forth good fruit; corrupt trees bring forth evil fruit.”  Is that easy, or is it hard?  Is it good to judge that way?  Or is it bad to judge that way?  It is good – This is a command of Jesus.  Verse 20 says again, in case we’ve forgotten it, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”  A fruit inspector?  Fruit judge? 

I remember when I was about 10 years old, my father took me on business to the fruit processing plant at Musselman’s Lucky Leaf, in Biglerville or Aspers, PA.  I distinctly remember a woman dressed completely in white, walking around with a notepad, taking samples of the fresh cherries in bins being unloaded by forklifts off the trucks.  She would carefully examine the fruit and jot notes down on her pad.  I remember her eyeing me for a moment, and then she got a large handful of wet, clean cherries and walked over to me and kindly deposited them in my hands.  I believe they were the best sour cherries I have ever eaten. 

Now I want to ask you a question.  Do you think the rest of the workers were casting dark glances at her and going around muttering angrily about “the judge”?  By no means!  She had a high office.  The forklift would stop when she needed to inspect a bin.  Everyone would make way for her and treated her with respect, it seemed, because after all, cherries need to be delivered to the CONSUMER in excellent condition.  It seems appropriate that she was dressed in white, too.  Do you see why I put the CONSUMER in capital letters?  It is Jesus – it is our Lord, who is looking for GOOD FRUIT.  He deserves good fruit from our lives, just like Musselman’s thinks the consumer deserves good cherries. 

But now, why do people start giving evil glares and ugly words to anyone who starts “dressing in white” (obeying the Lord), and “inspecting cherries” (judging the fruit of others) in the Christian world?  Jesus said this to his own brethren who DIDN’T believe on Him:  “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.”  (John 7:7)  He was a judge!  John 16:15 says, “They hated me without a cause.”  Being a judge is not a just cause for getting hated in God’s eyes, (unless you’re a hypocrite).  Jesus should have been treated with respect, like that fruit judge at Musselman’s.  And then He says this:  (John 16:2)  “Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord.  If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

“But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.” (v. 21)  They know not the CONSUMER – God.  V. 22 – “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.  But now they have no cloak for their sin.”  “He that hateth me, hateth my father also.” (v. 23)  He that hates a Christian that’s trying to do what Jesus says, and is inspecting the fruit of others, REALLY HATES GOD. 

    Now look at these verses:  “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  BUT HE THAT DOETH TRUTH COMETH TO THE LIGHT, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”  (John 3:18 – 20)  Look at that!  The true man INVITES the judge to come and inspect him, and he doesn’t care WHO God uses.  He loves God’s Word, and he welcomes the judge.  The next time you want to quote John 3:16, quote a bit further. 

If you call yourself a Christian, RECEIVE these words.  Look at Ephesians 5: 11- 13.  We’re commanded to reprove shameful things and works of darkness.  Verse 13 says, “But all things that are REPROVED (judged) are made manifest by the light.  For whatsoever doth make manifest IS light.”  Look what a high place words of reproof are given.  They’re called LIGHT.

 Here’s another: 1 Timothy 5: 24, 25 says, “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment: and some men they follow after.  Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.”  Some men WANT  their sins to be opened up by a judge NOW, but like the Spanish Bible says, “some men’s (sins) are discovered afterwards.”

Now, are you still uncomfortable with how freely I talk about us judging?  Look at Luke 12: 57.  “Yea and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?”  Can’t you judge for yourself what is right?  John 7:24 – “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”  Quit judging?  Or judge righteously?  Judge like God does. 

The apostle Paul asked this question in 1 Corinthians 6:2 – “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?  And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”

One time I was a part of a little congregation that didn’t have a pastor, we had the experience of having a man that we called a brother become a homosexual, with 4 or 5 different boyfriends.  We felt we should excommunicate him, since we were the ones that probably had the most fellowship with this man.  Another of the man’s acquaintances, a very concerned former friend of the homosexual, came and tried to lead us in excommunicating this willful sinner.  We had already reproved him, and he said he was not ready to repent yet.  But one or two of the men in this little congregation just didn’t think that we should take such a drastic step.  One said, “We don’t know what God is doing in his heart still.”  I just remember this leader friend bowing his head down and making a loud and bitter declaration, “THE CHURCH HAS LOST ALL JUDGMENT!”  That kind of jolted some of the rest of us to our senses, and we managed to agree on dismissing the one that was especially not in agreement, and excommunicating the homosexual.

The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5 that he had “judged already” concerning the fornicator.  Look at this command in Malachi 3: 18 – “Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”

Remember this: according to Matthew 7: 1-5, it’s hypocrites who judge unrighteously, and according to Luke 15: 56, 57, it’s hypocrites who do not judge! (“for themselves, what is right”, Jesus says.)

Are you worthy to judge righteous judgment?  Or are you unworthy?  After all, hypocrites mustn’t judge.  They judge to their own condemnation, and that’s what the “Judge not” in Matthew 7 is talking about.  Romans 2: 3 says, “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” 

But how is it in your life and in your church?  Are you continually bearing good fruit, and inspecting the fruit of others that say they are brothers?  Or are you letting some horrible, yucky, rotten stuff pass for good fruit?  Have you lost all judgment by listening too long to the twisted “judge not” message of the world?  What will the Judge that’s in charge of the final judgment say?

                                              --Marcus Rohrer        3-6-08

From Marcus to the saints scattered around the world