How Jesus reacts to us being unashamed

Many times we’ve said things to people and caused ourselves to have a bad reputation and mislead people in a wrong direction or been a bad example to others and also many times we’ve made mistakes and said things that we’ve regretted.  We’ve given out too much personal information and in the end it has caused us to be taken advantage of or to be hurt and to have regret, and sometimes when we’re corrected for our mistakes we take it very seriously to heart and it hinders us, but praise God He can make beauty for ashes, and joy for mourning, and He can take our mistakes and make it a blessing for someone else.

There is someone in the Bible who had a very good reason to be ashamed, and the very fact that she was written about in the Bible, says a great deal about Jesus and His nature, and how much He loves and He cares for people.    There is actually several examples of people in the Bible that God has used to show us the love of Christ.

Luke 8:

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. ⁴³ Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, ⁴⁴ came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”

When all denied it, Peter and those with him^[f] said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”^[g]

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” ⁴⁷ Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

This was a very courageous thing for her to do.  It could have been very humiliating for her, but she put her reputation at stake and just said boldly that she was “healed”.

This was a very personal thing for her, and something other people would have considered to be too much information.  But Jesus appreciated the fact that she was willing to lay down her pride and confess her healing.  It says that He was in a throng of people and they would have probably thought, “Who is this woman?  Why is she coming here to confess her healing.”  This woman risked her reputation to proclaim her healing before all.  She was very bold and she didn’t care what anybody else thought.
There is another woman who comes to mind,

John 8

³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught^[b] in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now Moses, in the law, commanded^[c] us that such should be stoned.^[d] But what do You say?”^{[e] 6} This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.^[f]

⁷ So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up^[g] and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience,^[h] went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰ When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her,^[i] “Woman, where are those accusers of yours?^[j] Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and^[k] sin no more.”

¹² Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

This woman had every right to be ashamed, and she was caught in sin, but instead of pointing out that sin, He restored her with a spirit of gentleness, and He did not condemn her for her sin.  She was caught in adultery, which is not a good thing, but He forgave her of all the iniquity and He restored her sense of love and belonging.

Part of the part of the sin problem from the garden of Eden is that we are left with a spirit of condemnation because we don’t go before God realizing that He can forgive us of our sin, and that He loves us.

Genesis 3

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹ Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat.”

Why would we hide from God who loves us so much?  Why would we hide from someone who showers us with His love?  Why would we hide from God?  Because of guilt.  They felt guilty and condemned.  We are in a place where are desperately seeking the way back to God, and the Presence of the Holy Spirit and the Garden.

We need to come closer to the Garden, but we have become so overwhelmed by the guilt that comes from the accuser.   It’s important to study the Word of God, and to follow the Lord’s leading.  Jesus reacts to us in a different way then we expect.  Even when He rebukes He gives something good followed with something that needs improvement, but then He always closes off with the good as to not leave someone left with discouragement but to give them a sense of hope and faith.

The faith of Christianity comes by believing in Christ as the Savior and it comes through personal revelation and not by man.  No one can teach you Christ, it comes through personal revelation and a choice to accept Christ, even though He has known the ones He is going to select to follow Him because He knows us so intimately.

There is some beckoning in the soul, to fill the void so empty in our hearts and that is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ died to save us and to bring us the Holy Spirit to show us how to live the Christian life.  He wants to restore our life, purpose and identity.  He wasn’t just a great Teacher.  He is the Author and Creator of our souls, and the Light of the world.  There are people in these last days that are bent on evil an destruction and taking advantage of people.  But our God is a God of justice, fairness, and equity among all people.  He takes all things into consideration before making a decision and when He makes a decision it is always right.  When we pay close attention we learn to feed off the Master.

Sometimes people, don’t know how to resolve the situation in your life and your problem, they take it out on you by making you feel guilty but we can see that Jesus was not like that and we can see that in the case of the woman caught in adultery.

So even though we’re a fellowship built upon Pastors, Teachers, Preachers, Evangelists, and the rest of the five fold ministry for us to grow we need to be mature enough to realize that the things we have prayed about over and over and over again that instead of seeking after their counsel, the best thing to do is to wait and to seek God, and pray about it, and to thank God for another.  One way or another you’ll learn.  Jesus is the best teacher, and He is the only one who can help you grow the best and when you completely put your trust in Him then you will be able to receive the discernment to what applies to you and what doesn’t apply to you because you are unique.  No two people are the same, and each of them have their unique flavor.  So the best person to advise you is Jesus and that is the voice you should listen to.  Otherwise you end up listening to conflicting messages.  It takes wisdom to know what people are like.  Once you get to know what a person is like, and how they work, and what your relationship dynamic is then you will be able to discern that if “I go to this person this way, this is how they will react.”

Jesus was the same way with people.  He knew that Peter would react differently than John and James.  He also reacted differently around women then men.  He knew and knows how to rebuke people and how to comfort them.  He knows us so intimately.  That’s what the Holy Spirit is there for to teach us how Jesus will be able to relate to us.  He knew us before we were created in our mother’s womb.  He knew everything about us and He knew what we would be going through, so there is no reason to be ashamed with Jesus, but when it comes to other people there are some things that you can tell them, and some things you can’t tell them.  Many times too often we have fallen into traps where we’ve done or said some things we’ve regretted because we just didn’t have the wisdom, and Jesus says foolishness is sin, but the nature of Jesus says He will examine our hearts and see what will get us in trouble.  Sometimes the painful experiences will shape us into who God will want us to be, and we know that God protects us and has our very life in our hands.  Maybe God can see things we can’t and how it has affected us.  Maybe there is something that affects someone else somewhere and that is what you should and shouldn’t do.  There are often mistakes and when you learn from them you learn from your mistakes.  We cause a lot of damage by making foolish choices and hurting innocent people.  We pay the consequences for actions even the ones done in ignorance, but thank God He is faithful to forgive us.

Prophetic Word for the Season

As the nation waits for a President, and the world is in turmoil and how the body of Christ is in trials and tribulations…there is a Word for the Season of “Turning the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the hearts of the children back to the fathers.”

1 Timothy 2 says –

2 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, ⁷ for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ^[a] and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Men here applies to men and women as the term mankind.  I believe there is a reason why there is such spiritual battle going on around.  These are the birth pangs, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and we need to be ready for Jesus Christ to come home soon.  Some of you may be going through hard circumstances and trials and tribulations and that is because the kings, Presidents and Leaders of the nations need to be prayed for.  Have you ever wondered why the nation is suffering as much as it is right now.  How many of us Church have prayed, I too being guilty of this as often for our President, instead we do all the name calling and pointing fingers, but the Bible clearly says we are to pray over our kings.  How else can they lead a nation?  We must pray for all leaders everywhere so that they may come to the knowledge of the Truth, and their salvation, even though the times that we are in and expecting to see Jesus coming soon, but the time is coming and everything is accelerating.  People are being called into lives of holiness and sanctification to be ready for the King when He comes.  We no longer want to be outer court people.  This takes more time reading the Word and more time praying and interceding.   Do not neglect the calling to pray for a revival even when times are difficult because we need a revival in this last days.  We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that the saints can preach the Gospel with power.  The word for the season is to turn the heart of the fathers back to the children and the children back to the fathers so that this generation who has a calling and is the last generation before Christ comes, can finish the work of the preaching of the Gospel.  Yes we may have long term dreams, visions, and plans, and we must be prepared for Jesus coming soon.  We must not neglect our calling, dear blog evangelists, and even if we’re not that skilled in the Word we must not forsake our calling.  We must persist and endure, and be weary of what we preach.  This generation is a generation that is lost and  hurting, in frustration and deceived and lost in the cares of the world, and Jesus is the answer to their salvation.  The problem the Church is facing is that people once they are saved the they have a one way ticket to heaven without any troubles, and that’s not what Jesus promises in His Word.  In His Word He says, “In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer because I have overcome the world.”

Fathers need to take their position and lead by godly example and children need to obey their fathers.  We’re talking about earthly fathers as well as spiritual fathers.   Time is getting shorter so it is time to step to the plate.  We can have future plans but we must respect that time that we are in and watch for the signs of His coming, and we must pray and most of all take up courage and endure.  We might be caught in difficult circumstances, but the hope is that if we pray then things can change.  The Word of God says that if “a nation changes its mind and repents, then God will remove it’s judgment from them.’  Even if we do not have that much knowledge of the Bible, or have been caught up in the snares of religiousness, we must remember that we have a duty and calling to preach the Gospel without fear and bear the cost whatever that might be.
The Gospel is that Jesus died to save us from our sins and that He rose again and He loves us passionately and He comes to redeem us from the darkness that surrounds us.  We must be quick to repent and we must pray like never before.  Whenever one member of the body of Christ is hurting they are all hurting.
Heavenly Father,

We come before you and we repent for our neglecting to pray and to read Your Word, and we come before You and seek Your face for this is the season for seeking Your face, and for knowing You and going to the Next Level.  Prepare our hearts before You and circumcise our hearts an purge our hearts and our consciences of all sin, and remove all iniquity from before us, and like with the tares remove all the deceptive lies and twisted doctrines, false teaching from before us and help us to grow in the unity and likeness of you.  Help us to be bold and courageous to speak Your Word without fear.  Help us to live godly examples, and to help deliver us.  Pour out Your Spirit upon us so that we may have signs, miracles, and wonders, and most of all a transformed heart so that people may go and believe that You sent us and that we may be a testimony.  Help strengthen our faith and speak with courage and to endure these times of trouble as was never seen before.  Help prepare America for Presidential Election and the nation for the Election.  Give wisdom to the leaders in Israel.  Speak to Your People and align us with Your Holy Spirit and let the latter rain fall down so we may experience the power, of the Holy Spirit among mankind.  Help us to grow in You in Jesus Mighty Name I pray, Amen.

Going over hurdles

This Christian walk is a race like Paul says: 1 Corinthians 9:4 –

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

Hebrews 12:1-

[ The Race of Faith ] Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

We all know that Olympics are going on just about now.  Sometimes during the Olympics they run hurdles, as they do at other track events.
I wasn’t very good at hurdles, but they can definitely be a part of life that we need to overcome.  We as Christians are supposed to be overcomers.

I don’t know how many of you have actually ran with hurdles, but it takes the strategic balance of running fast and the coordination of lifting up your knees over the hurdles.  After you have passed the challenge of running a regular 25 yard or 50 yard dash, then the next thing that they might put you on is hurdles.
James 1 says:

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

¹² Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

We are running the marathon race of life in which there are many hurdles.   Many people running a marathon get weak during the final stretch, and precious saints we are in the final stretch before the Lord Jesus comes to judge the righteous and bestow punishment upon the wicked who revel in their sin.   Those that hold on to their faith despite whatever challenges come their way, will receive the crown of life.  What a blessed reward to receive from the Lord, and that we all cast down at His feet when our race is through.  Sometimes hurdles are just hurdles, and sometimes hurdles are much more than hurdles and may actually feel like a wall that you have to crawl over.  But Praise Jesus He has the dunamis which is where we get the word “dynamite” power to go break down that wall that is keeping you from pursuing Him, and going after Him.

At this time I want to encourage those that don’t know the Lord, that may be involved in sins such as adultery, fornication, witchcraft, idolatry, or anything else that you know in your heart of hearts is not right, but you do not want to give it up because it has overaken you, God is a just and merciful God who is slow to anger, and quick to forgive for those who come to Him and turn to Him, but you must take this take this seriously, and not just hit the “like” button on the post.

Heavenly Father,

I know I am a sinner, I know how flawed and imperfect I am and that I fall short of Your perfection and holiness because I know You are the light of this world, and if I cannot stand to be in the presence of the sun, then how can I stand to be in the Presence of You who are brighter then the sun?  I thank You for Your Precious Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for my sins and washed me with His precious blood and cleansed me with His righteousness and He His holiness and His grace which overlooks all my sin and gives me a brand new start.  I ask You to do the life changing work in my life and give me a brand new start and I choose to leave behind all forms of wickedness behind and choose to take up Your life and Your Cross in my life.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Words we speak

 

This man has an amazing testimony, with some sound Biblical teaching on the words we speak with a call to repentance and salvation because the days are getting shorter before Jesus comes back.  It’s worth taking the 40 minutes to hear.  This man is Filipino so for those that are from that area you might want to check this video out, and it preaches a powerful message.  Praise to be God for men, like him, who have experienced the life changing transformation of Christ in their life.  I believe this will encourage you, dear bloggers.

Heaven, Hell, Jesus, and the Bible

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”  Matthew 24:35

Today on ABC – Barbara Walters repeated an interview about Heaven and Hell with many celebrities and well known figures and some not well known figures about about Heaven and Hell.

The Bible says –

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend^[a] it. (John 1:1-5)

There are so many theories and speculations about what heaven and hell     This is what is called man’s wisdom.  You cannot find out about Heaven or Hell or God by watching an interview.  Yes it may be entertaining, but in reality we are all searching for what is the Truth?

The Bible makes it clear – Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Life.

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because^[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.- Matthew 7:13-14

An explanation of Heaven as it is known in the Bible –

1) First Heaven – the sky or firmament

2) Second Heaven – what we like to call outer space

3) Third Heaven – is something we cannot see where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and is described in the Book of Revelation and also in the book of Ezekiel.

I cannot argue Heaven or Hell or Jesus with someone who does not take an act of faith and come to the point that all of life is meaningless without Jesus.  This takes the Holy Spirit to reveal who Jesus is.

You cannot get to Heaven by being a good person – because none of us are good.  Nobody, no one, not anyone anywhere is good, there is no one.  Whatever good you think you may have done it is nothing.  You cannot earn a place into Heaven by doing good deeds.  It takes the life changing influence of Jesus Christ as the only way to inherit eternal salvation or the right to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because there is no one righteous not even one.  Whatever good deeds or rituals or ceremonies that we have done, nothing will enable to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because it was only purchased through the Blood of Jesus.  He took the worlds sins, and yes everyone sins everyday.  No matter what man or angel or any other being from heaven or on earth says –  Jesus is superior to them all, and He is the only way to the Heavenly Father, who is so bright that looking at Him could kill you because His power is an uncountable more times than electricity.  In fact in the Old Testament He revealed Himself as a cloud by day and fire by night, and even if you’ve been the worst thunderstorm you cannot begin to understand the magnitude of the God of the Bible.  The only way to know this God is through Jesus Christ, and it takes a personal revelation from Him, Himself to you so you can go ahead and watch all the interviews of all the people, but in the end, you are going to have to take an act of faith and search out God for yourself.

I found Jesus through renouncing Hinduism because of heavy demonic activity.  In fact the only thing that saved me from insanity was the prayer of a friend to the Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus.  Before that God was so distant and far away.  Now He’s so close and He gives me revelation of who He is.  He is a God of love, compassion, of Holiness.  Nobody is perfect, I don’t care who you say you are – whether you’re Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, or Mother Theresa, unless you have Jesus your works don’t mean anything.  It’s only after you’ve been saved, and this is a daily practice of believing in Jesus, working out your salvation with fear and trembling or awe and reverance and then portraying the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, which is Jesus and also the Bible revealed through the Holy Spirit and a daily repentant heart and turning away from your sin with the Help of the the Holy Spirit.  Unless you have Jesus you always find other things, other idols, be it money, pleasures, signficant others, and something else to satisfy, but Jesus is the Bread of Life, and whoever eats of Him will not hunger or go after things that don’t really matter in life.

There are 10 commanments:

You shall not have other gods

You shall not make any graven images

You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain

You shall observe the Sabbath (Saturday)

You shall“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s belongings or wife or husband.

Most of those have broken those things, but lets say you haven’t.  There are 603 others, and you would not be able to fulfill them at all, that’s why Jesus had to become the curse of the Law. When you believe in Him, you are released from the Law, and the curse of the Law, but then you have to follow the Holy Spirit, who lives in your heart and gives you that tugging feeling to let you know whether you want to accept Him or not.  If you experience that tugging feeling in your heart, and you want to accept Jesus into your heart because He is the one who will comfort you when you cry, He is the one who holds your hand, He is the one that is always with you when you are down, and He forgives you because He died for you.  No other person died for you.  Yes other people died, but He is the only one that died specifically for you, and for the rest of the world just so that He would have a relationship with you and even if you were the only person on earth He would have died for you.  Not only did He die for you in a gruesome horrible death and was buried in a dark tomb,  but He actually showed up physically after He died, and ate, then went up to Heaven, the real Heaven.   This is not something that can be thought with the mind, it is something that is revealed in the heart and it takes a risk of faith to say, I choose to accept You Lord as my Savior. He and I are not going to force you to believe, we can just warn you, but the thing is that don’t be afraid that if you don’t believe you will go to Hell, but go to Him because of this awesome love and forgiveness of everything that you’ve ever done.  We all have this trash in our lives that He has to take out, and He is willing to give you a brand new start and a clean slate, and wipe it clean, and whatever chalk stains you get on the blackboard of life, He is willing to wipe them clean every day if you say,  “You know what I am wrong in this.”  He will teach you lessons and He will speak to you through His Word.  This is special.  I didn’t have this before I knew Jesus.  Before I knew Jesus and I mean really knew Jesus I was searching for things that could not satisfy.  It’s  a process of life that we have to work at, but Jesus helps us everyday and you are never alone.

You really don’t know how long you have, so be prepared.  Jesus is coming any time soon, and whoever reads this, if you feel a conviction to believe in Jesus say,

Heavenly Father,

I know that I am a sinner, and I know that I cannot live life except without your grace, and I have done many things wrong in my life, but I would like to know You and this God who can change my heart and turn me into a new creation, and work with me to wipe my slate clean everyday and walk with me through life during all the hard times, and all  the rough times, so that we may go through this journey alone and that I can learn to trust in You.  I want to experience Your Love, and Joy, and Peace, in a world that just seems to be falling apart.  You know how many times I have failed, and You have been there to pick up the pieces even though I couldn’t see it.  I want to accept You as my Savior and regardless of what happens to me, I want to serve You.  Teach me how to fall desperately in love with You and help work to refine and change me to be more and more like You everyday.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

If you want more information – go through my blog, there are a lot of articles and a lot of information, and also you can reply to this blog, but be sure to use the word Jesus.

A little bit of the book of Jonah in all of us

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been finding a little bit of Jonah in myself.  I think sometimes we Christians can behave a lot like Jonah given our circumstances.

Jonah’s Disobedience

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” ³ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Interestingly enough, I found this passage title to be “Disobedience”.  That is the beginning of all of our problems.  When God initially tells us not to do something, and we don’t listen.  Unforgiveness is an area where we can be disobedient to the Lord.  Also doing all the little things He tells us not to do can be considered being disobedient to the Lord.  Some Christians know they are not supposed to do things like drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, go to nightclubs, watch soap operas, but they do it anyway because something inside our carnal nature just wants to rebel.  It’s in all of us.  The amazing thing about Jonah is that he had the Presence of the Lord with him, and then he decided to leave and turn away.  Some of us may be experiencing great things in the Presence of the Lord in our church and when times get tough we may be tempted to pull away.

⁴ The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to ^[a]break up. ⁵ Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the ^[b]cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it ^[c]for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. ⁶ So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

Doesn’t this story sound familiar?  This is exactly what happened with Jesus on the boat.  The storm was raging and He was still asleep.  There must be something about security in the Lord that allows you to fall asleep during the worst of circumstances.  I remember when Hurricane Ike hit Houston.  It was pummeling the roofs, and it was one of the worst ones we’ve had that caused a lot of damage, but it wasn’t as bad as Katrina.  Well I was rattled by the storm, and my dad, who was and is an unbeliever slept through it.  If an unbeliever can do that, how much more can we who have faith sleep through the literal storms, and the symbolic storms in our life.  It’s easy when things are going well.  But when things are hard it’s hard to have that faith that everything is going to turn out for good.  Jonah was even out of the Presence of the Lord, which is why he was getting them into trouble.  Sometimes when we are disobedient, we can cause the ship of local church to be in turmoil.  It is also a reminder that if you’re considering switching churches, then, what can happen, when you do.

⁷ Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may ^[d]learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “ Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” ⁹ He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “^[e]How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ¹¹ So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm ^[f]for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm ^[g]for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” ¹³ However, the men ^[h]rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. ¹⁴ Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.”

¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

So here Jonah makes his declaration that he is the reason that they are in the boat because he fled from the Presence of the Lord.  This is what Adam and Eve did as well.  When we have that Presence of the Lord upon our lives (which comes through living a repentant life and worship and the Truth of God’s Word) we shouldn’t leave it at any cost.  We shouldn’t let our unforgiveness be an issue and we should choose to let our anger, bitterness, resentment, and all the things in our heart that are keeping us away from God, not be an issue in our lives anymore.

^17 [i]And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

This is the stomach of the fish that Jonah was in.  Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.  Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights and then He was and is risen.  Sometimes we feel like we are dead and stuck, and we are in the same place.  We don’t think that we are going to get out of it, and then a miracle happens. But during those times we cry out in distress and in pain so that we can see a deliverance from our problems.

2 ^[a]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, ² and he said,

“I called out of my distress to the Lord,

And He answered me.

I cried for help from the ^[b]depth of Sheol;

You heard my voice.

³ “For You had cast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the current ^[c]engulfed me.

All Your breakers and billows passed over me.

⁴ “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from ^[d]Your sight.

Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

⁵ “ Water encompassed me to the ^[e]point of death.

The great deep ^[f]engulfed me,

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

⁶ “I descended to the roots of the mountains.

The earth with its bars was around me forever,

But You have brought up my life from ^[g]the pit, O Lord my God.

⁷ “While ^[h]I was fainting away,

I remembered the Lord,

And my prayer came to You,

Into Your holy temple.

⁸ “Those who regard ^[i]vain idols

Forsake their faithfulness,

⁹ But I will sacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving.

That which I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation is from the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Look at the prayer that Jonah made.  He said what misery that he was in and he knew the Lord’s power.  That’s a key to answered prayer.  To recognize and be truthful about your situation.  He also offered up thanksgiving, which some people say should be at the beginning but it actually takes place at the end. I am not sure if Nineveh or Tarshish is the place that Jonah is talking about in his prayers but I am assuming it is Nineveh.  This place that Jonah hated so much was full of idols according to him.  Sometimes we get caught up in a place that is full of idols.  We just want to see them leave and we get so bitter and angry even in our prayers, that we don’t see that God still loves them. Sometimes we ourselves get caught up in our own idols

Nineveh Repents

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was ^[a]an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. ⁴ Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶ When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ^[b]ashes. ⁷ He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. ⁸ But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let ^[c]men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in ^[d]his hands. ⁹  Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would ^[e]bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Sometimes we are so on top of the world and that we have achieved to new levels and new heights and we think we are great and may have taken God for granted not realizing how much we need Him and how much we have drifted away and that is when we become overthrown.  Then we begin to believe in God, and we may go through periods where even food is not as important as God and we cry out.  If you’ve never lived a day where you are so hungry, then you really don’t know what it is like to be fasting.  The king said, “Do not let beast, herd, or flock taste a thing.  Do not let them eat or drink water.”    Can you imagine that – not being able to eat or drink water.  It’s almost like having the stomach flu, but this didn’t happen by chance, it was voluntary.  Can you imagine the suffering. They repented by fasting and turning from their wicked way, which God changed His mind about them.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. ² He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this ^[a]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore ^[b]in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my ^[c]life from me, for death is better to me than life.” ⁴ The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

So then Jonah, was like – “I had to go through all that for nothing – for no good reason.  I had known as much to begin with, and I had to go through all that.  It wasn’t worth it.  It’s better off if I died”  God was not pleased with Jonah’s attitude.  God was looking for a good reason to be angry.  In his mind he was thinking what he went through would have been better off if they hadn’t repented.  If they had just stayed the way they were.

⁵ Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of ^[d]it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God appointed a ^[e]plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was ^[f]extremely happy about the ^[g]plant. ⁷ But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. ⁸ When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “ Death is better to me than life.”

Sometimes we get so stressed out by different things and different things come our way and we just don’t know how to handle it.  Sometimes we find little satisfaction in temporal things for comfort but when they are not working we get discouraged.  Sometimes we like our car so much and it gives us joy and freedom and then it gets totalled then we get so discouraged.   Sometimes God provides shade, but then He removes it too.  Don’t you think Jonah would have gotten out of his predicament if He said a prayer like “Thank You Lord for the awesome sun who shines upon the heat during the day.  Great is the Lord who created the sun, and deliver me from this heat.”  We might tend to think that it is like the Amalekites, or the devil that attacks us at our weakest, but sometimes it could be God trying to teach us a lesson.  We don’t rely upon God and his goodness and what he has done for us.  Jonah had been rescued out of the fish.  That was a big deal!!!  Imagine just all no air and you can’t breathe, but then you get delivered and don’t you believe that the God who did before can do it again.  We too often become like Jonah.  God used this reminder to show Jonah to sympathize with what the Ninevites were going thorugh.

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^[h]came up overnight and perished ^[i]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

The lesson that God was trying to teach Jonah and all of us is compassion.  There are so many lessons in this book of Jonah.  When a city comes to repentance, God spares the city.  When we come into repentance God spares our lives.  This shows the mercy of God and His immense compassion.  We often see God in the Old Testament as wrathful and strict and showing Judgment, but in this example it shows us that He is still merciful and kind and loving.  That He loves us immensely, and He wants to show us compassion.  Sometimes when we are angry with someone and we can’t seem to see the big picture and the whole situation God uses circumstances and speaks to us regarding certain issues so that we can live out the characters He wants to see us develop.

 

 

New Seeds Are Available

Although this message was made in 2011, it is still applicable this year or any year.  When it seems like all your dreams are crushed and destroyed, and there is no hope for your dreams, God still has seeds for you.

Initial Error of Balaam

If you’ve never heard the story of Balak and Balaam which God talks about in Revelation and in Numbers, and it is a pretty interesting one and in many ways, some of us believers are acting like Balaam, without even realizing it.

Numbers 22:

22  Then the sons of Israel journeyed, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.

² Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³  So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel. ⁴ Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this ^[a]horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. ⁵ So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the ^[b]River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me. ⁶  Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too ^[c]mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to ^[d]defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and ^[e]repeated Balak’s words to him. ⁸ He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as the Lord may speak to me.” And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹ Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, ¹¹ ‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹² God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” ¹³ So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ The leaders of Moab arose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵ Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more distinguished than ^[f]the former. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me; ¹⁷ for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸ Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “ Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the ^[g]command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me.” ²⁰ God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do.”

²¹  So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab.²² But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him.

Notice how it says God first says to Balaam not to go, and then the implication says it is ok for him to go.  Then God gets angry with him.  Why is that?  That is because He is testing him if he will do the right thing.  But God knows that the heart of mankind is decietfully wicked so He knew He wasn’t going to do it.

Now I’ve had a sermon on this preached to me before in my Church and the sermon was called “Obedience Like A Donkey”.  I’ve only had one other time that the Lord reminded me of this verse and I quickly repented, but I don’t know if I changed what I did.

Here’s my story, using a personal example.  I was idolizing a television pastor, who was used to “ease my conscience” when I sinned, and I had the Lord tell me in an indirect way, several times, there was a conviction in the spirit, that maybe I shouldn’t be watching this preacher, and even though what they were teaching was Biblical, the theological doctrine was corrupted.  I had my spiritual mentor in the Church, tell me not to watch this person, because they will only bring me down, and because I was trying to pursue Jesus, this person became an idol for me, and I did not want to give up watching their television show because it made me feel better.  Instead of reading the Word of God for myself, which all teachers and preachers of the Word of God tell you to do, I decided to get spoon fed, and it was like a staircase model, where I was on the top of a staircase and this person who was at a lower level, and had less skill and training and personal experience, brought me down.  There were other issues going on for a while, and when I needed to have my conscience clear and my faith strengthened, everything around me began to fall, and I had literally been brainwashed into thinking what all these television preachers were saying and getting confused with corrupt teachings, until I finally came to repentance and said “enough is enough”  but by then it was too late, I had passed my three day limit of not reading the Word of God for myself, and my life began to spiral downward.  There was still growth, and I know God has a plan and purpose for everything and He can make good out of bad.  So I learned, “When God says ‘NO!!’ He means ‘NO!!”.  During this time I was still writing on my blog and doing things, but I realized, that my spiritual life had to get back on track because of my conscience.  At that point, I had difficulty receiving from the Holy Spirit.

This is the same thing I learned when I posted “Obedience is more important than Grace.”  God has been teaching me how to hear His voice, and after many sleepless and tearful nights, I decided to change my priorities, but now I have to climb back up to where I used to be and maybe that’s the toughest part of sanctification process is that if you don’t accept it, you can be thrown out of the purging process and out of God’s revealed will for your life and it can be very destructive.  But a new season is coming for all of us.  God has not changed, what has worked in the past will work again, and there is nothing new under the sun.  Let the reader understand.  I hope you guys learn from the mistake of Balaam and be obedient to the Lord the first time, especially when you  are debating in your mind, “I want to do this, but then I also don’t want to do this.  I don’t know what to do.”  As you become mature you will learn.  A good question to ask, is how is this going to benefit anyone other than me?  Does this appeal to my senses, or make me feel like I can get “away with it” if I do it.  Idols are very destructive, and they can lead you to a downward spiral, and especially when people seem to let you think that disobedience is ok, when it is not ok, then you should be warned not to repeat it. Television preachers sometimes make themselves a target for idolization, even if it is not their intention, but is usually the case with the media industry.  So message for today is “beware of idols”  – and “beware of disobedience” there is also a sermon on my Church’s website called, “Idols in Your Backseat”.  Although in this passage the first instruction that God has is usually the best, and if you put yourself in the middle God can answer you to your own desires even if it is not his will.

 

 

 

Dangerous teachings about repentance

Repentance is a very sensitive issue in the body of Christ, and there is a way in which the message of the Gospel of Christ should be spread as not to harm the people.  We know we are to speak messages of repentance, which leads to sanctification, but the purpose of dying to yourself is not supposed to taken literally.  God loves you.  He created you and He knit you together in your mother’s womb.  For born again believers who are all at various stages of growth and some of them have reached a certain level of maturity and been through things where they can go and teach these kind of things, but you have to as one preacher said speak the truth in love.  You can speak the truth which is the Word of God, but you can be so harsh that it becomes unhealthy for the person, and they may be so desperate for God when they listen to you, and to see miracles happen in their life, and to have that implication that God doesn’t love them, and that God didn’t come to bring life and life more abundantly and that crush and wound the spirit so much.  There is a distinction between godly sorrow and sorrow of the world, but in the Church this line is getting thinner because people are getting so harsh, and yes there are people that need to change their lives, but when they are going through difficult times as we are going through now, we need messages of hope.  Millions of people are committing suicide everyday and some of them might even be Pastors, and yes some of them can’t live with their sin, and it’s so sad because God wants people to love, appreciate, and enjoy their life to their full.  Godly sorrow does not mean you hate your self, and you want your self to die, but there is a distinction between the flesh, soul, and spirit that needs to be drawn.  When you have these difficulties arising in times of crisis, and yes we do need to point out the laws for doing what’s right, but the greater Law is the Law of Love, and how much you love others.  Jesus said love God, and love your neighbors as you love yourself, so loving yourself is out of balance.  You might love God with all your heart, but if you don’t love yourself, then you can’t love your neighbor, so teaching people that the self is evil is very dangerous.  There is a method in preaching which involves understanding the makeup of a human mind, which will be transformed into God’s will, purpose and action, in a way that there is a sense of hope, encouragement, faith, and boldness, in knowing that godliness brings life to a person, and does not destroy the person, because the thief comes, to steal, kill, and destroy.

Now God may be testing your faith in some trials and obstacles, but when you need words of encouragement in the Body of Christ, you are sometimes bombarded with teachings about repentance, that don’t come to realize, that is a very slow process, and does not happen in an instant, and it is a life long process, that God takes one day at a time.  When you seek out God’s Word, first, and there will be obstacles, believe me, in trying to study God’s Word, but if all you can do is chew on God’s Word, and meditate on it, ruminate on it, and best of all don’t let people try to talk you out of this three part love cord, that you want not to be broken.  You want to see the best in people and it makes it hard when people you trust are crushing blow you down in the soul.  God is a restorer of the mind, and He binds up what has been broken, and he heals what has been hurt, but when people preach about this strict self denial it can defeat the purpose of God.  Paul said in Ephesians 6 that we are supposed to have the Gospel of peace,

Ephesians 6:15 talks about the Gospel of peace –

which is the word eirene in Greek and here is the meaning for it:

5) of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is

Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for eirēnē (Strong’s 1515)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 8 May 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=G1515&t=KJV >

People are going through a lot of stress these days, and need to learn that God loves them, and when calling people to repenting for their sins, it is wise to speak the words very carefully and to analyze your audience.  If you have a television ministry, and you know many people are watching, you can cater the message in a way with your speech seasoned with salt, and if your salt loses its savor, then what can it be savored with?

Colossians 4:6 says –

Let your ⁵²¹⁶ speech ³⁰⁵⁶ [be] alway ³⁸⁴² with ¹⁷²² grace ⁵⁴⁸⁵,seasoned ⁷⁴¹ with salt ²¹⁷, that ye may know ¹⁴⁹² how ⁴⁴⁵⁹ ye ⁵²⁰⁹ought ¹¹⁶³ to answer ⁶¹¹ every ¹⁵³⁸ man ^1520.

Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for ‘”seasoned” AND “with” AND “salt”‘ in the KJV”. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 8 May 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?
Criteria=seasoned+with+salt&t=KJV >

So when teaching about repentance, I urge Pastors out there not to be so hard on them that it breaks their spirit, because with a worried, anxious, stressed, and depressed soul, which comes from the enemy trying to use people, even anointed pastors and teachers, and preachers of the Word of God it can become unhealthy and defeat the purpose of God.  Bring restoration and not condemnation.

For those people that are living in sin, won’t get convicted anyway because they don’t realize what they have done wrong, and those people who are born again, will go into a downward spiral when you begin to speak words of death into their lives that make them devalue who God created them to be.  We are sons of the King and we need to be treated as such, and not as worthless sinners, who are good for nothing.  We need to be treated with respect, and courtesy and kindness, and when you know there are times when you will be tested on what you might say to someone whether you are a minister who is leading people or whether you are a person who is being served under a minister or leader, restrain your mouth from speaking evil, and when you have spoken evil, God will forgive you and turn it around for good, but just as with wounds of the soul, they take time to heal, but the enemy’s plan is to keep you constantly down and defeated and discouraged so that you cannot see the light, and that’s the last thing you want.  So bring hope and treat all of God’s people as sons of the King.  When you have a grievance with someone then forgive them, and if it still bothers you then seek counsel and support from others because the Church, the Body of Christ, is a Body where we are all growing and learning how to seek the Lord and to nurture and grow in health, and the last thing we want to see is someone so crushed and vexed in their soul, because of abuse. But hey, if God can work through Joyce Meyer and Paula White, who went through abuse and hardship in their lives, then God has surely found a way out for you, and teach you from your own life experiences and the way He has finally created you to be the shining example of who you are in the Body of Christ.   Also you need to keep in mind that for people who haven’t learn to dig their own well, or in speaking terms, study the Bible for themselves, then the best thing you can do is use wisdom on how to feed them, and have more Word and less you, that is how to really bring more of Christ in your life.  You don’t need to explain it to them, they understand, now if you are exhorting someone the body of Christ in general, with a correction, then realize that some babies or immature Christians can’t eat steak.  It is wise to measure the consistency of the food you are feeding to the people at a time.  You want to give them enough to chew on and meditate on for the day, and when they have come to spiritual growth, then you will be able to bring in more meat as God allows, but even that must be seasoned with salt.

 

 

 

 

Dangers of being a false teacher

I would like to start off this post by saying that whatever you hear from anyone whether it be me, or your pastor, or anyone on the pulpit, search out the Scriptures and be like the Bereans instead of the Thessalonians and with the instruction and guidance of the Holy Spirit search out things for yourself.  When I was reading this chapter in the Bible – 2 Peter 2 – I had to come into real repentance and at the end of this post there is going to be a prayer for anyone who has misled the congregation, or has failed to see things in a proper light, or whose sins have led people astray or led people to be abused and victimized by their words or actions.  This is my way of a public confession.  Now I know that God does not see my sin, and He sees me as righteous and perfect and holy, but I am also responsible because I am a leader by means of this blog and the people that read it, and I don’t want this to weigh on my conscience in the future if I haven’t come to the Cross and laid my mistakes and failures all down and let Jesus restore and pick up the pieces wherever I have gone wrong and cleanse me with His Blood.  This is also a reminder to those people who are called to be teachers for Christ, that they don’t get pulled away into becoming false teachers or prophets.  Keep yourself on guard against these things:

 Destructive Doctrines

2 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does^[a] not slumber.

Doom of False Teachers

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; ⁷ and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— ⁹ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, ¹¹ whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

I’d like to stop here for a second – How many of us including myself, have spoken something bad about some pastor along the time?  How many times have we spoken evil against someone who is in a Church elder?  There are people out there who have abused their position of authority and participated in lustful and abusive acts – there were men who abused the young girls and quoted the Bible for reasons why they should do it.  There are men and women that have led the pulpit but denied their natural form of use.  But in all cases whatever the sin is for the person, we shouldn’t remember or it recall it, but warn people against it and this passage says that the angels are afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, even so, we should not speak evil against anyone, especially against authorities.  (refer to Touch not the Anointed post)

 

Depravity of False Teachers

¹² But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, ¹³ and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. ¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds^[b] carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.^[c]

When I was reading this, I was like, “Woah, I wouldn’t want to be one of these people!!!”  Imagine the blackness of darkness forever.  They speak evil of things they do not understand and are spots and blemishes (We are called to be a spotless and bride without blemish)- There are people out there like that have eyes full of adultery – (Even if you look at a person with lust in your heart then you have committed adultery with them)  This reminds me of a Jezebel spirit which Jesus talks about in Revelation – “having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls.”  These are people with seducing spirits and need deliverance or help to be set free if they are willing, but so often people are not willing or too ashamed to admit their mistakes.  You’ve got to admire celebrities that admit this problem, but then they don’t turn to Jesus for help, so then where is their healing from this situation.  These Jezebel or seducing spirits have forsaken the right way and gone astray, and followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but he was rebuked for his iniquity.  This particular passage in 2 Peter refers back to Revelation 3.

 

Deceptions of False Teachers

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped^[d] from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,”^[e] and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.

“Swelling words of emptiness” – I hope my words have not been empty, I believe they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Now that brings up an interesting point, there are pastors that “promise liberty”, but are slaves of corruption-

The Message says it like this –

 

^17-19There’s nothing to these people—they’re dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell. They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still they’re dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they’re addicted to corruption—and they are—they’re enslaved.

^20-22If they’ve escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they’re worse than if they had never left. Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command. They prove the point of the proverbs, “A dog goes back to its own vomit” and “A scrubbed-up pig heads for the mud.”

There are definite dangers of backsliding and falling away and losing your crown- I would like to believe like some pastors do in Once Saved Always Saved, but the Scripture does have teaching that says that it is possible to be saved and then return back to your old ways, especially when people receive the “Promise of Liberty”, but they themselves are slaves to corruption.  After the first few years I was born again, I experienced some “backsliding” because I was constantly going in and out of churches and not able to find a home church so I do now that even after you’ve been baptised you can still lose your way, but the wonderful thing is that sometimes God will just give you a big wake up call, to where you’ve hit rock bottom, and then you will find your way back, and some people never have the chance to do that and are called before their time, but He is merciful to all.

Romans 11:32-

³² All people have refused to obey God. And He has put them all together as people who don’t obey Him so that he can show mercy to everyone. (ERV)

Isn’t that relieving, knowing that despite the pressure of having to live up to be obedient to God even in ways when we haven’t been loving or followed His nudgings, or guidance, that He has mercy on everyone!!  Praise be to God, for His throne is exalted forever.

Here is a Prayer for people that have led people astray through their teachings:

Heavenly Father,

I come humbly before Your Throne of Grace, knowing that You are exalted and high above the earth and that Your very Kingdom rules and reigns with authority.  If I have anyway abused, neglected, manipulated, people or Your pulpit, then please forgive me and cleanse me with the Blood of Your Son Jesus, and cleanse away all impurities out of my mind, and heart and wash me in that precious Blood.  Help me to proclaim the Truth to the people, which is Jesus Christ, and declare the Word of God, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and help me not to backslide and slip away like a “dog that turns back to it’s own vomit”.  Lord I know Your ways are merciful and kind, gracious and wonderful, that You will keep the works that are good, and burn away the dead works, but more than that it is by believing upon the name of Jesus and how Jesus has kept us free from sin, that keeps me wanting to share the Good News, and Yes, it is Good News.  For all the times that I have not listened or obeyed, Thank You for having mercy and patience with me.  Thank You for helping.  Give me a fresh start and wisdom to seek after You.  In Jesus Mighty Name I pray, Amen.