purity

January 1, 2020

“Purify Your Hearts”

8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.– James 4:8-10 NLT

James 4:7-10 NLT

We need to make up our minds — are we for the Lord or are we for the world? How long will we waver between two opinions? This was the recurring problem that the children of Israel had.

21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow h​​im!” But the people were completely silent.–1 Kings 18:21 (NLT)

Since we know that God is God, we need to allow Him to be Lord of every part of our life. He will accept nothing less. We need to repent of our sins and God will restore us. God does not wink at sin and He doesn’t have a list that ranges from “little” sin to the “biggest” sin. He puts liars in the same category with thieves and murderers. We need to allow Him to “create in us a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within us”. Unconfessed sin in our lives breaks our relationship with God. We are still saved but until we repent, God is unable to bless us the way He longs to. We need to humble ourselves before Him and allow Him to cleanse us and revive us again.

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.–1 Peter 5:6 (NLT)

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

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August 22, 2019

“God Can Guard You”

24 God can guard you so that you don’t fall and so that you can be full of joy as you stand in his glorious presence without fault. – Jude 24 GW

Jude 17-24 GW

We can see the things that are spoken of here in these verses happening in our churches of today. We have church leaders who are leading their congregations astray by teaching them that they have the liberty to live their lives as they please. Their messages “tickle the ears” of the people. Instead of preaching purity and obedience, they are saying “live like you want to live”, fulfill the desires of the flesh, its okay. But God says we are to be holy because He is holy and we are to pattern our lives after Jesus. Do not be deceived by false teachers, we will reap what we sow. If we sow fleshly desires, we will reap the consequences of those acts. If we sow righteousness, peace, joy, patience, forgiveness and the fruits of the Spirit, we will reap the rewards of those actions. Love God and follow His commands daily. Then we will be safe in God’s love.

Galatians 5:22-26 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 08-22-2019

January 10, 2019

Pure and Defiled Worship

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33 While they continued to fear the Lord, they served their own gods, following the custom of the nations whom they had carried away from there.- 2 Kings 17:33 ISV
2 Kings 17:29-40 ISV
Again and again, God allowed other kings to invade and conquer portions of Israel.  He did this because they refused to obey His laws and they refused to keep His commandments.  Finally, God allowed the king of Assyria to remove all of Israel to other countries.  After doing this, the king of Assyria brought in foreigners to settle the land of Israel.  God did not like this, so God sent lions in to destroy the foreigners.  The king was informed that this was happening because the new settlers did not know how to worship God correctly.  He brought in an Israelite priest to instruct them in proper worship.  They learned and practiced the proper worship procedures, but they also continued to worship the idols of each of their respective homelands.  God will not stand for impurities in any worship service or offering to Him.  Either He is our God or He is not, there is no middle ground.  Our God is a jealous God and He will not allow any other god(s) to be a part of our love affair with Him.  Our God deserves worship from hearts that are pure and undefiled.  When we celebrate Jesus, our celebrations must be in obedience to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  We must lift up holy hands in His honor.  There can be no spots in our love feasts.  Everything must honor Him and Him alone.Jude:10-13 NKJV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 01-10- 2018

May 31, 2016

Victory in Jesus

even-smaller-bug-light1

15 and the men of Judah began to shout. At the sound of their battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel and routed them before Abijah and the army of Judah.
–2 Chronicles 13:15 NLT
2 Chronicles 13:10-15 NLT
After Israel was divided, the northern and the southern kingdoms were often at war with each other.   On this occasion, Abijah, king of Judah had amassed 400,000 select troups and Jeroboam, king of Israel, had gathered 800,000 select warriors.  From the human viewpoint, it was fairly easy to see who would win the war, but God had other plans.  Judah had the original powerful weapon of mass destruction on their side.  They trusted in God. They still worshipped God as they were supposed to but Israel had polluted their worship service with false prophets and false priests.  God only accepts purity, He will not accept being one of many gods, when He is the only true and living God.  Even though Judah had enemy troops behind them and in front of them and they were outnumbered two to one, they showed no fear, but trusted God to do what He promised to do.  This obedience and trust in God resulted in God winning the battle for them. “God defeated Jeroboam and all of Israel”.  All Judah had to do was the “mopping up” and retrieve the bounty.  If we refuse to accept God’s gift of salvation and love, then we will have to face His wrath.  No one can stand against the wrath of God.  The only time satan thought He had defeated God, he soon learned that was his worst defeat.  Do not be deceived by appearances and false claims, there is only ONE GOD!  He is the Victor and only through Him will we obtain the victory!
 
The Revelation 12:7-12 NCV
Post 05-31-2016
June 30, 2014

Always Set A Good Example

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

6 Encourage young men to use good judgment. 7 Always set an example by doing good things. When you teach, be an example of moral purity and dignity. 8 Speak an accurate message that cannot be condemned. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed because they cannot say anything bad about us.9 Tell slaves who are believers to place themselves under their masters’ authority in everything they do. Tell them to please their masters, not to argue with them 10 or steal from them. Instead, tell slaves to show their masters how good and completely loyal they can be. Then they will show the beauty of the teachings about God our Savior in everything they do.–Titus 2:6-10 (GW)
​We should​ always take the time to encourage others. Our society is learning that most habits are “caught, not taught”. Because of that, we need to be sure our lifestyle reflects that of Jesus. We must “walk the talk”. This is true for all of us, but a higher demand is put on teachers. We must attempt to live lives that will not give others a reason to disparage the gospel. In this passage, we can substitute employers for masters and employees for slaves. Though, employees are not slaves, the employer has purchased and the employee has sold a portion of his time to the employer. Therefore, to not give all we can give on the job is stealing from our employers. As Christians, we should be the best employees in the workplace, not complaining or murmuring, but working hard to please our employers in every way, as long as it does not require us to be immoral or do anything illegal. This pleases God and draws others to Him.
Post 06-30-14