So why the sour look?

You ever wonder why some Christian walk around with such a sour look on their face you'd think they were weaned on a pickle?
 

John 15:11-15(NKJV)

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 

If you are joyful then let your face know!!!  :)

Wow, if only I had listened!!!

Life would have been so much easier if I had heeded this advice.  Especially the "do not disdain" part. 

Proverbs 8:33(NKJV)

    Hear instruction and be wise,     And do not disdain it.

When I was in high school I purposely didn't do my school work.  It was a way to rebel.  In effect I disdained instruction and wisdom.  It was fun to rebel but it made the beginnings of adulthood way harder than it needed to be. 

Nobody's fault but my own.  God had warned me but I chose not to listen.  Silly me!

Do you have the Holy Spirit? Can you tell?

Yes I do and yes I can.  And the cool thing is that you can have the Holy Spirit too.  All you have to do is ask.  "Dear Jesus…."

John 14:15-18(NKJV)

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. 

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

"Therefore be wise as serpents…" an interesting juxtaposition

Now this is an interesting juxtaposition

Matthew 10:16(NKJV)

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 

This is Jesus speaking telling us to be wise as serpents. 

The reason I see it as a juxtaposition is that in this case "wise as a serpent" seems to be presented as a positive thing.  But remember it was a Serpent pedaling "wisdom" (knowledge of good and evil) that first led man astray!

Does Jesus pray for everybody?

Not according to Jesus He doesn't.  I don't think He can make it any plainer than that.

John 17:9(NKJV)

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 

Or to put it another way, Jesus only prays for those who have accepted Him. 

Now don't confuse what Jesus does in this situation with what He instructed us to do.
 

Matthew 5:44(NKJV)

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 

Does that seem contradictory?  I don't think it is and I'll tell you why.

As far as who Jesus prays for I think that makes total sense from the standpoint that we are described as heirs with Jesus when we accept Him.  I see being prayed for by Jesus as one of the things that we receive because we are heirs that non-heirs are not entitled to.  Makes perfect sense to me when I look at it this way.

As far as our enemies, I think the point here is that we should continue to pray that they come to accept Jesus.  That is how we can demonstrate our greatest love.  Does that make sense?   

Is not believing in Jesus a sin?

I had never really thought of it that way before but in the last two days I have found Scripture that says exactly that!

John 15:18-25(NKJV)

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 

Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 

But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 

He who hates Me hates My Father also. 

If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 

But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ 

John 16:5-11(NKJV)

“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 

And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 

of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 

of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 

of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Why do bad things happen to Christians? Isn't God protecting them?

Have you ever wondered that?  I know many have.  I love the way John 15 explains it.

John 15:1-8(NKJV)

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

It's interesting that just the other day I was watching a video on Youtube about pruning Lilac bushes.  Lilac is my favorite smelling flower.  I have two bushes that are huge but they don't put out many flowers. 

What I learned from the video is that to make my Lilac bushes produce more fruit they need to be pruned.  Parts of it need to be trimmed away.  In the case of my bushes they have not been done correctly that I am going to need to start over.

I need to cut them all the way down to ground level.  That will be pretty traumatic for the bushes.  But it is only through that trauma can they be made to be more productive.  Make sense?

Or another way of saying it is that there are some life lessons that can only be learned the hard way.  

Now if we look at the highlighted part above what did Jesus say?  Every branch that doesn't bear fruit to God is simply snipped away for good.  But even the branches that are bearing fruit for God need to be trimmed back (trauma) so that through the lessons learned they can bear even more fruit. 

And that is why bad things sometimes happen to Christians.

Elitism or Truth? Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Here is one place in Scripture where Jesus Himself flat out says no one is saved except through Jesus.  Some claim that this is an elitism belief of Christianity. 

I say it is a simple truth and one of the best example of the lie that we and Muslim worship the same God.  The one and only way to salvation is through Jesus.  What say you?

John 14:6(NKJV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

God had to have faith too!

I am reading through the Gospels again and one of the things that I am reminded of is something that I realized last time through.

For God's plan of salvation to work, God had to have faith in Jesus too.  Here is what I mean.

One of the things I continue to be impressed with is God's respect for free will.  It seems to be one of the principals that he does not violate.  In other words, He will never over ride our free will choices.  If we choose not to follow He won't make us.

Well I believe that goes for Jesus as well, especially when Jesus was on earth as a human being. 

Now God's plan of salvation is dependent on Jesus voluntarily going to the cross on our behalf.  For us to be saved we have to have faith in Jesus.  Well guess what.  For God's plan of salvation to come true God Himself had to have faith in Jesus.  Why you ask?

Because of God's respect for free will.  Now God and Jesus are tight and God was pretty sure that Jesus would come through.  But in the end if Jesus had decided not to go through with it I believe that God would have respected Jesus' free will decision.  I'm sure God would have been hurt by that but He would have respected it.

So as you can see, God had to have faith in Jesus just like the rest of us! 

Does God treat everyone equally?

Not according to Scripture. 
 

John 12:26(NKJV)

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

Seems pretty plain to me that according to Scripture the answer is no.  It says that God will honor those who follow Jesus.  In that case it would seem to indicate the opposite as well.  Those who do not follow Jesus will not be honored by God. 

That is proof that God doesn't treat all equally in my opinion.  To me that is totally consistent with the God the father paradigm.  If a father has two kids and one of them is always obedient and trying to do well so the father will be proud of him and the other is always getting in trouble do you think they will be treated differently?  Of course they will. 

I hate to pick nits but….

John 9:30-33(NKJV)

The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 

Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 

Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 

If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

I believe this is slightly incorrect.  God hears sinners, God just refuses to honor their prayers.  I remember reading that in Scripture.  Just don't have the reference handy.

How do we know the shepherd's voice?

 

John 10:1-6(NKJV)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 

And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 

Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 

Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

So how is it we know the shepherd's voice?  I believe it is through prayer and the study of Scripture combined with a heartfelt desire to draw closer to God. 

One of the things that I was thinking about today was my belief that I should start my work day with Scripture.  I try to start every day with my time in the Word.  Most days it happens, occasionally it doesn't. 

But the thing I was pondering is do I do that as some sort of lucky talisman or superstition, you know like don't break a mirror or you will have bad luck?   While some might see it like that the answer is no.  I have a heartfelt desire to learn God's word more deeply and use it to guide my life.  I truly believe that every single day is better when I start in God's word.  My days just seem to work out better. 

Now the key word there I believe is heartfelt.  And as I have mentioned a couple of times recently, that seems to be the thing that Jesus focuses on.  It is a heart issue!

Now let's look at these next verses.

John 10:25-30(NKJV)

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 

But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 

I and My Father are one.”

This goes back to my belief that modern Christians spend way too much time trying to talk people in to believing in Jesus. 

In the example above you have people saying "just show us a couple more signs to convince us" and what is Jesus response?  Simple.  He tells them to pound sand. 

Does He say "Great, let me show you another miracle or two and you folks will be saved as well"?  Nope He sure doesn't.  He tells them flat out that they aren't His sheep because they don't hear His voice and Jesus prepares to move on. 

Now Jesus will always welcome them as His sheep in the future….if they decide to hear Jesus' voice.  But Jesus doesn't change or soften the message to try and get them to hear His voice.  Big difference in my opinion!

"The wise shall inherit glory" What does that mean?

I found this interesting.

Proverbs 3:35(NKJV)

    The wise shall inherit glory,      But shame shall be the legacy of fools.

So to me the obvious question what exactly does glory mean?

Glory

1. very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown: to win glory on the field of battle.
2. something that is a source of honor, fame, or admiration; a distinguished ornament or an object of pride: a sonnet that is one of the glories of English poetry.
3. adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving: Give glory to God.
4. resplendent beauty or magnificence: the glory of autumn.
5. a state of great splendor, magnificence, or prosperity.
6. a state of absolute happiness, gratification, contentment, etc.: She was in her glory when her horse won the Derby.
7. the splendor and bliss of heaven; heaven.

From <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/glory>

So let's start with number 7.  Do you think that is all that is meant by this verse?  The wise will get to Heaven?  I think there is more to it than that.  Here is what I see.

Let's look at some of the phrases used in the other definitions.  Very great praise; honor, distinction; state of great splendor, magnificence, prosperity.

Here is where I am going with this.  We have Scripture here that once again demonstrates that in God's world, not all are treated equally.  Some will receive more than others in life, and deservedly so based on God's own criteria.  One of those criteria according to this verse is those who are wise. 

Now I realize that begs the question, who determines who is wise?

I would suggest that if you are seeking the blessings of God that you use His criteria.  Psalms and Proverbs especially are chocked full of God's teachings of what exactly wisdom is and how to receive it.

There are many out there however who think they know better than God what wisdom is.

We shall see.  :)

I'm a bit confused here.

There are a couple of things in this passage I'd like to look at.  First is how Jesus deals with those who are trying to play "gotcha!".  I think we can learn from His example. 

John 8:2-11(NKJV)

Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 

they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 

Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 

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.

In other words Jesus ignored them.  He didn't take the bait.  He didn't reflexively respond and start defending the Bible or anything.  I think we can learn from that. 

The second thing here is what I am a bit confused about.
 

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 

And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 

Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, 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. 

When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

Here is where my confusion lies.  I don't see anywhere that she asked forgiveness or had a change of heart.  I have written a couple of times lately about whether we need to say specific words to be saved or if it is more of simply a change of heart issue as Jesus seems to say.  But in  this case I don't see either?

So when we get down to judgement day is Jesus just going to let everyone slide and let everyone in to Heaven?  Hmm. 

Character of God

So I am heading down this path.  A Word study on the character of God. 

A while back I found Scripture that said God is…. And then followed with different words throughout the book.  God whispered to me "if you want to understand my character this might be a good place to start." 

I found around 40 words used to describe God.  So what I am going to do now is to start studying those words.  The first word is wise.  The word wise is used once.  There are 197 instances of the word wise in the Bible.  Here is what jumps out at me so far.

Here is an example.

" 15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes."

When looking to establish leadership over the tribes of Israel the Bible always tells them to look for wise people.  Not average people.  Not poor people.  Wise people. 

In addition Proverbs tells us over and over that we should seek wisdom.  So God is wise and it is a characteristic that He wants us to pursue in our own lives. 

Seems like sound advice to me.

What is the work of God?

John 6:29(NKJV)

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

There are a lot of people out there who believe that they will be saved because they are "good people".  They claim they are doing the work of God by caring for the poor etc. and they believe that a loving God wouldn't send them to hell because they are "good people". 

Unfortunately that isn't what Scripture said.  Jesus says point blank that the "work of God" starts with believing in Jesus.  Without that belief in Jesus it is impossible to do the "work of God".  Caring for the poor etc are good and worthy deeds but without Jesus they aren't the work of God.

Seeking God's guidance is so cool! - a personal testimony

I am seeking God's guidance on some new direction and I thought I'd share that experience with you.  I just find it so cool how God will guide our individual lives if we will simply ask Him for that guidance…and actually listen to it when we get it.  :)

I have been keeping a personal Bible journal for almost a decade.  It will be 10 years in August if I remember correctly.  The last 4 and a half years of that in a very public way through this Common Christian blog.

My methodology is that I read one chapter of the OT and one chapter of the NT a day and then just write about what God taught me that day.  Pretty simple.  By following that pattern over my lifetime I have lost count of how many times I have read the Bible all the way through which brings me to my point of this post.

I just finished Malachi.  Time to start over at Genesis 1.  However a few days ago I asked God if it was time for a change?  One of the things I have often wanted to do is go more in depth but God kept saying just stick to the pattern.  So I did.

What is interesting is that this time when I asked the question I got a different answer.  God seems to be saying, OK, you were obedient and you learned the things I wanted you to learn by sticking to the pattern, NOW it is time to go deeper.

Interesting.  Now I am just waiting on further guidance on which path to take.  I have several book ideas that I would like to do the in depth Bible research on.  Let me list a few of them.

The character of God-I once did a search on the phrase "God is" as a place to start learning about the character of God.  There are around 40 words.  I would love to take the time to go in depth on each of the 40 words.  What I can tell you already is that there is one word that is used to describe God more times than any other.  It isn't even close.  And I can almost guarantee you it isn't the word that you think.  It isn't love.  The word is……you'll have to read the book.  :) 

The Saintly Poor-I am interested in the dynamic in play between a "just God", "the benefits of being a Christian", and the belief in the "saintly poor".  The apparent belief in Christianity that the poor are entitled to all of the benefits of being a Christian without having to be one.

Is a magic incantation really needed?-in other words what does it take to really be saved?  Does it really have to be said and done in a certain way?  Believe in our hearts and say with our mouths……..  Now as you know I am a big fan of being saved.  That is why I write.  I want all who hear and want to receive Jesus to be saved. 

But the question I have is that when I read and compare what Jesus said on the subject to what is written in the NT by others there is a bit of a discrepancy in my opinion.  With Jesus it seems to be simply a heart issue, no magic incantation needed.  The word part seems to me at least to be a human (dare I say Pharisee like) addition after the fact. 

It's nothing that challenges my faith or anything.  I would just like to study it a little deeper.  I find it interesting.

Now what will be fun is to see where God directs me.  Will it be to one of the three things that I have mentioned or something totally new that I never thought of but God did?  Time will tell. 
I wouldn't be surprised if it is something that I haven't thought of yet because God is good at that.  I can't tell you how many times that has happened on this blog.  I set out to write one thing but as I started typing God directed my thoughts in an entirely different direction.  :)

BTW, does God guide your life as thoroughly as this?  Would you like Him to?  Would you like to experience the peace that surpasses all understanding of having God directing things?  It is simply a choice on your part.

It starts with choosing to ask Jesus to lead your life.  Have you done that yet?  If not, why not right now?  Just have a conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

Could this be a warning to those who say Christians and Muslims worship the same God?

As I have written many times, I don't believe that Christians and Muslims follow the same God.  I think these verses could well be a warning to those who claim that we do follow the same God. 

Malachi 2:11-12(NKJV)

    Judah has dealt treacherously,     And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,     For Judah has profaned     The Lord’S holy institution which He loves:     He has married the daughter of a foreign god.

    May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob     The man who does this, being awake and aware,     Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

The most direct Scripture refuting Kumbaya Jesus

I have written many times about the mistaken belief in Kumbaya Jesus.  The belief that Jesus takes a live and let live attitude towards those who reject Him.  Here is the most direct Scripture I have found to refute that. 

John 3:36(NKJV)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Notice exactly what it says.  He who does not believe in Jesus earns the wrath of God.  Not live and let live.  Not sit around the campfire singing kumbaya with Jesus after they reject Him.  Nope.  They earn the wrath of God.  Or as another Scripture puts it, they have declared themselves enemies of God at the point that they reject Jesus.

I didn't say that, God did! 

A commentary on what goes on in the world today?

Malachi 2:17(NKJV)

    You have wearied the Lord with your words;      Yet you say,     “In what way have we wearied Him?”     In that you say,     “Everyone who does evil     Is good in the sight of the Lord,     And He delights in them,”     Or, “Where is the God of justice?”