"How do we know???" I'm sure I have commented on this before but it is such a good passage I wanted to highlight it again.

When we accept Jesus we get the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit speaks directly to us.  But this passage makes clear that there are other spirits out there who will try to influence us as well.  So don't just assume that when a spirit talks to you that it is the "Holy Spirit".  Remember Satan is the prince of deception. 

So how do we tell?  We are told to test the spirits to see if they are of God. 

1 John 4:1-3(NKJV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 

and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

How do we do that?  We test to see if they confess that Jesus came in the flesh.  Where I think this is especially useful is in evaluating religious theology.  There are many different branches of Christianity but they all have the commonality of belief in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Without this common belief they aren't really Christians are they, because the very essence of Christianity is the belief in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

There have been many cults and false religions that seem to be "Christian" but when you get down to the basics, they don't really believe in Jesus.

So for me at least, this gives a quick down and dirty way to analyze knew "beliefs" within the Christian world.  If it passes this first test then I can explore it further if I want to or fee led to.  If it doesn't pass this first test then God has just saved me from wasting a bunch of time. 

Pretty Cool!

Why do we need discernment when reading the Bible?

This is just my personal opinion.  When I compare the Gospels to the rest of the New T I find some differences that seem to be man added requirements and views.  Let's use these passages to explain what I mean.

1 John 2:1-6(NKJV)

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 

He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Now Jesus Himself stressed over and over that salvation was a heart issue.  We are told that we are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of God.  We are also told that we will continue to sin even after we accept Jesus and will continue to need Jesus' forgiveness throughout our lives; and that is normal.  As long as our long term focus is on Jesus then the short term sins don't constitute a rejection of Jesus. 

John takes a different approach and I personally liken it to the "Jewish mother" trying to lay a guilt trip on her kids.  Or in other words manipulate her kids.   

According to John if we fail, as Jesus told us would happen even to the most devoted disciples, it proves that we never really believed in Jesus to begin with.  Let's test that theory.

So when Peter rejected Jesus 3 times as Jesus had said would happen, according to John this shows that Peter never truly believed.  Does that seem likely to you?  It doesn't to me. 

To me these verses seems to be more of a clumsy attempt to club people into behaving themselves.  Kind of like parents saying "if you kids don't behave yourself all year then Santa won't come".

Now if John had simply added "continually attempt" to his verses I think they would have been more in agreement with Jesus.

For example if John had said "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we continually attempt to keep His commandments." I think that would be more in the spirit of what Jesus said.  The continual effort, if sincere, indicates where the heart is truly at and Jesus has said repeatedly that that is the real issue to Him. 

Make sense?   

And that is why I think the discernment provided by the Holy Spirit while reading Scripture is so important!

 

The mansion with many rooms.

When do we actually go to Heaven?  The reason I ask is that I was at a funeral yesterday and the pastor used the quote from Jesus about preparing a mansion for us with many rooms.  In the message the pastor made it seem like the person that had just died had already been shown to his room in the mansion by Jesus. 

Quite frankly that is what I think most of us have grown up thinking is the way it happens.  Your dead and instantly you are in Heaven with Jesus.  But what about this?

2 Timothy 4:1(NKJV)

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 

And this.

1 Peter 4:5-6(NKJV)

They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 

For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

If Jesus hasn't judged the dead yet, how do they get into Heaven so quickly?  Or is it that all who have died have to wait for Jesus second coming where Jesus will judge the living and dead before they actually go to Heaven? 

This one will require further study.  Not really a big deal either way as long as we get there.  Just more of my curiosity on the timing. 

Tell me again how in the end God is going to let everyone in to Heaven. LOL! Scripture says otherwise.

Revelation 15:1(NKJV)

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.

 

This creates an interesting question!

This creates an interesting question.  Read these verses and then I will pose the question.

Zephaniah 3:5(NKJV)

    The Lord is righteous in her midst,     He will do no unrighteousness.     Every morning He brings His justice to light;     He never fails,     But the unjust knows no shame.

So based on the Scripture above we have the principal that everything that God does is righteous.

Isaiah 45:7(NKJV)

    I form the light and create darkness,     I make peace and create calamity;     I, the Lord, do all these things.’

So is it fair to say that even when God creates calamity for people God is acting in a righteous way? 

Gotta love God's wording here

Gotta love God's wording here

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

12:07 PM

1 Peter 4:15(NKJV)

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. 

Isn't it interesting that a busybody is lumped in with murderers, thieves, and evildoers.  Is being a busybody really that bad of a thing?  That's what God seems to be saying. 

Another example of why works are important.

Matthew 5:16(NKJV)

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 

Not much explanation needed.  :)

The great safety valve!

It's always nice to have a safety valve. 

1 Peter 4:8(NKJV)

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”  

Now do I think love alone will get you in to Heaven?  No I don't.  That takes believing in Jesus and inviting Him in to your life.  Have you done that yet?  No better time than right now.  Just have a conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

But once salvation is taken care of I think this is a great safety valve when you don't know what else to do.  Just love people.  Love people by simply being courteous and respectful to all.  Love people by getting them to smile and feel good.  Love people by showing them you care and trying to help them out.  We are the hands and feet of Jesus after all. 

Now that doesn't mean let people walk all over you and abuse you.  If the love you give out is abused then take appropriate steps.  But always start with love and move on from there. 

This kind of double talk in Scripture drives me nuts! :)

This is the kind of verse that invites the charge of the Bible being contradictory and it drives me nuts. 

1 Peter 3:1-6(NKJV)

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 

when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. 

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—

rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 

For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 

as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

So here we have Peter telling women to fear and not to fear within 5 verses of each other.  I'm sure I could go in and rationalize and justify what he meant but that just looks weak.  I'd rather let Scripture stand on its own.  It is what it is. 

I guess this is just another example of why we need the Holy Spirit to provide discernment as we study God's Word! 

This is a bit irreverent and I apologize in advance. But it made me chuckle. :)

I'm sure glad God has a sense of humor.  This passage, isolated all by itself, made me chuckle.  I'm doing a word study right now and the word I am working on is "light". 

So I have a list of over 200 verses that have the word "light" in them.  Each verse is displayed but you lose the context a bit because you don't see what came before or after.  It's the isolation that made this tickle my funny bone.

Habakkuk 3:4(NKJV)

    His brightness was like the light;     He had rays flashing from His hand,     And there His power was hidden.

Rays flashing from His hands?  I'm sorry but it made me picture Jesus standing there shooting rays out of His hands like the Emperor in Star Wars!  :) 

Live in fear? I don't think so!

Starting with Jesus and then throughout the Gospel we are taught that "fear and faith" can't live in the same body.  We are told to live in faith and to "fear not"!

So what are we to make of Peter's verses here?
 

1 Peter 1:17-20(NKJV)

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 

knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 

but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 

Before I finish my "fear not" point let me direct your attention to the first line.  It once again affirms the saved by grace, judged by works paradigm.  That is we are all saved by grace so we all have the option to get in to Heaven.  Our rewards in Heaven however will be determined by the amount of service (works) that we do on God's behalf. 

OK, back to my main point.  Peter says live our life in fear.  Jesus says live our life in faith.  Is Peter contradicting Jesus? 

I don't think so.  This is an example of taking the Bible as a whole and letting the Holy Spirit guide you to discernment.  Here is my take on it.

I think the difference here is that Peter could have picked a better word than fear.  It may have been an issue in the translation.  Sometimes words don't have direct translations from the original language to other languages and that may be the case here.

I think a better word would be reverence.  Conduct your stay here in reverence.  I think it maintains the spirit of the verse while taking out the negative connotations of the word fear.  That makes more sense to me anyway!  :)

An interesting promise from God.

This verse seems to be direct towards those who think they know better than God.  Those who think they can create their own truth and light.

God says different.

Isaiah 50:11(NKJV)

    Look, all you who kindle a fire,     Who encircle yourselves with sparks:     Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—     This you shall have from My hand:      You shall lie down in torment.

Notice that the "God of Peace" makes a promise that is anything but peaceful to those who think they know better than He does.

"I make peace and create calamity"

Did you know God says He does both of those things?

Isaiah 45:7(NKJV)

    I form the light and create darkness,     I make peace and create calamity;     I, the Lord, do all these things.’

Can you think of why God would create calamity?  As I've said before, some life lessons can only be learned through hard times.  Sometimes God needs us to learn lessons and so he creates the circumstances to learn those lessons. 

Here is a question.  Do you have the faith to go through those times with a smile on your face?  You know, that whole glory in your tribulations thing?  :) 

Is James Confused or purposely twisting words here?

James 2:1-7(NKJV)

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 

For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 

and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 

have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 

But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 

Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

I would answer James with a resounding NO!. 

Oh where do I start on this one?!  :)

OK, to begin with Jesus Himself spoke of seating at weddings and celebrations.  He warned people to be humble and don't assume the seat of honor.  Better to be asked to move to a better seat than to be asked to vacate the better seat for another more honored guest.

But notice what Jesus didn't do.  He didn't condemn the practice.  And why would He?  It is the same system used in Heaven.  We are told in Scripture repeatedly that our rewards (and honors) in Heaven will be based on what we accomplished for God while we were here.  Saved by faith but rewards determined by service to God.

In addition Jesus in several places tells us to "check the fruit".  So Jesus Himself has told us to draw comparisons.  That requires a judgement.  Scripture tells us that we need to discern who we listen to for example.  One of the ways we do that is look to what successes people have had in life to see if they can offer valuable lessons. 

These are all things that Jesus told us to do so my question to James is "are you saying Jesus is instructing us to be partial and to judge people with evil thoughts?".   Hmm???

 Now let's look at the next part. 

"Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 

This is one of those lines where the original meaning of Scripture gets hidden or purposely corrupted, not sure which.  Jesus actually said "blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT".  It had nothing to do with wealth.  It was a spirit issue. 

What James is claiming here is that we should show partiality to the poor when he just got done saying that we shouldn't show partiality to the rich.  Scripture actually says that we shouldn't show partiality to either side.  

And the last part.

"But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 

Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?"

Notice the ad hominem  attack on the rich.  So according to James all rich people oppress all poor people and all rich people blaspheme the name of Jesus? 

Seems to me many of God's heroes in both the New Testament as well as the Old Testament were quite wealthy.  In fact weren't both King David and King Solomon described as men after God's heart?  Didn't God make Solomon the richest man in history up to that point? 

Were Solomon or David perfect?  Of course not.  But there is no evidence that they oppressed the poor and blasphemed God as James is saying either. 

So who do we listen to?  I pick Jesus how about you?!!

 

Do you ever marvel at how God can speak to us individually?

One of the coolest things about my daily walk with God is how He can just speak to me at any time.  It is so cool to have Him whisper in my ear things like "Did you ever consider this?"  "Maybe you ought to do this first"  "How could you help this person?"  "You might want to see what Scripture has to say about that", etc. 

It's just way too cool!

What?  You don't have that in your life?  Why not?  It's easy.  It starts with asking Jesus to come in to your life and lead you.  After that it is a matter of being in God's Word daily and doing everything you can to build that relationship and draw closer to God.  The more we do that the more it is reciprocated back to us by God.

It starts with Jesus.  Have you asked Jesus to lead you yet?  Why not do it right now?  Just have a conversation with Jesus and ask Him to lead you.  "Dear Jesus…."

The Bible and Science

 

Job 26:10(NKJV)

    He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,     At the boundary of light and darkness.

I find it interesting how many scientific facts were alluded to in the Bible long ago.  Here is one.

It was a "scientific fact" back in the day that the world was flat.  You could be burned at the stake for disagreeing with that fact.

But look what was written in Job way before it became unquestionable "scientific fact" that the earth was flat.  Job wrote of a circular horizon.  Imagine that.  The inspired Word of God had it correct all along.  :)

How should we approach the throne of Grace?

 

Hebrews 4:16(NKJV)

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

However don't confuse boldly with cocky.  Always keep in mind that it is our faith in Jesus that allows us to come boldly to the throne.  We don't presume to do that of our own power.