Disciplined and Free

I was listening to this hymn on the radio the other morning... it actually woke me up..and i didnt catch all the words of the song ( mostly because of my loud alarm clock) but i did seem to catch these words in the song: " I am a Christian, disciplined and free..." I was already thinking about the role of discipline in Christianity and it plays a very big role, especially because our flesh naturally leans twoard not doing the will of God.
We cannot be loose with our Christianity, customizing Jesus in order to make up for our lack of discipline. The whole book of Proverbs talks about the role of instruction and correction, reproof and discipline. Words like chastisement, warning, and training are all words that are synonomous with discipline. We cannot live in a Christianity where "anything goes" and we are "free to serve Jesus". You see alot of people in this "freedom" wearing whatever, talking however, and cant seem to ever get rid of their bad habits, blaming them on Christ because "He's still working on me." Proverbs 22:15; 29:15; and 13:24 all apeak on discipline, even discipline concerning the rod of correction. Most people just think that these verses are talking about children and parents, but its also dealing with the Christian who is still a immature and hasn't been disciplined. Hebrews 12 talks about discipline, right after one of the most powerful chapters on faith in the Bible, Hebrews 11. With faith must come discipline. The one who forsakes and rejects discipline is a fool is what Proverbs teaches us.

Proverbs 10:17- He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.
Prov 10:17 (KJV)

Proverbs 13:18-Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.
Prov 13:18 (KJV)

Proverbs 15:5-A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
Prov 15:5 (KJV)

There are many more verses in Proverbs and all throughout the Word dealing with discipline. Its in discipline and holiness that the Christian is free. The Holy Spirit will always correct, convict, and keep the believer on the right path, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty (2 Cor 3:17). In other words, there is no liberty outside of the Lord's correction, and conviction, and his light and easy yoke. (Matt 11:30)

Sight of Sin

So, Ive been reading these Puritan Paperbacks, and they are some great books by the way; I'm currently reading The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson, and it is an awesome book, and its straight to the point when it talks about true and false repentance.
I wanted to list something I saw in the earlier chapters of the book about the Nature of True Repentance
There are 6 ingredients of true repentance and each ingredient is a key factor in true repentance.
1.Sight of sin
2.Sorrow for sin
3.Confession of sin
4.Shame for sin
5.Hatred for sin
6.Turning from sin

I just want to talk about the first, and you can check out the rest of these if you buy the book ( I hightly recommend it!)
Sight of sin is so important when we live in a world that accepts sin more and more everyday. Its important that we know what sin is, and how to identify it when it comes up in our lives. Things ranging from the most adulterous affair to the slightest bit of manipulation need to be identified immediately as sin and repented for in our lives. Many parents watch their children engage in acts of sin, and rebellion and all along, watch as they plunge deeper into sin without repenting. The parents refuse to call sin what it is and the children refuse to turn from it. The addict is seen nowadays as someone who has a problem, a self-esteem issue, or a rough childhood, but they are never seen as one who is willfully sinful and needs true repentance. More and more women become pregnant out of wedlock, abortions are higher and more men and women make the godless decision to "come out of the closet" professing their homosexuality, and the world calls them different...they applaud the unmarried woman with child, they approve the woman that aborts and pat her on the back , and the judicial system sides with the serial murderer that had a rough childhood. The courts have legalized a total abomination in the eyes of the Supreme Judge and theyve done it in the name of "love".There is a difference between appeasement and compassion and the latter is not seen a whole lot today.
Yes, people need a break...they need to be broken lol...we need to call sin what it is and tell man to turn from it because its death. God will not pat the sinner on the back on Judgment Day and tell him "its ok, mistakes happen.." Mistakes do happen, but people also sin willfully...because theyre born that way and they need to repent and turn to Christ. Sin and its reality need to be seen for what it really is..death, separation. Sin not only needs to be seen as something to be punished for, but something that causes a loving holy God to separate Himself from you...and thats the ultimate low thats found in sin. As in Isaiah 6, sin must be seen for what it is and repented for, sorrowed over and God is faithful to cleanse sin because of true repentance. To the Christian, sin must be sighted for in our lives and repented for immediately. To the world, dont remain blinded by ignorance and self- love. Call sin what it is, realize the crime behind it, and dont be sorry for the consequences of it, be sorry because it grieves a holy God. Lets not appease sin any longer, lets take a stand and call sin out for the wickedness that it really is and show compassion to the man that desires to turn from it.

Deception and Counterfeit Revival

Here is an article on deception and counterfeit revival by Zac Poonen, an awesome man of God whose sermons and articles can be found at SermonIndex.com
Be Blessed!!



DECEPTION AND COUNTERFEIT REVIVAL
Zac Poonen
Jesus and the apostles repeatedly warned that the last days would be characterized by widespread deception and a multitude of false prophets (Matt.24:3-5,11,24; 1 Tim.4:1) – and we have seen plenty of them in the last few decades.

Why are millions of Christians deceived by these false prophets and these counterfeit “revivals”? And why are so many preachers falling prey to immorality and greed?

Here are what I see to be some of the main causes:

1. Most Christians today are not aware of what the New Testament teaches, because they have not studied it carefully; and so they follow the teachings of their leaders and not the teachings of the New Testament.

2. Miracles (supernatural gifts) have become more important to them than their character (a supernatural life).

3. Material wealth has become more important to them than spiritual wealth.

4. They are unable to distinguish between soulish frenzy or psychological manipulation, and the genuine moving of the Holy Spirit; the cause again is ignorance of the New Testament.

5. They are unable to distinguish between psychosomatic healing (healing that comes by right attitudes of the mind), and supernatural healing in Jesus' Name.

6. Emotional excitement and strange physical manifestations have become more important to them than the inward joy of the Lord.

7. For the leaders, their ministry to people has become more important than their inner walk with God.

8. The approval of men has become more important to these leaders than the approval of God.

9. The number of people attending the meetings has become more important to these leaders than whether those people are totally committed to Christ.

10. Building their personal kingdoms and their financial empires has become more important to these leaders than building a local church and making themselves servants in that local church (Jeremiah 6:13).

All this is the VERY OPPOSITE of what Jesus taught. The opposite of Christ is called the "anti-Christ" in the New Testament. If Christians do not see this clearly, then when the Antichrist turns up on the world’s stage, with his false signs and wonders (2 Thess.2:3-10), they too will blindly accept him. To be led by the Spirit of Christ is to have the very opposite spirit to that mentioned in the points above.

Here is a paraphrase of Jesus' words in Matthew 7:13-27 (read in the context of Matthew Chapters 5 to 7:

The Immutability of God

The Immutability of God: this wonderful attribute of God talks about the aspect of God that has never changed and never will change. The Lord says in Malachi 3:6 " I am the Lord, I change not..." He has been the same loving, awesome, all powerful, perfect God who hates sin and condemns unrighteousness, from the beginning. In a world thats full of constant change and shifting, its good to be hooked into a God who changes not! Check out the video, be blessed

The Immutability of God- A.W. Pink

Immutability- Boyce's Abstract Systematic Theology

The Will of God- R.C. Sproul

Hell...

This is just a couple of minutes of a sermon called "Hell..what is it like?" by David Wilkerson. This is one of the most awesome messages I've ever heard, If you would like to hear the whole thing, go to sermonindex.com and look under the 10 most downloaded messages. I pray this moves on your heart and causes you to think about the reality of Hell.

$5000 pen? watch closely...

I am in no way a "heresy hunter"...but this...this is ridiculous...now normally I would kind of brush this whole thing off as someone being "too critical" or taking something "way out of context"...but this goes beyond that...check out the video..really, ...listen to whats being said and think about it...its not just someone picking on another preacher, it really is just some non word based junk coming out of the speakers mouth...let me know what you think...

The Infinitude of God

The Infinitude of God: Its not an easy thing to describe infinitude. One cant point to an earthly material object or even describe something thats infinite because there is nothing that we know of that is infinite. We think of things such as space, time, or unlimited quantity of something as being infinite, but all these things are contained and measured by One who is their creator: God. God is the only Infinite Being. He cannot be measured, boxed in or limited; He fills all in all and everything that makes God, God is infinite, His nature, His attributes, His presence, His Being. There is no place where He is not, and there is no place where His Love, Mercy, Strength, Power cannot reach. Check out the Video and the articles on the infinitude of God.

The Self-Existence of God

The Love of God

The Immutability of God

The Oneness of God (God all by Himself)

Check out these articles: God's glory

The Supremacy of God


The Oneness of God: I am the Lord, and there is no one else. God is One and there are no other dieties or authorities outside of God. If there were, He wouldnt be God and we would have to look to "another"; but God is the only God, the only One True God and therefore all worship and glory belong to Him. All worship and glory will go to Him, and all things will give Him glory because He is the God of all things and the Creator of all things.Nothing exists outside of Him. So knowing that, why do people continue to run to "others" to find satisfaction, to find purpose? Why do people still seek to give honor and dedication to other things in their lives: carers, education, other religions, their goals and desires? In the end all of those things will perish and men still wont be satisfied until they give glory to The One.
God , in Exodus, says that He is a jealous God: not because He is in competition with some other "gods" for your affection and wants your attention. He is jealous for His glory, the worship that a man gives to other things and people that soley belongs to God. Romans 1:20-26 talks about that. God is One and there is no other, therefore all of our worship, all of the glory goes to Him first, not because we can do anything to make Him anymore glorious or exalted, but because He is God and all glory and worship belongs to Him. Seek to worship no one else besides Him, seek to glorify no one besides Him. He is the only One true God.

This is a must see message!!

This is a message by Paul Washer, a really powerful man of God. It is one of the most moving messages that Ive ever heard and I encourage you to listen to this with caution...watch your toes! They will be in pieces by the end lol. Take notes,play it as many times as you can because there is so much truth in this message that this generation needs!
Be Blessed!

The Attributes of God part 1

check out this link:
The Knowability of God


Check out the video...I will also be posting some articles and sermons by men of God who dove head first into the study of the attributes of God. Knowing God and what He is like is so important because having the right conception of Him will determine the depth of your relationship with Him. Studying God's attributes and getting to know Him more intimately helps us from just knowing ABOUT God to knowing of God and knowing Him personally. When we think of the word attribute, being humans, we usually relate it to ourselves
attribute: something attributed as belonging to a person, thing, group, etc.; a quality, character, characteristic, or property:

attributes belong to men because we are created: we are composed, made up of parts, and therefore we possess attributes, we are influenced and can add to our character or subtract from our character. We can be happy one day and be sad the next, we can be sensitive for ten years and then become hard for the rest of our lives; we can be influenced to become angry and then become influenced to become happy again. We possess attributes and characteristics but it is not the same way with God.

God has no origin, He was not created, He has no beginning and has no end, therefore He is not composed of parts, such as man is. He is one with Himself, a unit...three in One. If someone were to compose God, then we would have to go to that "One" says A.W. Tozer. Just as a diamond is pure and whole, with no other minerals that make up its substance, so is God...but even more...God is without parts and cannot be influenced by anything outside of Himself.He cannot be influence and therefore change His attributes. He doesent change and he doesent fluctuate as man does..just as man can be happy about one thing and become even happier about another, God is the fullness of happiness, He is its essence. Just as man chooses to love what he wants and when he wants, God is the essence of love, He is the fullness of love. There is no love outside of God, no happiness outside of God, no life, no truth, no righteousness outside of Him. He embodies His attributes and is them.

God's definition of attribute: something which God has declared to be true about Himself.

God's attributes cannot be studied and researched and found by the intellect, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 tells us that The Spirit of God reveals the deep things of God. His attributes and the things that He declares to be true about Himself are revealed to those who seek Him. Knowledge of God can only be revealed by the Spirit.

Be blessed

Christians with Opinions

Check out the Video, its about Christians with Opinions....those of us who choose to hold on to our opinions even though we desire to seek God and do His will. This can be a dangerous thing , and is something we are all guilty of, but we must choose to be Kingdom minded people and let God's thoughts become our thoughts and His ways our ways. When we let God's Word reign supreme in our lives then there will be no room to formulate opinions of our own, we will delight in God's Law, and we will be able to stand in the day of adversity and look sin and problems in the face and call them what they are. Today we deal with so many issues in this world that are becomming more and more accepted by society...things like fornication, homosexuality, abortion,..things like murder and crime go un noticed and passed over. Our perspective on these issues and our response to these issues doesent need to be based on and formed by the world. We need to find our answers and base our opinions on the Word of God and let His word remain the standard of morality.
(Morality - Gods Word = hypocrisy)
Stand firm on the Word as a Kingdom citizen and as someone who seeks God, let His Word be your standard and not your own opinion...

Worship the King

Check out the video and check out the blog....worshipping God is the most important thing that you can ever do in your life! Worship needs to be the foundation of anyone and everyone who seeks to draw nearer to God. " God's Kingdom will never come where His name is not regarded as holy."
Be Blessed

Worship the King Blog

Ill start off by saying this. We live in a democratic country where we have been given freedoms, of opinion, religion, speech, whatever... Those things are good but as with anything that is man made, there are some flaws. Taking on that mindset (a democratic one) can be dangerous for the one who seeks after and desires to follow God. Ill explain... See, a democracy involves opinion, whether its ones opinion about the leadership, the laws, the government, the economy... You are "free" to your own opinion in a democracy, whether its right or wrong. Well in a kingdom its different, the thing that makes a kingdom different from any other government on earth is that a kingdom involves worship... Worship of the leader(king), reverence for His laws and His ways, respect for His property, and conforming to His standards. His opinion becomes yours, His thoughts become yours, His ways become yours.. although a person may live in a democracy and totally loathe the president and his authorities, he is still free to live in the country and he is entitled to his own opinion. Not so in the kingdom, a person cannot live in the kingdom and be partial to the king. One cannot seek to receive the benefits that God wants to give in the kingdom and not like God and what He stands for. You can't live in the kingdom and not want to worship the king. You can't live in the kingdom and have your own image or opinion of the king. To live in the Kingdom, you must see Him as He is and worship Him for who He is, and not just what His kingdom can do for you. See, when the economy is great and the people are benefitting, the presidents approval rating goes up, and when its bad, the approval rating falls in a democratic country...it can never be like that in the kingdom.The King has no approval rating among the people because He never changes, He is and has always been the same. Hebrews tells us that God has been the same yesterday, today and forever...and the Kings approval isn't based on the opinions of the people, because He is self sufficient, He needs no approval or like or dislike to be King. He was and is King before we even got here, and He would be King if we never existed. Furthermore, our worship of Him does not make Him anymore a King than if no one worshiped Him. Worship in the Kingdom is because God is King, has been King, before any and everything and because He has always been King, it is our duty, our rightful place as His creation to give Him worship.all other Kings of the earth need(key word) followers and subjects to remain kings but not so witn the King of the Kingdom. He has no need.never has, never will. We must worship Him because of Who He is, was and has been...and because all things were made by Him. A democracy allows you to like or dislike the leader, to say what you want about him, to pick and choose what you like and dislike about the government, and when it comes to laws, he doesent even have the ultimate authority in some cases. People change laws, vote, protest, etc. And make things happen...but in the Kingdom, this type of governing doesent happen, the King must be worshipped with love. If you're in the kingdom, and your worshiping the King, and you find that you really don't love Him and His laws, chances are you were probably never in the kingdom in the first place. In the Kingdom, the subjects love the King, they love His laws, His decrees, they love what He stands for! Lol.. If you find an "opinionated Christian", you probably won't see them in the kingdom very long... So many people approach the Kingdom of God with a democratic mentality, ...almost like a person shopping in the supermarket. They approach the word of God and see things like "give and it shall be given unto you...","brethren I pray that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers" I am the Lord, who gives you the power to get wealth" and they say, "I like this, put it in the cart.." then they come across things like "be holy, for I am holy,"and things like "I love righteousness and hate iniquity" and things like "don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers"..or "be angry and sin not" .. And they say, "eh, I think ill leave those on the shelf, they sound ok, but just a little too hard...I like those other things better..." and people pick and choose in Gods law the things that they like and dislike instead of having a kingdom attitude like David in psalms that says "I love your law, o'Lord" . We cannot approach the kingdom with a democratic mindset. We cannot choose the days and times that we love God, or choose when we will follow His word. It has to be constant, a lifestyle of loving the King and obeying His laws out of delight for Him and His laws. Worship God , not just out of what His government can Do for you, or what it has done for you, worship Him with the proper conception of Him, worship Him for who He is and because He is that..God..and there is no one like Him. Gods kingdom wil never come where His name is not regarded as Holy first.(Matt. 6:9-10)....so much more...ill write it later...