Repost: Great is Thy Faithfulness Tune Faithfulness 3vv & chorus with lyrics for congregations
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Revelation 3:7-10
Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Related:
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The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJV) The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
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Tumbleweed
Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tumbleweed has no home. Broken at the root, it is blown about.
It is like a Christian blown about by every wind of doctrine.
Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Why is tumbleweed blown about? Why are people blown about?
There is no root. There is no stability. There is no participation in the body of Christ. There is no home church. Online church is not enough. One reason online church is not enough is because every member in the body has a responsibility to give, as well as to receive. You can’t serve a church that you watch through a computer screen or phone screen. The church is made up of flesh-and-blood members and each one has a work to do and gifts to share, which work and gifts are given by the Lord.
I Corinthians 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
It is necessary to find a full gospel church where you believe the Lord wants you and go there.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If a branch is broken off it can become like tumbleweed, just blown about and finally burned in the fire.
The Christian life might be likened to a workout.
You don’t go to the gym once every six months, at Easter and Christmas, and expect to leave with a six pack.
Chanel Wheeler, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
It is the steady, daily application of regular routines and exercise that brings results.
The same is true in the Christian life.
The Christian life is not like a vacation you take for a couple weeks each year as you visit a special seminar but then ignore the local church for the rest of the year.
A one time seminar will bring benefit, but it won’t be the same as being part of a regular church, having regular church attendance, regular Bible study, regular private devotions, regular prayer, regular Bible reading, consistent giving of your tithes and offerings for the spreading of the gospel and consistent serving in the local church.
On-and-off Christianity is similar in practice to going to Vegas for a weekend trip, hitting the slot machines, and hoping for a win. No financial planner has ever advocated that as a way to wealth.
Yet somehow there is a thought that the things of God can be treated in a similar manner: here a little meeting, there a little meeting, and maybe a couple times at Easter and Christmas. “A little dab will do you” is the attitude.
And then people wonder why they have trouble.
Any goal takes ongoing application, dedication, and consecration to the goal. That is true in the natural whether it is a health goal, a professional goal, or a relationship goal.
That same consistent dedication is required in a relationship with God. It takes no less dedication for a relationship with God than any other kind of goal or relationship. The good thing is, God never lies, God is true, and God keeps his promises.
Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
This has to be the starting point. If a person does not believe that God is, and that God will reward a person that seeks Him, then that person won’t even start the race.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the epistles in the New Testament, wrote this.
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Addendum:
Here is an online church if you can’t find anything locally.
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Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Repost: The Heresy of Cessationism – Part 1 | Daniel Kolenda: Off The Record
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Blabbermouth
Photo by Michael Hart on Unsplash
“The Three Gossips is one of the first of many recognized and named formations in Arches National Park”
Blabbermouth. That is what people used to be called who couldn’t keep their mouths shut. Do you know anyone who comes to you and said, “Shhh, this is a secret, don’t tell anyone?”
Why didn’t Jesus just “tell all”? Nowadays there would be suspicion … what is he hiding? The fake news might really egg on that point.
Jesus was very strategic as to what he did and when. Sometimes when he healed someone, he would tell that person not to tell anyone. Not everyone obeyed.
Mark 1:40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;
44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.
Matthew 9:30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
Matthew 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;
16 And charged them that they should not make him known:
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Matthew 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Why didn’t Jesus just “tell all” to everyone?
Jesus had to make it to the finish line of the cross, where he defeated satan. Sometimes Jesus would say, “mine hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4, John 7:6, John 7:8, John 8:20) (Related: Matthew 8:29, Luke 4:41)
Jesus understood his purpose. He came to defeat satan.
I John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus came to undo the results of the Fall which occurred in the Garden of Eden. And it had to be done a certain way. There were prophecies that had to be fulfilled. Jesus couldn’t just “spill the beans” ahead of time and spoil that by cluing in the opposition as to what was to occur. If satan had understood the cross and what Jesus would accomplish, satan would have prevented the crucifixion of Christ, for the cross was satan’s undoing.
I Corinthians 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
I Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Alas … but he lied to him
There is a problem when a supposed ally lies to you, you end up dead because of it, and then the ally says, “Alas, my brother.”
A little back history is that the kingdom of Israel was divided after Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, had inherited the kingdom and did not listen to the counsel of the advisors to his father. (Solomon was King David’s son. )
I Kings 12:6 (KJV) And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
12:13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;
So the kingdom was divided and the northern kingdom came under Jeroboam.
Jeroboam built an altar for that portion of the kingdom that broke away. It was an altar used to worship of the idol of the golden calf, not the Lord God.
I Kings 12:28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
31 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
33 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
The image of the golden calf is what the children of Israel worshipped when they gave up on waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain. (Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments from God, but the children of Israel did not know that and did not know what had happened to him.)
Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
The image of the golden calf remains until today.
Photo by Harri P on Unsplash
(The Charging Bull near Wall Street)
Statue of a bull outside Islamabad Stock Exchange, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Danish47, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
After Jeroboam built the altars to the calves, God sent a man of God to prophesy against the altar in Bethel. In the Old Testament, God used prophets to speak out against certain evils. After the man of God obeyed the Lord, another prophet lied to him and deceived the man of God. As the saying goes, “with friends like this, who needs enemies?”
The Bible is full of history of real people with real problems and how God keeps reaching out to broken humanity to help it. There are no perfect heroes in the Bible. The only perfect one is the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I Kings 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:
17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back:
21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee,
22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.
27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.
29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.
33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
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An added prayer
I would add:
Father, Let those who have helped weaponize Hamas, who have helped fund Hamas, some out of Washington D.C. and in the shadows, remove them and put in righteous leaders who do not use war to cover their own misdeeds. In Jesus name.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
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Repost: The Scriptural Mandate to Pray for Israel – Here’s a Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem
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Genesis 3:15
Genesis 3:15 (KJV) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.