SLOTH

Oh Lord, this is not a good time for me to do the study on lazy, also known as slothful. But then again, yes it is! This was placed heavily on my heart to do this study and I must not be lazy and disobedient but to be obedient to the Lord!

There are so many verses, especially in Proverbs, that talks about lazy. I will use lazy because we are more familiar with that word and it means the same as slothful. Here are all the verses dealing with it that you can read for yourself and I will touch on some of it. Prov 10:4, 26; 12:24, 27; 13:4; 15:19; 18:9; 19:15, 24; 20:4; 21:25; 22:13; 24:30; 26:13-16. That's just proverbs only. Not talking about the other scriptures.

The thing that really stood out for me was not the physical lazy but the spiritual lazy. There are spiritual lazy people in the world who have no idea that they are lazy! That's where I come in. I am here to bring awareness to the things that Christian may have no idea what they are "suffering" from. This is what we can consider a self diagnoses. If you happen to follow under any of these things that the Lord is sharing with me, than it's time for you to change your ways. Remember, we are in the world but we are not of the world. That means that our lives should not be so consumed with worldly responsibilities that will cause us to neglected our spiritual responsibilities. I will not focus on the physical slothful because we already know what that is. We know what it means to be lazy and I gave you a few scriptures to back it up in proverbs. What I am going to focus on is the spiritual laziness because most of us have no idea that there is even a such thing as spiritual laziness.

Let's look at the parable in Matthew 25:14-46. Believe it or not this parable is dealing with the spiritual and physical life of a servant. Jesus is explaining what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
A man was going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted each one his money to take care of while he was gone. One of the servants he gave 5 bags of silver, another he gave 2 bags of silver and the last he gave 1 bag of silver and then he left. He gave them the monies based on their abilities. No one had more or less than what they can handle.

The first man began to invest in his boss money and as a result, he ended up with 5 more bags. He doubled what he started out with. The second man also went to work and earned two more bags. He doubled what he started out with. But the third man dug a hole in the ground and hid the boss's money. He did absolutely nothing with the money.

When the boss returned, he called for his servants to see what they did with the money he had entrusted them with. The man who had 5 bags said boss, you gave me 5 bags and I have earned 5 more bags. I can picture the 1st guy feeling good about what he had done for his boss. The boss was full of praise! Well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful (continually) in handling a small amount (even though he had more than the others, the boss considered it a small amount) I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together! (he was testing his faithfulness)

Same thing happened with the second servant, he had 2 bags of silver and presented 2 more bags to the boss. He said, Well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful (continually) in handling a small amount, I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!

With both servants, God was testing their faithfulness. He gave them portions based on their ability so it's not how much you receive from God that counts, it's what you do with what you receive that counts. Both men received different amounts and began working on taking care of his money. It was his money not theirs and they understood that. They WORKED and EARNED double as a result.

Now last and least, the lazy servant. He came with the one bag and presented the bag to his boss. He said to his boss, I knew you were a harsh man. Harvesting crops that you didn't plant and gathering crop that you didn't cultivate. CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NERVES??? He is basically saying to his boss, you want me to do all the work and you get to keep the stuff that I did. I have to grow this stuff, I have to take care of it while you are gone somewhere and than while I slave and work, all you have to do is come back and get what I have done. Than he said, I was afraid I would lose your money, (just in case I didn't do it right is his excuse) so I hid it in the earth, look, here you can have it back. LAZY! 

This man has more than laziness going on but he didn't even take the time to try. He did not want to work for his master. He did not want to do all the work so that someone else can take it back all the hard work he has done so while the other two where out working and earning and reaping and doubling the money, he sat and did absolutely nothing!!!

The boss replied. YOU WICKED AND LAZY SERVANT! You knew I harvest crops I didn't plant and gathered crops I didn't cultivate. Why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it. Than the boss said, take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the 10 bags of silver. vs29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

31-40 summarizing The Son of man will come in His true glory and sit on His throne with the Angels and He will separate his sheep from the goats. He will say to the ones who are His sheep, come who are blessed by my Father's inheritance that was prepared from the beginning of the creation of the world. (MEANING BEFORE HE EVEN CREATED MAN, THIS WAS ALREADY SET UP IN HEAVEN FOR US) This is the reason you will enter into this place, when I was hungry, you feed me, when I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was in prison, you visited me. When I was sick, you cared for me. When I was naked, you clothe me. And when I was a stranger, you showed me hospitality. You did these things. 

Now this is where people get confused about salvation and I will explain after I give what the Lord said about this. 37"Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?39When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?'40"And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'. BUT TO THE GOATS OR UNRIGHTEOUS Skipping to 45"And he will answer, 'I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.'46"And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life."

When Jesus said then the righteous will reply: He is referring to those who are saved. The others were like the pharisees and the Sadducee who put up this righteous front but their actions have proven differently. The clue is in the verse where Jesus said He separated the sheep from the goats. The sheep where on the right side of Jesus and were saved. The goat, the unsaved, are the ones who were domed to hell. So this verse does not prove that one can lose their salvation. Those who are saved are separated. 

Jesus is making a distinction between those who worked and harvest and those who did absolutely nothing, the lazy ones, with the gift that was given to them but thought of God as mean and a boss who asked for too much from them and who hated the thought of doing all the work and receiving nothing for it but have to give it back to the master. Jesus made the note that the boss will say, you already knew how this work. You already knew that you will go and do the work that I have given you. You knew that when it comes to the Kingdom of Heaven, that there is work that my people must do while I am gone and when I come back, I will expect that you would have done something with the thing that I have given you. In this example He is using money and he called him wicked and lazy.

Everyone is given a task to do. What is it that God has given you to do? Have you even picked it up and used it? How many people did you bring to the Lord? Did He drawn men unto you to witness to or are there people that need help that you are supposed to help out? Are you spiritually lazy? These are things that you can only answer yourself. If you know what it is that you should do and you are not doing it, as long as you are alive and as long as Christ have not come back again, you have time to do those things that you are responsible for doing. Do not get caught in the end where you have absolutely nothing to present to God. Those who are saved will be faithful but I want to encourage you if you find yourself being stagnant without a cause to go and server the Lord. 

Laziness is a great sin that God loathe. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by the way you live. If you need to make a change, do it now. There is physical laziness as well as spiritual laziness and we don't want to fall under either one of these. Do a self check.

As always, I love you and God bless you.

GLUTTONY

1.) Gluttony:

God told Ezekiel to tell His people that Sodom's sins were pride, laziness, and gluttony, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and did loathsome things, so I wiped her out, as you have seen. “Even Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more loathsome things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you! You should be deeply ashamed because your sins are so terrible. In comparison, you make your sisters seem innocent! Eze 16:49-52

The church

This is the least talked about sin in the church and we can see the results of that. So many Christians are living their lives unhealthy and over weight. I know because I am one of them but, I have made a vow to change and by me following God’s instructions, there will be a change. With gluttony comes laziness. When you overeat you are very sleepy. Food is supposed to be energy but, when you overeat the opposite happens. In one situation, God caused a famine to happen because of people overeating, over indulging. Gluttony has also been associated with not thinking about the poor. You have enough to feed the poor but instead, you would rather overeat than to share. We say that there are no big sins and little sins and that all sin is the same. Well, when we repeat that saying we deceive ourselves because God himself put a degree on sin. We miss quote or miss-understand what that means and we get that miss-understanding because of the part where if you brake one law you broke them all. That in its entirety means…you are a law breaker. You can’t say I broke a little law so that makes me a law abiding citizen. No, if you break one law, you are a law breaker period. If someone is not saved and some lied to a brother and another killed the brother, your fate will remain the same. You will both go to hell. If one who is not save steal a candy bar and another steal a diamond ring worth millions, you will both go to hell. The fate is the same. However, God does put degrees on sin if you pay attention to His word you will see where He puts degrees on sin. Even the punishment is based on the degree of the sin. If a man takes someone’s donkey he will have to pay it back three fold but if a man kill his brother he will be put to death. If a woman is caught in adultery she is put to death but if a woman take bread that do not belong to her, she will have to pay it back 3 fold. So as you can see, even though they are guilty of doing wrong, the punishments fit the crime and there are degrees to the crime. When we say the punishment fit the crime is because God was the one who establish what is fitting. So we can quash the notion that there are no little sins and big sins. Yes there are. But, God still hate sin, big or little God hate sin. We have to get that straight.

So what is the earthly punishment for gluttony health wise?

Well, there’s diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol to name a few. All of these things you can die from. You reap what you sew. God just allows what he has set up to take its course. Now the problem is…there are so many health issues that comes with obesity and in the church, we have people coming to the alter praying that God will heal them from their diabetes or high blood pressure but go home and continue to eat the foods that got them in that situation. Do you really expect God to heal you every time you lose control of your eating habit? God has given us the tools we need to live a healthy and sin free life and He is the Holy Spirit. But…instead of taking heed to the Holy Spirit we lose control. You will reap what you sew and that is a fact. It is time that the church start teaching on the earthly repercussion for sinning the “7 deadly sins”. 

Gluttony is also a learned behavior sadly by most of the Christian families. Teaching bad habits is a terrible thing because the kids do not know that it is wrong to over eat. It is one thing to know that it will change your outer appearance but it’s another to learn that it is a sin. A lot of people find it hard to believe that it is a sin because so many Christian leaders are over weight. You see the pastor with his big belly giving the sermon on how to live right when he clearly has no self control. When was the last time, if ever, a minister preached about gluttony? He can not be a proper witness because he cannot deliver ALLthe instructions of the true word of God.

Why is it important to teach this?

God punished prophets for not delivering the word to his people because they were afraid of the reactions they knew they would get from the people. The same goes for those who feel they can’t deliver that message because of how they look. We must be a good/right witness to represent God properly so there will be no guilt when we are doing the job God has instructed us to do. Blessings come to those who are obedient. Now we must be an example not just in words but in actions. Those who are not a right representative God will remove their lamp stand. What is a lamp stand? It’s one that gives light. You will no longer shine but remain silent and dim. It doesn’t mean you are going to hell it means your services are no longer needed because you are causing more damage than good.

I use to wonder what it means when God said that those who sin certain sins must be stone to death because they will corrupt the whole camp “if you will.” Well we can look today and see how that is possible.

In conclusion

I just gave the example of the church and how almost every member is over weigh. They are teaching terrible habits and people are following the same terrible habit. We have our so call fellowships were everyone brings a potluck dish and what we end up doing is indulging in the sanctuary. Do we think about inviting the poor so they can see our example of love by giving? We most likely over eat which brings shame to God. Also outside people will start to judge goodness by your example. Some people who are not saved may feel that they are better than the saved because they do more and live better.They start to judge us calling us hypocrites and it is a well deserved title. We will bring shame to ourselves and will be judged on what is right by the unsaved like the example in Ezekiel. This is what happens when God allows our sins to take its course. But, God is so good because even though he will allow that to happen it entail brings shame and embarrassment which will cause us to wake up and change. God said he will keep his covenant with us. This is why we are saved even when we mess up. Everyone should lift Him up and give Him praise!!!

7 DEADLY SINS

Even though I just stated my blog in June of 2011, I've been writing for a very long time. I've saved up my writings and I decided to every now and again, post some of those writings I wrote years ago. The Lord placed on my heart a few years ago to discuss the sins that we call the 7 deadly sins. These are sins that have such a strong hold on us and this is why I believe it was placed in my heart to write about it. It's all to help bring awareness to these sins and how it work and to stay away from it. Here's the introduction of it.

“The seven deadly sins.”

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness

Sloth: is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

Why is it called deadly sin?

The reason is because all will eventually lead to death. God gives us the instructions on how to live and as we follow those instructions, we gain self control, a closer relationship with God and we will be blessed. However, if we go against his instructions, we are doomed to the will that comes with disobedience. The will is sin. In Gen 4:7b NLV God warned Cain about sin by saying But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it." Sin has no governed discernment therefore you will be left with no self control, with no way to control sin it will take it’s course and eventually lead you to death. When Jesus died on the cross, He died so that we will be freed from the bondage of sin. Sin ruled over us and no matter how hard we try, sin had a grip on us. When Jesus died, the Holy Spirit set up residence on the inside of us and with Him living in us He is able to teach us how to live a holy life. However, sin is still here. Not inside of us but around us. We can still fall into sins trap just like Eve did in the garden. The hard part is we still remember what sin taste like and feel like.

Reap what you sew: Although we as Christian are saved by grace through faith, we are not exempt from the temptations of sin. If we choose to give into temptation and not rebuke the sin (in the name of Jesus), we are subject to the consequences of sin. Live by the sword die by the sword. So although we are saved, we still can suffer the same earthly punishments that an unsaved person suffers because it is sin taking its course. Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy and that is what sin does once it has taken control over you. God is just allowing sin to do what it do.

You become an example to the world of what can happen when you do not obey. Christians do not get special treatment when they sin. Earthly sin punishment goes for all creation because it was set up that way from the very beginning. The only difference is…the unsaved sinner goes to hell and the saved person goes to heaven. We no longer carry the title of a sinner but some of us carry on as if we were never redeemed. We can not make a mockery out of God because He hasn’t changed His feeling about sin. God still and will always hate sin but in the end, sin will be gone forever!

My focus will be on the 7 deadly sins because it has been placed in my heart. Although you will see an order of how the deadly sins are listed, God has placed in my heart to start with gluttony.

My testimony

Note: I mentioned facebook because it's a habit but it was all Yahoo. You will see what I mean when you view the video. I'm sharing what happened to me last night and today.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION?

Here is my question to you. Why do you seek God? What is your motivation? Are you seeking to live the way God want you to live so you can follow His ways exactly? Are you seeking to please Him perfectly and that is why you read and learn? Are you making sure you are lining yourself right by the way you are currently living your life? Why do you seek Him or why do you search for Him?

I wrote this months ago and I want to share this because it matches up with this topic.

Today sometimes it's hard to tell who really is a Christian and who is not. Today we don't check people and call them out we just pretty much take them at their word. If you say you are a Christian than I am not going to question whether you are telling the truth. That's between you and God. But, what I love about the books of John is that he is saying I'm going to tell you straight out. If you look like a sinner and talk like a sinner and live like a sinner than you are a sinner and not a Christian. A good example of what John is saying is if you see an Orange tree, you will never see Apples growing out of that tree, it is impossible because it has Orange seeds and the seeds can only bear it's fruit. This is a certainty. There's no questions about it. You don't have to second guess that tree. The tree is going to do and reap what it's seed is period. Well, when it comes to Christianity, John is basically saying the same thing. There are characteristics that a Christian have that can not be mistaken for anything else. Whatever seed or spirit that lives in a person is going to come out and it cannot show any other character. For Christians, that seed is the Holy Spirit that was planted in us and I have already covered what it is that the Holy Spirit carries. The Holy Spirit carries the 7fold Spirit of Christ Isaiah 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;. And now we have that Spirit Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And what I am telling you is bibical 2cr 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? The meaning of reprobate is: A morally unprincipled person. One who is predestined to damnation. To abandon to eternal damnation. It is always extremely important for us to check ourselves often to make sure we are living the life of a Christian and the great book to do a self check on this is the books of John(1st, 2nd, and 3rd).  Let me tell you why this is so heavy on me. Our hearts can and does deceive us often. That's right our own heart.Jeremiah 17:9-10  The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, [I] try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, [and] according to the fruit of his doings. And also Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] theways of death.  Good examples of how we do this is instead of judging our living and what is true by the word of God, we often say things like I know I'm not living the way God want me to but I do have good intentions, and my heart is right. We also say things like I know deep down in my heart that God... Our hearts trick us every time. If our hearts do not match with Christ than don't trust it!!! It's the same as if you meet someone whom you are thinking about dating. You would not put your heart out all the way for someone until you get to know them first and can trust them. You can trust God and his word better than your own self/heart so do a Bible check and if your heart is not matching with God's word than rely solely on his word and not your heart and than you will later find that your heart will become pure and will match up with God. Those who are strong in the word will understand completely with what I am saying. Listen to what I am saying because this is so very, very important. Today's Christians get so caught up with these talk shows and feel good messages that tells us that we are ok. If what you are feeling and doing is something that you know is wrong, that is ok, God loves everyone and accepts everyone for God is love and yada yada yada. DON'T GET CAUGHT UP WITH THOSE MESSAGES THAT WILL LEAD YOU TO DEATH! It is only the word of God that you can depend on for 100% truth. People will even get you to doubt the word of God like homosexuality and abortion to name a few. Your heart will trick you into believing that what you are feeling about that subject is right that God created a person to be homosexual and that abortion is ok in certain situations. An authentic Christian walk by the word of God, walking by faith. Believing only in what the word says. Another thing to remember is that God is more real than you and I because, we are not even living in our true body yet. We are not in our "real" resurrected body. We will change into complete perfection but God is already and has always been what He is. Onipotient, Onipresent and Omniscient. Although we know this already but you must understand that because we are not perfect yet, we can't use what is imperfect to rule our members, our members must be under the control of the Holy Spirit only which includes the heart. God is not only real but God is truth, he is serious about us and he is serious about sin. We can not afford to be insensitive to sin because our God is totally sensitive to it. We must be as Christ is. If you know you are sinning and you are having a hard time getting out of that sin than I suggest you do a self check on yourself right now. Before I left SCAN Health Plan I asked myself what kind of condition do I want to be in when God take me home, in otherwords when I die. Well my answer is that I want to be walking as Christ walk and I want to be walking in my assigned gift from the Holy Spirit, not living in sin. I remember talking to a man I met on the internet who passed away about a year ago. He said the reason he does not commit fornication is because he dosen't want to be caught in that sin when Christ comes. No one knows when Christ is coming and I don't want to be in the middle of having sinful sex which is sex while unmarried. I said well that is nice that you think like that but...don't you understand that you are already caught whether he arrived or not in a sinful act? Caught is caught whether He comes now or not so you have the right attitude but just know that any sin is a sin that we are caught in. You still might find yourself caught in or caught up in a sin without having the chance to repent of that sin before you die. Dying with unforgiving sin means you have to answer face to face with God about that sin and you will be held accountable for that sin. It doesn't mean you will go to hell but you will have to answer to Jesus Christ Himself. No one in their Christian mind would ever want that to happen to them. Now I am speaking from the word of God not from myself because if the truth be told, I don't enjoy denying what my flesh wants. If it was up to me, I would be sinning all the time because that is what my flesh desires but it is not me who I have to please but it is God who is my master that I have to please. So what I am saying to you does not come from the "Book of Angela" but from the "Book of the Bible" that was written by God's own words. A true Christian does not practic sin. Practic sin means living in sin. So lets break down what living in sin means. Living a life in disobediance to Gods words and standards is living in sin. If God said thou shalt not and you are doing it everyday than you are living in sin. In the same token, If God says thou shall or thou must and you don't, you are living in sin. I use to think that the hardest part of being a Christian is forgiving one another but really the hardest part of being a Christian is accepting what the word of God says and stepping out on faith living exactly what the word of God says. Not being afraid to call out what is not of God and speaking up for what is of God. Comparing our walk to the Bible to see how well we match up to it instead of comparing ourselves with each other. Here is a blog reference that explains in details about living in sin/darkness http://betchert.blogspot.com/2011/08/building-relationship-part-1.html I can't stress enough how serious God is about us and our living and the relationship that God desires from us. When one of my best friends and pastor died it just took me for a loop. I was so confused and my thoughts were for lack of a better word disorganized. I just didn't understand who, what, how, when, where and why? I was so busy being stunned and confused that I stopped reading the Bible. I say stopped because I read the bible daily and for weeks I just stopped. Than God spoke to my heart and I realized what I was doing. God said when you are in a relationship and you are mad at that person what is the first thing you do? You don't speak to that person. You shut down. You wait until you are not mad anymore to start a small conversation before working your way back up to the relationship being the way it use to be. Normally, when a person is hurt or sad, they run to their friend for comfort, but if they are mad at the person, than they will avoid that person. Now me being who I am had a hard time accepting this because I love the Lord so much but I could not deny my actions. The Lord was longing for our relationship. He was longing for me to talk to Him about anything that is troubling me. When we are honest with God, he brings things to our attention or send someone to give a word that matches with how we are feeling. God is our Father but He is also our friend and protector and comforter. Confusion is natural to feel when something happens that throws us for a loop but it is God that we must run to immediately for comfort. Even when it is God that we are hurt about because of lack of understanding. I'm saying this because a lot of times we think that we are ok. We don't want to admit that sometimes we just don't understand what God is doing and sometimes we feel like we should have been warned about things. God telling us ahead of time so that we can be prepared. God has already prepared me for this I just didn't know it would be my best friend and pastor. But all that was given to me prior now makes sense. So now I am back in the word of God feeding my spirit that was hungry and thristy. Back to authentic Christians. A true Christian according to the Book of John do not practic sin as was stated earlier, and If you are practicing sin, than you are lying about being a Christian. A true Christian do not keep or hang around friends that are practicing sin. I could not be best friends or even friends with someone who speaks Chinese and doesn't know English at all.

I wouldn't know what they were saying and they wouldn't know what I am saying. It doesn't mean that I can't do something nice for someone who speaks another language but we would not be hanging buddies. If we are, than that means I learned some Chinese along the way. I learned to conform to them in some way. This same thing applies to someone who is unsaved. You can not be best friends or even true friends with someone who is unsaved because you two would have nothing in common. If you are able to get along than the relationship that you two share is not one of Christ. Let me explain. Christ love the sinners and came for the sinners because they need him. The end result will be that they will learn that Jesus is the truth and come out of that sinful life. Just like a doctor will visit the sick person but the reason is to fix them. Those who are in the word understand what I am saying. It's what is in common that keeps us bonded together. This is according to the book of John. This is also why it states that if you say you are a Christian and hate another Christian than you are lying about being a Christian. It is the common bond and the Holy Spirit that keeps us together in true Love. If you have an issue with this than you know the drill, do a self check and ask God to help you with this but remember that the Holy Spirit already knows your struggles and is there to help you with all of your struggles. Be honest with God and let yourself go meaning be submissive to God so that He can do a perfect work in you.

There is so much more I would love to say but I have already said a lot! I know, I just can't stop but it's because I love you guys, I have to share because just as God is serious about us, I am serious about you. My love for you guys is real and I will be honest and tell you what is happening with me which is the reason for God dealing with me and the reason why I am spreading the word. I can't say that I love you and keep these things to myself. I just can't.

As always, I love you and God bless you.

GETTING TO KNOW ME

Things I left out. Whenever someone come to me to give me a message from God regarding my calling, it has always been Evangelist. I'm sending this video to you to explain who I am, why I write, and what is my motivation. Teaching background, I've taught youth Sunday School, and Bible Study. Service background I've served as an usher and I currently serve in the praise team group, and for 15yrs I've served as a helper to my father who preached the word every 1st Sunday at a convalescent home. My father had the senior ministry and I believe that is where my love for seniors come from because I worked for a senior HMO company for 12yrs as an assistant Social Worker called Staffing Coordinator. I've taking catechism and Bible courses at Community Chapel College. I am taking Hebrew Bible classes starting on Sept 18th. My family, my mother has her masters degree in Theology and my father has his Bachelors in Theology and is a preacher. My mother taught Bible courses at Community Chapel college one being Church history and my brother Chris taught as back up substitute (my brother has his MBA that qualified him as a professor teacher plus has taken Bible classes at the University). And all three of us siblings took Catechism. So my whole family where brought up in the word of God. My mother would teach us as children every summer the Bible from Gen-Rev and we had to do book reports, readings, learn the tribes and their meaning, learn Bible verses, and so much more. I had no choice but to love learning. It is my hearts desire to learn Hebrew and some of the Hebrew Biblical meanings. I think that's important for all Christians. Getting the true understanding of certain things that we may not understand who speaks a different language. Like understanding how beautiful Psalms is as an example. I wanted to just share some things with you. Believe it or not I am not one who likes to be in front of the camera. I like taking pictures but talking in front of the camera I don't particularly like when it comes to a serious topic so I get a little uncomfortable but, there are some things I just can't say all in writing and I want to express it in words. Plus I am shy and I am not as bold on video as I am in writing or spreading the word or message on the streets. I love you all. God bless you!

FORGIVE AND FORGET?

I joined a group on facebook called United with Israel. Today they put up a post regarding 9/11 and the topic was "Forgive and Forget?"

A lady sent them a letter stating that she know she is supposed to forgive those who do wrong but this is something that she could never forgive and forget those who did so much killing on 9/11 and she asked them, will I be in trouble with God because I can't seem to forgive them?

There response was: "Heavenly pardon is predicated on a condition. Before God grants forgiveness, He asks us to acknowledge that we were wrong and renounce the sinful behavior. God is willing to overlook the sins of the past for the sake of an altered future. He is ready to pardon the most terrible wrongs for the price of remorse, regret and the desire for a new beginning. But the one thing God's forgiveness is unwilling to do is to condone vicious crimes by simply accepting them. An unrepentant sinner mistakes God's mercy for permission to continue his ways. To forgive such a person isn't kindness; its cruelty to all those who'll be hurt by the evil that wasn't stopped before it could do more harm. Forgiving people who don't personally atone for the sins makes a statement: Repentance isn't really necessary. Can anything be more immoral than encouraging evil by refraining from any condemnation of those who commit it? The day after the Columbine High School massacre, a group of students announced that they forgave the killers. A short while after the Oklahoma bombing, some people put out a call to forgive Timothy McVeigh. And on September 12th, on several American campuses, colleges groups pleaded for forgiveness for the terrorists responsible for the horrific events of the previous day."

These weren't just misguided gestures of compassion. They were serious sins with potentially tragic consequences. Evil unchallenged is evil condoned. To forgive and forget, as Arthur Schopenhauer so well put it, "means to throw valuable experience out the window." And without the benefit of experience's lessons, we are almost certain to be doomed to repeat them.

They went on with more of why she should not forgive them and gave examples of why they can not forgive the Nazi. As I was reading that all I could think of is what a miserable way to live. I can't imagine purposely not trying to forgive someone even if their attempt was evil. My first thought would be to ask God to help me with the pain, anger, bitter and let's be truthful, hateful feeling I have that is not allowing me to want to forgive and having faith that God will come through. So, for them to say such things, I just couldn't agree with it at all even though it does make sense to the natural man. They are not even following the law they live by. When you carry and hold on to that much pain and un-forgiveness, it leads to hate. To hate someone is equivalent to a murderer by committing murder in their heart's and a murderer can not enter into heaven. The flesh is saying no, they do not deserve forgiveness from us and if God will punish them, who did not repent, than who are we to show mercy and forgiveness?  God being sovereign has to deal with sin the way He set it up to be. The wages of sin is death but, the gift of God is eternal life. Those who do not accept His gift, will die. As long as they are alive, they have a chance to be saved. But that is God's rule, not ours. Another thing is, because we are not God, we can't say if they may have been saved during the time of death. Only God knows that answer. When the disciples asked Jesus what will happen to Judas, Jesus basically told them, it is non of their concern or business. Our job is to obey God, not determined who made it and who didn't make it. With that being said, that means we don't have the right to judge who deserves forgiveness and who does not deserve forgiveness. So who are we, well we are Christians! We are children of God who have been separated and set apart from the worlds ways and thinking by the Holy Spirit who has changed our unforgiving hearts to a forgiving hearts. That is who we are! Yes, that is who we are.

So my heart went out to this lady and I wanted to encourage her by letting her know that it's ok to be hurt and heartbroken because that is the human side of us. And when you ask God to forgive them, you may not feel it right away but God will align your will with your honest heart statement knowing that it's God's will and it will get easier and you will find yourself not being bitter anymore. Forgiveness absolutely does not mean you condone what they do. And yes, forgiveness is Divine and it's the Holy Spirit that is working that out for you. Stephen showed it when he was being stoned for preaching Jesus and he said while they were biting him and stoning him, Father forgive them for they not know what they do." By flesh there is no way he could have made that statement. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and I believe he didn't even feel the pain. When he said those words the heavens opened up and he saw Jesus Christ stand up who sits on the right hand of the Father. It was the God inside of Him that gave him the heart of forgiveness. Jesus Himself when He was on the cross said "Father forgive them, for they not know what they do". Both times was a plea to the Father to forgive and the reason for them asking the Father for this is because they acknowledge that the people that were doing what they were, committing murder, was because they had no idea what they were really doing. Jesus teaches us to forgive not because they asked for it or deserve it, but because Jesus is God and He command it. But than I realized, they don't know Jesus for never once did they acknowledge Jesus or the Holy Spirit. I would of had to preach the gospel first before even going through this with them.

Oh how I love Jesus, oh how I love Jesus, Oh how I love Jesus because He first loved me. It's times like this when we can just shout and thank Him. We can do things that the flesh is not capable of doing, like submitting our flesh under the will of God which also includes forgiving. My prayer is that that woman ask the right person that question to get the right answer. I don't know if she is a Christian but she asked a non-Christian that question. My prayer is also for the Jews who do not know Jesus and have no idea how beautiful it is to know Him.

I say to anyone who struggles with understanding this, forgiveness does not mean you condone their sin just like Jesus and Stephen did not condone the people's sin. Jesus came so that the world through Him might be saved and it is still His will. As long as a person is still alive, there is a chance for salvation. Our will has to match Jesus will. Jesus said if someone hit you, you turn the other cheek. If someone take your coat, you give them the cape that goes with it. Our will has to match the Father's will who sent His Son to die for us and accepting Jesus is the only way the Father will forgive our sins. The Father offered us the greatest gift and it is his only begotten Son and with that comes forgiveness. And we have to have the desire that everyone, even those who wrong us, to be saved and forgiven of all their sins. That also means preaching the gospel to the lost world. If you keep yourself busy in well doing, you will not even have time to focus on that pain and before you know it, the great pain will go away and will be replaced with love, compassion and mercy. Remember what Jesus taught us when we pray Matt 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.


I love you and God bless you!

THE SCANDAL OF IGNORANCE CONTINUES

I thought I heard it all. I really did, and I thought that nothing could shock me but yesterday I was shocked. I saw a comment that was left on someone else's blog/youtube in response to their message that just blew me away. A person wrote word for word: You talk about endtime, bible worshipers are the reason for endtime, you've all taken the mark of the beast. How ridiculous to say that a 2000 year old book is the word of God. Jesus didn't die so that we could have a history book, he died so we could have the Holy Ghost. I understand when you open the book that your sins are not in there, but if the Holy Ghost speaks in your church, He'll tell you of your sins. I understand.
THE BIBLE IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST!

I know very shocking. What he is saying makes absolutely no sense at all. NONE! First of all, the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. Second, Jesus Christ quoted the Bible often when teaching to the people, on earth, about how to live, example The Beatitudes Matt 5:3-12, how to serve, how to worship, and what's next/to come the whole message he spoke on the mount Matt ch 5-7. Jesus defeated Satan by using the Word of God in the Bible Matt 4:4, 7, 10 . The Bible is a weapon, a teacher, food for the soul Matt 4:4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'". It is the living word of God. The scripture can not be broken John 10:35 . Jesus used the scripture when correcting false doctrine 

"You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God," NASB Matt 22:29 The devil is a liar and this man is being used by Satan. I wasn't going to say anything about this or comment but I had to because, if Satan is working hard, we have to work harder. We have to be aware of his tricks and if you are not girted up with the WORD OF TRUTH, than you will not know when the devil is up to his tricks and you will absolutely fall for anything. Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.This is why many fall and go to false religions. The Bible is what you need to back up what you are saying. Try the spirit by the Spirit. The word of God is your back up, your proof. Satan is good at what he does but God is greater than all. He is Alpha and Omega. He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. I encourage you as always to girt yourself up with the TRUTH because that is the only way you can defeat the Devil!

Here are some other Bible scriptures to help you out in case you run into someone like him:

The Bible itself is a Divine revelation that was preached in the Holy Ghost 1peter 1:12NIV; It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. So you see there were things that were hiding even from Angels (and you know if it was hidden from Angels, than it was hidden from Satan also) that were revealed to us later in the word of God, through the Holy Spirit, of the things that has happened. The very words in which it was clothed of the Holy Spirit 1cor 2:13NIV This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The apostles commands were, of Divine authority 1thes 4:2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. and their writings were the depository of these commands 2thes 2:15.Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 2Thes 3:14NLT Says Paul to the one church Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. emphasis on "note that man, that ye have no company with him." He also makes it the test of a Spirit-led man to recognize that what he was writing to them was "the commandments of the Lord" 1Cor 14:37NIV If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. The prophecies were fulfilled and the proof of it is in the word of God 2peter 1:20-21 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

What better way for Satan to trick you than to say, don't read God's word. That way anyone can say anything to you and you have nothing to back it up. Unlike man, God has no ignorance and His wisdom and knowledge is limitless. He not only communicate to us by the Holy Spirit which is God, but he communicates to us by His word(Bible), through prayer, through dreams, through visions, through our relationship, in our hearts, and speaks to us through us and through our worship. God appointed men to write down what he want the world to know about Him, what he wants from us, how He wants us to worship Him, how he want us to love Him and one another, what our purpose in life is, and yes to also reveal sin to us. Jesus also left us a message after he left earth called Revelation. Rev 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Now someone said he means everyone. I say he means only those who belong to him. Those are the only ones who can hear what he is saying as Jesus describe in John 8:47NIV He who belongs to God hears what God says.The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." Other ref: Daniel 12:10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. ***And to make note that I am not saying that Revelation is a book that can be fully and clearly understood because it isn't. Because just like above, there are things that must be hidden. But, only those who belong to Him will read it with anticipation and God will bless them for doing that. From reading it we understand that there is punishment for the wicked and blessing and promises and a permanent home for those who belong to God and we can rejoice and receive comfort from reading it. It will mean absolutely nothing to those who are not saved and don't belong to Christ unless they are seeking salvation.

The reason I can back up that this man is a liar and is working for Satan is because of the Bible. Thank God for the Word of the LORD! AMEN! A person said something that I will never forget, he said the greatest lie ever told, is a lie that is 99% true. That blew me away because if 1% is a lie, than the whole thing is false. 99% truth mixed in with 1% lie could send you straight to hell! That's how serious it is to know the TRUTH and nothing but the TRUTH. My prayer is that you continue to read the word of God so that you will never get suckered by someone like this or any other who spread lies to get you away from the TRUTH. The truth shall set you free from a lot of things including fools. Beware of such foolish talk. You know there is much, much more I want to say and add but I've already made my point.

I love you and God bless you!

BREAK FREE

I just wanted to share this video because I really enjoyed this new show called The Sing-off and a group called Committed won and they have a single out. So this is one of my way of showing support for these young men