ACTS 4 Lesson...

Peter and John healed a beggar in Acts chapter 3. Then they were brought before the sandhedrin. They started questioning Peter. To which he said,

ACTS 4:8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.
12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Heres a few points from this short account.

1) Peter and John acted in kindness. (v9) Do you find that amazing that they filled with the Holy Spirit were living in love! When they saw the poor beggar they had compassion and healed him because it was the kind thing to do. Note, it was not to show people their message was this or that, it was not to make a show, it was for compassion! Healing ministry is a ministry of kindness!

2) Peter and John were harassed by the religious people. This is the age old story. Whenever there is a work of God religios people get all uptight and go all legalistic! From Old Testament times, New Testament times, Wesley times, to now! Don't get caught up in the wicked religios spirit!

3) Healing is in the name of Jesus! Healing in the name of Jesus is an amazing thought. The name of Jesus is so powerful, so full of love and compassion that when commanded in the name of Jesus something starts changing in the Earth! In this case it was the mans health! Hallelujah! Remember how powerful the name of Jesus is!

4) The healing led to the gospel being preached. Peter and John healed a man which led to the gospel being preached. There is no correct order for healing and preaching because they are both preaching! They are preaching with words and actions. Lets never be so ignorant to think that the gospel must be spoken first, it doesn't matter as it is all preaching, word and deed!

5) Salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to heaven, eternal life. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ. Those who do not believe Him will perish. That means Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, as lovely as some may be will not inherit eternal life unless they put their faith in Jesus Christ. Think of your family and friends, you neighborhood, see the millions drifting into hell. GO and fetch them! They need saving, and only the MIGHTY name of Jesus will do!

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Acts Chapter 2

1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
----------------
I always find it interresting how peoples reactions never change from Bible time to now. When the Holy Spirit starts moving He does weird and wacky things. He does things to people that makes other people feel uncomfortable, and often the people looking on don't understand what is going on and so they start bagging it. But we all know that the Holy Spirit has come to give us power to testify. To testify to Jesus the Messiah, His death and resurrection, and how we can inherit eternal life. Peter got up filled with the Spirit amongst the scoffing and preached and 3000 were saved that day.

Are you a scoffer?
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit and if you are have you gotten up to preach or are you just sitting still?

Father please forgive us for scoffing at different moves of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, please send the Holy Spirit to empower us to live our life for you dedicated to witnessing to the world about Jesus death and resurrection!

Spiritual Gifts

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12

Which of these gifts are you operating in? Not operating in any of them then I have two suggestions.

1) Get baptised in the Holy Spirit by repenting of all sin, dedicating your whole life to God, asking the God to baptise you with the Holy Spirit, then believe He is doing/has done it, then walk in and by faith.

Or

2) Step out in faith in a way that will force God to give you one of these gifts so that His will may be done, for example pray for the sick, or ask God for a word of knowledge to help in leading the lost to Christ, building up the church etc...

God determines which ones He gives, and from my experience I can see that God gives as we step out in faith and meet the challenges ahead. He chooses to give gifts to help accomplish the mission He has given us. (The Great Commission)

Step out in faith and see what happens!

freedom

Sorry I havent been blogging much! Ive been flat out!

On the good side we are seeing God doing some amazing things at the moment, real life changing stuff. The girls that decided to follow Jesus the other week came back for Bible study yesterday where we spoke about Sin and Salvation and deliverance... Today at brekie club they were almost completely different looking kids. I dont know how to explain, they were happy, but something in their spirit is changing. Praise God!

I had a great opportunity to show Gods love today. I was able to give coffee to some people lining up outside in the cold which led to great conversations, and I was able to pray for a guys back. He injured his back years and years ago at work and hasnt been able to work since. He came intoday and it was really bugging him so I prayed for it and he became alot more peaceful, and as he left he said it felt great and that he wanted to come to church with me! Thank you God for loving people!

Heres some holiness stuff from the Holy Spirit via Paul in Galatians 5...

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery...

"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. "

Lord, forgive us for sinning. Help us live by the Spirit! Thank you for freedom!

what to believe?

Check out Simon Maplebacks blog, hes got a couple of good vids on Oprah. I've had problems with her for ages so its good to see these videos... Ive only watched 2 of them but they reveal some interesting things...

--------

Someone asked me about how I can follow so many different types of people with different beliefs and practices and asked how I work out what to take and what to drop.

I barrack for Port Adelaide. I like most of our players, I think they are good. But some of them really need something a bit extra, they need to do things differently. When I look at other clubs I see players I think would work really well at my club. I would love to have Buddy Love in our forward line, Garry Abblet in the middle, and Scarlett down back. I don't want them to bring their own club, just themselves. I want a Port Power Buddy Love, a Port Power Abblett... That would do nicely...

William Booth did similar sorts of things. He took things that worked from one place, disregarded what wasn't that great and blended a whole bunch of things together. (One example Army with Church...)

So, for myslef, I take Way of the Masters 'Good Test' and some of their teaching, but I reject some of their Calvinist roots of election and pre-destination, I like some Extreme Prophetic stuff like giving people words from God, but some of their theology can bother me too. I love Charles Finney, Wesley, Booths, Bonnke, etc but it doesn't mean that everything they say I will agree with. But I am more than happy to take the bits do agree with!

I like to test things against Scripture, reason, history, tradition and experience. The main thing though is Scripture. If people disagree with me from Scripture I am so much more willing to debate and listen to them. Scripture is the authorative text that I will work with...

So, heres to having a Port Power dream team...

MUST WATCH

THIS IS A MUST WATCH VIDEO. ITS SOOOO FUNNY!

First up, INSANE is going to be insane! Its a bug youth get together at the beginning of next year! Its going to be huge. If you want to donate money or help out somehow talk to 2love at THQ. But what we all should do is start praying for it! We want to see heaps of youth get saved! PRAY IT UP!




-------------

Read this in my devotions today... It made me think because I am sure there have been times I have fallen into a couple of these categories, and it confirms my thoughts that we as the church should be a bit stricter and not so afraid of expelling the immoral brothers...

"I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you." 1 Cor 5

I've been in corps where the people in charge know there is dodgy stuff going on but they turn a blind eye because its 'none of their business...' I wonder what my life and the lives of others would look like if we were expelled for being consistently immoral... I wonder how many Officers, pastors, leaders etc have been obedient to this passage in recent times.

Also, its wise to read Matthew 18:15-17, 2 cor 2:5-8, 2 Thess 3:14-15, Titus 3:10

-----------------
About the so called art that is really porn. I just heard a politician on the news saying that he doesn't think that police should be raiding art galleries. My response is this, "Artists shouldn't be taking photos of nude 12-13 yr old girls."

STAY OR GO?

Imagine this, You've been working for years and years. Your body has been damaged, your relationships have suffered, you haven't made much money, your life has been about working. But then all of a sudden you see the end of the tunnel, you see that by a mans gift to you, you can live like a King in a mansion. Every tear will be wiped away, you can live in peace, not having to worry about anything. You can be in paradise! And then you say, no thanks, not yet, the work I am doing is more important for this time...

What would you do? If you were taken to Paradise right now would you want to come back? If you could escape all your fears, worries, concerns, struggles, pain, enemies etc would you choose to stay here or go on? Why?

Paul gives us this testimony, "I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."

Paul saw something that we only say we believe. He saw that if people did not have Jesus then they were destined to spend eternity in the lake of fire. He was consumed with this compassion for the lost, he didn't want anyone to go to hell. So his life reflected that longing. He decided that staying in the body was important for other peoples salvation.

I know for myself that I know alot of the stuff about salvation, grace, faith, heaven and hell. Its easy, most Christians know that you need Jesus to be saved. But how many of us are filled with enough compassion to do something about it? How many of us structure our lives on trying to lead people into a saving relationship with Jesus?

Are you waiting for heaven or are you ready to fight for the Salvation of the world?

Christian Malpractice

What is more loving? To not tell people about sin hell and judgment and to have a nice chat to them, eventually building a relationship with them, then after a while begin to talk about how Jesus saves? OR to tell people, to warn people of their choices and to encourage them to accept Gods grace?

Watch this video, its in response to the nooma video Bullhorn...



What do you think?

hell

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 11-15)

We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked. (Salvation Army doctrine 11)

It always amazes me that people dont believe in the doctrine of hell and punishment, the place where people go who are guilty of sin and have not accepted the grace of God in Jesus Christ. I'm not sure how people deal with issues of justice if people here on Earth can do what they like, live relatively easy and get away with sin. That does not make a holy and just a judge to me. As for me, I believe sin leads to death, condemnation and hell. I also believe if you repent of your sin, and believe in Jesus you will be regenerated by the Holy Spirit and you will be saved.

Jesus and Religious folk

As Ive been reading the gospels over the last couple of weeks I am again reminded of the huge amount of opposition Jesus faced from the religious people. He had all sorts of attacks thrown at Him. People didn't like His message or His methods. Time after time people would tell Him off, accuse Him of heresy, of being controlled by demons and the list would go on.

It amazes me how Jesus dealt with these religious people. He just told them how it was and called them to faith and repentance. He wouldn't take a backward step. Not only that He was very sure that if they didn't do those things they would be condemned, so He told them that as well.

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

- Jesus (luke 13)

Think of how we can apply this to our ministry today...

Holiness

"Holiness is a state in which there is no anger, malice, blasphemy, hypocrisy, envy, love of ease, selfish desires for good opinion of men, shame of the Cross, worldiness, deceit, debate, contention, covetousness, nor any evil desire or tendency in the heart." (Brengle)

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." (Galatians 5:16-17)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (Galatians 5:22-26)

Did you catch that? Holiness is possible. It is expected. We can't do it on our own. But by Jesus death and resurrection we can. By the filling of the Holy Spirit we can. And I can testify that sinful habits that I've had, the ones I thought I could never get rid off have fallen off me. Instead of having a sinful heart my heart has been turned to love.

If you are still sinning today God can change that. We cannot do it on our own. But thats the whole reason why Jesus died and rose again. He defeated sin on the cross. Why not enforce that victory upon your own life today? Ask God to show you your sin. Repent and renounce. Devote all of your life to Him. Believe God has done it. Then testify that He has done it!

There's freedom in the name of Jesus!

Long time no blog! Since the last blog I started up a new boys group that is awesome! We had such a good time and I can see how we will be able to preach the gospel to them in a relative way. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!
-----
I was listening to an old sermon last night and he was asking are you a Christian or a disciple of Jesus? Interesting question that I think we all need to ask ourselves. Are we doing the Christian thing, church, Bible, a bit of prayer, good morals etc, or are we pressing into Christ? Are we a disciple? Someone who follows Jesus, listens to Him, watches Him, and obeys Him? A disciple is someone who is turning into their master. A disciple of Jesus is radical. They are different to the world. They are revolutionaries set on changing the world... Interesting thought. Which one are you?
-----
Pentecost Sunday yesterday on Mothers day. Did your corps celebrate both or just mothers day or just Pentecost? We did Mothers Day, we mentioned Pentecost but are going to do it more thoroughly on another day. We had a good, clear gospel presentation. There were definitely people moved by it but I didn't see any visible signs of commitment. I do pray that the seed planted would grow though... I didn't mind doing the mothers day thing as we were doing what Pentecost was all about, preaching the good news. So I guess we did have a Pentecost meeting by preaching Jesus raised from the dead...

doubt is evil

It is almost trendy to doubt in the church today. I hear people say a little bit of doubt is good. i hear people justifying their doubt all the time. It didnt sit well with me so I looked up doubt in the Bible and this is what I came up with...

“Why do you doubt?”
Matthew 14:31
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

Luke 24:38
He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?”

Jesus is amazed that people would doubt. There is no need for it. Once we see who God is, the just, holy, compassionate, all powerful God who can do anything why would you doubt? Jesus does not see doubt as good, rather as unbelievable!

Do not doubt
John 20:27
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Romans 14:23
But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

James 1:6
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

The opposite of doubt is faith. Here Jesus is telling us to stop doubting and to have faith. If you have doubts, stop it, instead have faith. Perhaps doubt comes from the enemy. I’ve seen this in my own experience. The enemy starts telling lies, we accept them and doubt creeps in. Stop believing the devil and start believing in the Creator/Saviour of the world. God wants us to live a life of faith, not doubt.

Faith leads to the miraculous
Matthew 21:21and Mark 11:23
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.

If we do not doubt and have faith we will see the miraculous happen! Hallelujah! I can witness to this fact! Step out in faith, don’t just say you have faith, step out in it and you will see God do awesome things!

So in closing, doubt may be trendy in some churches. But is a lie from the devil. It is not ok to doubt. The solution to doubt is to look at who God is, and put your faith in Him. The solution is to listen to what God says, read your Bible and believe. And when we start believing we will see the miraculous happen!

The knowing too much sin

Living in the Western World we know so much about injustice. We know 30,000 kids die each night, we know theyre dieing of preventable diseases, we know people are in slavery, people are being bought and sold as sex slaves, we know people get abused, we know people are treated unfairly and working in sweat shops. We know there is war and famine, and extreme poverty. We know that even in our own towns there is injustice. And for most of us, including me we are involved in the sin of knowing too much. Let me explain...

Heidi Baker found out about the poverty and kids homes needing urgent help in Mozambique and simply said, "Lets go." The rest is history with thousands of churches starting up, thousands of kids homes, huge amounts of kids getting adopted, people being raised from the dead and thousands and thousands of people getting saved. All because she heard and responded.

We are living in the sin of knowing too much and not doing anything about it. I am included. I am convicted of it and am working out what I need to do to get out of this sin. But at the end of the day theres a far greater reason for this though, and it has nothing to do with me. It has to do with "others." Am I willing to love others? What about you?

Yesterday I didnt write down about Matthew 25 because I saw it as simply loving people, but we in the western world do not get it. We see it, yet do nothing. You ask, "What am I called to do?" Try this on for size, "Feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, invite strangers in, clothe those who need clothes, look after the sick, visit the prisoners. However you treat people is how you are treating God, so treat people like the king of Kings."

What am I called to do?

I get so many people asking me the same question. I have asked question and I am sure you have asked this question. And its funny because we all expect something magical, but the answer is right in front of our eyes...

"What am I called to do?"

The answer to this is so so easy, it seems too easy, and people see the answer then keep asking more and more not realizing it is that simple. Im going to use 3 passages of Scripture that shows what everyone is called to do. (note, this is different from called to be... but thats a question for another day)

“ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and withall your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30

“As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:7-8)

And He continues in Matthew "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28)

So here is what God wants YOU to do. Love God, love others, heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons, freely give, make disciples, teach people to obey God.

So you no longer need to ask the question "What does God want me to do." He has already told you. Start doing these things right where you are and see where that leads you. Its not necessarily about specifics e.g should I be a doctor or a lawyer or a pastor, officer etc, its about obeying God. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, officer, whatever, but whatever you do "Love God, love others, heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons, freely give, make disciples, teach people to obey God."

Some Nazarites...

Samuel was set apart for God so that people could once again hear God.
Samson was set apart for God for the freedom of the Israelites.
John the Baptist, or JB as I call him was set apart to prepare the way for the new Kingdom.

Are you willing to be set apart to help others hear God, have freedom and enter the Kingdom of God?
-------
I was able to minister to a breakfast club kid today. We had bacon and eggs for the last brekie club this term. He said "Pigs are ugly, but they're good on the inside." Referring to the bacon. It was an easy opportunity for me to say "God looks at the heart!" Shifting normal conversations into spiritual ones is not hard, you just need to be on the look out, be ready, and be prepared to take a risk!
-------
I watched "Cocaine Cowboys" last night. Its a documentary about the Miami drug scene in the 70s-80s. Some of the guys were earning more than a million dollars a week. So many people made money that when the cops came in and the drug trade started coming down businesses were going bankrupt because the drug dealers weren't spending their money anymore.

It made me think, what sort of impact are Christians having on the world? What would happen if we all left? How much of a difference are we really making?

Spiritual Warfare

Firstly, I had that vision of hell but my mate Steve from church had an even crazier one on the weekend which included smells and stuff! Infact, he smelt something that was yuck and didnt know what it was. Then today he smelt in class... The smell of burning hair which is also the same smell as sulfur... Thank you Jesus that i don't need to burn in hell! You can check out his blog here. It's his first blog so we'll see if he keeps it up...

Secondly, did Strike tonight at Macleod with Simon M. It was great. The topic was Spiritual warfare. A huge topic for a small amount of time. We could have done heaps more but we fitted in some cool stuff. We were able to change some beliefs shaped by TV, and told them about the Bibles version! We then prayed for the gift of discernment.

The way we tackled the topic was to basically say angels and demons are real. Angels out number demons 2:1, God has authority (Matthew 28), He gave it to us (luke 10:19), then how to be protected, (Ephesians 6) and how to get set free from them! Thank you Jesus for our salvation!

So, if you think your possessed, or know someone who is, take them to the Macleod folk who will deal with it! They have authority from God, faith to back it up, the armor of God on, and now know what to do! I can just see it now, the demons having an emergency meeting tomorrow morning as all the kids wake up! hahaha Glory to God!

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8

Eccentric Ezekiel

Ive been reading the book of Ezekiel, I love it. There is only one way to describe Ezekiel, he was a crazy crazy man. In todays world we would think he was some weird cult leader!

Ezekiel was a Priest and a prophet, which is kind of rare, which means not only did He work in the temple but He told people what God was saying. From what Ive briefly read it all starts when he has a vision of God, in what I can only describe as a spaceship! I kid you not! Imagine telling people you saw a spaceship and God spoke to you! People would think you were crazy! Thats what Ezekiel was like! (read Ezekiel 1 for a glimpse of the space ship!lol)

He was one of those weird guys that says stuff like, "God told me that..." Even worse he would tell people stuff they didn't want to hear! God had told him that he had to tell people what their sins were because if they didn't and they died then their blood would be on his hands! Imagine being told you need to tell your whole school how their sinning otherwise Gods going to hold you responsible?!? He must have been crazy going around telling people all their sins, I'm guessing he didn't have many friends...

Also, as hes telling people stuff he demonstrates it in all sorts of weird and offensive ways. One of those ways is by lying on his side for 390 days then turning over to the other side and doing the same thing just to prove a point! And to make things worse, he had his food there and God was telling him to cook while he was lying there, so Ezekiel needed a fire to cook. Because he wasn't allowed to move the only thing he was allowed to burn was his own poo!!!! So Ezekiel compromised with God and they decided he wouldn't use his own poo, but he'd use cow poo! YUCK!Imagine if you were doing that? What would people in church think? What would your Corps officer think? I can just see it now, We get the message but thats just too much, don't make too much of a scene, your scaring the people in the church, they think your crazy!" Hahaha

Isn't Ezekiel a bit of a glimpse of how us Christians are seen like sometimes? He sometimes has unpopular beliefs, he tells people they need to repent, he does weird things, he says he hears and sees God, he must have offended and freaked out so many people! But he had good reason to, God told him to! Maybe you know someone who's like this, maybe you need stop judging them, maybe you need to encourage them, maybe thats what God is calling you to. Today, be encouraged that even though God asks us to do things that are weird and wacky, that you are not alone, and that God will reward you! Are you a Jesus freak like Ezeek the geek?

Ezekiel 3:16-19
16 At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me: 17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for ^[a] his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.

Anonymous part 3

Ive had quite a few emails and comments left about the whole "Anonymous" thing so I think I will keep this strand going for a little longer. Im not sure how much I will be able to comment back and forth because Im going to the beach for a few days R&R...

Firstly, lets look at the Scripture I have used...

I wrote, "a light on hill cannot be hidden. (therefore if your hiding something maybe its dark...) If you are scared to comment maybe you are wrong!" Thats taken from Matthew 5. In this passage Jesus is saying that "You" referring to the people listening (thats us) are like a light on a hill if we follow Jesus. Heres the whole thing...

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Mat 5:14-16)

If anonymous is a follower of Jesus, (which he/she always says they are...) then we're not suppose to put it under a bowl to be hidden. Thats stupid. In fact, not only is it stupid to hide, but Jesus tells us to shine behind all men! Why? So that people may see your good deeds and praise Jesus! Which, is exactly the point Im making, if you have something worthwhile saying, something of light, then don't put it under a bowl, that is, let us see your life so we can praise God. If you are in the light and you hide the light (which is what anon does... although, more reguarly than not its not light but dark...) then that is a slap in the face of Jesus and a direct act of disobedience.

I wrote, "If you are scared to comment maybe you are wrong!" Well heres something to mull over, "18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18 What is that talking about, basically if you are made perfect in love then you have nothjing to fear, but not only that love drives that fear away. Don't be fooled people, fear is from the devil. (Not talking about fear of the Lord, which is a different type of fear which Im not going into...) What does fear have to do with? Punishment? If you write a comment and your scared of it then it must have to do with some sort of punishment. Why would you be punished for tlaking in the light? Are you afraid of other people?

I said, ""Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Which is not my words but a direct quote of Jesus in Matthew 10:28! And as I looked back it this morning its made even better sense, "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." A far cry from "Im anon so people dont get me!" (lots of emails about that one...) I din't say it, Jesus did and its exactly what we're talking about. If you are an exception to this then it must be from the dark... But hey, I have been wrong before, try and prove me wrong!

Isn't it amazing that the Bible is filled with things about if you follow Jesus you will be persecuted yet we want to be anonymous because we dont want to pay the price. Imagine if Jesus kept anonymous so He wouldnt pay the price! hahaha what a joke!

And the last scripture. I put that in because whenever the conversation starts between me and "anonymous" they start crying that theyve been attacked. I work from the Bible, history, tradition, experience and reason. But sadly so many "anonymous" is from reason alone. Of course Im going to have a stronger arguement, I have so much more authority! Not my authority, but the Bible as authorative, and history, reason, tradition etc to back it up.

If I just left this conversation go I would be saying that you are all scoffers. But Im trying to reason with you and show my point because I believe that some of you will take it on. Most of what I have said, I believe is from God through the words of Jesus. I do not see any evidence at all in the Bible that we should be scared of one thing or the other, rather I see that God has told us to be a light, a light which you don't put under a bowl...

What do you guys think of the scripture I have used? And please, don't go silly, Im away and wont be able to delete your comments for a few days...lol