Take heed that no man deceive you! Keep your eyes open, lest some one may or may not deceive you at any point in time. So taught Jesus in Matthew 24:10 “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. ” He was referring to the same last time. 2 Timothy 3:13, “Adam and Eve were in a perfect environment, but Eve was deceived because, as a responder, she didn’t abide under her covering—and she didn’t receive doctrine from God.” Dr. Carl H. Stevens See Genesis 3:4 “the serpent deceived her by saying, “You will not surely die as you have been told” Iniquity is the emotions of Lucifer influencing the emotions of the woman. Notice, the serpent didn’t tackleAdam; he deceived Eve. ” CHS In Revelation we see the fate of the deceiver. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that…
Healing at the Cross Posts
Some folks always seem to want to assert their independence. (Self-dependence, self-reliance self-subsistence self-sufficiency self-support); these can do it all themselves without any help from others. They annoy us, especially when we see a need or way to assist them, and they refuse. It appears to be a betrayal to their true nature, which could allow for more “humility.” People do things for all kinds of reasons: personality, upbringing, environment, or genetics could all play a part. But, let’s consider the words of Paul to the Corinthians. ” For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in…
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Companionship is that which teaches mortals everything.” Euripides ” …intercourse with other men influences the manner, appearance, deportment, and character of a man, sharpens his wits, controls his conduct, and brightens his very face.” Pulpit Commentary Proverbs 27:1 teaches, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” “what was the secret of the power (of Paul, the Apostle)? “It is given in his own words, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) He was able to fling himself with that passionate confidence into the present duty, he was able to preach the word with that victorious vigor in season and out of season. ” … the whole burden of the unknown future was rolled away from him, and he, more than…
Death is once and done for a believer in Christ. The doorway which death opened and closed behind it exists still, but cannot be gone through backwards. Only, the present lives on, a current and resurrected existence. As we abide in the beauty of this holiness, (separated from former depravity and alive unto God in Christ), the peaceable fruit of our conjoined righteousness with Christ occurs. See, in this post-death experience, we are vitally connected to His life. Jesus spoke to His close ones, ” I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5 The metaphor is clear: Christ is the Vine and we are the branches of the vine. Abiding, however, seems a strange thought for a branch in a vine. We must explain. Our unity…
” Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. ” John 15:3 The Galatian Christians had fallen from grace, and the Hebrew Christians were warned about failing the grace of God. What action or what failure caused the fall or fail? Well some Galatians took on circumcision as a prerequisite for salvation. This practice eliminated simple grace as the only means of attaining salvation. Receiving this salvation is through simply believing. The Hebrew Christians interpreted their persecution as a rejection by God, rather than seeing it as a chastening from Father. They excluded themselves from grace. In both cases, conditions were attached to the free gift, though their salvation was intact. See Roman’s 6:23, 3:23 etc. So, Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians you are “not in darkness” — not in darkness of understanding (that is, spiritual ignorance) or of the moral nature (that is, a state…
“So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.” Job 8:13 Psalm 31:6 teaches: ” I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord.” Proverbs 10:28 adds “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” A hypocrite is “a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives.” Vocabulary.com Beloved, natural faith can become wishful thinking, so thinks the pretender, but is “hope deferred”. It makes the heart sick — how long can wishful thinking be sustained? When a person pushes a belief that is not true in the hope that it will become true, he or she will reap a great disappointment — maybe in the realization of that very false hope. ” …but he that seeketh…
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1Cointhians 1:18 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 1Cointhians 1:23-24 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1Cointhians 2:2 Paul was not a people pleaser. Jews hoped for a “sign” and Greek folks sought wisdom. But Paul instead chose to proclaim the power of God and the wisdom which was God’s alone. It was Paul’s topic of choice. His preaching posture came with “feebleness (of body or mind); and, by implication, ‘malady’ or moral frailty.” “ (Paul), not only eschewed all affectation of cleverness or grandiloquence, but went to the opposite…
Because life is a narrow way, few find it. Mostly a broader way finds a person, and many are defiled thereby. It leads to destruction. Proverbs 22:5 teaches that thorns and thistles await such, and verse 8 tells us that abject nothingness rewards the sower of emotional rebellion. For wide is the gate — easily entered, and broad is the way — easily trodden. “Enter ye in at the strait gate — as if hardly wide enough to admit one at all. This expresses the difficulty of the first right step …involving, as it does, a triumph over all our natural inclinations.” JFB on Matthew 7:13 The one road caters to ease and self-indulgence, the other bends to eternal safety. The narrow way involves an intense “keeping” of one’s soul — a hedging about with protection. Proverbs 22:5 In Luke 13:24 Jesus teaches, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.”…
“Hope maketh not ashamed , for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” Romans 5:5 The verb for “shed abroad” consists of a Greek “Perfect passive indicative” of ekcheō –meaning to pour out.” On this verse we read comments, “And how can this hope of glory, which as believers we cherish, put us to shame, when we feel God Himself, by His Spirit given to us, drenching our hearts in sweet, all-subduing sensations of His wondrous love to us in Christ Jesus?” JFB We now approach the glorious theme of the Life of the Justified. “…. It is to appear as a state warmed with eternal Love; irradiated with the prospect of glory. In it the man, knit up with Christ his Head, his Bridegroom, his all, yields himself with joy to the God who has received him. In the living power of…
A skeptic doubts, but something deeper had happened. A true skeptic questions because he or she just cannot believe. For them, the inability to believe something without a total analysis hinders the simplicity of seeing the invisible. But what is the criterion for a skeptic’s analysis ? Romans 4 gives us several examples: First, a program of merit through good works. In this mindset anything of value comes as a reward for performance. Romans 4:2 teaches us, ” …if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.”” …the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. “Of course, good works create value, but not as a means of gaining favor from God. That favor is given as a free gift. The next mindset used as a criterion for analysis centers around the ritual of circumcision. This rite practiced strictly by Jewish folks, eliminates all…