Sunday, November 17, 2013
Evil speech. Spreading a brother's moral failing behind his back.
People will trash their brother behind their back. They seem to justify their unloving speech because it is not a lie. "Its okay I'm only spreading the truth." When people do this they are not walking in love. There is no good will towards their brother. There is no desire to help turn a brother away from ways that are hurting him and restoring him to God's ways which are good for him.
When a person walks in love they want to restore a brother not trash him publicly. There goal is to restore their walk with God not to disgrace them in the community. Notice in the passage below that every effort is made to first privately speak to the brother with the attitude of restoration. Then if that doesn't work then its okay to slightly enlarge the private conversation by adding another one or two in the hope of restoration his walk. Then only if the all else fails then it is to be told to the church. But even in telling it to the church the goal is to have a community motivator, although unpleasant, drive the person back into right relationship with God. Loves goal is to restore and not to speak evil of others. What if God aired all our dirty laundry from our lifetime just because it was true. Thankfully God is willing to cover our sins and doesn't maliciously spread our moral failings.
Matthew 18:15-18
15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
( please note there are exception is the Bible where it was in the best interest of the church to handle a situation immediately and publicly)
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" ( www.lockman.org )
#slander #speech #backbiting #tongue #gossip
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Saturday, October 19, 2013
God's great faithfulness to a stubborn people
Here is a portion of Nehemiah 9. If you have time open your Bible and read it in context.
Nehemiah 9:16-22
16 “But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly;
They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
17 “They refused to listen,
And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them;
So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But You are a God of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;
And You did not forsake them.
18 “Even when they made for themselves
A calf of molten metal
And said, ‘This is your God
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
19 You, in Your great compassion,
Did not forsake them in the wilderness;
The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
20 “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
21 “Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.
22 “You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a boundary.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Nehemiah 9:16-22
16 “But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly;
They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
17 “They refused to listen,
And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them;
So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But You are a God of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;
And You did not forsake them.
18 “Even when they made for themselves
A calf of molten metal
And said, ‘This is your God
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
19 You, in Your great compassion,
Did not forsake them in the wilderness;
The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
20 “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
21 “Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.
22 “You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a boundary.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Sunday, October 13, 2013
A key to being Spiritually wise and Spiritually stable
Do you want to be spiritually wise and spiritually stable? The following passage from the book of Matthew shows us a couple of ways to achieve these good goals. Lets look at the passage first then we will talk about it.
Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Although there are other things that help us to be wise and stable, in this devotion we will focus on just three. The first point is that our salvation must be founded on nothing other than the finished work of Jesus Christ. Points 2 and 3 go hand in hand. To be wise and stable we must both hear and act on God's words (verse 24). In this passage both persons heard God's words. But the second person heard but did not act on His words. So just listening alone did not make him wise and stable. In fact the one who heard but did not act was both foolish and unstable (verse 26). But when we choose to act on what we hear, we will grow more wise and more stable.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Although there are other things that help us to be wise and stable, in this devotion we will focus on just three. The first point is that our salvation must be founded on nothing other than the finished work of Jesus Christ. Points 2 and 3 go hand in hand. To be wise and stable we must both hear and act on God's words (verse 24). In this passage both persons heard God's words. But the second person heard but did not act on His words. So just listening alone did not make him wise and stable. In fact the one who heard but did not act was both foolish and unstable (verse 26). But when we choose to act on what we hear, we will grow more wise and more stable.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Saturday, October 12, 2013
Speak the truth in love
Ephesians 4:15 tells us that truth must be spoken in love. When the truth is not spoken is love it can be the difference between spreading softened butter on bread or using butter right from the refrigerator. Cold butter tears the bread and does damage. Likewise applying truth in a cold manner does damage to people and it misrepresents God too.
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Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Sunday, September 22, 2013
Obedience is a choice - We must choose to obey God
Read Psalm 101 below and notice how many times the Psalmist used the words "I will" in this short passage. He made a conscious choice as to how he would live. We must have a balance between dependence on God's help and exercising our will and choosing to obey. Obedience is a choice. We must choose to obey.
Suggestion 1 - count how many times the Psalmist used the words "I will" and give your answer in a comment.
Suggestion 2 - see if you can find other phrases / wordings that show the Psalmist making a choice. Share which ones you discovered.
Psalm 101
101 I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
2 I will give heed to the blameless way.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will know no evil.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.
6 My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.
7 He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.
8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
So as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Friday, September 20, 2013
Rebellion then trouble - Call for repentance with promised blessing
In the Book of Joel God's people had sinned. As a result of their sin they were experiencing trouble. One trouble from God's hand was various kinds of locust ravaging the land. They were also warned that a great and mighty people is coming and they should tremble. These things were happening due to their rebellion.
Then in Joel chapter 2 verses 12-17 God calls them to a wholeheartedly repentance. To save space we'll just look at verses 12 and 13.
12 12 12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
13 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.”
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
Then if the people repent and the spiritual leaders seek God then blessing can return.
Joel 2:25
25"Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
In fact what I find amazing is God willingness to respond to repentance and make up for the bad years they experienced. And those bad years were from their own rebellion. They deserved God's disciplining hand for those years. But with repentance God was willing to make up to them those bad years they deserved. God is good.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
If you believe the commentary on these Bible verses are helpful then please direct your friends to this Bible devotional blog.God bless you
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Then in Joel chapter 2 verses 12-17 God calls them to a wholeheartedly repentance. To save space we'll just look at verses 12 and 13.
12 12 12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
13 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.”
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
Then if the people repent and the spiritual leaders seek God then blessing can return.
Joel 2:25
25"Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
In fact what I find amazing is God willingness to respond to repentance and make up for the bad years they experienced. And those bad years were from their own rebellion. They deserved God's disciplining hand for those years. But with repentance God was willing to make up to them those bad years they deserved. God is good.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
If you believe the commentary on these Bible verses are helpful then please direct your friends to this Bible devotional blog.God bless you
My humor blog
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Psalm 34 - God's ability to help us in all problems
I have more than one devotion that I'd like to share from Psalm 34. This devotion concerns God's ability to help us in any and every circumstance. ( It is always good to read verses in context so please read the whole Psalm along with this devotion.)
When anyone accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour it does not guarantee that their life will be problem free. But the person that truly puts God first can be confident of one thing. That person will no longer have to go through their troubles alone. The God who created the universe will be with them to help them in all situations. And this word "All" is one word that we should pay attention to in this Psalm.
In addition to paying attention to the word "All" we also need to notice that problems in Psalm 34 are stated in the plural. It is not just one problem that is being referred to, but rather several problems. The following words are plural: fears, troubles, afflictions.
But God is able to help us in "All" of these problems. In verse 4 how many fears did God deliver him from? He was delivered from all. In verse 6 how many of the poor mans troubles was he saved from? He was saved from all. In verse 17 the righteous were delivered from how many of their troubles? They were delivered from all. In verse 19 how many afflictions of the righteous did the Lord deliver them from? They were delivered from all. I hope this encourages someone who is having troubles today. God bless
Psalm 34
4 I sought the LORD, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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