Posts

Showing posts from November, 2013

Leadership in the Church

I never thought integrity would become a powerful evangelistic tool, but here we are.  On the three points of spirit, soul, and body, the Church must work to be blameless.  Christian laymen (Pastors, Bishops and Deacons) must be representative examples of biblical integrity, which means being complete, wholesome, and biblically moral. Church attendance should produce knowing the difference between right and wrong, and the development of the fruits of the human spirit.  If anyone wants to provide leadership in the Church, then preconditions exist which include that: a leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, hospitable, not given to his lower unsaved nature, and not holding to the old drug, and sexual habits, before Christ.  This is not a person whose speech is like a parrot repeating old messages warmed over. This is not a person overly fond of wine or hard beverages and allowing the same to be promoted among the saints. This in

There is Going to be A Whole Lot of Shaking

God is against the rebel Leviathan churches and is shaking everything that can be shaken (Haggai 2:6-7).  It is well known that the Earth is waiting in earnest expectation for the manifestation of the sons of God.  Since the sons of God are called into the restoration of all things they must avoid the chains of deception that so easily distract them from advancing the kingdom of God (Acts 3:21).  The solution is looking unto Jesus as author and finisher of their faith.  It is also the measuring of state propaganda, and church misleading. What is the solution for breaking the apathy and deception with our generation? The solution is real, true repentance from sin, a turning toward the lordship of Christ and faithful allegiance to His kingdom.  There are real consequences to the person or saint who fails to make these choices.  A person who chooses to stay in sin forsakes the opportunity to walk in forgiveness and repentance.  These areas open the door to Satan. Jesus said you cann

The Gift of Discerning of Spirits

In times like these, Pastors, Elders, Deacons, and all others need to ask for the gift of discerning of spirits. The New Testament clearly teaches that every Christian needs to be able to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong.   Hebrew 5:14 says that mature Christians have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You shall be able to test teaching, and lifestyles of the pulpit folks against scripture, as we all must, as did the Berean Jews in Acts 17:11.  I John 4:1 explicitly tells us “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.” These passages describe the Christian role of discernment. Within the Body of Christ (Body), however, there are individuals gifted with the ability of discerning of spirits. Those with this spiritual gift must be free and willing to exercise it. Some who have it may be reluctant to use it, because it requires a good deal of courage. It is comforting for the whole Body to know that God has no

The Furnishing of Faith

Faith can furnish, and only faith can furnish, fit and sufficient material for a theology that is proved by the Word of God.  As a operation of man's natural, or carnal nature, though distinct from eye vision or from reasoning, faith is not only a kind of, but a higher kind of knowing.  Faith gives us understanding of realities which are inaccessible through our natural senses.  Our senses, in and of themselves, cannot validate God's existence, and the relationship between God and His creation. The religious Christian can only talk about it, but the power of faith allows us to live it.  Faith is the joint act of the intellect and will.  Faith consists in the verification of things that matter, which others think unattainable. If a right state of heart be indispensable to faith and so to the knowledge of God, can there be any theology of the unregenerate? The unregenerate man can know God as power and justice, and can fear Him. However, this is not knowledge of God's inn

Conversion and Ethics

Image
(Colossians Chapter 3 from the Message Bible) So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of th

A Double-Minded Man

Image
James 1: 8 states that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. This man is unwavering, uncertain, doubting and has a divided interest.   In addition, this divided interest it expressed when it comes to the word of God.   This division is exemplified when there is doubt concerning God’s word.   The root of doubt and division can be attributed to sin and bad teaching.   When demonstrated by a Christian this is detrimental to their faith experience. According to Finis Dake, “If one wants healing, health, success, happiness, and prosperity from God and through the Gospels, He must first of all learn the lesson, and learn it well that he must stop doubting the word of God on anything that it says.”     If a man had never permitted himself to doubt God, had received immediate and full victory over all suggestions of Satan to doubt; had received immediate and full victory over all doubt initially; then there would have not been a struggle with believing in God.   If a man wants