Temptation!

Without Sin!

“See, the Word of GOD is alive! It is at work and sharper than any double edged sword – it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart. Before GOD, nothing is hidden, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must render an account.

Therefore since we have a great cohen gadol (High Priest) who has passed through to the highest Heaven, YESHUA (JESUS), the Son of GOD, let us hold firmly to what we acknowledge as true. For we do not have a cohen gadol unable to empathize with our weaknesses; since in every respect He was tempted just as we are, the only difference being that He did not sin. Therefore, let us confidently approach the Throne from which GOD gives grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:12-16 CJB (emphasis mine)

He was tempted as we are, we have heard many teachings on this passage over the years and I really have nothing to add to that. Of course the three temptations He faced after His baptism and 40 days of fasting with testing and temptations; lust of the flesh and gluttony, by using His power to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger; pride (vanity), by jumping off a high place to test GOD the Father’s Word; greed for power and sloth (laziness) by circumventing GOD’s process of taking back the authority of man over the earth by worshiping satan. But what of the rest of the seven deadly sins; the seven are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.

Pride: He dealt with that by not demonstrating His authority and power as the Son of GOD by judging and punishing as He could have, but He spoke the truth in love for the lost no matter who they were of how they treated Him. He reminded the disciples that while He was their LORD He came to serve not be served. He taught that to be His disciples we must live and trust as children, love one another as He loves us and to lay down our lives as He did by taking up our cross as He did.

Greed: He could have been the best carpenter in the world and made a fortune building for the wealthy and rulers of the world, but He lived simply and humbly. He never owned a home, He always traveled by foot, except once, He lived off the support of women. He taught us to store up heavenly treasure not earthly treasure.

Lust: He could have anyone or anything He wanted, but He did not take anything not offered and He did not take everything that was offered and He forced no one to obey Him. He did not ask others to supply His needs, only His Heavenly Father whom He sought daily. He taught us to seek after the things of GOD’s Kingdom not the satisfaction of the flesh.

Envy: He did not desire the things of the flesh or the world, but only to do the will of His Heavenly Father. He did not desire the recognition of people on their terms, He remained humble to the end yet He always spoke the truth, not in a condemning way, but in a manner so as to touch the heart of the listener. He taught us to love and serve others before ourself.

Gluttony: While He sat and ate with the wealthy, He fed the people from meager supplies. He and His disciples lived off the generosity of women and at one point the disciples were hungry enough to pick grain and eat it raw. He often left everyone to be in the presence of His Heavenly Father to make sure that He was seeking GOD first and His righteousness rather than the comforts of life.

Wrath: He spoke of the judgment to come for those who rejected the Father and Himself. He did in indignation clear the Temple twice during Passovers, of the money changers and sellers, reminding the people that the House of GOD was for Prayer. He did call the religious leaders hypocrites and whitewashed (liars) based on their public actions and words. He never attacked anybody, He never sent His disciples to attack anybody, He did not even revile those who falsely accused Him. He taught us to love our enemies and not to judge anyone.

Sloth (laziness): JESUS sought and obeyed the will of GOD for Himself, He walked the whole of Israel to proclaim the Gospel and discipled twelve men to lead His followers and the soon to be born Church. While He sought as much alone time as He could with His Heavenly Father He spent most of His awake time giving to the people; healing, casting out demons, teaching and feeding them as individuals and in mass. He taught that we are to seek the Kingdom of GOD and His righteousness, that we are to do the will of the Father in the earth as it is in Heaven, to love and serve one another and to go to the whole world and proclaim His Gospel.

But here’s what started this paper today, as I was thinking about verse 15, that He was tempted as we are in every way, I thought about wrath which includes anger and hatred. That JESUS as the eldest child and first born son had to put up with is younger siblings, not just childhood rivalries but even when He was ministering His siblings did not believe Him and mocked Him. They had to have heard the story of His birth from their parents who would have to explain to them the rumors they heard about JESUS, yet He still had to deal with that issue. He submitted to His parents which meant that He had to learn His father’s trade as a carpenter, He probably had to watch over His siblings on occasion and He did not give into temptation.

His whole life was not about Himself but about serving humanity by doing the will of His Heavenly Father. That is the call He has given us, when we are born again we are no longer to seek our own needs and desires but to do the will of GOD by seeking His Kingdom in Heaven, living according to His righteousness and doing His will (works of His Kingdom) in the earth. This is not some easy thing that happens just because the Spirit of GOD (Holy Spirit) now lives in us, it is a daily process of seeking and doing, just as JESUS did.

That is what being holy as He is holy means, set apart to GOD, we are not our own because He purchased us (redeemed us from the authority of the devil to destroy us) by the life of CHRIST, cleansed us from our sins by the Blood of CHRIST and made us His temple in the earth by filling us with His Spirit.

I have to stop making excuses or just overlooking my fallings to my temptations and live as the born again, Spirit filled temple of GOD that I am! How about you?

The Bible teaches that JESUS, who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we could stop sinning!

Common Sense Updated

On January 8, 2017 I posted this paper on Common Sense.

“Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of GOD means that we are uncertain to all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth.” Oswald Chambers wrote that in reference to James 4:15, “For that ye ought to say, ‘If the LORD will, we shall live, and do this, or that.’” KJV

I have said way to many times and heard many people say, “If only they had some common sense…”. The problem I have discovered is that there is no common sense or no understanding of a situation that is common to all. Every person’s perception is their own based on their experiences and knowledge, and there is nothing common or the same about it. Even multiple people having the same experience at the same time in the same place will have personally different perceptions of what they experienced and how it did or did not change them and therefore how others should act or speak.

Since there is truly no such thing as common sense how are we to view and judge our experiences and the experiences of other people? By the unchangeable Word of GOD and the indwelling immutable Spirit of GOD. Since GOD and His Word are unchanging they are the only things that we can judge our experiences on. So even though we each have a different perspective on everything based on our personal experience our judgment will be the same based on GOD and His Word.

I am adding an update to my understanding of common sense.

The sense that is common to humanity is to seek GOD. Everyone in their own way does, but many do not seek the True and Living GOD, the GOD of salvation JESUS CHRIST!

The only sense that is common to humanity is to seek their creator.

Proverbs 23:9 in NKJV says, “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.” In the CJB (Complete Jewish Bible) it reads, “Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will only despise the common sense in your words.”

We are only speaking common sense when we are speaking about the GOD of salvation!

Luke 6:1-5 A Scary Thought

Here is a scary thought!                                                                                       7/30/2019

Luke 6:1-5 is the account of JESUS going through a field on a Sabbath and His disciples picking and eating grain. The Pharisees that are with His entourage complain about the disciples breaking the Sabbath. Jesus reminds them of David and some of his men eating the Showbread (the Bread of Presence), then He declared that He was the LORD of the Sabbath.

We have heard many sermons and teaching on this passage, but the scary thought is that some religious leaders were traveling with Him most of the time. They heard His teachings and parables, they saw the miracles, healings, demons cast out and three people raised from the dead. Yet for the most part they rejected Him, tried to undermine His teachings and discredit His claim to be the Son of GOD. They finally murdered Him!

The really scary thought is that this is still happening in the Church today! It is not just unbelievers who reject JESUS and His gift of salvation that discredit His claims and reject his teachings, but there are some in the Church who teach false doctrine, prophesy lies and lead astray believers who do not know the Word of GOD!

We each are responsible as believers in JESUS Christ to know what He taught and how we are supposed to live our life and that is found in the Bible, the Word of GOD for every human being. As we read and study the Bible the Spirit of GOD (the Holy Spirit) will teach us and open our understanding so that we can not only live the life that GOD has called us to, but so that we can also teach others.

If you are not familiar with the Word of GOD then you will not know when you hear false teaching about GOD and His plan for you. Some of them actually believe they are doing the will of GOD just as most of the religious leaders in JESUS day did. It is not likely your calling to correct them but it is your responsibility to know and live according to the truth of the Bible.

Things to Ponder

Things to Ponder

Life is not a fairy tale. If you lose your shoe at midnight, you're drunk.

If women are upset at Trump's naughty words, who bought 80 million copies of 50 Shades of Gray?!

Jim Comey answered, "I don't know," "I don't recall," and "I don't remember" 236 times while under oath. But he remembered enough to write a book.

President Trump should nominate Hillary Clinton for the next opening on the Supreme Court. Then he can finally get her investigated.

Not one feminist has defended Sarah Sanders. It seems women's rights only matter if those women are liberal.

No Border Walls. No voter ID laws. You figured it out yet?

Chelsea Clinton got out of college and got a job at NBC that paid $900,000 per year. Her mom flies around the country speaking out about white privilege

SOCIALISM: An idea that is so good that it has to be mandatory. Bernie Sanders walks into a bar and yells... "Free drinks for everyone!" looks around and says "Who's buying?"

What is the difference between an Illegal immigrant and E.T.? 

E.T. learned to speak English and went home.

And just like that they went from being against foreign interference in our elections to allowing non-citizens to vote in our elections.

Watching the left come up with schemes to "catch Trump" is like watching Wile E. Coyote trying to catch Road Runner.

President Trump's wall cost less than the Obama care website alone. Let that sink in, America.

We are one election away from open borders, socialism, gun confiscation, and full term abortion nationally. We are fighting evil.

They sent more troops and armament to arrest Roger Stone than they sent to defend Benghazi.

60 years ago, Venezuela was 4th on the world economic freedom index. Today, they are 179th and their citizens are dying of starvation. In only 10 years, Venezuela was destroyed by democratic socialism.

Russia donated $0.00 to the Trump campaign. Russia donated $145,600,000 to the Clinton Foundation. But Trump was the one they investigated! (Note: the cost of Mueller’s investigation is much lower than previous ones. The investigation into President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2002 cost approximately $69 million, and the investigation into Iran-Contra cost approximately $47 million, not adjusted for inflation, according to the Washington Post.)

Nancy Pelosi invited illegal aliens to the State of the Union. President Trump invited victims of illegal aliens to the State of the Union. Let that sink in.

A socialist is basically a communist who doesn't have the power to take everything from their citizens at gunpoint ... Yet!

How do you walk 3,000 miles across Mexico without food or support and show up at our border 100 pounds overweight and with a cell phone? (courtesy of Soros)

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wants to ban cars, ban planes, give out universal income and thinks socialism works. She calls Donald Trump crazy.

Bill Clinton paid $850,000 to Paula Jones to get her to go away. I don't remember the FBI raiding his lawyer's office.

I wake up every day and I am grateful that Hillary Clinton is not the President of the United States of America.  (Amen!)

The same media that told me Hillary Clinton had a 95% chance of winning now tells me Trump's approval ratings are low.

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money."” Margaret Thatcher

Maxine Waters opposes voter ID laws; she thinks that they are racist. You need to have a photo ID to attend her town hall meetings.

Trump: They're not after me. They're after you. I'm just in their way.

The Law of Three

There is a car commercial that says there is a law of three; that things that come in threes are inherently more appealing. While that sounds good as a selling point there is an eternal truth to it.

GOD is triune: Father, Son and Spirit

Man is triune: spirit, soul and body

Believers are triune: Church, Body and Bride

The first two are easy and non-controversial, but the third…

The Church is GOD’s governmental body in the earth, the Body is Christ’s ministry in the earth and the Bride of Christ is what all believers are destined to be in eternity.

There Is A GOD!

There Is A GOD!

There is a GOD and He Loves you so much that:

He created the heaven, the earth, the sea and all that is in them just so you would have a place and everything you needed to live.

He was born a man, of a virgin, so that He could give you eternal life instead of eternal damnation.

As that man He introduced GOD as the Father, the Son and the Spirit.

As that man He showed us that the Kingdom of GOD is present in the earth.

As that man He was rejected by His family and nation so that you could know Him.

As that man He was falsely accused, tried and found guilty of your sin so you could be forgiven.

As that man He was beaten, whipped and crucified for your sin so that you could be healed and delivered.

As that man He became sin even though He had never sinned so that He could stand in your place of judgment.

As that man he died and was buried in a sealed tomb so He could preach the gospel to those who had already died.

As that Man He defeated temptation, sin, death and hell; taking the keys of death and hell so that you could be “Born Again”.

As that Man He rose from the grave on the third day and displayed Himself to over 500 people so that you would know that it was true.

As that Man He ascended to be seated at the right hand of GOD so He could intercede and advocate for you.

As that Man He sent the Spirit of GOD to live in all who believe in Him as the Son of GOD so that He could teach you His wisdom and knowledge and remind you of everything Jesus said.

As that Man He is the Head of His Body, the Church, in the earth so that He can direct your life to bring glory to GOD.

As that Man He will return and reign in Jerusalem for 1000 years so that all peoples will know and honor him.

As that Man after the 1000 years the Father and the Son will judge every living being and destroy this heaven, earth and sea and create a new eternal Heaven and Earth so that you can live with Him for eternity.

Prosperity 2019

Prosperity?

There is a lot said about prosperity and the prosperity doctrine.

Here is what I believe and every believer should have an opinion and know why they have it.

When I first became a believer in December of 1974 I did not know anything about GOD or the Bible. I soon got married and we attended a small church in a semi-rural area of San Diego County. In September 1975 I started Bible College and went for two years, besides being involved in the Church we attended.

Not long after I became a Christian I heard about the prosperity doctrine, that GOD wanted all Christians to be healthy and wealthy and if you gave enough money to the right ministries that would happen. It did not sound right to me as a young Christian and it still sounds wrong to me 44 years later.

THE GOSPEL IN NOT FOR SALE!

Not just prosperity doctrine teachers make a profit from the Gospel, many ministers sell their teachings and books and charge speaking fees. I believe this is wrong!

Jesus told the disciples the first time He sent them out to minister in His Name, the 12 and the 70, “Do not take a purse (wallet, billfold, money belt, bank card, etc.) accept what is offered, a workman is worthy of His hire.” (my paraphrase) Jesus also told them that freely they had received and freely they were to give in regards to the ministry gifts He gave them. This did not change when He gave them the Great Commission and it did not change when the Father gave them the Holy spirit, nor has it ever changed, there is nowhere in the scripture where we are told or allowed to make a profit from the Gospel. Study Matthew 10:5-15 and Luke 10:1-20.

In the epistles and in Proverbs we are told to watch out for those who are drawing people to themselves and for those who seek after fame and wealth.

I believe that the works of the Kingdom are works of faith (trust), if we believe that GOD is GOD and that JESUS is the savior of humanity and LORD of All then we should also believe that the Bible is the Word of GOD and is to be used for teaching, training, correction, direction and life. Our trust has to be like Peter’s when JESUS told him to step out of the boat and walk on water, so we must believe GOD then when He tells us to do something and there is an expense or materials required or anything that we do not already have then we have to wait for GOD to supply, we have all heard of testimonies where GOD told someone to go somewhere or do something and without asking or telling anyone GOD miraculously supplied what was needed when it was needed; like being told to go on a trip and going to the airport without the money do get a ticket and someone shows up and said GOD told them to bring the money for their ticket.

This is what happened after the day of Pentecost, the Apostles did not tell the new believes to sell their property and homes and bring the money to them, but the new believes did. This is what happened to the Israelites when GOD delivered them out of Egypt. GOD put it on the hearts of the Egyptians (in fear) to give of their wealth to the Israelites as they were leaving. Then in the wilderness when GOD showed Moses the plans for the Tabernacle He told Moses to tell the people to give and they gave so much that Moses had to tell them to stop giving. Paul was living and ministering in one region and receiving unasked for support from another region; and he used that to teach the Church not to just tithe but to give to the needs of the Church in other regions; and none of those funds went to administrative costs and salaries.

JESUS did not take a collection or offering when He traveled and ministered, the Father put it on the heart of women (who were not allowed to be part of the ministry) to support Him and the disciples out of their allowances.

This is the way the Kingdom of GOD works if we trust Him to do as He asks or tells us to do He will supply everything we need when we need it. If He does not supply it, it is either not the time or not for you.

GOD Is Not A For Profit GOD!

Until late in the Twentieth Century traveling ministries received faith offerings from wherever they were ministering, they usually traveled at their own expense and stayed with and took their meals with the pastor’s family or an elder’s family. Now many ministries expect and demand travel and hotel accommodations as well as a specific payment for their ministry, some even charge admittance and for materials provided; it’s not that there are no costs involved but are they doing it at cost or making a profit?

JESUS told us to lay down our life and take up our cross daily, JESUS told us to lay down out life for the brethren. Prosperity is not a doctrine it is the result of GOD’s blessing on people and prosperity is not about money but about our whole life. GOD only calls those to be rich whom He has gifted to be rich in their mother’s womb and who have proved to Him their trustworthiness throughout their life time. There are many who get rich on their own but are actually missing the call GOD has for them.

The teachers of prosperity actually make many Christians unhappy with the call GOD has gifted them for. Also if financial prosperity was GOD’s goal for all Christians than why do so many who try to follow the prosperity doctrine and give by faith to the prosperity ministries and sow seeds of faith into the prosperity ministries never get rich?

The prosperity doctrine can only be taught in wealthy nations, it does not sell in nations where 90% or more of the population lives in abject poverty. The prosperity doctrine does not sell in

third world nations or nations under totalitarian or communist government.

If a doctrine is not for the whole Church then it is not a Biblical doctrine!