Jesus was Not Afraid to Battle

Jesus was Not Afraid to Battle

How does Satan win modern-day battles? One way is by successfully convincing Christians not to engage in battle—to instead focus on how we come across to others and how we “appear” to those in our culture.battle table

He has convinced Christians and many preachers/elders that being nice is the only way we can demonstrate a Christian spirit.

Sure, we read about the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6)—and we may even talk about it at VBS—but we currently live in a culture where it is politically incorrect to actually suit up and go into battle.

Satan has convinced Christians to focus so much attention on niceness that we have totally lost sight of righteousness. A quick look at the New Testament reveals Jesus and His disciples were a lot more concerned about righteousness, rather than making and keeping friends.

Jesus was not concerned about being nice and making friends with the greedy moneychangers. Jesus was not concerned about being nice and making friends with the religious hypocrites. Jesus was concerned about doing the will of His Father.

We have been silenced into thinking we should never make someone mad or else we may not be able to convert them. Obviously, as Christians we should never be mean-spirited or antagonistic.

But if Jesus and His disciples couldn’t convert everyone they interacted with, what makes you think you can?! There will always be people out there who have stiffened their necks against God. Don’t allow those individuals to silence you!

Friends hear this loud and clear—Jesus had no problem making some people mad.

In fact, He made people so mad they ended up killing Him. Stop and really think about that: Jesus angered people so much they want to kill Him. Many of the apostles did the same and experienced horrendous deaths. But also notice neither Jesus nor His disciples were willing to compromise or sugar-coat the Truth. He knew there was a battle going on, and Jesus was not afraid to engage the enemy. He was not afraid to call people out.

Take a minute and look at some of the phrases Jesus used in Matthew 23.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (v 13)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (v 14)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (v 15)

Woe to you, blind guides, (v 16)

Fools and blind! (v 17)

Fools and blind! (v 19)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (v 23)

Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! (v 24)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! …inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. (v 25)

Blind Pharisee (v 26)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness (v 27)

Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (v 28)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (v 29)

Serpents, brood of vipers! (v 33)

Fast forward to our common era and social media. Imagine for just a moment if I called religious hypocrites or immoral pagans even a fraction the names Jesus used in Matthew 23. Social media would blow up as preachers and those seeking to take the moral high ground called me out as “unloving” and “hateful.”

I would be “tar and feathered” in the virtual world for not loving my neighbor—and I can assert this confidently, because it has happened to me in the past. And yet, Jesus used these names—and He didn’t back off. He kept calling them names. He kept piling on the insults. He kept pointing out their wicked hearts.

Friends, Jesus had no problem calling people out. He did not walk on eggshells, always worrying about what people thought. Yes, Jesus was the sacrificial lamb that we all needed, but He was also the Lion of Judah. Jesus was more than nice.

We know according to Scripture that God is love (1 John 4:8). Sometimes love means rebuking someone practicing immorality. Sometimes love means reproving things that are displeasing to the Lord (2 Timothy 4:2). Jesus loved individuals enough to say the hard things that needed to be said.

Please stop allowing Satan to sit you down comfortably at the tables Jesus flipped. Do not be afraid to suit up and engage the enemy. Why would you need the whole armor of God if there was never going to be a battle? Jesus said: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

Maybe instead of trying to always be nice and make the world love us we should ask ourselves why we covet the love of the world in the first place!

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Muscle Memory: Automatic Response

Muscle Memory: Automatic Response

The boys and I have been playing ping pong lately. They often wonder how I can hit and return a fast-hit ball to their side of the table. My answer: muscle memory. After you do something so many times, you don’t have to think about doing it anymore;it just becomes automatic. Muscle memory is a good thing to have when you are driving a car.For example,when you see brake lights come on in front of you, it’s important that your legs and feet do what need to be done to stop the car without having to think about it too much. A delay could create a collision. I’m very thankful for muscle memory.brain training

Muscle memory, however, isn’t really muscle memory, it’s brain training. We train our brain to remember how to do things again and again. I’m glad I don’t every day have to learn again how to walk, or eat, or drink, or talk, etc. We have learned these things and now know how to do them without thinking.

Muscle memory and brain training can be useful or detrimental depending on how we use it. When we use it for sinful purposes, it becomes addiction. When we use it for good purposes, it becomes good habits. In Philippians 1:9, the apostle Paul wrote, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.” God wants us to use our muscle memory for good. This means that we must practice it daily. The more we practice loving one another, the more of a habit it will be, and the easier it will become to do it. For our love to abound, we must love one another more and more. Make love a habit.

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Using the Greek

Using the Greek

Even though I minored in Greek years ago and deeply appreciate this amazing language, I remember what my dad told me so often. “Dan, when you preach rarely use the Greek, for if you overdo it you will silently convince people that the Bible cannot be understood without being able to read the Greek.” Even though the Greek sometimes allows us to see how profoundly God has stated His truth, every man on this earth can know the vital truths of God simply by reading the Bible translated into the language he speaks. The Bible means what it says in any language.

However, in this article allow me to show you how the knowledge of how a Greek word was used in the first century can enhance the truth that is stated. Let us never forget that one does not need to know Greek at all in order to understand the Bible.

Paul told Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). What does it mean to “rightly divide the word of truth?” Obviously, it means that to be approved of God we must handle the Bible in the right way. You do not need to know Greek to understand this.

You can go deeper by seeing how the words “rightly dividing” are translated in the common language of the Greeks. The words come from one Greek word and literally mean to “cut it straight.” They used this word in their daily life in three ways. The first was when they talked about building a road from one point to another. It stressed the idea of cutting the path from one place to another in a straight line. We all need to use His words as we teach others, and we must make it simple and straight to the point. Far too many have too many “curves” as they study and teach the Bible. Read His words. Listen to what you read. It means what it says.

The second way the word was used in a secular way was to describe how one plowed a field in a straight line. Cut the furrow straight. Christians need to find His way and never lose focus that the place we keep our eyes on is His path to heaven.

The third way was to describe how masons cut stones so that they perfectly aligned with all the other stones. This is the nature of the word of God. It perfectly fits in its place when we understand that what it teaches in one place will perfectly fit with the truths of God taught in every other place. When we have to twist a verse to make it fit what we want it to say, we have not been honest in our study. Every Bible verse and every Bible word fits perfectly with every other verse or word.

You do not have to know Greek to learn these three truths. I found out all of this by reading words in English!

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Transgression by Gossip!

Transgression by Gossip!

“He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.” (Proverbs 17:9 KJV)transgression gossip

One of the greatest blessings of friendship is the ability to “bear ones’ soul” to his friend with absolute faith in that loyal friend, knowing he will hold the matter strictly confidential. A good friend will listen  and give wise advice but will not then turn around and gossip about it. As well, a faithful friend when he sees his friend involved in a transgression will try and correct him in the spirit of meekness and will also keep the matter private, if at all possible. The one who counsels his friend in private and then gossips about him afterwards has broken trust and has destroyed a relationship. The same is true of the one who, instead of counseling his friend regarding a transgression, decides to talk about it behind his friend’s back. Be a true friend and don’t be a gossip!

Read Proverbs 10:12; 16:28; Galatians 6:1-2; 1 Peter 4:8

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Jesus Christ’ Words on Homosexuality

Jesus Christ’ Words on Homosexuality

In a June 9th, 2022 news story, Aaron Parsely reported,in part, that: “California Rep. Ted Lieu made a big statement by keeping quiet on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, ‘I just thought I would now recite for you what Jesus Christ said about homosexuality,’ Lieu told fellow members of Congress while cameras rolled at the U.S. Capitol. Lieu then remained silent for about 20 seconds before saying, ‘I yield back,’ ending his speech. The video of his remarks — and his silence — has been viewed more than 1.5 million times on Twitter.

In a June 5 tweet, Lieu made a similar statement in response to a story about Tampa Bay pitchers refusing to wear rainbow logos on their uniforms during the team’s Pride Night celebration… ‘Pitcher Jason Adam should read the New Testament. This is what Jesus said about homosexuality,’ [Lieu] wrote, before including a blank space inside quotation marks.”

To anyone, including Mr. Lieu himself, who thinks like that, I would like to strongly suggest that it is they, who need to read the New Testament.This, because,if I might respond to them by utilizing some of the very words which the Lord Jesus Christ most definitely did say (as recorded in Matthew 22:29ESV): “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Jesus, in truth, had much to say about homosexuality – much indeed; which any honest and sincere reading of the New Testament will most undoubtedly, unquestionably, and unequivocally confirm.

You see, Jesus, the night before He was arrested and crucified for the sins of the world, told His apostles that although He was about to leave them for a short time, that He would return to them. And that when He did, He would continue to guide, live within, and speak to and through them, in Spiritual form, as opposed to His physical form,which He was there with them in that evening (See: John 14:15-24).

Jesus then went on to explain how, when He did come back to them in Spiritual form – as the Spirit of truth or Holy Spirit, the third Person or form of the Godhead – that He would not only bring to their remembrance all things which He had taught them while amongst them here in the flesh (John 14:25-26), but that He would also, continue to speak to and instruct them regarding many other things; things which they hadn’t been quite ready to take in or understand while He was still here with them in His human, fleshly, physical form (See: John 16:12-15).

Again: What Jesus most definitely did say to His Apostles while He was here in the flesh, was that after His resurrection, He would return to them in the Spirit, and continue to say, to speak, and to teach them many other things which they hadn’t yet heard Him say while He was here with them in the flesh; eternal truths, which they in turn, would then turn around and tell us – word for word. This is why Jesus would pray later on that same evening, for all of us who would believe in Him through their word (John. 17:20); because whatever they wrote, would be exactly what He said, and subsequently told them to tell us, as His divinely-inspired messengers (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).

In other words, by His very own words in John 14-17 as these texts prove, Jesus told both all of them, and all of us, that after His death, burial, and resurrection, He would come back in the Spirit, and continue to say many things, on many subjects, to His first-century disciples, which He had not yet said to them while here in the flesh with them – things which they were then to record for us by divine inspiration.

So; what were some of those things which Jesus said directly to them in the Spirit, after His resurrection, which they then put in writing word for word for us, specifically in regards to homosexuality? Jesus, despite Mr. Lieu’s tragically ill-informed and completely erroneous comments to the contrary as reported above, certainly said quite a bit indeed. In fact, here are some of those things which Jesus very clearly did say, directly to, and then through, His divinely-inspired messengers regarding homosexuality:

  • Jesus said (to, through, and as reported by, the divinely-inspired and Spirit-guided Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11NKJV): “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Verse 11 then goes on to prove that such sinful and abominable practices are never the result of some gene or condition that one is born with and hence has no control over, but are the direct result of a chosen course of sinful action which one can also choose to stop, whenever,and if ever,they should ever choose to: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” This is but one text outlining what Jesus actually said about homosexuality- as well as several other sins -and those who choose to either continually engage in, or else cease committing them.
  • Another thing Jesus said regarding homosexuality (this time, to, through, and as reported by, the divinely-inspired and Spirit-guided Apostle Paul in Romans 1:18-32 NKJV): “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools… Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; … who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.This is another text outlining specifically what Jesus actually said about homosexuality, and those who choose to either continually practice it, and/or, support those who do.
  • Yet a third thing that Jesus most definitely and definitively said regarding homosexuality (this time, to, through, and as reported by, the divinely-inspired and Spirit-guided writer Jude, in Jude 1:6-8 NKJV), was: “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jesus, as He spoke in the Spirit both to and through Jude here, was of course referring to the “very grave” (Genesis 18:20)sin of homosexuality;the practice of which, had caused those two cities to be summarily destroyed by God (Genesis 19:1-29).

 

Now, while we could go to several additional texts in the New Testament chronicling just how severely Jesus condemned the whole realm of sexual immorality – which certainly includes the sin of homosexuality as the above text in Jude tells us – (texts like Galatians 5:19-20; Ephesians 5:3-7; and Revelation 21:7-8),it is extremely important for us to also realize, that not only did Jesus go on to say many things about homosexuality both to,and through, His divinely-inspired New Testament writers in which He dwelt in the Spirit after His earthly ministry in the flesh was over, but that He also did the same thing through His divinely-inspired Old Testament writers as well, in which He also dwelt in the Spirit, long before His earthly ministry in the flesh ever began (See:1 Peter. 1:10-11; 2 Peter. 1:20-21; 2 Samuel 23:1-3)!

So, what exactly did Jesus also say regarding homosexuality, both to, and through, such men as Moses to His Old Testament people? “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people.Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God” (Lev 18:22-30).

Something that Mr. Lieu seems to have totally missed as evidenced by his very misleading and egregiously erroneous statements about Jesus, is the fact that Jesus is eternal. He was there in the beginning (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17), and will be there long after the end as well (Revelation 1:8, 21:6-8, 22:13-15). Throughout time He has been speaking to His people, dictating through divine inspiration to His handpicked messengers,exactly what He said, and wanted people to know. Everything that they wrote in the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, is exactly what Jesus had to say on any given subject – including homosexuality.

But even disregarding all of that truth, how could anyone who has even a smattering of New Testament knowledge, ever seek to try to convey that Christ said nothing about homosexuality – even during the brief moment of historical time in which He was here in the flesh – when what He said in Matthew 19:4-5, completely and forever, outright annihilates the entire idea that such is anything other than sin? “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’”

What Jesus specifically did say in that text– and needs to be quoted as saying from the rooftops (Matthew 10:27), as well as on the floor of the House, the Senate, the White House, and anywhere and everywhere else that this subject is ever discussed – is that God made them male, and female,from the beginning. Period. What Jesus stated in that text, proves, once and for all, that God did not make anyone homosexual, transgender, or anything else of the sort; that God never made anyone, anything, other than either male, or female. Period. Anything else, as Christ has said throughout time, is nothing more than a person’s sinfully choosing to rebel against God’s natural order, and commit abomination (Romans 1:18-32).

Matthew 19 is also why the wording of the author of the above-referenced article is so ridiculously redundant in writing that Mr. Lieu is “married to a woman.” Of course He is. Because if he, as a man, was supposedly “married” to anyone other than a woman, then it wouldn’t be marriage at all in the eyes of God, but simply another case of abomination, as Jesus has so repeatedly stated through His various divinely-inspired messengers throughout the ages.

However; despite Mr. Lieu’s egregious error regarding what Jesus said about homosexuality, he did get it absolutely right regarding his reported statement that “Jesus is about love, not about hating people who are different from you.” Absolutely correct! In fact, that’s exactly why Jesus came and ate with sinners and tax collectors, seeking to call them to repentance (Matthew 9:9-13)!

It was nothing short of the greatest kind of godly love which caused Him to continually seek to correct those who were headed in the wrong direction, away from God and into eternal damnation, through their own, self-chosen, self-destructive,and self-condemning sinful behavior (Matthew 22 and 23 for example). That is always,what true love, always does (1 Corinthians 13:6). It always cares enough, to correct another,for their good (Hebrews 12:5-16).

For example, true love doesn’t allow a child to play in traffic, drink household chemicals, or engage in any other self-destructive behavior that is ultimately going to destroy them. It can’t. The very laws of this land – as Mr. Lieu should well know as a member of Congress – would prosecute any adult who did not seek to correct such behavior, but allowed (or worse yet, encouraged) it to continue to the child’s demise.

True love simply cannot just stand idly by, or worse yet, militantly encourage, any self-destructive behavior that is going to kill the one who continues to practice it (Romans 1:32).Jesus certainly couldn’t. That’s why He came in the first place. He loved people far too much to just let them continue to hell without seeking to correct their sinful course (Mark 10:17-23). That’s precisely why He so thoroughly condemned homosexuality throughout history, speaking out against and condemning it time and time again through His divinely-inspired messengers; because He has always known that:“Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:10). This is His word. This is what He said. And nothing is ever going to change it; not culture, not the courts, and certainly not Congress. God’s word is forever firmly fixed in the heavens (Psalm 119:89 ESV), far above the reach of mortal man’s ability to re-write and wreak havoc upon.

However; because we serve a God of love and second chances; and because God can, and is, willing to forgive no matter what we’ve done if we will but turn around and turn back to and serve Him (1 Timothy 1:12-16, 1 Cor. 15:10), all is not lost. For those who, in their lack of Biblical knowledge, have previously sought to spread such falsehoods as Mr. Lieu reportedly did on the floor of Congress;to certain of The Tampa Bay Rays pitchers;or even to a million and a half priceless souls on social media,they can still repent and reverse much of that damage, while at the same time, shining forth the light of truth as well as their own personal integrity. This, by making just as public as their previous, erroneous, and Biblically-inaccurate comments, the Biblical truth about what Jesus actually did say about homosexuality; loudly, proudly, and publicly proclaiming to all of those folks, exactly what Jesus has most definitely had to say throughout time about homosexuality, and the eternal abode of those who choose to continue to commit it.This, thus giving them the opportunity to repent and turn away from that sin and be saved while there’s still time.There’s simply nothing more loving or Christ-like that anyone could possibly do! In fact, the real ‘hate crime’ would be to do anything else or less!

In closing; it is precisely because I love and legitimately seek to follow Jesus, who definitely “is about love, [and] not about hating people who are different from you,” that I must continue to love homosexuals so much, that I will do nothing less. Now, how much do you truly love?

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