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BK1110

Worthy Ministers
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Everything posted by BK1110

  1. "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses." -- Psalm 25:16-17 Lot of stress and uncertainty about my short term and long term future with the move across the country my family is going through, and worrying for my family's salvation. These verses are precious.
  2. I can't read through all 26 pages of this thing, so forgive me if I repeat others. I think the old Leviticus passage is Mosaic Law that is no longer binding. I think this means it is not an outright, definite sin, at least. More of a matter of conscience. There are some things we should not do because they could affect our witness, even if they in-and-of-themselves are not sins. For example, if I were going to be a witness in the nation of Japan, where there is still a very strong negative cultural perception of tattoos due to their usage by the Japanese mafia (Yakuza), it could very much affect my ability to be a witness to those people to get a tattoo. To get one then would be unloving, as I would be placing my own desire for a tattoo above what is needed to show love to others in sharing the gospel as effectively as I can. However, on the other side of things, I just recently read a passage I had not taken notice of before: "Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek." (Acts 16:1-3) Look at that! Paul himself, the one who openly rebuked Peter when Peter was wavering towards the Jews who were insisting on circumcision, actually had Timothy circumcised! Despite being the one who most vehemently opposed the circumcision crowd, and went to great lengths in his teachings and letters to tell people that they were no longer under that commandments. Why? He did it specifically to remove anything that could have caused the Jews to reject them off-hand. He actually had Timothy undergo a permanent, painful, bloody modification to his body, even though it was not required, for the sake of making sure Timothy could reach the people he would be witnessing to. Could I see a Christian who is going to be witnessing to a certain people group, whether a tribe in some jungle or members of some subculture, who think tattoos are great, getting a tattoo to help them reach out to those folks with the gospel? Hmmmmm.............. I think people considering tattoos should think/pray long and hard about their motivations.
  3. You can tell her honestly, if she does ask, that you confide about your troubles with fellow believers for comfort and advise. You do not need to go any deeper or more detailed than that; if she asks, you can simply decline to answer further. You do not owe her any deeper answer. Something came to mind that might help, at least in some small part: remember that forgiving someone is about whether you hold a grudge against them, whether you demand "payment" from them. It does not mean you simply forget who they are or what they've done, or act as though they are not who they are. It means you no longer consider them in debt against you. You can do this without trying in vain to wish away feelings. What she is doing to you is sin. She is sinning against you. Imagine if this sin were something that is considered sin even more, like physical violence. You would be required to forgive her of that, but would you feel guilty if, even while forgiving, you took steps to protect yourself from further physical violence? Would you think it was your Christian duty to continue to allow her free reign to assault you each day and not protect yourself? Probably not. So yes, forgive. But there is nothing wrong or sinful about you privately, mentally wishing to be free of a person's sinning against you. I do not think it is sinful that your heart sinks when she shows up. It is not her herself that you wish to be rid of, it is her sinning against you that you wish to be rid of. God forgives us of our sins, but only because Jesus has paid the price for them. The sins themselves DO get paid for. They are not handwaved as though they never happened. It is right to hate and loath and want to be free from sin, both yours and other's. That shows you treat sin as seriously as God does.
  4. Admit that you can't. Come to God as a little child, which you are to Him. Admit that you have no power of your own to hold yourself back. Pray for His strength to enter you. We are asking for a miracle here...but it is a miracle God has promised to us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” -- John 14:15-17
  5. Praying for strength from God to keep it together. May I advise you to pray to God to help you battle the sins of gossip and bitterness? Being around her must make it so hard. Rely on God's strength to see your heart and mind through these trials.
  6. True Christians cannot be demon possessed. Why do you think you might be? It is normal to go through seasons of struggle, seasons of feeling more distant or more close to God. We will not be perfectly committed and together with God until our sin natures are removed from us in the next life. Do you attend a local gathering of true believers for teaching and fellowship?
  7. Without getting into specifics, may I suggest that if you feel distant from God, ask Him to close that gap? Admit your own inability to feel and desire as you should, and ask Him to change your heart and mind by His power, for the sake of His glory.
  8. Part of the purpose of marriage is to image the relationship between Christ and the church (his bride) to your surrounding community. I would encourage you to consider whether you can accomplish this mandate through living together without being legally married. In what way would you be imaging something different and better than a couple who has no intention to marry and is just living in a sinful relationship?
  9. Unless you are getting a strong, consistent leading of the Spirit that a certain something you are praying for should no longer be prayed for (like if God is telling you clearly that the answer is no and you need to move on), I would continue praying for it. This assuming that the thing in question you are praying for was something right to be praying for in the first place (I.E. not winning the lottery or something bad happening to someone else etc.)
  10. Some of mine: Desiring God, Mike Winger, Reasons To Believe, Cross Examined, Cold-Case Christianity, Sean McDowell
  11. This page, while not claiming to know for certain, breaks down why this is not an impossibility. https://arkencounter.com/animals/how-many/
  12. Praying for you. Romans 8 is one of the more powerful/important/famous etc. chapters in the Bible. This section may be of some help: "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." -- Romans 8:26-28 Look at that! God doesn't just ask us to pray, and he doesn't even stop with knowing that we are imperfect in our prayers. Knowing that we many times don't even know how to pray, the Holy Spirit Himself, dwelling inside of us, prays on our behalf! God Himself prays for us to God Himself, on a level so deep that human words could never communicate so powerfully. And these prayers are always according to the will of God, and that will, that purpose, is always for our good. Aside from our salvation, is there any better news than this in the Bible? Try praying something like this: "Father, I am at my wit's end in this situation. But in just these three verses, you have told me the following: everything I am suffering now is being used by you for MY GOOD, and even though I do not know how to even pray about it, I know that the Holy Spirit is interceding on my behalf! I praise you an thank you for that glorious, comforting truth, and I pray that your will continues to be done in this situation, and that you give me the wisdom and strength to do or no do whatever it is that will please you in this situation."
  13. Glad to be of any small help. Will pray for you. God has good purposes for all trials and sufferings we go through. Perhaps due to your difficult childhood, you will be able to grow to love and appreciate God as a Father on levels deeper and more wonderful than those of us who were blessed with good parents and so too easily take it for granted!
  14. Our purpose is to glorify God in all we do. When we come to him with our problems, little or big, we are coming in humility, admitting that He is God and we need and desire Him in all aspects of our life. When we come to Him, fully trusting Him to hear even our smallest prayers, we are letting Him know that we understand and appreciate that He is omnipotent and omniscient (He knows what is best in all situations, and He has limitless power to hear and answer ALL the prayers of ALL the people in the world). We are letting Him know that there is no area, large or small, of our hearts and lives that we do not seek His aid and His guidance and His glory. We come to Him in childlikeness, total dependence, as Jesus commanded. Do you remember this short episode? Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. -- Matthew 19:13-15 Now you would never hinder a child coming to their father, right? Why would you then hinder yourself coming to your heavenly Father? Meditate on what it means to be the child of a Father of infinite love and power; how strongly does He desire you to come to Him at all times and for every need of yours? Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. -- Romans 12:12 Be constant in prayer. Constant! This may also help, sister: https://ofthehearth.com/praying-about-the-little-things/
  15. Ignore what "the majority of people are saying" and ask what the Bible is saying. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. -- James 2:14-24 You say you believe that Jesus went to the cross for your sins. Good for you. Simply believing something like that is not enough. "Belief in Jesus as savior" as simply believing a historical fact will save no one. You must actually turn your heart and mind and life to Him. That is the act of repentance. Let me say it again; simply believing in a fact will not save you. You must actually admit the wrongness of your sins (not just that God considers them wrong, but that He is right to consider them wrong, and you now consider them wrong as well) and commit your heart to loving and following Him. Do you think God will be mocked by being forced to let people into His kingdom who do not love Him and refuse to obey Him? Do you think you can just say "hey, I believe in Jesus! Doesn't matter if I don't want to obey him and instead live like the devil!" and God will just say "oh shoot, he said the magic words, I can't help it, I have to let him in!" “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ -- Matthew 7:21-23 Read this passage carefully. (1) "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven." Notice that there are people who call God "Lord" but will not enter the kingdom. This isn't talking about people who don't believe, the Richard Dawkins of the world. This is people who say that God is God, that the Bible is true. But that does not save them. Okay, who DOES enter the kingdom then? Surely it's "those who believe that Jesus died on the cross for sins," right? (2) "but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Jesus Himself says the only people who enter are the ones who DO the will of His father. Action! Deeds! It it not simple belief that a statement about Jesus is true! (3) "in that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’" Oh but wait, those are actions, right? They were doing things, right? Not just belief, but really acting on it! So what gives? Why was even that not enough? They were going to church, claiming to be Christians, maybe even telling others about Jesus. They weren't committing "big" sins like murder and theft etc. Shouldn't they be in? (4) "And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" So then here it is; God never "knew" them. But God knows everything, right? He wouldn't be God otherwise. What does this mean? Ginōskō is the word translated "know." It doesn't only refer to head knowledge. It is also used in ways like "a husband knows his wife" sexually. It is an intimate, relational knowledge. God is saying "I never had a real relationship with you." Paul makes this clear: "But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." -- 1 Corinthians 8:3 Those who are known by God are those who love God. Not believe He exists or that Jesus is Him or that Jesus died to save sinners or anything else. It's those who love God. Paul in a similar fashion to the Galatians (4:9): "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?" It's a rhetorical question; Paul is clearly expecting the obvious answer to be "you can't!" In Isaiah 29:13 God talks about people who "draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me," They say the right things, the admit that God is real and Jesus saves and so on, but their hearts are far from God. They do not love God, they do not love His ways and rules. They look for any excuse they can find not to actually follow Him. So again I return to questions for you. You know some facts. Do you LOVE them? Do you LOVE God? Do you LOVE His laws and rules? Do you DESIRE to actually follow Him? Your heart exposes who you really are. What does your heart say about you?
  16. It depends on if we have truly repented and accepted Jesus as our Lord. People who have done so don't continue on saying "it's doesn't matter how much I sin because it's all covered." Like the unforgiving servant, they show that their heart has not truly been transformed. Are you willing to answer some questions? First, do you believe getting drunk is a sin, according to the Bible? Second, do you think it's not a problem to continue living in willful sin without any hint of remorse or fighting against it? If the answer to both is yes, I have bad news for you.
  17. Anyone who has this attitude proves they never understood sin and salvation in the first place. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” -- Matthew 7:21-23
  18. He teaches that you cannot lose it if you really had it in the first place. The point is that many people THINK they have it and never did in the first place. Their flippancy towards continuing to sin exposes that they were never saved in the first place.
  19. This thread seems to be devolving and steering away from what I think are the key points to address. 1. What is sin exactly? Based on the original poster's words, I am deeply concerned that there is a lack of taking the issue of sin seriously. Many preachers and Christians are guilty of this. The watered down Gospel we hear is often "we all know that we've all messed up, we've all done things that weren't the best, but there's good news! Jesus died to forgive all our sins!" While that is all true, this does not go far enough. Sin is a rebellion against God's character and commands and created order. It is essentially calling God a fool. It is pridefully saying we know better than God Almighty Himself. Understand this; God hates sin with such a furious passion that he declared it must be punished. It MUST be. He did not pretend there was no sin, or that it was not a big deal. He did not forgive sin; he forgave US from OUR sins. But he still required payment in blood for them. Jesus bled for our sins. He was tortured and mutilated and executed for them. Sin is not defined as "something that hurts someone else." It is an act of rebellion against God. So the phrase we often here "I'm not hurting anyone, what's the big deal?" shows a lack of understanding about what sin is. All sin is an act against God's law. Rape is primarily a sin against God, who designed sex as a loving union between a husband and wife to image the future marriage between Jesus and the Church; Murder is primarily a sin against God, who created that victim as a beloved image bearer of Himself, and who alone has authority to decide when a person lives and dies; drunkenness is primarily a sin against God, who commands us to always be vigilant, always be self-controlled, always sober-minded. By the world's standard, the first two things are grave sins. The third is no big deal. But all are big deals to God. We do not get to pick and choose. 2. Do you agree that the Bible demands repentance from sins? "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out," -- Acts 3:19 Please note that repentance is prescribed for the purpose of having your sins blotted out. It says "repent." Why? "THAT your sins may be blotted out." The clear indication here then is that one who does NOT repent will NOT have their sins blotted out. If sins could be blotted out without repentance, there would be no need for repentance, and the Bible would be commanding us to do something meaningless and foolish. Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” -- Luke 3:8-9 John the Baptist is addressing people who were not repentant. Why? They were saying that because they were Israelites, descendants of Abraham, that they were God's people, period, end of story, they can live how they like. John makes it clear that they were not nearly as special as they thought. He tells them that EVERY tree that does not bear good fruit is destroyed. 3. So what is repentance exactly? In short, a real change of mind and heart. So many conflate repentance with apologizing. But it is not just saying "I'm sorry," it is actually being sorry, and resolving to change your ways. True saving faith in the work of Jesus, which must be founded on a real brokenness about your sinful state, will naturally and always lead to real repentance, which will naturally and always lead to a changed external lifestyle. This ties in with the first point about sin. One who desires not to turn from known sin shows that they do not really think they are sinful in the first place. They may agree that the Bible says they are wrong, in the same way a teenager might say "my dad told me I have to be home by 8 PM every night or I will be punished," and yet thinks that the rule is stupid and he shouldn't have to follow it. But true repentance happens when the teenager stays out too late and encounters a violent gang, and sees then and realizes that it was GOOD and RIGHT that his father placed the rule on him. The teenager not only recognizes that the rule exists, but he affirms that it is a good rule and that he was wrong for breaking it. In tears in his hospital bed, bandaged up from his wounds the gang members gave him, he realizes that his father was right all along, and that he was a fool for doubting his father's wisdom and good intentions in making that rule, and resolves that he will do all he can to not break that rule again in the future. So to sum up, the Bible clearly declares that drunkenness is a sin. The question is; will you listen to God, or to yourself? The Bible says that those who have truly been saved and truly repented will, when confronted with clear Biblical teaching that some action or attitude is not in keeping with God's will and law, renounce and fight against that action or attitude, because they abhor sin and love God. "My experience is that people who go about their Christian lives with a casual inattention to the fight of faith—who are not “diligent to confirm [their] calling and election” (2 Pet. 1:10), who do not “strive for . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14), who do not give thought to Jesus’s statement that “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13), or to Jesus’s words “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10)—such careless people, I have found, are mistaken not mainly in their view of saving faith but in their view of eternal security. They have the superficial and unbiblical notion that “once saved, always saved” means that there is no earnest warfare in salvation. For them, conversion to Christ is like a vaccination against the damning effects of sin. They got the vaccination, so now they can breathe in the virus of sin year after year and feel secure against hell. They can break out with sinful sores all over, and never see them as the prelude to hell. They got the vaccination. But that is not what the Bible teaches about eternal security. ... how naïve and unbiblical it is to think that conversion is like a vaccination. Conversion is like a terminally ill cancer patient being introduced to an amazing physician who has the only cure in the world. His cure is not a vaccination. It is a lifelong treatment of moment-by-moment protection from the guilt and power of the cancer of sin, in fellowship with the doctor. The protection is not chemo. It is not radiation. It is a satisfying friendship with the doctor. The doctor is the medicine." -- John Piper
  20. I think a lot of social awkwardness comes from a negative self image. I know mine does. It's not always easy to pinpoint the cause or causes, but often it's from youth. Maybe a person is bullied, maybe they are the fat kid, maybe they are an immigrant and never felt they fit in, and who knows how many dozens of other potential causes? And of course some folks are just introverted. We would prefer to just get to know a few people really well than to always be among a throng of people. I would encourage you to read parts of the Bible that deal with how Christians should treat one another. We are to be a family. Find Christian brothers and sisters that you can connect with. Even just one person to get started, who shares some common interests, and is mature enough in the faith to be kind and accepting. The more you interact with them and feel their acceptance, the easier it may become to open up a bit with others.
  21. Dave, it sounds like you need some professional help with your addictions. Have you been going it alone, just trying to will yourself out of them, thinking "if I were a real Christian, I would just be able to give these things up?" Don't be ashamed to seek professional help, especially from a trained Christian therapist if possible. If you were asking why God didn't miraculously heal you from a physical illness, but never went to a doctor, I think most people here would advise you to seek medical treatment (while still praying, of course) for that illness.
  22. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." -- 1 Corinthians 15:10 I think Paul is saying, yes, we do work, we must work, but we also realize that it is God's power, His grace, that is enabling that work. IOW, apart from God's grace, people cannot help themselves. We ask for God's grace to be the power that allows us to help ourselves. "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." -- Romans 11:36 I would say that the ability to help oneself is a thing included in "all things."
  23. This is of utmost importance. A Christian has a heavenly Father, one who loves them boundlessly and seeks to bring them into His eternal kingdom one day. Whatever you have suffered here, whatever ways your parents have failed and mistreated and abused you, will seem like a tiny blip on the radar, nearly forgotten, after your first one hundred million billion trillion centuries in God's perfect kingdom, with eternity still left to go! Knowing that that is what lies in store for you despite not deserving it and being unable to ever earn it, knowing that your ticket there was purchased with Jesus' own blood, fills you with a sense of awe and wonder and gratitude and excitement. This gives you freedom from bitterness towards your parents, freedom to forgive them, freedom to carry forward crying out to God each day for the strength to live for and honor Him, and to share the joyful hope He has granted you with others. Does this describe you, at least to some degree?
  24. All our pain and suffering is used by God to grow us into who He has designed us to be. Whatever pain and loneliness he is going through now is no different. Keep praying for God to grow him during this time, and when that period of growth is completed, to bring the right woman into his life. Meanwhile don't discount the possibility that God has purposed him to remain single for the rest of his time in this life. In heaven he will be a part of a perfect family of billions of relatives. No one who goes to heaven misses out of family.
  25. If it's not too late to add on, just a reminder that the goal of any man/woman relationship is marriage (not life-long boyfriend/girlfriend/partner etc.) and the marriage relationship is described in the Bible with the term "one flesh." So ask yourself if she is treating you (and you are treating her) with a one flesh mindset. Would she find it acceptable if you were treating her and her goals and pursuit of God's calling in the same way that she is treating yours? It may be telling that her reasoning for you to stop is not "because I think God is leading you elsewhere" or "because I think God might want you to serve Him in this way more" or something. It seems to be about her fear that you will not meet her needs. It sounds self-focused (all about her), rather than other-focused (both you and God).
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