Free Will pt 1 of 3

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Free Will 

Romans 12:1 “..I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service..”

Question: 

“Is it OK to go back to living your old Worldly life, once your saved”? 

“If so, why did you get saved”? 

You have to watch out, as it can be easy when your struggling to slip back into your old Worldly ways. Because you now have been liberated from the yokes that have had you bound for so long.
12:2 “..And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect..”

    Something I need you to grasp is, that your chains of bondage, have not just been broken to pieces, but been smelted down. Now put on your new amour (Eph’s 6:14). Now being saved, and going to a Church, you need to under the 5 fold ministry.. which is . . .

  1:Apostille 2:Preacher 3:Profit 4:Evangelist 

5:Teacher 

...for the perfecting of the saints. 

   Sadly today we discarded these ministries, because it is felt that they just get in our way, in what ‘WE’ want the Church to be. So under grace we feel that it is no longer important to go to Church anymore. In so many Churches, they are no longer a place where we truly learn, only a ‘doctrine’. Instead what we learn is that Doris’ cat died during the week, or, who Mavis is dating now. The Preacher; Minster; Pastor; Leader, may feel that they feeding the congregation, the only feeding they thinking what’s for Sunday lunch, because they have guests coming, or watching the time till they leave.

• Firstly … It is very important you need to find a place that is going to feed you, so pray over the situation, and ask for Gods guidance.
• Secondly … Somewhere you'll be ready to receive gods word, and be fed to help you through the week and beyond. 

   Every visit should be a renewing of our mind, we need this because our minds are under constant attack, so it is so desperately needed. Only you can decide to be constantly because of all the ‘junk’ we are bombarded with 24/7. Being saved/Christian is a life time of struggle and endeavour. You must renew your mind daily with prayer to Jesus Christ and reading your Bible, at home. You must also be under a Pastor/Priest who helps to renew your mind weekly. It’s a shame, that in the World Church’s have become so watered down, that they have all but no purpose in their community, with all kinds of unspiritual things going on. Instead what should be happening is no longer taking place ….’I’m not here to entertain you, but instead ..Renew your Mind …. to challenge your way of thinking, until it begins to line up with God.

   What all this leads us to do is, contradict the ways of how your used thinking & behaving…

Proverbs 23 : 7 

“..For as he thinks in his heart, so is he ..” 

...free choice means we have the ability to ‘Choose’ where we worship, try and find one that is going to challenge you during the following weeks and beyond, but also feeds your soul. Because a large chunk of our lives has been in the world, at times we behave this way without thinking.

   Today, it is all but expected that you should have a ‘computer’, of sorts, like a notebook: laptop: iPad: workstation etc. Such is the advancement of technology you have to try and buy the latest one. Even though your old machine worked well enough, but due to the software is constantly updated you need newer hard ware.

   So, our minds need to be ‘renewed’, WHY? I can praise the Lord just as well at home! True, but like a computer we need to have a ‘Disk-clean’, weekly. Due to all the negativity we have faced during the week, and if by ourselves for a long time, we are going to slip very quickly & easily back into our ‘old Worldly ways’, hence why we are going to, just like our computers, a ‘deep-defrag’, as so many ‘data-files’ would have become corrupted. After getting saved, and working in a place where staff are not, it is going to be so easy to slip back to thinking your old ways.

#So be mindful of your mind# 

(Parts 2 & 3 to follow shortly.

I pray Gods word will bless you, and touch you

in new ways Christ Jesus name)

Settled in Righteousness ...... 55030820

55030820 

Settled in Righteousness 

   Holiness is a fruit that comes forth out of our acceptance of a thing called ‘Grace’. Grace is a root= Holiness is the fruit. Some will say being Holy and then these things are able to happen to you. Wrong. Being Righteous by faith and then Holiness will be your faith.

   Think about this for a moment … ‘If you don’t believe in what Jesus Christ our Lord has done, you ain’t going to see him. You need to believe in Him, then the by product will be Faith. You should always walk in uprightness, this is why .. You should live a life of holiness, because without Holiness, no-man will see the Lord through your witness.

Here’s something you should say every morning before getting out of bed….. 

“ Jesus Christ is my Everything” 

Romans 5 v 12 (Because of Adams decision he infected the whole human race to follow him). “..Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..”

AMP - V13 “..Sin was [committed] in the world before the Law [was given], but sin is not charged [against anyone] when there is no law [against it]..”

Q: “So what happened to all the people back then, before the law was given”?
A: Can you only transgress against something to transgress?
ie.. your not speeding when there is a speed limit ..

… But we know that without being told, the faster we go the more dangerous/ wrong it is. We have been taught to know it might not be good, like standing at the cliff face, it’s going to hurt if we jump.

   An important thing to note, not all that we did has not been put on your record when we stand as a Christian before the Lamb of God, before we were saved, as it has all been washed clean by the blood of Christ, when we accepted Him into our lives.

Romans 5: 14 “..Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come..”

   If a free gift given to you, and you turn around and say ‘you don’t deserve it’ OR ‘Your not supposed to deserve it, is this free gift’? V15 “.. much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ..” in other words the unmerited favour from God, especially this free gift, you feel you don’t deserve it. But instead God is telling us that “I know you did nothing really to deserve it, but this free gift I give to you nevertheless.

V16 “..one offense resulted in condemnation..” We see clearly how Adams actions brought about Gods condemnation, so we can see how sin was brought into being, and how every man was born in to sin.

   Then God said I’m going give you a precious gift, even though I know you don’t deserve it, through my Son Jesus Christ you may never ‘earn’ it, but by my graces you can ‘freely’ receive it. V17 .. “..much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ .” If you receive ‘the gift’, called righteousness, you will reign in your life, by the one Jesus Christ. This wonderful gift from Heaven is Gods graces, as we were saved by Gods grace. Now you can receive the gift, that is called ‘righteousness’ though grace.

Amp V17 “..much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in [eternal] life through the One, Jesus Christ..”

“Will you receive the Gift” 

   Let us pause and take a look at the meaning of the word ‘receive’ to take into ones possession. Something that is offered or delivered.  So to take into possession something that is offered or delivered, we find that it was through ‘Grace’ that offered us the gift of righteousness, which can now be taken into our possession. Please pay attention closely, NO matter what life has to throw at you, DON’T give up this wonderful  gift from God easily. I hear you scream at the screen “..it’s easy for you to say..’’. Let me tell you it has not been easy, as life is a sea of great tempest’s. You can take a ‘physical’ thing into possession, for example: Money – Sofa’s – Cars – Homes etc. So how do we take hold of ‘righteousness’ into our possession? Purely by Faith alone.

   Only when we grasp ‘Righteousness’ fully, in every area of our lives, like ‘Eat/Sleep/Drink', will we see a difference and so will everyone else. Once you realise how good ‘Righteousness’ can be for you in your life, you’ll want to make sure you have it locked down in every area of how you now live. Then everyone will ask you ‘what your on?’ As they now want some, be aware some will be scoffers, and not believe you. All types of crazy things will happen to those who never ‘relinquish’ Gods free gift for you.

If ever in doubt repeat this to yourself daily... 

“I have hold of Gods Righteousness by Faith alone” 

   For, when the Angels in Heaven hear this they come running with all kinds of provisions, for you and yours. There will be NO mistake, let Heaven & Earth & hell know that “I am the Righteousness of God”. From now on no matter how many times you may stumble and fall always get up saying this, and you will get stronger every time. Until one day when you realise that you hardly stumble, or you can’t recall the last time you did.

V18-19 ...”Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous..” 

   Although we did nothing to be righteous, we were all born into sin by the actions of one couple, Adam & Eve. So to counter what they did in the garden of Eden, Jesus Christ came to correct this. The God of Abraham – Jacob & Moses, His favour will always bless even when you feel have done nothing to warrant such kindness.

Q: “Can I sin away my righteousness?”
A: If you can sin away your righteousness, then it would be a foolish act of your own making.

   If someone came along and gave you the ‘Euro-lotto’ jackpot, would you just leave it laying around for someone to find it? As sinning away Gods righteousness would be the same. When you could be living out your righteousness, which is by faith, and enjoying the glory and manifestation of God.

Q: Why do we keep sinning?
A: Because it keeps bringing about ’Human’, not Gods, natural consequences like .. shame – condemnation, bad feelings, all things we are used to. Be honest, who really wants to willingly live this way? 

   Who wants Shame – Guilt – living under the curse, or would you rather be spending you time being happy and rejoicing over the glory of your relationship God? I know which I choose. That’s not giving you cart-blanch to sinning, but the feeling of wanting to sin will go away eventually. I heard it said that ‘if we were to eat the same amount as we read our Bibles each week, we will be skeletons very quickly and die through malnourishment’.

Slowly but surly sinning will erode away …
..Your confidence in God.. 
..Your beliefs..& 
..Your faith in righteousness. 

   Once your confidence & faith in God goes away, then your going to find it harder to break away from those chains of bondage a second time around, the devil now has you bound down with. So after breaking away from his grasp the first time, would you leave the back door open leaving cookies on the worktop with a personal invite to come back.

   How many times whilst growing up, your (Earthly) father would say ‘don’t be doing that as it will make you unhappy’. But you always seem to know better than him, and so go on to make the mistake anyway. Our (Earthly) father now has to sit around and wait, and be there for you. Well surprise the same thing happens with our Heavenly Father.

Then God will say..
God: You know I love you?
You: Yes Heavenly Father
God: You know I ain't mad at you?
You: Yes Father, now what happens? I am truly sorry I let you down like that,
God: You ain’t let me down
You: Yes, but I want my holiness to be a demonstration of my love to you.

Hebrews 12:14 “..Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord..”

2 Corinthians 7:1 “..Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God..”

   We should want Holiness in our lives so bad, so that our hearts can no longer torment us. We should all want to be Holy and pleasing unto God. Everyday we should want God more & more & more, as much as God wants to love us. We should want to be with Him, not looking for Him do something for us, but just because we want to spend time with Him.

   If we keep doing this, then there will come a time, that NO matter the temptation, it will go straight on pass, because you will not be tempted or see the temptation.

May the Lord bless this to your hearts,

in Jesus Christs name

Amen

Proverbs 6 - Becaus of Adultery (pt 1)

   4 .. Because of Adultery (pt1)

V20 “..My son, keep your father’s command, And do not forsake the law of your mother..”

Ephesians 6 v1&2 “..Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour your father and mother..”

Tell me this, growing up did your parents say, ‘hey, look, did you know when you get married, you can still play, behind you partners back?’ NO. But kids do mirror their parents behaver & language. “..do not forsake the law of your mother..”

V21 “..Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck..” Here where it says to “..Bind them continually..” It means to Perpetually ~ Forever more ~ Eternity, or to stretch out for all time. When tells us “.Continually.” He means ‘without stopping’. “.Tie them around your neck..” For all to see.

V22 “..When you roam, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; And when you awake, they will speak with you..” When God tells us how to avoid temptation, like with today’s phones, that let us face time, no matter where you are Gods green Earth, with loved ones. Whether it’s staying up Country over night, in Europe some where, or half way round the World. “..When you roam..” Today there are no excuses. 

V23  “..For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life..” No matter where you go, no matter what you are going to do, DON’T. Have your Bible Not on a devise. You need your bible on your bed open, in your Hotel room, and left closed in your bag/suit case.

V24/9  When your constantly on the road, men & women, it can easily get loanly, whilst separated. I know us men are historically most guilty of this. V25 “.do not lust after her.” Once the line is crossed, there is NO going back. You partner will notice the difference in you, and the truth will always out. Remember, ‘it only takes ONCE to make a nuclear bomb, and everything will be destroyed.

“Keep you from the evil woman .. do not lust after her beauty .. nor let her alure you with eye lids..” (V24/7)   Before your eyes lock, before her perfume fill your nostrils, even before she laughs at a silly joke. Remember this, ‘there is expiry date on Adultery’. Keep this in the fore front of your mind, “..can a man take fire to his bossom, and his clothes not be burnt..” (V27)

#Was it worth it?#

Proverbs 6: 4 Because of Adultery (pt2) V30/5

   4 Because of Adultery (pt2) V30/5

V31 “..Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold..” Here, at this time, you must restore .. restore sevenfold..” Today the thief must serve time in prison for his crimes. Some of the act the thief commits should today, must work off as recompense, to those whom they have committed the offence. “..He may have to give up all the substance of his house..” I have long wondered how many would re-offend? Even their wives/partners would let them, knowing this is going to happen. I hear many off you screaming at the screen ‘what of their human rights'? But, whay of the human rights of the victims ‘human-rights’, of those they committed the offence? I’m not saying an eye-for-an-eye, but something has to change. In case you think I have been a saint all my life I have not.

V32 “..Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding..” ‘The truth will always out’ It may not be today – next week – Month or year, but just when you don’t expect it, it will come. “..he who does so destroys, his oown soul..” In times of temptation, ask yourself ‘is it really worth it’?

V33/4 .. Men in today’s age, with technology as it is, there is NO excuse or reason today. Or this will happen .. “..wound and dishonour he will get..” .. The same will be when the wife is left at home for long periods of time, I have been guilty of this myself. Then got defensive/angry as it fell apart. “..For jealousy is a husbands fury .. he will not spare in the day of Vengance..”

Songs of Solomon 8 v6
“..Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; (so all can your intentions) For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame..”

   These flames burn us not, in fact we encouraged to ‘fan-the-flames-of-love’, as this is to ignite the passion within us, and between our partners. It took, just, 6months, from meeting my wife, till we were married. For the first 4months she lived in Northern Ireland, and I in South Devon England. We would talk twice daily, as well as sending letters 3 or 4 times a week. So you could say this was our dating period.

“Will it be worth it” 

V35 .. “..He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts..” In closing I have an exercise for you to do. Get a dinning chair, take and place in the middle of the living room/lounge, now get a bed sheet and cover the chair. The chair is your adultery/sin, the sheet represent all those ’extra’ little gifts you have bought over the years to ease your conscience, and cover the dalliances. Tell me does the sheet ‘take-away’, or can you still see it?

"Was it worth it? 

Make the right choice now”

Proverbs 6 - The Wicked Man

3 .. The wicked Man

   Whilst these 2 sections are really one, I’m going to split them to make easier while we look at them. So then V12/15 are not within a tail from another book, but God might as well stood there and smacked us around the face with a wet fish, such as the language used. Asking ‘ are we such a person?’ If so time has come to wake up and smell the coffee. Most people will know someone like this, where each other word is a swear word.

   A parental action would be to tell you to avoid them, less you start to become one. I know someone of this ilk, at first I turned a deaf ear, till I asked them to use less swearing and behaving better ..

 V14 “..Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord..”

 .. where it was impacting on my life and how I treated my wife. If you found you have Cancer, you would not keep hold and promise to never remove it, no you have it removed asap.

V16/19 "..These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.."
Psalm 101 v5 “..Whoever secretly slanders his neighbour, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure..”

I think this could be our daily prayer..
Psalm 120 v2 “..Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips And from a deceitful tongue..”
… these things surly must be an abomination to us all, let alone God.
Proverbs 16 v18 “..Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall..”

   No matter how you dress up a pig, at the end of the day it is still a pig. When it’s wrong it’s wrong. Honesty here please, in my time on Gods green Earth I have met what I call pro-liers. This not meant in any way as a compliment.

V19  “..A false witness..”
Psalm 27 v12 “..Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me..”

It’s time to train that small muscle, your tongue lest you bare false witness. V15 “..Suddenly he/you shall be broken without remedy..”

Proverbs 6, Dangerous Promise, The Folly of Indolance

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2 .. The Folly of Indolence

Before we start lets look at the meaning of the word ‘Indolence’.. 

.. The word came from the word ‘Indolens’ meaning: to not 

feel pain – Diss like work –Idle – Lazy. ‘Dolere’ to grieve – causing distress .

Now with an understanding of the meaning, now the scripture has meaning.

Job 12 v7/12 .. “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not tear test words And the mouth taste its food? Wisdom is with aged men,And with length of days, understanding.

Gods message is so clear, it’s simple maths – 0x0=0 – that even juniors can work this out. You can slumber all you want, but come the hard times your store will be empty, thus why in v6 “.. Go to the Ant, you sluggard..” O boy were they told off in the strongest manner possible. The sluggard is being told to see how each of the animals works hard to make sure long life possible. There’s old saying …

“ Each society is only as strong as it’s weakest link” 

Are you that link? If so what are going to do about it?? 

Proverbs 6, Dangerous Promise,

 

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Proverbs 6

   I was about to start typing up my study of ‘Man Of Sorrow’ when God stopped me, and told my to look deeper within Proverbs 6 that I was reading. Once again God has called me to read proverbs. You read according to the day of the month, so if it’s say the 6^th you read chp 6, or 21^st you read chp 21 and so on.

   I’m not going to up load the chapter, so you will have to open your bibles, please. There will be 4 parts to this...

1 Dangerous Promise 2 The Folly of Indolence

3 The Wicked Man 4 Beware of Adultery

1. Dangerous Promise

   When you have a close relationship with friends or family you able to talk about anything, ask anything. Such as asking for money, or being a ‘witness’ to a loan.

V2 “..You are snared by the words of your mouth ..”

...you suddenly find yourself say ..”yeah sure, I’ll cover your loan if you can’t repay” There’s another agreement called an … Gentleman's agreement … this is where by 2 consenting adult will shake hands upon an agreement. This form, whilst old, is not legally binding, it is regarded as a ‘signed contract’ …

V1 “..you have shaken hands in pledge..”

   Both of the above are fine if entered into when  sober, but so many contracts are not, and so become a bone of contention. Thus have been fought over in a Court and lost, because the Court has deemed ‘both’ agreements/contracts legally binding.

   All that would be left for you to do is loose yourself from your contract/agreement, if you can, without destroying your friendship. It may well be all you can do is to make sure that the agreement/contract is not broken.

   A couple of key words come out of this are .. Trust ~ Surety ~ Snared ~ Contract ~ agreement ~ Friendship. So always pause and think before you speak to agree to anything.