Turning From Sin and Turning to God

The Doctrine of Repentance 

When we think of repentance, we often think of saying “I’m sorry.” True repentance involves much more than an apology or sorrow over consequences. Repentance and faith go hand in hand. Belief without repentance is not true saving faith. Even demons believe that God exists. Likewise, repentance without belief in God’s right to be obeyed yields only sorrow over sin’s painful consequences. Those who repent turn their backs on their sin to worship and obey the one true God. 

We cannot conjure up repentance. In kindness, God leads His people to repent through the mysterious working of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts sinners of their guilt before a holy God. By God’s power, repentant people receive God’s mercy and desire to please Him. Jonah repented, as did Nineveh, after God confronted them with His power and holiness. The posture of repentance leads us to pray with the tax collector, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” 

Over time, the Holy Spirit transforms a believer’s heart, attitudes, and motives. Love for God along with a longing for His righteousness grows within the believer. The path of spiritual growth involves ongoing repentance as God continues to purify our desires and actions. Until final glory, we must repent over and over again. We continue striving for holiness in dependence upon God’s compassionate grace. Thanks be to God that His mercies are new every morning. 

Without turning from sin and to Christ for salvation, we walk a road that leads to eternity under God’s wrath. If we only repent to escape sin’s consequences, our repentance is pretense. To refuse to repent while continuing in sin is to reject God’s offer of mercy. Without repentance, we are left carrying our burden of sin without hope of relief. Attempts to numb the pain and escape the guilt and accompanying shame come up short. 

God does not leave us in a place of despair. Do you sometimes wonder if God really forgives a sinner like you? Take heart! When you repent and confess your sins, “… he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Repentance brings supernatural peace as well as an assurance of God’s love and salvation. God lifts our eyes beyond our circumstances to see His greater plan for our lives. What would it look like for you to rest in this truth as you confess your sins?

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship - People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided - Lesson 12

Joy

When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. It is like the fountain in the marketplace; whenever it is full it runs away in streams, and so soon as it ceases to overflow, you may be quite sure that it has ceased to be full. The only full heart is the overflowing heart.


Charles Spurgeon

The Kingdom of God Is Not a Democracy

R.C. Sproul

Let’s take a moment to look at this dimension of the character of God that is most clearly communicated by the title Adonai. The word sovereignty. That’s a word that’s become almost an obscenity to American people. One of my favorite illustrations of this goes back a few years when the episcopalian minister whose name is John Guest came to this country from England, from Liverpool. And when he came to the United States, his initial place of residence was in Philadelphia. He landed in Philadelphia and was having his virgin exposure to the culture of the United States. And the first week that he was here, he visited the historic sites in Philadelphia, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell and all of that. And then spent some time visiting the antique stores that specialized in revolutionary war memorabilia. Now, remember, he’s an Englishman trying to adjust to the new world, to the enemies of King George.

The Painful Path to Spiritual Growth

The Doctrine of Suffering 

Life in a broken world brings pain in many varieties. Our human experience can involve physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual distress. Suffering entered the world when Adam and Eve fell into sin, and sin’s curse corrupted the natural world, including the people of earth. Some suffering is the direct result of personal or societal sin. Much pain, however, represents the natural consequences of sin’s broad damage. Life on planet Earth includes natural disasters, aging bodies, global pandemics, and strained relationships. Grief and anguish regularly invade human lives. Like Elijah, even God’s faithful servants suffer. 

The Doctrine of Sin: Its Character and Universality

People in today’s world highly value personal autonomy and believe they can make their own life choices without accountability. What is right or wrong, true or a lie has become a moving target for most people. However, without clear boundaries, chaos and confusion abound. Who has the ultimate right to declare what is good and what is bad? Only God, the Creator, knows all and evaluates everything rightly. God stands apart from humanity in His absolute purity and holiness. Therefore, everything we do, think, or say that opposes Him and His will is defined as sin. Opposing God invites His justified wrath and causes untold harm to ourselves and others. Human history and personal experience confirm this is true. 

When Did The Catholic Church Get Wonky?

 

Queen Elizabeth II Dies at 96

70 years she reigned with Christian integrity. Today, her son Charles III will succeed the crown. May God bless the new King of the Britons and let him reign with a heart for God. 

"The Queen is dead, long live the King!"

And remember which king you serve. Now go serve your King! 

The Body

The body that is pleasing to Jesus is the body that is consecrated to Him.

What you see in the mirror in the morning however we may feel about what we see has been fearfully and wonderfully made and we can praise God because of it.

As Christians our bodies now belong to Jesus. That is liberating. If your bodies belong to Jesus then the person who we need to please is Jesus. We don’t need to have the body on the swimsuit magazine. The body that is pleasing to Jesus is the body that is consecrated to Him.


Consecrated - made sacred; to dedicate to God’s purpose.

Question for the Mormons on the Temple Veil

Why does the LDS church put up the temple veil that God destroyed by tearing it in two?

Think about it. God destroyed the temple veil. He “got rid of it.” Yet, the LDS church put it back. If the LDS church is true, why would it put back into their temples the very thing that God destroyed?

- Matt Slick

Read more

Remember This The Next Time You Watch Porn

 

Why Are Superheroes So Popular?

The Romans used to worship all sorts of gods that they would collect from other nations. They especially liked the Greek gods. Why even today we see people spending millions at the box office for the Marvel and DC superhero films. In those films and comic books we see Greek and Norse gods coming back into popularity. So why are superheroes so popular?

 The world knows it needs a saviour. It wants a hero. It knows humanity needs a rescuer. But they don’t want Jesus. They don’t want only one way to God. They want to choose their favourite. One that suits them. Anyone who can fill the role of the deliverer. But they are not satisfied with Jesus. So they create their own or choose their own personal identity or something else. Superhero movies sell because people want to see good triumph over evil and justice prevail. They want a selfless hero who lays his life down for others and puts himself before others. Who extends mercy even to his enemy. They want someone they can respect. One who avenges the victimized, one who defends the weak and stands up to corruption. One who understands all of our pain and has compassion for the low at heart. But they are not satisfied with Jesus.

Well the thing is the Roman society, you are free to worship any god you like as long as Caesar is the one who you submit to above all. In the same way in our society, people believe that you can make up whatever god and believe in any god you want or any fact of reality you feel is true to you. The reason they reject as Jesus, at least the real Jesus, is because He demand is only to worship Him alone and all other gods are false. As long as the self is king then no one can reign on your parade. You can add on Jesus to anything. You can add Jesus to ask the other false gods and that’s fair. But don’t tell me (the king of my world) who is should worship. They grim reality is Jesus + anything = ruins everything. Jesus commands us to worship Him alone. There is no other God. There is no other way. He is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father expect through Jesus Christ.

God Loves Gender

This is what I have to say about the rainbow club specifically the doctrine taught to children at public schools:

Identity is not found by pleasure. We have an identity that has been given to us and it blessings in time. There is an awakening of that at an appropriate time for when those responsibilities will be appropriately managed and sustained with the level of maturity that's appropriate for the child. We are not protecting children anymore if we're telling them to explore they're sexuality. They are learning about relationships and behaviours that aren't appropriate for their age. We want to provide for them and protect them and to nurture them. But we've already given the rights to a child to choose their sexual orientation and identity before they even understand what their bodies are going through. They're taught whatever their self expression is is their reality.

If someone said it doesn't harm anyone they are deeply wrong.

The next step on the agenda is consent. If consent is the only thing to legitimize sexual behaviour then what is to stop a pedophile to have sex with a child who consents or doesn't say anything? The argument now is if the person doesn't fight back then it legitimizes the act.

Let me help introduce you to the beautiful design that God has given sexual expression.

Gender is male and female. In the beginning God created them male and female.

Genesis 2:

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

    because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

As you can see God identified sex at the beginning. The two were naked together and not ashamed. This is an image of marriage. It is also an image of proper sexuality. They became one first together. The woman is the man's other half as you can see the woman was made out of the man. When the two are joined the marriage is concentrated. It is nature. It is the natural order. It is the only image of sex, which is between a man and a woman. God brought her to the man. No marriage that we choose to make ourselves be it man to man or woman to woman is not real. It is not a real marriage. The same God with his we choose to identify ourselves or express our sexuality. It is only fantasy unless it is in God's created order -- male and female.

The Voice of April

 

What Are The Similarities Between Mormonism and Islam?

 by Matt Slick | Dec 18, 2018

There are many similarities between Mormonism and Islam.  Both teach that the Bible is corrupt yet the Bible predicts their respective prophets.  Both teach that angels visited their prophets in order to restore the true religion and that their prophets are closely related to the means of salvation.  Both have new sacred books (Book of Mormon and the Quran) that they claim were revealed by inspiration.  Both say that their God is the only true God, that their religion is the only true religion, and salvation is by works.

Below is a table with documentation from both Mormon and Islamic sources, categorized by similarities. However, it is worth noting that there are also significant differences between Mormonism and Islam.  Mormonism is polytheistic where Islam is not.  Jesus is one of three gods in the godhead in Mormonism, where Islam teaches only one God.  Mormonism teaches that people have the potential becoming gods, where Islam would deny that. Mormonism says that Jesus was crucified, where Islam does not.

I leave it to you to examine the similarities and draw your own conclusions from them.  In my opinion, the same demonic force is behind both of them.

Read more at CARM.org

Keeping the Sabbath Holy

The reason that we are called not to sin isn’t simply because we have a rebellious nature, it is because there are things that are constant. There is a created ordinance. Even if we were not fallen we are to keep the Sabbath Holy. We are given the command to marry and have children or to keep the Sabbath Holy because there is a final perfection to look forward to. There is a perfection than from the initial creation itself. It is a created work. It is universal. God made the Sabbath for all mankind. It is grounded in creation.

If God Made Me Rebellious, Then Isn’t He Responsible?

"If God made me with a rebellious nature, then isn't He responsible for my sin?"

Understanding the Heart of God:

God is not morally evil because He creates us knowing that we have a rebellious nature. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemene he was sorrowful. He was praying that God take this cup away from him but not as his will but the Father’s will. He knew that what he was going to suffer and die for people who would still reject him. It anguished Jesus’ heart because he knew that the people at the present time were rejecting him and also in the future to come after he finished the job on the cross. Foreknowing that future people will be born with a rebellious nature he still went to the cross. He still took the judgement of God for those who rejected him knowing that most would reject him but for the hope of the few that would be saved it was worth the cost. He took the judgement that we deserve knowing that we would still reject him. How is that unloving?

Romans 1 Critical Thinking

 Whether in art or literature, education or psychology, mathematics or science, every theory or movement is inspired by an underlying philosophy. 

Worldviews do not come with a warning label attached. They do not ask permission before invading our minds. Instead there is what Nancy Pearcey would call a “stealth” secularism that uses images and stories to bypass people’s critical grid and hook them emotionally, sometimes without them even knowing it. That is why it is imperative to learn the skill of deciphering worldview when they come to us not in words, where they are easier to recognize, but in the idiom of picture, composition, plot line, and characterization.

Resource: Finding Truth by Nancy Pearcey

Society in Regression

  Many people think that we are always progressing. There is a term that is over used which is "progressive" and this has been collaborated with the identity of some conservatives.

On the contrary, if we look at history society is in regression. What we see today is a rise of narcissistic hedonism and that it is degenerate.

The Last Shall Be First, And The First Shall Be Last

 Labourers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius]" a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market-place, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’  16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

Positions of honour or prestige in this life by no means assure heavenly approval; indeed, often the reverse will be true. "The last will be first, and the first will be last." In other words, everyone finishes the race exactly even. No matter how long each of the workers worked, they each received a full day's wage. Similarly, the thief on the cross will enjoy the full blessings of heaven alongside those who have laboured their whole lives for Christ. Such is the grace of God.

Resources: The Reformation Study Bible, The John MacArthur Study Bible.

Christian Double-Mindedness - Trust in God, Not Your Freedom

 Through the pandemic I've learned to trust in God and lean on Him. It is now 2022 and I see how other Christians are behaving towards the government. They have a parental view of government. They fight for freedoms that they believe they have a right to that has been given to them by God. They go after the fire starter instead of trusting in God to provide a job, a house, everything for them that they need. Instead they look to the government like their parents. Not knowing why certain decisions were made but not liking the results. Much like children act when their parents make bad decisions. Or sometimes their parents make decisions that end up with bad results for better results in the long term...who knows? But the point is how much we rely on the government to take care of us instead of God--trusting that God has a reason and a plan for all this. Many of them feel that the government has overreached their hands. We are used to thinking that we keep separate from the government and the government doesn't stop us from worshipping God. Some believe the government is supposed to follow God and if they don't we then have a good reason to not obey if they infringe upon our "rights" that were written in 1982. These laws are made to keep us from intruding in government and the government intruding into the Church.

I've lost my job and didn't have work for more than a year. I had to trust in God to provide. And He did. I learned to lean my fear away from the circumstances and rely on God's plan in all this. The thing is no one, not the government can prevent us from worshipping God. Church building or not. We are not separated from Him. I'm not endorsing virtual church. It is no way real fellowship, not the way we are naturally supposed to interact and communicate with each other. But there are ways to work with these circumstances and make Church happen. Maybe this was a time that God wanted us to get out of our Church bubbles and bear fruit. Most of western churches are filled with I'd say 3/4 false teaching or lukewarm believers. Those complaining about "persecution" in the West don't have a deep theology or knowledge of history. They compare themselves as being persecuted when their fellow brothers and sisters abroad are literally risking their lives for their faith in Jesus. It's so distant to them. They don't want any of that to come to them so they start protesting. Protesting for what? Their freedom? Then let's see where this fight for freedom leads.

If freedom is #1 and make it your mandate (pun intended) then you must accept that everyone's freedom is to live the way they choose and your freedom cannot infringe another's. You better allow everyone to express their freedom too. That includes every colour of the spectrum.

Did we naturally deserve any of God's good grace? We've lived in a country blessed by His grace for many years. But those years are ending. And there is good reason. These are the results. Your freedom is removed. God is loosening His leash. Truth be told that God's love allows us to live freely if we obey His commandments. If we follow His way. But if we want to fight for freedom in the way that constitutions promise us then we are slaves to the law. We are free to do whatever we want and then end up slaves to ourselves. Living according to God's word and disciplining ourselves to live Holy means giving up on worldly pleasures and the things that this world can offer. 

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?" 

We were not promised comfort in this life. 

Jesus said, “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:24, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

Following Christ means denying ourselves.

Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’”

Let me remind you.

James 1:2-8 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the LORD. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

So is your persecution based on your life lived based on living a godly life? Do you think you deserve the good things you have the the government is supposed to provide every good thing for you? Who is it ultimately who provides everything for you? And who is it who judges you too? It's God.

The way I see "Christians" act is not Christian at all.

Jesus taught, “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

The protests, the slandering, the retaliation, the demands. None of that was what Jesus intended. Look at how Paul lived under Nero. How were Christians treated and did you see Him write about their "right and freedoms"? Did He tell His people to start a convoy in protest down to the Emperor's palace when Christians were being murdered? No. Yet we see those professing Christ and making a disdain to His name just by losing their jobs or lesser then that, being told to wear a piece of cloth to protect themselves and other from a cold. Where have we come in this society? We fight for freedom to work and travel but not for laws that allow or no laws that protect children being murdered everyday. What morals have we ever fought for? Who have we every cared to make a stance against so publicly? No, it's when the government affects our safe little religious bubble. This sounds all judgemental and harsh but it's really appalling to watch God's "Church" divide and become a symbol of national freedom instead of the true freedom we can offer to people living as slaves to their sin and on their way to hell. Which is more important to us?