Praise the LORD!!!
Cliques or schisms, or plainly put, divisions !!! Lately I've seen a greater amount of division in that which supposed to be the BODY. A united assembly of believers, though maybe not totally agreeing upon every detail of our faith, but a UNITED ONE no the less.
Last night I came across a post that may of not been worded the best, which turned into a giant flushing of a worldly toilet!!! The original intent was one of love, though discuss over erroneous methods by some within the church. But it exploded into an outpouring of that which I'd have to call trash talk. Far from anything I could of imagined of coming out of the mouths of Christians. My blood began to boil, for not only was the talk foolish, but far from anything remotely resembling "edification" of the saints!!!
I went on the hunt, while pealing off many a prayer, hunting for the proper references for all that was coming from within my spirit. Thank GOD that at this time I was blessed to be interrupted by another saint, allowing the furor within to subside a good bit. This whole time, I'm still in prayer and decide to take a shower to "cool off." For if there is one thing that I've learned, it is always best to assault such indiscretions, calmly, so as not to be pulled into sin oneself !!! During my shower, I calmed down and was led to not gather my weapons of warfare against the enemy within, but stepback and take a much broader assault against this problem. This is but the beginning of it!!!!!!!
The church, religion or faith that we live amongst today, is one vastly divided. Which should be plain to see, unless one has been living in a cave. Religion upon religion, denomination upon denomination, yet supposedly believing in the one true SAVIOR, JESUS. This problem is far from new, for even within the first century there were divisions developing. From the book of ACTS onward, is full of them. Peter being swayed by the Jewish believers, Paul admonishing him. Then Paul's warnings abound as he discusses the many groups, beginning to take side, picking and choosing whom they're following the teachings of. Paul staunchly warns them, that though there are many different teachers, there is but one LORD and it is HE alone that we should follow!!!
Now, these are just the divisions that are coming about within the true believers, let alone those that are false teachers or anti-Christ, as so aptly put. In all cases, there's but one real cause behind them, that is, pride. That self seeking sin, that has separated us from GOD since the Garden. That very sin that gives us the lord of the air, he that continues to be the accuser of the saints, satan. Who fell from grace due to an inflated ego, thinking himself better then all others, even GOD his creator.
We are seeing a tremendous overflowing, not of the HOLY SPIRIT, but of the human spirit. That very spirit which brought about the fall from grace of mankind, PRIDE !!! No love being shown to the brethren, not even love being shown to any other, only a puffed up, self centered spirit, seeking the approval of others upon their own words. Surprising??? Not in the least, for this is but the results of our being human or carnal. A condition of mankind that we have to live with, though should not accept. Many state they've the blessing of the HOLY SPIRIT within their lives, yet the fruit of their lips reveal a heart blackened by pride. That which they believe, is 100% right and there is no chance at all of their being even slightly off in their beliefs!!! Right!!! If I remember right, there's not one of us that is perfect. For there is but one whom has walked this earth that is and let us not forget this FACT !!!!!!! There is not one religion, one denomination, one minister that walks this earth that can truthfully say they that their beliefs and teaching are perfectly in accord with JESUS' teachings. If they do, they're lying and know it. PRIDE, once again!!!
*** I'm sure there will be more to follow on this, when only the LORD knows. Get yourself away from the teaching of man and dive deeply into the WORD of GOD and nothing else. Don't be fooled by the high minded, that say scripture is hard to understand without one being a scholar, for if we're to accept JESUS and HIS teachings as a little child, would it not be fair to say, these teaching can be understood plainly by a child and not need some degree of higher learning to do so??? Sure, I've over 2000 books in my Biblical library, but when it comes to the ultimate understanding it's the Bible that rules out and not my understandings either, just as written. When told to love the brethren as myself, that is exactly what I do :)))***
A special note here: when we as Christian begin acting like a bunch of worldly people, acting in ways contrary to that which we preach, is there any wonder so many call us hypocrites??? THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!
Prayer request can be sent to: prayers@vineofchrist.org
GOD bless and good day,
Rev. Marshall Barth
Vine of CHRIST Ministries
Showing posts with label coarse joking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coarse joking. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
At the moment...
Praise the LORD!!!
I(the LORD through me) wants you to think about something!!! At the moment you personally accept JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOR, the HOLY SPIRIT takes up residence within your heart. This is not an anointing of the SPIRIT, but the seal of the bond between you and HE. Now think upon this well!!! Everything you say, think or do is now being done in the very presence of GOD!!!!!!!
I could go on greatly from here, for my life(since CHRIST) has been and exciting one to say the least and I've realized this fact from the beginning. But, I'm led to leave you at this alone. To think upon all that you do within this life. All that you say within this life and all that you think. Every moment, from conversion onward, IS in the very presence of GOD HIMself:)))))))
Prayer request can be sent to: prayers@vineofchrist.org
GOD bless and good day,
Rev. Marshall Barth
Vine of CHRIST Ministries
I(the LORD through me) wants you to think about something!!! At the moment you personally accept JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOR, the HOLY SPIRIT takes up residence within your heart. This is not an anointing of the SPIRIT, but the seal of the bond between you and HE. Now think upon this well!!! Everything you say, think or do is now being done in the very presence of GOD!!!!!!!
I could go on greatly from here, for my life(since CHRIST) has been and exciting one to say the least and I've realized this fact from the beginning. But, I'm led to leave you at this alone. To think upon all that you do within this life. All that you say within this life and all that you think. Every moment, from conversion onward, IS in the very presence of GOD HIMself:)))))))
Prayer request can be sent to: prayers@vineofchrist.org
GOD bless and good day,
Rev. Marshall Barth
Vine of CHRIST Ministries
Friday, February 26, 2010
2.27.10_Luke 24:17_Our conversation...
Praise the LORD!!!
Luke 24:17
"And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad."
This was later in the day, of the day JESUS was resurrected, most likely after all the commotion of the morning discovery had quiet down some. We can most likely tell what was on their minds, considering what had just happened. They were talking about all of the past several days occurrences. CHRIST's arrest, HIS crucifixion and now the events of this day. The SAVIOR'S body was missing from the tomb and the women have been telling us all these wild stories about angels and the LORD HIMSELF talking to them. We can expect it to of been something along these lines.Why shouldn't it of been? Look at all that had just happened in these men's lives. After all these weren't priest or men of great learning, but simple men, one's that made their living from the hands.
But this isn't the reason for this verse today, it's not about what their conversations were about, but what are our's! That's right, our conversations.We as Christians are supposed to be filled with CHRIST to the extent that we're overflowing with HIS testimony. Everything we say and do is supposed to reflect JESUS and HIS effects within our lives. Now I know it would be next to impossible to talk about nothing but JESUS and live a normal life. But truly how much of our conversations every mention HIM? 50%? 40%? 20%? How about just 5%? It is really hard to judge, because most likely you're like me and really don't keep tabs on something like this. I have a feeling though that a good percentage of us will fall under the 5% range and if we're really truthful about the matter,we'll admit to even less then this.
Now the problem with this is the fact that until JESUS came into our lives, we truly had no standard by which to guide our conversations. But since, it's a totally different story. Most likely when you were first converted, from sinner to saint, that you spoke a whole lot more about the wonderful works that JESUS had done within your life. Since then, it's kind of become old news and no longer a major topic of interest. The reason for posting this today, is that the LORD laid it heavily upon my heart, that we're to continue telling others about HIM no matter how long we've been a Christian.
I know the most likely culprit for the problem too. We are no longer on fire for the LORD. Kind of like a lot of people's marriages, the wonder factor has worn off and some of the thrill has gone away. We're no longer completely engrossed by all the changes that had taken place, so our conversations have begun to grow fewer and fewer about all that HE's done for us and the changes that have taken place within our lives. Kind of like the Christmas toy that we were so happy about getting, but within a couple of days its sitting in a corner somewhere, not even being missed.
Herein lies the problem. Have we forgotten the fact that we woke up this morning?. That we were able to walk, talk and function? Or carry on in the normal manner of our lives? Going to work, if blessed with a job? Eating a meal at the dinner table, if blessed with a house and food to put on the talbe? Being able to do those thing that you want to, when you want to, because you're not in prison? Oh, now I think you see what I'm getting at! GOD has blessed each and everyone of us in so many ways it would be impossible to mention them all. We should be so thrilled about these that we can't help but tell someone else about them and why we're so glad for being able to enjoy them.
Do we gossip?(1 Tim. 5:13) Do well tell off color jokes and stories to fit in?(Eph. 5:4) Do we find ourselves just talking about anything, because we just feel like it? Then why can't we find the time to tell someone else about the wonderful life that JESUS has blessed us with? The last part of our verse today, really should reflect how we're feeling about now. We should be looking sad, because we've just realized that we've forsaken our first love, a love like none other. One that totally changed our lives, into something that we should want to express in great songs and praise. Something I personally am going to do my best at changing and getting that percentage up as high as possible!! What about you?
There will be no other verse posted, we really need to think about this topic and let it sink in until we can say we're talking about the LORD more an more everyday!!!
Prayer request can be sent to: prayers@vineofchrist.org
GOD bless and good day,
Rev. Marshall Barth
Vine of CHRIST Ministries
Vine Ministerial Network International
Luke 24:17
"And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad."
This was later in the day, of the day JESUS was resurrected, most likely after all the commotion of the morning discovery had quiet down some. We can most likely tell what was on their minds, considering what had just happened. They were talking about all of the past several days occurrences. CHRIST's arrest, HIS crucifixion and now the events of this day. The SAVIOR'S body was missing from the tomb and the women have been telling us all these wild stories about angels and the LORD HIMSELF talking to them. We can expect it to of been something along these lines.Why shouldn't it of been? Look at all that had just happened in these men's lives. After all these weren't priest or men of great learning, but simple men, one's that made their living from the hands.
But this isn't the reason for this verse today, it's not about what their conversations were about, but what are our's! That's right, our conversations.We as Christians are supposed to be filled with CHRIST to the extent that we're overflowing with HIS testimony. Everything we say and do is supposed to reflect JESUS and HIS effects within our lives. Now I know it would be next to impossible to talk about nothing but JESUS and live a normal life. But truly how much of our conversations every mention HIM? 50%? 40%? 20%? How about just 5%? It is really hard to judge, because most likely you're like me and really don't keep tabs on something like this. I have a feeling though that a good percentage of us will fall under the 5% range and if we're really truthful about the matter,we'll admit to even less then this.
Now the problem with this is the fact that until JESUS came into our lives, we truly had no standard by which to guide our conversations. But since, it's a totally different story. Most likely when you were first converted, from sinner to saint, that you spoke a whole lot more about the wonderful works that JESUS had done within your life. Since then, it's kind of become old news and no longer a major topic of interest. The reason for posting this today, is that the LORD laid it heavily upon my heart, that we're to continue telling others about HIM no matter how long we've been a Christian.
I know the most likely culprit for the problem too. We are no longer on fire for the LORD. Kind of like a lot of people's marriages, the wonder factor has worn off and some of the thrill has gone away. We're no longer completely engrossed by all the changes that had taken place, so our conversations have begun to grow fewer and fewer about all that HE's done for us and the changes that have taken place within our lives. Kind of like the Christmas toy that we were so happy about getting, but within a couple of days its sitting in a corner somewhere, not even being missed.
Herein lies the problem. Have we forgotten the fact that we woke up this morning?. That we were able to walk, talk and function? Or carry on in the normal manner of our lives? Going to work, if blessed with a job? Eating a meal at the dinner table, if blessed with a house and food to put on the talbe? Being able to do those thing that you want to, when you want to, because you're not in prison? Oh, now I think you see what I'm getting at! GOD has blessed each and everyone of us in so many ways it would be impossible to mention them all. We should be so thrilled about these that we can't help but tell someone else about them and why we're so glad for being able to enjoy them.
Do we gossip?(1 Tim. 5:13) Do well tell off color jokes and stories to fit in?(Eph. 5:4) Do we find ourselves just talking about anything, because we just feel like it? Then why can't we find the time to tell someone else about the wonderful life that JESUS has blessed us with? The last part of our verse today, really should reflect how we're feeling about now. We should be looking sad, because we've just realized that we've forsaken our first love, a love like none other. One that totally changed our lives, into something that we should want to express in great songs and praise. Something I personally am going to do my best at changing and getting that percentage up as high as possible!! What about you?
There will be no other verse posted, we really need to think about this topic and let it sink in until we can say we're talking about the LORD more an more everyday!!!
Prayer request can be sent to: prayers@vineofchrist.org
GOD bless and good day,
Rev. Marshall Barth
Vine of CHRIST Ministries
Vine Ministerial Network International
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