Posts Tagged ‘ Discipline ’
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16 ESV
You can try being a good person and avoiding sin, and you may even have some success, but to live a truly good life takes relying on the Helper: the Holy Spirit.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
The Father inspired every word in the Bible. It is not just to give us comfort. God desires to reveal and remove our sin to then make us more like His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Honestly, this often is not comfortable.
But it is worth it.
May the Lord give you increase, you and your children!
Psalm 115:14, ESV
I am immediately struck with Jesus’ words: “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:24-25)
Things are good, but obedience and love are better!
The holy God of Israel, the Lord who saves you, says: “I am the Lord your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go.
Isaiah 48:17, GNT
We humans are very fickle, wanting to be right and assuming we know better than everyone else.
God is God, and we need to let Him teach us “for [our] own good”.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11 ESV
“Discipline” has gained a negative reputation in recent decades, intoning punishment. However, when we think of it in terms of sports or finances we tend to realize its important good qualities.
May we see the need for discipline in every aspect of our lives, realizing that circumstances are not God punishing us but teaching us godliness and self-control.
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12, ESV
Too many people have not counted the cost of discipleship (Luke 14) and therefore misunderstand what the Christian faith truly is.
If we wish to be faithful to our Lord, we must forcefully take hold of the truth of Christ and what it means for our lives, and we must strive to live in light of that truth, not the truth we make for ourselves.
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12, ESV
Young, old, or have a past: do not wait for others to give you a chance.
You live your faith, and live it well in the power of Christ by the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father.
Amen.
Welcome back, people of the interwebz!
Today we are looking at what it means to be the Church in terms of two or three gathering together.
First, a look at Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV):
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Two things to discuss:
1. We should encourage each other;
2. We should not neglect meeting together.
Last week at church, we had to “deal with” two men who had issue with each other. They had an awkwardness between them. Their wives had an awkwardness. Being a small house church, we dealt with feeling that awkwardness.
These two men probably did it right. They had tried talking it out, but there was still awkwardness between them. So, the pastor called them out, and told them to go talk it out. After the music started, he joined them. Eventually, they were able to come back in, and it was resolved.
This leads us back to Matthew.
In Matthew 18:15-20 (ESV), Jesus said:
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”
They did this, they were able to talk about it, but there was still an awkward tension.
16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
I knew what was going on, as well as the pastor, so there are at least two more people.
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
(Treat them as sinner: SHOW LOVE AND GRACE! It may mean kicking someone out of church, but be willing to welcome them back while continually showing love and grace! Thankfully, this was not necessary in this instance.)
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
(We could definitely dive into “whatever bind … loose” and “where two or three are gathered” in more detail, but that is not the focus of today!)
Many people take this passage, verse twenty in particular, to mean that we have church wherever two or three people gather. While this is true, that is not the context of this passage.
This is about handling disputes between Christian brothers and sisters, how to get along.
And it is nice to be a part of a church that lives this out.
This passage is telling us that we should lift each other up in Christ. In this instance, we see Hebrews 10 in action: encouraging each other and not avoiding each other.
Perhaps you are dealing with problems with brothers and/or sisters in Christ: maybe a literal brother or sister, or a parent, or another relative or just a friend.
Regardless, “do not neglect meeting together” means work it out with them in the Name of Christ!
These two guys worked it out in only about five minutes.
Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another. ~Proverbs 27:17
(Proverbs 27:14 mentions how a man who loudly greets his neighbor in the morning is an annoyance … coincidence? DEFINITELY! ;P)
Therefore, go out and be excellent to each other!
daniel
Help wisdom remain strong in you and go to Proverbial Thought!
For too long there has been a common theme in all of Christendom. I liken to World War II in this way:
Winning converts to Christ without discipleship is like the Allies taking Normandy Beach and declaring the war won.
What we have effectively done is convince thousands, millions, or even billions over the decades and centuries that they are saved from their sins only to let them continue living in their sin and ignorance.
Have we given these people false hope?
Do you have false hope?
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
Luke 11:24-26, ESV
Church, let us not only win over but raise up new Christians in the power and knowledge of Christ!
Christian, commit your whole life, every little part, every big thing, your sins and your joys to Christ!
letting them back in
we cast out our demons
and invite Christ in
our lives become clean
and He reigns supremebut why do we do it
why bring back the spirits
why give up on Christ
and re ruin our liveswhy do we let them in
to fall back into sin
we can see through the lies
yet they multiplyletting them back in
undoing what Christ began
why do we let them in
Christmy Lord
start again
Get reconnected with wisdom at Proverbial Thought.
You may have noticed that I missed a few posts in the last two weeks (since Mother’s Day). I had scheduled posts to finish out the semester a while ago, only updating the Mother’s Day video after it had been released. When the end of the semester came, I had so much going on with finals, preparing for some friends’ wedding, having another Graduate-level course from another school, and figuring out whether/how to accept an amazing job offer, that I chose to focus on all of those rather than updating. I can happily say that it is the first time in almost three and a half years that I have not posted anything! I think I can be forgiven for that!
Something else that is amazing is the poem that is for today. My education and the job offer (that truly go hand in hand) fits with this poem, for they are part of the same path that is making me a better teacher and better man of God.
I trust you will be blessed by this poem.
path of construction
many people take the wide road
a path that seems easy and fun
but what most fail to realize
is that it is the path to destructionthere is a better way to go
though it seems not for everyone
it is the straight and narrow path
which is a path of constructionthis path may be harder
but it leads right to the Son
this path will tear down then build up
through many tribulationsour old lives are removed
to be replaced with new ones
that we might join the angels
in praise and jubilation
a simple man of God 