Purified your souls in obeying the truth
1 Peter
{1:22} Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently
Obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.
See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Obeying the truth through the Spirit.
How? Unto unfeigned love of the brethren.
Love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Love.
1 John
{5:1} Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
{5:2} By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
Luke
{10:25} And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
{10:26} He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
{10:27} And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
{10:28} And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
1 John
{4:7} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
{4:8} He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
{4:9} In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
{4:10} Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
{4:11} Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
{4:12} No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
{4:13} Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
{4:14} And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world.
{4:15} Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
{4:16} And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
{4:17} Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
{4:18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
{4:19} We love him, because he first loved us.
{4:20} If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
{4:21} And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
What do you suppose would happen if suddenly there was no profit at all in being a doctor? No profit. What if being a doctor earned you about as much as your average grocery clerk? Stay with me here this is all hypothetical and we're not going to get into the cost of education and all that. Right now, all the doctors in the world have been forgiven all their educational debts so that's not an issue, neither is malpractice insurance, that's all gone too. They have no extraordinary debts or costs to pay out, no more than your average grocery clerk. How many people do you suppose would become doctors if there were no money in it? If it weren't for the prestige and wealth? How many?
It's easy to see today when you're shoved into a waiting room packed with people and have to wait hours just to get shoved into another room alone to wait some more. And then the doctor comes in and spends more time fiddling with their little computer looking at your records and fussing about than they do looking at you. Oh yes, it's easy to see that hurrying up and trying to diagnose you, the answer a pill or two, a blood test or four, a urine test here and a x-ray there, lets just see what's what as quick as possible there are many more cattle needing herded through the place before the day is over. Are we even real to these people? Maybe I'm being harsh, or maybe not harsh enough. All I know is it makes me wonder how many people go into the physician field solely for monetary reasons and in truth they care very little about the people they'll be treating.
Loving your brother.
Love meaning caring more for them than yourself.
How often does that happen?
I saw evidence of it not too long ago when my daughter who has a bad back and numerous health issues started pushing the car of a stranded woman to help her out. I was floored. I was a little angry too, how dare she do such a thing, didn't she know she could really hurt herself! She obviously felt helping the stranded woman was more important than worrying about her health. Stupid? I want to think so, but in truth isn't that what's important? Helping others and not caring about yourself?
Thought of self comes first- how does *this situation* effect me? Will I like this? Will it be an inconvenience to me? Do I have other plans? What's this to me? Self first and if all is satisfactory there then maybe I can think of someone else.
God help me. God help us. Love has nothing to do with self. Nothing. Love has everything to do with others. Everything.
Love God. Love others.
No commandment to love yourself.
That ol' love others as yourself, doesn't mean loving yourself, it means love others as YOU would want to be loved. If we had to love ourselves and love others that way it would only be an obstacle especially for those that concentrate on loving themselves first before they love others, there is nothing selfless in loving yourself. No, I'm not saying hate yourself. I'm saying self is important truly only in the sense that we do all we can to remain healthy and such so that we may respect our lives because God loves us and would have us love others. We're not here on earth to serve ourselves, but to serve God and others.
Mark
{8:35} For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
John
{15:9} As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
{15:10} If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
{15:11} These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.
{15:12} This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
{15:13} Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
{15:14} Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command
1 John
{3:16} Hereby perceive we the love [of God,] because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.
{3:17} But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
{3:18} My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
{3:19} And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him
Amen.
11/29/09
Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
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Babylon (bàb´e-len, -lòn´) noun
1. A city or place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption.
*
In John's day Babylon as a wild city was long gone. The memory of it's abhorrent behavior lived on as part of the history of the Jewish people. The Jewish people had at one point in their past, 500 or so BC been taken captive by the King of Babylon. In their history they knew this and that includes John.
The imagery provoked by Babylon is one of corruption, one of being the anti-God. Babylon even in our dictionary has this to say-
A city or place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption.
When John was given his vision of hearing an angel saying- Babylon the great is fallen is fallen is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every four spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication; John knew that Babylon history as did all Jews. John also knew this is a future vision- future to the end of days and Babylon is no longer in existence as a super powerful sin-city. There are a lot of various suppositions and just looking at this without pulling in all those theories isn't ANYTHING that takes us into sin figurative of living in Babylon? Living a life of sin and following any that promote that sinning way creates the need for us to come out of Babylon- come out of the sinning ways. I'm not trying to belittle the deeper meanings of the prophecy at all- but it needs to be said that if you are caught up in sin you need to come out of that sin and God wants us out of the sinning ways so we do find forgiveness with Christ Jesus and aren't overcome by the plagues.
We are ordered to come out of Babylon...come out, that's an action that needs to be taken and we are all called to do so. If we choose to keep on sinning and living in a life surrounded by purposeful sin we are guilty of not heeding the warning to come out and not partake of the sins. We can then expect the plagues, the punishment of God to fall upon us. Not something pleasant to look forward to and NO sin pleasure now, no matter what it is will ever be worth the end result. The price paid for choosing self-indulgence over choosing to love God will be something none will want to pay yet it's not a reality to people. Just as in history the prophecies weren't reality until they came to pass and today people have been lulled into a deep sleep unwilling to wake to see that Biblical prophecies have proven true throughtout our history. It's the past, it's ancient history and therefore nothing we should bother over. Wrong. The prophecies go all the way until the end of days when Jesus returns and ultimately when all the sinners are destroyed and sin completely wiped away. We've not come to that day- we are still living in the days of unfulfilled prophecies and we have to ask ourselves a question- if prophecies of old have come to pass, what will stop the prophecies of the future from coming to pass?
The answer... nothing. Nothing can stop it and it's up to us to decide where we wish to be found in when that prophecy comes to pass.
May God help us all to come out of Babylon, come out of our sinning ways and cling to Him asking for our Savior to save us by His merciful grace and overwhelming love.
Amen.
11/28/10
Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Divers and strange doctrines.
Throughout the many, many years since our Lord walked the earth there have been divers and strange doctrines that we are NOT to be carried about by.
People will say just about anything to trick others. People with delusions of grandeur who believe they need followers have created all sorts of sects for easily deceived people to join. They'll make up their own rules, their own doctrines complete with various rituals to follow. Some people have created elaborate religions based on their beliefs and they have millions of followers- it's true. However Satan has used his deceptive ways and the divers and strange doctrines have been so entrenched in people they believe they are true doctrines. People love to pick apart the Bible leaving out the bits that don't agree with their beliefs and they love to change things to suit their needs.
We are all guilty of trying to make sense of God's will for us. We are all guilty of holding to beliefs we see as important but others might not. We all want to do God's will don't we? That is the hope any way.
Doing God's will, not our will. We confuse the two all too often.
Heb 13:9 '…it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace…'
A heart established with grace.
Our hearts need to be established with grace- not with ANYTHING that doesn't profit us towards the will and grace of God. Some will become caught up in doctrines- strange and different- doctrines that make God's grace second not first. We have to find God's grace in all we do first and foremost. If we can't find God's grace in any doctrine we choose to follow, if we don't follow a doctrine out of God's grace then we are in danger of being deceived.
You can hold fast to all the doctrines you want and you can follow them to the letter never failing but that will profit you nothing. You can defend your doctrines and claim them to be God's will all you want but they are all MEANINGLESS without the grace of our Lord and Savior, without the love of God overflowing in those doctrines, those beliefs.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
God's love first! We can't forget this, we just can't. No matter what we believe, we can't forget God's love first.
No, I'm not say our beliefs are unimportant, God forbid! God has a holy law given in love for us to follow. That's the key though- given in LOVE! If we don't keep God's law out of love we keep it in VAIN!
Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
The heart has to be established with grace and the love of God is fully revealed in the grace our hearts are to be established in. We can't have God's grace without having His love.
Amen.
11/29/11