The Race of Faith----Pastor Darryl Baker

Heb. 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,Heb. 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Recently I have been studying more and more about faith and learning more than I had ever known before about faith. Faith is one subject you will never fully exhaust in this lifetime, but it is something that every believer has the ability to walk in. When you take a look at Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith as many call it, you begin to see what God calls faith. For years I have heard what many men call faith, but when you find out what God calls faith, now you have something.

God describes faith as an excellent sacrifice, referring to the gifts that Abel had offered which God received, as opposed to the offering that Cain offered God, which God did not receive. Faith is also described as walking with God, for God declares that Enoch was a man of faith. When you go back and study Enoch’s life you read basically one thing that describes Enoch. Enoch walked with God.

Faith is a work, or working for God as Noah is described by God as a man who when warned about the flood to come obeyed God and went to work building an ark. Faith is revealed in Abraham’s life as a pilgrimage, for Abraham was called on by God to leave his family and the place where he had lived to simply go and obey God, even when he did not know where God was taking him. He lived in obedience to God as a pilgrim on this earth awaiting his true homeland.

Sarah also is one who took God at His Word and God called that faith. Moses was a man who made a choice to give up the passing pleasures of sin to go and be with his brethren and then deliver them from the bondage they were in. God called his decision to do so faith. Rahab the harlot is also listed in the hall of faith for she hid the spies and then put her faith in their God by hanging that scarlet thread from her window and God called it faith.

Now as you come to Hebrews 12:1-2, our foundation verses this week, you must realize that Paul begins verse one by saying, “Therefore” which is a reference to all these people of faith he just got done writing about. He even reveals the details of this by saying that we have set before us this great cloud of witnesses who all had a good testimony through faith, and yet they never received in their lifetime the end result of what their faith was believing for, a Messiah who was to come and deliver them. Yet they were people of faith.

Paul states in Hebrews 12:1-2 that since we have all these witnesses of faith we should do three things. We should lay aside every weight, we should lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares us, and we should look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. If you want to be a man or woman of faith, and run this race of faith successfully, you will have to do all three things. This is quite contrary to what some teachings tell us today. They teach that once you have put your faith in Jesus Christ that is all you need to do. Not true if you want to walk by faith and not by sight, which is how the just are to live their life. This week I will talk about these three things that are necessary to live a life of faith.

1. Lay aside every weight.
The reference that Paul gives here is a picture of one who is running in a race, a race that will take endurance to make it to the finish line. Thus the reference at the end of the first verse telling us to run with endurance the race that is set before us. A runner even in today’s times that competes in athletic competition is going to get rid of every encumbrance that would cause them to not be able to run as fast or as far. Faith is a race that we run. That means we are to have action to what we believe. The problem for some is they are not running the race of faith, seeing their trust in God result in what only He can do in and through them. They are to weighed down.

There are many weights that try to hinder us in our walk of faith. There is the weight unbelief, doubt, the flesh, other people, and lifestyles that are focused on the things of this world instead of the Kingdom of God. You see this all the time in people’s lives. The number one thing you hear from Christians when you talk about the importance of being in God’s house, or serving in church, or getting involved with outreaches that are going and doing the work of Christ is, “I don’t have time.” Yet there are people who raise their families, work jobs, and fulfill the same type of responsibilities who don’t miss church, are involved in the work of God both in and outside the church. They have the same 24 hours in a day. The reason laying aside every weight is so important is because you have to realize that the things that take up much of our time have no ability to produce nor help us grow our faith.

If we allow our time to be consumed with things that are in fact countering what God’s Word says, we are going to see the results of such a lifestyle. For example you cannot fill a sponge with used motor oil and then when you need to be refreshed squeeze that sponge and get fresh water from it. When squeezed whatever it has been used to soak up is what will come out. If you instead soak up fresh water with that sponge then obviously when you need to be refreshed you squeeze the sponge and you will be refreshed. It is our choices that we make each day that determine how much faith we will walk in. Choose to lay aside the things that are nothing but a weight in draining your faith and you will begin to see your faith become stronger.

2. Lay aside every sin that so easily ensnares you.
The topic of sin is not a popular one amongst some ministers and believers today, but Paul addresses this as an issue with our walk of faith. First of all as Dr. Lester Sumrall, a great man of faith once said, “You cannot wade around in sin and walk in great faith.” Why else would the apostle here in reference to this great cloud of witnesses we have as an example of faith tell us to lay aside the sin that so easily ensnares you? A vital key to dealing with this issue and how to overcome sin is found in the following verse.

Gal. 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

What is the best way to keep from falling into the snare of sin? Stay full of the Holy Spirit and full of the Word of God. If you walk in the Spirit you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, which is where sin initiates from. We are tempted with our own fleshly desires. To walk in the Spirit you simply need to walk in obedience to His leading, which if you stay full of the Holy Spirit will be easier to do. You must also stay full of the Word and walk in the light of that Word for Jesus Himself said the words He spoke to us, they are Spirit and they are truth.

Just because we have been born again does not mean that if we wade around in sin there won’t be any bad consequences. As Romans 6:23 states the wages of sin is still death, or separation from the kind of life God wants for us. Sin causes us to break fellowship with God. That broken fellowship hinders our walk of faith. As 1 John 3:22 tells us that whatever we ask from God we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and to those things which are pleasing in His sight. If you sin don’t run from God, and don’t fall for the modern day belief it doesn’t hurt your life, instead run to God and return to intimate fellowship with Him.

3. Looking unto Jesus.
The third key given here to walk by faith as these in the hall of faith have done is to keep your focus on Jesus. They all were looking toward the Messiah coming. The amazing thing is Hebrews 11:39 tells us that they all had obtained a good testimony through faith, even though they did not in their lifetime receive the promise of new life. That is a testimony to their faith, seeing a promise that was yet afar off, and now we have received that promise. How much more should we be walking in faith?

This phrase, “Looking unto Jesus” is defined as giving Him our undivided attention. To do this we must remove all the distractions in life that try to pull us away from our walk with Him. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. He not only initiated this faith within us when we put our trust in Him for salvation, He is the one who will help us to complete our walk of faith. To do so we must keep our hearts set on Him, and for that to happen we have to make Him our priority in life.

So as we are surrounded in scripture by these great men and women of faith, you will find that these three things became evident as a part of their life. They learned to lay aside the things that would only become a weight in their life, hindering them in walking with God. They learned to address and deal with sin in their life, like Moses choosing to give up the passing pleasures of sin to instead walk with God and His people. They also had a focus on the Messiah to come, even though they never experienced in their lifetime what He would come to do. Run your race of faith and you will win!

See You Again Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s Best Be Yours!

Pastor Darryl Baker

Adults Excluded; Little Children Only Welcomed --- Joe McKeever

“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it” (Luke 18:17).

Big shots need not apply.

Pride disqualifies all applicants.

Therefore, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time,” meaning, whenever He gets good and ready. That’s I Peter 5:6. Well, the first part of it is.

This fellow wrote to me recently to say why he no longer attends church. He is burned out on four decades of shallow sermons and considers himself far beyond the kind of pap his pastor ladles out to the unthinking sheep on Sunday. He has written scholarly essays on his beliefs and would be happy to send them to me.

Don’t bother.

Even if this were the case, that the pastors all serve milk to babies on Sundays and never meat to the healthy, the man is missing a huge point about church participation.

We go to church to do the Lord’s work with His children. Sometimes we are laboring alongside other believers, ministering in the community and the world. But sometimes, our ministry is directed toward one or more of them. We are instructed to take care of each other, particularly, the weak and defenseless, the widows and the orphans.

If we would do the work of the Lord with other believers, we have to learn humility and submission. The Lord expects us to listen to the other members of the team, to respect them, pray for them, and encourage them.

To be effective in serving Christ in and through the church, we must come to an appreciation of the lowliest and least skilled, the neediest and the humblest.

In short, we have to become little children.

That’s why Paul pointed out that most big shots cannot be found in church.  “You see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that ‘are,’ that no flesh should glory in His presence” (I Corinthians 1:26-29).

Some, thankfully. But “not many.”

We’re grateful for the exceptions, for people who have made it big in this world and still humble themselves to join with the Lord’s people as one of them and not above them, as a fellow co-worker and not a celebrity to be honored.

We admit begrudgingly that sometimes God’s people make it difficult for a celebrity to come among them as a fellow sinner-saved-by-grace willing to do the lowliest work without expecting royal treatment.

Sometimes we fawn over professional athletes or other “stars” who show up in church.

Not a good thing. We should let them worship and come further into the congregation as they feel it safe to do so.

Now, back to the subject of childlikeness….

“Humble yourself.”

Never pray for the Lord to humble you. Frankly, you might not survive the experience since the Lord seems to use a heavy hand in doing so. Check out the humility He put upon King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:28-33. Never ask the Lord to humble you.

A missions leader told me once that no one has a greater problem in learning a foreign language than a missionary with a doctorate. “To learn a new language,” he said, “one has to become a little child and be willing to mess up, to embarrass oneself, and to get up and try again. And there’s something about a Ph.D. at the end of one’s name that throws up a huge barrier to that.”

We must become as little children to enter the Kingdom–to be saved and confess Jesus Christ openly–and to continue to work in that Kingdom as growing and obedient disciples.

At no point are we given the green light to take the shackles off our egos and give free rein to our pride.

Pride is always a problem, ego is ever a challenge, and humility is forever in order.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The first part of that verse says, “He gives more grace.” How wonderful is that.

The only people not receiving “more grace” is the proud. These are the self-contained packages who are complete within themselves and resist anything from God. Foolishly, they insist on inanities like “I’m scientifically minded; only the sheep depend on faith” and “I can do it by myself; only the weak need a God.”

The day will come–we pray it will–when that self-sufficient one will see what a small egotistical package he had become, and will humble himself before a mighty God. When that happens, let him pray the prayer of the fellow in Luke 18:13, “O God, be merciful to me the sinner.”

Let him be like the prodigal who suddenly awakened to find himself in a pig pen. “He came to himself” and he said, “I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants'” (Luke 15:17-19).

The day you humble yourself and renounce the lordship of your life and become a little child by faith in Jesus Christ will be the greatest day of your life. Nothing truly important or lasting will happen until then; a million great things will happen afterwards.

One final reminder.

The Lord will be sending you continual opportunities throughout your days for you to further affirm and demonstrate your childlikeness. Whether you think of these as tests or as opportunities depends on whether you have learned to enjoy spiritual growth.

The strongest people I know enjoy challenges to their self-sufficiency; the smartest people I know love tests which drive them closer and closer to the Lord Jesus.

The greatest people in the world are humble. And, in the Kingdom of God the greatest are the servants.

By Joe McKeever

Pastor and Singer Marvin Sapp Reveals How Greatest Gift From Late Wife Inspired New Transparent Record.

When gospel singer and pastor Marvin Sapp's late wife, MaLinda, knew she was going to draw her last breath on Earth after a battle with colon cancer five years ago, she made sure to leave her adoring husband with some powerful last words that would eventually help inspire his 10th album.

"The greatest gift my wife gave me was a statement before she passed," Sapp, 48, told The Christian Post. "She knew that there was nothing else that they could do, she literally said to me, 'honey if you want me to be happy in my transition, promise me after I transition that you will live.'"

MaLinda's last words have seemingly transformed into Sapp's latest album titled, "You Shall Live," his 10th offering to the body of Christ through music that seems to be his most transparent work to date. Sapp is a decorated gospel musician who has been recognized with numerous accolades like 22 Stellar Awards and 10 Grammy Award nominations after 25 years in the business.

As a singer, Sapp has made history, becoming the all-time highest charting gospel artist in Billboard‍ 's history when he released "Here I Am" in 2010. Yet, despite monumental moments like these, the artist who created songs like "Never Would Have Made It" has proven that even preachers need to be encouraged.

"I found myself going through the last four years of my life literally having to speak and declare and decree things over my life to keep me consistently encouraged. That's what the record is really about," Sapp told CP. "It's really about affirmation, declaration and us as individuals really just reciting that living is the only option and anything else outside of that isn't an option at all."

The album is the type of record that was created for a multi-generational family to enjoy with traditional worship songs like "Honor and Glory" and "Holy Spirit Overflow" bringing the elder members of the family together, and the edgier sounds of songs like "Yes You Can," that will bring the youth to their feet.

Sapp said he wanted to keep the record "churchy but funky," which is a formula he has mastered throughout the years. While he hopes to minister to people through song and make their lives better with "Yes You Can," the pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, also touches people beyond his church's walls on social media.

Whether it's speaking out against injustices or about his own personal insight, Sapp explained why he feels it is important to consistently use platforms like Facebook and Twitter to share his views with millions of people.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-and-singer-marvin-sapp-reveals-how-greatest-gift-from-late-wife-inspired-new-transparent-record-140042/#ImpIVT2BBFumL7y7.99

Give Satan No Place - by Darryl Baker.

Eph. 4:27 Don’t give the devil any opportunity ‹to work›. 

Last week we began talking about what we need to do to give satan no place in our lives. His primary target in our life is our soul, which is made up of our mind, will, and emotions. If the devil can change our way of thinking, getting us to think like the world, he can change the course of our life. In fact, before getting born again most of us were already conditioned to do so. That is why we must renew our minds to think now like God thinks. What satan has been a work doing is in infiltrating every part of society for the purpose of conditioning our minds to think contrary to God. There are three primary ways he works to do so.

2 Cor. 2:11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. 

It is important as a believer to realize the ways in which satan tries to take control our lives. If you will look at the last part of verse 11 above you see that Paul states he was not ignorant of satan’s devices, for if we are, satan can then take advantage of us. That is why we need to understand how he works so that we can keep him from getting control over us through deception and seduction by taking control of our soul. As we began to discuss last week he comes in one of three ways. As a serpent, as an angel of light, or like a roaring lion. We already covered in part one of this series how he comes as an angel of light. This week we will take a look at how satan comes like a serpent.

2 Cor. 11:3 But [now] I am fearful, lest that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

The work of satan as a serpent is very subtle and seducing. The purpose is to get the believer to no longer be wholeheartedly, sincere, and devoted to following after Christ. To follow after Christ is to live like Jesus lived. Talking like Him, acting like Him, walking in His very example. Jesus Himself said that He did nothing except what He saw the Father doing. If we are going to remain devoted in following Christ, that means we are going to do the things we see Him doing, and we are not going to willfully do the things Jesus would not do. We will live a pure and sincere life of following in His footsteps. This is what many believers today call “bondage” or being “old school”. Yet the very heart of Christianity is in fact to be Christ-like.

Notice in 2 Corinthians 11:3 that how satan achieves this is in deceiving people in their thinking so that he can corrupt their minds. This corruption is a slow process that takes place slowly over time. Because it is not immediate in its actions, many don’t even realize that it is happening. The word for corrupted here means to decay. If you have ever seen an old car that someone purchased to restore, one of the things you will find is rust. Rust is something that takes place over years and years of time, slowly eating away at the metal until it is gone.

This is how satan as a serpent works to corrupt our minds, slowly conditioning people to the ways of the world where little by little they begin to change the way they think and even what they believe. They begin to slowly change their view of scripture and what God says. Where the church clearly understood the importance of guarding their lives from things that God said we should have nothing to do with, they now accept such things through many forms of entertainment and social media, claiming that such things are neither harmful nor wrong, yet the Bible says otherwise. This corruptive work is all around us through television, radio, and just about every form of social media.

Eph. 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of lightEph. 5:9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),Eph. 5:10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.Eph. 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.Eph. 5:12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.

These verses are quite clear and yet it seems that many ministers want to throw them out of the Bible. We are to have NO FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNFRUITFUL WORKS OF DARKNESS. Too many believers don’t seem to understand that if you fellowship with darkness, then darkness is going to have a negative impact on your life. The reason satan wants to corrupt your mind is so that he can control your outcome. He wants to dictate how you live and what you do. If he can get you to fellowship with darkness he is on the way to achieving his goal.

To fellowship with darkness means to participate in such activity. How does satan get Christians minds corrupted to the point of accepting behavior and then participating in behavior that is damaging to one’s life? He does so through the mind. His subtle approach is getting us to watch programs and build friendships with others who are already living in such behavior. We think nothing of these things, especially many of the television shows and movies that people watch today because after all it is just entertainment.

The word “entertain” comes from a Latin word which means, “To hold inside”. Whatever you entertain your mind with begins to take hold of you on the inside. It begins to control the way you think, the way you feel, and it effects the decisions you make. If you are being entertained by the works of darkness then after a while what do you think will be the result? This again is seen by many as a form of bondage to actually live in line with the Word of God. But if we choose to allow satan to corrupt our minds through forms of entertainment that are filled with works of darkness, we will begin to be conditioned to think like the world instead of thinking like God.

For example many today who say they are a Christian see nothing wrong with having sex before marriage, or even living together before getting married. Yet this is called fornication and is still a sin in the eyes of God. Others see nothing wrong with using foul language or going out to nightclubs and partying with sinners. Where do Christians learn such behavior and think that it doesn’t matter? One such place is again through the different forms of media we have around us every day.

There is very little on television or in the movie industry today that is not influenced with satan’s deceptive works. You see people having sex outside of marriage, living in adultery, drinking, doing drugs, being disrespectful to parents, disrespectful to elders, and to God. This continual onslaught of entertainment slowly corrupts one’s mind to accept these things as an acceptable part of culture and therefore an acceptable part of their lifestyle. You even have ministers telling their congregations that the Word of God is not relevant for today. Yet God said His Word will never pass away.

Realize this is all a work of the devil to condition people’s minds to begin to accept such things as an acceptable behavior. This is what he did to Eve by convincing her that if she were to partake of the fruit of the tree God said they were not to eat, she would not die, and in fact she would become like God. Through his continual conversation with her, he was able to convince her it was okay to do something God said would be destructive to her life. The devil has not changed. He is still doing the same thing today. He is at work through our modern sinful culture convincing people that doing what God said not to do is really okay.

Prov. 22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his soul will be far from them.

Those who choose to accept satan and his lies through his corrupting work by not guarding their soul will eventually experience thorns and snares in their life. The soul is referring here to your mind, will, and emotions. If you don’t guard against the works of darkness that subtly in the name of entertainment begin to effect the way you think, then you will become ensnared by sin or see thorns growing up in your soul which Jesus said will choke out the seed of God’s Word in our life

.

Snares are traps that are just waiting for their next victim to come along and get caught into it’s trap so that it can take hold of your life and begin to control how you live. Thorns Jesus described as the cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things, which will choke the very life out of God’s Word that is planted in our hearts. In doing so we won’t experience godly fruit in our life, but instead that of darkness.

If you want to keep this subtle serpent from taking control of your thoughts and in doing so then controlling your life, you must guard your soul. You must take time to consider what you are watching and listening too. You must also recognize who you are spending your time with, for other people will also have an impact on how you think as well. If you guard you soul from this subtle work of satan then he cannot corrupt your mind and get control of your life

Read more: http://blogs.christianpost.com/weekly-wisdom/2-13-18-give-satan-no-place-part-2-14684/#ixzz3Z3L2F6Gp

A Prisoner of The Lord by Ramona Tucker.

"For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles…" -Ephesians 3:1

It’s difficult to admit, but I’ve been a prisoner to many things. My own sinful tendencies, for one. Obsessive-compulsive behavior, for another. But all these things that keep me in bondage are really rooted in a love hunger for God. Every time I try to fill the void inside me with something other than God, I end up disillusioned, depressed, and dissatisfied. The God who longs to fill me up with His good grace woos me time and time again to His heart. At last, I surrender to His will and His way, and wonder why I ever strayed in the first place. The riches of His grace are indeed vast! As I place my case into His all-wise, all-loving hands, I realize that He is calling me to be joined to Him in such a way that I am willing to be captured by His heart. To be willing to never be the same. To be changed in a way that reaches out to those around me with the love of Christ. To die to self in order to truly live the life God intended for me.

I am captivated by the phrase, "the prisoner of Christ Jesus" in Ephesians 3:1. Paul writes his first prison epistle to the Ephesians from a cold, dark, dank jail cell in Rome. Why doesn't he tell them he is a prisoner of Rome? Seems more appropriate. I would think Paul would more likely lament, "Those dirty Romans seize me and throw me into prison for doing good, for telling others about Jesus? I'm going to tell everyone, shout it from the rooftops, or at least from this stinking little hole in the wall, that I'm a Roman prisoner! I'll get back at them. My friends will appeal this verdict. They may even come and bust me out of this joint. Maybe even with spears and lances. Yeah, I'll show those nasty Romans!"

But does Paul say that? No. He quietly affirms, "I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus." True, he was a prisoner because he refused to stop preaching Christ. That was the reason he was arrested. He had poured out his life for the sake of the Gentiles to whom God had called him to deliver the gospel message. But I detect undertones to this phrase that run deeper than the obvious meaning.

Other places in Scripture, Paul refers to himself as a bondslave of the Lord. Here in Ephesians, chapter three, he says I am the prisoner of Christ Jesus. A common theme runs throughout Paul's life, one I have been challenged by lately. Paul sees himself as a prisoner of Christ Jesus because he has already surrendered to Christ's lordship in his life. He is not bound by the Romans, any more than Jesus was nailed to the cross by the Romans. He is bound by loyalty to and love for the One He faithfully serves. He knows that to be a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ is the safest place He can be, because God will make no mistakes with his life. God will orchestrate every move. And if He has to use the Roman government and a dirty prison cell to accomplish what is best in Paul's life, then He will do that.

Paul has an impeccable trust in God. He knows that to be in His will, whether lying in soft green pastures on top of the mountain or sitting on a cold prison floor chained to the wall, is the best place he can be.

How I want that kind of faith, that kind of surrender that rejoices to be a prisoner of Christ Jesus! That shouts it from the rooftop, and writes it in letters, and proclaims it on the streets. Because to be satisfied as God's prisoner, to be captured by His heart, is to know true joy and contentment. Just like Paul.

Eileen Rife,
Read more: http://blogs.christianpost.com/bindings/a-prisoner-of-the-lord-13188/#ixzz3Z3IBqzpU

Destructive Doctrines, False Prophets, And False Teachers by Stan Arney

There are false prophets, among the People, even as there will be false teachers among YOU, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying The Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves, swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom The Way of Truth, will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit YOU, with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has NOT been idle, and their destruction does NOT slumber.

For if God did NOT spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for Judgment; and did NOT spare The Ancient World, but Saved Noah, One of Eight People, a Preacher of Righteousness, bringing in The Flood on the World of the ungodly; and turning The Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example, to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered Righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that Righteous Man, dwelling among them, tormented his Righteous Soul, from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds), then The Lord knows how to Deliver The Godly, out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for The Day of Judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are NOT afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas Angels, who are Greater in Power and Might, do NOT bring a reviling accusation against them, before The Lord.

But these, like natural brute beasts made, to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do NOT understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure, to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions, while they feast with YOU, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken The Right Way, and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice, restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness, Forever.

For when they speak, great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped, from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the World, through The Knowledge of The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them, than the beginning. For it would have been better for them, NOT to have known The Way of Righteousness, than having known it, to turn from The Holy Commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them, according to The True Proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

[2 Peter 2]

Read more: http://blogs.christianpost.com/simply-follow-me303/destructive-doctrines-false-prophets-and-false-teachers-25518/#ixzz3Z3FXIABi

Fantasia Barrino Will Fast From Instagram and Twitter for 40 Days After Crying Her Eyes Out at Church; Singer Hopes to Become a 'Stronger,' 'Wiser' Woman.

Fantasia Barrino is an avid social media user like many 30-year-old celebrities, but the singer has decided to go on a 40 day fast from Twitter and Instagram after a powerful church experience.

Barrino recently took to Instagram to share that she went to church for an emotional experience before deciding to take 40 days away from social media.

"Thank You my Sista @penniehamilton for inviting me to church. I cried my eyes OUT but the heaviness was lifted and tonight I can finally rest," Barrino wrote on Instagram. "Thank you Lord.. now I have to say sorry but NOT REALLY to all my IG, Twitter family because I'm about to go away for 40 days."

The singer has some expectations for the transformation that will occur during her time off.

"...The woman that returns will be a different wiser, stronger woman. I love you guys stay prayed up and know that life is too short to stress so always think and know that you are BLESSED…," she wrote. "..RCA will let you know on Facebook about SHOWS."

Earlier this year, Barrino took to Instagram to show fans that she was planning to fuse her faith and her music.

"I just wrote my first Gospel Song. All by Myself," Barrino captioned the image on her Instagram page. "Not sure what's happening but all I can say is the enemy has really been testing ME. Thanks @von_cocapt for this track."

In the video, Barrino makes it clear that she wrote the song which can be heard playing in the background. The singer appears somber, and shakes her head while introducing the snippet to fans.

"I was able to release everything I was carrying," Barrino said in the video. "I hope you like it."

Barrino has been vocal about her Christian faith for some time and previously spoke about God having a plan for her life.

"God put me here for a reason," Barrino told "Access Hollywood" in 2013. "When you look on TV or turn on the radio or all the newspapers and the magazines, it was always something negative, and no matter how many things I did that were positive that never came out, so that was the hardest for me at that time. Now I really don't care anymore."

 

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