Listen to God

Romans 10:14-17 (The Message)
But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims, "A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!" But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: "Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?" The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to.

Gotta Have Faith - Study#1

Isaiah 7:9
If you don't take your stand in faith, you won't have a leg to stand on.

Hosea 4:1-3
Attention all Israelites! God's Message! God indicts the whole population: "No one is faithful. No one loves. No one knows the first thing about God. All this cussing and lying and killing, theft and loose sex, sheer anarchy, one murder after another! And because of all this, the very land itself weeps and everything in it is grief-stricken — animals in the fields and birds on the wing, even the fish in the sea are listless, lifeless."

Nehemiah 1:5-9
I said, "God, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I'm praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I'm including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.

"We've treated you like dirt: We haven't done what you told us, haven't followed your commands, and haven't respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant. All the same, remember the warning you posted to your servant Moses: 'If you betray me, I'll scatter you to the four winds, but if you come back to me and do what I tell you, I'll gather up all these scattered peoples from wherever they ended up and put them back in the place I chose to mark with my Name.'

Salt of the Earth

What is my identity?

• Disciples
• Christians
• Priests
• Family of God

Matthew 5:13

1) Salt is a Preservative

(2000 years ago). Salt was very valuable. 

Sodom & Gomorrah

~2000 BC

It was a very wealthy city mostly because of the salt trade

Ezekiel 16:49 

This was before the 10 commandments, but God still held their actions against them. It was against their law to help the poor. You'd be burned at the stake for helping someone.

Genesis 18:20-33

God says that a little bit of righteous goes a long way with him. God will tolerate the unrighteous because of the righteous in their presence. The righteous preserve the unrighteous

Luke 13:18-21
Your presence makes a difference in the lives of those around you. God likes to use small groups to do big things.

2) Salt Makes Men Thirsty
II Corinthians 2:14-16
Some people will be drawn to your life; others will be repulsed.

The Church of God

Who is She?

"My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her" (Song of Solomon 6:9)

In the midst of the great apostasy of the last days, God has a true Bride. She is "called, chosen, and faithful." The Church of God is the worldwide, divine institution of believers committed to accepting the whole Bible rightly divided as their rule of faith, practice, government, and discipline, as the Holy Ghost has revealed it in the Scripture. Established by Christ in 28 A.D. and arising from the Dark Ages in 1903, The Church of God is committed to fulfilling the four-fold purpose of Her divine creation.

Information taken from: The Church of God

I was met by a couple of nice guys from the Church of God a couple of days ago. I mean, they were really nice guys. One was originally from Korea, while the other gentleman really didn't speak at all. I noticed several things. First they had this belief that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit really aren't a Trinity, although they will say that they do. They described it as one person doing carrying three different titles, ignoring that Jesus acknowledged both God and the Holy Spirit... and that God acknowledged his Son and so forth. They also introduce a new 'person' to the mix and that is the Mother. So, there is the heavenly Father, the heavenly Mother, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, however, God is at least the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... and could be the heavenly Mother. Probably is, although the bride is referenced to being Jerusalem and the church, which we discussed, but it really did get as clear as mud as to the point they were trying to make. So, I look at this scripture as to why Jerusalem is important in the book of Revelation: Matthew 5:33-37 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Does this make Jerusalem a player alongside the Trinity? No! The Great King is from Jerusalem. Which great king? David? Solomon? Christ? You know, I don't know. I am not going to pretend to act like I know, but what I am sure is that the bride (which I know is the church, the body of Christ) is something that is not directly apart of the Trinity and really shouldn't be considered an equal, even though disciples are brothers with Christ, thus indicating a certain quality of equality (but that is for a WHOLE different discussion). I believe that the Jerusalem in Revelation is mentioned as now (or, as the Bible was written), Jerusalem was the center for the Jews, a religious center, everything in the Jewish world came from Jerusalem. And so in Revelation, a new Jerusalem means something like a new center for information, a new center of knowledge to learn and respond to instead of what the norm has been for them and their lives. Now I could be way off base, but it could also be in the context that they were in heaven, and the bride is the body of Christ, could it be that this new Jerusalem, this bride were the people who did the will of God and Christ on Earth? That, to me, makes the most sense.The bride isn't a 'person' or 'being' unless you are talking about the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, his church. And as far as the mother, the only mother in the Bible (well, actually, there are a whole bunch of mothers in there) is Mary, the mother of Christ. But there's also John the Baptist's mom, Samson's mom, etc. etc. etc.

Godly Sorrow Study #2

Today is October 13, 2011 and for what it is worth, I am really bummed about not sleeping. It’s just not healthy.

2 Corinthians 7:8-13a

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—  yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. So even though I wrote to you, it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. By all this we are encouraged.

Earnestness means a serious intent, so if I was earnestly seeking ‘Godly Sorrow’, then you would be able to tell be how serious I was in trying to get Godly Sorrow. Here’s the thing, if I wanted to have Godly Sorrow in regards to something, I would have to have a serious intent, probably to the person I sinned against would make the most sense. If I took a casual or lazy attitude toward whomever I sinned against, that would make attaining Godly Sorrow extremely difficult.

In my restoration process, I lack the earnestness quality. I think having a serious state of mind is difficult, at least for my character and the health challenges that I face. I also think that if I commit myself, my state of mind to being earnest and serious, then I can be repentant and restored to God’s church.


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Godly Sorrow is:

1. Earnestness is having a serious intent toward something or someone. 
2. Eagerness
3. Indignation is a strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base; a righteous anger. Now, I thing of a righteous anger, well, really just any kind of anger, and knowing that this passage means I have to be angry, enraged at my sin. I would have to think that Godly Sorrow has to have some form of anger toward the sin, especially since the sin itself consists some sort of attraction to it or even a form of love towards the sin. To actually repent, the love has to change to anger (indignation) for it to work and stick.
4. Alarm
5. Longing
6. Concern
7. Readiness

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