Where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name I am in their midst !

Jesus is YHWH

my Lord and my God !
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One of the most misused and abused passages in all of Christendom !

1 Corinthians 5
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

3 For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.


Paul's teaching above lines up with Jesus teaching on the subject of Judging sin in a believer and removing them from fellowship if they do not repent by the witness/testimony principle of 2 or 3 witnesses let every fact be confirmed. God is in your midst(with you) in this disciplinary action because of the testimony of the witnesses. The binding and loosing below has to do with sin and discipline. People so often abuse this passage where 2 or 3 are gathered in Jesus name and He is in their midst. The context in sin and church discipline.

Matthew 18:15-20
If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 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. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

Deuteronomy 19:15
A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

2 Corinthians 13:1
This is the third time I am coming to you. EVERY FACT IS TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES.

hope this helps !!!
 
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Mr. M

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Why do so many people believe Jesus is in their midst where 2 or 3 are gathered in prayer ?
John 16:
13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not
speak on His own
, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare to you.

2 Corinthians 3:17. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Ephesians 4:
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
 
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Mr. M

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One of the most misused and abused passages in all of Christendom !
18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Are you referring to this passage? How has it been misused and abused? Or do I really want to know?!
 
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Jesus is YHWH

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Jesus answers our prayers as individuals.

1 John 5:14–15
“Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him”

1 John 3:22
“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight”

Matthew 7:7
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

John 14:13
And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

James 4:3
And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

1 Peter 3:12
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
 
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Mr. M

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Why do so many people believe Jesus is in their midst where 2 or 3 are gathered in prayer ?
For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Not just in prayer, the quote is "in my name". The scriptures you quote does not exclude group prayer.
What were they doing in the upper room before the Spirit fell? Watch the dynamic of this in

Acts 4:
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.
23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

They began to pray, now see how the Spirit responds:
29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word...
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken;
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Let all read and understand that the narrative does not say, "they spoke in tongues".
They prayed together, they asked for boldness to speak The Word.
The Spirit filled them, they began to speak with boldness. Answered prayer.


The presence of the Lord, by the Spirit of the Lord, when 2 or more are gathered in His name.
Every gathering of the Saints must be anchored in prayer from beginning to end, and at all points
in between. Many no longer believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit as described in

1 Corinthians 12:
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:
8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

I will never debate anyone on the Truth of this, as I know it by experience. Has the Lord stopped speaking to us by His Spirit? I fear that for many, that is, in fact, the case.
Did not the churches that
Paul wrote to meet in small groups at home?
That is where I have always found the Lord to be there with us, in our midst.

Shammayahu.
 
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Jesus is YHWH

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@Minister Monardo the context of Matthew 18:20 is judging sin in the church with the 2 or 3 witnesses established in Deuteronomy and reinforced by Jesus and the Apostles in dealing with the issue sin, repentance and restoration and or ex communication. Matthew 18 is not about prayer but dealing with the sin- leaven that effects the whole lump as Paul's analogy in 1 Corinthians 5 teaches.

FYI- I agree with your last post on prayer.

hope this helps !!!
 
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Mr. M

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@Minister Monardo the context of Matthew 18:20 is judging sin in the church with the 2 or 3 witnesses established in Deuteronomy and reinforced by Jesus and the Apostles in dealing with the issue sin, repentance and restoration and or ex communication. Matthew 18 is not about prayer but dealing with the sin- leaven that effects the whole lump as Paul's analogy in 1 Corinthians 5 teaches.

FYI- I agree with your last post on prayer.

hope this helps !!!
Yes, I am aware of the context, it is not judging sin, it is resolving issues between brothers. 70X7.
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me,
and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Anything we do as believers when seeking agreement on any issue is something that
cannot be separated from prayer.
Jesus is clearly expanding the application when He says:
18 Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask,
it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

2 Corinthians 13:1
This is the third time I am coming to you. EVERY FACT IS TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES.
Every fact is to be confirmed. Not just grievances, offenses, trespasses,, etc... between brothers.
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Matthew 18 is not simply about dealing with sin. The parable that follows is about forgiving others as we have been forgiven.
The goal is to resolve the issue so that the two remain brothers. 70X7

NOT JUDGING SIN, FORGIVING.

Also, IMO, if the testimony of two or three witnesses were applied to understanding the scriptures, there
would be far less divisions in the church concerning doctrine.
 
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