Judgment Begins at the House of the Lord

[Heart2Soul]

Judgment begins with us.....and if it begins with us then let us as Christians first become those who are pure in heart and who walk upright in obedience to His word before going out to correct others.....

What judgments should the church expect from the Holy Spirit? Revelations 2-3 addresses the seven churches of Asia....these are the judgments I believe are the ones the church must come to address and repent of before we can claim to be His Bride...IMHO...

I enjoyed this teaching on the seven churches....http://randalldsmith.com/the-end-of-the-world-seven-deadly-sins-revelation-2-3/

These are excerpts from that teaching.......

(1) Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) - the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4). Neglected priorities-placing other things more important or above God: 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: … 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. …”

(2) Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) - the church that would suffer persecution (2:10). Fear of persecution-people fail to witness to others for fear of persecution: 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: .. 10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life…”

(3) Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17) - the church that needed to repent (2:16). Compromise of principles-allowing false teachings, etc: 2:12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: … 14 ‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 ‘So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 ‘Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth… “

(4) Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) - the church that had a false prophetess (2:20). Tolerating immorality: 2:18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: .. 20 ‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ..”

(5) Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) - the church that had fallen asleep (3:2). Spiritual Apathy:3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. …”

(6) Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13) - the church that had endured patiently (3:10). Dwindling Stability, where we won't push to deliberately build the body of believers:

3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: …8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. …”

Faithful, but barely hanging on – that is the truth behind thousands of churches and literally MILLIONS of anemic and sickly Christians.

• Alzheimer’s Christian: Remembers only selectively what God has done before, but fails to be able to connect with what may be happening in the Kingdom around him today.

• Autistic Christian: Stuck on a phrase and often inappropriate in responses. Unable to connect to anyone that has no special training to understand them.

• Epileptic Christian: Not in control of all energies expended. Seems passionate but strangely disconnected from the body, randomly expending great energy not directed by any leadership or head.

• Leprous Christian: Unfeeling toward other parts of the body and infectiously causing a spreading numbness of insensitivity that kills good growth.

• Obese Christian: Ready to sit and eat with no real intent to get up and DO anything, they become expert food critics of the messages they hear.

• Burned Christian: Because of an experience that often has nothing to do with the current body they are in, they are in constant need of careful handling and touchy care.

• Anorexic Christian: Unable to see themselves as God says they are, they continue to self inspect for every flaw, totally overtaken in their own issues.

• Heart Diseased Christian: Unable to function normally because of other contributing behaviors that have weakened their endurance.

(7) Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) - the church with the lukewarm faith (3:16). Lukewarm/Luxury Distraction-focused more on themselves: 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked…”

1 Peter 4:17

17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Hebrews 12:5-8

5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.



So I humbly submit this topic not to condemn but to bring awareness to our need to judge ourselves rather than what others are guilty of in their walk with God.

Your thoughts please....

 

[AsherMBS]

The topic of judging ourselves vs. judging others is tricky since to judge oneself, one has to have the Grace to do it as it's contrary to both the sinful nature and the natural (pre-Fall) nature of man. Without Grace, judging yourself becomes impossible, so you become unfit to judge both yourself and others. It has to start with repentance and a new birth, or if one has a new birth but has reverted back to the flesh, which happens often, then it has to start with repentance.

After one goes through all the things the churches are doing wrong, repentance really is the missing key in the churches today. Or I should say that a lack of respentance is the key and foundational issue in the churches. The NT doesn't use the word as much as the OT; but the NT talks about it very often (all the Epistles exhort believers to a lifestyle of repentance) such as in the famous passage about how to live after the initial new birth:

"I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of Christ that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God. And do not be conformed by the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:1-2).

Repentance is known as "a change of mind/heart"; and "the renewing (changing) of your mind" is repentance. When repentance lacks, every other teaching has no foundation on which to take root and grow strong which is why teaching about any kind of judgment (eg. "Do not judge... Judge with righteous judgement... Judge nothing before the time... Are we not to judge one another... We all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ... Judgement begins at the house of God") is defiled or rejected. People can't receive teaching about judgment if they are not living a life of repentance or daily renewing their minds. I think we have to return to and deal with the root issues, otherwise, we'll simply go from one teaching to another until Jesus returns.

 

[Heart2Soul]

The topic of judging ourselves vs. judging others is tricky since to judge oneself, one has to have the Grace to do it as it's contrary to both the sinful nature and the natural (pre-Fall) nature of man. Without Grace, judging yourself becomes impossible, so you become unfit to judge both yourself and others. It has to start with repentance and a new birth, or if one has a new birth but has reverted back to the flesh, which happens often, then it has to start with repentance.

After one goes through all the things the churches are doing wrong, repentance really is the missing key in the churches today. Or I should say that a lack of respentance is the key and foundational issue in the churches. The NT doesn't use the word as much as the OT; but the NT talks about it very often (all the Epistles exhort believers to a lifestyle of repentance) such as in the famous passage about how to live after the initial new birth:

"I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of Christ that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God. And do not be conformed by the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:1-2).

Repentance is known as "a change of mind/heart"; and "the renewing (changing) of your mind" is repentance. When repentance lacks, every other teaching has no foundation on which to take root and grow strong which is why teaching about any kind of judgment (eg. "Do not judge... Judge with righteous judgement... Judge nothing before the time... Are we not to judge one another... We all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ... Judgement begins at the house of God") is defiled or rejected. People can't receive teaching about judgment if they are not living a life of repentance or daily renewing their minds. I think we have to return to and deal with the root issues, otherwise, we'll simply go from one teaching to another until Jesus returns.

I totally agree....and what I constantly pray is that the Holy Spirit reveal to me anything in my heart that is hidden and hinders me from growing in the knowledge and understanding of His truths.....not long ago He showed me that I had spiritual pride....I cried and repented and am still trying to be ever so much more careful as to how I minister to others when they ask for prayer and advice....repentance is the key.

 

[AsherMBS]

You said you're "still trying to be ever so much more careful as to how I minister to others when they ask for prayer and advice."
The art of wisely choosing our words is lost where no one can find it.

In my struggles, people have told me all the wrong things just short of 100% of the time-- like Job's friends. They rarely appreciated the wisdom of waiting and asking God for wisdom to respond and usually barrelled forward without thought, mowing down and breaking everything in their path. They often thought they knew the answers; that or they didn't care. Either way, they were wrong basically all the time, applying scriptures to the wrong circumstances. Jesus is supposed to be our example when it comes to giving spiritual advice.

Isa. 11 says of Jesus that He would have the Spirit of wisdom, etc., and then says, "A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out..." The reed and the wick are human beings. We know this by the surrounding verses. So, it's obvious that Jesus wouldn't physically break anyone, so who does the Bible tell us this? It's not talking about physical breaking but emotional breaking. He binds up broken people ("a bruised reed. . a smoldering wick"); He doesn't break them more like worldly counselors and most christians are prone to do. What's one of the primary ways people's hearts are broken? With words. "Sticks and stones may break my bones" and words will break your heart. To confirm Jesus's wisdom in handling hurting or struggling people who are just hanging on (a bruised reed) and whose hope is about to go out (a smoldering wick), Isaiah reiterates this same concept in an obscure prophecy about Jesus:

"The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the wise, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He was wakens Me morning by morning; He wakens My ears to LISTEN as one being taught" (Isa. 50:4).

Jesus knew everything; but Be still listened for God's daily and minute to minute instructions. Solomon said, "Like apples of gold in settings of silver, so is a word spoken in season." A word spoken in season is simply the right word for the right issue spoken in the right way. Jesus was master of this and wants His people to practice and learn to be masters at it too.

As far as the words being "spoken in the right way", in Lk. 4, Jesus reads from Isa. 61 and then sits down with every eye in the synagogue on Him, marveling at "the gracious words coming from His mouth." He spoke with Grace. When advising others, especially other christians, we are to learn to LISTEN for God's wisdom and relinquish every notion that just because we have a Bible and good intentions, then we know what to say or how to counsel people. I know by painful fifteen year long experience that communication and the words we say, especially to those who are struggling, are INCREDIBLY important and that God above all appreciates the right use of words and of Grace.

 

[AsherMBS]

I'm going to be posting this publicly as well. If you know any mature or godly believers who can help, please let me know.

Let me not mince words and waste time. I got off the phone recently with an out of church christian who spent two hours telling me that I have the wrong beliefs and am not doing the right things and that that's the reason I've been in my circle so long. What I need is a christian family or individual or group who will give me a place to stay so I can actually grow and make progress. I've been homeless the past fifteen years due to circumstances outside of my control, and telling me to get resources from the state or government isn't going to help as I've been doing that for years. That's because I need Grace not law; I need personal support and love, not more rules of things to do. If no one can offer me this, please do not tell me to tap into the world for resources. Thank you.

 

[Sal Robinson]

man, that pursuit to be pure of heart, that's what we all have to do, and encourage others!

 

[AsherMBS]

man, that pursuit to be pure of heart, that's what we all have to do, and encourage others!

Sal, if you can advise be the best place to share a post about my need for practical support and a living arrangement of some kind with sincere believers, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Heart2Soul]

I'm going to be posting this publicly as well. If you know any mature or godly believers who can help, please let me know.

Let me not mince words and waste time. I got off the phone recently with an out of church christian who spent two hours telling me that I have the wrong beliefs and am not doing the right things and that that's the reason I've been in my circle so long. What I need is a christian family or individual or group who will give me a place to stay so I can actually grow and make progress. I've been homeless the past fifteen years due to circumstances outside of my control, and telling me to get resources from the state or government isn't going to help as I've been doing that for years. That's because I need Grace not law; I need personal support and love, not more rules of things to do. If no one can offer me this, please do not tell me to tap into the world for resources. Thank you.

I will help you.....sorry for the late response.

 

[Sal Robinson]

Sal, if you can advise be the best place to share a post about my need for practical support and a living arrangement of some kind with sincere believers, please let me know. Thanks.

hey friend I was replying to the first post from, Heart2Soul, because of how edifying it was for me. And for how it helped me understand revelations better. I realise now that I posted under you post and I apologise If I upset you, I did not mean to. I pray for your situation AsherMBS. I pray God brings the people who can help you to your door. I pray you find that family in the Us who will open their doors...I'm praying for those doors to open for you.

 

[AsherMBS]

hey friend I was replying to the first post from, Heart2Soul, because of how edifying it was for me. And for how it helped me understand revelations better. I realise now that I posted under you post and I apologise If I upset you, I did not mean to. I pray for your situation AsherMBS. I pray God brings the people who can help you to your door. I pray you find that family in the Us who will open their doors...I'm praying for those doors to open for you.

Thanks, Sal.

 

[davp]

I'm going to be posting this publicly as well. If you know any mature or godly believers who can help, please let me know.

Let me not mince words and waste time. I got off the phone recently with an out of church christian who spent two hours telling me that I have the wrong beliefs and am not doing the right things and that that's the reason I've been in my circle so long. What I need is a christian family or individual or group who will give me a place to stay so I can actually grow and make progress. I've been homeless the past fifteen years due to circumstances outside of my control, and telling me to get resources from the state or government isn't going to help as I've been doing that for years. That's because I need Grace not law; I need personal support and love, not more rules of things to do. If no one can offer me this, please do not tell me to tap into the world for resources. Thank you.

Hi, did some time on the streets in Perth, ended up buying a cheap hammock for 10 or fifteen dollars which meant you could keep off the ground away from bugs, can get other stuff like a mentholated spirit cooker cheap etc. And also could string it up at a height so won't get mugged, The hammock was cool, it rolled up to a small ball because it was like a net. Sleep pretty comfortable in that thing.
Then found a sheet of clear plastic to keep the rain and wind off.. Hope this may help some. I would offer more but Australia is a long way away from where you are. Used to keep my clothes and gear in a locker at a railway station for a dollar a week rent too. Hope you find residence soon bro, especially as no-one can expect a woman to open her home to an stranger that certainly wouldn't be a wise thing for any woman to do, I will pray for you.
Cheers
Dave.