Christsfreeservant

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2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

I do believe we are now living in these times. And this isn’t talking just about people out in the world. These attitudes and behaviors have crept into the body of Christ, and so much of the church has adopted these worldly attitudes and actions as “normal.”

The “gospel” that is being taught in much of today’s church only supports and advances these attitudes and behaviors. For it teaches that a mere confession of Christ as Savior guarantees salvation from sin for life regardless of how a person lives his life on this earth.

Some people are diluting the gospel even further by teaching that God requires no repentance, no obedience to his commands, and no submission to him as Lord of their lives. In fact, they teach against such holy living by calling it “works-based salvation,” which is to be avoided, in their eyes.

Thus, the by-product of this cheapened grace and diluted gospel is many people calling themselves “Christians,” but who are lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, abusive, ungrateful, unholy, without self-control, not loving good, and who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

In fact, this seems to be the mindset of most of today’s market-driven state churches, which are corporations of men, not the body of Christ, although some of the body of Christ may gather together with them. These state churches are very much geared to appease human flesh.

So, if you are teaching on holiness and godliness, you will likely be an outcast, and you may even be invited to leave these corporate churches (which are of men, not of God), which is actually a good thing, for that is not where the Lord wants his people anyway.

Yes, they will have the appearance of godliness by calling themselves “the church,” but if Christ is not their true head, and if the Word of God is not primary and foundational for all that they do, and if the Holy Spirit is not the one leading them, counseling them, and showing them the way they should go, but they are following marketing books and humanistic philosophy, instead, then they are denying the power of God and we are to avoid them.

2 Timothy 3:6-9 ESV

“For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.”

And this isn’t just about men who creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins. This is about certain people who have crept into the gatherings of the church largely unnoticed who are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (See Jude 1:3-4).

They are serving in positions as pastors and elders and Bible study leaders, and they are leading the people astray to follow a flesh-driven gospel which does not put sin to death, but which allows it to thrive and survive. Thus, they are leading people to dishonor Jesus as Lord.

So, although they have an appearance of righteousness, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing who oppose the truth of Jesus Christ and his gospel, and who have been diligently working for years to destroy the gospel so that no one will follow and obey the Lord.

The problem presently is that their folly has not yet become plain to all, but the vast majority are following these men blindly, because they say what the people’s itching ears want to hear. They whisper to the people “sweet nothings,” and the people love it, and are craving for more of the same.

2 Timothy 3:10-13 ESV

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Although they may be few and far between, there are still Christians out there who are following the Lord with their lives. They are not perfect people, mind you, but they are not under the control of sin, but they are under the Holy Spirit’s control, living to please God.

We need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to such people, even on the internet, so that we have godly influences in our lives, and so we can have genuine Christian fellowship with other believers, too, for so many today are going the way of the world, and are not following the Lord Jesus.

Yet, we should guard against becoming followers of men, and we should remain followers of Christ and of his Word. And we should allow the Holy Spirit to be the one to counsel us in the way that the Lord would have us to go. As always, we should test everything we hear in prayer and in the Word of God to make certain that what we are listening to is truth.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Some of us did learn the truth from early on. I was blessed of God to be in a church fellowship from birth which taught the truth of Scripture regarding salvation from sin, eternal life with God, and holiness and godliness. We were taught to take God and his word seriously.

But, no matter at what point in your life you became a follower of Jesus and you began to learn the truth of God’s word, we are commanded of God to continue in him and in his word to the very end. And this continuing is not intellectual, but it is applying the Scriptures to our daily lives.

And we are not to confine ourselves to the New Testament Scriptures only, for there is much to learn from the Old Testament, even regarding Jesus Christ and our salvation, and with regard to these last days before the return of Christ. We just aren’t under the Old Covenant requirements.

But being under grace is not a free-for-all where we can live however we want. For Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. Thus, we are to surrender our lives to him, and we are to walk in obedience to his commands, empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. And we are to learn from the teachings of Scripture how to live holy and godly lives, pleasing to our Lord, for this is how we show him that we love him, by obeying his commands (1 Jn 2:3-6).

Anniversary Song

By Ann Aschauer

Well, some folks think that "love" means emotion,
So it comes and goes their whole life through.
Some folks never know that when the magic goes,
If you keep on lovin', it'll come back to you.
I was so afraid we'd lose the special feeling,
And someday we'd find our love wasn't true,
But then God opened up my eyes and made me realize,

Love is not what you feel, it's what you do.

And so we stood side by side at the altar,
As our wills and God's power combined.
With His help I could say, "I do love you today,
And I will for a long, long time."

c 1987 Ann Aschauer
Used by permission

https://cfservant.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/02-track-2.mp3
 

bèlla

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We need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to such people, even on the internet, so that we have godly influences in our lives, and so we can have genuine Christian fellowship with other believers, too, for so many today are going the way of the world, and are not following the Lord Jesus.

Thank you for sharing this. It blessed me a great deal. :)

The Lord built my connections and continues to do so. Its made an incredible difference in my life. Not only because they're men and women of God. But they're His choice for my benefit. We're mutually edified through the alliance. I never knew it could be this good.

I made it a point of prayer a couple of years ago. I wrote it out. What I lacked and needed in companions. I fasted and prayed for a year. I'd forgotten about it until a couple of months ago. I opened the document and was shocked to discover how much He'd granted.

The bible says, Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. I wanted Him to do it. And I'm a witness He will.

Yours in His Service,

~Bella
 
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pescador

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2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

I do believe we are now living in these times. And this isn’t talking just about people out in the world. These attitudes and behaviors have crept into the body of Christ, and so much of the church has adopted these worldly attitudes and actions as “normal.”

The “gospel” that is being taught in much of today’s church only supports and advances these attitudes and behaviors. For it teaches that a mere confession of Christ as Savior guarantees salvation from sin for life regardless of how a person lives his life on this earth.

Some people are diluting the gospel even further by teaching that God requires no repentance, no obedience to his commands, and no submission to him as Lord of their lives. In fact, they teach against such holy living by calling it “works-based salvation,” which is to be avoided, in their eyes.

Thus, the by-product of this cheapened grace and diluted gospel is many people calling themselves “Christians,” but who are lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, abusive, ungrateful, unholy, without self-control, not loving good, and who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

In fact, this seems to be the mindset of most of today’s market-driven state churches, which are corporations of men, not the body of Christ, although some of the body of Christ may gather together with them. These state churches are very much geared to appease human flesh.

So, if you are teaching on holiness and godliness, you will likely be an outcast, and you may even be invited to leave these corporate churches (which are of men, not of God), which is actually a good thing, for that is not where the Lord wants his people anyway.

Yes, they will have the appearance of godliness by calling themselves “the church,” but if Christ is not their true head, and if the Word of God is not primary and foundational for all that they do, and if the Holy Spirit is not the one leading them, counseling them, and showing them the way they should go, but they are following marketing books and humanistic philosophy, instead, then they are denying the power of God and we are to avoid them.

2 Timothy 3:6-9 ESV

“For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.”

And this isn’t just about men who creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins. This is about certain people who have crept into the gatherings of the church largely unnoticed who are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (See Jude 1:3-4).

They are serving in positions as pastors and elders and Bible study leaders, and they are leading the people astray to follow a flesh-driven gospel which does not put sin to death, but which allows it to thrive and survive. Thus, they are leading people to dishonor Jesus as Lord.

So, although they have an appearance of righteousness, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing who oppose the truth of Jesus Christ and his gospel, and who have been diligently working for years to destroy the gospel so that no one will follow and obey the Lord.

The problem presently is that their folly has not yet become plain to all, but the vast majority are following these men blindly, because they say what the people’s itching ears want to hear. They whisper to the people “sweet nothings,” and the people love it, and are craving for more of the same.

2 Timothy 3:10-13 ESV

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Although they may be few and far between, there are still Christians out there who are following the Lord with their lives. They are not perfect people, mind you, but they are not under the control of sin, but they are under the Holy Spirit’s control, living to please God.

We need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to such people, even on the internet, so that we have godly influences in our lives, and so we can have genuine Christian fellowship with other believers, too, for so many today are going the way of the world, and are not following the Lord Jesus.

Yet, we should guard against becoming followers of men, and we should remain followers of Christ and of his Word. And we should allow the Holy Spirit to be the one to counsel us in the way that the Lord would have us to go. As always, we should test everything we hear in prayer and in the Word of God to make certain that what we are listening to is truth.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Some of us did learn the truth from early on. I was blessed of God to be in a church fellowship from birth which taught the truth of Scripture regarding salvation from sin, eternal life with God, and holiness and godliness. We were taught to take God and his word seriously.

But, no matter at what point in your life you became a follower of Jesus and you began to learn the truth of God’s word, we are commanded of God to continue in him and in his word to the very end. And this continuing is not intellectual, but it is applying the Scriptures to our daily lives.

And we are not to confine ourselves to the New Testament Scriptures only, for there is much to learn from the Old Testament, even regarding Jesus Christ and our salvation, and with regard to these last days before the return of Christ. We just aren’t under the Old Covenant requirements.

But being under grace is not a free-for-all where we can live however we want. For Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. Thus, we are to surrender our lives to him, and we are to walk in obedience to his commands, empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. And we are to learn from the teachings of Scripture how to live holy and godly lives, pleasing to our Lord, for this is how we show him that we love him, by obeying his commands (1 Jn 2:3-6).

Anniversary Song

By Ann Aschauer

Well, some folks think that "love" means emotion,
So it comes and goes their whole life through.
Some folks never know that when the magic goes,
If you keep on lovin', it'll come back to you.
I was so afraid we'd lose the special feeling,
And someday we'd find our love wasn't true,
But then God opened up my eyes and made me realize,

Love is not what you feel, it's what you do.

And so we stood side by side at the altar,
As our wills and God's power combined.
With His help I could say, "I do love you today,
And I will for a long, long time."

c 1987 Ann Aschauer
Used by permission

https://cfservant.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/02-track-2.mp3

Well, I guess it's time to leave the church? Even though you don't know me you have judged me and millions of other Christians by your own personal standards. So, you glorify yourself and condemn almost everyone else. It must be a wonderful feeling to condemn millions of believers to hell!
 
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Christsfreeservant

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We need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to such people, even on the internet, so that we have godly influences in our lives, and so we can have genuine Christian fellowship with other believers, too, for so many today are going the way of the world, and are not following the Lord Jesus.

Thank you for sharing this. It blessed me a great deal. :)

The Lord built my connections and continues to do so. Its made an incredible difference in my life. Not only because they're men and women of God. But they're His choice for my benefit. We're mutually edified through the alliance. I never knew it could be this good.

I made it a point of prayer a couple of years ago. I wrote it out. What I lacked and needed in companions. I fasted and prayed for a year. I'd forgotten about it until a couple of months ago. I opened the document and was shocked to discover how much He'd granted.

The bible says, Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. I wanted Him to do it. And I'm a witness He will.

Yours in His Service,

~Bella

Bella, You are so welcome. All glory to God! I am so glad that this blessed you.

I am glad to hear that you are in fellowship with people who are truly in fellowship with Jesus Christ and who are living godly and holy lives. Your prayer reminds me of the one I prayed, for I had gone a long time without much in the way of real Christian fellowship, especially not in person.

I appealed to the Lord on the basis that he had companions who fellowshipped with him and who walked with him in ministry, and that Paul even had people visit him when he was in prison who encouraged him in his faith. Then, all of a sudden, I started to have people in my life on the internet (still not in person) who are walking with the Lord and who encouraged me in my walk of faith and whom I was able to encourage, too, and that has been wonderful. But I know they are all humans and I can't put my hope or trust in them, but my hope and my security must always be in the Lord alone.
 
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Christsfreeservant

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Well, I guess it's time to leave the church? Even though you don't know me you have judged me and millions of other Christians by your own personal standards. So, you glorify yourself and condemn almost everyone else. It must be a wonderful feeling to condemn millions of believers to hell!

Pescador, I am not encouraging anyone to leave the church, not the true church, for that would be encouraging them to reject Jesus Christ and his salvation from sin, to deny him, and to rebel against the Lord and to go their own way. For the true church is Christ's body, and we only become part of that church by God's grace through God-given faith in Jesus Christ.

So, all else which is called "church" is not the church. Just because it says "church" in its name doesn't make it the church. The true church is people, not a building, not an institution of men, and not a business or a corporation. We who are believing in Jesus are the church. There is no other. And faith in Jesus Christ requires that we repent of our sin, that we walk in obedience to our Lord, and that we submit to him as Lord.

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6]

If we do not walk in obedience to our Lord, in accord with the Spirit of God, but we continue living in sin, going our own way, then the Scriptures teach that we are not saved, we don't have eternal life with God, and heaven is not our eternal destiny.

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10, etc.]

So, this is not my opinion. This is what Scripture teaches. And it is obvious regarding how many people are following the wrong message and are believing they are going to heaven when they are still walking in sin, many of them believing they don't have to submit to Christ or obey the Lord or leave their lives of sin behind them.

And, I share what the Scriptures teach out of obedience to my Lord, and out of great love and concern for people who are believing the lies and are convinced they are headed to heaven when they have not ever surrendered their lives to Christ and when they have not died to sin nor are they living to righteousness in the power of God.

And regarding what we are to leave, we are to leave our lifestyles of sin behind us, and we are to be separate from the world and to come out of "Babylon," so that we don't share in her sins or in her punishment. We are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers and we are not to love the world and the things of the world. But we are to be unlike the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. This is that God's word teaches. These are not my words.
 
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mikeforjesus

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Jesus said how hard it is for those who are rich to enter the kingdom of God but He explained it is hard for them only if they trust in riches that that is because the rich may think they are saved by good works they do with their riches. They allow their self righteous attitude to stop them from accepting their need for christ. Some atleast acknowledge they need christ forgiveness but they think they must also do works. I think it is wrong to believe you earn salvation but Christ gives people new hearts to want to do good works and I think such works are required as evidence of salvation

I said other stuff before I thought I edited them all out with my last post so I am editing them out now
 
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Nobody is saved by doing "works". However, once saved, evidence of that is the behavior and actions that you show after your salvation. The Holy Spirit encourages and promotes doing good to others (which can take many different forms).
 
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For salvation but it could be wrong and salvation is by faith alone and only necessary for rewards and being saved upon death. I know you believe evidence of salvation is works but you did not say if you believe a person could be justified if they are missing some works that the bible says is required atleast to be saved upon death

What works are required to be saved according to the Bible?
 
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mikeforjesus

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I repent of teaching salvation by faith alone. We have to be always watching and repenting and to do works for His name sake to preach the gospel and teach people to repent and minister to their needs. For Christ says those who do not take up the cross and follow Him are unworthy of Him. Jesus says whoever is ashamed of Me and My words of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory. The promise in revelation is any one who adds or takes away from His words wilfully that is in order to deceive others God will take away His place from the holy city. People have to work to earn salvation not everyone God is pleased with. He can accept people who repent. People have to persevere and faith alone is not enough but people have to repent as Jesus said unless you repent you will all likewise perish so if people are not watching always like the wise to repent they may not have a place in heaven as they will die without repentance. Unfortunately I don’t think those who live ungodly lives will ever be saved because God does not accept the ungodly who do evil to others and are not really sorry and stop it. He does not promise if they continue a path that they will die with opportunity to repent. Works are therefore necessary but those who taught otherwise but did good works can be saved. But unfortunately they teach falsely so people may be led astray that was the intention of the false teachers in Jude time which is why they were judged. I think others may still be saved but they do not profit people. They may not have known it is good to teach that so they may be excused. And since one can not know God may excuse because God does not force one to teach right because He did not force it before but they should teach right to profit people. You can not blame any false teacher and God will not blame them if they mean right and it does not harm others because others are to teach the truth. People are required to listen to Jesus though we should defend the truth. But I suppose it could still be judged if one is still alive for others would have changed their opinion if they thought they were harming others and one is only not judged if he is not aware he could be harming others only then he is not adding or taking from His words.
 
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