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| − | <h3 class="panel-title">[[File:Page.png]] '''January's featured article'''</h3> | + | <h3 class="panel-title">[[File:Page.png]] '''February's featured article'''</h3> |
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| − | ==Do not lie to each other. == | + | ====Deliverance From Sin==== |
| − | You have left your old sinful life and the things you did before. You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you ''(Colossians 3:9-10).
| + | The Lord Jesus Christ provides the authority and power to deliver us from every sin. |
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| − | ''So you must stop telling lies. Tell each other the truth, because we all belong to each other in the same body'' (Ephesians 4:25).
| + | When I first came to the Lord sixty years ago I was told that the purpose for the commandments found in the New Testament was to show us our need of a Savior. God did not expect us to be able to keep them but was willing to receive us by grace. |
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| − | ''Say only yes if you mean yes, and no if you mean no. If you say more than yes or no, it is from the Evil One'' (Matthew 5:37).
| + | This impression lasted for some years. After a while I felt the need to write. I was working on a book titled The Tabernacle of the Congregation. I started a chapter on the holiness of the Tabernacle. As I went along it crossed my mind that perhaps God and His Apostles expected us to keep Their commandments, a revolutionary thought and one that changed my thinking and teaching. |
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| − | ''Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so God can heal you ''(James 5:16).
| + | So I started through the New Testament and began to write down the commandments we clearly were expected to keep. Soon I gave up. There simply were too many. In fact, I was faced with a major portion of the text. |
| | + | For example: "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. (Ephesians 4:17) |
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| − | If things weren't already strange enough in today's society, now some people want to abolish honesty. One noted physician, for example, appeared on a network news-and-talk show and proclaimed, "Lying is an important part of social life, and children who are unable to do it are children who may have developmental problems." Is the saying "Honesty is the best policy becoming obsolete?
| + | Now, it is nothing short of ridiculous to assume that Paul knew we could not do this and wrote it only for the purpose of our seeing a need to be saved by grace. So the current understanding of the "state of grace" is unscriptural and therefore erroneous. Yes, we indeed are to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ and His Apostles This is the purpose for the Great Commission. |
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| − | Two surveys taken recently may indicate that many people think it is. A USA Today poll found that only 56 percent of Americans teach honesty to their children. It looks like it's time for those of us who live by God's standard to recommit ourselves to honesty.
| + | Here are three steps one can take to break the bondages of sin that prevent our obeying Christ. |
| | + | Announce; Denounce; Renounce. When you take these three steps, God has promised to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. |
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| − | '''I. WHO WE DECEIVE: '''
| + | Announce to the Lord the sins you are committing. Describe as clearly as you are able what you are doing that is against His commandments in the New Testament. |
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| − | A. Self
| + | Denounce the specific behaviour as being evil, filthy, unscriptural, fit only for the Lake of Fire. Denounce it vehemently, diligently. Mean business so the spirit world will know sin is being judged. |
| | + | Renounce the behaviour, saying sternly, fiercely, and determinedly that you never, never, never again, by God's help, act like this—no, not for eternity! |
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| − | • The Alcoholic says "One beer won't hurt me."
| + | Try these three steps with one of your bondages, such as profanity, fornication, lying, stealing. You will be so delighted with the results that you will continue on until you are able to live as the Apostles commanded. |
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| − | • The Addict to pornography says, "If my spouse was only a better lover."
| + | Remember, if you are to be able to maintain your freedom you will have to live as a disciple. This means denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following the Lord. Read your Bible and pray every day. Find the most fervent church you can and then assemble regularly with the saints. Watch carefully in prayer! The spirits that went out of you will be looking for an opportunity to return to their comfortable house. |
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| − | • The Adulterer says, "I NEED her/his love."
| + | We American Christians are going to have to learn to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. |
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| − | B. Others
| + | At night we ventured that the purpose of the Christian Era has not been to bring everyone on earth into Heaven but to call out from the ranks of mankind a company of holy ones (saints)—people drawn close to God as a first-fruits of the population of the earth. When the first-fruits have been brought to maturity in Christ, then the world will believe in Christ. Then the Glory of God on the saints will draw the nations to them, and thus to Christ and God. This concept indicates that at the present time, while the work of evangelism continues, our main resources should be directed toward bringing the holy ones to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ. |
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| − | An Associated Press poll found that almost half of the people regularly call in sick when they're not. Ninety-one percent of them say they lie regularly, at work and at home. In another poll, sixty-five percent of America's high school students say they would cheat on an important exam. Fifty-three percent said they would lie to protect a friend who vandalizes school property.
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| − | C. God
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| − | Of course, we can't actually deceive God, but we try to. It's amazing that we would try to lie to Someone who detects our every thought (Psalm 139:2) and even knows our motives and intentions better than we do (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
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| − | '''II. WHY WE DECEIVE: '''
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| − | A. To Avoid Pain
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| − | In USA Today, Jerald Jellison says, "Each of us fibs at least 50 times a day. We lie about our age, our income, or our accomplishments. And we use lies to escape embarrassment. A common reason for "little white lies," we are told, is to protect someone else's feelings. yet in so doing, we are really protecting ourselves. According to Jellison, here are the most common fibs: "I wasn't feeling well." "I didn't want to hurt your feelings." "The check is in the mail." "I was just kidding." "I was only trying to help."
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| − | B. Out of Habit
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| − | A woman once said to a famous evangelist, "I'm deeply troubled over a problem that I know is hurting my testimony. It's the habit of exaggeration. I start to tell something, and then go on and enlarge the story until it's all distorted. People know that what I say is not true, and lose confidence in me. I wonder if you can help me?" The evangelist looked at her and said, "Let's talk to the Lord about it." She prayed, "O God, Thou knowest that I have this tendency to exaggerate -" At this point the evangelist interrupted, "Call it lying, Madam, and you may get over it!" The woman began to weep and finally made a fully confession of her evil habit.
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| − | C. For a Higher Good.
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| − | • Corrie Ten Boom deceived the Nazis about hiding Jews.
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| − | • Rahab the Harlot deceived her people about the Israelite spies (Joshua 2:1-6; James 2:25).
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| − | • An undercover drug agent uses a false ID to gain information.
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| − | • The Hebrew midwives deceived Pharaoh to save the life of Hebrew babies (Exodus 1:15-21).
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| − | '''III. HONESTY IS COMMANDED WITH OTHERS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST: '''
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| − | ''Do not lie to each other'' (Colossians 3:9).
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| − | A traffic cop flagged down a young driver, got his name, then snarled, "Oh, so you're a preacher, hey? Now don't go telling me you didn't see that stop sign."
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| − | The honest pastor said, "Oh, to be sure I say the sign, officer. The point is - I didn't see you." Now that's truthfulness!
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| − | Dr. Alan Redpath, former pastor of Moody Memorial Church, tells of the time his father, after a brief period of tension in the home, looked across the table at his wife and said, "I'm so sorry I spoke to you the way I did. I'm ashamed of myself." Dr. Redpath said that although at the time he was not a Christian, he went to his room after the meal, knelt, and prayed, "O God, I thank you for a father like that. Make me more like him."
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| − | '''IV. WHY SHOULD WE BE HONEST AND TRUTHFUL?'''
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| − | A. God is truthful in all He says (Number 23:19) and you are becoming like the One who made you (2 Corinthians 3:18).
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| − | B. We are family and part of the same body. -- Working together '''cannot''' be done in distrust (Ephesians 4:15,25).
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| − | C. Satan is the Father of lies (John 8:44).
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| − | D. Honesty is necessary for our healing (James 5:15).
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