Bible

How big is your God? 2

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote being a useful vessel for the Lord, Bible, Blogging 101, Christian living, Christianity, Spiritual health, Spiritual living, Walking with God, WORD WITH OUT RELIGION , , , , , ,

I have gotten a  variety of  responses on my “billism” ( A billism is something  in the word that may not be taught as written.)   in “How big is your God?”….Some found encouragement,  others seemed scandilized that I might suggest I believed this scripture as written:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

Can my household be saved without them personally accepting Jesus as Savior?   I don’t really know but the Word says in Acts 16 that if I believe, my house will be saved.   Are there 2 or 3 other scriptures that support this?

Hebrews: 11. 7.
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.“

How about Abraham?

If we read Genesis 14 we find Abram hearing of Lot and his city being brought into slavery,  he then took his servants and saved Lot from that fate. 

This was Abrams love shown in the Natural world.

When the Lord said in Genesis 18:
“Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;   For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment;”

We find his love in action once again, in prayer for the whole city.  If you find 50, 40, 35,10 righteousness people.

Lot may or may not have been righteous, and except his wife, who looked back,  his family that went with him were saved. 

We do not know the families standing (were they righteous? ) with the Lord. We do know they were saved.

How about new Testament?   In 1 Corinthians 7 it says:

“ If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.   And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.    But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.

For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?   But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk.”

So the question is:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

Are my loved ones saved because I believe?   The answer is:

If I am as obedient as Noah was in the building the Ark and as loving as Abram in praying for my loved ones and Sanctified (set apart for God) as Paul implied.

I believe God either redeems them or erases them from our memories when we stand before Him.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”

Posted from WordPress for Android

Blogging 101- 2+2=4 Simplified

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote being a useful vessel for the Lord, Bible, Blogging 101, Christian living, Spiritual health, Spiritual living, Walking with God, WORD WITH OUT RELIGION , , , , , ,

2+2=4 Simplified is simply:

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”

“Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

So many reject the Wisdom, Understanding and Love of God. When the simple truth is:

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ”

This is my 2+2=4. How about you?

How big is your God?

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote being a useful vessel for the Lord, Bible, Blogging 101, Christian living, Christianity,, Photo 101, Spiritual health, Spiritual living, Walking with God, WORD WITH OUT RELIGION , , , , , ,

We all know that Jesus told Nicodemus that you must be born again. He also said do not marvel that I say you must be born again.

To be born again, we must believe in our hearts and confess with our  mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This means we believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, died on the cross, and rose again and is sitting at the right hand of the Father to intercede  for us.

Peter says:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

If you believe these simple statements then I can have fellowship with you as a Christian, as a child of God.

It is the Word of God, (Jesus is the Word), that saves us and lives and abides forever within us.

Now I have a “billism” for you:   A billism is something  in the word that may not be taught as written.

As a Christian I believe we must be born again.

We also find Paul answering the jailers question of  what must I do to be saved in this way:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

Here we have an added wrinkle. ..and thy house.  Where did this come from.  It is not new, Noahs family was saved and we have no knowledge of their faith.

In 1 Corinthians 7 it states:
“The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?”

What happened to you must be born again?

When we look in Deuteronomy we find the Hebrews ordered not to destroy certain peoples:

“Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:   Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.

” Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:   And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.”

We see instances of the Lord saving peoples because of the love of someone else.

So take heart if you have unsaved loved ones.  Take a page from Abrahams book.  Intercede on their behalf untill you have the peace that the Lord has heard you.

We have biblical evidence of that Gods love is bigger than our beliefs….it is as big as His Word.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

” According to your faith be it unto you.”

Posted from WordPress for Android

Enough, go, possess the land:

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote being a useful vessel for the Lord, Bible, Blogging 101, Christian living, Christianity, Spiritual health, Spiritual living, Walking with God, WORD WITH OUT RELIGION , , , , , ,

 

The people had spent two years in the desert.  They had crossed the red sea, built the Tabernacle of the Lord.  Heard the Law, been given the Ten Commandments.   Understood the promise of the Lord.   When the Lord spoke to them:

“Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:   Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites,  Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.”

The promise is for you, right now, you’ve waited long enough, go and possess the land.  So what did they do?  Go possess the land?

Of course not,  they sent in spies first, you know, to search out the way to go.   If they had only believed and obeyed the Lord,  they would have saved themselves 38 more years of getting nowhere fast.

He could be speaking to us today.  The promise is ours, right now, today, for whosoever will.  

We have been long enough in this world.  Go, separate yourselves from the masses,  possess the promise.

Begin eternity today, study the Word,  Pray, Praise learn to submit yourself to God, Worship.  Discover the Peace that passes understanding,  the Joy unspeakable and full of Glory,  find your refuge, your fortress, your God.  In Him can you trust.

The answers we need are found in the Creator (Elohim, Jesus),  not the creation.  Quit looking to people to save, help, provide or comfort you.

If Noah found grace (Salvation ) in the eyes of the Lord, (Jehovah, the Father),  if he was just and perfect in his generation,  it was because he walked with God.  (Elohim,  Jesus ).

We need to Walk with Jesus.  This is why we were Saved from sin and death.  It is what the Lord desires, a people who recognize and understand that He is.  

He is everything I desire. He is everything I need.  All I want is to know Him. To know He is and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

We must seek the Lord while He may be found.   

Set our face like flint towards the Lord.

Call upon Him while He is near.

He will answer and show us great and mighty things.

I am ready for some great and mighty things to happen.  If I could only conquer that evil heart of unbelief that kept the Hebrews from entering the promise.  That has kept me from praying and seeing the Power of God in my life and Church.

If we only believed,  Jesus said we could and would do mighty things.  That signs would follow.  There is something wrong with the way we believe.

The church,  Gods people are not victorious, conquerors,  the masters of our faith.   We don’t really believe the promise because we don’t have the relationship.

Know this:  He will keep us in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.   I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

The Lord had them 40 years in the wilderness: so thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

He is looking for the same things in us today:  Are we humble?  Has He proved us, do we know what is in our hearts?   Will we keep His commandments,  are we obedient children?

Lord help me to be the man you have called me to be.  I believe Lord,  help my unbelief.

 

 

 

Posted from WordPress for Android

Jesus prayed for us:

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote being a useful vessel for the Lord, Bible, Blogging 101, Christian living, Christianity, Spiritual living, Walking with God, WORD WITH OUT RELIGION , , , , ,

When Jesus taught us how to pray;   I believe he was showing us a prayer plan:  

Praise,
Acceptance of His will,
Tell Him your needs,
Ask forgiveness while acknowledging we need to forgive others,
Ask for help to be true, to deliver us from evil
Praise

Simple and simply lovely. ….

We take this teaching and turn it into a by rote prayer and it is beautiful but if we would learn the way of prayer instead of the prayer we would see more answers to our prayers.

In John 17 we find Jesus praying for us,  He prayed:

“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”  
John 15:10-12
“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

 John 16:24
“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

Much of the time we don’t believe God wants to answer our prayers.   Here He tells us He does and how to get the answer.  If we would abide in Him. Obey His will, love one another His joy will be within us.   We will receive positive answers to our prayers.

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

We are in the world but we nedd to be separated from the evil.

 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

“The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father’s loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.”, Hodge’s Outlines.

When we are sanctified we are set apart by the Holy Spirit, made over into worthy vessels for the Lords use.  We are sanctified when we read, accept and do the Word of the Lord.

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.  And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

 

Posted from WordPress for Android

Forget Not : Part 4 Moses final warnings

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote being a useful vessel for the Lord, Bible, Christian living, Christianity, Spiritual health, Spiritual living, Walking with God, WORD WITH OUT RELIGION , , , , ,

Part 1:  Forget Not:  what you’ve seen
              Teach your children

Part 2:  Forget Not:  You shall inherit the land
               Remember Gods covenant. ..no idols

Part 3:  Forget Not:  We must destroy the sin in our
              lives.
              40 years to test our love, faith, trust

Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.   Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord.

We need to realize the only reason we find grace (Salvation), is by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.   We must learn to submit fully,  unequivocally, willingly to Jesus.

Only then will we begin to understand and see the power and might of the Annointing in our lives.

 “Remember what the Lord thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.”

We get into trouble when we deside we don’t need others to help us know what God wants.   We must remain teachable,  flexible, willing to submit to other Godly people.   (key point: Godly people), may not be elders in church.

We need to watch, not become presumptuous.   If God tells you something,  it will line up with the word.   It will eventually come to pass.  (Ps 105:19)

Finally once again:

“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.”

We must Remember,  Forget Not that it is the Lord, not us.  Without Him we are less than nothing.  Our Churches,  works, our ambitions, holiness, sanctification, righteousness.. Are all as dirty rags.

Part 4:  Forget Not:  How we provoke the Lord
              He doesn’t give us the promise because we are righteous
              Don’t presume you’ve arrived
              Forget Not: It is all Him

Lord help us to be obedient children.

Posted from WordPress for Android

Forget Not : Part 3 Moses final warnings:

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote being a useful vessel for the Lord, Bible, Christian living, Christianity, Spiritual health, Spiritual living, Walking with God, WORD WITH OUT RELIGION , , , , , ,

In Part 1 Moses commanded us to:

   Forget Not: What we have seen and teach it to others

Part 2:

   You will inherit the land, remember Gods covenant, worship Him, not money, power, prestige or people.

Rest on the Sabbath. …we must rest from our work to let God accomplish His.

So in Part 3 of Forget Not;  We have this warning:

“And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.  If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”

The Hebrew people were to destroy all nonbelievers that lived in the promised land, because if left alive they would cause the people of God to sin.

In todays world, when we accept the Lord as Savior,  we must destroy all the sin and bad habits in our lives or they will haunt us and cause sin to trouble us in our walk with God.

“Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;”

Again,  remember what the Lord has done.  He will continue to protect and provide as we walk with Him.  Gos is able to help us to conquer sin and death.

“thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.“

This to me is one of the verses in the Word that explains just about everything we incounter.

Why is there trouble, sickness, strife,  it’s always something.

God wants a humble church.  Not our power, strength,  wisdom.  We need to allow the Lord to administrate,  our church needs to be built on the Lords plan.

We have allowed government into our churches when we decided we needed to be tax exempt. We need support from home for missionaries.  (read and understand Mark 6).

Jesus didn’t need a pulpit,  childrens church…even a building.  We need to be obedient,  so that God can use us as vessels of His power.

He tests our love, faith, trust…

We need to let God operate through us, give the cup of water, food, cash for the poor.  Show the love of God.

Then there is the manifestation of the Spirit.   How often have we quenched the Spirit?  The evil heart of unbelief is probably the most abuse the Holy Spirit receives.

We don’t believe in tongues,  healing or miracles.   Wake up, pray the Lord forgives us. Annoints us, makes us willing and useful vessels.

I’m afraid in my life, He often finds a stiffnecked and rebellious person.  

How about you?

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

Posted from WordPress for Android