Good Neighbor?

In what’s known as the Great Commandment, Jesus says all that’s truly important can be summed up in love – loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving your neighbors as yourself.

It’s often easier to obey the first part, because God is perfect and easy to love when you get to know Him. But the second part is more difficult, since sinful people can be hard to love.

The good news is that when you answer God’s call to reach out to your neighbors in love, He’ll help you every step of the way – and in the process, both you and your neighbors will be blessed. Here’s how you can be a good neighbor:

Realize who the term “neighbors” includes. In the broadest sense, your neighbors are all of the people you encounter as you go through life. But your literal neighbors are the people who live close to your home – those in your actual neighborhood – and Jesus wants you to do your best to love them.

Recognize the benefits of reaching out to your neighbors. You’ll enjoy a closer relationship with Jesus when you obey His commands (such as the one to love your neighbors), and you’ll experience His love in new and powerful ways. You and your neighbors will be able to connect your stories to the greater story that God is creating in the world. Finally, developing relationships with your neighbors will help you all feel cared for rather than isolated.

Pray for compassion and flexibility. Ask God to help you notice and care about the needs of those who live near you, and to empower you to be flexible with your daily schedule so you can accommodate your neighbors.

Make room for new relationships in your life. In order to have enough time and energy available for reaching out to your neighbors, you must create space in your life by letting go of activities that aren’t as important as loving your neighbors. Ask God to help you move from a lifestyle of busyness and accumulation to one of conversation and community. Adopt a slower pace of life so you’ll have some free time and energy available to use regularly to develop relationships with your neighbors. Ask God to help you say “no” to some good activities that aren’t really important so you can focus on what’s most important, like spending time with your neighbors. Make relationships a high priority in your life, and build your schedule around activities that will help you invest in your relationships. Identify time-wasting activities in your life (such as watching too much TV) and eliminate them to free up more time for developing relationships. Be flexible about your daily agenda. Ask God to help you be willing to be interrupted and inconvenienced by your neighbors so you can really love them when God wants you to do so.

Overcome fear. Since the unknown often scares us, it’s natural to feel afraid of approaching people you don’t yet know. But keep in mind that very few people are actually dangerous; they’re usually just normal people with interesting quirks. Remember, too, that God has placed desires to be known, accepted, and cared for into every person’s soul, so your neighbors will likely welcome your efforts to get to know them. Pray for the strength you need to overcome fear, take the initiative to break through the isolation in your neighborhood, and start relationships with your neighbors.

The UnGodly

In a short letter of Jude, which is only 25 verses:

Greeting to the Called

¹ Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

² Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

³ Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God^[b] and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

⁵ But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

⁸ Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. ⁹ Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹² These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about^[c] by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³ raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁴ Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Apostates Predicted

¹⁶ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. ¹⁷ But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

²² And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³ but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you^[f] from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵ To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Jude not only tells of the coming apostasy in the end times, he describes what an apostate really is. He identifies the apostate himself. Verse 4, he calls them un-Godly. Morally perverted and denies Christ. In verse 8, he describes the apostate as one who defile the flesh, rebellious, reviles Holy angels, and in verse 10, he calls them dreamers, ignorant, and corrupted. In verse 16, he describes them as grumblers, fault finders, self seeking, arrogant speakers and flatterers. In verse 18 he describes them as mockers and in verse 19, he describes them as caused division, worldly minded and without the spirit.
In all 25 verses - Jude not only warned us of the coming apostasy, but also describes the apostate for us as I said above. If you are any of these 18 type of people, you may have fallen into apostasy. Please repent immediately. As Jude speaks of in verses 22 and 23. And on some have compassion, making a distinction on others, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. 
Jude ends his letter with one of the greatest doxologies in the Bible: verses 24, 25:  

Glory to God

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵ To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

~Daniel

The Family Unit

^{Ephesians 5:22 thru Ephesians 6:4:}

²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy,cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

⁴ Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Verse 22 is one of the most misused verses from the Bible. Yes it is true that wives must submit to their husbands as the husband must also submit to God. Also, in verse 28, it says that husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. This only applies in a Christian family, which God created in Genesis. 

A husband leaves his own family to be united with his wife. The two will become one flesh. Paul speaks of this as a profound mystery that he does not explain.

As in the Ten Commandments, chapter 6 verses 3, children must obey their parents in the Lord, as Paul says, this is right to honor your mother and father which has a promise of long life if one does so. 

Fathers: do not cause your children to sin. What I mean is if you use profanity - they will use profanity, if you drink unto drunkenness, so shall they. But bring them up in the training of the Lord. 

I know that in today's society, women are having children without being married, and the baby is fatherless. This breakdown is as it tells us of the last days in Timothy 3:1-9:

 3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

⁶ They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷ always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. ⁹ But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

This is why I say that this is an indication as men today are proud lovers of themselves. Lovers of money, unthankful, and unholy. This is what parents are teaching today. We have become a God-less society, where some day soon, chaos will be our end. 

Yet, if America would just repent and turn back to God, it could be a shining light to the world and may lead other nations to do the same. Yet I know America is not moving in that direction, instead it is leading itself to chaos.   

The U.S. and the 10 Commandments

Exodus 20:1-17...

The Ten Commandments

20 And God spoke all these words, saying:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
³ “You shall have no other gods before Me.
⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, theLord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourthgenerations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh dayis the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days theLord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
¹³ “You shall not murder.
¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.
¹⁵ “You shall not steal.
¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”


Can a nation violate the ten commandments? Definitely! And can a nation repent? Certainly! But will America repent of its sins? After all, America is violating all the ten commandments daily! 
She has many false religions that she bows. She has forgotten the Sabbath. When I was a child, all the stores were closed on the Sabbath. Today though, most stores are 24 hours a day.
Certainly children of America do not honor their mothers and fathers. This is the first generation of American children to NOT honor their parents. It is a nation that has become of mothers raising children without the fathers. Marriage is forgotten. 
You can go and find more but America must repent! 

John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His 
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in 
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I'm Back!

I am back after five days in a coma with the multitudes of Christian brothers and sisters. I came back fighting to stay.

James 1:1-12:

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.

Trials and Temptations

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

¹² Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

My episode is miraculous as I have gone from being in a coma, on life support, to ten days later able to walk. My condition is also proof that James 5:15:

¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

It also shows that prayer from around the world do availeth much for the sick to seek the elders of the church.

So all I can is praise God, Psalm 150:

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary; 
    praise him in his mighty heavens. 
² Praise him for his acts of power; 
    praise him for his surpassing greatness. 
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, 
    praise him with the harp and lyre, 
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing, 
    praise him with the strings and pipe, 
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals, 
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in the Highest for all He has done for me and Praise the name of Jesus Christ, who has died to set me free.

~Daniel

Parables of the lost sheep and the unforgiving servant

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Matthew 18:12-14

          12 " What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?  13 And if he should find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.14 Even so it is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should perish.

COMMENTARY

          This parable shows that God himself seeks out sinners and Christians who have gone astray.  In the days of Christ the Pharisees and Sadducees taught that God would receive sinners if they seriously sought His forgiveness.  Yet in this parable it God is seeking out the sinner. The shepherds in those days were responsible for all the sheep. His master would be very upset if one was lost or killed

          Isn't that a wonderful thing to know that God seeks out sinners to bring them to repentance and let them receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?  It was God that sought us out to be saved.  Maybe he is seeking you out right now if you’re a Christian that has gone astray.  If you are turn around repent and return to the flock that Jesus shepherds.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Matthew 18:23-35

          23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.  26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ' Master, have patience with me and I will pay you all' 27 Then the master of the servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave his debt. 28 But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, and ‘Pay me what you owe! 29' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant!  I forgave all that debt because you begged me.

33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35" So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

          In this parable the king and master represent God the Father. The first servant who owed an unpayable debt and begged for mercy God forgave him his debt. This represents God's compassionate forgiveness of a sinner who repents. Now this same servant went to one of his fellow servants and demanded what he owed him even putting his hands around the mans throat.  The fellow servant begged him to have patience the same way he had begged and was given forgiveness.  But instead of forgiving his fellow servant he threw him jail until his debt was paid when his fellow servants who represent believers in the parable heard what had happened they were grieved.  Not forgiving others is offensive to other believers and it offends God greatly and He will chasten the unforgiving children that belong to Him. So the servants went to their master (God) and told Him and He was angry.  God is holy and is always angry at sin. Even if it is one of his children.  So He calls the wicked servant before him and hands over to the torturers.  Notice these are not executioners as the servant-believer must be chastened and disciplined.

     COMMENTARY

          Let's read verse 35 again, it’s a very important verse:" So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." If we do not forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ we also will be disciplined.  We must keep forgiveness in our hearts at all times, so as not to anger our heavenly Father.   

Parable of the Prodigal Son

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Luke15:11-32

          11 then He said, "A certain man had two sons.  12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father gives me the portion of goods that falls to me. 'So he divided to them his livelihood.  13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.  14 But when he had spent all, there arose a famine in that land and he began to be in want. 15 to a citizen of that country, and he sent him to feed swine, 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.  But when he came to himself, he said' How many of my fathers hired servants have bread

enough to spare, and I perish with hunger!  18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him," Father I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer

before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants.'"  20 And he arose and came to his father.  But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and

21 And the son said to him, 'Father I have sinned against heaven and in your

sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son,' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.  23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;  24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  And they began to be merry.  25 "Now his older son was in the field.  And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'  28 But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded wit him.  29 So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends.  30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him,' 31 "And he said to him, 'Son you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found."

EXPLANATION

          The parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the most loved parables. It begins with a certain man who had two sons.  His youngest son wanted his inheritance while his father gathered all together and left his father and brother and journeyed into a far off land and into a life of iniquity, sexual possessions with prodigal living." He wasted all his possession with Prodigal living is not merely wasteful extravagance but also sexual immorality.   With no money he was force take a job feeding swine which was so

degrading for a Jew to touch unclean animals.  He was so hungry that he thought he would eat the pods that were for the swine but they were not for human consumption.

          Then it finally came to him in, the mire of the disgusting swine, broke, and starving he was now ready to repent.  In verses 18 and 19 he says 'I will arise and go to my father and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son, Make me like one of your hired servants.” So he got up and went back to his father, who saw him from a distance and had compassion and ran out to greet him.  He fell on his neck and kissed him, but before he

could get the rehearsed statement out," Father I sinned against heaven and am no longer worthy to called your son"  his father ad already told his servants to bring him the best robe and put it on him and get him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. He also

told his servants to kill the fatted calf and to eat and be merry.  And he said in verse 24 "for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and now he is found. And they began to me you.

          This is an analogy of how a lost sinner or backslidden Christian returns to God.  He will be ready to forgive them and run out to meet them.  And the Bible tells us to there is no greater merriment in heaven then when a sinner repents and gives his life and his heart to our Lord Jesus Christ.

          But now the older brother returned from working in the fields and heard the music and a servant told him his brother had come home but he refused to join the party.  So his father had to go plead with him. Hi older son said to him, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots; you killed the fatted calf for him,"

          While he should have joined in his father joy he shows utter contempt for his father instead. His statement of "never transgressed your commandment" shows of religious hypocrisy.  The kind of comment a self righteous comment a Pharisee would make.

          In verses 31 and 32 his father answers him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  It was right that we should make merry and glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." But nothing could make his eldest son join in his joy.

APPLICATION

          The parable of the prodigal son shows us the abounding forgiveness and grace God has for us.  The Father represents God in the parable.  When the prodigal son came back with a repentant heart God was there to meet him and show him grace and forgiveness. No questions asked just forgiveness and grace given.  Are you a prodigal son a lost sinner or backslidden Christian God is ready to meet you right now. Just repent as the prodigal son did and take Jesus Christ into your hear as Lord and Savior.