What is hyper-grace?" – in the Bible #4

On February 1, 2014, the message was about how to determine if a church is teaching the relatively newly dubbed “Hyper-Grace”. There were at least 8 identifiers. I have already covered #1-2.

The following are signs of a hyper-grace church:

1. The preachers never speak against sin.

2. The lead pastor never takes a cultural stand for righteousness.

3. The Old Testament is almost totally ignored.

4. People who live immoral lives are allowed to teach and lead ministries.

One pastor was telling me that sexual immorality and drunkenness is rampant in many evangelical churches—even amongst small group leaders and other leaders in local churches! This is because there is very little accountability.

1 Corinthians 5:

·         1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's wife!

·         2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

·         3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

·         4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

·         5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

·         6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

·         7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

·         8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

·         9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

·         10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

·         11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person.

o   If we are not to even associate with them, how can they possibly be accepted as leaders in the church?

·          

·         13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."

1 Timothy 3:

·         1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

·         2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;

·         3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;

·         4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence

·         5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);

·         6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

o   The leader cannot be a drunkard

·         7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

·         8 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,

·         9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

·         10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.

·         11 Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

·         12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

·         13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

·         14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly;

·         15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

·         16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

I’m sure I can add many more passages of scripture, but these will sufficiently cover the points.

"What is hyper-grace?" – in the Bible #3

On February 1, 2014, the message was about how to determine if a church is teaching the relatively newly dubbed “Hyper-Grace”. There were at least 8 identifiers. I have already covered #1-2.

The following are signs of a hyper-grace church:
1. The preachers never speak against sin.
2. The lead pastor never takes a cultural stand for righteousness.

3. The Old Testament is almost totally ignored.

In these churches, the Old Testament is treated as only types and shadows for sermon illustrations but has no real value regarding our standard of living today. As I show in this article, my position is that the New Testament and Old Testament are organically connected, with the New building upon the Old, not eradicating it altogether!

Matthew 5:
• 17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
o Jesus says directly that He did not do away with the Old Testament teachings
• 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
• 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
o He stressed that we are to keep the commandments

Acts 8:
• 26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert.
• 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
• 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
o He was reading the Old Testament – all they had at the time
• 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."
• 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
• 31 And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
• 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
• 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth."
• 34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?"
• 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.
o Philip taught Jesus from the Old Testament
• 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?"
• 37 Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
• 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
• 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
o All he knew was OT, and that was enough for him to be baptized

Daniel 7:
• 1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
• 2 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
• 3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.
• 4 "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
• 5 "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!'
• 6 "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
o Compare these 4 beasts to Revelation
• 7 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
• 8 "I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.
• 9 "I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire;
• 10 A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened.
o The books were opened – compare Revelation 20
• 11 "I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
• 12 "As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
• 13 "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
• 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
• 23 "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces.
• 24 The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings.
• 25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.
• 26 'But the court shall be seated, And they shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever.
• 27 Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.'
•
• 28 "This is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly troubled me, and my countenance changed; but I kept the matter in my heart."

Daniel 12:
• 8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, "My lord, what shall be the end of these things?"
• 9 And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
o Daniel was told many things he was not allowed to write down
• 10 "Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
• 11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.
• 12 "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.
• 13 "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."

Matthew 24:
• 5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
o There is MUCH deception today in every facet of life
• 6 "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
• 7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
• 8 "All these are the beginning of sorrows.
o The wars are just the beginning
• 9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
• 10 "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
• 11 "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
• 12 "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
o Lawlessness = living without regard to Good’s law
• 13 "But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
• 14 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
• 15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand),
o Daniel 12.11
• 16 "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
o Geographical reference – big trouble in Jerusalem
• 17 "Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
• 18 "And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
• 19 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
• 20 "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
• 21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
• 22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
• 23 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.
•
• 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
• 30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
• 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
•
• 35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
• 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
• 37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
• 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
• 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Revelation 4-19 contains the same messages as in Daniel and Matthew. Compare them carefully to see if the Old Testament is irrelevant.

Hyper-Grace in the Bible #2

On February 1, 2014, the message was about how to determine if a church is teaching the relatively newly dubbed “Hyper-Grace”. There were at least 8 identifiers. I have already covered #1.

The following are signs of a hyper-grace church:
1. The preachers never speak against sin.

2. The lead pastor never takes a cultural stand for righteousness.

When issues like abortion come up, these pastors will shy away from mentioning it because they are afraid of offending new people. I can understand this to a point. But I counter that we as ministers of Christ are obligated to at least mention our positions publicly so that we use it as a teaching moment for the sheep following us. Not saying anything about an issue like abortion is another way of condoning it!

Exodus 18:
• 20 "And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.
o Leaders, elders and parents are directed to teach all of the laws/standards of God.

Deuteronomy 6:
• 1 "Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess,
• 2 "that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
• 3 "Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you-'a land flowing with milk and honey.'
• 4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
• 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
• 6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
• 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
o All of the Torah (teaching) must be taught – not just parts of it
o We are charged to learn it all – have it in our hearts – so it becomes a part of who we are and how we live.

Judges 13:
• 1 Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
• 2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.
• 3 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.
o The child, before being conceived, was known to be a boy
• 4 "Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.
• 5 "For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."
o It was known before he was conceived that he was to be a Nazarite, with long hair, and will deliver Israel from the Philistines
• 6 So the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.
• 7 "And He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'"
o His parents did not know his name, but were told what to name him
• 8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, "O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born."
• 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.
• 10 Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, "Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!"
• 11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, "Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?" And He said, "I am."
• 12 Manoah said, "Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy's rule of life, and his work?"
• 13 So the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.
• 14 "She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe."
• 15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You."
• 16 And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD." (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the LORD.)
• 17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?"
• 18 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?"
• 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on-
• 20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar-the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.
• 21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.
• 22 And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!"
• 23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time."
• 24 So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
o His name was Samson
• 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Luke 17:
• 1 Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!
o God’s word will offend many
• 2 "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
o But we need to try to not offend.
• 3 "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
o We need to correct with humility in an attempt to not offend.

Ezekiel 34:
• 1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
• 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
• 3 "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.
• 4 "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.
• 5 "So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
• 6 "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."
• 7 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
• 8 "as I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock" -
• 9 'therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!
o The church leaders do favor to no one by not teaching the whole truth of God

Hyper-Grace

Two weeks ago, we did a bit of a study rather than a real message, though there was a message in it. We had been asked a question about Hyper-Grace and made an effort to give some surface answers. Since most of us had not heard of it, I presented a composite of answers.

Today, turn with me to see what is in the Bible.

Isaiah 30:

·         1 "Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD, "Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin;

·         2 Who walk to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My advice, To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

o   This may have been directed at the Israelites, but it certainly applies today

o   People ask advice from everyone except God

o   Isaiah 31:

§  1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the LORD!

·          

·         8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever:

·         9 That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the LORD;

o   Deuteronomy 32:

§  20 And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith.

o   We have taken the Bible out of schools and parents don’t know the Bible well because it was gone when they were in school

·         10 Who say to the seers, "Do not see," And to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.

o   Churches today have gone from theology to therapy in the pulpits.

o   In the past decade, we went from therapy to motivational speaking instead of preaching.

o   I was not able to find any teachers/preachers of this trend that I have ever heard.

o   While he doesn’t overtly use the term, the closest I found was Joel Osteen. Many of his comments and teachings fit this view. And I found writers accusing him of such.

o   Isaiah 5:

§  20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

o   Amos 2:

§  12 "But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, And commanded the prophets saying, 'Do not prophesy!'

o   Jeremiah 6:

§  14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.

o   Isn’t that the way of these motivational speakers who talk about peace with one another without preaching the Bible?

o   Jeremiah 23:

§  17 They continually say to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You shall have peace"'; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.'"

§   

§  25 "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!'

§   26 "How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,

o   How often have you heard it said, “Just follow your conscience and you will be ok.”

o   I know several well-intentioned people who think this way

o   They believe if they do good and follow their conscience, God will take care of them

o   Romans 16:

§  18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

o   2 Timothy 4:

§  3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

§   4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

o   We are living in that “time will come”, and the Hyper-Grace teaching is evidence of how deep we are into this prophecy

·         11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us."

·         12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: "Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them,

o   What word do they despise? The Law, of course!

Ezekiel 34:

·         1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

·         2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

o   Zechariah 11:

§  16 "For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.

§  17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd, Who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm And against his right eye; His arm shall completely wither, And his right eye shall be totally blinded."

·         3 "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.

o   We have all seen churches where the leaders were living in opulence from the tithes and offerings and NOT teaching the true Word of God

·         4 "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.

·         5 "So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

o   And when people find out they are being disillusioned, they leave – sometime to other churches and sometimes they drop out altogether.

·         6 "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."

·         7 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

·         8 "as I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock" -

Forgiveness vs. Consequences

Forgiveness is one thing. Avoiding the consequences of your actions is another thing altogether.

I think this is one of the many things that it takes many years to understand, and many never learn it.

Getting Ready

Well, actually, I am mostly prepared for the Sabbath. Bulletins, Prayer Lists and Announcements are done. Message is prepared. I may tweak it, but it is ready to go. Just rest up now

February 15

Mark your calendars. Ian Hufton will be our guest speaker. His wife, Thalia, plans to be here as well, so we have planned a pot luck following services.