love in action

Speaking the truth to someone often doesn't feel good. The Holy Spirits work of conviction hurts. Pride is subtle and will cause a person to immediately question the sincerity of the truth. Love comes into question.

However, the Bible clearly teaches that letting someone go on with out truth or correction is a lack of love.

Look at what Hebrews says about God regarding discipline and love:

Hebrews 12:6-8

"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?:

'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.'

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons."

The Bible not only says that sparing discipline is a lack of love, but it calls it "hatred":

Proverbs 13:24

"He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently."


"The great mark of a believer is love for one another as God’s children. Love always necessitates discipline. If genuine love is to be manifested in the local church, biblical discipline must be practiced.

It is not an act of love when discipline is avoided. It is not an act of love if the local church does not practice biblical discipline. It is selfish and unfaithful to let a person continue sinning unchastened. Intervention can perhaps prevent the ultimate discipline.

The process sounds hard and cruel, but it is true Christian love. A believer cannot grow and mature if he persists in sin. God’s goal in discipline is always to bring about maturity in Him."

-Gil Rugh

It's like if your friend had dirt on their face - if you cared about them you would tell them. If you didn't want to offend them, so you remained silent about it, it wouldn't be considered noble or loving.

Speaking truth in someone's life is love. Without the speaking of truth, there is no love. Without love there is no truth. It goes hand in hand. So don't stay quiet. Let it be known.

Get Your Cyborg Name

What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?

The following quote was taken from "Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry." It serves as a startling and sober reminder that men of God are not here for our own agenda but for the service of the Lord.

"To keep the gospel unadulterated and unchanged and undiluted is very hard. While the word faithful may seem old-fashioned and weak, like the Bible word meek, it is not. It is required of men entrusted with the sacred charge that they prove faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

Christian pastors want "faithful" written on their tombstone, not "innovative," not "creative," not "he pushed the envelope." Those terms are left for the biographies of the liberals, the heretics and the heterodox. Biblical shepherds want to hear our Lord say on Judgment Day, 'Well done, good and faithful servant!'"

Get Your Cyborg Name

look.

"When Jesus was traveling to Samaria, He met a woman getting water. She told the people in her town about Jesus. As the people from the town came out to meet him, He said to the disciples," :

"Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages, and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." (John 4:35-38)

"The disciples were reaping the results of other people’s labor. Those people did not see all the result of their labor, but their efforts still bore fruit.

William Carey spent thirty-five years in India before he saw one convert. Some people think he led a fruitless life. But almost every convert in India to this day is fruit on his branch, because he translated the whole New Testament into many different Indian dialects. He was not the one to reap directly what he had sown, but his life’s legacy bore much fruit.

One of the most fulfilling experiences in life is to bear fruit for God. If it isn’t happening in your life, the reason is simple—you are not abiding in the Vine."

-John MacArthur

harvest time.

Matthew 9:36-38:

"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.'"

The greatest is love...

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak with the tongues of men and angles, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

In the church at Corinth spiritual gifts were present and right doctrine was even in place, however there was a massive void of love. This absence of love resulted in arguments, selfishness, and pride.

Instead of desiring love for one another they desired “showy” spiritual gifts. Instead of love they desired knowledge and wisdom that led to selfishness and pride.

1 Corinthians 13:1 Tongues of Men and Angels

No matter how linguistically gifted one is, no matter how amazing one speaks his own language or how capable he is to speak a foreign language, if he does not love it is noise only. Even if a man can speak with angelic tongue, if he does not have love he is just noise resounding.

1 Corinthians 1:2 Know all mystery and all knowledge and all Faith

If a man has all knowledge, all wisdom, and all discernment but fails to love he has missed the most important thing. What good is it to know all doctrine, all theology if you are prideful? What good is it to know the word of God and not love? To know truth and not love is useless. If you have truth but do not love you are of no use to the kingdom of God.

If you have all the faith in the world, enough to move and remove mountains but you do not love, your faith means nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:3 Burned

A man could give up his life, and it profit him nothing if he does not love. We could give up our lives, but if we do not love it helps us not.

You can speak all languages in order to spread the fame of God’s name, but if you do not love you are like a gong, which pagans rang when worshipping false gods.

You can have all knowledge, all wisdom, all discernment, but if you do not love all your words are as empty noise.

You can have all faith, enough to remove mountains, but if you do not love you are of no use to the kingdom of God. You can lay your life down for Christ, but if you do not love, your life is lost for not.

Three things should exist within the fellowship of Christ, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest is love.

Lets not be like the Corinthians and gain knowledge, wisdom, faith, and forget the things that ties all these together, love. Lets not be puffed of with pride, but let us be filled with love for almighty God, and for each other.

Exegetical Fallacies #1

I don't know about you, but I like it when things make sense logically. Example: All mortals age. I am mortal. Therefore, I age. These types of logical reasoning are often referred to as "syllogisms". There is a premise (All mortals age). There is a minor premise (I am mortal). And there is a conclusion (I age). Unfortunately, our corrupt minds are not infallible and can often come to faulty conclusions.

In his book Exegetical Fallacies, D.A. Carson shares how Philip B. Payne makes this error when examining 1 Timothy 3:11 and Acts 6:1-6. And while Payne did not state his position in syllogistic fashion, others have chosen to state Payne's position in a such fashion to help clarify position and difference. D.A. Carson states:

Payne suggests that becuase 1 Timothy 3:11 refers to female deacons, and two of the men chose as deacons in Acts 6:1-6 speak publicly and baptize converts, "presumably these activity could be part of the role of women deacons." Of course, Payne does not set forth his suggestios as a syllogism. Nevertheless, the inference he draws could be recast as a syllogism:

The seven men appointed in Acts 6:1-6 were deacons (the unstated premise). Some of the men mentioned in Acts 6:1-6 spoke publicly and baptized. Therefore all deacons, including women, could presumably speak publicly and baptize.

Even if we grant the exegetical debatable points (e.g., that the seven men in Acts 6:1-6 were deacons), the argument as here ste for is inadequate--whatever we conclude about the right or otherwise of women to speak publicly and baptize. It is inadequate because it illegitimately presupposes that in the minor premise the two men from the group of seven in Acts 6:1-6 speak publicly and baptize by virtue of their role as deacons.

In the New Testament, arguably teaching is irretriveably bound up within the role of the elder/pastor/bishop; it is far from clear that it is bound up with the role of the deacon. That others than elders taught in various settings is certain; but the fact that some deacons did so is not itself warrant for supposing that any deacon was authorized to do so simply because he or she was a deacon.

D.A. Carson goes on to give a clear example of this mistake.

All true Christians learn to love their enemies.
Mary Jo loves her enemies.
Therefore, Mary Jo is a Christian.

A "not necessarily" sort of thought should have popped up into our heads when that last stament was made. This is the same mistake that some have made with other passages in scripture.

Perhaps you've seen the same fallacious syllogism made by others. One area in which I've seen that happen is in the area of good works and deeds. It is true that Christians are to love others. It is true that Christians should care for the poor. But is it true that anyone who lives this way is a Christian? Is one a Christian/saved simply because one lives in "the way of Christ"--as some have put it? Some argue that this is so.

I have read some blogs in which the Christian author clearly makes this mistake. The argument goes like this: "Will God send an atheist to hell? Suppose this atheist feeds the poor, reaches out to the sick, loves his enemies and lives in the way of Christ, but does not believe in Christ or believe in God? Isn't their life demonstrating the same things that us repentant Christians demonstrate? Therefore they must be one of God's own." To put it in a syllogism:

1. (Premise) Those that are saved live in the way of Christ.

2. (Minor Premise) A particular atheist lives in the way of Christ.

3. (Conclusion) Therefore, this atheist is saved (even if they deny God and do not believe in Christ).

The Bible clearly shows the above syllogism to be false. A man is not saved simply by doing good works and being a good person or even imitating the morality of Christ. One is saved by repenting and trusting in the saving work of Jesus Christ which makes necessary a belief in God. Only then can one be put into a right standing and intimate relationship with God. Thus one has a proper motive for serving God and doing good works that glorify God.

Much more could be said on current fallacious syllogisms being made in Christendom, but I'll leave it at that. Hey, I may have even unknowingly made one in this post because...

All people make mistakes...

I am a "people"...

Therefore, I make mistakes.

the american church

It seems that the american church is easily blinded to the task at hand.
there are over 6,000 people groups in the world that have absolutely no access to the gospel whatsoever.
they do not have the gospel translated into their language.

yet

Revelation 5:9 says that there will be worshipers in heaven "from every tribe and language and people and nation".

and

Jesus said in matthew 24:14

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

and Paul declares what the strategy for this very task that is remaining is in romans 15:20-21

"and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."

then why is only .0001% going to the mission field. and why is only 4% of the .0001% going to the unreached?

there is a task remaining.

His fame, His name worshipped in every tribe, toungue, people, nation.