To judge or not to judge

Matthew 7:1 - 6 (NKJV) 1“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

John MacArthur’s New Testament Commentary is quoted below as He did a great job explaining what I was trying to say:

“It should be noted that this passage has erroneously been used to suggest that believers should never evaluate or criticize anyone for anything. Our day hates absolutes, especially theological and moral absolutes, and such simplistic interpretation provides a convenient escape from confrontation. Members of modern society including many professing Christians, tend to resist dogmatism and strong convictions about right and wrong. Many people prefer to speak of all-inclusive love, compromise, ecumenism, and unity. To the modern religious person those are the only “doctrines” worth defending, and they are the doctrines to which every conflicting doctrine must be sacrificed.”

“Right doctrine not only is compatible with true holiness, unity, and fellowship but is absolutely necessary for them to exist. Only right doctrine, biblical doctrine, can teach us what true holiness, unity, and fellowship are—and are not.
In many circles, including some evangelical circles, those who hold to strong convictions and who speak up and confront society and the church are branded as violators of this command not to judge, and are seen as troublemakers or, at best, as controversial. Yet at no time in the history of the church, or of ancient Israel, was spiritual and moral reformation achieved apart from confrontation and conflict. God’s prophets have always been bold and controversial. And they have always been resisted, often by God’s own people.”

“…Nor does this or any other part of Scripture teach that we are never to evaluate, criticize, or condemn the actions or teachings of another person.
The entire thrust of the Sermon on the Mount is to show the complete distinction between true religion and false religion, between spiritual truth and spiritual hypocrisy. Jesus places God’s perfect and holy standards beside the unholy and self-righteous standards of the scribes and Pharisees and declares that those who follow those unholy and self-righteous standards have no part in God’s kingdom (5:20). No more controversial or judgmental sermon has ever been preached.
If this greatest sermon by our Lord teaches anything, it teaches that His followers are to be discerning and perceptive in what they believe and in what they do, that they must make every effort to judge between truth and falsehood, between the internal and the external, between reality and sham, between true righteousness and false righteousness—in short, between God’s way and all other ways.
A few verses later Jesus warns, “Beware of the false prophets” (Matt. 7:15). In other words, we are to judge who speaks for God and who does not. Jesus tells us to confront a sinning brother privately with his sin and, if he will not repent, to take one or two others with us to speak to him, and if that does not cause him to change, to bring him before the entire church. If he still does not repent, he is to be put out of the church and regarded “as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer” (Matt. 18:15-17).
Paul tells believers, “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting” (Rom. 16:17-18). He also instructs saints not even “to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one” (1 Cor. 5:11). Obviously such commands demand that we employ a certain kind of judgment before we can obey.
Every message we hear is to be judged for the soundness of its doctrine. Paul told the Galatians, “But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). John says, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds” (2 John 10-11).
Not to rebuke sin is a form of hatred, not love. “You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor” (Lev. 19:17). Refusing to warn a person about his sin is just as unloving as refusing to warn him about a serious disease he may have. A person who does not warn a friend about his sin cannot claim love as his motive (see Matt. 18:15). The author of Hebrews calls for a level of spiritual maturity wherein Christians “because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (5:14).
But Jesus is here talking about the self-righteous, egotistical judgment and unmerciful condemnation of others practiced by the scribes and Pharisees. Their primary concern was not to help others from sin to holiness, but to condemn them to eternal judgment because of actions and attitudes that did not square with their own worldly, self-made traditions.”

So my wrap up on this is… We are called to not be judgmental, look down upon, or ever think that we are better than someone else. That is not the same as judging between, good and evil, discerning between darkness and light. We cannot excuse sin, we must as Eph 5 says: “find out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” – This doctrine of not judging is a very dangerous one to the Church of Jesus Christ and is already being used to allow homosexuality and other sinful behavior in the Church. We as the saying goes must “hate the sin and love the sinner” ~ I know that is a cute little saying but it is the truth… It doesn’t matter what someone is doing, or not doing, they are still to be loved, that doesn’t mean that we just excuse the behavior but real love confronts and helps the person see and move from their sin.

In that we must take heed lest we fall, I have no room to throw stones….

Some More.....

Well, we thought we would be home late tonight...not - flight cancelled - this time we ended up stranded in Orlando - could be worse...
As I process more of the revival I think that God is doing many things but the top 3 are (from my view point)

1) Healing people to point them to Christ
2) Enabling the saints for the work of the ministry - "You can do it!"
3) Confronting religion and the traditions of man.

The Gospel is being preached - the saints are being released and the Glory of God is evident.

His,

P Mike

more!!!

It's 1:10 am and just getting back from the revival meeting! We both are dripping with oil as we got prayed for with the other 8-9,000 people!

As Jesus told John's disciples - “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

more later today....

More on Lakeland

Saturday night we arrived at the tent at 4:30 (the meeting starts at 7) there were already about 200 people in line.... We did get great seats and were in the midst of awesome praise and worship that lasted until 9:15! The presence of God was rich! The message from Jeff Garvin was soooo encouraging! It seems that one of the themes is tearing down religon! I saw one t-shirt that said 0% religion - 100% Jesus! Jeff's testimony of his wife's tubel pregancy in which she was told she needed a DNC because the baby had died and she was in danger. He prayed over his wife and the next ultra sound showed a live baby in her womb! No longer a tubel pregancy but a normal one with a live baby - he then introduced his 24 year old daughter who was dead!!!! Wow!

Sunday morning we attended Ignited Church... 1 st thing we noticed is that if you are not early you park at Walmart and walk about 1/4 mile.... then you end up in the "overflow" room.... The power and presence of God was tanglible in that place as well! We received prayer from Pastor Strader and knew that God was touching and imparting!

Sunday night.... again we arrived early! Worship was soooo sweet! During worship I entered into that "sweet spot" of intimacy with my Father! He spoke some encouraging things to me and some challanging things to me... The worshp leader, Roy Fields spoke... Wow! annoited to praise and worship and speak! Again the testimonies of his personal life were so powerful and again it was about being REAL not religious!

All for now!

Revival in Lakeland

1st observation - We already have revival in Jericho - smaller scale (so far) but never the less we are experiencing God in a similar way.... We have not seen the healings and resurrections the way that is happening here but ~ it is only a matter of time and hunger. Are we hungry enough for God? Not just to see signs and wonders but to know HIM in a deeper way - not looking for His hand but His face?

2nd observation - so far I heard teaching that started with repentence! The message of Salvation - loud and clear! I also understand that this is not a church and Todd Bently has not been charged with overseeing the souls that are in this meeting. That is huge! In a meeting like this it seems like "anything goes" - I don't think that is completely true but to a casual observer it may seem that way. The thing to remember is that Todd is not these people's pastor nor is he supposed to be. Correction comes from the authority that God has placed in your life - not an evanglist that you don't know....

Today (Saturday) we attended the morning session - powerful teaching! The message was:"7 keys to transformation in you city."

I only got 6 ----

1) Know your sphere of field of ministry -
2) In your sphere of ministry do NOT be seeker sensitive but be presence sensitive. Don't just do signs and wonders but be a sign and a wonder.
3) The fear of the Lord must return to the Church - You come to the place that you love Him so much that you don't want to grieve Him.
4) Demonstration of God's power through signs and wonders - "if it's in the Bible it's available to you"
5) Create a structure that can maintain and facilitate multiplication - Don't be small minded, raise up leaders!
6) Enlarge your secret place - you start in your "closet" but your secret place must grow so that wherever you are you are in your secret place!

Declare the Church a "sick free zone..." much depth into this beginning with 1 Cor 11:28 -

"When there is REAL unity in the Church there will not be any sickness in the Church..."

All for now....

To get some...

The first day of our trip to "get some" came with a gift from Papa God... our first flight was cancelled.... a test. so.... by cancelling our first flight we arrived in Orlando about 5 hours sooner then expected! Sooner? how can that be when our flight was cancelled? God is good! More to come....

David and Goliath

As I read this morning about David and Goliath I noticed something that I had never seen before... (how many times have I read or heard this story???) David asked the question, "what's in it for me?" What does the man who kills this giant receive? Now I know it's not about me, it's not about what I want or desire. But could it be OK to desire a greater glory in Christ? Is it OK to ask the question, "what's in it for me?" I don't know.... I do know that in 1 Tim. 3 Paul tells Timothy that "If a man desires the postion of a bishop, he desires a good work." David never took credit for what happened to Goliath but it did open up the pathway to his destiny.... So maybe there is a giant or two that I (or you) need to kill, receive whatever the reward is, and take the road to fulfilling our destiny.