Do you have friends like Jonadab?

What kind of people do you allow to influence you? The people that usually have the most influence on us are our friends. King David's son, Amnon, had a friend named Jonadab. The bible describes Jonadab as crafty. As most of you know, the story goes like this (in my own words) (2 Samuel 13): Amnon (David's son) had a severe crush on his sister, Tamar, and he was really stressed out over this temptation, because he knew it would be improper to do anything unto her.

-So Amnon knew that it wouldn't be right to do anything to his sister....and so he didn't plan on doing anything. -

Jonadab noticed that Amnon was stressed and getting skinny because of it. Amnon revealed to Jonadab his situation when Jonadab asked why he was stressed/skinny. Jonadab suggested that Amnon pretend to be sick and request that Tamar take care of him and make him food. From there, he could have his way with her. Amnon did just that. When Tamar came, he ordered everyone else attending to him to leave. He begged Tamar to lie with him and when she refused, he forced her.

-Friends that support sin don't have our best interests in mind, and therefore, don't really care like friends should.-

I wonder if Amnon would have done this without the influence of Jonadab. Would Amnon have just ignored his feelings and moved on with life? I think it would have been much easier for him to forget about it and overcome the temptation if he didn't have a friend supporting his sin. Do you have any friends like Jonadab? Friends that encourage, participate in, overlook, support, or tolerate sin should not be in the constant company of a faithful Christian. (which is one reason why I believe it's a terrible idea for Christians to marry outside of the Lord's body) 

You have the power to choose your friends! Yes, we should be acquainted with non-Christians so we can lead them to Christ, but the main company we keep should be FAITHFUL Christians. We need to stop looking for loop holes and start denying ourselves (what we want) for Christ. I understand that switching your primary friendships from non-Christians to faithful Christians is not easy. It will take a while. Here are some suggestions for making those changes.

1. Instead of simply denying those friends company, it's easier to occupy your time with church friends, church activities, bible study, etc. It is easier to hang out with those people less when you are too busy being lifted up by your church family and growing stronger in the Lord!!

2. Let your friends know where you will/will not go with them. Explain that you cannot be seen at places like bars, clubs, or parties. Also explain what you cannot let them participate in while you are with them (smoking, drinking, cussing, vulgar entertainment, etc.) Your friends need to know where you stand. This can result in you leading them to Christ by your wonderful example or losing their friendship. If they are not understanding about your requests, they aren't real friends anyway.

3. Talk with your friends about Christianity and the church. They need to know what the bible says and you need to show it to them. If your excuse to hang out with these people has something to do with "leading them to Christ" and you aren't constantly discussing biblical things and requesting bible studies with them, then how are you to lead them to Christ, eh?

Having members of the church as your best friends is a wonderful blessing!! Soon, you won't even want to be anywhere else!!

“The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray” (Prov. 12:26).

(In the words of Kevin Pendergrass): In the long run, if you remain faithful, you will not have to withdraw your companionship to those in the world because the world will eventually withdraw from you (Jn. 3:19-21; Mt. 5:16; Jn. 15:19).

1 Corinthians 15:33 

"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners."

Make sure not to forget the "BE NOT DECEIVED" part! Do NOT think that YOU are the exception!! You WILL be influenced by what you are around. The influence others have on us can, many times, be hard to see for ourselves. By the time we realize it, it's gone so far that we experience extreme heart break because of it. Make sure you are being influenced to be a better Christian. We should never go backwards or stay the same in our Christian walks. If you're not growing, something needs to change.

True friends are the people that will do anything to try and take you to Heaven with them. Don't have friends like this? Well, then you need to find better friends.

As always, I love you all very much, my family.

Some awesome friends that have made me a better Christian through college. I'm so thankful for them and miss them so much!

                Some of my new friends at MSOP. I love them. They have helped me grow as a Christian so much already! I've only been here for a couple months and I know I'm going to miss them like crazy after we leave!

prove all things!

(1 Thessalonians 5:21 says "Prove all things")

In 1 Kings 13, a prophet of God was sent to warn Jeroboam of things to come (a child would be born of his lineage that would burn the bones of men on the altar)

Jeroboam didn't like the sayings of this prophet, so he stretched out his hand to lay hold on him....and his hand "dried up" or disappeared. Jeroboam told the prophet to pray to God that his hand will be restored. His hand came back, and to thank the prophet, Jeroboam asked for him to come home with him for a reward. The man of God said he couldn't because God said not to. Skipping ahead a little, some men that witnessed this told their father (an old prophet from back home) and that prophet went to find the man of God. When he found him, he asked for him to come back and eat with him. The man refused an told him why. Then the old prophet said in verse 18 "I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord saying, 'Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water'" ...this was a lie.

The old prophet had good intentions, I'm sure, of rewarding the prophet of Judah for what he had done.

The man of God believed the old prophet, went with him...and later was attacked and devoured by a lion because of his disobedience. (v.24)

So many problems in the religious world today are caused by good intentions. There are way more false teachers out there than ones that teach the truth.

Most false teachers don't even realize that they are! It's because they trusted that their parents, preachers, teachers, etc. were teaching them the truth...or trusted that beliefs they've grown up with can't possibly be wrong because it's what they've known their whole life. 

How do you know if someone is a false teacher? 

Read your bible. Test everything that they teach. If it contradicts the word of God, then it's wrong. Sure, most of them have a verse or two to back up what they're saying....but they use those verses out of context. When comparing those verses to the rest of the bible, one can see that the verses they use are not in the context that they try to put it in.

Your parents, preachers, bible teachers, etc. may not intentionally lie to you, (in fact, I'm confident most believe they are speaking the truth)...but there cannot be two or more contradicting "truths" and they both be true. The door cannot be opened and closed at the same time.

This brings me to another point, God would not give contradicting instructions to people. The bible is consistent. The bible even tells us that there is ONLY ONE TRUTH and ONLY ONE WAY. (John 14:6, Ephesians 4:5...one faith, one Lord, one baptism). This is just one reason that we know that prophets and apostles do not exist in our modern world.

God gave us ALL we needed to know in the bible ( 2 Peter 1:3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Once the bible was completed, God became silent. He now speaks to us only through His words in the bible. If you are not reading the bible, then God is in no way speaking to you.

We MUST read our bibles for OURSELVES to make sure we are on the path to Heaven. 

It hurts to find out that you've been taught wrong or that your friends and family believe false teaching....but are you going to sacrifice your soul to Hell for eternity just because you don't want to change? Look at what's at stake.

Weigh your options...trust that what my preacher/parents say is true and not study the bible for myself and LOSE MY SOUL FOREVER....or forsake the false teachings of my church, family, friends, etc. in order to spend eternity in Heaven with God....

There is a church that is consistent with God's word...and that's the church that Christ established himself in Acts 2. It is commonly known as the Lord's church, the church that belongs to Christ, Christ's church...or the name you've probably heard ...the "church of Christ" (Romans 16:16)

2 Timothy 2:15 "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."...from this verse we can see that not studying and knowing scripture should make us ASHAMED.

Hope my rambling makes sense and most importantly, is consistent with God's word.

Please study the bible.

I love you all! 

Evangelism Help!

I know made a specific promise for my next post, but that will have to wait until later. This is currently on my mind so I figured I could post this first :)

Most of my evangelizing has been tackling the problems at hand in conversations in person or on the internet. We’ll post statuses on facebook about baptism, spiritual gifts, etcetera and then respond to whatever people say about it. Although it’s important to talk about these things when evangelizing (they are necessary), I’m starting to think that I should ask for bible studies with those people before I answer to what they said about “deeper” subjects. Of course, I’m not saying it’s wrong to tackle what they say immediately, but I think it would be more effective if we started from the beginning. I’m starting to discover that people will not change their views on a lot of things because they don’t have the proper foundation for their belief. Most problems can be solved when one understands the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. If everyone believed the truth on that subject, think of how many problems might be eliminated! There is not just one way to evangelize, but I think there are techniques that are more effective than others, depending on the situation and the person. Generally, there is an order for things to discuss and understand before attempting to move over higher hurdles. I hope this list will help you all in evangelizing and being more effective in converting souls to Christ.

           

1.     (sometimes the first step will need to be proving God exists and/or that the bible is His inspired, inerrant word by which we are to live. For now, we’ll just assume they believe in God and the bible)

1. Difference between the testaments. They must understand that we are under the new law and why.

2.  The bible is the only authority for religious matters (not parents, preachers, friends, etc.)
(depending on the person, you might need to discuss the spiritual gifts issue at this time)

3.   Part of the plan of salvation: hear, believe, repent, confess

4.   Christ established only one church, all others are false.

5.   Baptism saves us and adds us to Christ’s church (I think it’s important to discuss the church before/during the baptism conversation)

6.   Identifying marks of the church (no mechanical instruments, the name, the organization, etc.)

7.   Alcohol, drugs, gambling

8.   Modesty, attendance, works of the church

9.   Other things

Like I said before, these steps need to be discussed and also understood. We can’t move past baptism if they don’t agree with what the bible says about baptism, for example. This doesn’t HAVE to be the order that we always use, it’s just a personal judgment call, but I think this is a good guideline to go by.

**easy ways to evangelize**

1. Open Bible Study series

You can order these here
I think this is in a book format when ordered from this site, but I’m sure you can email them and ask how to get them in pamphlet form (so you can have multiples of each lesson and have them separate for different studies)

2. Fishers of Men bible study pamphlets

Go to this link and ask for the bible study series.

3. We Care Bible

This is a small bible that starts you at one place and leads you to exactly where you need to go next. Anyone can use this for study.

You need to contact Mark Williams to order this

4. “Business” cards

Just google business cards and you can find blank ones (sometimes even for free) that you can create to hand out to people at the grocery store, with your tip, etc. Write your invitation to your congregation, with contact information, and plan of salvation. Whatever you want to. You can also put that you’re willing to do bible studies with them. This is an easy way to reach out to people that you don’t know.

5. The Church of the Bible by JC Choate

This is a book that has instruction with questions regarding the true church. You can send this to family and friends, give it as a gift, or go through it with someone. Tell them to let you know of any questions or confusion that they have.

This book can be found on several websites. Just google it. You can order a bunch of them for a low price.

I know there are other things out there, so if you have suggestions, please leave a comment. I would appreciate your information!

Here’s the challenge: In order to use these techniques, we have to GET OUT THERE and ASK for studies! Most of the time, people will not come to you and ask you to study with them. We have to initiate! It’s scary, but we must be willing to suffer for Christ. Go make the devil angry!!

Love, Acceptance, Humility

(I ask that you please read this post to the end before you have any ill thoughts towards me or what I have written. Thanks :) )

I have known many people that have obeyed the gospel but have become entangled again in error. Most recently, one of my dear friends that was baptized a few months ago. This person has so much potential to do good things for the kingdom. Smart, hard-working, strong, bold, and caring are all words to describe her. With those kind of adjectives attributed to one person, many great things could happen! Unfortunately, she has left the truth and is now wasting her talents on what she believes to be love.

I'll show you what I mean. We moved to Memphis a couple of months after she became a Christian and I decided to check up on her and see how she was doing. (On a side note, we should be doing this to everyone that obeys the truth. We cannot just teach them the gospel and leave them to fend for themselves when they are just infants in the faith. We need to go out of our ways and out of our comfort zones to help the new Christians grow.) Because she studied with me, and was my friend before she obeyed, I believe I am especially responsible for keeping her encouraged and helping her grow.

Anyway, she left the church for a denominational organization. She said that the church doesn't respect that organization as being a Christian group. I explained to her that it's because they are not Christians. We all know that being religious does not make one a Christian. Everyone has to obey the correct plan of salvation and become a member of the ONE church that Christ established. I explained this to her again (she understood this before she was baptized and we studied for a while about it). She had this to say to me:

"I have trouble accepting what you say now because you denounced _____ as a Christian foundation. The people at _____ are better Christians at times than the people at the church of Christ. _____ does a better job with love and acceptance. I mean how can anyone really get across the point of God without first showing love and acceptance. The people at ____ are also humble."

LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE:

Yes, we should be loving and accepting. Yes, we need to love others to teach them about God...but does "loving" someone mean accepting their sins?

NO.

We absolutely cannot accept someone's sins. Part of salvation is repenting, meaning to turn away from sin and live no longer in them (Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38, Acts 17:30) If someone is still in their sin, they WILL NOT be in Heaven. (Galatians 5:19-21)

If we don't try to lead someone to Heaven, are we really loving them? NO.

We should be loving in leading someone away from their sins and showing them their error, but we cannot let anyone think it's okay to continue in those actions and lifestyles and still get to Heaven. That is completely false. If we do, we are contributing to the condemnation of their soul and ours. 

Would you rather have feelings hurt and get yourself and others to Heaven, or be "accepting" and lead yourself and others to Hell? 

BENEVOLENCE:

This is not mentioned in her above quote, but I know one reason she is involved with other religious groups is for the acts of benevolence for the less fortunate.

"And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled; yet you give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit?" -James 2:16

In the context of this verse, it is talking about faith being dead without works, but I think we can use this verse to illustrate another point. What will it profit if we save children from a war, feed the hungry, take care of the elderly, etc. if we do not show them how to get to Heaven? Do we only care about the temporary, physical body? We need to care more so for their eternal spirit. We need to feed, clothe, and take of care of the spiritual body as well as physical. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be benevolent. That is a work of the church and we need to do those things...but don't put the emphasis where it doesn't belong. You may keep someone from going hungry, but you are still letting them go to Hell because you are not teaching them the truth.

HUMILITY:

Should we, as members of the Lord's one body, be arrogant? No. Should we deny that there is only one truth to avoid looking arrogant? No.

I think what she meant by saying we are less humble than that other religious group is that they accept all teachings and believe it's okay to believe what you want, be a part of the church of your choice, etc. while we believe what the bible teaches about there only being one body, one truth, one way to Heaven. Does the bible teach there is only one way to Heaven through one church and one savior? See for yourself.

"Jesus saith unto him, I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life: NO man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:16

The way, the truth, and the life are singular. It does not say "a way, a truth, a life"

"There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Ephesians 4:4-6

There is one body.

"And God hath put all things under His feet, and hath given Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Ephesians 1:22-23

If the church is his body, and there is one body, then there is one church. It is not arrogant to teach so. Our purpose is not to tell everyone that they are in error, but to show them why they are in error and how to fix it in order to get to Heaven. For more on this subject, watch for my next blog post....or better, go to the new testament and read/study about it- that's where I'll be getting the thoughts for my next post, because I want to only teach what God teaches.

"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:11

We love souls and we want to all go to Heaven together. I love this friend of mine very much. I pray for her and cry when I think of her. She may think that I am arrogant and hateful, but friends that don't tell you when you are wrong are no friends at all.

Here's the challenge: Teach the truth in love, not accepting error but teaching truth to take others with us to Heaven. Don't be afraid to get your feelings hurt, lose friendships, etc. It will happen if we are doing the right thing. Are you willing to suffer for Christ? (Matthew 5:11-12)