|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

-Hot puts all the weight on God, and embraces man's weakness. This is the witness of Jesus He is looking for in the earth. -Cold puts no weight on God. It denies man's weakness and embraces God's irrelevance. It's downfall is also the witness God is looking for. Exodus 9:4“And the LORD will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” ’ ” Lukewarm corrupts the relationship with God. It delusionally thinks it's putting the right amount of weight on God and the right amount on man. It delusionally thinks it is embracing the right amount of man's weakness and the right amount of God's irrelevance (though it is careful to never admit that, for obvious reasons). It is adultery. Jesus would rather you not get married, then to get married and cheat. Lukewarm = spiritual adultery This is confusion. Its witness is worthless. It is the height of selfishness, sin

Hebrews 5:10called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” 11of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Jesus is a High Priest outside of the old covenant. He has an authority that comes down from heaven, not up from people.  The outpouring of the Spirit should take us deeper into something new, not simply stir up something old.  We must progress to perfection. We have to tackle the hard issues regarding authority, order, anointing, faith, hope and love (1 Cor 12-15). The outpouring of the S

Balaam is one of the prime Biblical examples of a false prophet given to the end time church. Balaam thought he had: 1. Good intentions 2. A faithful attitude 3. A right standing with God But, what made Balaam false was a lack of loyalty to what God wanted. Balaam kept asking God to hear what BALAAM wanted to hear ... The thing that would result in his own personal increase: Numbers 22:7So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak. 8And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. 9Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” 10So Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, 11‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and

It is essential to understand the way the Christian life works. It is actually very simple, but it requires continual effort on the part of the believer. It is a yoke and a burden, though light and easy. It satisfies anyone willing to try it. Jesus is the pattern we are to follow. The standard of life He exemplified is the minimum requirement to live with Him. Jesus didn't show us the pinnacle of obedience, and then tell us to expect a lesser expression of it in ourselves. Never. When Jesus spoke of His brethren... His friends... He talked of even GREATER expressions of godliness: John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give

"Jesus coming in the flesh" means Jesus came as a man, lived like all men should live, and showed us the path to life. 1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (2) By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, (3) and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 1   John 2:9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. Anyone who see's Jesus' walk as different than the way His followers should behave denies Jesus came in the flesh. They separate the Shepherd from His sheep. They assert, whether intentionally or not, that Jesus was supernaturally different than they are required to be. This is antichris

Every time Jesus warned His disciples to be ready for His return, the implication was that it was sooner than believed... that life would appear normal... The one exception is the parable of the Bridesmaids where He promises a delay. He doesn't suggest it, He says the Bridegroom will be delayed. The delay produces an assumption that the watcher watched too early, then gives up, then get's run over by the unforseen nature of the return of the Lord. MANY in the Church have way-overdeveloped assumptions about what is required in the return of the Lord. These assumptions disregard the VAST majority of warnings Jesus gave of His own return: 1. like a thief... undetected unless you were actively trying to detect it 2. In the midst of a cultural concern about the cares of this life that ignored obvious signs that judgment was necessary (as in the days of Noah) 3. In the midst of deep division in the church to the point where believers would side with the world against portions of the

False doctrine doesn't come packaged with horns and a pitchfork. False doctrine comes from ignoring the main and plain and fabricating realities that blame other people for our sin. Always. Where the Bible says a lot, you should feel free to say a lot. Where the Bible says a little, it is reflected in followers of Jesus saying a little. Where the Bible says nothing, lovers of truth say nothing. The Bible says literally nothing about alien DNA. Nothing. The Bible says literally nothing about sleep relations with spiritual beings. Nothing. The Bible LITERALLY says "don't call stuff a conspiracy!" Isaiah 8:11-15 The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, (12) "Don't call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don't live in dread of what frightens them. (13) Make the LORD of Heaven's Armies holy in your life. He is the One you should fear. He is the One who should make you tremble. (14) He will keep you safe.

1 Corinthians 15:54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 5 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. Jesus of Nazareth is "The Christ" or the anointed one. There are many anointed ones mentioned in the Bible. Saul was anointed to be king and then walked away from God, the pagan king Cyrus was anointed to assist Israel, David was anointed by God to rule in righteousness. Jesus is specifically THE Christ. His anointing was to overcome sin and death. Sin leads to death. Jesus was, and is, filled with perfect grace,

Dear church, Imagine this: The country"s leadership was making mistakes. The economy was hurting... Everything we worked for and believed in, as God's people, seemed in jeopardy. People were afraid. Imagine that in recent history, there was an attack that pierced our national consciousness. It breached our walls, knocked down our illusion that we were untouchable, but we had recovered. We had vowed "never again" rather than repent of our pride. Then, imagine it, a large national threat on our borders... A large army. We cried out "God save us." Yes, we had been distracted, materialistic, unfaithful to our spouses, our kids were a mess and didn't know God... Yes, murder was rampant in our culture, theft at every level. Yes, depression was so bad we self medicated with alcohol and pills. But we still believed in God. Imagine it. Then, God's answer was this "give in to the army at your border. Give up everything you are trying to protect. See that

The joy that God provides is not circumstantial. When a person decides to follow Jesus and turn from their own leadership, Jesus provides His Spirit, called the Holy Spirit, to lead.  This is called the "seal of adoption" in Romans 8.  The leadership of the Holy Spirit is literally the evidence that you are being saved. "Saved" isn't something you arrive at by saying a prayer and asking Jesus in to your heart, although this saves a person who continues to follow Jesus.   Saved is a trajectory of following.   Salvation begins with a prayer, no doubt, it just doesn't end there.  Your salvation ends when your following of Jesus does.  The Bible is quite clear about this:  Hebrews 6:1So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. 2You don’t need fur

Revelation 16:8Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. 10Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. The warnings to believers, and the testimony of the Bible, is that human nature is to respond to judgment with impatience, anger, resentment, depression, etc. These emotions are all negative. Jesus doesn't share these ^ emotions.  That is how a believer is supposed to realize they are being led into more judgment, not less. These emotions should cause us to repent. When we see the comfort of life being touched in a negative way that agrees wit

Does your eschatology simply inform you how everyone else will fulfill the negative roles laid out in the end time Biblical narrative, or does it inform you and inspire you to fulfill the positive roles and repent of fleshly ways of thinking?  One leads to death, the other to light. Daniel 12:1“At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. 2And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. This is how you know your eschatology is on the right track: It causes YOU to change and get ready for Jesus to return. If your esch