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Submission to Secular Authorities/Couple Examples No Submission

1 Peter 2:13-17 - Peter Peter, in this instance, is writing to Christian exiles. Peter says to be subject for the Lord's sake to every system of established authority, whether it would be to the one who has the highest political office or to governors, who are sent by Him and are supposed to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good one should put to silence the people who have a lack of good judgment. Then Peter says to live as people who are free, and this pertains to being free socially and politically. He wants Christians to use their freedom not as a cover-up for evil but living as God-fearing people being subject to Him.  Peter states to show high regard for the highest political leaders and everyone.  He then says to fear God, which means to have a profound and deep-seated measure of respect and reverence for Him where we are in awe of Him.  Romans 13:1-7 - Paul Paul discusses being subject to authorities ...

Binding, Loosing, etc. and How to Deal with Spiritual Warfare

Luke 10:1-10, 17-20 Jesus Appointed 70 disciples Jesus appointed 70 disciples and sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He was about to go. He commanded them with tasks and said that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. He told them to do the following: Specific Instructions  - Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. - Go their way; He was sending them out as lambs in the midst of wolves. - Carry no moneybag, knapsack, nor sandals and greet no one on the road. - Whenever house they entered, say peace (which is a state of well-being) be to this house. - If a son of peace is there, their peace would rest upon him. If not, it would return to them. - Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide for the worker deserves his wages. - Don't go from house to house. Whenever they enter a town and were welcomed, they were to eat what was set before them. - Heal the sick and say that the ...

Living Stone & Holy People (1 Peter 2:1-12)

Put Away and Long For as Christians As fellow Christians, we should first of all put away the following with the help of the Holy Spirit: wickedness, falseness, hypocrisy, jealousy, and slander. Intead, like newborn infants, we should long for uncontaminated spiritual milk where by it we may become greater and grow up in our salvation.  This is if we have come to know the Lord through the process of acquiring an understanding that He is good and kind and experiencing His kindness.  We are to realize that Jesus is chosen by God as elite and the best. Approach Jesus' Presence We approach Jesus' presence of one whom is the elite living stone that has been rejected by men.  However, in the sight of God, He is of great value and the best stone.  What are We Being Built as? We Christians are built up as a spiritual house.  In other words, in pertaining of the divine spirit, the Christian community is being built as the spirtual temple of God.  We are being built ...

Why Us Binding, Rebuking, etc. is Unbiblical

Binding and Loosing In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter declares that Jesus is the Son of the living God.  Jesus said that Peter is blessed for God revealed this to Peter.  Jesus then tells Peter that He will build the church (global Christian community) with Him as the head of it and that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. Jesus then tells Peter that He will give him the keys.  This is a portrayal of Peter as the keeper of heaven's gate.  The next thing Jesus says to Peter is that whatever he binds on earth will be bound in heaven.  This word bind in the Greek is another word for forbidden in this instance.  Then Jesus tells Peter that whatever he loose (permits) on earth will be permitted in heaven.  This permitting and forbidding is based off of the teachings of the Christian faith revealed in Scripture by the Holy Spirit. In another instance, Jesus is speaking to His 12 apostles.  He says that if one's brother sins against him ...

Easter Reflections on Crucifixion and Resurrection

God and Creation It is important to remember who God really is-an eternal being that knows everything, is present everywhere, is beyond time and space, and is complete perfection.  God is distinct from creation and in fact created the universe out of nothing.  Moses writes in Genesis the following: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1 ESV).  Everything in this universe is owned by God and He reigns over every aspect of it.   In fact, at the beginning of creation everything was considered good.  Moses writes, "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day" (Genesis 1:31). There was no sin in the world at that time which involved the world being perfect, that is, until Adam and Eve came into the picture. The Fall God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Eve was tempted by the devil where ...

The Greatest Commandment (Mark 12:28-31)

"And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that He answered them well, asked Him, 'Which commandment is the most important of all?' Jesus answered, 'The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these'" (Mark 12:28-31 ESV). Quoting from the Old Testament The religious leaders were debating what the most important commandment was, and one of the scribes asked Jesus about it.  Jesus actually responded with quoting the Old Testament.  In Deuteronomy, it states, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). For the second p...

Jesus Walking on the Sea (Matthew 14:25-32)

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  "A nd in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, 'It is a ghost!' and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.' And Peter answered Him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.' He said, 'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased" (Matthew 14:25-32 ESV). In this story, Jesus' disciples were on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.   This is a boat that the fishermen in Jesus' time used, so their boat would be similar to this one.   It was...