Hard corrections for fellow Christians- are they ok?

2 Corinthians 7:9-10 NLT
Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways.

It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

——————

It must be 100% out of love, never forget that.

2 Peter 2:19-22 NLT
They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

Are you a “Carnal Christian”?

God will forgive, even for murder..

1 Kings 21:23-24, 27-29 NLT

“And regarding Jezebel, the Lord says, ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel’s body at the plot of land in Jezreel.’ “The members of Ahab’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.”
…..
[27] But when Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted. He even slept in burlap and went about in deep mourning. Then another message from the Lord came to Elijah:

“Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime. It will happen to his sons; I will destroy his dynasty.”

nanalately asked: How come some people don't take communion ? Is it wrong to take communion when you're not right with God or something ?

This ask stumped me. My answer is yes, it’s wrong to take communion without being right with God but I couldn’t find anything to back that up and all my searches were pointing to confession in Catholic church, not to repenting and asking God for forgiveness - Asking a fellow sinner for forgiveness is useless - Only Jesus/God can forgive you.  So although some of those had good points they weren’t Biblically correct so I didn’t want to quote.

So after much searching and reading I found what I was looking for:

²⁷ So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.²⁸ Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.²⁹ For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.³⁰ That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 11:27-30 NIV

This is why a number of you have fallen asleep? This is saying people’s lives were taken from them because they didn’t examine themselves (for sin) before taking part.

You should examine yourself, repent, change ANYTHING that isn’t right about your life before taking communion.

I’m going to add though - You should be examining yourself in this way continually, every night I’d recommend examine your day, try to think of any sins, repent, figure out how you are going to do better tomorrow.

Read the whole passage:

NIV - NLT - KJV

False teachers..

1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

So many “Christian” authors are boastful, proud, loves of money, etc. 

How many say “Get Alone with This book” (Francis Chan) - But put him in context - He says get alone with YOUR BIBLE, not Francis’ book.

Compare that to people like Rick Warren who say read my book.. Then they leave off the power of the holy spirit (verse 5). And the boasting he does in the few videos I’ve seen of him, it’s all about I’ve done this or that.. Not God has done this or that.

How many “Christians” do you see who are continually sinning, always struggling to overcome a sin, and they really never repent of it - They love doing the sin, they feel guilty afterwards, but they never break the cycle - Those people are “always learning.. never .. come to truth” (verse 7).

A shout out to all the…

yourcraysisterinchrist:

Non virgins, the lustful, the irresponsible, the ones that are fooling around with their boyfriends/girlfriends, the imperfect, the stubborn, the broken, the deceived, the ones that still get drunk, that still use drugs, the ones that cut and burn their flesh, that choose to self medicate, hide behind loads of make up and revealing clothes, that confuse sex with love, that cheat, steal, and lie. 

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Hebrews 5/6: Falling away from Christ

Warning Against Falling Away

¹¹ We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,^[a] and of faith in God, ² instruction about cleansing rites,^[b] the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And God permitting, we will do so.

⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age ⁶ and who have fallen^[c] away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. ⁷ Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. ⁸ But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

⁹ Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. ¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.