*****FROM THE INSIDE OUT, Matthew 15*****

"Hear and understand:

 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man;

but what comes out of the mouth, 

this defiles a man" 

     When the disciples said the Pharisees were offended when

they heard this saying,  the Lord responded with...

"Every plant which My heavenly Father has

not planted will be uprooted.  Let them alone

They are blind leaders of the blind.  And if

the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." 

At this point, they asked Him to explain 
the parable and Jesus said...

"Are you also still without understanding?  Do you  

not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth

goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But
those things which proceed out of the mouth come
from the heart, and they defile a man."

"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with
unwashed hands does not defile a man."

     Jewish leaders did not eat without washing their hands; a

tradition of their elders.  When they confronted the Lord with a

complaint that His disciples did not wash their hands, according

to their tradition, He responded with; 

"Why do you also transgress  the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother;and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God' -- 'then he need not honor his 

father or mother.'  Thus you have made the commandment of God

 of no effect by your Tradition.  Hypocrites!  Well did Isaiah 

prophesy about you, saying:  'These people draw near to me with their mouth.  And honor me with their lips, But their heart is far

from me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the

commandments of men." 

So, deceived or not, one who preaches any other Gospel
than the Gospel found in God's Word, is a false prophet,
and will receive the same condemnation. Good intentions 
do not guarantee good results 

    donporter,sr  9.26.17;  Scripture from New King James Version
1982, Thomas Nelson

 

 

 

PARENTS and CHILDREN..EPHESIANS 6: 1-4

          In the first 4 verses of chapter 6, Ephesians;   "Children,
obey your parents in the Lord:  for this  is right.  Honour thy 
father and mother; which is the first commandment with pro-
mise; That it may be well with thee,and thou mayest live long
on  the earth.  And, ye fathers,  provoke not  your children to
wrath:  but bring  them up in  the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord.  (See Exodus 20: 12 and find verse 2-3 of Eph. 6, 
as part of the Ten Commandments.)   
  Every time I read the promise in Exodus 20 or in Ephesians
6,  it occurs to me the way in  which that promise is humanly
accessed.  It can only be  that a parent, who has the best inte-
rest in a child will give sage advice and counsel, so the child
will  grow  up strong  with a good  practical,  moral  lifestyle.  
That will lead to  a well adjusted and healthy adulthood.  By
virtue of this wisdom he  will lead  a long, and blessed life.

     In my personal experience; only the child who listens and 
obeys the admonitions will be the beneficiary of  that counsel. 
The parents do their part,  according to the Word, and as the
offspring  does his part he will be blessed.  (A masculine pro-
noun is used,  but the information applies to either of the two
genders.  The Scriptural view is; there are only two genders.)
If  you have a differing view of this,  you have only to show it
to me  in Scripture, our only authoritative source of accurate
information on the subject.  The idea of multiple genders, or
more than two, has never been scientifically established. 
(Today's Scripture is from KJV)   

donporter,sr 9.11.17

     

HOW DEEPLY MUST WE GO INTO SCRIPTURE?

       If you follow this blog at all, you will wonder why this humble
servant of  the Lord  even addresses this question.  My  response:
Since the Bible, Scripture,  Holy Writ, or however you refer to the
Word of God is beyond my ability to explain or plumb;  Thoughts
from Scripture are for our instruction, not for one who has belief 
he has comprehended the whole and is now a teacher of the Law 
of God.  We use a  limited depth  of wisdom,  knowledge and our
limited  Spiritual  maturity  to offer insight  into that we "glean"
from  the Word.  I welcome questions, suggestions  and  outright, 
thoughtful disagreement with my comments.  

       I wrote all of the above to say;  the Word of God is plain, not
simple.  There are things, even on the surface, that try our under-
standing and depth, but more than that, the "surface" remarks in
Scripture are  still Divinely inspired of  the living God and capa-
ble of challenging our shabby lives to the core.  The things under-
stood,  properly there,  can shake  us when we realize how far we
fall short of the Word, the Lord God and His Glory.  We are dri-
ven to our  knees in  repentance of;  poorly thought out  goals for
life, our inability to keep any part of the Word circumspectly and
how  far  short we come in  even  carrying out  our goals,  not to
mention how far we fall short of "His" plan for our lives and the
"Glory of God;"  we can only aspire to achieve.  "As it is written,
'There is none righteous,  no, not one:  There is none that under-
standeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  They are all gone
out of  the way,  they are together  become unprofitable,  there is
none that doeth good, no, not one."  (Romans 3: 10-12) "For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified
freely  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is in  Christ
Jesus."   (Romans 10: 23)  This statement from the Word of God
does not show us to be very deep or worthy of anything from our
Lord.  There is, however;  the opportunity for one to grow in his
understanding of Scripture and get wisdom unavailable to those
who remain on the surface, failing to gain further wisdom that is
available in God's  Word.  You must be a serious  seeker of  such
wisdom and spend time in the Word and in prayer to the Lord in
the name of the Son.  I still have a long way to go...
     The initial move toward Spiritual maturity is the fullness of
the Holy Spirit in one's life.  You may question; Just how is this
fullness of  the Spirit  accessed?  I am convinced  for one  to be
filled  with the Spirit and begin the quest  for a Spirit filled life
there are some  facts concerning the Christ life he must believe
and practice.  (The "he" is not gender specific)
 
(1.) "That ye put off concerning the former conversation, (beha-
vior) the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts;
and be renewed in the spirit of  your mind;  and that  ye put on 
the new man, which after God, is created in righteousness and 
true  holiness."  Ephesians 4: 22-24.  As  you continue to read 
from  the chapter  you find "put away  lying,  Be angry and sin 
not,  Let  him  that  stole,  steal  no  more;  but  rather  let him 
labour,  working with  his hands the  thing that is good....  Let 
no corrupt  communication proceed out of  your mouth...eidfi-
cation and grace." 
             "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby 
                ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." 
Read the entire chapters 4 thru 6 of Ephesians and  you find a
picture  of  what may  be accomplished  through a Spirit filled
walk  with  our Lord.  As you  read  the first three  chapters of 
Ephesians, you find the heritage of one who is in Christ and a
testimony as to what the Lord does in your life as you begin to
trust Him to the point of submission of  life in all things.  With
this  knowledge you are ready to be filled of  the Spirit of God
by simply confessing known sin in your life and asking God in
prayer to  fill you with  his Spirit.  He has promised this,  and
the gifts that accompany the Spirit of God in our lives. One of
the places this  is recorded is  Romans 12.  This passage  also
gives instruction on our attitude, or spirit,  as we properly use
these  gifts through the power; the Spirit of God in us. Though
it is unwise to condense God's Word,  we learn much  from the
exercise of  reading a  passage,  then  pointing out,  (gleaning) 
verses  that  inspire us.  "I  BESEECH you therefore, brethren, 
by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sac-
rifice,  holy,  acceptable unto  God,  which is  your reasonable 
service.  And be  not conformed to this world: but be ye trans-
formed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what
is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God." 
                                                                    Romans 12: 1-2

     Read the complete chapter for an understanding of how to
live a rewarding life, well pleasing to the Savior.
                                            
   donporter,sr 9.04.17, edited 9.11.17