Mark

A wretched sinner saved by grace. A follower of Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah

[Allen Domelle @oldpathsjournal]

Spiritualizing wrong does not make the wrong right. This man Micah tried to spiritualize wrong by making a Levite a priest in his house. The Levites were not to be priests in a house, but they were to be servants in the temple. Just because this Levite became a priest in Micah's house did not mean that Micah was right with God. Micah just wanted to make it comfortable to serve God instead of going to the temple where the Scriptures had commanded him to go to the priest. Just because he did "temple at home" did not make it right.

I hear people often say, "I go to church in my house." They say to me that they watch church online, and what they are really doing is they are trying to spiritualize their disobedience. Hebrews 10:25 says, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Spiritualizing this priest was no different than people watching online church services and feeling they are right with God.

Just because we live in a digital age that allows us to listen to preaching online and watch church services online does not negate God's command for us to be faithful in attending church in person. You cannot say that you are going to church when you are not leaving something to go to church. A church is a local called-out assembly. Therefore, if you are not coming out of something to go to something, you are not going to church.

Let me take this one step further. A pastor who allows someone from another town to consider his church to be their home church instead of encouraging them to attend a local church in person in their area is contributing to their wrong. God started the local church, and having TV church and allowing people from other areas to consider a distant church to be their church is no different than promoting a universal church concept.

My friend, I want to caution you to watch out for trying to spiritualize online church. I am all for getting as much good preaching as we can, but the Scriptures are not for substituting online church for attending in person a local New Testament Baptist church.

[Mark @Mark33782]

Charles Spurgeon's Morning Devotional for June 16th

[Mark @Mark33782]

"Ashamed of Christ, Part 4" by Dr J Harold Smith
Scripture reading: Mark 8:38
https://t.co/FqknSv2wuA

[Mark @Mark33782]

John 16:4

[Mark @Mark33782]

Hymn: "Hallelujah, 'Tis Done!" by Philip P. Bliss

[Mark @Mark33782]

Proverbs 16:2

[Mark @Mark33782]

"The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying," Revelation 4:10

[Mark @Mark33782]

Psalm 16:8

[Mark @Mark33782]

The Book of Lamentations (KJV) read by Alexander Scourby
https://t.co/T4nAwDKjXz

[Mark @Mark33782]

"And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down." 2 Kings 21:13

[Mark @Mark33782]

Proverbs 16

[Allen Domelle @oldpathsjournal]

One of the sad statements about Samson that reveals his character is that he used his companion as a friend. In other words, he was not really a friend to his companion, but he used him for his own advantage. However, the one whom he used ended up biting him, as Samson's wife was given to this friend whom he had used.

One thing everyone must be careful about is that we do not use people for our own advantage. When you use someone for your own advantage, you can be guaranteed that they will turn on you one day. If the only reason you have someone as a friend is so that you can get something out of them, then you are a very shallow person. Friendship should never be about what I get out of someone, but rather, what can I do for that person. Friendship should never be something that we take lightly, where we use people for how they benefit us and then cast them aside once they no longer benefit us.

I believe one of the great sins of our day is the shallowness of friendship that is exhibited among God's people. There are those who have stuck their neck out to help you, and then you do nothing to help them in return. That is a shallow friend. There are those who have hurt their own name to stand with you, and then you do nothing to reciprocate that friendship. My friend, that is a very shallow type of friend, and only an empty person responds like this.

Then there are those who are friendly to people as long as it will not hurt them, but as soon as someone they call a friend does something that is unpopular, they turn on them or refuse to stand with them in their darkest days. Again, this is a shallow friend.

True friendship stands with you whether you are popular or not. True friendship is not concerned with what it can get out of a friend, but rather, what it can do for a friend. I want to challenge you to be a true friend to your friends. This does not mean that you always have to agree with your friends, but it does mean that you will always be a friend to those whom you call your friends. Never become the type of person who uses others as friends, but be a friend even when the world turns against those whom you call your friends.

[Mark @Mark33782]

Charles Spurgeon's Morning Devotional for June 15th

[Mark @Mark33782]

"Ashamed of Christ, Part 3" by Dr. J Harold Smith
Scripture reading: Mark 8:38
https://t.co/Nxn3Sk0V0r

[Mark @Mark33782]

1 Timothy 2:5

[Mark @Mark33782]

Hymn: "He Is Able to Deliver Thee" by William A. Ogden

[Mark @Mark33782]

Proverbs 15:2

[Mark @Mark33782]

Wrong Choice!

[Mark @Mark33782]

Psalm 15:1-2