Dr. Timothy

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From Dr. Timothy

Remember that Jesus declared that the Church "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.''

Removing impurities requires that we use the keys that are available to us from the Lord’s key ring, but we must use the correct keys or our efforts will fail, impurities will remain and we shall continue to be in bondage to the bitter sins produced by them!

It is also absolutely imperative to understand that in order to be loosed from impurities they must be bound – as in gathering and binding them up (like a bale of straw) in order to cast them out!  Beloved, just saying “(Impurity) I bind you in the name of Jesus and cast you out …” will fall pitifully short of what needs to be done!  Binding impurities is a work that needs to be done because while it is a spiritual battle it is against our own flesh and flesh needs to be crucified – not cast out!

Key One - - God’s Word

“If you continue in My Word then you shall be My disciples indeed and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free!”

The very first key to removing impurities from our lives is to not only turn to God’s Word – but to CONTINUE in all that Christ teaches, instructs AND COMMANDS!  (Remember that the Word of God IS Christ – see:  John 1:14)

To continue – actually the word used in the KJV is more correctly translated “abide” or to make your dwelling place – not just visit on Sundays or when you hear a motivating message on radio or T.V. – but to make the Word of Christ your mainstay, the FOUNDATION FOR YOUR LIFE!  The standard by which all things are measured, the answer to all your questions, the solution to all your issues, the key that unlocks the shackles which bind you captive!

God’s Word is pertinent!  The Bible is relevant to our struggles with purity not only because it bears witness to the long struggle over and in man to secure physical, mental, and moral cleanliness - - it also shows that the various areas and forms of purity have relation to each other and how to deal with them.

What does this mean?  It means that if - for example - you are a faithful steward in your finances but are committing adultery the moral impurity be tremendously disruptive to the blessings you should receive from your financial faithfulness!

I can tell you of more than one Pastor who had sexual impurities that controlled their conduct and behavior and their financial blessings were disrupted because the membership of the congregations began to shrink resulting in of course shrinking tithes and offerings leaving the assembly not being able to meet its budget, meaning that the Pastor’s finances were disrupted … you should be able to see the obvious results.

In more than one instance, the affected congregations disbanded and a local body of believers was murdered!  Not by the devil, but because the Pastor’s immorality caused the demise of the financial ability for the congregation to exist!

Although extreme, this in an example of how the various areas of purity are connected and affect the inter-related areas of our lives and why we must be willing to admit to ourselves and to God any area of impurity in our lives!

• For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

Continuing/abiding in God’s Word means something else also … it means that we should not only turn to God’s Word first but ONLY!

To explain:  Abiding IN God’s Word means that we don’t step outside the “house” to seek “outside” help – in other words, we don’t turn to the ways of the world to deal with the spiritual issue of purity.  God has not only given us His Word, but He has risen up many Godly men and women who He equipped to help you find the Godly answers you need!  Turning to such things as hypnosis, positive thinking, positive imaging, listening to tapes while you sleep and the like are not Biblical and to turn to these things is to leave the abiding place prescribed by Jesus our Lord!

Sadly, there are many “celebrity” ministers who prescribe exactly what I just warned against and because they are celebrities with huge ministries and great followings these things are used as the basis for acceptance rather than what God’s Word says!

So then, not only the issues of impurity but the resources of remedy must all be examined through Scripture in order to be assured of receiving what only will truly help!  Why would a person substitute one form of impurity for another? 

• “Test all things; hold fast what is good. 
  Abstain from every form of evil.”  1 Thess. 5:21-22 NKJV

Quite often, the “self-help” techniques use “principles” found in the Bible but do not direct the “client” to turn to The One Who holds the keys to your freedom!  And so if the techniques prove “successful”, you become dependent upon their power for “success” but so subtly yet quite literally separate yourself from dependence upon our Heavenly Father because you have replaced Him with something else!

This then leaves you wide open prey for satan’s seductions into further darkness and greater impurities than you dealt with before!  Why?  Well think about it, what is it called again?  SELF-help!  And SELF is the problem in the first place!  All impurity is, at the root level, selfflesh (not a typo) desire for satisfaction!

Nothing should replace God’s Word as the first key to freedom from issues of impurity in your life.

CONTINUED NEXT TIME

Many Blessings!
Dr. Timothy

PROPHET'S CORNER

PRAISE GOD FOR ALL MINISTRY LEADERS WHO ARE DEVOTED TO JESUS ENOUGH TO TAKE A STAND FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Pray for these in particular that God will, through them, bring about a reversal of this abomination in the church community!

150 Presbyterian Ministers Threaten to Resign over Gay Ministers
http://www.christianpost.com

Up to 150 conservative and evangelical ministers are reportedly threatening to resign in Scotland, where the Church of Scotland is about to become the first Presbyterian church in the world to allow the ordination of openly gay ministers.

The 450 year-old Christian establishment and cradle of Presbyterianism famously voted for allowing gay ministers in May, causing mass protests of current ministers.

Presently, as many as 150 serving ministers are considering resignation, The Guardian reported Monday. In addition, at least six ministers have left the church since May. One minister and his entire congregation, a church at Gilcomston South in Aberdeen, even reportedly threatened to leave as a group.

Experts call the event the largest schism in the church since 474 ministers quit in 1843 to form the Free Church of Scotland.

A spokesman for the church reportedly denied that as many ministers threatened resignation, however, other sources seem to confirm the number.

The Church of Scotland became the first major Presbyterian church in the world to allow openly gay and lesbian ministers to take up parishes at its general assembly in May, despite protests from some 20 percent of its officials.

The vote took place after a temporary moratorium was initially imposed in 2009 following an uproar at the appointment of the first openly gay clergyman of the church, Scott Rennie. However, the Presbyterian Church's law-making body voted to lift that ban.

The subject of homosexual clergy has deeply divided the denomination, with a previous report suggesting up to a fifth of the ministers, as well as some 100,000 church members, could abandon the church body in protest.

The Rev. Andrew Coghill, a minister at Church of Scotland, issued a warning in May to the church’s General Assembly, saying that allowing gay clergy would devastate the denomination.

The Church of Scotland has also reportedly commissioned a report to be presented by 2013 on the proposals as well as plans to allow ministers to bless gay and lesbian relationships.

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The real danger of having no Christian presence in the Middle East within the next 5 years will be one of the main topics at a up coming conference hosted by Dr. Rob Dalrymple Director of the Bible Acadamy at Cornerstone Fellowship.      

Today, in the Middle East, there are about 30 million Christians and the majority of these Christians are suffering greatly. Over the last 10 years many have sought refuge in the US and various other countries to the point that the continued survival of the Church in the Middle East is being threatened.

According to Professor Habib C. Malik in his article The Future of Christians in the Middle East he discusses the decline of Christianity in the Middle East and how it has become a startling reality:

"The relic phenomenon is an alarming one and the numbers offer sobering evidence of its impending reality. In 1948 Jerusalem was about a fifth Christian; today, it is less than 2 percent. For centuries Christians used to constitute over 80 percent of Bethlehem’s population, but today they are barely a third and falling. In 1943, at the time of its independence, Lebanon was a majority-Christian country, but after thirty years of war and foreign occupation Lebanon’s Christians now make up around a third of the population and the trend is demographic contraction. It is estimated that about half of Iraq’s 1.4 million Christians have fled the country since the American invasion in 2003."              

As the country of Iraq has stabilized in the past few years, the violence against the Church has continued. Even as the Shia-dominated Iraqi government has enhanced its control, it has done little to rein in the targeting of weak Christian, Mandean, and Yazidi communities.     

The Jerusalem Post also goes on to report the same finding that Professor Habib C. Malik stated in his findings: “…at the time of Lebanese independence from France in 1946 the majority of Lebanese were Christians. Today less than 30% of Lebanese are Christians. In Turkey, the Christian population has dwindled from 2 million at the end of World War I to less than 100,000 today. In Syria, at the time of independence Christians made up nearly half of the population. Today 4% of Syrians are Christian. In Jordan half a century ago 18% of the population was Christian. Today 2% of Jordanians are Christian.”

Rob Dalrymple Ph.D, Director of the Bible Academy is hosting a conference to bring awareness of the true state of the Church. Through stories and experiences, the speakers can speak first hand to the real suffering of the Church in the Middle East and why the church of the West must become better informed to help care for the needs of Christians, regardless of their race, gender, and social status.

Messages From Leaders

"The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him."-A.W. Tozer

"Light means nothing to a blind man." - A.W. Tozer

"Get a single, solitary thought in your mind, and that thought - the precious love of Jesus. Go and live it out, and come what may, you will be respected though abused. They may say you are an enthusiast, a fanatic, a fool, but those names from the world are titles of praise and glory. The world does not take the trouble to nickname a man unless he is worth it. It will not give you any censure unless it trembles at you."- Charles Spurgeon 

“It was the greatest honor God did to man that he made man in the image of God; but it is the greatest dishonor man has done to God that he has made God in the image of man.” - Matthew Henry 

"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."  -Augustine. 

"The Lord uses his flail of tribulation to separate the chaff from the wheat."
- John Bunyan 

"If Christ justifies you, he will sanctify you."- Robert Murray McCheyne 

"Men will allow God to be everywhere except on his Throne"-Charles Spurgeon 

"Some preachers ought to put more fire into their sermons or more sermons into the fire." - Vance Havner 

"The Bible definitely is infallible, how else could it survive so many years of bad preaching? - - Leonard Ravenhill

Thanks to Revival List for these!