Who is the church Built upon?

Bible trivia- Did Jesus build His Church on Peter? the Rock?

13When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I’m stealing the term “narcissi Jesus” where our ego loves to make everything about ourselves – and this is a good example

Some people like to argue over the Greek and Aramaic meaning of the word Rock - Because Peter means rock. But it’s simple enough to simply ask yourself if Peter or Jesus Christ the foundation of our faith?

Jesus was not referring to Peter as the “rock” but to Peter’s testimony. “thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” … and it is …”upon this rock I will build my church.”

Want more proof – Scripture interprets scripture – there are several place where the Messiah is referred to as “the Rock” “the cornerstone” of our foundation.

“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”

A cornerstone

“Since ancient times, builders have used cornerstones in their construction projects. A cornerstone was the principal stone, usually placed at the corner of an edifice, to guide the workers in their course. The cornerstone was usually one of the largest, the most solid, and the most carefully constructed of any in the edifice. The Bible describes Jesus as the cornerstone that His church would be built upon. He is foundational.”

How we interpret scriptures is often based out of our own  confirmation bias, “the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs.”

Yet Most importantly – Who do you say He is?

When to walk away

To who it may concern. The problem is not unforgiveness. When somebody continually tells you that you don’t matter to them by repeated disrespect, abuse, lying, manipulating, and discounting your feelings, you eventually believe them. To walk away is simply wisdom.

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Matthew 10:14

Satan’s true foothold

26Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27Neither give place to the devil.

One of the most missed quoted verses ever! It’s been twisted into, “if you sin you’ve opened the door to Satan.” I would argue if our sins are still counted against us than Jesus die for nothing. Remember Bible tells us that Gods mercy is made new every morning.

So what is this verse really saying? It’s saying we can be angry. Jesus got angry. But it’s goes on to say, do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. It’s telling us not to hang onto that anger. Doing can lead to Unforgiveness (sin). Unforgiveness causes bitterness and resentment giving place to the devil. Remember we must forgive to be forgiven. Mark 11:24-25

My motto – Forgive and let it be between them and God, so there is nothing between you and God.

This is a major problem when people teach, “your sin has opened the door to Satan. Why? Because they are in fact nullifying a persons faith, and teaching that sin is greater than Gods grace.

Have our sins been washed away or not? Are we truly forgiven or not? Have we been clothed in the righteousness of God or are we still in our fallen state? We receive Gods grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and this is teaching we are still under the law of sin and death. Which is greater our sin or Gods grace?

If a person truly has opened their heart to Jesus, they will have a changed heart. They will want to live for God and do what is right. Do we still mess up? of course. But God continues to teach us, and He is changing us from glory to Glory. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we became slaves to righteousness and no longer are we slaves to sin. We will all surely be tried and tested, and when we fall (and we will) we need to know we are forgiven, so we can get up and try again. This is in part, keeping the faith!

People everywhere trying not “sin” mean while they’ve allowed themselves to become full of bitterness, hatefulness, and resentments, because they got angry and refuse to forgive. Satan’s true foothold.

Who did what?

If someone gave you a gift, but you didn’t value the giver or believe the gift cost them anything would you truly receive or appreciate the gift?

John 3:16

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Sin, Death, and Pastor No-body

Passover Is a time when the Israelites celebrate their delivery from slavery in Egypt. The Last plague God brought to Egypt took the life of the first born of every household unless they had lambs blood over doorpost then death “passed over” them.

This was a for shadowing of what Jesus, the lamb of God, has done for us. In Christ, we have been redeemed (compensate for the faults) by the Blood of the lamb, so death must pass over us.

But what if death decided to show up at your door anyway and demands payment. Death says something like well you have in Unrepented  sin or you’re still under a generations curse so your debt remains. So your puzzled by this because that’s not what the Bible says. But standing next to death is pastor no-body). And pastor no-body agrees with death and says your account is deficient due to sin so your debt is still owed. Now Who are you going to believe/put your faith in? God’s Word or these two? If you believe our sins remains and a debt is still owed then Jesus died for nothing. What then can save us? I hear pastors preach this all the time. If the enemy is attacking someone and the first thing out of their mouth is how the person must have sinned. Is sin greater than Gods grace? Then stop saying it is. The enemy, sin and death has no legally rights over a believer under Gods grace. Death must pass them over. Don’t let pastor no-body preach you back under the law.

Before salvation we are liken to spiritual Lepers parts of us dead and dying. Thus – pastor No- body. 

Does this mean we can freely go on sinning? Of course not. If we are truly in Christ we will have a desire to do what is right.

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:18

Most Christians come under attack because what right about them (Jesus)

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, a whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Dear, honey, sweetheart, you poor little thing….

It’s interesting when Satan was tempting Jesus he kept saying, “if you are the son of God”…Satan was wanting Jesus to prove himself (sin) by submitting to the judgment of who…Satan.

Satan works through people in the same today. Seeking to position himself as a false god/judge over the lives of believers:

A prideful spirit says, “prove yourself to me.” And our ego sometimes falls for it.

I like to study Narcissism for two reasons- first because it is rampant, and second Satan & narcissistic people work much in the same way.

Pride is believing yourself to be better than another person and seeking to put yourself in the supervisor position.

Humility is remembering we all have sinned/fallen short and not one of us makes it into heaven based on our own righteousness. This being the case,l puts us all in the exact same position/boat.

And because we are not God, it is not our place to condemn other people. If someone sins against us, forgive them and let it be between them and God, so there is nothing between us and God. –

A side note – forgiveness doesn’t mean we keep going back for more either.

When we submit ourselves to another person’s judgment, we have created a false idol. There is only one who is able to judge, and it not that Leader in church or the guy down the street. We will give account only to the one True God:

We have only one chief and the rest of us are Indians.”

It should always be a Red flag 🚩 when people seek to put themselves in the superior position over others.

Submition – action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person.
“they were forced into submission”

So who are we to submit to?

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you..”

What else does God say about it?

MATTHEW 23:8-11 NLT 8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant.

In the Kingdom of God, we are all siblings — all on the same level. The greatest among us are those who serve. And who are we in Service to? The one true God.

In contrast, narcissistic people set themselves up in the superior position expecting to be served. When they give, they give very little and always with the expectations of getting much more in return.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, “I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (NIV)

We can never really “see” other people till we learn to “see” ourselves first.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matt. 7:3-5

How to Earn God’s Favor

Can you imagine giving someone a christimas gift and instead of simply receiving it they run around in circles “doing” trying to earn it. 🙄 you’d just look at them in bewilderment.

So with that in mind, I’ve complied a complete list here of all we must do to receive God’s free gift of Grace. #thisissarcasm 🤨

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph 2:4-10

Satan’s a liar! The very same day we called on Jesus our sins were washed away and He clothed us in His own Righteousness. Sin and death has no power over us.

I recently had my Amazon account hacked into. I was blessed enough to catch them in the act. I just happened looking at my emails when I stared receiving numerous emails from Amazon thanking me for my purchases. I immediately went on Amazon changed my password, and deleted my charge cards from my Amazon account. By that time they had already racked up 8 different charges amounting to just under $1200.

I called Amazon and my credit card company to dispute the charges that very same day. The charges were quickly removed from my card and the purchases from my Amazon account, but after a couple weeks my credit card company reapplied the charges to my card. They sent me a letter saying the had found the charge to be valid. I then called them again and was told if I wanted them removed, Amazon would have to credit my card. I called Amazon again and was told once more they would credit my account. That was the middle of November, but the end of November my credit card company was still refusing to remove the charges. They continued to say after a second investigation that the charges are valid. So I took my complaint to the consumer Financial protection agency. They sent my complaint to my credit card company. The companies response on Dec 9 for a third time they are convinced that these charges are valid. They said also that I am responsible for charges because I quote, “benefited from the transactions.”

They seemed to Ignore the fact of what was charged to my account like 10 bike lights for 308.00, 12 eye sleep masks for another 208.00 and 10 pairs of the same earrings at 21.00 a piece and so on. They ignore the fact that all of these thing were supposedly purchased from the same 3rd party Amazon sellers store that no longer existed, and finally they ignored the fact that all these items were said had been ordered and delivered on the same day.

But mostly this fraudulent fraud department completely ignore the fact that Amazon had credited my account in full on the very first day I called.

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? a 4Have you experienced b so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” c

56”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 15:55-56