6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
(James 4 ... 1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not:ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain:ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?)
12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them:for this is the law and the prophets.
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate:for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell:and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Comments by Joan Boney
Judge not, that ye be not judged
If you judge by your own thinking you can put yourself in the path where you can be wrong and you can be judged for your wrong. Therefore Jesus warns us. (It is another matter, however, if you are simply speaking the judgment from God that HE has given you on the matter. This can come from Bible or it could come by a word from Holy spirit)
Here is an interesting example from Holy Spirit.
I was playing golf with two women. One a Church of Christ and the other woman was Methodist. The Methodist woman began speaking about people who judge other people. The Holy Spirit spoke the following through me: "If you judge people are judging, aren't you judging." The Methodist woman gasped. It was like air let out of a balloon.
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13 Enter ye in at the strait gate:for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Few go in the way of God because they see the other way to be more fulfilling to themselves. What they do not realize is the other way is more troubling and the way of God is freeing. The way of God frees us from the burden of sin. We do not have to commit fornication or adultery as the flesh desires. We can be free from the desires of our own flesh as we choose the way of God. We do not have to be a servant to drunkenness. Doing the work of God frees us. We can be free from covetousness by learning to do the following: I Tim. 6 ... 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
We can be free from having to be great on this earth by doing the following:
Mt. 11 ... Jesus says ... 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Serving God is the easy way. Serving your own flesh is the hard way. Serving other humans is the hard way.
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If a person continually punctures you and grieves you by their words, consider that their fruit is likely evil fruit.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Are their words like thorns to you?
Lot was continually grieved by the words of the people of Sodom where he lived. The angel of Lord had to take Lot's hand and pull him out of Sodom. And Lot's wife loved this place so much that she looked back longingly and was destroyed. Why is it sometimes so hard for us to leave the evil? Because our flesh rules in these cases.
I Cor. 9 ... Paul says ...24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
When we serve God, we must do that which God desires us to do. And when we choose to go that way, the way of God, we enter a race. We must train for it, keeping our flesh under control as we would have to do if we entered a race set up by man. We couldn't eat just anything. We would have to be careful what we took into our bodies to race. (We have to take care about those things we take into our hearts when we enter the path God has for us for those things in our heart can keep us from doing the will of God if those things are against God's way.)
Therefore Jesus warns:
Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
When we know our assignment from God, we do what we have to do to run that race and win. We have no credit for starting the race and dropping out. Rather dropping out could end up costing us dearly, being a form of "falling away". We must finish the race.
There are many times I have had to put someone out of my life in order to do what God has called me to do. There are also many times I have to decline invitations for such would keep me from doing my assignment from God. It is indeed as Paul described it. To run the race, we have to keep our own bodies under control. And we set about running to win that race.
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21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Jesus said many will be turned away at the day of judgment as they bring their many "good" works to HIM.
How can this be?
Their good works, that which they thought to be good, were authored by their own fleshly minds and not by God, even though they prophesied and cast out devils and did many wonderful works, those works were not authored by God. And Jesus told them to depart from him and called their works "iniquity".
So if you preach, you have to be called to preach. It can't be something you want to do. It has to be because God told you to say that thing and do that thing.