Tag: evangelism

The Offense Of The Cross !

~ Kim Balogh ~ Leave a comment

Some Christians are under the impression that the suffering “doctrine” or teaching is a legalistic religious mindset but is it?

Let’s look at what the Bible has to say about suffering.

To suffer ( sumpaschō ) according to the Bible means to experience pain and in particular regarding persecution. Suffer also means (pathēma ) hardships and emotional pain.

We know that Jesus suffered for us but did you know that we are called to suffer for him?

According to Romans 8:17 we are children of God and joint heirs with Christ if we suffer with him so that we can also be glorified (exalted to dignity) with him.

In the same way that Jesus carried his cross to complete the mandate given to him so must each of us carry our cross to fulfill our mandate given to us by God.

For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. (Philippians 1:29)

The pain of persecution may include bodily and emotional pain. Jesus was never sick from disease and infirmity but bodily pain and mental torment was inflicted upon him. Jesus was persecuted for who he was and for the message he brought.

Scriptures tell us that Christians will suffer persecution because we belong to Jesus. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. (Galatians 5:11)

Scriptures tell us that the sufferings (pathēma hardships, emotional pain)
of this world are insignificant in comparison to the glory that will be revealed in us.

2 Corinthians 1:6 tells us to endure suffering for that reason. For as we partake of suffering for Christ’s sake so shall we partake of the comfort of the Comforter. The Holy Spirit will always comfort us in our sufferings. (2 Corinthians 1:4)

Suffering produces patience in us . After we have patiently suffered for a while then we will produce new life. In the same way as the pain of child birth produces new life, we will have the joy at the end of our suffering!

What Satan means for our hurt God always turns into life for his glory so patiently endure the suffering you are going through! (Roman’s 8:28)

If you are in a place of suffering right now for Christ’s sake then rejoice for scriptures tell us that your reward in heaven will be great ! To suffer for Jesus sake will turn into life for you!

With God’s strength we can endure our suffering and with his love shed abroad in our hearts we can love and pray for those who persecute us; so that they will come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. (Matthew 5:10, Roman’s 5:5, Matthew 5:44)

About Me

Is God Fair?

~ Kim Balogh ~ Leave a comment

 

Is God fair? It depends on your definition of fair.

If you mean does God show favoritism or bias to anyone then the answer is no. BUT if you mean does God distribute evenly then again the answer is no.

According to Acts 10:34
God is no respecter of persons.

This means that God does not show partiality or unfair bias based on favoritism BUT God does choose people for different gifts and callings according to his purposes.

God gives some people what seems like an advantage in some area but he makes that up by giving others an advantage in another area. This spiritual principle we can see in the bible verse of God bestowing more grace on a “comely vessel.” 1 Corinthians 23:24

We see by God’s distribution of the talents in Matthew that God does not always distribute his gifts evenly.

According to that parable Jesus gave one person 5 talents, another 2 talents and another 1 talent according to their ability or in other words the gifts and callings of the Lord allotted to them.

Each were equally accountable for what they did with their talents. (Matthew 25: 14-30)

It ended up that because the guy with 5 talents increased what he had, God gave him even more and the guy with 1 talent, he ended up loosing his talent.

Interesting enough but it was the guy with the least amount of talents that did nothing with his. Sometimes we may think that because we don’t have a lot of advantages that we are less accountable. This is not true. No matter how much we have been given by the Lord in our ability, we are still accountable to use that talent for the Lord Jesus glory. Remember the one who uses their talent will get even more talents.

Even though it seems like we may have been given an unfair playing field in actuality what we have are really only differences. Remember scriptures tell us that to one is given…..and to another is given…according as the Lord wills. (1 Cor. 12)

Can we increase our gifts and callings? The answer is YES! For example, I heard a testimony about a man in Africa from a poor village who waited all day to see a famous preacher and track him down to get prayer for a blessing.

Out of thousands of people attending that meeting only one stayed behind to seek out a blessing. It ended up that right after that encounter the young African man went back to his village and prayed for his people. Revival broke out in his village. This young man is a high profile evangelist in Africa today.

So as you can see while God is no respecter of persons he will bless the person who uses the gifts bestowed with more gifts and the person who does nothing or mismanages their gifts will suffer loss. (2 Corinthians 10:12)

This is why God says that those who compare themselves with others are not wise. We are not accountable for the next guy’s life but we sure are for our own!

Wisdom is given to those who seek out how to utilize their gifts and talents. The Bible tells us that all we have to do is ask! (James 1:5)

    The Salt Of The Earth!

    ~ Kim Balogh ~ 2 Comments

    Why Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt?

    I think the Lord was trying to make a statement like, “I have now cleansed the land.”

    Repentance will often lead to tears of sorrow. The salt in our tears are heart cleansing so after a good heart wrenching cry of repentance the soul is cleansed by God.

    Our tears also have a physical effect on our body. Scientific studies have shown that tears help the body recover from stress by excreting excess proteins and the cortisol hormone which can be damaging to the body in excess. Emotional tears also release endorphins responsible for reducing pain and improving mood.

    Salt cleanses from disease. Our bodies have a perfect balance of salt and water. If we don’t have enough salt in our system then disease may rear it’s ugly head. It’s the same with sin. Sin is a deadly disease. Not only can it kill physically but it can kill spiritually.

    That is why the Lord calls his church to be the salt of the earth. As long as God’s people are here there is healing and salvation. But what happens if the salt looses its saltiness? Sin creeps into society and the world becomes perverted. Only salt purifies and preserves.

    The ungodly can trod all over the world when there is an unsalty church and that is why we are exhorted by the Lord to be like salt. Be life preserving. Bring the salt to a sin infected world. Bring to others the cleansing of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

    Be the salt of the earth.

    Wrong Choices Can Work Out for our Good !

    ~ Kim Balogh ~ Leave a comment

    Bad choices have bad outcomes !

    All we have to do is look at the lives of David, Jacob, Joseph and others in scripture to see that bad choices have bad out comes.

    While we can always find forgiveness in Jesus from our sin but he does not erase the consequences we experience for our wrong choices.

    David was called to be a ruler but he found out through temptation that he had sin in his heart. Lust, greed, and a sense of privilege.

    After David sinned he suffered from his bad choices. He lost a child and ended up in many battles that might not have occurred had he been obedient to God.

    Joseph was prideful and boastful. He ended up making enemies because he had a fat head. Where did that get him? In the clink! He had to be humbled in order to find out that he wasn’t such a big shot.

    Jacob was a big fibber and could decieve and manipulate others. Those choices of his because of the sin in his heart ended up having him working for a bigger deciever and manipulator than himself !

    Do you see a pattern here? Yeah you are right! You reap what you sow !

    Spiritual principles are the same as natural principles. You throw a ball in the air and it can land right back down on your head!

    There is a reason that Jesus told people he healed, “Go and sin no more lest a worst thing happen to you.”

    Our sin will always end up with dire consequences. Wrong choices which usually come from a wrong heart attitude will always work out for our good IF we love God and are called according to his purpose.

    When we make wrong choices the Lord reveals to us our heart attitudes that need changing by the consequences of our wrong choices. Want to know what the sin is in your heart ? Just take a look at what you reaped from those wrong choices.

    When we see our sin for what it is, we can confess our sins and ask for forgiveness and restoration. BUT if we refuse to look at our sin and keep going in the same direction we will find ourselves in a continual pattern of repeated wrong choices with repeated consequential events.

    Sin not dealt with just becomes a cycle of bad attitude, bad choices and bad outcomes.

    Now for the dreaded word! REPENTANCE. It is not enough to see our sin and confess our sin. Unless we repent we will perish the Bible tells us.

    Repeatedly sinning because of undealt with heart attitudes will have dire consequences for us. We must put our hearts on the altar and have the Lord slay the dragon which rules in our flesh.

    Once we acknowledge our sin we can then ask the Lord to help us not to continue in that sin. God gives us power to say no to temptation if we call on him to help us and he can even change our stony heart and make it soft and pliable by his Holy Spirit.

    Life is a learning process and it is up to us to yield to the Lord in surrender so that he can make us what he wants us to be. That’s why scriptures tell us that ALL THINGS are working together for our good!

    Even our wrong choices can end up revealing to us our heart condition so that we can repent and be changed from one degree of God’s glory into another.

    Jeremiah 17:9-10
    The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

    I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

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    Distractions!

    ~ Kim Balogh ~ Leave a comment

    Many of us know that the seed of God’s word falling on thorny ground does not grow properly because of being choked out by the desire for this world’s goods.

    What we don’t take a closer look at is that the seed of God’s word gets drown out also by the cares of this life or merimna in the Greek that translates as distractions.

    While we may not be trying to climb the ladder of success in order to get rich or living to gratify our bodily appetites what we do a lot of is let distractions get in the way of our spiritual life.

    Yes, this seems to be the big issue we face day to day in trying to maintain a close walk with the Lord.

    Satan is a clever rascal. He knows that we probably are not going to buy into get rich quick schemes or raid the fridge to eat all of the left over birthday cake, (after all we have some restraint) but what he does and does a lot is distract us.

    Distractions come in various forms. Talking too long on the phone when we are supposed to be praying, watching too many videos instead of reading the word, spending too much time in fellowship with people instead of in communion with the Holy Spirit.

    We all do it and then we wonder what happened ! Where is God? Where is his presence? Did I do something wrong?

    Well, yeah! We just ignored the Holy Spirit who was tugging at our heart and continued to get carried away with distractions.

    Alright! I get it Lord Jesus! Losing a sense of God’s presence is like the hammer that has to fall on my head before I come to my senses.

    Now, I’m listening Lord. Distractions! That’s what it is! Dialing heaven for self control!

    It’s all a matter of priorities. Do we want to be a vessel ready for the Lord’s use ? Then it means giving up more than just pursuing worldly affairs. It means not letting distractions of life drown out God’s voice. Not letting even seemingly harmless things become more important than our time with God.

    Unless we draw from the Holy Spirit in our prayer closet and fill our hearts with his word we will end up being only spiritual duds. All talk and no action. All religion and no anointing.

    Distractions drown out the word of God sown by the Holy Spirit into our heart and that’s what we have to be on guard for. Old slew foot knows that distractions are his most powerful weapon against a Christian pursuing after God.

    So we just have to say no to his sneaky agenda and ignore those distractions when they come our way. If there is one thing that Satan is afraid of it’s a prayed up filled with the word of God daily Christian.

    With the Lord’s help we can make those distractions take a back seat and wait for us.

    Don’t let distractions choke out your spiritual destiny!

    Luke 18:14


    Continue reading “Distractions!” →

    Grace Abounds

    ~ Kim Balogh ~ 1 Comment

    Grace abounds to the sinner to bring salvation but when one is saved grace then has another job. Grace sanctifies.

    Scriptures tell us that God’s grace which brought us salvation also teaches us that we should deny ungodliness. That is, we should refuse any kind of wickedness.

    Grace teaches us by the Holy Spirit to refuse worldly lusts or desires of this world. What are these desires that we are to refuse? Any affections which are associated with this world system such as worldly aspirations, worldly ideologies, worldly habits, worldly sensuality. Worldly in fact is anything contrary to the word of God that claims our due attention and distracts us from doing God’s will for our lives.( Titus 2:11,12)

    God’s grace also teaches us to live soberly. To be sober means to be of sound mind. This includes being free of addictions or any thing that causes us to not have our full faculties.

    God’s grace teaches us to live righteously. That is to be just and upright; morally right and fair in our lifestyle, honorable, to keep our word. To be Honest in all things.

    God’s grace teaches us to be godly. That is to be God fearing, prayerful, holy and faithfully devoted to spiritual things.

    God’s grace teaches us to keep our eyes on Jesus and eternity for we have been saved from wickedness, sin, corruption and made new in Christ to be zealous; passionate, enthusiastically doing good works that each of us has been called to do as peculiar or special people of God.

    Titus 2

    For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
    Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

    Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;

    Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

    Grace not only saves by the unmerited mercy of God but Grace sanctifies by the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Jesus not only saved us from our sins but he has defeated the power of sin. (Romans 6)

    When we yield to God’s sanctitying grace we are kept by his grace from the power of sin. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

    Sin cannot rule over a blood bought redeemed child of God because the blood of Jesus has power to save from sin to the uttermost.

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    Does the Name of Jesus Save?

    ~ Kim Balogh ~ 2 Comments

    Does the name of Jesus really save? Well, that depends. It depends on which Jesus you are trusting in.

    The name Jesus is a Latin name derived from the Greek name Iesous which in turn is derived from the Hebrew name Yeshuah or Yehoshua. (Joshua)

    In Hebrew Yehoshua is a common name. While it means Savior or deliverer it could also be applied to any male child but that does not make them the Messiah.

    Some Christians get hung up on the name but fail to see that it’s the person behind the name that saves. The name Iesous has been saving people since the gospel was given to the Gentiles, the name Jesus has been saving people during the Roman Empire till now and the name Yeshuah has saved and is still saving many Jews.

    However, the name in and of itself does not save. Let me show you why this is so.

    Paul asked the Galatians if they were believing in another Jesus. Why would he do that? Simply because the Galatians were teaching a doctrine contrary to Paul’s gospel given to him by revelation of the scriptures by the Holy Spirit. Paul said that the Galatians were not trusting in the Messiah of scriptures but had made up their own Jesus according to their religious ideology.

    Another example is the sons of Sceva who tried to cast out demons by the name of Jesus. (Acts 13) It didn’t work. Why? Well because these Jews were trying to use the name of Yeshuah without having a relationship with the Messiah. The name Yeshuah had no power in and of itself .

    In Psalms 138 David wrote, “For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”

    Herein lies the answer. You see Jesus was the word incarnate. All that is written in scriptures is personified in Jesus Christ. If your Jesus is not the same Jesus as depicted in the scriptures and the gospel that you trust in is not the gospel delivered by Paul to the Gentiles then your Jesus is a different Jesus.

    The Messiah deliverer must be the same one preached in scriptures for salvation to occur. It does not matter if you use the name Jesus, Yeshuah, Joshua, Yehoshua, Jesu, Jezus, Yesu, ect.

    What matters is that you call upon the person who died for your sins on the cross and rose from the dead and that sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. It is important that you cry out in repentance to God in heaven for breaking his laws and ask him for his forgiveness and that you receive redemption through the sacrifice of his Son.

    When you call on the name of the Lord to save you it must be the name of the Savior depicted in the Bible. Not your own version of Jesus or the version of your church doctrine. Scriptures say that it is through God’s grace, his undeserved favor and mercy that we are saved and not by our own works or efforts. We must call on the Lord to save us from sin through faith in his salvation provided through his suffering on the cross. When we do this we pass from death unto life. The name of our Savior is Messiah or SAVIOR. So call on Jesus (Yehoshua) to save you today. Ephesians 2:8,9

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