Guidelines... Five Minutes about Hell

Guidelines is a radio ministry that teaches on various Biblical topics. Click here to link to their website and hear about hell.

What Comes Out Reveals Whats Within

The girls are now day eleven into their science experiment. Remember they are speaking positive words to cooked rice in one jar and then speaking negative words to cooked rice in another jar. And you know what....this little experiment has got me thinking. Anybody who really knows me knows that I am a deep thinker. Sometimes maybe even too deep. So last night I got to thinking about a book I recently read called War of Words by Paul David Tripp. This book is one of the best books I could recommend besides the Bible itself. I was thinking about a passage in the Bible that Mr. Tripp states as his source of reference. 

Matthew 12:33-37                                                                                        (New American Standard Bible)                        

Words Reveal Character                                                               

33"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; forthe tree is known by its fruit. 34"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35"The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. 36"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37"For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Jesus spoke these words. He was talking to people who thought their status and affluence would determine their holiness. The Pharisees looked the part, as do many of us. Wait let me make it personal, as do I. But Jesus had another standard to measure my sincerity. He measures me by my words and my actions! 

Day 11 Still White

Day 11 Turning Black

Look at these jars, once opened the only thing that will come out is what is inside. For the jar that has been spoken to kindly, good white rice will come out. And for the jar that was been spoken to negatively, mold, bacteria and a stench will flow. There are no other options. Those are the only things that can come from them because that is what is contained in them. To me, these little jars represent the heart of man. My heart, your heart, every single created being. Now I don't want to get caught up on the external factors that cause negative and positive results within. Because we are dull sheep and we can easily be lead astray of the importance of the lesson. Yes, it is true! Many people are what life has made them to be...divorce, abuse, poverty are just a few of the factors that bring about rot. All of which are apart of what has shaped me.But even if that is true there is a greater Truth at work. You have the ability to determine how any external factor is going to influence your heart. Will you let the hurt from unkind words rot away at you? Or the hypocrisy of the foolish eat away at your heart? Will you allow your inability to forgive that very one who hurt you build bitterness within you? Or will you trust in the Savior? Trust in the above scripture? Face the fact that you cannot hide. Your words will always find you out and you will be measured you by them.

You see I'm passionate about this topic because it hits straight at my heart. It makes me face my sin! No matter what caused it. My sin of unforgiveness, reconciliation, extending mercy and grace. All of which the Lord commands me to do regardless of the situation.You can always tell what is in my heart by my face, my words and my actions. No matter how much I try to "fake" it I just can't. Why? Because Jesus Christ is so much more on to me then I know! But I need Jesus more and more. I need him to change my words! I need him to change my thoughts and I ultimately need him to change my heart. So that I may be the good man who brings out the good stored up in him. How about you?

Phileo, 

Patsy

For more in-depth study read Matthew Henry's Commentary by clicking here

Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

Is it the Law or is it the Cross?  Well my dear friend, may I humbly suggest, it is both!  What is the Law?  What is the Cross?  Well I'm talking about the message of the Gospel. A message that is not heard in it's entirety much these days. You see right now, in the year 2011, the message the disciples preached and died for has changed!  The message that Peter preached was the Law and the Cross!


Acts 2 (New Living Translation) Please read all of Acts 2, the following are the highlighted scriptures that I would like to emphasize.


Acts 2: 14, 22-24, 31-34, 36-40

 ¹⁴ Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this.

²² “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene^[d] by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. ²³ But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. ²⁴ But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. 

 ²⁹ “Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. ³⁰ But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne. ³¹ David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.³² “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. ³³ Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 
      
 ³⁶ “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
 ³⁷ Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
 ³⁸ Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles^[h]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”⁴⁰ Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

You see the message Peter preached was the Law...you are a sinner and He preached the Cross...repent of your sinfulness and receive the pardon Jesus died to give you!

And that is the message of the Gospel...Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary for Law Breakers...whom are you and I.  Unfortunately, many modern day preachers are not preaching this message!  What I hear doesn't even sound like what Peter said!  And isn't the Bible our example, our mirror, that we should look on at our reflection?  And after we have seen our reflection and see that it doesn't look like the mirror...well then what do we do?  Do we change the reflection or do we change the mirror???  Well, in today's society the mirror has been changed...the standard has been changed!  Todays Gospel is no longer "Wretched Sinners that so desperately need a a Savior!", but rather "Hurting and Problem Filled People who Need a Savior to Make their life Meaningful and Happy."  No where in Peter's message will you read that!!!  Over and over he points to the Law to reveal the sin in each of us and then he points to the penalty for that sin which is death.  He points to the one who paid for that sin...Jesus!  He points to the guilty one who received the pardon... us!  Finally he tells us what to do about it...repent and receive forgiveness!!! 

We as a created people are sinners!  We simply are!  That is why we fail, we hurt people, including our own spouses and children!  We lie and gossip!  We hate and then pretend that we love!  We steal and are never content!  How many of us are swimming in debt, just so we can have what everyone else has?  Is God the center of your life or is there something or someone else that you want more?  Have you rested on the truth of what Jesus has done for you on that Cross?  Well my friend, if you are guilty in any of these areas then you are guilty of them all...you are a Lawbreaker and your penalty is death!  It doesn't sound like a loving and kind message BUT it is!!  God loves us so much He is offering us a way out of our sinful condition!  In our shallow minds we think that love is... give me my dreams and material prosperity!  But the Lord says I want to give you something far greater...it's forgiveness that we so DESPERATELY need...so that we can really live!  Will you accept the payment made by Jesus Christ for you?  Will you humble yourself and repent and admit you are guilty and then receive the forgiveness and cleansing that Jesus offers!!  This is the message of the Gospel! This is the truth!  We need the Savior, I constantly need the Savior!  The more I read my Bible and get closer to the Lord, the more sin I see and the more sin I see, the more I need to repent and receive forgiveness!  It is a life long process but Jesus is faithful...lifelong!   

May I say, my friend, there are no similarities between the the first message of the Gospel that Peter preached and the Gospel Message of the 21st Century!  None!  One removes our burden and the other places a stronger one!  They are indeed two different messages...whom will you believe?

Come to Jesus!

Phileo,

Patsy

Being Simon Peter

 Do you notice the resemblance? It's Simon Peter! You know, one of Jesus' chosen disciples. Sure, we could be twins! All you have to do is look real good and you can see what I see... that we are much more alike then you know.


Just what am I talking about... pride, shame, hurt, weeping, arrogance, weakness... the list goes on and on. Peter was God's chosen "Rock." But he was also God's chosen weakling. God used the very makings of Peter to show me a mirror of myself.
Rewind, April 2009, I sat with my friend, complaining as usual. I was talking about this Christian and that Christian and why don't they do things like this and why don't they do things like that? And in the middle of my rampage my sweet friend turned to me and said, "Patsy, I can tell you exactly what your problem is!" "Oh yeah", I said, "What is it?" "Your problem is pride.", she said. I said, "Well of course I'm proud, look at all that God has done in my life. Look at where I once was and look now. Look how much change he has done!"
Wrong answer!!! My reply should have been one of gratefulness and thankfulness that He had done anything at all. But for the next twelve months the Lord took me on a journey to show me my pride, to humiliate me with it, weep for site of my sin and bring me back to forgiveness and grace.
 Impulsive and boastful Peter said in Mark 14: 29, "Even if all fall away, I will not!!!" Isn't that pretty much what I was saying? No one else can endure the way I can. No one else loves you more than me! They will fall, no doubt. But not me Lord, no way! But did Peter fall? Absolutely, and he fell in front of them all. It was humiliating!
On the very night Jesus was arrested he was pretty much told by Jesus to calm down, don't make such arrogant claims, for this very night you will indeed fall away. As a matter of fact you will completely deny you ever knew me! But Peter doubted, even exclaiming I will never disown you! He didn't yet fully believe that Jesus knows the inward makings of the heart. He didn't fully know the limits of his own weakness and strength.  So Jesus was going to have to prove it to him and teach a lesson that he would learn well and never forget.
Mark 14: 66-72, Matthew 26: 69-75, Luke 22: 54-62 and John 18: 15-27 all give accounts of Peters betrayal and fall. In addition they speak about him being broken and weeping bitterly. Those are quite descriptive.  Broken, just what did he need to be broken of? His pride, his arrogance, his self-will.
 Weeping bitterly, what for? Perhaps he saw himself for what he was. A betrayer ranked among the lines of Judas. He saw his sin and ultimately what he was capable of on his on strength.
From the death of Jesus, to the resurrection, to when we finally see Jesus meet with Peter and some of the other disciples on the beach we really never hear pride from Peter again. You see Jesus, in his gentle love, restores Peter. He makes sure to make it known. "Feed my Lambs." In other words care for my very own, love them as you have loved me and as I love you. I never read Peter making a boastful claim that he loves Jesus more then the other when Jesus asks, "Do you love me more then these?" As a matter of fact he is beside himself again with wonder because he knows that fall he just had and he also knows that Jesus knows his heart better then he does. But in Jesus' gentle way He loves on Peter and brings him back to that place where he can walk in confidence with his Savior.
Is that me? Absolutely! God just took me through a humiliating season of seeing how far I can really go for Jesus. He showed me how much sin was in my heart, how much shame I bring him when I fail him and fall and most of all the lonely feeling of not having his presence with me. And I wept... I wept bitterly to see me as I was. I experienced humility once my pride was removed and I was able to call upon the name of the Lord to forgive and he did.
What did I learn? Never again will I boost that God has done more in my life or that I am more faithful than another. John 15:5 "Apart from me you can do nothing!"And that is the truth!
One other note that I was thinking of today. It will be one year this June 2nd that I suffered a miscarriage,  and as sorrowful as that loss was... it was nothing compared to the sorrow I felt for disappointing my Lord and not having His presence felt near me!
Blessings, Patsy

"Looks can be Deceiving"

Patsy
Originally uploaded by Patsy Gutierrez

Ram asked, "What are you doing?" I replied, "Working on my blog." "Oh yeah. What are you writing about?", he asked.
I said, "I'm writing about the girls fishing at Landa Park."
Then he replied, "Why don't you write about us?"
What! I was taken for a moment. Write about us, right now, what we are going through! Well that is exactly what he meant. He wants me to write what we are experiencing right now.
Well as of today we are on a rocky road. We have always been pretty transparent people. If we are happy we laugh, if we are sad we cry and if we are mad we fight. We have never been fake in just being who we are. But the struggles we are facing right now are different then just mere emotions changing. We are on a rocky road in our marriage right now. We are angry with each other, we are hurt with each other, we have said "not so nice" things to one another and there have been many questions raised. What's at stake... everything! The easy option is to say.. "That's it! I've had it! It's over!"
But we never do anything easy and quitting is not an option.
So what's the solution.... Christ's example! Wow, it is so much easier to say it then do it. Right now I don't want to forgive, I don't want to be kind, I want to stay upset and I want to remind him of his failures. Ok, nows the time to look at that "cute little photo" up there and say I can't believe she is acting like that. But it is true! I am just like anybody else, except for one possible difference... My faith. You see, that woman you see in that photo has only one real choice. Yes, I may not want to forgive, I may want to stand in my pride and continue to be ticked off. But if I claim to walk with Christ, if I claim to have any inheritance in His Kingdom than I must swallow my pride and do all that Christ requires of me.
I don't want to forgive Ramiro, but Christ forgave me. I don't want to show kindness but even when I hated Christ he extended great kindness to me. I really want to stay upset and remind Ram of his failures but then I  remember the Lord says he forgives my failures and remembers them no more. You see I don't have an ounce to stand on, I just can't win! If I want to be his disciple I have to live out what he first lived out.  No matter how much I have been hurt, not matter how much I may even be right, the fact remains I still do not have a justified reason to not humble myself and extend love, grace and mercy.
You see, this is what I am talking about. This faith walk is so much harder than I could have ever realized. Forgiveness is not easy. Showing kindness and giving a gentle word or touch seems almost impossible. But when I stop and think and really understand the Cross and what it means for me. Then I have no excuse.
So look again! She looks so sweet, a picture of maternal bliss! But her heart is in opposition to the Lord. There is sin at work that desires to have her. But there is also the Holy Spirit at work that will ultimately win her.
My prayer tonight... Patsy, humble yourself! The Lord will oppose you if you continue to stand in your pride (no matter what rights you think you have). But He will give you the grace you need if you choose to humble yourself. Oh Jesus help me to do that. Help me to love my husband and help me to truly forgive and then ask to be forgiven.

The Truth of My Thoughts

This morning's Matthew Henry's Prayer Method Devotional stretched me. Simply put, my thoughts are ugly; And my intentions can be quite sinful. I am humbled again. To many times I feel like I have a right! A right to make my point, a right to be heard and a right to demand my way. But when I really stop and compare the way I am thinking, what I am demanding and what I am desiring against the Word of God and the example of Christ, what I often find is all my wants and thoughts are me centered and selfish. 

Oh Lord, Help me today to be like you. To consider others higher than myself. Even as your example was so that you laid your very life down for those who hated you. Grant me grace and help me to live out your example.

If you would like to receive the same daily devotional please subscribe at the link below.

Blessings, 

Patsy

http://www.matthewhenry.org/daily-devotional-emails/?id=1

Lament and Confess your Vain Thoughts and Carnal Affections

4.3

The vanity of my thoughts, their neglect of those things which they ought to be conversant with and dwelling upon those things that are unworthy of them and tend to corrupt my mind.

Every intent of the thoughts of my heart is evil, only evil, and that continually, Genesis 6:5(NASB) and it has been so from my youth. Genesis 8:21(NASB)
O how long have those wicked thoughts lodged within me! Jeremiah 4:14(NASB) Like the devising of folly, those thoughts are sin. Proverbs 24:9(NASB) From within, out of the heart, come evil thoughts; Matthew 15:19(NASB) which work out evil on the bed, Micah 2:1(NASB) and carry the heart with the fool’s eyes to the ends of the earth. Proverbs 17:24(NASB)
But God is not in all my thoughts; Psalm 10:4(KJV) it is well if He is any of them. I have neglected the Rock who begot me, and have forgotten the God who gave me birth: Deuteronomy 32:18(NASB) I have forgotten Him days without number, Jeremiah 2:32(NASB) and my heart has walked after emptiness and become empty. Jeremiah 2:5(NASB) My inner thought having been that my house was forever: Psalm 49:11(NASB) this, my way, is the way of those who are foolish. Psalm 49:13(NASB)

4.4

The carnality of my affections, their being placed on wrong objects and carried beyond due bounds.

I have set my mind on things beneath, which should have been set on things above, where my treasure is, Matthew 6:21(NASB) where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; Colossians 3:1-2(NASB) these are the things which I should seek.
I have followed after vain idols and forsaken my faithfulness; Jonah 2:8(NASB) have forsaken the fountain of living waters, for cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13(NASB)
I have panted after the very dust of the earth, Amos 2:7(NASB) and have been full of care regarding what I shall eat and what I shall drink and what I shall wear for clothing, the things which the Gentiles eagerly seek. Matthew 6:31-33(NASB)
I have lifted up my soul to falsehood, Psalm 24:4(NASB) and set my eyes on the things which are not; have looked at the things which are seen, which are temporal, but the things which are eternal have been forgotten and postponed. 2 Corinthians 4:18(NASB)