Wow this to me is encouraging especially since I had a huge fight with my
mom the other day concerning my niece and she made me feel so guilty I half
backed down knowing that I was right in what I said.  Unfortunately for me I
know it will come up again so I wish I had not backed down I wish I had
stood my ground.  Even so I hope and pray she was convicted by what I said.
This was basically concerning my niece sleeping with and living with a guy
already at the age of fifteen.


--
Lelia - I_love_my_husband
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2005 11:24 AM
Subject: Judge Not


> Just remember, I didn't write this.  I already have enough people mad at
> me
> but this is preaching we rarely hear these days.
>
> Snip snip.
>
>> "Judge NOT!"
>  by David Kirkwood.
>
>  Anyone who holds to any standard of righteousness in our "culture
>  of tolerance" is in trouble. If you say, for example, that
>  homosexuality is a perversion, abortion is murder, sex outside of
>  marriage is a sin, or that Jesus is the only way to heaven, get
>  ready to be labeled. You will be categorized as "intolerant,"
>  because intolerance is not tolerated in our culture. You may also
>  be branded as close-minded, because our culture is not
>  open-minded to anyone who is "close-minded." You may be
>  criticized for being critical. And you will probably be branded as
>  unloving, because our culture just hates people who aren't "loving."
>  They really should start putting bumper stickers on their cars that
>  say, "I Do Not Tolerate People Who Are Intolerant."
>
>  Quite often, those who are are not tolerant of "intolerant" Christians
>  even cite the Bible to prove how wrong intolerance is. "Judge not!"
>  they quote Jesus as saying. They construe Christ's words to mean
>  that no one has the right to make a moral appraisal of anyone else.
>  In so doing, however, they make a moral appraisal of those whom
>  they accuse of making moral appraisals. If you say,"Homosexuality
>  is wrong," they say, "Don't judge!," and in the process they commit
>  the very crime of which they find you guilty. This is not something
>  that only those in the world do, but something that professing
>  Christians sometimes do as well. If you hold to any standards of
>  righteousness that exceed the low standards that many professing
>  Christians hold, you set yourself up to be a target by some even
>  within the church.... They too may judge you as being judgmental---
>  even if you keep completely silent about your convictions and just
>  live them. (I am doubtlessly being judged right now by some
>  readers as being judgmental for writing this!)
>
>  So exactly what did Jesus mean when He told His followers,
>  "Judge not, that you be not judged"? If we understand what He
>  meant, then we can strive to obey Him in this regard. Perhaps it
>  will help if we first consider what Jesus obviously did not  mean.
>  Clearly, Jesus did not mean that His followers should never make
>  moral appraisals of anyone, judging them in that sense. Just a few
>  seconds after He said, "Judge not," Jesus instructed His followers,
>  Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls
>  before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and
>  tear you to pieces (Matt. 7:6). Surely Jesus was not speaking of
>  literal dogs and pigs, but of people who, like dogs and pigs, don't
>  recognize what is truly valuable and holy. It seems that Jesus
>  could have been speaking only of people who reject His holy word
>  because they don't value it. If we are to obey this commandment
>  and not cast our pearls before pigs, we must of necessity appraise
>  people. We must judge if they are in the category of spiritual pigs
>  and dogs. How can we judge such people? We certainly can't tell
>  by looking at them. Sweet old ladies sometimes morph into
>  monsters when we attempt to speak to them about the Lord, while
>  tattooed tough guys, under conviction, may melt like margarine.
>  We must, therefore, cast at least one "pearl" and watch what
>  people do with it. If they trample it in the mud, we know they're
>  spiritual pigs or dogs. We shouldn't waste more pearls on them, at
>  least not until we allow some time for their hearts to soften. For
>  now, we should "shake off the dust from our feet" (see Matt. 10:14)
>  and look for those who value what we have to tell them. That is
>  what Paul practiced, displaying a certain degree of intolerance in a
>  manner prescribed by Jesus (see Acts. 13:51).
>
>  This should not only be practiced in regard to unbelievers who
>  reject God's Word, but in regard to so-called believers who just as
>  much reject God's Word. Don't waste your valuable time on people
>  who don't value God's Word. But back to my main point. We must
>  judge people in at least one sense if we are going to obey Christ's
>  command not to cast our pearls before pigs.
>
>  Judging Spiritual Leaders
>
>  Just a few more seconds after Jesus said, "Judge not," He also
>  instructed His followers to appraise spiritual leaders by their fruit.
>  By so doing, they could determine if a leader is a wolf disguised as
>  a sheep. This requires that Christ's followers judge spiritual leaders,
>  and it seems that there isn't enough of that kind of judging going on
>  because so many of us are being misled and devoured by wolves
>  that appear to be sheep. Sincere believers are often afraid of
>  judging spiritual leaders because they think that they shouldn't
>  "pass judgment" on them or "touch God's anointed." They couldn't
>  be more wrong. Jesus commands us to examine the fruit of
>  spiritual leaders and make judgments about them! We should be
>  looking at the fruit of every spiritual leader in the church. Don't
>  make the foolish error of "judging their fruit" by counting how many
>  miracles they perform or by how many thousands of people attend
>  their meetings. That is not the kind of fruit Jesus was saying we
>  should be examining. Speaking of spiritual leaders, Jesus warned
>  that many would say to Him, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy,
>  cast out demons and perform miracles in Your name?," and He
>  will say, "I never knew you" (see Matt. 7:22-23). Miracles are not
>  the proof of God's endorsement of a minister. (According to
>  Scripture, God may actually test our love for Him by means of
>  false prophets who work miracles; see Deut. 13:1-4.) A big crowd
>  may only be a sign of a big deceiver. The fruit of which Jesus
>  spoke is the fruit of holiness (see Matt. 7:21, 23). Are spiritual
>  leaders obeying Christ's commandments? That is the test. We
>  should also judge the teaching of spiritual leaders to make certain
>  their teaching is the teaching of Christ (see 2 John 1:7-11). If it
> isn't,
>  we are instructed by Scripture not to receive such people into our
>  homes (which takes on additional meaning when you realize that
>  the early church met primarily in homes), and not even to give
>  such teachers a greeting (much less an offering). Otherwise, says
>  John, we "participate in their evil deeds (see 2 John 1:11).
>
>  It is sobering to realize that we bear part of the responsibility for
>  the spiritual deception that is propagated by false teachers if we
>  support them in any way. It is amazing to me how many Christians,
>  whose hearts have been enlightened to fundamental and essential
>  biblical truth, attend and support churches that promote a false
>  gospel while leaving the "voices that are crying in the wilderness"
>  to continue crying in the wilderness, unsupported. They are eating
>  at Red Lobster and paying at Burger King. Some excuse
>  themselves by saying, "I'm giving to the Lord and my heart is right,
>  so it makes no difference where I give my money." The truth is,
>  you are supporting the devil with God's money. And God is not
>  likely to reward you for that! Like John, Paul also instructed us to
>  "beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the
>  false circumcision" (Phil. 3:2), and he, too, warned of false
>  apostles (see 2 Cor. 11:13-15). To obey these inspired instructions
>  given by Paul and John requires that we make judgments about
>  spiritual leaders and act on those judgments. Yet, again, it seems
>  that too few in the church follow such biblical instructions
>
>  According to the consistent teaching of the New Testament, the
>  outstanding characteristic of a false teacher is that his teaching
>  downplays the necessity of holiness (see Matt. 7:15-23;
>  Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Pet. 2:1-22; Jude 1:3-4). By that criteria, the
>  church today has been inundated with false teachers. In Scripture,
>  some of the New Testament authors go so far as to name the very
>  names of false spiritual leaders of whom the church should beware
>  (see 1 Tim. 1:19-20; 2 Tim. 2:16-18; 4:10; 3 John 1:9). This
>  required a judgment on the part of those authors. By exposing and
>  warning the church of certain false teachers, something that is
>  often today classed as "passing judgment" or as being "unloving,"
>  these authors actually showed their genuine love for Christ's body.
>  Jesus commended the church in Ephesus for judging correctly
>  certain men as being false apostles (see Rev. 2:2).
>
>  Judging Other Believers
>
>  So far we've seen that we should judge, in some sense, unbelievers
>  and spiritual leaders. But what about judging fellow believers?
>  Believe it or not, Scripture teaches that we all have a responsibility
>  to judge, at least in some sense, everyone within the church.
>
>  Surprised about that? Read what Paul wrote to the Corinthian
>  Christians who had failed to judge a man in their midst who was
>  living in an immoral relationship with his stepmother: For what
>  have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who
>  are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges.
>  [The clear implication is that they should judge those within the
>  church.] Remove the wicked man [this requires a judgment] from
>  among yourselves (1 Cor. 5:12-13)
>
>  And it is not only people within the church who are living in immoral
>  relationships whom God expects us to judge. In the same passage,
>  Paul declared, I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate
>  with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people
>  of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters;
>  for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote
>  to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be
>  an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a
>  drunkard, or a swindler---not even to eat with such a one
>  (1 Cor. 5:9-11). To obey this instruction, we must make judgments
>  about people within the church and act on those judgments. If we
>  discover a professing Christian who is an immoral person, greedy,
>  an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard or a swindler, we are not to
>  associate with him or her at all. The reason is because such
>  people bring a stain and reproach on what the church is supposed
>  to be---the holy followers of Christ. Such people are not true
>  followers of Christ, regardless of what they claim, and they are on
>  the broad road that leads to hell, as Paul wrote in the same
>  passage, Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit
>  the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor
>  idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,nor
>  thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers,
>  shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but
>  you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified
>  in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God
>  (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Paul warns us not to be deceived about this, but
>  again, so many are. When entire denominations agree that
>  homosexuals are fit to be ordained for ministry, they've abandoned
>  the Bible and bought into the world's "tolerance message." They
>  are deceived in their tolerance. But this is not the only way we are
>  told in Scripture to judge those within the church. We are also
>  instructed by Jesus to confront those within the church who sin
>  against us (see Matt. 18:15-17), and this, of course, requires that
>  we make a judgment about offenders. If they don't receive us, we
>  are to take one or two others, who must also make a judgment
>  about the offender and confront him a second time. If an offender
>  doesn't receive the testimony of those two or three, he should be
>  taken before the entire church, who must also then make a
>  judgment about him. (Keep in mind that Jesus was thinking of
>  small churches that met in homes---as all churches were until
>  A.D. 300 when Constantine married the world with the church---
>  churches that were like families, in which everyone knew and loved
>  the offender and the offended person. This third part of His
>  instruction could never be followed in large, modern churches
>  without it resulting in a church split. In such cases, the third step
>  should be administrated in a small group of believers who all know
>  and love both parties.) If the offender doesn't receive the church's
>  call to repentance, he should, according to Jesus, be "treated like
>  a Gentile or tax-gatherer" (Matt. 18:17). That sounds quite
>  "intolerant," doesn't it? Some professing Christians might accuse
>  a church that followed this practice of being intolerant" and
>  "unloving." But the truth is, those churches who are tolerant in this
>  respect are the ones that are not loving. They help deceive
>  unrepentant sinners within their ranks to think they are on the road
>  to eternal life.
>
>  In any case, we see that when Jesus said, "Judge not," He could
>  not have meant that we are not to judge in any sense those within
>  the church, otherwise He contradicted Himself in other places,
>  and Paul contradicted Him as well. The truth, as we have seen, is
>  that Christians are to judge, in some sense, unbelievers, spiritual
>  leaders and believers. Thus it seems that we don't need less
>  judgment by Christ's followers these days; we need more judgment.
>  We've been entrusted, by God Himself, with the very important
>  responsibility to judge---and primarily to keep the church pure.
>  What could be more important than that?
>
>  If we ever hope, however, to judge the world and angels in the future,
>  we must properly judge now. Judging Righteously In all of these
>  cases when Scripture instructs us make judgments about people,
>  we must be cautious that we don't make assumptions and wrongly
>  judge anyone. In regard to Himself, Jesus once said to some of
>  His detractors, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge
>  with righteous judgment" (John 7:24). Similarly, God commanded
>  every Israelite in the Law of Moses: You shall do no injustice in
>  judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great,
>  but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. You shall not go about as
>  a slanderer among your people.... You shall not hate your fellow
>  countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor,
>  but shall not incur sin because of him (Lev. 19:15-17).  If you've
>  ever been a victim of people's wrong judgments or been slandered,
>  you know how much it hurts. We should therefore take every
>  precaution that we don't make wrong judgments about others,
>  much less spread our wrong judgments to others, which amounts
>  to slander. Our judgments should be based on facts, and we
>  should always strive to believe the best until we know the worst.
>  And if we love fellow believers whom we judge, we will speak to
>  them first, and not others, about their sin as the scripture we just
>  read says. In the case of false believers and false teachers (who
>  are of course unbelievers), a different rule applies, as is clear from
>  Paul's instructions and dealings with the immoral man in Corinth.
>  False teachers, especially, should be publicly exposed. Not only
>  should our judgments be based on truthful facts, they should be
>  based on scriptural truth as well. For example, Scripture does not
>  give us the right to determine that someone is not saved because
>  he drank a glass of wine or because she doesn't wear her hair in
>  a bun. We must also be cautious that we don't judge what is
>  impossible to judge. For example, we don't know the motives of
>  people's hearts (see 1 Cor. 4:5). On the other hand, according to
>  Jesus, there are times when we do know something about what is
>  in people's hearts, and we can judge righteously in this regard to
>  some degree. Jesus told us, For from within, out of the heart of
>  men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders,
>  adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit,
>  sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil
>  things proceed from within and defile the man" (Mark. 7:21-23).
>
>  I remember once being rebuked by a parishioner because I said
>  that a certain political leader who claimed to be a Christian was
>  certainly not a Christian because of his immoralities and lies.
>  "You don't know what is in his heart," I was told. However, not only
>  did I make my statement based upon the fact that Scripture tells
>  us not to be deceived in this matter (that no adulterers will inherit
>  God's kingdom and that all liars will be cast into the lake of fire),
>  but actually, in this case, I knew what everyone else could and
>  should have known about what was in that particular adulterer's
>  heart---adultery. We know and can thus judge what is in the heart
>  of every adulterer when he or she committed his or her sin---
>  adultery. Likewise, theft was in the heart of the thief, murder was
>  in the heart of the murderer, and deceit is in the heart of the
>  deceiver. In all of these cases and others like them, we can judge
>  what is in people's hearts. Of course, if people repent, their hearts
>  change, but repentance of the heart is also something that shows
>  up on the outside and can thus be righteously judged. As hard as
>  it is for us to accept this in an age when "toleration" is the word,
>  that is precisely why John wrote, By this the children of God and
>  the children of the devil are obvious [that is, it is easy to judge who
>  is saved and who is not]: anyone who does not practice
>  righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his
>  brother (1 John 3:10). Do you believe this? By this criteria, there
>  are multitudes of people who consider themselves born again
>  within the church who are actually children of the devil, and we
>  have the clear biblical right to make such a judgment.
>
>  So What Did Jesus Mean?
>
>  "Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you
>  will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be
>  measured to you. And why do you look at the speck that is in
>  your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own
>  eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck
>  out of your eye," and behold, the log is in your own eye? You
>  hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will
>  see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye"
>  (Matt. 7:1-5). Clearly, in light of the greater and lesser context of
>  Jesus' command not to judge, He was speaking about the sin of
>  searching for small flaws in fellow believers (thrice He speaks of
>  "brothers" in this passage) by those who have bigger faults. As
>  Jesus warned, God will hold us to the same standard to which we
>  hold others. He doesn't appreciate those who don't practice what
>  they preach. Those who do are in danger of being judged by God,
>  and He often does so by exposing their hypocrisy. So if we point
>  out the faults of others when we are guilty of the same or greater
>  faults, we are guilty of the kind of judgment that Jesus here forbids.
>  But don't read more into what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5 than
>  what is there. Read exactly what He said. Jesus did not
>  completely forbid finding fault (or "judging" in that sense), and if He
>  did, it would contradict much of what He said elsewhere. Note that
>  Jesus said, "First take the log out of your own eye, and then you
>  will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye"
>  (Matt. 7:5). That is, first repent yourself, then help others to repent.
>  Too many of us are stagnant in this regard, examining neither
>  ourselves nor helping anyone else after our repentance. We have a
>  superficial relationship with God and a superficial relationship with
>  each other. We've nurtured a complacent attitude that either says,
>  "Hey...I m OK, you're OK...we're all OK," or worse than that: "Look,
>  we're all just a bunch of sinners here, so let's have another round of
>  grace."
>
>  If we are to help others enjoy all the blessings of holiness (a true
>  act of love on our part), we must first be holy ourselves. Nobody
>  receives correction from those whom they don't respect and those
>  whose own faults are glaring. And God becomes angry with those
>  who hold others to a standard by which they themselves don't live.
>  Such people are hypocrites, as Jesus said, pretending to be what
>  they are not. How many preachers (like myself) have heard the
>  stinging yet loving words of their spouses on a Sunday afternoon,
>  "Great sermon today, honey. You really ought to consider living it
>  yourself!"? Ouch!
>
>  One Final Thought...
>
>  Please note that every scripture we've considered in this teaching
>  is addressed, not to pastors, but to every follower of Christ. This
>  leaves us with one overriding thought: Every believer is expected
>  by God to be passionate and active in the pursuit of personal and
>  corporate holiness. Paul didn't tell the pastors in Corinth to judge
>  and remove the wicked man from among them. (In fact, Paul gave
>  no specific instructions to pastors, elders, or overseers in either of
>  his letters to the Corinthians or in the majority of his other letters,
>  a significant fact.) Removing the wicked man was something every
>  member of the body was to be involved in. Similarly, Jesus made
>  it clear that every believer has responsibility to judge spiritual
>  leaders by their fruit so that no wolves in sheep's clothing will lead
>  the church away from holiness. Every believer, according to what
>  we read, should judge and not associate with those who claim to
>  be Christ's yet who practice unrighteousness, lest the church be
>  stained before the world. Every Christian should judge himself and
>  remove the logs from his own eyes so he can be personally pure
>  and can then see clearly to remove the specks from his brothers'
>  eyes. How many of us have a relationship with God and other
>  believers like that? May God have mercy on us and help us to
>  grow up! And may judgment, biblical judgment, increase within
>  Christ's church.
>
>  For more online teachings by David Kirkwood, please visit his
>  website-  http://www.shepherdserve.org/
>
>
>
> Victory isn't something you have, it is something you are.
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>