Rivendell Fellowship

  The concept of "being Christlike" can be misunderstood, as people might interpret it as trying to perfectly replicate every action of Jesus, which is not realistic, but rather the focus should be on emulating his character traits like love, compassion, forgiveness, and humility, even when facing difficult situations. Key points about the misunderstanding:    Perfectionism: Some might believe that being Christlike means being completely flawless, which is not attainable for humans as Jesus is divine.    Literal interpretation: Taking Jesus' actions too literally without considering the context or the overall message of his teachings.    Ignoring personal struggles: Failing to acknowledge that even Jesus faced challenges and temptations, making it important to seek grace and forgiveness when we fall short.        What does it truly mean to be Christlike?    Love your neighbor: Following Jesus' example of showing love and k...

By Kirby Harris God provides everything we need. Although, God provides the building blocks of provision, God also tasked man with, and put it into man, the need to cultivate what God has provided, turn it into something.  Also, God tasked woman with, and put it into woman, the need to come alongside man as a help-mate to help man cultivate what God provided, and made her to rely on her husband, and God. Both are to trust and rely on God. Take Adam, God gave him the whole Garden, all provision, but gave him a stake in it. Required him to cultivate it. God did the same with every believer in the Bible, as well as every godly nation. God provided and expected them to cultivate and maintain it. God then made Adam a help-mate to help him cultivate God’s provision, and made her to desire to help and rely on her husband Adam, and God. Both were to rely on God. He does the same with us today.

The reason God won't go beyond his word the bible on salvationor any other issue, is because God is not a liar, so does not lie.  If God said salvation is only through repenting and believing in Jesus in the bible, and then went beyond the bible and allowed people to be saved some other way, then that would make God a liar. And we know God is no liar. God gave his written word to speak his truth and tell us how he operates. So people can't say, "God told me", when he didn't. It is a check on claims. Salvation through Jesus verses: Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" John 3:16–18 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" ...

By Kirby Harris The Spirit really spoke to me today. Thought I would share it with you. We try and kill sin and the flesh by controlling and modifying our behavior, when that doesn't kill it. Our heart desires feed the flesh and our sin.  We need to let the Spirit change our heart, our desires by focusing on what Christ did for us and how we are only holy because of what he did, not what we do. Colossians 2:20-23: Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indul...

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed.  You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again.  At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal.  Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power.  But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are ...

A servant does what he has to do out of obligation or because he gets paid. But a Son does what he does because he gets to and requires no pay! God says we are no longer servants but sons! So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. ~ Galatians 4:7 A servant is accepted and appreciated based on his contribution.   A son is accepted and appreciated based on his position, not his contribution.

Matthew 5:1-12 Jesus tells us how to be happy The Beatitudes is supernatural to human nature  Makarios- oh how happy True happiness is a byproduct of a right relationship with God 8 Christian Characteristics of the Beatitudes 1. Blessed are the poor in Spirit - Poor in Spirit is giving all authority to God - You can’t be full of pride and selfish ambition - You can’t love the things of this world 2. Blessed are those who Mourn for they shall be comforted  - The most intense kind of mourning - Mourning: deep sorrow of losing a loved one; sorrow over conditions of the world; sorrow over our own sinful state 3. Blessed are the meek - Meek: happy medium between two extremes - Meekness isn’t weakness - Power under control  - Jesus is our best example - Jesus loved those who mocked and beat Him - You choose not to use your power against others - A God-controlled life is meekness 4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness  - It’s desiring ALL o...

Everything we do comes from our hearts.  One of the most succinct ways the Bible states this truth is found in Proverbs 4:23. The idea can be stated so succinctly because it contains two metaphors. The first metaphor is pretty familiar to us - your heart.  In the mind of the author of Proverbs and his original hearers, the heart is the center of a person. The heart is comprised of the thoughts, volition, conscience and more.  The second metaphor isn’t terribly difficult to understand either. It combines two words in the original language of Hebrew. The first word communicates the idea of the place things begin:  their source, starting point, or the place from where things outpour. The second word communicates life. So the metaphor is like a river of life or the place from where all life flows.  Combine the two images and you get a picture of all life flowing out of the starting place of the heart.  According to this verse, ou...

What is God after? What does he want from us? Is he after a song on Sunday or a really good prayer at night? I think we all know the answer is no. God is after our hearts.  One of the clearest moments in the Bible where we learn this truth is in Isaiah. God is describing through his prophet a siege that is coming upon Jerusalem.  However, no matter how much the people hear of Isaiah’s words and God’s revelation, they will not really listen. They will be like a person who is given a book but cannot open it and like one who is given a book but cannot read (29:11-12).  So why this coming punishment? And why can’t the people understand the visions and warnings from God?  Here is where we get our clear picture of what God is after. Here is the reason.  “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (29:13).  God is punishing and blinding his people because they are putting on a show o...

I grew up thinking temptation was where sin came from. On any given day, I would be going about my business and then temptation would spring to life: a pretty girl would walk by, a friend would launch into a dirty joke, a copy of next week’s test would fall into my hands. It was my duty, then and there, to fight temptation by saying no to it or fleeing from it altogether. Temptation was the enemy. Defeat meant sin. But the problem is not temptation. The real problem is in the heart where our desires lie.  Temptation cannot exist where desire does not first exist. You cannot be tempted to do something you do not first want. The Bible teaches that desire brings about temptation. “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death” (1:14–15). When does temptation occur? After the desires have enticed us. Temptations do not produce desires, but desir...

What causes us to do good or evil? Most people seem to think that it comes down to the decisions we make. If you set your mind on doing good you will. If you choose to do evil, you’ll do that instead.  But Jesus teaches us that the real source of our actions lies much deeper. It all comes down to the heart.  “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Lk. 6:45).  Whatever is in your heart ends up in your life.  What you treasure, value, glory in, and enjoy will result in what you do. If you treasure good things in your heart, then you will do good. If you treasure evil in your heart, then you will do evil.  So how do we change what our hearts treasure? The answer, in Jesus’ words, is different than we might expect. We might expect a list of disciplines, habits, or meditations that would change what our hearts ...