There is no promise or service we can offer God that will be accepted by him or provoke his favor or forgiveness toward us. God’s forgiveness is his favor toward us. Service to God is not something we can barter for favor, it is an expression of faith because we’ve already received his forgiveness. There is no promise we can make that could attempt to be equal with the promise of eternal through Christ Jesus. Now we can focus our efforts on our relationship with him instead of believing we can impress him. THIS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
Monthly Archives: October 2017
Messengers Should be Assessed by on the Message They Deliver.
Be careful not to judge the message, ministry or the effectiveness of a person based on personality, style or other externals.
Luke 7:33-35 says, “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children.
Clearly, the religious leaders condemned any pattern of living and personal style that differed from theirs to disqualify the message they heard. Note there wasn’t anything immoral or sinful in about either man so their observations was merely a means to nullify their message.
James 2:1-4 says, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
Choosing to honor (or dishonor) one person over another based on their appearance, affluence or authority among the people of God is clearly considered the sin of “Respect of Persons”.
Isaiah 53:2 says, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.”
The prophet is letting us know that the purpose and message of Christ would stand apart of any kind personal or social charisma. The flesh is attracted to the things of the flesh and the natural senses, but the person and message of Christ are only understood by the spirit and the things of the spirit. The flesh should never be allowed to define or disregard spiritual things, and the Spirit should never rely on the flesh to comprehend spiritual things.
So the next time you hear or see something asserting or defining the spiritual things remember words from 1 John 4:1,
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
and Romans 8:5-8,
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. ”
Clearly, the believer needs to be able to “discern” whether or not a message is spiritually genuine or not. Instead of focusing on the flesh and unspiritual externals judge this: Is what I’m hearing consistent with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, and Is what I’m seeing consistent with the character of Christ. Every other method is reckless and will only lead to disappointment and frustration.
Solid Foundation or Subjective Persepctive?
ABIDING FAITH: The reason there is so much stagnation in the lives of “professing” Christians and deadness in churches – We allow personal perspectives to drive belief. Each person has a different perspective which means there is no standard foundation for belief. Christ is not the sovereign head and Lord, he just a religious figurehead we call Lord. Meanwhile, I’ll do my thing and you do yours. At best this causes confusion and disarray. (If you live in North Dakota that means “a hot mess”) At worst this is anarchy and idolatry. The cure – Allow Christ to conform our foundational beliefs to His Word so our perspectives will be based on His Lordship not our own. Christ is the head of the Church and the Lord of believers. What he says goes. We seek him for his direction and will. We surrender our will and sacrifice our goals for his. This changes everything.
Purity, it’s more than you thought.
Abiding Faith: Purity – an attribute for which we receive great reward, but that comes at a cost. Purity comes at the expense of rejecting the immorality and impurity the world pushes at us through books, magazines, and television. It comes at the expense of guarding our eyes against pornography and guarding our hearts and minds against lust. It comes at the expense of removing ourselves from the immoral company and not pursuing entertainment that tempts and seduces us. But the reward for purity is an imperishable – eternal – incorruptible crown from the Lord. It’s greater than anything we may miss having or doing down here. Heaven, a pure place for people purified by the blood of Jesus. Lord, “… create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me …”!
Junk in – Junk out Righteous in – Righteous out
ABIDING FAITH: Your eyes & ears are the gateway to your mind which feeds your heart. The quality of what you let in determines the quality of your thoughts, motives, & action. Let it in, process it, project it. (Junk in – Junk out Righteous in – Righteous out) Don’t be fooled, what you feed the eyes and ears will ultimately come out of you. The best defense is to filter everything through the Word of God, prayer, & the Holy Spirit. Then you can accept the good & reject everything else.
God’s Love is Higher than Man’s Love.
Abiding Faith: God loves us on his level not man’s level. Man’s level of love can (and often is) subject to personal feelings and circumstances. God’s level of love is based on his holy, righteous, and eternal being. God’s love does not change or fail. Man’s love ends when a man gets tired of loving or when death comes. God’s love defeats all challenges problems and goes beyond the barriers of death. Today God’s love holds up the hope of Salvation through Christ Jesus. If you confess that you are a sinner, repent of your sins and surrender to Christ as Savior and Lord, you can know God’s love for yourself. If you desire to be born-again – contact me or any of the believers on my FB page. Any of us would be honored explain God’s plan of Salvation to you.
Believing In Christ Means Living to be Pleasing to Christ.
Abiding Faith: Living to please self and other people only leads to displeasing God. If you have to ignore and/or disobey God to have friends, be successful, live the “good” life, etc, then you are worshiping and serving the creation instead of the creator. When you love God you’ll be attracted and drawn to the things that please him AND you will want to reject the things that displease him
Romans 1:21 – 25: 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things,[n] and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Though claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 For this reason, God delivered them to sexual impurity as they followed the lusts[o] of their hearts and dishonored their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged God’s truth for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
The solution simply stated is repent. The power behind the solution is to draw near to God and he will draw near to you. The practical application to the solution is to lay aside the things that weigh you down and the sin that gets us off course and run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto the Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith.
The choice is yours. The final determination is God’s.
Salvation is about more than a worldly make-over.
Abiding Faith: Why should a person be saved/born-again/become a Christian? To be a better person and live a moral life? To show compassion for the poor or to improve the dismal state of our communities? To have all your problems solved and your needs met? No. The reason to believe God, believe in God, and accept His Salvation is simply this – God is righteous and man is a sinner; Man will spend eternity in hell because of his sin and he cannot escape Hell by his own force of will or determination; Christ paid the price for mankind’s sin by his death, and by his he resurrection offers us eternal life and fellowship with him in Heaven. Don’t sell the Gospel of Jesus Christ short. Don’t try to add artificial value or appeal to Salvation, and don’t go beyond what the Bible says by taking it out of context. The promises of God are sure, they need no sensationalism or artificially added value. Jesus Christ is sufficient. The impact of Salvation on your life will be performed by God’s will and power. Believe because God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The Biblical Gospel is Sufficient As It Is.
Abiding Faith: Jesus doesn’t need to be “jazzed up” for people to believe in him, and Salvation doesn’t need “added value” for people to be saved. This attitude only brings personal doubts at best, and false professors at worse. Christ gave us the key to reaching men and women for the Kingdom. He said, “go”. He told Paul that his Grace is sufficient. He told his disciples and us to let our lights shine so that men would see our good works and glorify our Heavenly Father. If we stick to God’s plan He will make the difference in peoples lives. What is his plan? He said that if He was lifted up from the earth He would draw all men to himself. He said no man can come to the Father except through Him. He said you must be born again. Repent and believe and you shall be saved. We must say the same.
True Worship Requires Cleans Hands and a Clean Heart
Your walk with God will always be more difficult when you insist on making provision for the satisfying your flesh. Sinful motives of the heart and mind as just as destructive as the sins of the hands and mouth. You wouldn’t want a surgeon to wear gloves covering all but one unwashed finger. You would want a chef to cook your meal in an unwashed pot. You shouldn’t want to knowingly/willingly leave sin/sinful ways unchecked in your life. “Evil communications corrupt good manners”. “Lay aside the weight and the sin that can so easily cause our Christian walk to slow us down or get off track.” If you’re in it to win it then let God’s righteousness counsel you on what you need to put out of your life. Better to lose an eye and go to Heaven than to walk into Hell with two good eyes.