Saturday, August 20, 2016

Cultural Christianity Negates Christ

Those who have difficulty building Christian relationships in a Biblical manner, very likely do not have a relationship with Christ.

Many people today are relying on an appearance of cultural Christianity as a religion when they should be focusing on Christ!

These people are satisfied with merely following a pattern of rules, but angered when called to trust Christ in a very real life experience of obedience to the Holy Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
"19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil."


Don't Look For Results Just Obey

"Rejoice in the Lord Always!"

God has been dealing with me in the area of idols in my life. Idols that walk, talk and move among us.

Agonizing over the loss of someone who refuses to obey God, is the same as placing that person above God.

Yes, pray for them, grieve occasionally, but we must refrain from keeping them continually on our mind. We have those with us that need our attention, to waste time on continual thoughts of those who have rejected God's ways, is nothing less than idolatry.

When we focus on those who walk with Him, those who need our encouragement and companionship, they will have our attention, we will praise God together while seeking Him for His work in our lives.

Never count it a waste to share when someone would not listen. Our obedience to Christ is not in the "results" but rather in the obedience itself.

Romans 6:16
"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?"

All results are God's business, obedience to Him is our business.

Joshua 1:8
"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

No where in the Word of God do we find instructions in getting results!

Romans 5:1-21
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ..."

1 Corinthians 3:6-8
"6 I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor."

All the stress and worry is removed when we are not responsible for the results, only for the obedience to the promptings and principles of the Holy Spirit. God knows far better than we what each person needs and where He wants us to be.