Monday, July 21, 2025
Believers are the Salt of the Earth
Salt cures, disinfects, stings in a wound, preserves food and adds flavor in just the right amounts.
Trusting in Christ Instead of People
All we have to do is want Him to do the changing! We are to edify one another not attend churches full of ritual and expectations of others.
Many people who attend formalized hierarchy style "churches" often never grow past infancy in their walk with God because instead of relying on God to grow and change them, they are always looking to emulate people around them.
When we are always looking horizontally for affirmation and acceptance from people we will miss the wonderful lessons God has for us from trusting in Him.
As long as someone seeks to be seen as perfect and accepted by what they perceive as authority, they will never rely solely on Christ. Sadly, people have expectations of us that God never gave and they make rules for others, having never been told by God to make those rules.
We must learn to talk to God as we would a friend standing next to us, only He is inside of us. We must be willing to be corrected by the instruction from God's Word, so we will see the lessons in each circumstance of life.
We need to stop asking God to fulfill us the way we wish and ask Him to bring what is His best for us. I have never learned great lessons when things were easy; the lessons were learned from having to struggle through trials.
I have also never learned by following someone else's idea of spirituality. The times I was pressured to be what others wanted me to be, I only felt stressed, judged, and ultimately rejected when I asked the question, "why", rule makers really hate that question because often their reasons were not Biblical, and a part of them knew it.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 "…20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt, 21 but test all things. Hold fast to what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil."
Philippians 1:9-10 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, / so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,"
You will not find any scriptures that command us to follow men, or church system.
2 Corinthians 13:5
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test?"
Most people will not examine themselves. In my experience, when questioned about their salvation in the mildest terms, they display anger and frustration and usually answer with statements such as; "I go to such and such church." I have a hard time believing anyone who thinks they are a Christian by attending a church gathering knows the gospel and was changed by Christ into a new creation.
The very least that we should hear from a newborn Christian is something like this: "Christ changed me and now I am born again."
God commanded us to challenge those who think they are saved but have no fruit of the Holy Spirit in them.
2 Corinthians 5:6 "5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you— unless you actually fail the test? 6 And I hope you will realize that we have not failed the test."
The test to see if we are in the faith is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is the evidence that Christ lives in us.
James 1:23-24
"For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."
1 John 3:24
"Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us."
There are many people who think they are saved by attending a Christian church gathering, but have never been born again.
Matthew 7:21-23
"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’"
Don't be the person who spends their entire life in superficial gatherings, trusting in the pastor or others, only to hear at the end of your life, "I never knew you."
Many people who attend formalized hierarchy style "churches" often never grow past infancy in their walk with God because instead of relying on God to grow and change them, they are always looking to emulate people around them.
When we are always looking horizontally for affirmation and acceptance from people we will miss the wonderful lessons God has for us from trusting in Him.
As long as someone seeks to be seen as perfect and accepted by what they perceive as authority, they will never rely solely on Christ. Sadly, people have expectations of us that God never gave and they make rules for others, having never been told by God to make those rules.
We must learn to talk to God as we would a friend standing next to us, only He is inside of us. We must be willing to be corrected by the instruction from God's Word, so we will see the lessons in each circumstance of life.
We need to stop asking God to fulfill us the way we wish and ask Him to bring what is His best for us. I have never learned great lessons when things were easy; the lessons were learned from having to struggle through trials.
I have also never learned by following someone else's idea of spirituality. The times I was pressured to be what others wanted me to be, I only felt stressed, judged, and ultimately rejected when I asked the question, "why", rule makers really hate that question because often their reasons were not Biblical, and a part of them knew it.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 "…20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt, 21 but test all things. Hold fast to what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil."
Philippians 1:9-10 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, / so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,"
You will not find any scriptures that command us to follow men, or church system.
2 Corinthians 13:5
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test?"
Most people will not examine themselves. In my experience, when questioned about their salvation in the mildest terms, they display anger and frustration and usually answer with statements such as; "I go to such and such church." I have a hard time believing anyone who thinks they are a Christian by attending a church gathering knows the gospel and was changed by Christ into a new creation.
The very least that we should hear from a newborn Christian is something like this: "Christ changed me and now I am born again."
God commanded us to challenge those who think they are saved but have no fruit of the Holy Spirit in them.
2 Corinthians 5:6 "5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you— unless you actually fail the test? 6 And I hope you will realize that we have not failed the test."
The test to see if we are in the faith is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is the evidence that Christ lives in us.
James 1:23-24
"For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."
1 John 3:24
"Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us."
There are many people who think they are saved by attending a Christian church gathering, but have never been born again.
Matthew 7:21-23
"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’"
Don't be the person who spends their entire life in superficial gatherings, trusting in the pastor or others, only to hear at the end of your life, "I never knew you."
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