The Impact Of The Resurrection – Dr. Charles Stanley

True Friendship is Rare in these Last Days

2 Timothy 3:1-5
Difficult (ragingly insane) Times Will Come
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.

Happiness is the goal of the narcissist, he/she cannot be happy all alone.

When we have Jesus Christ we do not need lots of people around us all the time. We love people and enjoy them when they love Christ but if there is no one for a period of time we are full of joy because of Christ Who lives in us.

Proverbs 17:17

"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

Proverbs 27:9

"Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel."

Friends love one another, they stand by one another with the right godly counsel ready to support their friend. A friend does not support sin but will support a friend by reminding them the damage to their relationship with God that sin can cause.

Here is what friends do:

Romans 12:15

"15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."

Friends share in one another life experiences. Superficial friends only stick by us when we enhance their life, but are never anywhere to be seen when difficult times come.

Colossians 3:12-14

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

John 15:12-15

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

We do not have to die to lay down our lives for our friends, we merely live to be of help and service to them in their time of need, this is laying down ones own desires to be a companion to those who need us.

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Fools Fight Against Correction and Instruction but the Wise Becomes Wiser

Proverbs 9:7-18

"7 One who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself,

And one who rebukes a wicked person gets insults for himself.

8 Do not rebuke a scoffer, or he will hate you;

Rebuke a wise person and he will love you.

9 Give instruction to a wise person and he will become still wiser;

Teach a righteous person and he will increase his insight.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

11 For by me your days will be multiplied,

And years of life will be added to you.

12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,

And if you scoff, you alone will suffer from it."

Mockers never grow to maturity, the righteous do. Mockers regress when corrected but the righteous become wiser at an instruction.

Authentic Christianity is Far Different from what Pretenders Display

Hell is real and many people who think they are going to heaven will not make it because they were pridefully thinking their own goodness or enough good works would get them there. These people never trusted in Christ, they trusted in themselves to follow all the rules, many of which God never gave, just their own idea of what is best. They negate Scripture by cherry-picking the verses they like and ignoring the ones that don't support their cultural narrative.

Luke 13:22-28

"22 And He was passing through one city and village after another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.

23 And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them,

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ and He then will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

26 Then you will begin saying, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’

27 And yet He will say, ‘I do not know where you are from; leave Me, all you evildoers.’

28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out."

Matthew 7:21-23

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

These pretenders look so much like born-again believers that only those who are discerning will be able to tell them from the real authentic believers who were changed by Christ. Those who lack discernment will not see the lack of fruit in those who claim to be Christians but were never changed by Christ. because they wanted to be considered Christian through their own strength and will. They never submitted to Christ and they do not consult with Him, nor do they obey His commandments.

John 14:15-16 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…"

The Holy Spirit does not live in those who are doing their Christianity in their own flesh. Only those who are led by the Holy Spirit Who lives in them are born-again, these are those who search the Bible for God's meaning and desire to obey what He says. These people will be swimming upstream against the culture, they will not fit in, they are considered misfits even by many who attend churches.

John 15:18-20

Disciples’ Relation to the World

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also."

Be encouraged that the world hates you, if you are born-again it means that you have the Holy Spirit living in you and it is He they hate, you are merely a vessel, His temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?"

Hallelujah!