Amen, our lives should only be shared with those who love Christ and because they love Him they also love us.
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
In Our Image or in the Image of Christ?
What if your husband or boyfriend held up a picture of a beautiful woman who was not you and said it was you, would you be offended by it?
I would because it would tell me that in order to be loved by my husband I would have to look like or be like that woman.
When people have pictures of a man depicting Christ they are making Christ in the image they wish to see Him and not what He really was, this is offensive. It is based on appearances not character.
When we operate in relationships with our own expectations of how people will act when it is not associated with the principles and commands of Christ we are attempting to shape others into our own image. Some people even try to make human rules appear scriptural by snatching small portions of the bible out of their context to make it sound like scripture supports their desired idea.
When we give into the unbiblical expectations of others in fear of losing them then we are enabling superficial and damaging relationships to ruin our walk with Christ and even with others.
It is human nature to fall into "cultural standards" of men that have nothing to do with Christ. Mankind tends to make up their own rules that satisfy the need within themselves to feel superior just as the devil wanted to be superior to God and others, shaping them into his image.
The devil was not satisfied with his own plight because of his rebellion, he wants to take as many people with him as possible and the best way to do this is to appeal to the pride within the heart of man.
1 Peter 5:8 "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
With cultural pressure and human entanglements that threaten contempt against us, it is easy to see how someone weak would feel so alone and so despised that they would give into the duress of those around them.
What weak people do not understand is that giving in causes regression in their walk and a hole in their sole that brings stress and complete emptiness.
When we are strong we have a sense of purpose and total freedom from the bondage of human oppression. This brings us independence to be able to think for ourselves with the mind of Christ.
With Christ we are strong, we are free and we are enthusiastic to follow Him even if we have to do it alone. He gives us the resolve to remain robust despite all the arrows of the devil that come at us.
Here is the proof of what I am saying:
Ephesians 6:10-11: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes".
Hebrews 12:1: "He is strong enough to carry your burdens with you as you run the race with endurance".
Nehemiah 8:10: "And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength".
1 Peter 4:11: "If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ".
Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".
Gossip is a Sin
Those who assume things about others without ever talking to them is gossiping, this is a sin!
Gossipers Assume things to Justify their Desired Belief
Gossipers always have to assume things they wish were true to justify their lies.
Have You Ever Encountered Certain People
Have you ever encountered people who believe Jesus Christ had long hair because of the artist's renditions of him? Or, that pictures of a man depicting Christ is a blessing?
Have you encountered people who believe we should forgive without repentance because psychology has changed the word of God?
Have you ever encountered those who think divorce and remarriage is alright with God because of their feelings and the cultural desire to believe it is alright?
I have actually had "Christians" say to me, "I get what the Bible says, but I believe......?"
It is astounding how many things modern Christians believe that are not Biblical and entirely supported by the culture alone. They do not know their Bibles and when they go to "research" it they poke around until they find a verse that looks good and a commentator who says what they like and will refuse to hear anything else.
Snatching words out of context is common now and attempts to reason with those who love their sin is an impossibility.
The fear of man is huge in the evangelical church. The fear that friends won't like them anymore or that family will exclude them as radicals keeps them stuck in very bad and damaging doctrines.
They know they will be excluded because it is what they do to others.
2 Timothy 4:3
"3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"
Proof of an Authentic Believer
All born-again believers will continue, if they do not it is the proof they were never born again. I am confident of this because when Christ changes us into a new creation we cannot change ourselves back. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a Guarantee of our Inheritance.
Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."
2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
Our Spirit is alive in Christ but our body is dead in sin, the very reason we must battle our flesh. Christ helps us do that when we confess our sin and desire to be cleansed of it.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Faith is Unseen but Powerful
Those who place their trust in what they can see and touch as well as physical miracles will be fooled by the antichrist.
When we must see an unusual miracle to have faith we have little faith. Those who have strong faith have no need to see anything, they believe anyway and trust Christ anyway.
There are miracles all around that many miss because they are looking for something unusual. Take the tiny seed of the great fir tree, that falls in the ground and grows to a tree 300 feet tall merely from feeding off the nutrients of the ground. This is a miracle because God made that seed and that tree. I have seen these tall trees and it is amazing to enjoy.
The forming of a baby in the womb having been joined seed to seed so tiny only a sophisticated microscope can see it. Within 5 weeks the heart is beating and the baby grows for the next nine months into a baby that lives in that water until God brings it forth in His timing.
These things are miracles that many people miss because they are accustomed to them from a small child.
God holds the planets together with His hands, the scientists cannot pinpoint what is holding them together because it is a miracle of God.
Romans 10:17 "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ"
God never said faith comes by seeing!
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Those who must see with their eyes to have strong faith have a weak faith. Those who read the Word of God and believe Him will obey His word as He gave it because they have no need to add human wisdom to what He said to have a sense of proof.
When we love Christ and have great faith we will believe His Word and obey His Word even if we never see profit for ourselves or even if we do not understand it all. We will be able to die to defend it as well as lose everyone around us to follow Christ.
John 20:28-29 "…28 Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Those who have a weak faith will need to see unusual miracles and will need to have proof of God's principles as "working for them." Those with great faith may see nothing but hardship and trials but will still believe and obey God even when they are treated disrespectfully for their faith in God's Word.
If we cannot follow the Bible as God gave it and must have the approval of men to maintain that faith then that faith is not faith at all but compliance to men and their traditions.
We live in an apostate age now when many scriptures are taken out of context to make them say what men like to hear. Those who point this out in discussion will be treated with contempt and ignored.
2 Timothy 4:3
"3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"
Many principles and commands of God have been distorted and the new ideas fabricated to justify saying what God did not say, even lying against His Word with claims that He said things He never said.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
"But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."
Luke 21:15-17 "15 For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death. 17 And you will be hated by everyone because of My name."
Matthew 10:21
"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death."
In our country those who hate us do not put us to physical death, but they wish they could and will attempt to turn others against us, a form of emotional and spiritual death through passive aggressiveness. They exclude, ignore, gossip, and demean hoping to create an emotional wreckage in us but they will not be able to do it because Christ in us makes us strong.
When we know this is happening now we can take great comfort in the fact that it has nothing to do with hatred toward us, but that it is hatred toward God Who lives in us. They think they are hurting us but they are harming themselves as they grow more bitter, angry, and in spiritual turmoil every day.
Those who hate us think they are targeting us but they are coming against God Who lives in us, when we remember this we can see them with pity, pray for their salvation, and avoid them allowing God to work on them His way in His timing. It is vital to remember we are not responsible for making others understand or somehow force them to hear us, this is the job of the Holy Spirit.
We cannot change the heart of anyone nor can we get them to understand the things of God, it is something God has to do His way and in His timing.
The best thing we must do is be the person God is making us and feed on His Word every day.
There is great joy and comfort in knowing that we are only responsible for ourselves and obeying God as the Holy Spirit leads.
Micah 6:8 Our responsibility is "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.".
Monday, December 2, 2024
Salvation is not by Works
Albert Jesus Major
"Salvation is not works to get saved, remain saved or "prove" one is saved. Even if one never does any good works but just believes the Gospel, they are saved. For example:
Romans 4:5 (KJB)
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Salvation is not a "behavior modification." You cannot boast. Salvation is not of works.
Don't mix salvation (justification) with service/discipleship, don’t merge what one must do to be saved with what an already saved believer should do now that they are saved."
"Salvation is not works to get saved, remain saved or "prove" one is saved. Even if one never does any good works but just believes the Gospel, they are saved. For example:
Romans 4:5 (KJB)
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Salvation is not a "behavior modification." You cannot boast. Salvation is not of works.
Don't mix salvation (justification) with service/discipleship, don’t merge what one must do to be saved with what an already saved believer should do now that they are saved."
Choose Life or Death?
The next time someone calls you a fanatic by speaking so much about Christ, ask them if they are fanatics about not speaking of Him. We choose what to be fanatical about, I choose Christ.
Then remind them that Christ died a brutal death for the sins of mankind, and rose from the dead proving He is God and will come for believers in the rapture. Then tell them that is pretty radical and fanatical what Christ did, shouldn't our response to Him be entirely devoted to Him?!!!!
Matthew 25:46
"And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The Christian "religion" is not something we add at the bottom of our list of important matters, Christ is one with us and He lives in us. Not only is He not at the bottom of our list in life He is at the top and in every situation.
Here is the destiny of those who have chosen to follow Christ:
Revelation 21:4
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Here is the destiny of those who reject Christ and prefer worldliness:
Revelation 21:8
"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Life awaits the fanatical born-again believer who loves Christ more than anyone or anything else. Death awaits those who love themselves more than anything or anyone else.
Never Place Unsaved Family Above God
When we place family above God we have an idol. God first, then the people of God. Unsaved family members are not family to us. We must see unsaved family members as those who need to become born again into God's family. Until they do this they have no fellowship with us.
One of the reasons we see so much of Christianity being watered down producing only baby food, is because too many Christians are spending too much time with ungodly people. They have compromised their walk with Christ to remain with family who do not love Him. The family members have become more important than Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:6-11
"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. / Therefore do not be partakers with them. / For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,"
1 John 1:5-7
"And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. / If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. / But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."
No One is More Important than Christ in the Life of a Born Again Believer
Some say the hardest thing to do is to walk away from family members who work to derail your walk with Christ. I say, when we love Christ no one is more important than Him and it is not hard to walk away from those who do not obey the scriptures.
The only reason it would be hard to walk away from ungodly family is if they meant more to us than Christ does.
Those who do not love Christ do not love us either, they become a security blanket for us from the fear of being alone. When we love Christ we are never alone and we do not fear solitude.
There have been many times in my life I felt far more alone while in the group than I did if I were completely alone. The silly superficial banter of those who are focused almost entirely on the things of the world is overwhelming for me, my sense of wanting to flee is intense.
The sense of loneliness comes from the need to feel validated by people. When we have Christ we do not need the validation of others, we can do what we should even if no one supports us. We love being alone with Christ, He has all the answer to everything and can instruct us at any moment for any thing.
1 John 4:6
We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
When we find "Christians" who act as though they hate discussing things of the Bible with us then we know that person is not a good friend to us, since everything we think and do all day long is based on what the Holy Spirit approves. All conversation brings to mind the things of God, the way He thinks.
Yes, as born-again believers who desire to follow the scriptures, the very words and essence of Christ, we cannot evaluate anything except according to the Bible.
John 5:38-40
"38 Also you do not have His word remaining in you, because you do not believe Him whom He sent.
39 You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me; 40 and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life."
There are many "Christians" who examine the scriptures to have knowledge of them but as they do it they ignore much of it and retain those things that elevate themselves. They cannot love God and negate His word in this way.
John 3:34
"34 For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly."
I wonder how many of you are like me, every encounter I have with people always brings to mind what God thinks of it. This is irritating to people who have said to me: "can't you think with your own mind?" My answer is why would I want to think my own way when Christ can give me His mind.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16
"15 But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no one. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
We are instructed to think with the mind of Christ as born again believers, we must not think any other way and we do this about all things.
Corinthians 2:14 "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.".
When we encounter those who are affended by our continual use of Scripture to explain things we know we are in the presence of a possible pretender no matter what they say about themselves. Those who are filled with Christ do not fight against God's Word, they love it and they do not make rules about who can speak of Christ and His words. Everyone is blessed when we all share Christ together.
1 Peter 2:9
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
We are all priests and all have gifts and callings, no exception.
1 Corinthians 12:15-17 "…15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?…"
All born-again believers love to speak of the Lord, they were saved by Him, changed by him and live for Him.
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