Becoming a New Creation

We come to Christ as we are but we do not remain like that. Christ changes us into a new creation, the old is passed away, this means the way we think is completely different from before we were born-again and this determines how we act.

Romans 12:1-3 "1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.…"

Those who are born again cannot be comfortable in their sin, they will be tormented with guilt until they confess it to be cleansed by Christ.

James 5:15-16 "…15 And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail."

Colossians 1:9

"For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;"

Seeking Christ is the antidote to the ravages of sin. No one can change the past but they can move forward in holiness as each sinful attitude and act is confessed.

1 John 1:9 was written to believers. We grow in holiness in direct proportions to how often we confess. Those who rarely confess or refuse to admit their sin will not grow and will maintain superficial relationships that have no depth.

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."

Do not think we can grow in holiness and wisdom without confession of sin.

Boundaries!!!

https://fb.watch/hYsE6CigOm/

Biology Does Not Make a Family

Biology does not make a family. Families are made up of people who love one another, care about the life of one another and take care of one another.

This description is the family of Christ who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They possess the gifts of the Spirit, the first of the gifts being Love.

If someone does not act lovingly toward their brothers and sisters they are not true followers of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

1 John 4:6-7 "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. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.…"

We do not have to guess if someone loves us, we know by the respect they show us and the concern they have for us.

God loves this way, included in His love is kindness, gentleness, honesty, correction, rebuke and truth. It is not love to watch a Spiritual family member walk down a road that will bring them the discipline of God and isolation from his brothers and sisters.

What the world calls love is not love at all, it is selfishness and greed. The desire to see someone fall and refuse to admit they got up and began again in a better way is anathema to the one who loves as the world does.

Truth is hated by the world but loved by all those who follow Christ. Truth takes priority over everything all the time.

1 John 5:2-4 "…2 By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, 4 because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.…"

We cannot love our brothers and sisters if we do not first love God above all things and all other people. It is this love that helps our brothers and sisters to walk safely with Christ.

No One is Above Another

1 Corinthians 3:6-9

"6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase.

8 Now he that plants and he that waters are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's co-workers, you are God's building."

Everyone has a job to do in the work of the Kingdom of God. No one's work is better or greater than another, God looks at our obedience to what He has given each of us, not how large the ministry may be.

No one should judge another man's calling or ministry except to be sure it is Biblical and the people are obeying the Word of God.

Believers have got to stop judging others unbiblically, based on human ideas or human traditions.

We have also got to give up the idea that only an "ordained" pastor has a ministry. God has given every single believer the blessing of ministry, whether it is helping other ministries or having their own. Leaders in the church, that is the elders, plural, are not the only ones who serve, all born-again believers serve in many different ways.

The following passage applies to ALL born-again believers men and women and even children who have been born-again.

1 Corinthians 12 "14 For the body is not one part, but many.

15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.

16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.

17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired.

19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?

20 But now there are many parts, but one body.

21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;

23 and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable,

24 whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked,

25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another.

26 And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it."

Every prayer warrior who makes it their mission to pray diligently making intercession for the saints will have their reward for doing that, even if it is all they do.

It is not the size of a ministry but it is whether or not we obeyed what the Holy Spirit gives us. There are many believers who are locked into traditions that are not Biblical, only man's ideas that prevent and discourage other believers from seeking God for their calling

We are better off asking God and seeking the Holy Spirit than asking others what they think we should be doing. No other person can know what our calling is, they can know gifts we may have but it is only the Holy Spirit Who knows what we should be doing with those gifts. Trust HIM!!!!

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2 Timothy 3:1-5

Difficult 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.

Salt and Light is about the Gospel

There is no more important message in these last days than the salvation message through Jesus Christ. We must be about the Lord's Work, which is the Gospel.

Too many people are interpreting the command to be "salt and light" as involvement in politics. The command had nothing to do with politics, it has to do with speaking the gospel to the unsaved and encouraging the born-again believers to keep looking to Jesus Christ.

I once heard someone who was experiencing grief that it didn't help for me to say; "God works all things for good for those who are in Christ Jesus." How could this not be a help to the grieving soul? Only if the person is mostly, if not entirely worldly-minded could anyone say that it does not help to be encouraged by Scripture.

Those who walk with Christ are not crushed by the hard things that happen to them. They are sad and grieve for a time but they remain joyful through their trials, joy that cannot be taken away because of hardship. They even quote scripture to themselves to comfort them as they journey through the trials.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. 1

17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

A lady in a church we were attending once sat by my bedside as I was ailing and quoted scripture to me, I was delighted to hear it because it gave me hope that suffering is not in vain for the born-again believer, it has a purpose and will end either by healing or by the ultimate healing which is the death of the body for the soul to be present with God.

2 Corinthians 5:8 "but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.'

Death of the body is not the end for the born-again believer, it is the beginning of far more wonderful things than anything in this life. So wonderful is the life after death for the born-again believer that we cannot imagine it with our human minds. We know of it because God promised it.

Romans 8:18

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Yes we grieve at times, and yes we become discouraged momentarily in our feelings, but in our Spirit, we are encouraged, believing God, we soldier on with the joy and peace that never leaves us.

Hallelujah for the peace and joy of Christ Who lives in us.