Biblical Love is Apposed to Worldly Judgment

Biblical love:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, kind, and does not envy, boast, or pride itself. It does not demand its own way, is not irritable, and keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Love never fails.

Evil behavior, the evidence of hate, the opposite of love:

Galatians 5:19-21

"19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior,

20 idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Many Christians do not practice some of these things but seem alright displaying "factions, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, envy, and more subtle forms of sin that are overlooked because they can be cloaked easily.

Judging others over things that are not worthy of judgment is becoming more common as so many seek to elevate themselves above others. The best way to feel superior to others is to judge the small matters according to one's own ideas rather than according to Scripture.

Many we all evaluate ourselves through self-reflection to mBakes sure we are not practicing jealousy, rage and a superior attitude to others. Our culture promotes self-love as though it is a virtue when it leads to many forms of mean-spirited treatment of those they do not think measure up to their idea of righteousness, much of which is not based on Scripture.

Let us continually pray for the love of Christ to dwell in us as we walk with Christ.

Translation Arguments are a Distraction Seek the Holy Spirit

When you run across someone who negates good doctrine using the excuse that a particular word is not in the Bible be careful, it is a deception often.

The trinity is a concept described in the Bible, the Three persons in God.

Genesis 11:7: "Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech"

John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"

The Word is Jesus Christ and His Father is God the Father. The Holy Spirit is called the Helper and is in all born again believers.

John 16:7 ""Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you"

The three persons in one God is Biblical. Just because the word "trinity" is English does not mean the concept is not there.

None of the words in our English Bible are in the original languages of Greek and Hebrew. Every word that has been translated was done so to be able to understand the meanings and concepts of the original language.

The word "God" is not in the original language, the word "Baptise", the word "go" or any other English word is not in the original language.

The excuse that a word is not in the English Bible doesn't fly because there are no English words in the Greek and Hebrew languages. And, the Bible has been translated into many languages so that those of us who don't speak Greek and Hebrew will be able to understand in our own language.

Beware of "good-sounding" assertions they may be negating God's Word to confuse and distract.

Family Can Ruin Your Walk with Christ

Many families have ruined those who want to walk with Christ because those who love their families more than Christ are dumbing down their walk to be acceptable by their families.

These family systems seek to demean anyone who has chosen Christ over them. They work against what Christ is doing in the life of the believer. When these people cannot control you or deter you from Christ they will attempt to influence others against you so that you have no support system. Never mind this method because we have no need of people to support us when we have the Living Christ in us walking with us in and through everything.

The attempts of family to undermine us through gossip will not influence our walk as long as we remove the gossiper and the one who listens the the gossiper. It is possible to remove ourselves from those who work against us, even if those gossipers claim to be Christian we can discern their motives and tactics and remain separate from them.

Those who remain with ungodly family will be influenced by them ultimately dumbing down their walk to fit in to the group-think.

John 12:43

"43 for they loved the approval of people rather than the approval of God."

If your family means more to you than your walk with Christ they are the Lord in your heart, not Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:17

"17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.

“And do not touch what is unclean;

And I will welcome you."

Christ in Us is Our Teacher

Galatians 4:116-17…16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. "

There are those who attempt to isolate us from others who enhance our walk with Christ and when they cannot accomplish this they will isolate us from them to cause jealousy in us.

When we encounter those who use manipulation and indulge in superior attitudes we are free to and should walk away and leave them to one another.

Christ should be our sole purpose in this life not the "group." When we spend too much time in "groups" we become like the group, not like Christ.

Matthew 23:15 "… 15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."

In my opinion based on my many years of experience with churches and people I am convinced that too many friends are a hindrance to our walk with Christ. I am not speaking about those who are diligent to obey Christ and His word, but those who have a form of religion and are self-satisfied with what they think they know, which often is not very much more than what they hear for one hour in church gatherings once a week.

There is an old saying; "a man with too many friends has none."

A friend of the born-again believer is one who will encourage us to read the Word, question all things and obey what the Holy Spirit tells them. They are a precious few in our day and very special because they walk with us, not against us.

Matthew 23:13

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter."

Many church attendees in our day have a form of religion but do not love Christ. They love their self-elevated stance that resides in their own mind but does not match with the scriptures. Their belief system about God is heavily peppered with psychology of the world and the culture around them, not in Christ.

Galatians 6:12-13 "12 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.…"

Many church attendees have their own set of rules God never made, contorting the scriptures to justify what God never said and excluding those who know the truth.

I used to think when I left the Catholic church that the Protestant church was better, then I grew in Christ and realized they are very closely linked in the mentality of following men, both seek the approval of men and pretend to seek Christ but demonstrate arrogance as they add to scripture and take away from scripture when it suits their purpose.

Thank the Lord we are free in Christ to obey Him, rejecting what has been added and what has been taken away, to know the truth fully and without reservation. We need not give into the pressure of those who love their legalism and hierarchy.

Christ in us is all we need, He is our teachers.

1 John 2:27 states, "But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you".

If anyone trusts in any man or calls themselves by any man's name, Christ is not pre-eminant in them.

If you say "I am a Baptist" or " I am a Presbyerian" or "I am following Calvin or Luther." Then this person is not following Christ because it is only Christ Who is perfect and able to have all the answers from our Father in heaven.

1 Corinthians 3:1-17

3 And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ.

2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able,

3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people?

4 For when one person says, “I am with Paul,” and another, “I am with Apollos,” are you not ordinary people?

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

8 Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it.

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,

13 each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work.

14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are."

Hallelujah! Our freedom to follow Christ and His Word transcends any human wisdom or practice that only serves to elevate self. When we follow Christ He will be elevated and not ourselves.

Seek the Truth Through Christ and His Holy Scriptures

Years ago there was a story about a man who wanted to see what people would do if he walked onto the elevator and faced the back. The next people that came on also faced the back and some other who entered did the same.

This is rather disturbing since it only takes half a brain to ask, "why are you facing the back of the elevator. The sad thing was that in the video no one who entered the elevator asked the question even though they acted confused about it.

Are we so intimidated by others that we won't even ask questions for clarification?

Of course there were probably people who would ask that question and find the humor in it.

Another time there was a video of a man looking up in the sky on a street corner while waiting for a bus. The next few people who came to wait for the bus began looking up to discover what the man was looking at, but no one asked him what he was looking at which was nothing.

Perhaps this is a small picture of HOW people think in our world, they want to fit in, they want to know what is happening but are too timid to ask to come to their own conclusions about what is happening.

1 Thessalonians 5:21

"21 but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good,"

How can we discover truth and hold fast to it if we never ask the questions through prayer as well as asking people what they mean by something so as to make a decision based on God's truth? Often people will quote a favorite mantra and never even know what that catchphrase means. I think "catchphrase" is a good way to describe it because often good-sounding phrases catch people to believe what they heard without having to analyze the meaning.

May every believer make a practice of asking the meaning of everything they hear and turning to prayer and the Bible to find the answer. YES, I understand this takes work and will often lose us family and friends when God shows us the meaning and we share it with others.

Romans 3:4

"4 Far from it! Rather, God must prove to be true, though every person be found a liar, as it is written:

“So that You are justified in Your words,

And prevail [b]when You are judged.”

Worship #6 How the Later Church Developed Worship Services

Christ Reigns Through all born again believers, there is no Heirachy in God's church, only the Holy Spirit

For those who are born again, there is no hierarchy among born again believes, the only Authority over the believer is Jesus Christ Who lives in each one.

Romans 14:4-6 "…4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

6 He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.…"

Every born again believer is a priest set aside to the Lord.

1 Peter 2:9

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Revelation 1:6

"And made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

1 Peter 2:5

"You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Those of us who are born again do not have temples to worship our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Revelation 5:10

"And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

Revelation 20:4-6: The saints will reign with Christ for a thousand years. "

Romans 5:17: "Those who receive the gift of righteousness will reign in life through Jesus Christ."

As believers we have no righteousness of our own, Christ in us is our righteousness and He reigns in us.

Hallelujah!!!

Like

Comment

Share