Live
it! - The Appropriate Response of Faith – - Purity 639
Purity
639 01/27/2022 Purity 639 Podcast
Good
morning,
Well. It’s Thursday and I shared this particular
photo of a pathway through a forest as my thematic encouragement to start or to
continue following the pathway of Christian Discipleship, to walk in the Spirit,
or to live out your Christian faith every day.
Life is all about the choices we make, and I
recommend that anyone hearing or reading this message make the choice to not
only place their faith in Jesus Christ for the benefits of the forgiveness of
sins and the eternal life that is promised to those who put their faith in Him
but to also take your faith to the next logical conclusion: to live your life
according to God’s wisdom and ways.
The word of God says that Christians will be
known by their fruit and by the love they have for one another that implies that
we will not be just known for “what we believe”. Faith in Jesus Christ is not just the holding
of certain doctrinal beliefs that we will mentally assent to. Our faith in Christ and who He has made us to
be will be reflected in the way we behave and live our lives.
If there is no “fruit”, no evidence of our “firmly
held beliefs” in our lives, others, and we ourselves may question whether or
not we really are a Christian.
Christianity isn’t a political party. It’s a kingdom and we are members of its
royal family through adoption. The
question is: have we in turned adopted the ways of the King? Are we serving and representing the kingdom
as we should?
When Christ called the Apostles, they immediately
stopped what they were doing and chose to follow Him without conditions or
pondering the truth of His ministry or call on their lives. They knew Jesus was the Messiah and they did
the only appropriate thing to do when God calls you: they chose to follow.
So how does one follow the Lord?
I know when I came to faith in Christ I was
extremely weary of where I chose to go to church and whose leadership I would
decide to trust.
The unseen God is certainly working in and
through some people on the earth but because of the fallibility of men and the
existence of Christian counterfeits, false converts, and the agents of darkness
I had to decide to be discerning in who or what I listened to.
The good news is that the Lord gave us a source
for His truth that we could judge the true vs the counterfeit: the Holy Bible. The obligation however is that we know what
it says and what it means in order to know if someone is corrupting its wisdom for
their own purposes.
Also if someone is putting up another source of
truth in addition to the Bible, we have to realize that their additional
sources of truth are attempting to say that the word of God isn’t sufficient and
whatever they are trying to teach is a deception, whether they are aware of it
or not.
So we really have to be diligent in terms of knowing
what Christ would have us do and then seek to do His will to represent
Him.
One of the best ways of learning what we are to
do is by learning what the word of God says about who we are in Christ and then
living according to that biblical truth. So instead of putting our allegiance in some
church organization or some charismatic “anointed” pastor, we should seek the truth
of God’s word about us and seek to live our lives according to that truth.
While we should connect to a local church, to
learn, serve, and worship in a community of Bible believing Christians, we must
not rely on others to walk out our faith for us. We can’t be spiritually
lazy. We are the seek the Lord for
ourselves and find the purpose that He has for our lives.
The call of God is as compelling on our lives
today as it was for the Apostles in the early church and just like it was then
we are to answer God’s call on our lives and follow Him where He will lead
us.
Generally, God will lead us to repent of our sin
and call us to conform to the image of Christ by renewing our minds with the wisdom
of the word of God and then apply what we learn to our lives as we seek to do
the good works that the Lord would have us do.
That means transformation and purpose. That means
seeking God continually and learning more about Him and His purpose for us on
the earth. That means that there is a
relationship between you and the Lord who created all things and that means you
have a part to play in His grand design.
So instead of debating whether or not you “really
believe”, demonstrate your faith by choosing to believe the Lord’s call on your
life is “for real” by living according
to your faith.
If you know you are a part of God’s kingdom
because of your faith in Jesus Christ, shouldn’t you seek to live according to
the purpose for your life? If you think
about it, our obedience to God’s call on our life is the only appropriate
response of our faith.
So do the appropriate thing and seek to follow
the Lord’s direction for your life. His ways are higher than our ways, but He
invites us to know them and to walk with Him. So answer the call today and everyday
to draw a little closer to God than you were yesterday. If you do that God will reveal Himself to you
in amazing ways and you will discover that He will bless you with a life that
leaves the darkness of this world behind as He increasingly welcomes into the
light of a new and everlasting life where the fruit of the Spirit will grow and
and your love for God and others will define the rest of your life.
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Acts 1:8 (NLT2)
8 But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling
people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to
the ends of the earth.”
Today’s verse are the words of the Resurrected Christ, who speaks of the power that the Holy Spirit will bring to the lives of those who follow Him to go and share the gospel throughout the earth.
The Holy Spirit had not yet come into the world and Christ was pointing to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would enter into all those who put their faith in Christ to empower them for ministry and righteous living for evermore.
How can a Christian change from who they used to be? How can they leave sin behind? How can they have the boldness to tell others about Jesus?
All of these
things can be done through faith in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit! When we believe and put our faith and trust
in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us and to give us the power to
overcome.
When we receive Christ, we receive the Helper, and the Holy Spirit is given to us to empower us to live the Christian life.
This power isn’t for selfish gain. No matter how we individually may benefit from the transformation that the Holy Spirit gives us, it is done for God, His glory and His purposes and today’s verse points to the purpose of receiving the Holy Spirit and His power: to make Jesus Christ known throughout the earth.
The power to change us is for a purpose to give glory to God. Our testimony of victory is a testimony for God. We become the evidence and the witnesses for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So choose to follow where the Holy Spirit seeks to change your life and where He calls you to go. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit has the power to do mighty things in our lives but the most powerful thing we can do for the kingdom of God is to take the power we receive and use it to share the love of God and the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So feel the power and use the power of the Holy Spirit to help you but also utilize it to boldly proclaim the goodness of God and the truth of Jesus Christ to the world that desperately needs the power and love of God too.
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s . “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we continue sharing from Chapter 6.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private
study and to support his work.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY HAS A PRICE
After Jesus fed the 5,000, He sent the
disciples across the Sea of Galilee while He went up to the mountain to pray.
In the middle of the sea, the disciples encountered a storm: “And seeing them
straining at the oars...He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to
pass by them.”119 The Lord intends to pass by the self-sufficient.
Go ahead and row against the storms of life. He will let you until your arms
fall off, but those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
The only answer the world has for those
who are caught in the storms of life is “Row harder, or give in to the pressure
and learn to live at sea!” The devil says, “You can do it by yourself, but if
you need a little extra power, I can arrange that for a small price.” Pride
says, “I think I can get out of this by myself. All it requires is a lot of
hard work, human ingenuity, and maybe a little luck.” God says, “I won’t
interfere with your plans. If you want to try to save yourself, solve your own
problems or meet your own needs, you have My permission. But you won’t be able
to, because in the final analysis, you absolutely need Me, and you necessarily need
each other.” Fallen humanity is on a sinking ship that is going nowhere without
God.
Pride can sneak up on the best of us.
King Uzziah was a godly man who reigned for 52 years,120 and “he did
right in the sight of the Lord.” His accomplishments were exceptional. He built
a strong army and fortified the city. “Hence his fame spread afar, for he was
marvelously helped until he was strong. But when he became strong, his heart
was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God.”
The more we are able to accomplish, the
more susceptible we are to pride. More than one Christian leader has fallen
when he started receiving glowing accolades for his work. “Therefore let him
who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”121
FALSE AND TRUE HUMILITY
What is humility? Is it groveling around
in poverty, proclaiming our worthless state? No, that is counterfeit humility
that leads only to defeat. Paul says, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your
prize by delighting in selfabasement.”122
Humility is not saying God is everything
and we are nothing. That is a form of false humility. Christ didn’t die on the
cross for nothing. He was crucified to redeem a fallen humanity. Throughout the
New Testament, we are admonished to build up one another, and we are strongly
warned against any attempt to tear down one another, including ourselves.
Paul tells us, “For through the grace
given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself
than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has
allotted to each a measure of faith.”123 That is not a call for
self-abasement; it is a call for sound judgment. Paul says of himself, “By the
grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored
even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”124
We are what we are by the grace of God!
To deny that would be to discredit the work that Christ accomplished on the
cross. To believe that we are more than we are, or to believe that we are
products of our own doing, is to join the ranks of the deceived millions who
have fallen victim to pride.
Humility is confidence properly placed.
So Paul says, “Put no confidence in the flesh.”125 But we ought to
have all the confidence that our faith can muster in God and in what He can do
through us. We should all want ourselves and all the children of God to reach
their highest potential in Christ. “By this is my Father glorified, that you
bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.”126 Pride says, “I
did it.” True humility says, “I did it by the grace of God.”
Cowering in some corner in unbelief or
groveling around in mock humility in utter defeat brings no glory to God. “Let
your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”127
The glory of God is a manifestation of
His presence. When we glorify God in our bodies, we manifest His presence in
the world. The only way we can glorify God in our bodies is to live victorious
lives and bear much fruit. And the only way we can live victorious lives and
bear much fruit is to abide in Christ.128 That is why we must come
to terms with our pride—so we can be established in Christ, “in whom we have
boldness and confident access through faith in Him.”129
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”,
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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