Sunday, February 5, 2012

Wolf in Sheep's clothing


1/24/2012
1 Corinthians 12:3- “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”

Interpretation: Paul is saying here that no one can confess that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit and that no one who truly has the Holy Spirit inside of them can curse the Lord. In this culture, going to church makes you a Christian. There are people who attend church regularly and claim to be Christians, yet don’t understand the core basic of Christianity. The Bible is the holy inspired word of God and is useful for “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 4:16) If you don’t believe in the whole Bible, you are calling God a liar. And if you are calling God a liar, you are not a Christian. People go around with a Jesus fish on the back of their car and a cross necklace yet remain so far from the truth that it’s no wonder they get swept away into the world so easily. I grew up in a church where I titled myself a Christian, but my mom was deep in the new age movement, our youth leaders were living in sin, our pastor didn’t preach salvation, and I was getting high before every youth group and no one corrected me or held me accountable for my actions. If anything, my lifestyle was being encouraged. So of course I would tell people that God was good and Jesus was my God, because I could go on doing everything I wanted to do AND go to heaven. But I was self-deceived, and God by his grace revealed that to me. “Christian” means follower of Christ. So when Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him, He is telling us that we need to deny ourselves, and take responsibility and control of our sin, and then we can consider ourselves Christians. Paul is telling the church in Corinth that no one can curse God if the Holy Spirit is in them. So if you go to church on Easter and Christmas and even if you wear a pretty gold cross necklace and even if your grandparents are Christians, please learn from my mistake and don’t start thinking that you are one. Until you accept the basic truth that the whole Bible is the word of God himself, which he says is true, and you ask Jesus into your heart by faith to be your Lord and Savior to forgive you of all your sins to start a personal relationship with Him…you are no more a Christian than the guy sitting in the cold jail cell for murder. By the way, Jesus says that if anyone hates his brother that hatred is equated with murder, so we should rightfully ALL be sitting in that jail cell. Thank God for grace, right?

Application: I want to memorize 2 Timothy 4:16-17. It’s a good one for the arsenal. “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” By memorizing scripture I will not fall into the lies of the enemy.

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