1 John 2:27
You have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true-it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. (NLT)
I have learned from many over the years. As long as was with them I always picked up something new. Just watching them work at something would give me ideas to use. Afterwards, I could call on what I had learned for years to come. I often think of things my father had told me and how I still think as he did because of what I learned.
Many of us have been molded by one or more teachers in school. We were drawn to them for whatever reason and what they taught us has stayed with us over the years. I always remember a science teacher from junior high that taught with demonstrations. I still remember him shooting a 22 rifle in class to calculate the speed of the bullet. We could never do that in today's schoolroom!
When we asked Jesus to forgive us of our sins and to come into our heart, we became born again. As promised, He asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to live in us. He knows all things and we can learn from Him daily.
I do not learn from my father anymore because he has gone to be with the Lord. I do not learn from that school teacher anymore because I have not seen him since then. We need a working relationship with someone to learn from them. The same can be said for the Holy Spirit.
We must remain in fellowship with Christ. We must have a personal relationship with Him to continually learn what He has to teach us.
Sure, we can go to classes at our local church. Sunday School is great and fills us with useful information that we should sift through the filter of our Bible. Perhaps what is discussed in class sparks revelation in us and we then can ask the Holy Spirit to tell us more.
The key is a working relationship with Jesus. Without it we do not have a true Christian walk.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Serve One Another
1 Peter 4:10
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. (NLT)
We grow up learning what talents we have naturally. For some it may be a musical gift. Or perhaps they might do well playing sports. Some are good with mathematics. Others might be good at listening.
As little children we use our talents to have fun and enjoy ourselves. When it comes time to decide what we will do in life, we cultivate our talents by pursuing some career that will make use of them to earn an income.
Some make the mistake of deciding on a course for their life based on income potential without regard for natural talents. This can lead to a good job, but not necessarily to a happy life.
And yet real happiness comes when we use our natural talents and our spiritual gifts to server one another without regard for what we will gain from doing so. It comes when our concern is only for them.
It is my experience that the more we give out, the more we receive. And the receiving usually comes from some place far removed from where we gave, but only when the giving was done in love without any thought to getting something in return.
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. (NLT)
We grow up learning what talents we have naturally. For some it may be a musical gift. Or perhaps they might do well playing sports. Some are good with mathematics. Others might be good at listening.
As little children we use our talents to have fun and enjoy ourselves. When it comes time to decide what we will do in life, we cultivate our talents by pursuing some career that will make use of them to earn an income.
Some make the mistake of deciding on a course for their life based on income potential without regard for natural talents. This can lead to a good job, but not necessarily to a happy life.
And yet real happiness comes when we use our natural talents and our spiritual gifts to server one another without regard for what we will gain from doing so. It comes when our concern is only for them.
It is my experience that the more we give out, the more we receive. And the receiving usually comes from some place far removed from where we gave, but only when the giving was done in love without any thought to getting something in return.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Children of Abraham
Galatians 3:2-3
You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? (NLT)
According to Wikipedia, perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness. This is an impossible state for us as mere humans to obtain. There was only one perfect man and that is Jesus.
There are many good people trying hard to be as perfect as they can be. They follow a moral standard. That standard might be the Jewish laws still in practice today. Perhaps it is the standards they learned as children growing up in a moral society. Maybe it is simply rules they have been given in the church they attend.
Some just think before they act and wonder WWJD or what would Jesus do in this situation? They analyze and then act.
Yet each of these are all about us changing our behavior according to the beliefs we hold. Does this have anything to do with being an Christian or living by the Spirit? I do not think so.
Galatians 3:5
Does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
I believe He gave us the Holy Spirit to live in us because we are followers of Jesus. The perfect spirit is inside us, but we have to give Him permission to come forth. We can let Him hide backstage watching us blunder through life on our own, in our human effort. Or we can bring Him on stage with us and let Him take the lead.
Galatians 3:6
"Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
And are we not those children? Yes, we are because we have asked Jesus, the son of the one true God, into our heart. We have asked for forgiveness for our sins and confessed our faith in Him whose name is above all names and in Him who is part of the triune Godhead--the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The blood relatives of Abraham were not all counted as his children. Blood does run deep. However, it is the blood of Jesus and our faith that makes us the real children of Abraham. Many in his mortal blood line did not become counted as his "children".
It does not matter where the ancestral line comes from. We are counted as soon as we put our faith in Jesus.
Galatians 3:8-9
The Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, "All nations will be blessed through you." So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
So because of Christ, we are as Abraham was and receive the same blessing from our Father God.
Galatians 3:10-12
But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God's Book of the Law." So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life."
Because of Jesus who took away all sin on the cross, we are righteous in Him. Because of Him we do not depend on the law, on a set of rules, on works of man, to become right with God. And if we do depend on them, we are cursed because we cannot obey them all. It is only through faith that we have life and life everlasting.
Galatians 3:13-14
But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
And so we believe and therefore we have the promised Holy Spirit. The evidence of that are the apparent changes in our life, the fruit of the Spirit evident in us. And as Mark 16:15-18 tells us, the gift of speaking with new tongues, our prayer language, allowing us to pray in the spirit at all times.
You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? (NLT)
According to Wikipedia, perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness. This is an impossible state for us as mere humans to obtain. There was only one perfect man and that is Jesus.
There are many good people trying hard to be as perfect as they can be. They follow a moral standard. That standard might be the Jewish laws still in practice today. Perhaps it is the standards they learned as children growing up in a moral society. Maybe it is simply rules they have been given in the church they attend.
Some just think before they act and wonder WWJD or what would Jesus do in this situation? They analyze and then act.
Yet each of these are all about us changing our behavior according to the beliefs we hold. Does this have anything to do with being an Christian or living by the Spirit? I do not think so.
Galatians 3:5
Does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
I believe He gave us the Holy Spirit to live in us because we are followers of Jesus. The perfect spirit is inside us, but we have to give Him permission to come forth. We can let Him hide backstage watching us blunder through life on our own, in our human effort. Or we can bring Him on stage with us and let Him take the lead.
Galatians 3:6
"Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
And are we not those children? Yes, we are because we have asked Jesus, the son of the one true God, into our heart. We have asked for forgiveness for our sins and confessed our faith in Him whose name is above all names and in Him who is part of the triune Godhead--the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The blood relatives of Abraham were not all counted as his children. Blood does run deep. However, it is the blood of Jesus and our faith that makes us the real children of Abraham. Many in his mortal blood line did not become counted as his "children".
It does not matter where the ancestral line comes from. We are counted as soon as we put our faith in Jesus.
Galatians 3:8-9
The Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, "All nations will be blessed through you." So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
So because of Christ, we are as Abraham was and receive the same blessing from our Father God.
Galatians 3:10-12
But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God's Book of the Law." So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life."
Because of Jesus who took away all sin on the cross, we are righteous in Him. Because of Him we do not depend on the law, on a set of rules, on works of man, to become right with God. And if we do depend on them, we are cursed because we cannot obey them all. It is only through faith that we have life and life everlasting.
Galatians 3:13-14
But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
And so we believe and therefore we have the promised Holy Spirit. The evidence of that are the apparent changes in our life, the fruit of the Spirit evident in us. And as Mark 16:15-18 tells us, the gift of speaking with new tongues, our prayer language, allowing us to pray in the spirit at all times.
Monday, July 05, 2010
The Hard Drive
1 John 2:27
You have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true-it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. (NLT)
It is easy to become excited about the new computers we see advertised. They have the latest version of Windows and appear to allow easy access to displaying things from one computer to another and even to our wide screen televisions. The ads make us think that purchasing that computer is all we need to do. When we get it, we will have everything we need.
As you probably know, that is not the whole truth. Windows 7 may be a great new operating system, but is it the end all to everything else we use our computers for? No. We can browse the Web with the included software and connect to other computers, but there is more we need. The hard drive is not already filled with everything there is. We have to purchase other applications to use our computer to do things such as word processing, picture editing, spreadsheets, desktop publishing, Web page editing, accounting, and the list goes on.
We are constantly adding to the base computer additional applications to allow us to fully utilize the power it has. As we grow in our knowledge, we add additional applications to use more and more of that power.
Many of us believe it is the same with being a Christian. We have been taught that man has to teach us as new Christians what it takes to walk the walk. They give us a tremendous amount of knowledge to help us understand the Bible as they understand it. We learn what we should and should not do as Christians.
If I read 1 John and understand what he is telling us, I see that we do not need man to teach us at all.
The Holy Spirit teaches us all things. We already have the hard drive filled with all knowledge inside of us. We were given it when we believed. This is the Christ within that Paul speaks of. To know more, we must ask for it to be revealed to us.
There are things we know are on our computer but we cannot find them. So we do a search by typing some key words and let the machine search through all the content to locate the file for us. We even use the Web to do the same thing. We bring up Google and type in a phone number and are taken right to the person's address and a link to see their location on a map.
The Holy Spirit is our search engine. When we need something and ask in Jesus name, He locates the answer for us and brings it to our mind. As we remain in fellowship with Christ, the Holy Spirit teaches us everything we need to know, and what he teaches is true.
You have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true-it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. (NLT)
It is easy to become excited about the new computers we see advertised. They have the latest version of Windows and appear to allow easy access to displaying things from one computer to another and even to our wide screen televisions. The ads make us think that purchasing that computer is all we need to do. When we get it, we will have everything we need.
As you probably know, that is not the whole truth. Windows 7 may be a great new operating system, but is it the end all to everything else we use our computers for? No. We can browse the Web with the included software and connect to other computers, but there is more we need. The hard drive is not already filled with everything there is. We have to purchase other applications to use our computer to do things such as word processing, picture editing, spreadsheets, desktop publishing, Web page editing, accounting, and the list goes on.
We are constantly adding to the base computer additional applications to allow us to fully utilize the power it has. As we grow in our knowledge, we add additional applications to use more and more of that power.
Many of us believe it is the same with being a Christian. We have been taught that man has to teach us as new Christians what it takes to walk the walk. They give us a tremendous amount of knowledge to help us understand the Bible as they understand it. We learn what we should and should not do as Christians.
If I read 1 John and understand what he is telling us, I see that we do not need man to teach us at all.
The Holy Spirit teaches us all things. We already have the hard drive filled with all knowledge inside of us. We were given it when we believed. This is the Christ within that Paul speaks of. To know more, we must ask for it to be revealed to us.
There are things we know are on our computer but we cannot find them. So we do a search by typing some key words and let the machine search through all the content to locate the file for us. We even use the Web to do the same thing. We bring up Google and type in a phone number and are taken right to the person's address and a link to see their location on a map.
The Holy Spirit is our search engine. When we need something and ask in Jesus name, He locates the answer for us and brings it to our mind. As we remain in fellowship with Christ, the Holy Spirit teaches us everything we need to know, and what he teaches is true.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Pick Up the Phone
Galatians 6:3
If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (NLT)
When we think of someone in need we may think about a homeless person, or someone who just ran out of money before they ran out of month.
How often do we decide to help someone else based on how doing so will affect us? All too often we are "me focused". We tend to think of our wellbeing before others. So we find excuses like we do not have the time right now or someone else would be better suited to help.
We think "Can I afford to send a check to someone in the middle of a tragedy in their life"? But thinking that, are we trusting in God to supply our every need first? As we reach out and help someone in their need, will we trust Him to supply ours? Do we have faith to know He will make a way for our month to end with just the right amount of money left over?
And we tend to think of needs in the form of finances. The reality is that many needs are emotional. People need a friend to talk to. They need someone to help unburden them by just listening. We do not have to resolve their problems. All we need to do is listen to them and then help them pray for divine intervention.
Have you ever thought of someone you have not heard from in a long while? Perhaps they need your help. Maybe we need to make a simple phone call to cheer them up or to let them talk to someone who cares.
None of us is too important to ignore others in their time of need. We need to stop fooling ourselves into thinking we do not matter and someone else can do a better job. We need to pick up the phone and call that person we have been thinking about.
If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (NLT)
When we think of someone in need we may think about a homeless person, or someone who just ran out of money before they ran out of month.
How often do we decide to help someone else based on how doing so will affect us? All too often we are "me focused". We tend to think of our wellbeing before others. So we find excuses like we do not have the time right now or someone else would be better suited to help.
We think "Can I afford to send a check to someone in the middle of a tragedy in their life"? But thinking that, are we trusting in God to supply our every need first? As we reach out and help someone in their need, will we trust Him to supply ours? Do we have faith to know He will make a way for our month to end with just the right amount of money left over?
And we tend to think of needs in the form of finances. The reality is that many needs are emotional. People need a friend to talk to. They need someone to help unburden them by just listening. We do not have to resolve their problems. All we need to do is listen to them and then help them pray for divine intervention.
Have you ever thought of someone you have not heard from in a long while? Perhaps they need your help. Maybe we need to make a simple phone call to cheer them up or to let them talk to someone who cares.
None of us is too important to ignore others in their time of need. We need to stop fooling ourselves into thinking we do not matter and someone else can do a better job. We need to pick up the phone and call that person we have been thinking about.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Following the Law
Galatians 4:10-12
You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles-free from those laws. (NLT)
We live in a world filled with laws. Our government creates new ones daily. Who knows them all? Even the lawyers only know a few. They know the ones they have studied for the practice they have. As new cases are presented to them, they discover the laws that apply.
There are many laws, even some which have been around for hundreds of years that make no sense today. The more laws, the more restrictive a society we live in. We have to wear seatbelts when we drive. Those that smoke have to do it some many feet outside a building. The list goes on. Soon we will not be allowed by law to use incandescent light bulbs as they must be replaced by the new energy efficient florescent ones.
The Jews lived by their laws and were under the impression that strictly following them was the way to heaven. Mess up and you missed it. The fact is, as Jesus pointed out hundreds of years later, it is impossible not to mess up. Nobody except a perfect man could ever live up to all of them, and there was only one perfect man. He fulfilled the law so we would not have to live by it.
Paul preached to the Gentiles about Jesus, not about obeying the law. He did not ignore the law, but he knew it was following Jesus that brings salvation, not the law.
We are not to live encased in a cage of rules that limit our activity. Our life is not to revolve around a building full of believers; it is to be focused on the commission Jesus gave to each of us.
We are to be in the world, in the daily marketplace, letting the Holy Spirit guide us to encounters where we can share the good news that Jesus is alive today!
You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles-free from those laws. (NLT)
We live in a world filled with laws. Our government creates new ones daily. Who knows them all? Even the lawyers only know a few. They know the ones they have studied for the practice they have. As new cases are presented to them, they discover the laws that apply.
There are many laws, even some which have been around for hundreds of years that make no sense today. The more laws, the more restrictive a society we live in. We have to wear seatbelts when we drive. Those that smoke have to do it some many feet outside a building. The list goes on. Soon we will not be allowed by law to use incandescent light bulbs as they must be replaced by the new energy efficient florescent ones.
The Jews lived by their laws and were under the impression that strictly following them was the way to heaven. Mess up and you missed it. The fact is, as Jesus pointed out hundreds of years later, it is impossible not to mess up. Nobody except a perfect man could ever live up to all of them, and there was only one perfect man. He fulfilled the law so we would not have to live by it.
Paul preached to the Gentiles about Jesus, not about obeying the law. He did not ignore the law, but he knew it was following Jesus that brings salvation, not the law.
We are not to live encased in a cage of rules that limit our activity. Our life is not to revolve around a building full of believers; it is to be focused on the commission Jesus gave to each of us.
We are to be in the world, in the daily marketplace, letting the Holy Spirit guide us to encounters where we can share the good news that Jesus is alive today!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Follow the Rules
Galatians 2:17-18
Suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. (NLT)
Paul speaks here with simple logic. If we do not follow the rules man has made it does not have an effect on our relationship with Jesus. Jesus said to follow him, not follow a set of rules or abide by Jewish laws to be saved. If we want to take on some of the old laws for our self because we like what they tell us, it is not wrong unless they go against what Jesus taught us.
Man seems to want to have both worlds. Over the years we have created our own set of rules or laws. No matter which institutional church you belong to, there is a set of rules you are to abide to. Before Jesus became part of my life, I lived under the assumption that if I was a good person and did good deeds for others, I would go to heaven when I died. In other words, my good works would save me.
Jesus came to dispel that theory. He said that to be saved we had to follow Him. So we came up with another rule (law) and that is what we call the sinners prayer. Nothing wrong with it as it fulfills Jesus requirement to follow Him. However, how often do we require it to be said before we believe they are really saved?
Then we look at the various churches in our communities. Each has their own set of laws-their doctrines. Some even decide what they want to believe from the Bible. They chalk up many of the teachings as belonging to the first generation of Christ followers. Yet, Jesus was speaking to all believers. And ALL means you and me.
I guess it comes down to this for me. Following man made laws makes life easy. We memorize them and abide by them and everyone we associate with is happy with us. However, it is the Holy Spirit that I want to follow, not the laws of man. The more I lean to the rules, the less I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me.
I choose Holy Spirit.
Suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. (NLT)
Paul speaks here with simple logic. If we do not follow the rules man has made it does not have an effect on our relationship with Jesus. Jesus said to follow him, not follow a set of rules or abide by Jewish laws to be saved. If we want to take on some of the old laws for our self because we like what they tell us, it is not wrong unless they go against what Jesus taught us.
Man seems to want to have both worlds. Over the years we have created our own set of rules or laws. No matter which institutional church you belong to, there is a set of rules you are to abide to. Before Jesus became part of my life, I lived under the assumption that if I was a good person and did good deeds for others, I would go to heaven when I died. In other words, my good works would save me.
Jesus came to dispel that theory. He said that to be saved we had to follow Him. So we came up with another rule (law) and that is what we call the sinners prayer. Nothing wrong with it as it fulfills Jesus requirement to follow Him. However, how often do we require it to be said before we believe they are really saved?
Then we look at the various churches in our communities. Each has their own set of laws-their doctrines. Some even decide what they want to believe from the Bible. They chalk up many of the teachings as belonging to the first generation of Christ followers. Yet, Jesus was speaking to all believers. And ALL means you and me.
I guess it comes down to this for me. Following man made laws makes life easy. We memorize them and abide by them and everyone we associate with is happy with us. However, it is the Holy Spirit that I want to follow, not the laws of man. The more I lean to the rules, the less I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me.
I choose Holy Spirit.
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