Who are you following? Who should you be following?

 Who are you following?  Who should you be following?

 

In our present day of social media followers are very important.  The term social media influencer has been coined to signify those people who have a large number of followers.  People are able to make money now off of their social media if they have a large enough number of followers. Almost every YouTube video someone puts out is asking you to like it and hit the subscribe/follow button.  Be honest, have you watched someone’s video or checked out their social media because they had a large number of followers?  Have you ever bought something or tried something out because the influencer had it posted about it and so many of their followers bought it or tried it?

 

So as Christians how important is it to have followers?  Who are we following?  Who should we be following?

 

1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

 

Imitate- To follow in manners; to copy in form, color or quality. We imitate another in dress or manners; we imitate a statue, a painting, a sound, an action, when we make or do that which resembles it. We should seek the best models to imitate and in morals and piety, it is our duty to imitate the example of our Savior. But as we cannot always make an exact similitude of the original, hence,

 

Another way of say this verse is follow me and I also follow Christ.  

It appears to me that, at times, we get too caught up in leading that we forget WHO we are supposed to be following.  You may have heard the saying that “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” Well, if that walk is with Jesus what does it matter if anyone is following us?  Is our goal to get people to follow us or to follow Jesus?  

 

Sadly, we forget to remember 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

 

1 Corinthians 11:1 is speaking more of following along with Paul more so than follow along after Paul.  To be a true imitator is to do what the one being imitated does.  If Paul is imitating Christ, we need to be imitating Christ because to really imitate what Paul is doing is to actually by-pass Paul and go straight to what he is imitating. 

 

If there is anything positive that we can take from the mess ups from different prominent Christian “leaders” failures and falls is that no matter how gifted they were or how mightily God may have used them or how big of a ministry they had none of that kept them from falling.  None of us are good enough, on our own, to keep ourselves holy or righteous.  If we are trusting in ourselves or others we will fail. 

 

God never fails.  Why in the world would I ever want anyone to follow after me when I know that I have the ability to fail?  Why would I ever want to follow another person when I know that they have the capability to fail?  Why would I pattern my life after a copy when I have access to the original?  

 

That is why it is more important to focus on the one we SHOULD be following, Jesus, then on following anyone else OR on if anyone is following us.  Doesn’t it make it hard to follow Jesus if we are concerned about who is following us?  To know if someone is following you, you have to turn your eyes away from Jesus to look around to see if anyone is following you.  I wonder if that is why so many who have fallen fell.  

 

Why we need each other as Christians.

 Why we need each other as Christians.

Hebrews 10:25 is most often used, by preachers, as a way to get people to church on Sunday morning. The meaning is so much more than coming to a church service. Just back up one verse and read 24 and 25 together.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

The emphasis is on us to be loving others. To stir them up, encourage them and we best do this by make sure that we are getting together. The assembling of ourselves is speaking of anywhere and at any time. Really, we should be looking for opportunities every day in how we can get together with other believers. Our heart should be how can I love someone else today and how can I stir them up to love and good works.
It is about relationship. Sadly today, in the church, we have turned discipleship into a class, accountability into a servant master thing, and the body of Christ into a dysfunctional family. Do you know that I have not found one direct reference in the New Testament to the church being a family? Do you know what I do find the church referenced as in the New Testament? The Body, the Body of Christ. (Romans 12:5, 1 Cor. 10:17, 1 Cor. 12:12-27, Eph. 1:22-23, Eph. 4:15-16, Eph. 5:30, Col. 1:18, Col. 1:24, Col. 2:19).

I believe that if we started looking at other believers as a part of the body instead of as just a member of a family, I think that we would treat each other better than we often do. Seriously, how many times have you heard one of your siblings, parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins without even thinking about it or even caring or maybe not knowing that you did? Now tell me the last time you hit any part of your body with a hammer and didn’t know it? If someone purposely hurts themselves, we don’t think that is something that is normal, do we? NO, if someone purposely hurts themselves, we know that something is not right with them and that they need some form of help.
So, when we are hurting other believers, we are hurting the body that we belong to. When any part of my physical body hurts, I hurt. That is how it is supposed to be with the church, the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Look at these other scriptures.

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Isn’t it obvious that we need each other and that it is better to be in relationship with other believers than not? Do we not understand that one of the tactics of the enemy is to get us separated from other believers? Look at how predators attack animals. They don’t just go attack the whole herd. They look for one to get separated of find ways to separate one from the rest and then they attack. Armies do this. They try and get parts of the other army separated so that they can destroy it because together they are strong but separate they are weak.
Look at Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
We walk a more victorious and blessed life in relationship with other believers. The Christian life wasn’t mean to be done by yourself. I would say that we weren’t meant to be Lone Ranger Christians but even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. When you have those relationships with other believers make sure that you don’t let them go or be destroyed easily. You wouldn’t just let someone come and cut your pinkie toe off now, would you? I doubt it. If someone on the street tried to cut your pinkie off you would run away from them or fight them. Do the same with anything that would try and cut off your relationship with another believer. Offense, bitterness, pride, disagreement, misunderstandings, runaway from them or cut them off. Do whatever you need to so that you keep them from cutting off a relationship with another believer.

God’s Love Is Action

 God’s Love Is Action

1 John 3:16

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Check it out. To know love is not about a feeling or emotion but an action. Jesus laying down His life for us. Knowing this love we should lay down our lives for each other. (This means more than dying for someone else. Keep reading)

1 John 3:17

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

If we are in Christ then we are in His love. If Christ is in us then His love is in us. If we walk in the Spirit and are filled with the Spirit we are then full of love because the fruit of the Spirit is love. Galatians 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Galatians 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

To lay down our lives for one another is more than just physically dying for each other. It is lying down our wants and our selfish desires for one another. It is putting others needs before our own.

This type of action is not normal and thus we, in our own selves, cannot accomplish this. Our love fluctuates based upon our emotions and whims.

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

This verse is impossible for husbands to do apart from Christ. No matter how hard you try no man can do this on his own.

Laying down one’s life for anyone isn’t natural because death is not something that we naturally desire. We naturally want to live. Therefore we need the supernatural love of Christ flowing through us.

God’s love never fluctuates. So for us to love anyone the way we are supposed to we need to abide in His love. John 15:9

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

If we abide in His love and His love abides in us we then will be able to love each other and our wives they way God desires us to. This will produce actions that just flow out of us. Without saying that we love them people will know it because of our actions.

You want to have the best marriage ever. Abide in the love of Jesus and let it abide in you.

The greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit that could ever come through you is to have agape flowing out of your life into the lives of others.

Saying I love you isn’t it. It is living I love you that is.

God loves us for us. Before we did anything good He loved us.

In our loving others this should flow. Our love should be Spirit led and activated. So we are acting towards them in love separate from their actions.

Let us in word and deed love our spouses, children and others not for their actions but just because they are. Just as God loves us.

Guilt and Shame

 Guilt and Shame

 

A brother in the Lord reminded me of this today.  That the Roman’s in crucifying people it wasn’t just about physically killing them but also it was in shaming them as they died.  Contrary to the pictures of Jesus on the cross that most of us have seen there was nothing covering Jesus’s privates.  He hung naked on the cross.  The cross was a place for the guilty to suffer, die and be shamed.  

 

Think on this:

Jesus was made guilty. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

Jesus was made to suffer. 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

 

Jesus was shamed. Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Jesus died. 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

 

WHY???

That we may go free!

That we wouldn’t have to suffer!

That we don’t have to walk in shame!

That we may have eternal life!

 

If you have been born again you don’t have to live in your guilt, shame, suffering because He has paid the price for all of it on the cross.  He was raised the 3^rd day so that we can have life and that more abundantly in and through Him.  It isn’t about if you deserve it or not because you don’t and none of us EVER could.  It is a free gift and so let us take it, live it in it and share it with everyone we can. 

 

 

 

Increase and decrease

 Increase and decrease

 

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

 

This morning the Lord gave me a greater understanding of this verse.  As He increases in our life so all the negative things in our lives that do us no good decrease and even go.  Think about it.

As He increases in our life:

Anxiety decreases

Fear decreases

Sin decreases

Doubt decreases

Hate decreases

Anger decrease

….

Actually, if we allow Him to increase not only will those negative things decrease but they will be driven out completely from our lives.  They become crucified and it becomes no longer we with all our junk that lives but He with all of His victory, healing and freedom that lives in us.

 

That is the other beautiful thing about being in Jesus and Him increasing.  When we die to ourselves and it becomes Him living in us and giving us life we get to increase as well in all the good stuff.  We get to increase in faith, hope and love and all that sprout out of these three because it is no longer our faith, our hope and our love that is all based upon our strength or simple emotion but it is now His faith, His hope and His love working in and through us.  

 

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

John 15:5  “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

 

 

 

Law and Grace

 Borrowed from my friend Sebastian Mathews. One of the best explanations of grace and law and how they apply to believers and unbelievers and what they manifest in their lives.

Law and Grace

For unbelievers, following the law makes them sin less (which is why we have a constitution and rules and regulations and speed limits in this great country, it's a blessing so that the 80% of Americans who are not saved won't kill themselves and also so they leave the 20% of Christians, 1 in 5, in peace).

For unbelievers, following grace makes them sin more because it's a license to sin. For when we were unbelievers, unrighteousness was our natural state and it was tough not to sin. We were always eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

But for Christians, its the exact opposite. Heb 8:7, Rom 10:3. We are not under the dispensation of law but under the dispensation of grace. We have changed trees, back to the tree of life.

For us, following the law makes us sin more and following grace makes us sin less.

When we become Christians, righteousness is our super natural state and its tough to sin (unless we fall for satan who keeps try to tell us that we are still miserable sinners, which is a lie)

For believers, we sin more when we still believe we are sinful. We sin less when we believe we have been made righteousness.

Agape

Today’s Valentines Day.  For some this is a wonderful day, for some it is a horrible day and for the rest it is just another day.  The word love, in English, is so limited because it can mean so many different things and can be so abused.  We often define love by the experience that we received from those who used that word.  Many people’s definition of love has been abuse, abandonment, and mistreatment.  

That is why it is so important that Christians understand love in its highest form, God’s love the agape, for themselves and for others.  Agape is not a human based or originated love it is God’s love and can ONLY be known by receiving it from Him. 

 

 

Ephesians 3:17-19 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

 

We are to be rooted in agape being that we get our nourishment and life from it as a plant does through what it is rooted in.  Our foundation, grounding, is to be in agape just as a building needs to have a sound foundation so do we in agape.

 

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 

God doesn’t just tell us He loves us but He demonstrates it.  God hates sin.  So why we were living our lives in what He hates and doing what He hates, what literally separates us from Him He showed us agape through Christ dying for us. We were dead in our sin but were given life, not when we were born but when we were born again in and through Christ. Agape is action and not just word. 

 

 

1 John 4:9-10 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

So many of us have only experienced transactional love and so that is how we treat love.  I love you if you love me or if you do something then I will love you or if I do something that you will love me.  THAT’S NOT AGAPE.  God’s agape was given to us before we had any concept of what love, let alone agape, even really was.  

 

1 John 3:1-2 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

 

Without Christ we are just God’s creation.  All humans are not children of God.  We become children of God when we get adopted into His family through Christ.  This happens because of His agape.  To be able to be adopted in and to be called God’s child is HUGE.  We could never, ever, do anything to earn this and yet that is what agape allows us to be called.  Not only does He call us children but His beloved.  Beloved is His pet name for us.

 

1 John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us.

 

We can only express agape, the highest form and really only true love, because He first agaped us.  Everything else is just a cheap emotion.  Agape is beyond emotion; it is a choice and an action.  More than roses, candy and diamonds.  Its price is measured not with earthly currency but by the blood and life of Jesus. 

 

Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Nothing, Nothing, NOTHING can separate the born-again believer from agape.  Doesn’t matter what you did before, your past doesn’t disqualify you.  What you have done since you have become a Christian doesn’t. What you may do today or tomorrow or for the rest of your life won’t separate you from agape.  Agape isn’t a license or an okay for sin.  If you think that because you have accepted His salvation and because He loves you so that sin no longer matters and so you can live anyway, act anyway and talk anyway you choose and it doesn’t matter because God loves you then you really don’t know or yet begin to understand what agape is all about.  Agape is poured into us to separate us from sin and its destruction.  Sin always earns the wages of death in our life regardless if we are in Christ or not.  That is why God desires for us to be free from it and live through agape.  

 

I close with this.  If God loved you so much, don’t you think that you should love yourself with that love?  If God loved you this much, don’t you think He loves everyone else the same and if so, doesn’t that make them worth loving with the love you have received and known through Him?

 

Definition

 Definition

 

The definition we use, for example the words we use, makes a difference.  During the time I spent living in various southern states of the US I learned that “Bless your heart” meant something very different than it did in Upstate NY.  In preparing for my upcoming trip to Ireland I have been attempting to learn the difference between words we use here that have a different definition or meaning there.  In Ireland a boot is where someone may put their spare car tire where here it is something I put on my foot.  In Ireland runners are something you put on your feet while here it is people we watch in the marathon. 

Definitions and how exactly we define things matter.  Now when it comes to who is right or wrong with their definitions between the Irish and Americans I really don’t care.  Yet when it comes to how God defines things or people and how we define them that is very different.  Sadly, too many people, and too many of them Christians, define themselves, circumstance and others by their meanings instead of God’s. 

You may not feel well and the Doctor, many have given you a diagnosis that says you sick, or afflicted with a disease maybe even terminal. You can be defined by that or by the fact that God says you were healed 1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 

Many define themselves by what they used to be or by what the world says.  They may call you an addict, a criminal, a liar, a cheat a worthless bum and some other words that I will not use. If you have repented and received the free gift of salvation God says you are new and old things are passed 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

God says you are righteous 2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God says that you are Son Galatians 4:5-7 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

 

These are just a couple of examples of how we need to define ourself, our life and our circumstance by seeing what God says. STOP defining and speaking about and over yourself and your circumstances ANYTHING that is not what God has defined or has said. 

 

 

 

 

 

Process

 Process

 

As a Christian have you ever been frustrated with yourself because you are not where you feel or even know where you should be in your walk with Christ?  You know that something needs to be changed from bad to good or, far more often, from good to best but you are just not there.  Especially in the area of faith for healing and finances many of you may have become frustrated because you are not receiving what you have asked for and you are struggling to have the faith to fully trust God in those areas.  

We need to understand that growing and learning are both a process.  No one starts out fully grown nor fully having learned everything.  There is a process that we go through in growing and/or learning and everyone does this at a different pace. Stop comparing your speed of growth or learning to someone else’s. Focus on where you are and where God wants YOU to be and the process YOU are in.

 

Faith is supposed to grow.  If we, properly, see what Jesus says about faith we will see that faith starts as a seed but it supposed to grow.

Luke 17:6 So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you

Luke 13:19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

If a seed doesn’t grow there is a problem and if your faith hasn’t grown or isn’t growing there is a problem but there is no problem if it is growing even if it hasn’t reached the size that you see in others or where you desire it to be. Keep walking in the process. Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hearing and hearing. 

 

Philippians 4:11-12 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: ¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

In these two verses Paul says “I have learned”.  This is an important thing for us to understand as believers.  Every aspect of the Christian life doesn’t just come automatically.  There are things we need to learn or grow into.  Here Paul LEARNED how to be content both when he abounded and when he was in need. 

 

 

We need to grow in all the things of Christ and.  Ephesians 4:15-16 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

 

We need to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus. 2 Peter 3:17-18You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

 

Growth and learning are not just from receiving knowledge but also from hands on training.  James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  

Far too often we pray for God to just poof change us from what we are to what we need to be or desire to be.  He instead allows us to go through trials and tests so that we develop/grow/learn faith, patience and so that we become more complete.  I have heard it said that there is no testimony without the test. Just look at your life so far.  See how far you have come and what differences there are.  What are the things that have changed and that you have grown/learned so far.  Even someone just saved isn’t the same as what they were.  Don’t be discouraged at the pace of your growth.  Rejoice that you are growing and learning.  Yes, you may have a quick growth spurt here and there but usually growth is a gradual but consistent process.  Don’t give up, be encouraged and keep growing and learning. 

 

 

 

The Complete Package

 The Complete Package

 

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

 

I heard a story today of a woman’s wedding day.  For most, especially the bride, their wedding day can be one of the most stressful days of one’s life.  Kate’s wedding day didn’t have any stress for her because she and her husband to be had purchased a complete wedding package from the hotel that would be hosting the wedding.  The only thing that Kate and Chris needed to provide was what they were going to wear.  Kate had so much peace that when the wedding photographer came to take the before pictures, he commented that she was the most relaxed bride he had ever seen.  

There were some difficulties that came up during the day BUT because they had purchased the COMPLETE PACKAGE they didn’t have to worry because the hotel took care of it.  A balloon that had deflated, it was immediately replaced. Someone was mistakenly seated in the wrong place, no worries the staff took care of it.  No matter what did or would have come up the hotel’s staff had it covered because Kate and Chris had the complete package.

Jesus, at the cross, paid for us the complete package all we have to do is receive it by grace through faith. Once we do that we don’t have to worry about a thing.  Not because we won’t have problems or trials but because we, through Christ, have the COMPLETE PACKAGE. 

 

Truth and Facts

 Faith in God’s truth doesn’t deny the facts. Faith in God’s truth changes the facts.

Testimony

 I have been believing for my eyes to be healed so that I no longer need glasses. Since I started wearing glasses all the time back in 1996/97 every eye exam my eyes have been worse and I needed a stronger prescription until today. Today the doctor said that there was no change so no need for a stronger prescription. So healing is happening. First thing is the stopping them forgetting worse. Next is them getting better and better till no need for glasses.

Facts are that yes I still need glasses but God’s truth is changing those facts.

1 Peter 2:24

who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

The healing for my eyes was paid for at the cross.

Faith, Hope, Love

Faith, Hope, Love

 Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

If you live in fear of what people think of you speak this verse over yourself daily. To remind you of The Lord’s thoughts about you are. You really don’t know what other people think about you so stop stressing about that because God has clearly told you exactly what He thinks about you.

Hope isn’t wishing for something. Hope is an expectation for what God’s already done and provided for you. Hope is directly connected to faith and love. You can’t truly have one of these without the other two. All three start with God and end with God and all the way in between are with God.

Really you can’t know or really experience true faith, true hope or true love apart from God. What the world has apart from God that it calls faith, hope or love is just cheap, worthless imitations.