Posts Tagged ‘christianity’

Spiritual Training 28 February 2013

Posted: February 28, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Life Through the Spirit

Romans 8:10-16 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. (11) And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (12) Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. (13) For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (14) because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (15) For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (16) The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

The Holy Spirit is God’s promise or guarantee of eternal life for those who believe in him. The Spirit is in us now by faith and by faith we are certain to live with Christ forever.

“Put to death the misdeeds of the body,” means to regard as dead the power of sin in your body (see 6:11;Galatians 5:24) When we regard sin’s appeal as dead and lifeless, we can ignore temptation when it comes.

Paul uses adoption or “sonship” to illustrate the believer’s new relationship with God. In roman culture, the adopted person lost all rights in his old family and gained at the rights of a legitimate child in his new family. He became a full heir to his new father’s estate. Likewise, when a person becomes a Christian, he or she gains all the privileges and responsibilities of a child in God’s family. One of these outstanding privileges is being led by the Spirit (Galatians 4:5,6). We may not always feel as though we belong to God, but the Holy Spirit is our witness. His inward presence reminds us of who we are and encourages us with God’s love (5:5).

We are no longer cringing and fearful slaves; instead, we are the Master’s children. What a privilege! Because we are Gods children, we share in great treasures as coheirs. God has already given us his best gifts: his Son, his Holy Spirit, forgiveness, and eternal life; and he encourages us to ask him for whatever we need.

Lets Bring it Home: What family do you belong to? Who’s your Father?

Spiritual Training 27 February 2013

Posted: February 27, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Life Through the Spirit

Romans 8:6-9 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Have you ever worried about whether or not you really are a Christian? A Christian is anyone who has the Spirit of God living in him or her. If you have sincerely trusted Christ for your salvation and acknowledged him as Lord, then the Holy Spirit has come into your life, and you are a Christian. You won’t know that the Holy Spirit has come if you are waiting for a certain feeling; you will know he has come because Jesus promised he would. When the Holy Spirit is working within you, you will believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and that eternal life comes through him (1 John 5:5); you will begin to act as Christ directs (Galatians 5:22,23); you will find help in your daily problems and in your praying (Romans 8:26,27); you will be empowered to serve God and do his will (Acts 1:8) (Romans 12:6); and you will become part of God’s plan to build up his church (Ephesians 4:12, 13).

Who is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
1. A disciple is one who fist has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
2. A disciple is one who regularly seeks out
3. A disciple is one who reads and meditates upon the Bible
4. A disciple is one who is faithful in attendance at opportunities for worship and praise
5. A disciple is one who routinely shares with others what the Lord has done in their life
6. A disciple is one who cheerfully returns a tithe of what God has given
7. A disciple is one who serves the poor, the hungry, the hurting, and the lost as if that person were Christ himself.

Lets Bring it Home: How many of these fit into your Christian Walk?

Spiritual Training 12 February 2013

Posted: February 12, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do, For what I want to do I d not do, but what I hate I do.

Paul shares three lessons that he learned in trying to deal with his sinful desires.
1. Knowledge of the rules is not the answer (7:9) Paul felt fine as long as he did not understand what the law demanded. When he learned the truth, he knew he was doomed.
2. Self-determination (struggling in one’s own strength) doesn’t succeed (7:15), Paul found himself sinning in ways that weren’t even attractive to him.
3. Becoming a Christian does not stamp out all sin and temptation from a person’s life (7:22-25).

Being born again takes a moment of faith, but becoming like Christ is a lifelong process. Paul compares Christian growth to strenuous race or fight (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 4:7). Thus, as Paul has been emphasizing since the beginning of this letter, on one in the world is innocent; no one deserves to be saved-not the pagan who doesn’t know God’s laws, not the person who knows them and tries to keep them.

Lets Bring it Home: All of us must depend totally on the work of Christ for our salvation. We cannot earn it by our good behavior.

Proverbs 11:29 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: February 11, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 11:29 – He who brings trouble on his family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

One of the greatest resources God gives us is the family. Families provide acceptance, encouragement, guidance, and counsel. Bringing trouble on your family, whether through anger or through an inflated desire for independence is foolish, because you cut yourself off from all they provide. In your family, strive for healing, communication, and understanding.

Here are two ways you can cause trouble and cost yourself dearly. You can abuse privileges, or neglect duties, in your family, and you will end up with nothing. Your future will disappear like wind through fingers. These and other foolish choices will also take you down: you will end up serving those who are prudent and wise in their choices.

Fathers can trouble their houses in many ways. Being greedy of gain is a clear one (Pr 15:27). They work too many hours, waste money in foolish ventures, deprive their family of personal attention, are stingy with money, compromise integrity, and are carnally minded, all in their vain pursuit of wealth. Lazy and foolish men also hurt their families by depriving them of needs and opportunities through sloth and ignorance.

Fathers can also be too overbearing, harsh, critical, and domineering, which may discourage wives and children, or provoke them to wrath (Eph 6:4; Col 3:21). On the other hand, a father who avoids decisions or being a leader troubles his house. The wife and children are at sea without a captain. They lack security and direction for their lives.

While fathers are mentioned here, everyone knows overbearing wives and mothers are also an evil (Pr 12:4; 19:13; 21:9,19; 25:24; 27:15-16; 30:21-23). They drive children to anger, bitterness, discouragement, frustration, and even hatred; though they whitewash their odious conduct by saying, “I was just trying to help.” They are full-time meddlers, always digging, nagging, and pressing suggestions about unimportant things of life.

What is the punishment for these selfish persons – foolish fathers and mothers? They lose their families. The children can hardly wait for marriage to get away. Some will run away before marriage. These children only come home under duress. They want so much to escape the vexation of living with selfish or critical parents. They want peace and quiet, with affection and happiness, where love reigns; they want to escape their cruel parents.

Troubling your family has consequences. Foolish parents, who selfishly neglect their children or odiously interfere in their lives, will lose them. They will die lonely, even if the children visit them out of obligation. Foolish choices will cost a man his standing; the prudent man will take dominion over him. These judgments are natural and appropriate.

Spiritual Training 05 February 2013

Posted: February 5, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:20-23 when you were slaves to sins, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at the time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are free to choose between two masters, but you are not free to adjust the consequences of your choice. Each of the two masters pays with his own kind of currency. The currency of sin is eternal death, That is all you can expect or hope for in life without God. Christ’s currency is eternal life-new life with God that begins on earth and continues forever with God.

Lets Bring it Home: What choice have you made?

Eternal life is a free gift from God, if it is a gift, then it is not something that we earn, nor something that must be paid back. Consider the foolishness of someone who receives a gift given out of love and then offers to pay for it. A gift cannot be purchased by the recipient. A more appropriate response to a loved one who offers a gift is graceful acceptance with gratitude. Our salvation is a gift of God, not something of our own doing (Ephesians 2:8,9). He saved us because of his mercy, not because of any righteous things that we have done (Titus 3:5). How much more we should accept with thanksgiving the gift that God has freely given to us.

Proverbs 28:27 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 28, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 28:27 He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.         

God want us to identify with the needy, not ignore then.  The second part of this proverb could be restated positively.  “Those who open their eyes to poor people will be blessed” If we help others when they are in trouble, they will do what ever they can to return the favor (see 11:24,25).  Paul promises that God will supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19); he usually does this through other people.  What can you do today to help God supply someone’s need?

 

Proverbs 25:21-22 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 25, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 25:21-22 – If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

God’s form of retaliation is most effective and yet difficult to do. Paul quotes this proverb in
Romans 12:19-21. In Mathew 5:44, Jesus encourages us to pray for those who hurt us. By returning good for evil, we are acknowledging God as the balancer of all accounts and trusting him to be the judge.

Spiritual Training 15 January 2013

Posted: January 15, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer. 

 If God loves to forgive, why not give him more to forgive? If forgiveness is guaranteed, do we have the freedom to sin as much as we want?  Paul’s forceful answer is By no means! Such an attitude deciding ahead of time to take advantage of God-shows that a person does not understand the seriousness of sin.  God’s forgiveness does not make sin less serious; his Son’s death for sin shows us the dreadful seriousness of sin.  Jesus paid with his life so we could be forgiven.

Lets Bring it Home:  The availability of God’s mercy must not become an excuse for careless living and moral laxness.

Spiritual Training 14 January 2013

Posted: January 15, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Romans 5:20-21 The law was added so that the trespass might increase.  But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

As a sinner, separated from God, you see his law from below, as a ladder to be climbed to get to God.  Perhaps you have repeatedly tried to climb it, only to fall to the ground every time you have advanced one or two steps.  Or perhaps the sheer height of the ladder seems so overwhelming that you have never even started up.

Lets Bring it Home: In either case, what relief you should feel to see Jesus offering with open arms to lift you above the ladder of the law, or take you directly to God!  Once Jesus lifts you into God’s presence, you are free to obey out of love, not necessity, and through God’s power, not your own.  You know that if you stumble, you will not fall back to the ground.  Instead, you will be caught and held in Christ’s loving arms.

Proverbs 11:09 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 11, 2013 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 11:09 With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape.   

The mouth can be used either as a weapon or a tool, hurting relationships or building them up.  Sadly, it is often easier to destroy than to build, and most people have received more destructive comments than those that build up.  Every person you meet today is either a demolition site or a construction opportunity. Your words will make a difference.  Will they be weapons for destruction or tool for construction?

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