What Does God Want?

Have you ever wondered how to please God?  Are we supposed to be do-gooders and happy-go-lucky Pollyanna all the time? Are we to be grin and bear it?  What makes God happy? Can I give anything to God to return the favor of salvation? Do we have to be happy with our so-called lot in life? 

The only person who can boast is one who "knows the LORD." That is the whole of the functionality of our religious walk of faith with the Lord.  That entails a growing and living relationship.  We cannot give anything to God because it all belongs to Him, and we are mere stewards and shall be rewarded accordingly. We will be held accountable for our relationships, provisions, blessings, time, circle of friends and orbit of influence, and especially for our testimony and how we found opportunity to witness for our Lord. 

You must look in the mirror to see what God wants! He wants YOU.... He is not looking for you achievements or success or accomplishments, but your faithfulness in what HE gave you. We can please God with little if done with faith because it is not the size of our faith but the size of our God that counts in our testimony and fruit.  Remember this: we are known by our fruits, not our words or what we preach. 

God is looking for faith and Jesus said that when he comes, he will wonder if there is faith on the earth.  Our faith is not measured by our ecstasies, emotions, successes, but our obedience. No faith is not a constant or perpetual religious high of always walking on Cloud Nine! 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only those who believe are obedient; only those who are obedient believer." And Saint Teresa of Calcutta said: "God is not looking for success but faithfulness." Remember that we cannot divorce faith from faithfulness or obedience; they are juxtaposed and linked in scripture. 

We can have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge!  Just being good people in the eyes of man is not what God expects but a life of walking by faith and in the Spirit. Ignorance is frowned upon by God and not bliss. If you just want to be a good man, any religion will do!  Every religion has some good in it and just enough to deceive. 

Our ultimate goal is for God to say to us: Well, done, thou good and faithful servant....  Yes, we are the clay, and He is the Potter and Christianity is about relinquishment to God's will in obedience. 

Why Is There Power In The Name Of Jesus...?

You may have wondered why we refer to the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are many reasons: Lord represents his authority, Lord of the living and the dead, and Lord of all.   He is Jesus because "he shall save his people from their sins,: which was his purpose to die as our Savior.  He lived and died a Savior first of all, and he's Christ, the promised one that was who is the Messiah, the anointed one, who is promised by God.  All three of these names are necessary to understand who Jesus is. 

Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."  It is said that without the way there is no going, without the truth there is no knowing, without the life there is no living..   We live in Christ according to the truth and follow Jesus, who is the Way, as disciples who are followers.  Jesus is also called the prophet, priest, and king. That is an interesting question because he is a Prophet who cancels our ignorance of sin, he is a Priest who cancels our penalty for sin, and he is our King who gives us the power that sin holds over us and sets us free.

Many people are looking for Jesus in the wrong way, and they seek and try to find fulfillment and everything in politics, meaning in life, in religion, philosophy, ethics, good works, or escapism like drugs, etc.  You'll never find God these ways; you must find God through the truth, which is the Living Word of God. You must believe that he is!  You must have faith in the hearing of the Word.   God does hide himself he must look for God to find him, but he will be found by everyone who searches for him with their whole heart.  

There is power in the name of Jesus to defeat the devil in his own territory.  We are fighting on his turf, and the Lord is fighting for us.   We must learn to utilize the power in the name, and realize that he has all authority on Earth, just wanted to give that to defeat our enemies.

To realize that there is power in the name of Jesus, one must use the name of Jesus in their prayers and pray in the name of Jesus, which doesn't mean it's a magical word or phrase or some special power.  It isn't in the name itself, but it's our faith in the name that matters and then we recognize who Jesus is and what authority he has,   It's just like the apostles first said, "Silver and gold have I none but the name of Jesus I command you to get up and walk."  

When we say Jesus in Jesus name at the end of a prayer that is not like some magical phrase that we tack on to get power or something that's because we believe and will of God in expressed in Jesus and Jesus is on our side and we believe him for his will and plan, that we trust in him to answer our prayers.   We want him to do his will for us; anything in his name is for his glory, not for us.   We don't pray in our name, but in Jesus' name; we are not worthy.  Soli Deo Gloria!

A Plan For Evangelism...

Jesus had popularity; he had something going for him. His reputation preceded him, and people knew about him from all the talk of the town; they could not help but have an opinion about him.  Either to think he was a prophet or a king or the Messiah or whatever they had their opinions.  We are also to make our stand known and stand up for the truth and fully show our Chirsitan colors.  So people have opinions about us that bring about opportunities to witness because it opens the door or they have something to say and you have some sing to start the conversation with an icebreaker.  Ye might build the bridge to reach where they are.  So Jesus wants us to expand our circle of friends or orbit of influence.   And make us to have more friends, not less friends.  Some of our friends might not even be saved; that's the whole point of it so that we can reach them.

Now I've heard it said that we don't tell somebody the gospel until we have the door opened in other words we might say we heal the sick, clothe the naked, feed the starving, and then God may open the door for us to witness  Or else we might move mountains and walk on water and they may say well he is somebody we should listen to so we need a repetition too of some kind and that means our character will speak volumes.  If we watch our character, a reputation will take care of itself.

Now, when we witness, we look for commonalites to relate to a person..   Nowadays also like in our friends, that's why we all need friends.  There's a bridge to cross, a sound barrier to break!  There are some shared interests. We learn to see where they are at and are reach them there, just like a fisherman has different bait for different fishes.  We realize what they need; we know them before we speak to them.  And where to speak to them we do at his name not in our name but in Jesus' name.  We'll try to preach ourselves, but preach Christ crucified.  Sometimes we want to privatize it, but we must proclaim it as God opens the door and gives us opportunity.  

There are many lost opportunities that we can have if we only realize some of them; we would be great missionaries.  Peter said he would obey the Lord at his word. That's what we are to do that we are evangelist because God said we are because Jesus said go ye; therefore we are sent by God and have the authority of Jesus himself to witness as ambassadors for Christ.  We do not try to convict a person of their sin; this is the job of the Holy Spirit. he will, and he is the one who saves souls and rescues lives and changes the hearts; it's not our job.  We just preach the gospel the simple gospel of Christ, and leave the work of growth to God. We water some plants with God causes the increase!  God will open the door of faith to those who he is called here's a part to change hearts and to grant faith and the enable the person to believe and to hear the gospel.  

So, as Christians, we're all called to be catchers of men, not just the preacher.  The preacher's job is to preach the word faithfully to equip the saints (US) so that you and I can go out and make disciples.  Making disciples is a difficult thing; it takes one-on-one sometimes.  A preacher may have a church of a thousand people; however, he cannot disciple a thousand people one-on-one.  This requires the whole body working together as gifted by the Holy Spirit.  Everybody should take at least one person to disciple!

When we preach the gospel, we are so as love in action because we're obedient to Christ.  Faith means obedience and faithfulness!  They go together and are linked.  There's no such thing as having a faithful person with disobedient.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,  "Only he who believes is obedient: only he who is obedient believers. See how they are correlated in scripture and by the word of God?  Godly men will do good works of sowing the seed.   When we practice, we do good work.  We're showing love in action.

And that is faith!  We must be willing to give it a shot and try our Luck and go out on a limb,  so to speak, and God will do a miracle.  He will do far more than we can by ourselves because God is with us.  He promised to bless our effort.   The more obedient we are, the more we will see fruit,  and the more God will bless us. He wants us to be born-again witnesses, not to be ashamed or embarrassed.  Once the door is opened and the person seems ready, make a beeline for the gospel!  

Sometimes, we think I'm too much of a sinner to preach the gospel, but God saved you for a purpose so that you could reach somebody. You may be the only gospel they hear or see!   We can become all things to all people and let God speak through us, and we must use the word of God to claim the authority as our weapon of choice, the word of God.  It is with that which opens the heart,  kindles faith, and convicts a person of the truth and of sin.  Soli Deo Gloria!

How Can We Be Offerings To God?...

 God is looking for us to be living sacrifices, in other words, God wants us to live for him besides being willing to die for him and all this for his glory.  We offer ourselves to him to fulfill his will and to glorify him (Isaiah 43:7).  We don't have anything of our own merit to offer such as righteousness, good deeds, morality, or philosophy, nothing but brokenness and strife.  We come to God only as the lowest bidder with nothing in our hands but Christ's righteousness.  

We've received Christ as an unworthy sinner who had nothing to offer God being at his mercy, saying the "sinner's prayer" in Luke 18:13, which says "God be merciful to me, the sinner." He threw himself on the mercy of God and saw himself as unworthy. John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.  See how he appraised himself? Paul never stopped thinking of himself as the chief of Sinners he said am, not was, foremost among them.

The problem is people have their opinion of themselves they won't let go and refuse to see their sin.  Martin Luther said it is our job to make them see it. This is not the same as having low self-esteem but having no merit of salvation in God's eyes.  This is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man.  We are as bad off as we can be, not as bad as we can be.. Luke 5:8 says, "Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord," 

Our offering to God is all he wants for us, not our gifts.   He wants us with all the wrinkles, blemishes pimples, warts, bald spots, missing teeth, eating disorders, disabilities, tears, and all our sins.  We must come to him as we are to get a changed life.  We don't change our lives and then come to him as up for his approval.  Do we have anything that God should desire?  God loves us despite all this and sees his potential in us for his ultimate glory

We must realize  God rewards us for what he has done through us as it says "Since you have performed for us all our works," (Isaiah 26:12) and "For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ is accomplished through me," (Rom. 15:18) and  "You who rejoice in Lodebar (naught) and say did we not by our own strengths..." (they are boasting,) and "From Me, comes your fruit," (Hosea 14:8).

We were chosen according to his purpose and grace and according to the good pleasure of his will (2 Tim. 1:9; Ephesians 1:5).   I must empathize we don't impress God.  It is grace that he has even used us as his vessels of honor rather than vessels of dishonor.  We fit into his plans we don't fit him into ours. The kind of sacrifice God wants for us to live for Jesus because it is a purpose and an honor to be used by God and give and offer a sacrifice of worship.  We come to Christ on his terms of absolute surrender to his Lordship and ownership of our lives giving up the throne of our heart so that we can live through us.  

By The Grace Of God...

"[H]e predestined us ... according to the purpose of his will" (Ephesians 1:5, ESV).

Paul would not boast, but in the Lord, but he was forced to tell of his sufferings for Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 11) as if they were the marks of Jesus, a crown, and not just a feather in his cap. Jesus warned him of the great things he must suffer for the sake of His name upon his salvation experience in Acts 9:16. We are all that we are by the grace of God, not just Paul. "By the grace of God, I am what I am..." (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).

George Whitefield said, upon seeing a man dragged to the gallows, what he thought: "There but for the grace of God, go I." That's humility, thinking of others rather than yourself, (if God were to withdraw His restraining grace from us, we'd be all worthy of prison or worse!), and thinking of your unworthiness compared to the grace of God.

None of us was elected conditionally, but unconditionally, and not according to anything we did or didn't do, or any work or righteousness in the flesh. "Grace reigns through righteousness." (Cf. Rom. 5:21), and that means that grace is sovereign and when God decides to send grace it's irresistible and effectual in its purpose according to the will of God. God's sovereignty is over everything and absolute and is not limited by our freedom--what He says and decrees will happen according to plan! 

We have "believed through grace" (cf. Acts 18:27), and God quickened faith within us, as we received faith or were given it, and didn't achieve it--it's a gift, not a work! If it were a work we would have merit to boast of. Merit is opposed to and counter to grace; we cannot earn salvation, didn't deserve it, and can never pay God back for it.

It is important to be grace-oriented to get away from the paralysis of legalism and the mentality that we have a performance-based faith and works earn favor with God or that we can ingratiate ourselves with Him. "The faith you have is the faith you show, they say in theology. Christians aren't saved by good works, but unto them and in order to do them as a result of gratitude and a changed heart. 

 We are indeed saved by faith alone, as the Reformers taught, but not by a faith that is alone! Faith without works is dead, according to James 2:17 and we are not saved by them, nor without them, for they prove our faith as fruit--as a sign of a good tree. (Ephesians 2:10 says we are "saved unto good works, which God ordained beforehand, that we should walk in them.") God's providence guides us to a productive life of good deeds and works.

We cannot believe, except by grace, because Jesus said that we can do nothing apart from Him: "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (cf. John 15:5). Every good thing comes from God, the Ultimate of Goodness or Supreme Good (of Plato), and source of all blessings; and every perfect gift is from grace to us to be stewards of. Our righteousness, then, is not a gift or offering to God, but His gift to us! "Who makes you to differ? What do you have that you didn't receive?" (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:7). 

 If left to ourselves, none of us would've chosen Christ (cf. Matt. 22:14, "Many are called, but few are chosen" and cf. John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you"). We weren't inclined to come to Him, and our destiny is ultimately in the hands of God, not ours!

The good works we do are God working through us as vessels of honor doing His bidding and will. "I will not venture but to speak of what Christ has accomplished through me" (cf. Romans 15:18). "... you have done for us all our works" (Isa. 26:12, ESV). Our fruit is from God per Hosea 14:8 and the fruit of the Spirit is God's blessing on our lives as He cultivates us and causes us to grow; gifts are given, fruits are grown. We don't automatically exhibit all the fruits as infant believers, but must grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, as 2 Pet. 3:18 exhorts.

Understanding grace is paramount to comprehend that salvation is all grace (the work of God according to John 6:29, ESV, which says, "... This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent..!) and not our work: "Salvation is of the LORD," according to Jonah 2:9 and that means it's not synergistic or a cooperative venture with God, nor a work of man alone apart from God's aid, but wholly accomplished by God; salvation is the accomplishment of God, not the achievement of men, which is religion trying to gain the approbation of God and reach out to Him.

Our God took the initiative and reached down to us in grace, seeing our hopelessness, and desperateness without His intervention. He called us, not because of our works [of righteousness or pre-salvation works], but according to His purpose and grace (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9). Works say "Do," while God says, "Done."

No one can pat themselves on the back or give themselves kudos for achieving salvation as if they were wise, good, virtuous, or even intelligent! It remains a mystery why God chooses some and not others ("the elect obtained unto it and the rest were hardened" according to Roman 11:7 and Acts 13:48 says that "as many as were appointed unto eternal life believed."

The Golden Chain of Redemption from Romans 8:29-30 makes it patent that God loses no one in the shuffle from foreknowledge to glorification--all who are called are justified, not some lucky ones who endure through trials or don't "lose their salvation." These verses militate against the prescient view that God elected us because we had or would have faith, instead, we are elected unto faith, not because of it--there is no room for any merit in our salvation. 

You must distinguish between the inward call of God, which is always effectual, and the outward gospel call given by us to the lost to exhort them to repent and believe in Jesus, which can turn on deaf ears and be ineffectual.

And so none of us has the right to get a big head, even Paul had a thorn in the flesh to keep him from getting one, and we are all one in Christ, with no elite believers who are privileged or especially blessed--God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality (cf. Rom. 2:11; Acts 10:34). If we think we came to Christ on our own and by our own ability without being wooed, we probably left alone too and don't have the Spirit. If we don't need regeneration or grace to believe, what good is it and who needs it? The only ones who get the call are the ones the Father grants can come to Him and the ones He draws or woos (elko or to drag in Greek--implying force).

There is no second blessing, or higher life, or work of grace, as some holiness-movement believers (Neo-Pentecostal or charismatics) will have you believe--nowhere are we commanded or exhorted to seek the "baptism" of the Spirit. "We are all baptized into one body by the Spirit" (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13). There is one Lord, one faith, and only one baptism according to Eph. 4:4! Soli Deo Gloria!

How Does God Give More Grace?...

“But He gives more grace…”

John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners to tell his testimony of salvation. Paul also saw himself as the "chief of sinners." It is true that the more sin, the more grace from God's abundance and bountiful provision: "Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more" (Rom. 5:20). We are great sinners and need a great Savior! Salvation goes to the unqualified, not those who see themselves as righteous. "No perfect people need apply" to God's church! James 4:6 tells of God granting more grace to the believer and how: "He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

This is how it is in God's economy: the way up is down; we must humble ourselves to be exalted. Christianity is full of paradoxes like these: we must become empty to be filled; we must give to receive; we must love to be loved; we must serve to be served &c. God sees things in a different light than the natural man. The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God! The lesson on grace is that we are commanded to grow in it: "But grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18).

Notice that grace and knowledge are juxtaposed or linked in this verse! They go hand in hand and can be distinguished but not separated. God doesn't want us to remain ignorant but to grow in knowing Him; for this is eternal life--to know God and His Son Jesus whom He sent. To know Him is to love Him! But God frowns upon ignorance and puts a premium on knowledge and wisdom. One fault of Israel is that they had a "zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" (cf. Rom. 10:2).

Our hearts must be right before the Lord in our service not like Amaziah's who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but not with a right heart (cf. 2 Chron. 25:2). We are only eligible for grace when our hearts are right before the Lord, for the Lord looks upon the heart and sees our motives (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 21:2). Then we are candidates for more grace! God is a God of grace and mercy and is good to all: to some in all ways, to some in few ways (cf. Psalm 145:9), but good to all nevertheless! No one will be able to accuse God of not being good! But some will realize that this isn't the whole equation for them--God is also just, holy, and righteous!

Some err in adding merit to grace, tradition to Scripture, the church to Christ, and works to faith! Salvation is by grace and not by merit or it wouldn't be grace, it would be justice and God would be obligated to save us; however, He is obligated to save no one! In grace, God gives us what we don't deserve, in mercy He withholds what we deserve.

Merit is the antithesis of grace and there is no place for merit in salvation--we cannot prepare ourselves for it or do any pre-salvation work; therefore, there is nothing for us to boast of before God. Grace is not only necessary for our salvation, but sufficient--it doesn't just facilitate it, but completes it and we don't deserve it, cannot earn it, cannot pay it back, and we cannot add to it! Therefore, grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God and one of the Five Only's of the Reformers was that salvation was sola gratia or by grace alone!

Our salvation is by grace all the way we are: called by grace; saved by grace; believing by grace; kept by grace; empowered by grace; delivered from sin by grace; sanctified by grace; and glorified by grace! God gets all the credit for our salvation. That's why Jonah 2:9 says, "Salvation is of the LORD," (not of us and the Lord nor us alone either)! If it were even partly by us, we'd blow it! When God is responsible for our salvation, it's by grace and cannot be taken away or forfeited, because it wasn't by merit in the first place. Soli Deo Gloria!

To Test The Spirits...

John warns us to test the spirits to know whether they are of God.  That is, preachers of the cults and all the false teachers distort the teaching of Christ (another spirit,  another gospel, another Jesus).   John says that if you do not abide in the doctrine of Christ you do not have the Father.  He also says we should preach Christ and Christ crucified.  The Lord Christ should be the center of our preaching need to focus on him or else an aside or leading towards Christ and leading up to him of course we're talking about Christ.  

If I know as we preach the gospel of Christ, which is Christ-centered, our doctrine is Christ-centered, not man-centered at all.  Man's not the measure of all things, God is.   John Stott said that Christianity is Christ; all else is circumference. In other words, it doesn't matter if you get Christ right it doesn't matter, what else you get wrong, and if you gett christ wrong, it also doesn't matter what else you get right.  What else if you get my drift, you must get that doctrine correct.  You will go to hell if you distort the teaching of Christ, this is heresy and will prevent you from being saved. They teach "another Jesus." 

Now there are ways to distort the teaching of Christ many teachers teach a false Christ or another Christ as Paul said.  We're not to welcome any other Christ and the one which we have received.   He is the God-man, fully God and fully man.   Not a mixture of the two but completely separate natures in one person.  He was not a humanized God.  He was not a deified man.  He didn't pretend to be God.  He didn't just act like God when he felt like it.  He didn't get godly powers once in a while to do miracles and disguise himself.  Christ fully made it clear that he is God in the flesh. He proved it through many miracles that a deity would do.  Some tell you maybe Jesus is a son of God.  What patronizing nonsense!  

But they use the same words but different dictionaries  Just beware of what they say.   And test things according to the scripture like the the Bereans who went to the scriptures to see whether these things were so.   In other words, the real God Jesus Christ invites us to scrutiny and to be noble and to search things out for ourselves not just take anybody's word for it. That's what happens in a cult people become slaves to a teacher and neglect the word and the teacher has power over them of persuasion.  That is ungodly and the people don't notice it because they aren't reading their Bibles or they're not literate in the Bible and familiar with sound doctrine.

Jesus said that he who was of the truth heard him.    And he was not the truth is not heard him.   We must test the spirits where they are of God and if you say not Jesus's Christ is not in the flesh you are not of God whether you're a preacher or whoever you think you are that is the litmus test of who Jesus is we must know Jesus.   

Most preachers preach what people want to hear according to their itching ears.   Just to get success or to grow the church but we have to preach Christ.   And what he commands is to preach to commit and to complete the great commission to disciples.  So they can know Christ and have a relationship with him, not a matter of knowing a creed but knowing a person is our goal.

Jesus did not just claim to speak for God did not say not quote any authority when he spoke or say I know the truth I've learned the truth I found out the truth he said he is the truth you needed out to see what he said he said well.   They say unto you but I say unto you in other words he spoke as no man ever spoke and claimed the authority of God himself when he was speaking on behalf of God. Jesus did not footnote his sermons in other words and illustrated them oftentimes with miracles or signs and wonders.

Yes, he spoke as one with authority and this is what shook up the Pharisees and the Sadducees because he dared to disagree with them they did not like his doctrine.    We must know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error and we can only know this by a thorough study of basic sound doctrine and knowledge of the word of God

It is a sign of the times that people are doubting the deity of Christ.   The early Christians were already believers who sometimes questioned the humanity of Christ now people claim he was just a man people thought was God and later deified him.   Or had he been some type of a legend that he was God is.

His disciples realized that upon the resurrection they did not hesitate in this teaching.  Anybody that has the Spirit of God is illuminated by God he has the anointing that he can tell the truth from error because he can understand the scriptures.  God opens his heart to believe.   

 I must add here in passing that it is a sign of the times that people are starting to wonder who Jesus Christ is.  The search for the historical Jesus as it were!  That it is a sign the times that people are starting to wonder who Jesus Christ is.  This is a pivot of the whole point of Christianity.  We must discover for ourselves who he is.  We must find from experience, revelation, and illumination to know Jesus Christ.  

That is the whole point of Christianity: God became a man for us and saved us from our sins.  But we just realized that it's possible even for the elect to be deceived and then in his last days, it's obvious those who are not grounded in the word of God are easily deceived.  So we must beware of the doctrines of the devil and anything strange being taught.   Doctrine may not be something that we've heard before but test all things and hold fast to that which is good.  The word of God is the litmus test.  "If they speak not according to this word it is because they have no light in them." Isaiah 8:20   Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Do We Possess Spiritual Gifts?..

Why do we possess spiritual gifts question? It is for the mutual edification of the body of Christ. For the building up of the body until Christ comes—that which is perfect comes. Then that which is imperfect, spiritual gifts, will pass away, and you will no longer need them. We possess spiritual gifts for the common good not for our own benefit only.

We are to seek greater gifts such as prophecy. That's why it says to let him who wills to speak, speak, let him who wills to prophesy, prophesy, and if anyone thinks he's a prophet, etcetera. We are not to despise prophesying. We are to think of each other as better than ourselves in other words, we respect the gift of others.

There are two errors in this: gift projection where we expect others to have our gifts or interpret others as having our gift. We also have gift envy when we wish we had another person's gift and are not satisfied with the one we have. The great error people have is that they think they don't have a gift.

We are to do something as the opportunity from God gives rise. In other words, we don't refuse to do something just because we don't have the gift because we don't know if God may use us in that gift or not even temporarily. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance God doesn't take back gifts for instance. If someone has been called into the ministry and falls into sin he may lose his ministry. Then he may be despised, defrocked, rejected, and lose opportunity.

But he still has that gift of preaching God could use them in other ways, maybe he would be a writer or start another ministry because he still has that gift. People think if you have tongues, you are mature or spiritual but that might be one of the least of gifts. It depends upon not how spiritual you are to exercise your gift. You can be carnal and speak in tongues. A person may only need to repent reviving one’s gift. Remember, gifts are given, fruits are grown, and talents are genetic.

Many people are guilty of neglecting the gifts they have. Paul says not to neglect the gift and use it to be faithful. To whom much is given much is required. In this respect, the hand could not say to the face, “I don't need you or the eye to the ear I don't need you,” we all need to tell her we all work together as one in the unity in Christ. We have many gifts but one Spirit. In other words, it doesn't matter what your gift is. It matters the Spirit that you use it in.

There is no greater gift than the fact that anybody can be faithful in the gift they have and receive a full reward. God does level the playing field here! We are to use the gifts when God opens the window of opportunity. That means the gift within us. We're not to neglect that gift but to be faithful to it so it grows and we mature in the gift.

Numbers 11:29 says, “Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them.” God says, “I will pour out my spirit on all men,” today is the opportunity to have a chance to be used by God, not just the priest, not just an elite spiritual person but by anybody. We are told the Spirit in the Old Testament the Spirit was not yet given. But today we all could be filled with the Spirit and the Spirit falls in all we hear the word of God in faith. All who obey the Lord have received the Spirit—Acts 5:32.

Remember, we are gifted according to what the Holy Spirit wills (1 Cor.12:11), not how we will and can speak as the Lord leads. We are not lacking any spiritual gifts. Remember, the Spirit is like a down payment of our salvation and bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16) this is a bonus we have the Spirit the Old Testament saints did not with few exceptions. Thus whoever renders service, whosoever speaks, whosoever prophesies can do to the glory of God, Soli Deo Gloria!

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What Is God's Work? ...

 The disciples asked Jesus (cf. John 6:28-29) what work we must do to inherit eternal life and Jesus said, "This is the work of God that you believe in his Son."   What we're saying here is that Jesus meant that there's nothing we can do to earn salvation, there's no work that guarantees salvation or brings it about in other words.   We must receive salvation, not achieve salvation.  What happens is that God works faith in our hearts and it causes us to believe and to become born again and belief is the sign that we belong to God.  It is not something we do to get saved, rather we are saved because we believe, in other words, you might say God ordains us to believe.  We are not ordained because we believe there's a big difference we are not saved by works we are ordained to believe. 

If you call faith of work, you're saying also that we're saved by works and works include merit and that would be merit-based salvation.  In other words, works and grace are antithetical.   They cannot be in the same reality effectuating the same conclusion.  God opens your heart to believe and he knows where we are spiritually and can do that because he made our hearts, he understands our hearts.  God looks at the motives that's why you cannot tell us a certain prayer that is effectual for all salvation.  Our hearts seek God because God sees a heart, not just the words it one says.  There's no preset or prefabricated prayer for salvation that one could say guarantees salvation.  And it's also no work that we can do that guarantees salvation.  

The work of God as Jesus said is to believe in Jesus but this is not our work it is God's work he has recognized that God's works are faith in us.   We do not conjure up faith on our own it is a gift of God and his work.   We are not judged by our faith because I'll be judging by something God gave us, we are judged by what we do with the faith that God gave us, in other words, the fruit that we bear in God's name or the works that we accomplished through the Spirit in his name some people have great faith and they do no works as a follow-up.  They do not follow through with their faith. Unbelievers are judged by their deeds whether good or evil.  

 There's a difference between confessional faith and functional faith and what we do with it  You must turn our faith into deeds or our creed into deeds and make it real a living faith that grows in relationship to relationship.   They're not stagnant when a person has faith in God.   Faith goes from faith to faith and from glory to glory from grace to grace.  He gives more grace as our faith becomes strong and we grow in Christ and mature in Christ.

We must recognize that God desires to work faith in everybody but some people are resistant some people are blind and some people are hardened.  In fact, all this was before we were saved.  If God did not decide to work salvation and faith in some people, all of us would be lost.   God has to call us to salvation and open our hearts and everyone that God calls gets saved.  This is called the inward call of God and brings people to salvation but preaching the gospel is the outward call of God and goes to everyone not just the elect. God's working with us is a regeneration and a sanctification and a justification, glorification, things God works in us we do not work on our own. Soli Deo Gloria!

How Can A Christian Measure The Soul Of A Church?...

How can a Christian measure the soul of a church?

Karl W. Broberg

Former Bible Lecturer at Churches (2008–2018)Just now

There is an ambiance to every church body that reveals the health and well-being of the body. The culture is the sum total of the individual attitudes and parts--the sum of the whole being greater than the sum of the individual parts separately--church bodies are organisms working together as a team and must be cooperative, not competitive. (It's a team effort and not a one-man band!)

We are not to engage in the "let's compare" game. The church has five distinct purposes or reasons for existence: corporate and public worship as a unified body in Christ in the Spirit and in truth, fellowship in the sphere and orbits of family and friends in the body including attendees, discipleship of all believers, ministry to the church body and members or congregants, evangelism, outreach and mission to the lost.

Note that we all are to be engaged in each function and not to assume the clergy has sole responsibility. A mission is our work in the world to the lost--our outreach to the world at large, making Christ known. Our ministry is to each other as we exercise our spiritual gifts in the body, every body part being essential to healthy growth. They separate gifts in the church work for a common mission and ministry in unity and being one in the Spirit.

We don't just attend church to be social or to get a spiritual high or lift. We share how the Lord works in our lives and get a regular spiritual workout or checkup. We need to periodically examine ourselves as can be done more appropriately in the company of fellow believers. We should enjoy our church family and even feel part of it as much as our biological one. We must realize our responsibilities to the body and be faithful in attending for the sake of those that may need our ministry and we are connected with. We ought to realize that if we really belong, we will be missed when absent.

The mature believer and congregant has realized his role in the body and finds fulfillment in reaching out of his comfort zone to bring life to the church. The meeting of the church is not a social function, but it is a family and one ought to feel like when what they say, "When you're here, you're family!"

We should all feel at home and free to express ourselves just like the expression WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get! We ought to feel free to be our real spiritual selves in the church and to see God at work in the sanctuary. It is everyone's job description as it were to disciple newborn believers and to make them feel at home and welcome in the body.

Fellowship is vital to growth and there is a difference between fellowship and small talk or exchanging pleasantries and niceties. We don't go to church to talk sports or the weather--you can do this anywhere. We must realize our duty to minister and be interested in how our friends and church family are doing spiritually in life. When we minister, we may share how God is working in our lives and may find commonalities and opportunities to meet needs. We are all accountable to each other and must accept each other despite our personal flaws--making allowance for our faults.

Many Lone Ranger believers who are really going rogue believe they can worship God on their own and don't need to do it corporately! However, the Spirit is present in the body in a special way and we ought to contribute to the needs of the saints and do our part in the body. They may say they can worship in the cornfield, but do they? We must realize that we really do need each other and no one is an island or rock or has all the gifts to shine his light apart from being connected.

We know we are becoming mature when we enjoy our fivefold purpose: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. We rejoice in that God considers us worthy vessels of honor and uses us for His glory. The more dependent we are on the body the more we are contributing because we are humbled and realize the importance of each body part and cannot stand alone spiritually no matter how gifted we are--we need each other!

Who are we that God should use us for His glory; He created us for this very purpose: to bring Himself glory through our salvation from sin and evil. It is only in the contrast of evil that we behold and contemplate or apprehend the good; man has become like God in the sense that he is capable of knowing good and evil, but this is only realized in a mature believer who can discern (cf. Heb. 5:13-14).

The committed Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission! The ultimate purpose of the body is to fulfill this and bring it to the message and Word to the world. A successful church isn't measured by its body count or membership roles, but by the spiritual health of its congregants--we don't need to worship in a crowd, but in a family that can interact and knows each other!

In conclusion, the parachurch cannot fulfill the mission statement of the church and in the final analysis, the raison d'etre (the reason for existence) is to know the Lord and to make Him known to a lost world. Anything less must be seen as falling short and not measuring up to keeping the main thing the main thing.

In the final analysis, the church is not a crowd or an organization--both of which we see many churches becoming today--but it's an interactive and growing body or organism that grows spiritually together, is interdependent, and reaches out with a mission bigger than itself--without vision, the people will perish says Proverbs 29:18!

The church with real soul is the one obeying the marching orders of Christ expecting the Second Coming, keeping the main thing the main thing--preaching the Word, namely the gospel; which involves all five functions of the corporate body: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. We ought never to lose sight of what our mission statement is; knowing that even to have a mission statement is to have a vision of completing the Great Commission which implies that we not only know the Lord but make Him known by our public testimony and reputation to the community at large that is our common orbit.

It is only then that we can say we have a soul as a church--not just because the seeker likes us (stressing seeker-sensitivity or consumer-driven policy) or that we just have great preaching or music (which can be selling points but we don't want to get off track and lose focus of our vision), etc.

The church must coordinate all the gifts and realize that everyone has something to contribute to a body of happy, growing, and healthy members. We must not seek to be everything to everyone or please everyone and ending up being nothing of significance to everyone, going nowhere. Soli Deo Gloria!