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Subject: What we really need
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lunpu 3.09.13 - 02:19pm
From what I hear and observe, it seems that most of the Christianity of today is managed by men and not empowered by God. Are we like those of whom Paul warned, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power?(2 Timothy 3:5).*
The apostle Paul was conscious of the powerful working of God in his life and the lives of all believers.
My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demostration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (Read I Corithians 2: 1-5).
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline(2 Timothy 1: 7).
Paul was fervent in his prayers for saints to be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might (Colossians 1:11).
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15: 13).
Especially in Ephesians 1: 16-21: that you may know ... what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe ... in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which he brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead; and in 3: 16-21: that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you ... may be filled up to all the fulness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations.
God is working.He has a great program for all who will be involved with Him in it through faith in the working of God (Read Colossians 2:8-14).
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure(Philippians 2:13)
We do not need to get God to do something, but to find out what He is doing and join in with joy.
God is good. Do not merely believe that God exists as a First Cause to account for existence of the world and life. We need much more to know His goodness, to thank Him for His grace and love Him. We need Christ living in our hearts through faith, molding our thoughts, our desires and how we identify ourselves. Without Him we do not really know who we are, or what we may become.
God wants to forgive us all our sins, and to give us eternal life; He also wants to come into our lives and works in us His goodness, wisdom, and love, to give us victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil.(Read John 14:23; 17:22-26; and Revelation 3:20-22). Let him in.
Trying To Shun God.
What is this noxious gas in our social atmosphere that makes most human beings prefer to evade God? They want to avoid even hearing about Him.
What is the conspiracy of silence that makes it taboo to speak about our God? Why is mentioning our experience with God more unacceptable and improper than to talk about ugly crimes, filth, or indecencies?
I have heard complaints from some who attend church for years and then gave up-who thought they could never be satisfactory to the Lord or His people. they want to avoid the Bible and the church, because they feel oppressed and rejected, and not made free or victorious. They hear the judgements against sin and the call to surrender self and to act like Jesus. They say with despair that no matter what they do, they are never considered good enough, so why try. They want to get away from the teaching and the family that smother them.
Of course, we are not good enough.We need forgiveness and renewal. That is why it is so sweet to trust in Jesus. We have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, given to us through believing in Him.
Sometimes the church seems like an automobile without gasoline, having to be pushed around instead of being a source of power or able to help us along.
Human beings are like electric motors, well designed to do a wide variety of very significant works; but if they are not connected with the source of power, they cannot do what they were made for. They are expensive paper weights and door stops.
We who are the church need to be God's workmen to connect people with God by the good news of Jesus Christ. Let not our attitudes, opinions, or our conflicts cause a poor connection. We can be more like wires transmitting God's truth and love. We may help people know Christ in us.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians who were children of God through faith and baptized into Christ (3: 26,27), but he told them that he still suffered for them the labor of childbirth until Christ is formed in you(4: 19). Are we that concerned?
We have serious work to do until all who are in Christ also have Christ in them. A poker can be put into the fire with a moment's thrust, but it takes longer and has more effect to get fire into the poker.
What we really need is to have God, Christ, the Holy Spirit working in us. Everything else is incidental. What is not related to this need may be detrimental.
Some Needed Parts and Helpful Service
Let us try our best to best to make all church activities meet the following needs regularly and progressively. If any of these sound trite and non-productive to you, beware lest the world is infecting you with a bias against the basics, and tempting you with a bias against the basics, and tempting you with its praise for those who trust in popularity more than in God. Jesus told the rulers of Jerusalem: How can you believe,when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? (John 5: 44).
1. We all need to increase in our knowledge of God, to know Him as He has revealed himself in the Bible and especially in the life and words of Jesus. Knowing God and Christ brings us eternal life (John 17:3) and all that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3,4).
2. All of us need to grow in understanding of God's working in our lives, His purposes, provisions, and power (Philippians 2: 13; Ephesians 1: 16-23).
3. We all need to have stronger desires and motivation to help Him work in us, to make Him and His will our chief goal and ambition. Read Colossians 3:1-17; Hebrews 12.
4. We need to increase in joy, enthusiasm, and gratitude for the benefits of His working in us (Philippians 4:4-6).
5. We need to grow in faith by attention to good reasons for believing the Bible is God's Word, to feel a vital concern for promoting the faith and for practicing it in every way that we can, to study discoveries and teaching that answer the world's confusion about God's Word and the excuses men offer for disregarding it (1 Peter 3: 15).
6. We all need to worship God with adoration in our hearts that causes us to be bonded to Him with love and allegiance,giving to Him our heart's devotion expressed in giving time and possessions and labors of love. We must show love for our Lord by the way we treat His people, shepherd His sheep, feed His lambs (John 21: 15-17).
7. We all need much attention to God's Word, the truth that sanctifies the soul, cleanses the mind (John 17:17;15:3; Ephesians 5:26), which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified (Acts 20:32).
The fellowship, teaching, and activities of the church should help us in all these ways.
But each disciple has many opportunities and ways to be filled with the Spirit and to exercise the wisdom and power of God in our lives. Feed on His Word. Hunger for righteousness. Give thanks and glorify Him in all things. Trust and obey Him gladly. Teach and admonish one another. Turn your wishes into prayers. Pray for many people. Give cheerfully to many Christian works. Rejoice in hope. Cultivate kindness. Encourage others. Overcome evil with good. Rejoice in the changes Christ makes in you. Keep near to the cross. And many more. God will be with you, enabling you and showing His delight.
*Scripture quotations are from New American Standard Bible.
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Seth Wilson is a retired Christian educator living in Joplin, Missouri.
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