Sunday, July 28, 2019

WORDS TO LIVE BY


2 Peter 1:5-11: ........ make every effort to add to your trust, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, endurance; and to endurance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly affection; and to brotherly affection, love. For if these things are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord Jesus the Messiah.

For the one who lacks these things is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his past sins.




Philippians 2:12-16: ....... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life....

To “work out our salvation”, means to live out our faith, to walk like a follower, a disciple, of God's anointed one.

Hebrews 13:5-6: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in God's anointed one Jesus will be persecuted”

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

James 3:1-2a “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways.”

This is true: There is no salvation but only by faith and there is no true faith without the respective fruit, the works that should normally accompany it.

Faith, love, works action: “in the Messiah Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”

2 Timothy 2:11-12 “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him...

Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
1 Timothy 5:8: “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

To deny the faith does not mean I stand up and make a confession with my mouth against the faith. More frequently it means I deny to practice it, to do consistently and habitually what accompanies the faith, living it out in all I say and do.

Those who hear and also do the words of Jesus are the brothers and sisters of Jesus. For Jesus it is the doing of the word that matters. The hearing of the words of Jesus should also be followed by acting on what we heard.

Matthew 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”

Colossians 1:9-10 ..... be filled with the knowledge [epiginosko] of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge [epignosis] of God.”

2 Timothy 2:24-25 ..... the lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge [epignosis] of the truth”

1 John 3:23: “And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus the Messiah and love one another, just as He has commanded us.”

1 John 1:5-10 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the Messiah the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

The are two kinds of people in this world - those who walk in the light and those who walk in the darkness. That is why we should not be unequally yoked with those who walk in the darkness. We really have nothing in common with them as we are in this world, but in God's anointed one and not of this world. The moment we became new Creations in the lord Jesus we at that moment became different from those who are walking in darkness. Our commission is to lead people out of their walk in the darkness to be able to walk in the light of the lord Jesus and our God and Father Yehovah!

Hebrews 12:1 says: “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us”. The phrase “so easily ensnares us” is one word in the Greek text, the word “euperispaston”. According to Barnes: “it properly means, “standing well around;” and hence, denotes what is near, or at hand, or readily occurring. So Chrysostom explains it. .. Tyndale renders it “the sin that hangs on us.”

Romans 8:12-14 “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

We become children of God by faith in Jesus the Messiah (Galatians 3:26).

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God? It means to be driven by the Spirit, As a new creation, to walk by the Spirit, to strive to do the will of God, in total commitment Him, to abide in the vine and to have His word abiding in us.

John 10:27-29: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them age upon age lasting life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”

Luke 9:23-24 “And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

And also: Matthew 10:38 “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

To follow the Messiah we need to take up our cross and go behind Him. Following implies moving. Following the Messiah is something dynamic, something that implies moving, and in fact moving behind somebody else, the lord. It is a daily business (“take up his cross daily and follow me”)

Jude 1:20-25 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our lord Jesus the Messiah that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God - Yehovah, our Savior, through Jesus the Messiah our lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

John 12:26 “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

John 14:23 “Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Christian life is indeed fellowship with God and having the Father and the Son making their home in us. Having the Son manifesting Himself to us, is the very definition of this fellowship.

We need to make a total commitment to Yehovah and to follow His son Jesus, to be Yehovah's faithful servants, whatever it takes, whatever the cost, living then our lives no more as slaves of sin but as slaves of God.

Notice: Understanding that the present tense in Greek indicates duration, i.e. that something goes on happening can really revolutionize the way we understand many passages.

My suggestion would be that whenever you see the present tense (“believes”, “forgives” etc.) replace it, after checking the context, with the construction “goes on” + the present participle (for example: “goes on believing”, “goes on forgiving” etc.). This will perhaps change the way you read many passages.

The Lord commanded the apostles to make disciples and teach them to observe “all that I have commanded you”. “I have commanded you” is in the past tense. Therefore it was not new revelation He was speaking about here, but commandments and teachings that He had already given to them and there is only one.

To summarize: the Kingdom of God was the purpose that Jesus was sent. He preached about it all the time, all the way up to his ascension. Then the apostles took over and did the same. Paul preached about the Kingdom of God proclaiming it all the way till the end of his life. The same did Philip and I am sure all the others too. We see therefore that the message did not vary: both Jesus and his apostles were preaching about the Kingdom of God.

If we are disciples of the Messiah, people who want to enter into the Kingdom of God, what both the Master and His apostles say is relevant to us and they do not contradict each other. How could they, anyway? Here is what the lord commanded His disciples just before his ascension:

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

The Lord commanded the apostles to make disciples and teach them to observe “all that I have commanded you”. “I have commanded you” is in the past tense. Therefore it was not new revelation He was speaking about here, but commandments and teachings that He had already given to them and there is only one place where these already given teachings and commandments of the Lord are recorded: the gospels.

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Confidence in Yehovah

Go through your trial of faith putting your confidence in Yehovah, and not on your common sense. In doing so you will put a lot of wealth into your heavenly bank account. The more you go through your trial of faith the wealthier you become in adding to your heavenly bank account, until you will go through difficulties smiling; and people will wonder where your wealth of trust comes from. It is a trial of faith - trust throughout.

The disposition we have that rules our natural lives is sinful; when Yehovah alters that disposition - carnal nature, we turn our natural life into spiritual life by a progressive process in our obedience to Yehovah. It takes a spiritual concentration on Yehovah to do this!

Whenever you are in doubt about a thing, push it to its logical conclusion; "Is this the kind of thing God's anointed one Jesus is after or the kind of thing the Adversary Satan is after?" As soon you have made your decision, act on it!

No one has a single motive unless one has been born from above. Jesus, God's anointed one, is the only one with a single motive, and when his spirit comes into us, the first thing he gives us is that single motive which is to glorify Yehovah in all we say and do.

Never compromise with the spirit of this world. When we are right with Yehovah we become contemptible in the eyes of those in the world. The system of this world is that which organizes itself without any consideration of God. We on the other hand have to stand absolutely true to Yehovah's instructions for us. Jesus teaches us to gain super-normal integrity; a likeness to our Father in heaven; the integrity he had when he walked through the wilderness of this world.

We are to be in the world but not of the world, and we can walk through the wilderness of this world knowing that "He who is in us is greater that he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

Is our reasoning of trust - faith leading us to the practical outworking of our lives with a determined confidence in Yehovah?

Remember, the golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters is not intellect, but obedience. Spiritual darkness comes from a lack of obedience. Our great concern in this world is to put Yehovah first, and everything else second. Make a zealous concentration on Yehovah the main focus of your life. Matthew 6:33: .... seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.