GOD’S AUTHORITY VS. MAN’S AUTHORITY(PART ELEVEN)

Obey all authorities?

Every Christian is important to the body of Christ, every Christian has a place in the body. Jesus Christ, the head of the church, permanently places each and every believer in the body through the baptism of the Holy Spirit according to His sovereign will. It matters little whether the saints are able bodied or feeble, all are necessary to the body, regardless of their physical or mental incapacity or level of health. The Holy Bible indicates that those members of the body which seem feeble are much more necessary see 1Co. 12:22-26 for just why this is so and the purpose these members serve.

All saints are equal, and all saints must receive care of one another. No one has the right to set any other standard in the body by dividing up members into artificial ranks, such as “clergy” and “laity” or “lay persons”. This is a man made false hierarchy that all saints have the authority to reject. We are all equal in the sight of God; regardless of our gifts or office. Although some might have a greater responsibility; this does not denote greater holiness or raise us up as lords over other saints. Every thing we have comes from God, and thus no man may boast in any but God, to Him alone belongs all the glory, worship, honor and praise.

Dear saints, some of us may be members of a local body in which we may not receive any recognition for our efforts and works in the body. I pray, dear ones, that no saint need take neither offence nor notice of it; but rather greatly rejoice, for Lord Jesus duly rewards and notes our good works and places it into our accounts in heaven, where it truly counts. Also rejoice, dear children, because our good works glorify God. See Mt. 5:16. We can all rejoice also because God is faithful, He will not forget our good works.

Finally, saints rejoice because we can boast of Him who is the true source who has given us good works, and the ability to perform them. See Eph. 2:10. Seek to please God out of love for Him, let us take our eyes off of seeking the praise of men, which has no eternal weight, for even promotion is of the Lord.

Now we continue to look at the issue of does the Christian obey all authority? Before we dig into this I believe it very necessary to balance this kind of study with these verses and and there are too many others to post here:

Mt. 26:51-53 And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for ALL THEY that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

The above scriptures can by no means be interpreted that God is against military powers. I believe the rendering here is that no Christian should make it his or her practice to deal with conflict solely through armed warfare, for such persons will certainly die in the same practices. The bottom line here, is that no saint has a blank check to use their authority in Christ in any way of their choosing, but ONLY within the bounds and limits set in God’s word , rightly interpreted.

Even the old testament says:

GOD’S AUTHORITY VS. MAN’S AUTHORITY(PART TEN)

Obey all authorities?

Blessed be the name of the Lord, who is rich in love and mercy, and who will abundantly pardon. Let us give thanks to the Lord continually for His great salvation and all that pertains to it. He totally amazes me, and fills my heart with such awe, to consider the magnitude of His love.

In the Triune God alone can we His holy people find peace, confidence, assurance, stability and eternal unwavering love. Dear children, we all must study and rightly divide His word of truth. Through His word we come to know, understand and love Him and one another more and more. We become rooted and grounded in His love.

Dear saints, rightly understanding God through His word helps us to have compassion for those in need, to serve Him and one another better and better, and causes us not to be deceived by every wind and doctrine and the tricks of mere men, this includes women too.

Through His word we can effectively witness to others to believe in Jesus. Along with living the word in our public and private lives, this is the calling of every saint no matter what gifts or offices we hold, and no saint is exempt from it- to know God through His word and to tell others about Him. When we stand before our Lord, He will not be interested in what degree we hold, nor what seminary we attended, He will seek to know what we did with His word and how we lived it in our private and public lives.. Children of God see Mt. 25:14-26, for what is important to our Lord, and must be for us His people also. Feel free to look up other scriptures regarding more about what is important to the Lord, and therefore to His people.

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Sadly today there are a few that love to rant about God’s judgement of the nations, but won’t go out to give the gospel that people can be saved, knowing full well that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that all men might be saved. Now some may reject the word, but that is between them and God, nevertheless some will hear and be saved.

Let us look at some verses that appear to give a blank check to the earthly authorities or higher powers: Ro. 13:1-7Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 7 render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honor.

And how about these verses:

1Peter 2:13-16 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 for so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as servants of God.

Saints some grapple with the aforementioned verses, and to some they appear problematic and even frightening, but we shall dig into the scriptures to gain discernment and understanding by God”s word.

We will stop here, dearly beloveds, and I hope to see you here again next time. Until then, rest securely in the hands of God from which no person, thing, nor creature in heaven or earth can pluck you from. Jesus is coming back soon.

Love

serola

GOD’S AUTHORITY VS. MAN’S AUTHORITY(PART NINE)

Blessed be the holy and sacred name of Jesus our Lord, all worship, honor, and praise to Him alone, who has purposed by His own will, power and love, and not by our works, to completely, and eternally deliver us out of darkness, and has now made us to be children of the Living God, in light.

Dear children, every saint is important to God and to the body. Every saint has something to give, to offer in the building up of the church. Every saint can and must study the word of God, every saint can learn, and share their learning with other saints. Thank the Lord for godly teachers, but every saint is expected to also study, and learn the word of God. Although we have differing gifts and offices in the body, and to some degree these may give more responsibility this does not confer or bestow a “special holiness” or make some saints “more holy” than others, the whole lump is holy. The Lord expects and commands us to serve one another as brothers and sisters, not as lords, no matter what gift or office we have.

Dear children, no saint has to hold a degree in theology, be a guru, theologian or attend seminary school to study and learn the word of God. As I mentioned before, saints, I do not condemn any brother or sister who has attended seminary or holds a degree. My purpose here, I pray,  is to encourage more insight that these personal preferences are not true standards for the saints. Here is the standard according to the scriptures, and not humanistic reasons.

Jn. 14:26But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

1Cor. 2:12-14 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1Jn. 2:23-27 But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.

2Ti. 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Feel free to read the whole of these chapters.

Also see Eph. 4:3 the gifts and offices, teachings in the body have a purpose for the body as a whole.

Now, holy children of the Lord, it is clear that it is through the Holy Spirit that He reveals and opens up our understanding of the scriptures and gives it to be disseminated through godly teachers, pastors, and the saints as we study His word, correctly interpreted. Therefore no man or woman may boast, all the glory belongs to God alone. Only those who are indwelt by the Lord are given the ability to understand and know His word. We are thankful for godly teachers, but recognize that every spiritual gift we have came from God, therefore I say again, dear saints, let us give all the glory and praise to God alone.

I pray through our Lord Jesus, that it should be clear, dear saints that the Holy Bible makes it clear about how we are and are not to judge.

But I am sure that you understand that some, but not all, promote their degrees in theology as the standard over the word of God, and use it to hold themselves forth as an authority beyond question. They give no glory to God for what they have received, but instead glorify their intellect and their teachers. In their churches they will not build up the body, but instead will hire only those who meet their human standard of having some sort of degree, and even start their own school. Soon they have a bureaucracy sucking the financial life out of the saints, and contributing little to their growth.

They become proud, doting and babbling foolishness to one another and wind up promoting false teachings. Such persons then stand as judges over God’s people holding saints without degrees in little or no esteem. See Ro. 14:vs. 4 and 13; Jas 4:11-12Saints of the Lord, we have not so learned Christ. No saint nor anyone else has the authority to promote personal preferences, human reasonings, and worldly standards over the Holy Bible. We ought to obey God rather than man.

Little children, Jesus is coming back soon, be watchful, let no man steal your crown, hold onto the good, be diligent to study, teach, learn and stand in the Holy Bible, correctly understood as the final answer in all things, love our Lord and one another always. God willing, I look forward to seeing you here next time.

Love

serola

GOD’S AUTHORITY VS. MAN’S AUTHORITY(PART EIGHT)

Blessed be the name of our Redeemer, Lord Jesus, and God the Father and the Holy Spirit. All worship, praise, honor, thanks, and adoration, belongs to the Triune God alone. By His power, and Grace herein we His people stand. Therefore, let us His saints, the redeemed of the Lord rejoice in the salvation of the Risen living God, who has forever saved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. God’s word rightly divided, is to be trusted above the words of mere men or women. His word is to be trusted over emotions, vain philosophies, all opinions of mere men, and science, so called. And even if some do not believe, let the word of God be true and every man (and women too) be a liar

Beloveds of God and redeemed of the Lord, I was talking with a dear Christian sister, who related to me that she was handling a troublesome situation by repeating certain verses of the Holy Bible over and over. She recommended that I do the same thing, then she said I would watch these verses loose God to go to work on the problem. I asked my dear sister to give the chapters and verses of the scriptures that supported this. After much seeking, she gave this up, saying the truth, that no scriptures supports this, but admitted she did read it in a book of some author she could not remember.

I asked my sister who she would believe and encouraged her that we ought to believe the word of God rightly divided rather than the word of mere human beings. Although she struggled awhile, she did accept this, that God’s word alone is true and no book that contradicts His word. I affectionately gave her the following scriptures and she gladly accepted God’s word of instruction: Mt. 6:7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8Be NOT ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.

Phil. 4:6-9 Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

My sister left me with this encouragement for all: “We must examine our own beliefs, and discard any and all that contradict the word of God.” She felt this verse is something that is very beneficial. Ro. 12:2 And be NOT conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

My sister was astounded that she had held this prior false teaching for so long!! Dear friends of Jesus, we are not to be passive learners, but we must actively know and teach one another the basics of the scriptures and keep growing on from there. Having godly teachers does not relieve the saints from this God given authority and responsibility.

Every saint has the authority to come to God in prayer for whatever we need. We are not to bypass God by using other means NONE of which God honors nor accepts. The saints do not have to pay any such false teachings any mind and must reject all such false teachings out of hand.

Every saint has been given authority, and must use it righteously. Feel free to study further on your own, dear children., that God gives authority to the saints through the Holy Spirit. Mt. 3:11; 1Co. 6:19; Eph. 1:13-14; Eph. 4:30.

God willing, I hope to meet here with you next time, where we will again touch on judging amongst the saints. Until then, let us love God with all of our hearts, minds, and strength, and let us love one another fervently. Jesus is coming back soon, each day holy brothers and sisters,  His coming grows nearer than ever before.

Love

serola