Sat, Sep 28th - 3:40AM

Brothers and sisters, we have to be careful not to use our gifts to create a hierarchy of believers or to promote ourselves or others as “better” or more worthy than other brothers and sisters. We have to also be careful not to use our gifts in a way that separates us from the body and tempts us to act as lone rangers.

The lone ranger too often becomes the loose cannon that create wrongful and hurtful doctrines that err from sound biblical teachings. It is true that God has ranked the gifts in importance, use and influence, nevertheless all Christians are equal in Christ, even though some have greater responsibilities and gifts.

These gifts are given in the body as it pleases God they do not come from human effort. Ephesians soundly tells us that all the gifts are necessary to the body for God’s purpose and work. I print from the sermon of a pastor given back in the 1800s.

1Cr 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. "Charity beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."-

1Cr 13:7 THE grace of charity, or love, of which so much is most admirably spoken in this chapter, is absolutely essential to true godliness. So essential is it that, if we have everything beside, but have not charity, it profiteth us nothing. The absence of charity is absolutely fatal to vital godliness; so saith the Holy Ghost in this chapter.

When, then, you read the apostle's high encomiums of charity, do not say, "This is a fancy virtue to which certain special saints have attained, and we are bound to admire them for it, but we need not imitate them." Far from it. This charity is the common, everyday livery of the people of God. It is not the prerogative of a few; it must be the possession of all. Do not, therefore, however lofty the model may be, look up to it as though you could not reach it: you must reach it. It is put before you not only as a thing greatly desirable, but as absolutely needful; for if you excelled in every spiritual gift, yet if you had not this all the rest would profit you nothing whatever.

One would think that such excellent gifts might benefit us a little, but no, the apostle sums them all up, and saith of the whole, "it profiteth me nothing." I pray that this may be understood of us at the very beginning, lest we should manage to slip away from the truth taught us by the Holy Ghost in this place, and should excuse ourselves from being loving by the notion that we are so inconsiderable that such high virtue cannot be required of us, or so feeble that we cannot be expected to attain to it. You must attain it, or you cannot enter into eternal life, for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his, and the Spirit of Christ is sure to beget the charity of our text, which "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." End of sermon.

Let us be careful to note this brothers urgings, brothers and sisters. We must attain LOVE, for there are no alternatives, options, nor exceptions. Strive for Love, and provoke others to Love.

My prayer is that every saint (G40 hagios) will never cease to grow in God's love for Him, His people and all men. I pray that God grant that we come behind in no gift. I pray that every Christian will know the love of God that passes all understanding and be committed to demonstrating His love in action to all men. God's love does not enable, does not encourage evil, does not make excuses for that which is wrong. God's love guards, discerns, works for His good, and never stumbles nor fails, and lasts forever.

love

serola

Thu, Sep 26th - 4:06AM

No doubt, beloveds, there are multitudes of Christians who well know that when Jesus saved us He along with God indwells us with the Holy Spirit, making us NEW CREATURES in Christ Jesus. There are still some who fail to grasp the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of every believer, His teachings, his power, His gifts He gives to the each believer and the body as a whole.

Sadly some try to preach that all Christians must speak in tongues, or prophesy etc. to be saved. Of course there are some who claim that the only gifts extent today is preaching and teaching, and that neither tongues nor prophesy is neither needed nor necessary today. This is why we must be extremely careful to look for the correct interpretation of scripture, given by the Holy Spirit to every believer to share and grow thereby:

1Th 5:19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 1Cr 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Quench means sbennymi (G4570) pronounced sbe'n-nü-mē : I.to extinguish, quench A. of fire or things on fire i. to be quenched, to go out B. metaph. to quench, to suppress, stifle i.of divine influence.

Despise means exoutheneō (G1848) pronounced eks-ü-the-ne'-ō: I.to make of no account, despise utterly.

We must stand on the truth of truth of scripture. Those who reject the gifts of the Holy Spirit are fighting against God not man. We know that no one can win against our invincible, unbeatable, undefeatable, almighty God. Those that love God and His people will do His will. Those who do not love God nor His people have never seen nor known God.

On the other hand, brothers and sisters, we must be extremely careful to see that with the exception of the one gift given to all Christians, all Christians do not have the same gifts. The Pentecostical denomination and others believe that all must speak in tongues to be saved. Yet here again we must be extremely careful to look to the correct interpretation of the Bible to serve God the way that God wants, not how we feel or want to do.

1Cr 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 1Cr 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

Paul states clearly here that we all receive different gifts, and to see the gift of tongues or other gifts as the only one(s)  necessary to the body makes unbelievers say we are crazy. Feel free to look up on your own how the gifts of the Holy Spirit are to be used in the church and their specific purposes to the believer and the unbeliever.

love

serola  

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Brethren, seeing then the mercy and goodness of God, let us go and grow on in obedience and love in giving God the preeminence that He alone so richly deserves. And this we will do by the grace of God.

Mon, Sep 23rd - 7:55AM

More on the gifts of the Holy Spirit:

1Cr 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

The apostle Paul shows the order of the gifts in usage in the church:

1Cr 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

So we see the gifts are not to be used willy-nilly, and which gifts must be the lead gifts in the church. Now it is evident that the ONLY way any Christian gets a gift is by the will of the Holy Spirit. In other words the Holy Spirit determines which gifts Christians get. No Christian can bestow a gift on any other Christian.

It is important to note, however, that when Jesus, comes all the gifts with one exception will vanish away. This one gift that will not vanish away is charity or love. Some in error claim that all or most of the gifts from the Holy Spirit are not in use today. This is a ridiculous claim. Now we know that when Jesus comes and establishes His kingdom there will be no need of healing, for nobody will ever experience sickness or be sick ever again. There will be no need to cast out devils, for the devil and all evil will be cast into the lake of fire, and every evil shall never be found again in His kingdom. There will be no need to raise the dead, for there will be no death any longer, and death, decay and destruction will also be cast into the lake of fire. There will be no need for prophecy, tongues etc. seeing that when Jesus comes we shall know Him even as we are known.

While we wait for the return of our God, I pray that every brother and sister will make good use of the gifts they have received through the Holy Spirit to bless and help the body as a whole.

Love

serola

Fri, Sep 20th - 8:38AM

Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Brothers and sisters, a while back there was a church in a very bad neighborhood that was crime and gang infested. Despite their best efforts at witnessing very few people came to the Lord. They gathered together and went into prayer to Lord Jesus, seeking His counsel on what more they could do about this situation. No they did not go to the current popular guru, they went directly to Jesus in prayer.

After about two weeks they received the word from the Lord that they needed an evangelist. They searched among themselves and elsewhere but could find none. They heard about an evangelist in another city and wrote for the evangelist to come and help them. The evangelist showed up and they went door to door in their neighborhood where the evangelist preached the gospel to each household. As a result so many believed on Jesus, that the church over-flowed.

The crime and gang problem was sharply reduced. The saved gang members left the gangs and went and witnessed to other gang members. The saved parents got control over their children, and set a better example for them as well. God accomplished what the millions of dollars in social services and police could not do. I know there is a stereotyped image of an evangelist being well known, only going on mega crusades and drawing in thousands or millions of people. The truth is whether known by many or few, wherever the evangelist goes to witness at home or abroad, among many or few, souls will be saved.

Unfortunately the gifts of the Holy Spirit are greatly dismissed by some today. The evangelist is shut out. However, the evangelist cannot be silenced, as they will go out in public and you can find many of them on street corners and other public places giving the gospel message. This is the place where the gospel must be preached as well, not limited behind the pulpit. While every believer is commanded by God to witness, the evangelist is especially equipped by God to bring the gospel message. It goes without saying that each and every one of us has received more than one gift through the Holy Spirit. 

There are some who misunderstand the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are important in the body. Again while all can witness, not all can be an evangelist. Beloved, I think it is important to mention that the only gift not extent today is that of the apostle. We know this because the apostle Paul said he was the last apostle to meet the Bible standard for one. Then we see the qualifications for an apostle is spelled out very clearly: see the first chapter of acts. Throughout the New Testament we see the special supernatural powers given only to the apostle.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit is not to make somebody rich or famous, but benefits the whole body of believers in building up the body in love and promoting the gospel message to the world. Brethren it is extremely important to understand that the most important and best gift to seek which is available to every Christian is found in 1 Cor. 13:1-13. This gift is so profoundly important that all the other gifts are worthless without it.

Love

Serola

Fri, Sep 13th - 3:59AM

The Holy Spirit teaches us that liberty is not license. We can count on the truthfulness of the Bible that the Holy Spirit will open up to every believer, so that we can know how to use our liberty righteously.

It is such a pleasure to gather together with other believers, the family that God gave to us. I admit, (I know I am not alone in this) but I once thought that just by showing up on Sunday “in church” that I was righteous. Looking back I can see how this hurt me spiritually.

I didn’t bother to connect with other brothers and sisters at that time and left the “church” as soon as I could after service was over. The rest of the week I lived a pretty secular life, without a thought about other believers. I had a lot of help in believing all I had to do as a Christian was to show up on Sunday, occupy a seat, sing songs and hear a sermon, and paying my money. I had a lot of people in the pulpit and out of it assuring me that something was wrong with me as a Christian if I did not show up on Sunday mornings.

I was a baby in Christ, but so convinced about getting to church on Sunday; I would get really upset when I met anybody that did not get to Sunday worship regularly or who worshipped on days other than Sunday. I was kind of puffed up with pride too ‘cause I pleased God, I showed up on Sunday. I reaped a feeling of emptiness as though something was missing from my life, but I did not know what, after all I was showing up most every Sunday “in church”.

Mercifully, I moved to a different location and began to attend a nearby church. This pastor was focused on relationships, and he made a big deal of people coming to the building time after time, and never bothering to get to know the person sitting beside them or bother to introduce themselves. He did not mind shaking people out of their comfort zones. He stressed living the Bible correctly interpreted as the only way to please God, out of love for Him.

I thank God, I learned to gather together with other believers for the right reasons, that God certainly demands it, and every believer reaps a great benefit of gathering together in our Lords presence to carry out the work of God, and worship. My spiritual poverty ended when I focused on seeing the true church as the people of God, not just showing up in a building. I am continually thankful to God, for giving me the opportunity to live out a life of love for Him in relationship with other brothers and sisters.

I am extremely careful to maintain the freedom that God gives to all of us to serve Him as He commands. It cannot be said often enough we have to check out all teachings with the Bible. Believers under the new covenant are free to worship i.e. gather together for worship on any day of their choice. I know this might seem blasphemous to those who do not know the difference between law and grace. But the truth is that when anyone claims that only a certain day is valid to worship on, to be righteous or please God, it turns Christians back to the law.

Here is what the law says: Leviticus 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Brethren this is not all that it says, because with the law there is a deadly penalty if it is violated in any way:

Lev 23:30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

Beloved every Christian can greatly rejoice that Christ has delivered us from the the law of sin and death. We gather together as God desires out of love for Him and one another. I pray every gathering will be an adventure when we meet together with God and have the opportunity to show to one another the love that He has enabled every believer to have. I pray that no brother and sister will ever be seen as a stranger. I pray that God will reveal that no Christian is ever alone, for God is with us and has given us many members in one body.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Jhn 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Love

serola

Mon, Sep 2nd - 7:03PM

THE PERILS OF PAULINE

It is a shame today that there are so many divisions amongst the  Christian church. Of course we must always be thankful to God for the multitude of Christians who simply adhere to the full gospel message, understanding that the full gospel message is to be obeyed not bits and pieces.

The “Pauline” churches preach that since the apostle Paul was appointed by God to preach and minister to the gentile believers, only the books attributable to Paul apply to all Christians today. This despite the fact that Paul admonished the Corinthians that their focus and indeed that of all believers is always to be kept on Jesus Christ and not to make an idol of any apostle or any person or thing.

The Bible reveals the gross error of those who make an idol of the apostle Paul. The gospel is not the gospel of Paul or any other man; it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Was Paul the apostle to the gentiles? Yes, certainly: Rom 15:16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

2Ti 1:11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

Paul is not the exclusive apostle to the gentiles, nor were others banned from preaching the gospel to the gentiles. Paul makes it clear that he is not declaring himself to be THE exclusive or only preacher and teacher of the gospel to the gentiles. The apostle Paul notes others who served with him in the gospel, of Timothy: Phl 2:22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. He mentions others as well who served with him: Phl 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

The Bible says of Peter the apostle: Acts 15:7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Brothers and sisters it is needless to say that the whole Bible remains relevant for all time. 2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

God neither justifies nor gives anyone authority to add nor take away from His word. The Pauline so called church is standing on gross error and cannot be justified by the Bible.

THE PERILS OF DIVISIONS:

God in His eternal, final and complete truth of scripture CONDEMNS ALL DIVISIONS: Rom 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

1Cr 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, G1370 are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 1

Cr 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (divisions-schisma, G4978 meaning: I. a rent II. metaph. a division, dissension).

1Cr 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Brethren we can see from these verses that God does not take this cacophony of divisions lightly, as some cavalierly do today. The major problem with all these divisions politely called “DENOMINATIONS” is that every single one of them either adds to or takes away from full gospel message of the Bible.

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Some might get offended because the Bible equates divisions right along with witchcraft and other works of the flesh. Nevertheless God doesn’t care how you me or anybody else “feels”. God will never negotiate or compromise His word for anyone or anything.

His final answer to every rebel: Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

So one might ask, which of God’s commandments should all believers obey? Christ is the eternal answer: John 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do WHATSOEVER I command you.

Love

Serola