Be You..in Christ, In His Word 3-22-2021
Who are you? Do you even know who you are, or who you are supposed to be? I think most of us will say what we do is who we are, but do you know that you re a child?
He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become
children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from
human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. John 1:11-13
We hear a lot about “God’s people” in the Bible, and most of
us know that those were the Hebrew Nation, or Jewish descendants, etc. Did you know
that God through Jesus gave you the right to be called “God’s People”? It is
true! So whether you are American or Armenian, Canadian or Croatian; if you
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a child of God!
So, what can you do with this great knowledge? Why do I care
that you know it?
You have power, because you belong to God it gives you a one
up over those who do not.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already
won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater
than the spirit who lives in the world. 1
John 4:4
Now there are people who claim to know or accept that Christ
is Lord, but they have not stepped forward to show this to anyone but maybe one
person. When I first “got saved” in my bedroom alone, I read in the back of the
Gideons New Testament that I needed to tell someone of what I had done. So I
went to work that day, looked around, and saw three different religious people.
Three slightly differing beliefs but any of them may be considering themselves
a Christian. I chose the one attending a church that called itself a Christian
Church. I am not going to mention the other two because I do not want to cause division,
but they are two that are close to the right path, slightly off at times though
in traditions of men. This is an area we need to be careful about. The main
thing is that I was obedient to tell someone!
We need to be sure that we can tell someone that we believe. If you
cannot speak the truth of your belief, you need to examine your heart and see
if there is anything you are missing in truth of your believing. Do you really
believe?
Say it aloud, I believe that Jesus is God’s only birthed by
a human son, that He lived as man grew up and then died on the cross. I believe
He rose again the third day and was seen by many people around the world. I
believe He is alive, and that when He went back up to the heavens that He let
the Comforter, or Holy Spirit come to earth to dwell with us. All three of
these being One God, so a portion of Him is with us still. I believe He resides
with us, is there to encourage us, push, or rather nudge us in the right
direction sometimes. I believe He helps us to soar like the eagles when we rise
and do what He said to do, in His Word.
Once you say that then be sure you have been baptized. We
are told in the Bible, God’s Word, to be baptized as an outward expression of our
faith. So, we need to do this. It is one big way of telling someone!
Since we have been given the Holy Spirit, and it is widely
known, many come out of the woodworks with claims that God said something.
Because of this we have to be cautious and ‘check our spirit’ when someone
tells us that God said … whatever it is they say. 1 John 4 explains it better.
Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by
the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God.
For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they
have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that
Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if
someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus,
that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist,
which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. 1 John 4
1-3
It can be easy to be caught up in someone’s following.
What I mean is you can put more stock in what a human says
than God by accident! If you liked what they said and then you like them as a
person and you think that maybe they are more knowledgeable than you then you
could start to believe everything they say. I mean, if someone put that much
stock in what I say without checking with the Word of God I would worry.
I could tell you; I knew a young boy who was not afraid to
correct me in the Word! I had misquoted a memory verse once. It was a simple
mistake of a cut and paste, but the child came to me and said, “Hey, um, I
could not find this in the Bible, and my mom, grama and even my dad, (who was
the pastor) cannot find it in any version. What version did you use?”
I was embarrassed of course! I had pulled some old work and
placed it in the Memory Verses section of the packets for a Vacation Bible
School. The thing is I took the wrong part and did not recheck my work for
whatever reason, I was probably rushing to get it done knowing me! I learned that day that I had to be humble,
and the next day I taught about that at the VBS! I used my own mistake to teach that God still
loves us when we make an oops! It really humbled me. I had to expose my flaws
to little children because if they learn young enough that its okay to make a
mistake, but to get out there admit it and go on is the big deal, life will
work out better for them. I publicly thanked the young man and gave him a prize
for coming forward to let me know. It had to have taken a lot of courage
because he did not know me that well. He was very respectful, and kind in his
correction.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love
comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone
who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he
loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have
eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.11 Dear
friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12
No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his
love is brought to full expression in us. 13 And God has given us his Spirit as
proof that we live in him and he in us. 1 John 4:7-13
When we love one another, it is easier to take correction,
and when we walk in the Spirit it is easier to understand and know if we need
to be corrected or if the other person is just confused.
When the boy came up to me my flesh wanted to say, “What, me
wrong?” but my spirit said, “He is correct go check it out”. When we find someone flawed in their teaching
or preaching even, we need to remember that the Word of God will support us,
check the Word, if it does not stand up to the thing spoken then ask God to show
them, or show them yourself in the Bible. Do not go to the person feeling all
high and mighty, but with humbleness go to them and share the truth in love.
Check your spirit. Know the truth. Speak it in love.
In Jesus’ name.
Do not get caught up in the wrong ways but or the cares of
the world, seek God first, and follow the path He sends you on. But be brave as
the boy, and do not be altered in your path if you find something not right.
Some people will just not listen, but those who are of the Spirit of God, will
accept the truth.
And we know the truth will set you free!
Be blessed today in all you do today!
Heavenly Father, thank you for guiding our paths today. Help
us to be bold and strong in You, but to love one another as we do so. In Jesus’
name, amen.
Read some more? 1 John 4:1-21, 1 Samuel 10:1-19, Acts 7:1-60.