November 8th 2015
Have You Put Your Hope In The Living God?
John 13:34-35 (NIV)
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
The promises of God are believable, but then, why do we not believe them, or why do we try to reinterpret them, and in so doing make them become undiscernible? Do you really believe the Holy Spirit is indwelling you? "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17) Do you know the “Spirit of truth?” Can you really accept that Jesus asked Father God to send this Spirit to enable us to understand God’s Word, and to help us communicate with God?
If you are a professing Christian, and you do not believe there is a Holy Spirit that is available to you, then you must question why this is. According to these verses there are people who cannot accept that such a Spirit is available to you when it states, “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” Are you too worldly to accept that there is such a Spirit? Then these verses state, “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you,” the assumption here is that true followers of Jesus Christ do have this Spirit of truth living within them!
In the selected verses Jesus is giving a command to His disciples (us) and it is a simple command. Let it be repeated here, This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:17) In this current world we see many denominations and non-denominations being used by Satan to keep the followers of Jesus separated, and in many cases not loving or even respecting each other! Most, if not all, of the people trying to reunite these factions have not caused a cohesiveness of the existing church, but have instead caused more splintering of the elect, and new and different churches were formed! The usual excuse for such actions is the excuse of, just trying to be with people of a like-mind! I thought Jesus was that ultimate cohesive Spirit that was the perfect sacrifice by which all of mankind could be united! What do you think about the absolute oneness of Jesus Christ?
Does each group have a claim to redefine Jesus to fit their desired image? Do we all follow Jesus Christ? How has the church of your choice modified Jesus to fit their desired persona? More importantly, how have you remolded Jesus to better fit how you desire to see Him? Most of us do not want to hear about Satan and his potential effect upon our belief system. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, to warn them about the attacks by evil spirts and how we must be aware of them, so we can avoid falling to their temptations. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)
Paul was telling them, and us, to not concentrate on the struggles against each other, but to be aware of the evil not just by other humans, but more importantly “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” If we do not believe there are evil spirits on this earth, we cannot be prepared to resist the temptations, they bring!
Paul wrote a couple of letters to Timothy a young man who was working on becoming a leader in the early churches. Paul used terminology that seemed to indicate concerns he had for the future churches that might form too. These concerns Paul wrote about seem to be occurring in the day in age too. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5)
We are certainly seeing attacks upon the institution of marriage and many people no longer think it is important to get married, they just live together and thus, avoid making a commitment to stay with a mate until death do them part! Of course, there are those who believe anyone should be able to marry any other person or persons! No longer following God's command for marriage to be one man to one woman for life! Restricting your diet in some ways in an effort to improve your health is certainly a good idea, if you have the stick-to-intuitiveness to do it. However, it seems Paul is making the point of giving thanks for whatever food you have!
If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. (1 Timothy 4:6-7) Paul is telling Timothy and us; to stick to the word of God, do not be confused by stories that make God’s Word appear to be untrue. Believe first God’s Word and question what mankind says that brings it into question. Every Christian must study God’s Word as contained in the Bible, if not, how can they discern if man’s ideas are different?
Next Paul is telling Timothy that being physically healthy is important, but we must all work on our spiritual condition even more because it will last through this lifetime, and then, it will go with us into eternal life with God in heaven. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:8) Paul next expounds upon the fact that our hope needs to be placed in God, not in mankind. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:9-10)
It is important for us to have hope in our lives, and especially to have hope in our loved ones. However, we must “put our hope in the living God?”
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
John 13:34-35 (NIV)
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
The promises of God are believable, but then, why do we not believe them, or why do we try to reinterpret them, and in so doing make them become undiscernible? Do you really believe the Holy Spirit is indwelling you? "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17) Do you know the “Spirit of truth?” Can you really accept that Jesus asked Father God to send this Spirit to enable us to understand God’s Word, and to help us communicate with God?
If you are a professing Christian, and you do not believe there is a Holy Spirit that is available to you, then you must question why this is. According to these verses there are people who cannot accept that such a Spirit is available to you when it states, “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” Are you too worldly to accept that there is such a Spirit? Then these verses state, “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you,” the assumption here is that true followers of Jesus Christ do have this Spirit of truth living within them!
In the selected verses Jesus is giving a command to His disciples (us) and it is a simple command. Let it be repeated here, This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:17) In this current world we see many denominations and non-denominations being used by Satan to keep the followers of Jesus separated, and in many cases not loving or even respecting each other! Most, if not all, of the people trying to reunite these factions have not caused a cohesiveness of the existing church, but have instead caused more splintering of the elect, and new and different churches were formed! The usual excuse for such actions is the excuse of, just trying to be with people of a like-mind! I thought Jesus was that ultimate cohesive Spirit that was the perfect sacrifice by which all of mankind could be united! What do you think about the absolute oneness of Jesus Christ?
Does each group have a claim to redefine Jesus to fit their desired image? Do we all follow Jesus Christ? How has the church of your choice modified Jesus to fit their desired persona? More importantly, how have you remolded Jesus to better fit how you desire to see Him? Most of us do not want to hear about Satan and his potential effect upon our belief system. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, to warn them about the attacks by evil spirts and how we must be aware of them, so we can avoid falling to their temptations. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)
Paul was telling them, and us, to not concentrate on the struggles against each other, but to be aware of the evil not just by other humans, but more importantly “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” If we do not believe there are evil spirits on this earth, we cannot be prepared to resist the temptations, they bring!
Paul wrote a couple of letters to Timothy a young man who was working on becoming a leader in the early churches. Paul used terminology that seemed to indicate concerns he had for the future churches that might form too. These concerns Paul wrote about seem to be occurring in the day in age too. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5)
We are certainly seeing attacks upon the institution of marriage and many people no longer think it is important to get married, they just live together and thus, avoid making a commitment to stay with a mate until death do them part! Of course, there are those who believe anyone should be able to marry any other person or persons! No longer following God's command for marriage to be one man to one woman for life! Restricting your diet in some ways in an effort to improve your health is certainly a good idea, if you have the stick-to-intuitiveness to do it. However, it seems Paul is making the point of giving thanks for whatever food you have!
If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. (1 Timothy 4:6-7) Paul is telling Timothy and us; to stick to the word of God, do not be confused by stories that make God’s Word appear to be untrue. Believe first God’s Word and question what mankind says that brings it into question. Every Christian must study God’s Word as contained in the Bible, if not, how can they discern if man’s ideas are different?
Next Paul is telling Timothy that being physically healthy is important, but we must all work on our spiritual condition even more because it will last through this lifetime, and then, it will go with us into eternal life with God in heaven. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:8) Paul next expounds upon the fact that our hope needs to be placed in God, not in mankind. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:9-10)
It is important for us to have hope in our lives, and especially to have hope in our loved ones. However, we must “put our hope in the living God?”
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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