FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH PART 2

“But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” (1 Timothy 6:11)

Flee and Pursue

Similar statement in 2 Tim. 2:22, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”. 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” Summary: Flee, turn away and run from the darkness for this world, from the devil’s influence. (Don’t let the cares, riches, and pleasures of life, destroy your hope). James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Submitting to God causes the devil to leave you – Flee from music that promotes drunkenness, sexuality, divorce – pursue acapella songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, or music without impurity—that is submitting to God’s way. Flee from movies and shows that “you must make excuses for”, and pursue find family friendly movies and shows – that is submitting to God’s way….

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH – PREREQUISITES

Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 15:57). In this lesson we will discuss the 4 prerequisites of a good soldier of Christ.
We Must Believe in the Cause We’re Fighting for: We Must Have Faith in Our Leader – We Must Have Unity With One Another and We Must Have The Hope of Victory.

SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST
NOT ALL OF GOD’S BLESSINGS ARE SPIRITUAL AND NOT ALL BLESSING ARE IN CHRIST.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3). Paul stated that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings “in Christ.” “In Christ” designates a relationship which the believer sustains to Jesus.

The Fulness of God: The blessings which God has for us in Christ are available in the church. The church is the body of people for whom Jesus gave His life (Eph. 5:26), “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (5:27).

Many religions look for the fulness of God’s blessings at some future time when Jesus will return to this earth and rule on this earth for a thousand years. That is in conflict with what Paul revealed. He stated that Jesus is presently reigning over everything (1:20-21) and that the church is the fulness of God’s blessings to us.

We are not looking for a future earthly kingdom. We look forward to the second coming of Christ, the judgment, and our eternal home in heaven.

GOD IS REAL! And reason Proves God is Real and we’ll discuss a few in this lesson. Example, Thomas Aquinas’ Five Ways to Prove Through Reason that God is Real. Through His Creation Psalm 139:14, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”  There is more…

THE GREATEST PROMISE FULFILLED
ANTICIPATION:  “THE ACT OF LOOKING FORWARD ESPECIALLY : PLEASURABLE EXPECTATION…”

Israel waited in anticipation for 3,000 years, waited for their coming Messiah and in their error, for a King that would rule physically in Jerusalem, on king David’s throne, over powering all their enemies. This of course is found in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

As for the word “bruise” we must not be confused with modern understanding for it is the same word is used by Job where speaking of God Job said, “For He crushes me with a tempest…” (Job 9:17).

The prophecy is an inveterate prophecy of war between the children of the devil and the children of God.

There are many promises made by the prophets – that were fulfilled in by Christ’s coming…

“1 The [a]burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. 2 O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save. 3 Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see [b]trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises.” (Habakkuk 1:1-3)

Why do the wicked prevail over the just? If God is just then how can God allow such evil to exist? Is it possible that the actions of the Babylonians (called the Chaldeans in this book) are beyond the control of the God of Israel? Habakkuk is not alone; he asks the kinds of questions which people in every age ask of God. I believe all of us can relate to Habakkuk when we look around at our world today.
Many to this day still question God…

MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES: “16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you[a] shall surely die.”” Genesis 2:16-17

Since the beginning people have been blessed with free will to make decisions, good or bad, and since that time we all are accountable for our decisions, good or bad. As was the case with Adam and Eve in the garden who were commanded by God not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and chose to eat, thus the first sin against God. That has continued throughout every generation since that time.  We cannot blame God, nor can we blame Adam, nor our grandparents, and neither our parents for our sin and the consequence of sin. We all are solely responsible for the choices we make, good or bad. We are all deserving of praise from God, or punishment based on the choices we make in life. Therefore, I would think that making choices for how we live, work, play, and yes serve are paramount. 

Joshua made it clear, “14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of [a]the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of [b]the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14-15).

Will you answer like the people who answered, “16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods;”?  (Joshua 24:16)

GO FISH!

“19 Go [a]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [b]Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20).

We all must understand the command in verse 19 was given to the Lord’s eleven disciples, and they did exactly that. But, the reason many saints in the kingdom have, and continue to fall short, is because they focus on verse 19, and slip passed verse 20 which is just as commanding. The command to teach “them to observe all things that I have commanded you”. Them is you!

In this lesson we will focus on the idea of all God’s children fishing for lost souls and bringing glory to God in the process. 

What is and Is not in Hell

It may be quite a surprise to many to learn that He is not only filled with evil, bad and wicked people. This is a question we want to consider. Listen in and here were will discuss what the scripture has to say about the matter.

On July 21 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buz Aldren became the first men to step foot on the Moon.
Apollo 11 brought a message of peace to the Moon — but Neil and Buzz almost forgot to leave it behind.
One of those items was a plaque with the words, “Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the moon.
We came in peace for all mankind.
Since that time – there has never been real peace on earth…

Fact is one cannot have peace outside of God and Christ.  “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” – Isaiah 48:22. The wicked are those who refuse God. But for those who accept Him there is this: “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7, and “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  John 14:27.

All available to those who peruse Things Which Make for Peace – 2 Tim. 2:22; Rom. 12:1-2, 17-19; Rom. 14:16-19, those who let the peace of God Rule – Col. 3:15; Matt. 7:21ff, and those who walk as “Salt and Light” – Mark 9:33, 49-50; 1 Cor. 1:10ff