WE ALL HAVE THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH

David wrote, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.” (Psa. 143:10)

With these lyrics in mind let’s talk a little about the wonderful – joyous – powerful – encouraging words of Paul to the Corinthian saints…

Words that remind us here tonight that we we all have the same spirit of faith. 

Paul wrote, “13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, 14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.”  (2 Corinthians 4:13-14). Compare Paul’s words to the psalmist: “”8 For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 10 I believed, therefore I spoke, “I am greatly afflicted.” (Psa. 116:8-10). Most most commentators today ascribe this to King David. If it was David—it may have been his contemplating the many gracious deliverances the mighty hand of God provided him.

Paul’s looking back to this psalmist’s Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death –  as another source for strength and encouragement. 

The spirit to continue fighting for the cause of Christ
In much the same way—we—being of the same faith and can look back to Paul for the same reasons.
Look to (2 Cor. 4:7-12) see here that Paul has previously outlined his and his companions own suffering for Christ…
Now note the words in Psalm 116 at verse 3, “The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.”
We remember Peter said, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;” (1 Pet. 4:12)
Now because we share the same faith as David, as Paul, and now as Peter—we also know that God will deliver us…
As Paul wrote, struck down, but not destroyed
As Peter said, “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.” (1 Pet. 4:19).

The devil knows what he is doing…

UNPOPULAR WAY
SAINTS AND THEIR LOVE OF THE TRUTH – PART 8

The body of Christ is distinct – because out of our love for the truth – we obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which was delivered to us in the word – Romans 6:17

We are members of the body of Christ – the church – because we are Walking in Christ’s Commandments…
In 2 John we read, “4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. 5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.”  (vs.4-5)
And John wrote, “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.” (2 John 1:6).
We have through the blood of the Savior – Jesus Christ – received reconciliation with the Father…
We are the pillar and the ground of the truth – 1 Tim. 3:15
We are the “chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, God’s own special people…”
And we will “proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light” – 1 Peter 2:9

This is what makes the saints in church of Christ unpopular…we love the truth…

Let’s begin by defining two words that make quite the difference when rightly dividing scripture. They are Objective Truth V/S Subjective Truth.
Objective Truth: “A statement that is factual; it has a definite correspondence to reality, independent of anyone’s feelings or biases.”
Subjective Truth: Truth based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.

First, let me say here that these 3 simple points about truth are eternally critical…
POINT 1 OF 3: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” – Jude 3   
POINT 2 OF 3: TRUTH IS“And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak” 2 Corinthians 4:13
POINT 3 OF 3: TRUTH IS Jesus alone is, “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Heb. 5:9)

Sad Truth: The vast majority of religious people with good and honest hearts have been fed a “diluted faith”. Jesus said, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48)

PERPETUAL SELF-INVENTORY

Jesus said, “7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” (Matt. 15:7-9). When we slid outside of what the scripture teaches and begin teaching what we think, we become hypocrites. Teaching, practicing “religion”, that is subjective is purely a vain practice which does not honor Christ. 

Every denomination that teaches even one thing different than the written gospel is saying, “my will, not thy will”. My way is the better way. They think in their own minds that they are justified by numbers. That is, because their congregation is larger than another they think, “we must be right”, which is also saying God is wrong. But we must remember that Jesus did say wide is the gate that leads to distruction and many will go that way, but narrow and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt. 7:13-14). 

To avoid the wide gate we must practice self examination daily. Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.”  (2 Corinthians 13:5). 

We must remember those who enter the wide gate mostly do so because of the false teachers. One such teacher from the 1500’s is John Calvin. Most people in the denominational world of religion don’t even know that they are following Calvin’s teaching and that’s because it is like diabetes, it is a silent killer. He taught 5 tenents: (1) Total Depravity, (2) Unconditional Election, (3) Limited Atonement, (4) Irresistible Grace, and (5) Perseverance of the Saints. 

We will focus here on “The Perseverance of the Saints”: The claim is the elect of God are sanctified by the Spirit and as a result of that sanctification, because of their faith in Jesus, they are imputed with righteousness from God through Christ. This is a horrible doctrine because it teaches people that you cannot fall from grace. No matter how wicked you are, no matter how evil you are, you are always going to be saved. Calvin teaches that the righteousness of Christ is imputed on the believer. Impute means to ascribe (righteousness) to someone by virtue of a similar quality in another. Because Jesus is Holy, blameless, and righteous – so is the believer. Because Jesus cannot fall, thus the believer cannot fall. 

Calvinism, teach of two imputations: The first imputation is that we all have the sin of Adam transferred to us. Because Adam sinned we are all born in sin. The second, Christ’s blood saved us therefore we are clothed with His righteousness therefore, God cannot see your sin ever. 

I hope you’ll listen in as we turn to the scriptre to examine this teaching, whether it is true or false. Then examine ourselves to be sure we are practicing the right faith, the truth according to God. . . 

UNPOPULAR WAY – PART 7
WOMEN PREACHERS, ELDERS AND DEACONS

I would bring to your remembrance the words of Jesus who said, “25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:25-26).

Without Question—Every Christian around the globe who is serious about walking in the Spirit and not the flesh will be: 1-Unashamed and 2-Unpopular in the eyes of the world.

We are Not Ashamed to Own Our Lord and not ashamed of the gospel! But many are ashamed, and the proof is when someone says “I believe” rather than “the scriptures say”!

HERE I AM

We heard Peter’s testimony of Christ, the savior speaking to many of the very same people who shouted, “Crucify Him”, saying, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” – Acts 2:22-24.

The blood of the Lord was on their hands because of their sin. Not literally but symbolically, and His blood is on the hands of every sinner today in the same manner. Therefore, they had every reason to fear after hearing that the Lord whom they crucified is risen and to be fair, and today every soul has reason to fear if they haven’t obeyed the call of the Lord through His gospel.

But when they heard the words of Peter who said, “For the promise is to you. This is the proper response for every person who hears the call, the good news: “then those who gladly received his word were baptized…” Acts 2:41. 

Jesus was the prophesied Messiah – Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:6
Jesus the Son of God did come down from Glory, being born of a virgin and walked among us – John 1:14, and Matt. 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us.’” Jesus Died for Us – Rom. 5:8, and Jesus is Risen – Rom. 8:34. 
Because of these truths, this good news, I would like to talk with you today about what your response to the Lord’s call is.

What will your responce be? Will it be as Adam (Gen. 3:8), or Abraham Gen.12: 1, 11? 

SAINTS AND THE ONES OF THE BIBLE
Part 6

What makes God’s people so unpopular? Simply put it! We are unpopular because we speak the truth according to the word of God.

Armed only with the weapon of God’s word…

We “pull down strongholds”, like the walls of Jericho
We sound out God’s word and the walls of hypocrisy, humanism, Idolary, fall…
By revealing the righteousness of Christ we cast down false teachers, the way of the flesh – and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…

And there is something we all need to know about One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, and One God…

In his first epistle, John writes of victory in overcoming the world…
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1John 5:4-5)

This is the victory, means we have believed and obeyed Jesus, therefore, we have what we need to defeated Satan, and by the same power we’re able to cast the devil out of our life,.then one day we’ll put on immortality – and death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15:54)
This is the victory, means we have believed and obeyed Jesus, therefore, we will be among those caught up by Jesus on the last day (1 Thess. 4:17)
This is the victory, means we’ll be one of the “great multitude which no one could number” in Heaven, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb (Rev. 7:9)

Beloved, faithful, you, brothers and sisters, we are truly united by the one true faith that will lead us to total victory…
And my hope is that by these studies our God will grant us all according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit that is in us” (Eph. 3:16)

Let’s start with a talk about the WORLD…

THE UNPOPULAR WAY – SAINTS AND SWIMMING

Like clockwork, once a year summer comes. And, rightly so, many are thinking of vacations, picnics, gatherings with family, and all kinds of outdoor sports and
activities.

One such activity—is Swimming i.e., Public Bathing.

The question of the day: Is swimming sinful? Short answer is not if it is males together with other males out of sight of women. Not if it is women together with women, out of sight of men. But when you combine the two—i.e., summer mixed pool parties where both men and women swim together—then you have a problem. And it isn’t the act of swimming per say. The problem we will address has everything to do with the various states of undress among men and women. Improper clothing that shows the nakedness of the body, and what happens in the heart.

Please don’t insult me, or any other by claiming that nobody is looking, that nobody cares! After the lesson is done I believe you’ll have enough material to be convinced that somebody does care—God…

Paul wrote in his second letter to the saints at Corinth, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

That’s a pretty amazing statement. A great change takes place in the life of one who is a Christian!
1. I’d like to know what this change is—and how it will affect me personally.
2. If I am a New Creation – how does God see me?
3. And how does this change me, my lifestyle, my likes, and habits?
4. What old things am I giving up, and how will these new things affect my old way of life?

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives us answers to such questions.

Turning to Ephesians 2 and verse 6 we begin to see some ways a Christian is described…