1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NKJV
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Sharing the Gospel
When we who believe in Jesus Christ share the message of the
gospel of Christ with the people of the world, or with the worldly church, we
must do so under the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, and according
to what the Scriptures teach on that subject, in the correct biblical context.
It is best if we do not use man-made formulas for how to share Christ with
people, for so many of those formulas are not teaching the truth of the gospel.
And the “gospel” many are teaching has been altered to appeal to human flesh.
But Jesus Taught
I can recall in my younger years when evangelism was
seriously being stressed in the church and we were all being trained in how to
share the gospel with people. But they were man-created formulas, and as I
later in life learned, many of them were taken from a collection of Scriptures
taught outside of context made to say what they do not say if taught in
context. And so many people were being taught that if they prayed the prayer to
receive Christ that all their sins were forgiven and heaven was guaranteed.
But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny
self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if
we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity.
But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience
to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with
God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew
7:21-23).
But that was not what was being taught in these evangelism
training classes and via these gospel tracts or formulas we were given to use
to spread the message of the gospel. But “getting people saved” was the goal,
and the numbers mattered to church officials for their records. But so many of
these evangelistic efforts failed to share the gospel as taught by Jesus and by
his New Testament apostles, and so they gave people a false hope of salvation,
and many people who prayed the prayer never gave their hearts to Christ.
Get Into The Word
So, if you are going to share the message of the gospel with
other people, do not rely on gospel tracts to get you there. And don’t rely on
the gospel message you heard from some preacher or evangelist, or something you
found on the internet. And don’t use AI (artificial intelligence), although
there have been times when they have had it more correct than most preachers I
have heard. But get into the Word yourselves, and under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit read what the Scriptures teach, in context.
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our
own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ
to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as
slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no
longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires.
For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is
what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with
God (see Romans 6:1-23).
For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training
us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For it is not the one
who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has
denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to
our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the
hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven (see Titus 2:11-14; 1
John 1-3).
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
Walking in The Light
Based off 1 John 1-2
An Original Work / November 16, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
When I lift up my
voice, and
Sing praise unto
God,
I will fellowship
with my
Lord and Savior,
King.
In Him there is no
darkness.
He is in the light
of truth.
If we walk in His
light,
From sin He
purifies.
If we repent of our
sins,
He’ll forgive us
now,
When we humble
ourselves, and
Before Jesus bow.
The man who says, “I
know Him,”
But does not obey
His truth,
There is no truth in
him.
In darkness still
he’s found.
Do not love the
world of sin,
For it is hell
bound.
If you follow the
world, you’ll
Not in Christ be
found.
The world and its
desires
Will not last;
they’ll expire.
The one who does
God’s will,
Receives eternal
life.
See that what you
have heard from
Christ remains in
you.
Then, you’ll remain
in Christ, and
In His Father, too.
This is what He
promised us –
His eternal life
with God.
So, continue in Him,
and
You’ll receive a
crown.
Not Words of Human
Wisdom
No comments:
Post a Comment