THE EXHORTATION THREAD (For Christians Who Love Jesus)

[frienduff thaylorde]

On ‎3‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 4:08 AM, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

Grace is:

The God-given power and desire to do God's will, including keeping the commandments of the New Testament (not of the law of Moses)

Freedom from the dominion of sin and the ability to choose what pleases God

Freedom from the Law of Moses if you were a Jew before you got saved

 

Grace is not:

Freedom from the commandments and teachings of the New Testament (the law of Christ)

God's blessing to do whatever you please

The unconditional guarantee of salvation, no matter what you choose to do after being saved

 

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." (John 15:10)

 

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world---our faith. 

Who is that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:2-5)

And it is through this faith that we have access to the grace of God which enables us to put to death the desires of our sinful nature and to obey Him, which is the purpose for which it was given to us. The Christian who thinks that grace means that God's commandments are optional and that He doesn't have to keep them because God doesn't expect him to is a fool (that is, one who is foolish, like those five foolish virgins). He most certainly does.

If you're one of those Christians who has been so misled, I recommend that you re-read the New Testament and starting doing what it says, rather than receiving God's grace in vain.

The Holy Spirit guides Christians in the keeping of God's written word, and knowing and doing whatever is pleasing to Him in personal matters (personal faith). He does not approve of or lead into sin. So if you think you're walking by the Spirit, just because He's in you, and you're living however you please, you're a fool.

 

 

 

 

Grace is not:

Freedom from the commandments and teachings of the New Testament (the law of Christ)

God's blessing to do whatever you please

The unconditional guarantee of salvation, no matter what you choose to do after being saved

 

The thing is All of JESUS sayings fulfill .     Their is no law against what JESUS taught .    If we learn FROM HIM, we do LEARN HOW TO TRULY WALK as we ought , as HE did.

If a man says He loves GOD, but walks in darkness,  he is  a liar .    I notice that all the apostels seemed to be RIGHT to the point and left no room for confusion or doubt.

But then I notice the ONE they followed was the same way .   Right to the point .     Praise the Lord peoples .

[Neighbor]

Excerpt from an exhortation from Paul of Tarsus to the local body of Christ at Galatia in the highlands (0f modern Turkey):

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

 

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

12 minutes ago, naominash said:

In this season, I want more of God's Spirit in my life. So sin has to go. All the grumbling, complaining, rebellion, and covering have to go.

There are people around me who are hungry for God. And they may never come to church with me so they need to see Him through me.

We live in turbulent and war-like times but we have reason to be joyful and excited as the day off Christ's return draws near!

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8)

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matthew 5:6)

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

 

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. (Psalm 73:25)

 

My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

 

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

(Psalm 84:1,2, 10,11)

 

No, the joy of heaven---or of the city to come---is not its beauty, nor the angels, nor the music, a mansion or a crown, but God Himself. Without Him, none of the other things would matter. Those who delight in God Himself (and not merely in His gifts) now, will enjoy Him the most forever.

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. (2 Peter 3:10-14)

 

[simplejeff]

23 minutes ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. (2 Peter 3:10-14)

How many Scriptures say this or similar :  be found by HIM, without spot or blemish , and at peace. (with Him and others)

 

How do His followers, believers immersed in Jesus' Name,  become "without spot or blemish"  ?  (holy,  sanctified, blameless)

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

5 hours ago, simplejeff said:

How many Scriptures say this or similar :  be found by HIM, without spot or blemish , and at peace. (with Him and others)

 

How do His followers, believers immersed in Jesus' Name,  become "without spot or blemish"  ?  (holy,  sanctified, blameless)

Answer:

Keep the commandments of the New Testament with the help of the Holy Spirit (John 17:17)

Be mindful of the Lord in how you live, live submitted to Him, and keep in step with His Spirit (1 Corinthians 10:31; Ephesians 5:8-17; James 4:7; Galatians 5:22-25)

When you sin, repent (1 John 1:9)

Keep a clear conscience toward God and man (1 John 3:19-22)

 

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. (Psalm 119:9)

 

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

 

 

[simplejeff]

1 hour ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to Your word. (Psalm 119:9)

TORAH.     PERFECT !  PURE !  TRUTH !  As JESUS TAUGHT.

[simplejeff]

1 hour ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

When you sin, repent (1 John 1:9)

Keep a clear conscience toward God and man (1 John 3:19-22)

 

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. (Psalm 119:9)

 

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

TEAR DOWN THE IDOLS !  yes - devotion from January this year from George:

Posted January 16

When Gideon was called by God, a mighty man of valor, his first task was to tear down the idolatrous altars of Baal and Asherah at his father’s house. Though he was ready to obey this command, his obedience was mixed with fear, so he destroyed the idols at night [Judges 6:27]. When the men of the city realized it was Gideon who destroyed their idols, their allegiance to Baal and Asherah drove them to demand Gideon's life.

The post Tear Down the Idols! appeared first on Worthy Christian Devotional - Daily Devotions.

Read the entire devotional.

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

Encouragement for the suffering of sanctification:

 

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

More than that, we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

 

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs---heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:16,17)

 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

 

Make sure your focus is on the inside, where God's focus is, to be conformed to the image of His Son---and not on self-gratification and the things that are passing away. Then, when you suffer, it will be for a good purpose, for your spiritual strengthening and enrichment, and not because of foolishness or disobedience. 

(All things work together for the good of those who love God, not for the good of those whom God loves. There are many, many people whom God loves for whom things are not working out for good, and for whom things will not turn out well, because they do not love Him; unsaved people, of course, but Christians also.)