christianity – Page 2 – Walking with Jesus by His word

Christian behavior. Pt2

Behave Like a Christian Romans 12

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient[c] in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given[d]to hospitality.

Good Morning. Yesterday we spoke of Love being the most important trait a Christian should possess. Today we see that a Christian should be kindly affectionate to one another. This should be within the church and outside the church. To be kind and affectionate gives opportunity to share our faith with people. Nobody wants to hear about Jesus from someone who is a “know it all” and arrogant! A preacher once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!” Being affectionate shows that you are fond of someone and it affects the way they respond to us! I think God through the power of the Holy Spirit makes this fondness and affection for one another real and people will listen to the gospel of Jesus and the testimony of our changed life God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry May 11, 2024

Christian Behavior. Pt1

Behave Like a Christian Romans 12

Good Morning. Here we have some qualities that mark how a Christian should be. Love will always be the first trait a Christian should possess. Jesus said in John 13:34,35 “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love has been and always will be first and foremost characteristic of a Christian! 1Peter 1:22 tells of the importance of loving one another fervently (with Zeal) with a pure heart after we have been born again. Again Jesus proclaims in Matthew 22:37-40 the two great commandments: The first one is to LOVE God with all your heart, mind and soul and the second one is to LOVE your neighbor as yourself! Jesus says on these hang ALL the Law and the prophets! Finally, I’ll close with the example of the greatest love from John 15:13 ” 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Jesus voluntarily laid down His life for you and I! God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry May 10, 2024 See Blog: walkingwithjesusbyhisword.wordpress.com

Believing brings Life.

That You May Believe John 20

30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Good Morning. Here we are again shown the love Jesus has for people and the purpose God had for John to write these words down, words found in John 3:16 or John 4:25,26 or John 1:1 etc. These words point to our need for a Savior and eternal life! Notice from our text the key words here are believing in the name of Jesus, believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God brings life to the believer. These are the simplest words in the bible that make it clear that eternal comes to a person by belief in Jesus with nothing added to it! That new life of belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God should put a desire in a believer’s heart to serve Jesus which demonstrates true belief. God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry May 6, 2024

Do not Grieve the Holy Spirit.

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary [h]edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, [i]clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Good Morning. As we learned yesterday that as a Christian we are to put off the “old man” and put on the “New Man” who is created in righteouness and holiness. Sometimes the “old man” takes control and brings selfishness and sin into our lives and this is what grieves the Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed. We are told here in our text that we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit in this manner, but we should bring grace to the people around us! We should edify or build up the people that are in our lives instead of tearing them down. All our bitterness and anger and evil speaking etc. should be put away from us and love, kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness should be what guides us, this will make us more like Jesus! God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry May 3, 2024 See Blog: walkingwithjesusbyhiswod.wordpress.com

The Old Man vs The New Man.

The Old Man vs The New Man Ephesians 4

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as [f]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Good Morning. We see here the stark contrast of the lost person and the saved person. The lost person lives according to the desires of the flesh and is blinded to the things of God. Their understanding has been darkened being ignorant of the things of God. The thing is that we are ALL born into sin and have our thinking skewed because of that sin until God opens our eyes to the truth of our need for Jesus Christ. It is at that point where the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and we are to make the choice of believing God’s word and trusting in Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9) or rejecting Him! Tomorrow we will talk about the New Man. God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry May 1, 2024

The Mystery revealed.

he Mystery Revealed Ephesians

The Mystery Revealed. Ephesians 3

3 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the [a]dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

Good Morning. As we learned yesterday of the wall of separation between Jews (God’s chosen people) and the Gentiles was broken down through Jesus Christ! Today we see that the Apostle Paul was chosen as God’s servant to minister Jesus to the Gentiles, a commission he received from God by His grace. This was the mystery God revealed when Jesus became the Savior. This mystery was not revealed to the sons of men in other ages but now it has become known, salvation has come to the Gentiles (See also Colossians 1:27) and at the same time Israel as a whole rejected Jesus as Messiah although Paul’s desire was to see the nation of Israel come to Christ. (Romans 10:1)! Thank God He opened the door of salvation to Gentiles. God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry April 26, 2024 See Blog: walkingwithjesusbyhisword.wordpress.com

Enduring Hardship.

Be Strong in Grace 2 Timothy 2

2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 You therefore must endure[a] hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, and [b]may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Good Morning. The Apostle Paul is telling his “son” in the faith to be prepared for hard times and like a good soldier endures hard times! These times will come in a Christian life but as Psalm 34 puts it: ” Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them ALL”! Again 1 Peter declares that ” The trial of our faith is more precious than gold that perishes….” Are we getting entangled with the affairs of this world or do we stay away from the trappings this world can bring us? Paul is again warning Timothy to be pleasing to Jesus, the captain of our faith, and not get entangled in the affairs of this world! The Apostle Paul is also telling Timothy to pass on to other faithful Christians what he has learned. The knowledge Jesus has given you and I can be passed on to others also. No one is crowned a winner as an athlete unless he/she competes according to the rules and likewise, God has given us His word to live by and to be a good soldier for Jesus these rules for the Christian life must be obeyed! The benefits of living this Christian life will be rewarded as a farmer is rewarded as he partakes in his hard work. Likewise, Jesus rewards his servants for their hard work in service to Him! There is a line in a hymn that I love and it says “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus….”Keep on living for Jesus. God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry Mar 5, 2024

The preaching of the cross. Pt1

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom 1Corinthians 1

18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Good Morning. These verses remind us where we were before God opened our hearts to hear the gospel of Jesus as truth. We were wandering around looking for peace, and purpose and finding that the things that pleased the flesh did not bring lasting joy. When the truth and hope of the message of Jesus became real we understood the importance of faith and belief in God that put real meaning in our lives for now and for eternity! Worldly wisdom opposes faith and God and God will make foolish the wisdom of this world! The world looks at the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ as foolishness and to the Christian, it is at the very center of ALL we believe! Share with someone today. God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry Feb 15, 2024

The work of God.

John 6 The work of God.

26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

Good Morning. Jesus had just miraculously fed the 5000 and after He did that He left and now the people came looking for Him. Jesus tells them that they came to seek more food rather than see that Jesus was more than just a man. Do not work for the food that perishes but labor for the food that gives eternal life! That food that yields eternal life is only found in the Son of God, Jesus Christ whom God the Father has sent! The work of God is to believe in Him. When it comes to Life what could be more important than knowing Jesus Christ? God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry Feb 4, 2024

Dead to Sin-Alive to God Pt3

Romans 6 Dead to sin alive to God 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be [a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been [b]freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, [c]reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Good Morning. As we continue to address being dead to sin we see that Galatians 2:20 makes this subject even clearer: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” So God has made the Christian a new creation and now all things are new (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old life of sinful desires is gone and a new life of trusting in Christ by faith has begun! As a Christian, having the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of sin, we can now resist sin and sin now has no power to control us. As long as we are in this flesh there will be a temptation to sin and we will fall into sin from time to time but it will not have dominion over us. 1 John 1:9 Tells us: “8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So again as a Christian, there will be an occasion where we sin but God’s word gives us the remedy for our occasional sin and that is to confess it to the Lord and He will not only forgive us but He will cleanse us from these unrighteous deeds and fellowship with God will be restored! God bless.

Love in Christ, Terry Feb 1, 2024