Caution! Work in Progress!

Philippians 1:6  "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

The Apostle Paul was reminding the Philippian Christians of a very important truth.  Their salvation was simply a starting point, a beginning.  It was the first step in a life-long process called spiritual growth.  Paul was reminding the Christians that the work would be done by God.  If they would simply yield themselves to God in obedience, God would do the work in them.  God would take them through His workshop and build their Christ-likeness day by day.  There will come a day when we will be perfectly like Christ, but that is out in eternity on the other side of this life.  While we are here let's allow God to do the work that He wants to do in and through us.  Let's allow God to conform us to the image of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Another Gospel???

^{Galatians 1:6-9}

Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 
Gal 1:7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 
Gal 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 

In our modern society there are a multitude of ways that we can hear sermons being preached.  We have radios, compact discs, cassette tapes, satellite radios and televisions that all can be used for propagating the Gospel.  The danger today is the same as the danger that the Apostle Paul was warning the Galatian Christians about.  The danger is that we allow a false Gospel, a false message about Christ to come along and cause us to drift away from the Bible and its teaching about Christ and His ministry.  Paul is warning the believers of the churches at Galatia that there are those preachers that desire to pervert (twist) the Gospel of Christ.

In our modern day we must be careful to test the messages that we hear against the standard of God's Word.  If any man's message is contradictory to the clear teaching of the Bible we can judge that message for what it is, an attempt to pervert the Gospel.  In verse 8 above we see a severe condemnation given to those that would pervert the Gospel.  In verse 9 we see the same condemnation repeated.  The bible says, "Let him be accursed."  This is a severe sentence in the Word of God that literally means let that man be judged, found guilty and condemned to hell.  God does not take lightly the sin of trying to subvert or change the message of the Scriptures.  It takes work and effort, but we must compare the messages that we hear to the Gospel to make sure the message isn't a message of man, but is indeed a message from God!

What's the Next Move?

Philippians 4:6  "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

God's Word instructs that we don't need to suffer from paralysis by analysis.  When we don't know what to do we often do nothing.  God has given us a solution to this state of befuddlement.  The Bible teaches us to be careful for nothing, don't waste your time worrying about what you're going to do in your own strength.  God tells us in every thing, every care and concern that we have to let our prayer and supplication be made know unto God.  The proper heart attitude when we do this is one of thanksgiving.  We can be thankful for God's blessings in the past.  We can be thankful that we serve a God that holds our future firmly in His hand.  He is firmly in control even when we're not.  Don't fret, let God know your prayers, the desires, concerns and burdens that you have.  He stand's willing and able to help.

Ask, Seek and Knock

Matthew 7:7  "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"

ASK-  Ask, Seek and Knock.  The Lord Jesus Christ gave us a part to play when it comes to seeking our petitions of the Lord.  He places a condition on our petitions.  He wants His children to come to him by faith communicating their needs to Him.  Many times God gives us blessings that we haven't even asked for because it pleases Him to do so.  We do the same thing for our earthly children.  We give them things that they haven't asked for simply because we love them and want to bless them.  It's still nice to have our children come to us and ask for things.  It's good to know that they need us in their lives.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to come to Him with our needs and desires.  He knows what we need even before we ask, but He wants us to realize our total dependence upon Him.  Have you received any blessings from God lately?  He may be waiting for you to take the first step and ask.  Share your heart's desires with Him today and He will answer according to His will.

Give God your Best

Colossians 3:23  "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"

If we're not careful it is easy to get preoccupied with trying to please man.  We may have our eyes focused on that promotion at work and we want to do everything in our power to make sure that the promotion is ours.  We want the praise that comes from man to stroke our egos and make us feel great about what we did or who we've become.  This bible verse reminds us that the focus of our activities shouldn't be in pleasing men.  The purpose for everything we do should be to please the Lord.  Our efforts shouldn't be half-hearted, but done heartily as to the Lord.  This means we should give our best and work hard to please the Lord.  He is worthy of our best efforts.

All Things Work Together for Good.

Romans 8:28  "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

When this Bible verse mentions "All things" that encompasses a lot of ground.  It mean that the good things that happen in life work to our good.  That's easy for us to understand.  It makes sense to us that good things are working for our good.  The hard part to understand is that the bad things that happen in our life are working together for our good.  God has made it abundantly clear in His Word that trials in our life are for a purpose.  God uses trials to strengthen us.  Trials are likened to the process of purifying gold.  The gold is heated to an extreme temperature and then the dross or impurities are skimmed off the gold leaving behind pure gold.  God intends for trials to have the same effect in our lives.  God permits the trials in our life to conform us to the image of Christ.  When we suffer as Christ suffered we learn to lean upon our heavenly Father.  We learn to trust that He is always doing what is best in our life.  How is your life today?  Are you on the mountaintop enjoying God's abundant blessing or are you in the valley of trials and dark days?  No matter where you find yourself today be confident that God is doing a work that will be for your good a little farther down the road.

Walk in Love

Eph 5:2  "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour."

What a tremendous commandment that God has given to us.  The commandment is to, "Walk in love , as Christ also hath loved us..."   When we consider the love of Christ we stand in amazement at His Love for us.  He willingly gave Himself to be put to death on the cross for us.  He was totally innocent, yet He gave himself to die a criminal's death at Calvary.  When we consider the great love that He demonstrated toward us, the obvious question is how can we love with that kind of love?  How can we give as much as Christ gave for us?  The answer is that we can't give love as Christ gave apart from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God working in and through us.  We must remember as believers that we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, God Himself.  It is by allowing ourselves to be Spirit controlled that we can begin to demonstrate to others the love of God working through us.  The Holy Spirit will empower us to sacrifice our lives for others.  It may not be a sacrifice that leads to death, but it may be a sacrifice of our time and energies as we allow our lives to be a conduit for the love of God to flow through us and on to others.  When we love others as Christ loved us our effort will be a sweet smelling savour to God.