Topic: Christianity
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 16:24-25 KJV)
What does the Word of Christ mean to you? As we continue to define the biblical Christianity, I like to bring out that being a Christian is more than just religious ritual. Even though Roman Catholic Church is identified itself as Christian, we cannot earn ourselves by works to enter into God's kingdom. We need to establish our relationship with Jesus Christ in our lives. The Word of Christ is a central to a Christian's life.
Paul said in Romans 12:1 that we need to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. This means in order for us to follow Christ is that we need to surrender ourselves to God and be obedience to Him. Look at Jesus on His last week of ministries on Earth. Paul said in Philippians 2:7-8, "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Although God doesn't want us to suffer as Jesus did, we also need to put our faiths into action. We need to learn to deny ourselves and follow God. We need to take up His cross and follow Him. This means that we need to spend our quality time with God by mediating on His words, pray, and put our faiths into action. Faith without works is dead.
Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The word faith means "…persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation…" It is more than just belief. We can have faith in God to go through the problems we face daily. Read Romans 10:17 again and see the second part. For us to build faith in God, we not only need to listen to God, but we need to hear and follow His Words. Having faith doesn't means that we need to listen to God in one ear and come out from other ear. This is why America churches so messed up today. Some today's pastors are trying to make God's messages as soft to their congregations' ears. There are many teachings and material resources on Christian living than gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, today's modern day bibles come from men and not from original manuscripts of God's Words, such as New King James Version, New International Version, New America Standard Version, New Century Version, Living Bible, and Message. These and other modern day bibles are trying to make comfortable for us to read them without conviction from the Holy Spirit, except the Authorized Version. Does this mean that you need to find another church that teaches from the King James Version? No, but you need to listen what the Holy Spirit tells us and do it. If the Holy Spirit may tell you to find another church that teaches from the original KJV, do it. It is like losing flavor of food from the original manuscript. KJV has a lot of flavors of words.
What is faith? We find clearly definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1-3, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." We have to produce our faith in God. In Hebrews 11:6 says, "…without faith it is impossible to please him (God)…" Read through the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 and ask yourself if you have the faith in God, can you go through any obstacle of your life course? Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, "Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." There is nothing that God can't do if we put our faiths in Him. If you have disability or not, you can do anything if you put God in the center of your life. In upcoming blog, I like to bring the subject on our holy priesthood duty.
Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:1-3.)
If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-10, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
