I give up. Have it your way. What I mean is, I have been trying to get people to believe that perfection and living by God’s righteous perfection needs to be done before we physically die, but most will not believe this truth. Around 99% of the people that believe in God in our world today believe that perfection cannot be attained until after we physically die. So, I have decided to write to these people in the context of their beliefs and see if their beliefs make sense.
First off, I will not be quoting much scripture since there is not much scripture that goes along with these beliefs. For example, I can’t quote “Matt 5:48 - Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. NKJV”, because people no longer think this is possible in our life time. And I can’t quote “1 Peter 1:15-16 - But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy. NIV”, because people no longer think this is possible in our life time. And I can’t quote “Rev 21:7 - He who overcomes (overcomes sin) will inherit all this (heaven), and I will be his God and he will be my son. NIV”, because people no longer believe that all sin can be overcome or that a person is able to live a sinless life.
I can quote a few scriptures like “John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. NIV” I can quote this as long as a person understands the term “believe” to mean a belief in the existence of Christ and that He died on the cross to pay for all our sins. I can quote this scripture because people believe that Christ did it all and we don’t have any responsibility except to believe in what Christ did on the cross for us. This belief is all about saving them to eternal life, but not about being the Lord of any person’s life. I can’t quote about Christ being the Lord of our lives, because Christ being Lord of our life would require the lordship of Christ to take control of a person, which would mean we would have to give up control of our own life. The lordship of Christ does not fit into this belief because it would require a changed life, a life that would have to die to all the sinful nature. It would mean submitting all to Christ as Lord. People would loose control of their life and this is not believed to be required anymore.
People believe that all we have to do to have eternal life is to take up on the offer of being fully forgiven by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice which paid the cost for all our sins. No repentance, holiness, or perfection by living by God’s love is required. Since Christ did it all on the cross for us, all we have to do is say that sinner’s prayer and that heavy load of the consequences of our sins are removed from us. So only God’s forgiveness is required and all we have to do is take advantage of it. It is a win-win situation for us. Everybody goes to heaven as long as they are forgiven. Everyone that is forgiven is automatically converted from a sinful being to a perfect being at the point of the death. This perfect conversion from a sinful soul to a perfect soul has to be accomplished because nothing imperfect or impure can enter God’s heavenly kingdom. This is the belief of most believers even though this belief goes directly against God’s Word. God’s Word is considered out of date for the time we live in and people believe God has changed to compensate for the changing times.
Either way, people believe we become perfect. It is just a question of when and how. All believers are looking forward to heaven and believe we have to become perfect to enter heaven. So, do we really want to be perfect? Do we really want to be like God? Do we really want to be rid of our evil selfish nature and have it replaced with a perfect holy and righteous nature? Christ’s nature. If we do, how much and how soon do we want to become perfect?
If we believe that our goal is to become perfect and be made perfect by becoming pure love like God is love, wouldn’t we want that to happen as soon as possible? If we believe that we have to die to become perfect, wouldn’t we want to pray to God and have Him take our life as soon as possible so that we could become that perfect soul? Wouldn’t we want to leave this evil filled world for a life in a perfect world as soon as possible? When someone dies, don’t we try to help the grieving ones left behind by saying the one they lost is in a better place? If we believe this, shouldn’t we be throwing a big party because God has chosen to take that person and make him/her perfect and have that soul live in a perfect heaven for eternity?
Do we need to wait to have God take our life or can we end it ourselves? If we commit suicide, we would be sinning against God’s Word, because we would be acting as our own God and killing ourselves. But God has probably changed His law for our times and aren’t all sins forgiven through Christ anyway? Most believers believe that someone that has committed suicide can still go to heaven. It is unthinkable to think a loving God would reject anyone for wanting to escape this evil world. Since this understanding is an excepted belief and even taught by many churches, this might be a person’s way to perfection and heaven. At least we need to commend them for acting on their beliefs. At least they are willing to put action to their beliefs. After all, what ever a person believes, they will act on. If we say we believe in something and don’t act on it, we don’t really believe what we say we believe.
So how soon should we want to physically die to become perfect? Some would argue that we need to have children (procreate) before we die so that the circle of life can continue. There is some logic to this consideration, but for the ones that don’t want to have children or can’t have children, wouldn’t it be best to die as soon as they come to Christ to have their sins forgiven? For the people that want to procreate, it would probably be best to die right after their kids have come to Christ by their children asking for forgiveness for their sins. In this way they would insure that their children are saved to eternal life and the parents could then leave this evil world to go onto the perfect realm of God. With the parents gone, the kids could use the assets left by the parents, grand parents, and so on, to get a good start for them to get ready to have kids of their own.
Some people might think that they need to stay living in this life to nurture and help their children and other people. Well this might sound fine and good, but what does an evil selfish person have to offer anyone else but to share in the consequences of their own sin? We can understand that there is some good in almost everybody, but the selfishness (evil) in a person will always out way any good that a person is trying to do. Since we believe that we never can get rid of our evil nature, then we have to believe that we really can’t offer anything to others that will be good for them. It will always be like dirty rags. We can’t help someone become good or cleaner by wiping them with our dirty rags. Since sin never leaves us until we die, every good thing we try to do will be tainted with evil. Let me give you an example. Say you have a favorite drink, like Mountain Dew, it being pure and good to the taste. Now let us add some sin into that drink. Suppose you go to the bathroom and take some of the feces (poop) from your own body and put it in the drink. Now the drink is tainted and anyone that drinks that drink will not be able to enjoy the goodness it had before it was tainted. Since we still have our sinful nature, when we share with ourselves, we are really sharing a tainted drink to our children and others. Why would we want to do this to people? Isn’t it better if we stop sharing in our consequences of our sins with others and just decide to die and be perfect?
So, after saying all this, why wouldn’t anyone want to die and be perfect? After all being perfect would be like heaven, which represents all of what God is and has to offer us. Being in heaven would be sharing in pure love, righteousness, holiness, and eternal life with God. Why wouldn’t anyone want this as soon as possible? Some might say, “They want it eventually, but they will wait until after they die after a long life.” These people are really saying, “I don’t want all of God right now. I want to still live my own life the way I desire. I want to still be my own God, and after I die I won’t have anything left to loose, so then I will accept perfection.” These people are trying to save their own life for themselves. Or, maybe people might say that they believe in perfection after death, but they really aren’t sure if they totally believe it to the point of wanting to die to get it. The bottom line about all this is, for most people, receiving perfection has to high of a cost – themselves.
So, if you want God and His perfection and you have decided that you can’t be perfected and totally set free of your sinful nature until after death, then you should desire to die so that you can finally be perfected and enter heaven. Come on people, stop fooling yourselves, you need to admit that you don’t want God’s perfection and His heaven and stop calling yourself a Christian, or start believing God’s Word, repent, and live a perfected life by living through the power of His Holy Spirit. Please figure out what you really believe and then show what you believe by acting on that belief.
God gives us the choice of what we want to believe. For me and my house we will believe God’s Word.
Michael W Reid
Showing posts with label righteousness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label righteousness. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Spirit of God - Part 2
This message is a continuation of “The Spirit of God – Part 1” message. If you haven’t read part #1 of this message, please go back and read part #1 before continuing on with this part #2 message on the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God is spiritual, but we are placed in a physical body with a spiritual heart and soul. To understand God, we need to get out of the physical box of understanding when it comes to spiritual things and rely on believing and understanding with our heart and spirit – because God is Spirit. Let us go back and look a little closer at the hierarchy structure of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God
The Father – The head of God’s Spirit
* Pure agape love, pure righteousness, pure faithfulness, and pure grace and mercy.
The Son – A perfect replica of the Father. The perfect seed of the Father
The Life = Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that brings spiritual life into our spiritual deadened heart and souls. Life in Christ is when we receive the Holy Spirit and He seals us for an eternity with Him in heaven
The Truth = The Spirit of Grace – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to believers to enable them to know the truth, have faith in the truth, understand the truth, and be empowered by the truth. Having belief in the truth of God and His Son is what brings us to a full relationship with God and His Son.
* A Revelation of God’s Love
The Way = The Spirit of Righteousness – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to people to enable people to honor God and live a righteous life. (The power to complete this righteousness comes from the Spirit of Grace)
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In John 14:6, Jesus says - John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
In the above verse and the simplified “Spirit of God” hierarchy table above we can start to see the reason why Jesus ordered His words the way He did in John 14:6. “The Way” is first requirement, “The Truth” is second, and “The Life” is third.
We must first turn from our sinful ways and turn toward God to live the way of righteousness that God requires of us. The “Way” to the Father and the Son is living a life of righteousness. Abraham was credited with righteousness because he believed in God, and Abraham’s walk in life reflected the way of God. This was by the Sprit of righteousness that was available during the Old Testament times.
Gen 15:6 - Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness
So we see that most of the Spirit of righteousness was available in the Old Testament, but the Spirit of Grace that brings forth the truth into a believer’s heart was not yet released.
“The Truth” is the second requirement that we must receive from God to come to the Father. “The Truth” is brought about into a believer’s heart and soul by the Spirit of Grace. The Spirit of Grace was the missing puzzle piece needed for anyone to be able to live a life of righteousness that was acceptable in the sight of God. This is why the Israelites could see that God’s laws were good, but they did not possess the power within themselves to perform the laws of God. They could see that the laws of God were good, because they had the Spirit of righteousness available to them, but they could not do the laws of God, because the Spirit of Grace was not yet made available to them. The Spirit of Grace is the power behind the sanctification of our souls. It is the Spirit of Grace that enables us to see the truth of God and then the same Spirit of Grace that also gives us the power to turn from our sins and live righteously before our God. How is this power of Grace worked out in our lives? It is by the Spirit of Grace changing and remolding our heart’s desires. When we are truly sorrowful of our sins and we repent of our sins, it is the Spirit of Grace that changes our desires to not want to do that sin any longer. It is this change of the heart that God does through His grace that transforms us into a person more like Him as the process of sanctification continues on. What also happens at the same time in our sanctification process is the transformation from loving our own self to loving God. As we grow in love with God more and more, we end up wanting to please God more and more. This part of God’s Spirit (the Spirit of Grace – The Truth) was missing in the Old Testament people (except for a few chosen people) and this is why the Jews could not live righteously even though they knew they should live righteously. The desires of the heart and the love for their own selves were not replaced or transformed into Godly desires and a true love for God and others – so they were blind to the real truth (which is pure love) and tried to live by rules instead of love.
“The Life” is the third requirement that is needed to come to the Father. Just like Grace, “The Life”=receiving the Holy Spirit - is a gift of God, Even though “The Life” is a gift of God, it is only given to souls that have met the requirements of the first two – which is living a righteous life by being empowered by God’s Grace which is received by faith. You might ask why such a restriction. It is because, when you receive the Holy Spirit (The Life), you then have full access to the Son and the Father and His kingdom. It is also because we must be cleansed of all unrighteousness before we acquire this privileged access. Only totally cleansed and pure things and souls are allowed to enter the Father’s kingdom, so our hearts and souls must be made pure through and through in order to enter the Father’s kingdom. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes to a believer when God sees that a person loves Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. This love for God will be shown by their righteous living that they acquired through Grace by faith in God. When the Holy Spirit comes into a person as a gift, they are totally washed of any selfish sinful nature and given a heart only filled with God’s desires. After they have this new selfless heart, they have only the desires to please and serve God. God then empowers those born again believers for His service with certain gifts that will promote His kingdom and glorify Himself through those believers. These gifts that God gives are not for the benefit of the one that received them; they are for the benefit of others and to glorify God. I am one of those souls in the kingdom of God and loving every minute of it. My mind can hardly think of anything else but pleasing, glorifying, worshiping, and serving Him. For any that have not experienced God in this way, you can search for the Son of God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – and then you will find Him.
Let us stop believing and acting like the people in the Old Testament and realize we have God’s grace to empower us to reach and serve the Father before we die. Let us humble ourselves before our God, which will enable God to raise us up in His grace to make us a holy and righteous people where we are found worthy to receive His Son (the Holy Spirit). God is a gracious and loving God and wants all to be blessed. God has done everything possible to make these blessings happen. The only things getting in the way of making these blessings a reality - is our own human reasoning, unbelief, pride, and selfishness. God is no longer limiting his grace like He did in the Old Testament. Let us stop limiting what God wants to do and have total faith in His Word.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
The Spirit of God is spiritual, but we are placed in a physical body with a spiritual heart and soul. To understand God, we need to get out of the physical box of understanding when it comes to spiritual things and rely on believing and understanding with our heart and spirit – because God is Spirit. Let us go back and look a little closer at the hierarchy structure of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God
The Father – The head of God’s Spirit
* Pure agape love, pure righteousness, pure faithfulness, and pure grace and mercy.
The Son – A perfect replica of the Father. The perfect seed of the Father
The Life = Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that brings spiritual life into our spiritual deadened heart and souls. Life in Christ is when we receive the Holy Spirit and He seals us for an eternity with Him in heaven
The Truth = The Spirit of Grace – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to believers to enable them to know the truth, have faith in the truth, understand the truth, and be empowered by the truth. Having belief in the truth of God and His Son is what brings us to a full relationship with God and His Son.
* A Revelation of God’s Love
The Way = The Spirit of Righteousness – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to people to enable people to honor God and live a righteous life. (The power to complete this righteousness comes from the Spirit of Grace)
____________________________________________
In John 14:6, Jesus says - John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
In the above verse and the simplified “Spirit of God” hierarchy table above we can start to see the reason why Jesus ordered His words the way He did in John 14:6. “The Way” is first requirement, “The Truth” is second, and “The Life” is third.
We must first turn from our sinful ways and turn toward God to live the way of righteousness that God requires of us. The “Way” to the Father and the Son is living a life of righteousness. Abraham was credited with righteousness because he believed in God, and Abraham’s walk in life reflected the way of God. This was by the Sprit of righteousness that was available during the Old Testament times.
Gen 15:6 - Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness
So we see that most of the Spirit of righteousness was available in the Old Testament, but the Spirit of Grace that brings forth the truth into a believer’s heart was not yet released.
“The Truth” is the second requirement that we must receive from God to come to the Father. “The Truth” is brought about into a believer’s heart and soul by the Spirit of Grace. The Spirit of Grace was the missing puzzle piece needed for anyone to be able to live a life of righteousness that was acceptable in the sight of God. This is why the Israelites could see that God’s laws were good, but they did not possess the power within themselves to perform the laws of God. They could see that the laws of God were good, because they had the Spirit of righteousness available to them, but they could not do the laws of God, because the Spirit of Grace was not yet made available to them. The Spirit of Grace is the power behind the sanctification of our souls. It is the Spirit of Grace that enables us to see the truth of God and then the same Spirit of Grace that also gives us the power to turn from our sins and live righteously before our God. How is this power of Grace worked out in our lives? It is by the Spirit of Grace changing and remolding our heart’s desires. When we are truly sorrowful of our sins and we repent of our sins, it is the Spirit of Grace that changes our desires to not want to do that sin any longer. It is this change of the heart that God does through His grace that transforms us into a person more like Him as the process of sanctification continues on. What also happens at the same time in our sanctification process is the transformation from loving our own self to loving God. As we grow in love with God more and more, we end up wanting to please God more and more. This part of God’s Spirit (the Spirit of Grace – The Truth) was missing in the Old Testament people (except for a few chosen people) and this is why the Jews could not live righteously even though they knew they should live righteously. The desires of the heart and the love for their own selves were not replaced or transformed into Godly desires and a true love for God and others – so they were blind to the real truth (which is pure love) and tried to live by rules instead of love.
“The Life” is the third requirement that is needed to come to the Father. Just like Grace, “The Life”=receiving the Holy Spirit - is a gift of God, Even though “The Life” is a gift of God, it is only given to souls that have met the requirements of the first two – which is living a righteous life by being empowered by God’s Grace which is received by faith. You might ask why such a restriction. It is because, when you receive the Holy Spirit (The Life), you then have full access to the Son and the Father and His kingdom. It is also because we must be cleansed of all unrighteousness before we acquire this privileged access. Only totally cleansed and pure things and souls are allowed to enter the Father’s kingdom, so our hearts and souls must be made pure through and through in order to enter the Father’s kingdom. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes to a believer when God sees that a person loves Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. This love for God will be shown by their righteous living that they acquired through Grace by faith in God. When the Holy Spirit comes into a person as a gift, they are totally washed of any selfish sinful nature and given a heart only filled with God’s desires. After they have this new selfless heart, they have only the desires to please and serve God. God then empowers those born again believers for His service with certain gifts that will promote His kingdom and glorify Himself through those believers. These gifts that God gives are not for the benefit of the one that received them; they are for the benefit of others and to glorify God. I am one of those souls in the kingdom of God and loving every minute of it. My mind can hardly think of anything else but pleasing, glorifying, worshiping, and serving Him. For any that have not experienced God in this way, you can search for the Son of God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – and then you will find Him.
Let us stop believing and acting like the people in the Old Testament and realize we have God’s grace to empower us to reach and serve the Father before we die. Let us humble ourselves before our God, which will enable God to raise us up in His grace to make us a holy and righteous people where we are found worthy to receive His Son (the Holy Spirit). God is a gracious and loving God and wants all to be blessed. God has done everything possible to make these blessings happen. The only things getting in the way of making these blessings a reality - is our own human reasoning, unbelief, pride, and selfishness. God is no longer limiting his grace like He did in the Old Testament. Let us stop limiting what God wants to do and have total faith in His Word.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Spirit of God - Part 1
The Spirit of God can be very hard to comprehend. We know that the Spirit of God contains the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the Son, and the Spirit of Holy Spirit, but even though they are listed as separate Sprits, they are really all of one Sprit and come out of one Spirit – the Spirit of God. There are also other spiritual qualities or sub functions of God Spirit that are released to us as a subset of God’s Spirit. There is the Spirit of Righteousness and the Spirit of Grace. Below you find a simplified table representing the hierarchy of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God
The Spirit of God
The Father – The head of God’s Spirit
* Pure agape love, pure righteousness, pure faithfulness, and pure grace and mercy.
The Son – A perfect replica of the Father. The perfect seed of the Father
* The fullness of Christ - being the Son of God, has all the same qualities of His Father.
* The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that is sent into the sons of God to change their hearts and empower them for service. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit that totally cleanses a person of the sinful nature and gives the sons of God a new heart and the result becomes a person born again and totally Christ like.
* The Holy Spirit is under the Son because He is the Spirit of the Son
* The Holy Spirit is the power that accomplishes everything the Father or the Son speaks
The Spirit of Grace – A subset of the Spirit of God – not a different Spirit
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to believers to enable them to become the sons of God.
* Was made available to all people after Jesus was crucified on the Cross.
* The nature and characteristics are – the power of the Word, the knowledge of inheritance, the power of faithfulness, the power of justification, a knowing that the Word is true, the working out of God’s truth, honesty and straightforwardness, the power to circumcise the heart of man, the power to fully sanctify, gives the believer the wisdom and the understanding to serve God with love, fear and honor, brings eternal praise for God into our hearts.
The Spirit of Righteousness– A subset of the Spirit of God – not a different Spirit
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to people to enable people to honor God and live a righteous life with the limited faith released to them before the cross.
* Was available before the cross.
* The nature and characteristics are – praising God, realizing the greatness of God, seeking God diligently, repenting of evil ways, honoring God, recognizing the gloriousness of God, being gracious to others, having mercy to others, and eternal righteousness through the limited faith that was released before the cross – example: Abraham.
__________________________________________________
Using the spiritual table listed out previously, we now can try to understand what is contained within the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God contains the full nature, characteristics, and power of God. The Spirit of the Father is the hierarchy head of the Spirit of God and contains all that is underneath Him in the hierarchy of the Spirit of God, while all the other Spirits only contain what is in them selves and what is underneath them in the hierarchy of God’s Spirit. For example: The Father contains the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Grace, and the Spirit of Righteousness. But the Son doesn’t have that which is only contained in the Father, but includes all that is in Him self and underneath Him including the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Righteousness. We know there are some things that are or have been reserved by the Father and only for the Father.
Acts 1:7 - And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
But we have to remember that Christ is the Son of the Father and that the Son retains the Spiritual Seed of the Father forever and ever. So this is why Jesus said that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. This is also why Jesus could say that if you have seen me, then you have seen the Father. Also since the Son is contained within and under the Father, the Son cannot exist without the Father and likewise the Father cannot exist without the Son since what makes up the Son is also part of the makes up of the Father. For one to exist – they both must exist.
We can also now understand that the Spirit of Grace (a subset of the Spirit of God) doesn’t contain the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, but does contain the characteristics of itself and the Spirit of Righteousness (also a subset of the Spirit of God). The Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Righteousness are what God uses to sanctify us and to bring us to the Father and the Son.
The Spiritual table also can be used to understand the steps that are needed to take to become a believer and eventually become born again of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit will lead us into the Spirit of Righteousness and lead us down the path of repentance and at the same time have us be justified through the Spirit of Grace that He provided by Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. It is the Spirit of Righteousness and the power of the Spirit of Grace that enables us to become the sons of God. To become the sons of God we must die to all of our sinful/selfish nature. It is the power of the Spirit of Grace that enables us to do this even though we don’t have the full power of the Holy Spirit within us yet. That is why the Bible says we are saved through Grace by faith. We must become the sons of God first before we can receive the Holy Spirit. We must show we have become the sons of God and our total love for God by our total repentance and total sacrifice of ourselves to God.
Matt 5:43-45 - You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
Luke 6:35 - But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.
If God becomes our Father by us becoming His sons through the power of the Spirit of Grace that He has supplied to us, than we can ask Him for His Holy Spirit – which is the Spirit of His Son.
Luke 11:13b - how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Before we can receive Christ’s Spirit we must be prepared by the Spirit of Righteousness and the Spirit of Grace. We must be prepared, tested and found worthy of this great gift. This great gift of the Holy Spirit (Christ’s very nature) can only be given to the ones that have been proven to be the sons of God.
John 14:23-24 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 14:15-17 - If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit).
Acts 5:32 - We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
Matt 7:21-22 - Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matt 12:50 - For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
The Holy Spirit will testify of itself and of Jesus Christ when you have received Him.
John 14:20-21 - On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
John 15:26-27 - When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
John 16:12-15 - I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
1 Cor 6:17 - But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
When we have been united with Jesus Christ – we become one spirit with Him and reign along with Him to manage and promote His kingdom. This is why the scriptures say we are seated with Him in heaven. We are not seated beside Him – we are seated in Him, because we are now one in Spirit with Him.
Eph 2:6 - And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
All this is to say – God has reserved a wonderful full life in Him and for an eternity for anyone that gives up his/her own life in trade for a life with and in Him.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
God Will Not Be Mocked – Message 1
Gal 6:7 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
This is the first in a series of messages on how God’s creation is mocking the creator (God). Like in all the following messages in this series, I will start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. Since most people don’t have true agape love in their hearts because Christ Jesus has not made His home with them, all that God is able to work with is their selfishness and fear. God is total love, but He is also total righteousness and totally holy. With God, living a holy and righteous life in not an option for the people that will inherit His eternal kingdom, He demands holy and righteous living. This holy and righteous living can only be done through the love of Jesus Christ permeating every aspect of our heart and soul. This permeating of our heart and soul with His love is accomplished when we are truly born again. Since we can’t see this agape love in most people – we then have to also assume that most people are not truly born again. Most people really don’t have the capacity to understand God’s love since agape love is given by His Spirit and since the Holy Spirit is not in most people, the only thing they do understand is love of self and the protection of their selves. This is why we need the “fire and brimstone” messages to come back.
Let’s first look at who will inherit God’s eternal kingdom (heaven).
Gal 5:19-21 - The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 6:7-9 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
So what does the scripture verses above really say to us? They say very plainly that if we do or think any of the sinful acts of the sinful nature, then the sinful nature is still in us and that we are still being controlled by that sinful nature and not God’s nature. If this sinful nature hasn’t been put to death because we have been unwilling to let it die, we will then suffer in the second death as if Christ never died on the Cross for us and we will be thrown in to an everlasting Hell where there is eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth. This should scare anyone towards God, unless they don’t believe in God, Heaven, or Hell. For the ones that don’t believe in God, Heaven, and Hell, there is no hope for them until they do start believing in these spiritual things. Whether a person believes in Hell or not, if they are not truly born again, they are on an automatic trip to Hell because of their own disbelief.
But what about those people, like my dad or mother, or my sister or brother, or my friend that I loved so much that said they were a Christian, but they were still committing acts of sin up to the day they died? If these people knew they were sinning, but did not repent of those sins and stop sinning, then this would clearly indicate that they never made it to the point of true salvation by being truly born again. Anyone that isn’t sanctified to the point of totally dying to the selfish nature before they physically die will go to Hell upon God’s judgment.
There are no second chances after our physical death. What ever nature we die with will be the nature that we are judged on. If we are still being controlled by the sinful nature when we die, then the sinful nature is still alive in us and it is that nature that will send us to Hell. God can’t and will not let any sinful thing into His eternal kingdom. If we have died to all our sinful nature and are living by His Spirit’s nature in us, then we will be given the crown of life and we will enter His gates of heaven with much thanksgiving. What ever nature that is alive in us when we die, that is the nature that will continue on with our soul into eternity. The choice to what nature we are going to live and die with must be made in this life. Again – there is no changing our mind after we die – there are no second chances after our physical death. There is no purgatory or any such time that God does the finishing touches on our soul after death. There are countless scriptures in God’s Word that emphasize the need for us to be ready for the day that Christ returns for us (when we die), but I will end this message with the scripture below.
Luke 16:19-31 - There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'
We have Jesus that was resurrected from the dead and people still don’t believe. Here I am - proclaiming the truth – who is going to have ears to listen and not be sent to Hell like the rich man in the scripture above
For the love of God – Listen to the truth – there is only one truth.
Michael Reid
This is the first in a series of messages on how God’s creation is mocking the creator (God). Like in all the following messages in this series, I will start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. Since most people don’t have true agape love in their hearts because Christ Jesus has not made His home with them, all that God is able to work with is their selfishness and fear. God is total love, but He is also total righteousness and totally holy. With God, living a holy and righteous life in not an option for the people that will inherit His eternal kingdom, He demands holy and righteous living. This holy and righteous living can only be done through the love of Jesus Christ permeating every aspect of our heart and soul. This permeating of our heart and soul with His love is accomplished when we are truly born again. Since we can’t see this agape love in most people – we then have to also assume that most people are not truly born again. Most people really don’t have the capacity to understand God’s love since agape love is given by His Spirit and since the Holy Spirit is not in most people, the only thing they do understand is love of self and the protection of their selves. This is why we need the “fire and brimstone” messages to come back.
Let’s first look at who will inherit God’s eternal kingdom (heaven).
Gal 5:19-21 - The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 6:7-9 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
So what does the scripture verses above really say to us? They say very plainly that if we do or think any of the sinful acts of the sinful nature, then the sinful nature is still in us and that we are still being controlled by that sinful nature and not God’s nature. If this sinful nature hasn’t been put to death because we have been unwilling to let it die, we will then suffer in the second death as if Christ never died on the Cross for us and we will be thrown in to an everlasting Hell where there is eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth. This should scare anyone towards God, unless they don’t believe in God, Heaven, or Hell. For the ones that don’t believe in God, Heaven, and Hell, there is no hope for them until they do start believing in these spiritual things. Whether a person believes in Hell or not, if they are not truly born again, they are on an automatic trip to Hell because of their own disbelief.
But what about those people, like my dad or mother, or my sister or brother, or my friend that I loved so much that said they were a Christian, but they were still committing acts of sin up to the day they died? If these people knew they were sinning, but did not repent of those sins and stop sinning, then this would clearly indicate that they never made it to the point of true salvation by being truly born again. Anyone that isn’t sanctified to the point of totally dying to the selfish nature before they physically die will go to Hell upon God’s judgment.
There are no second chances after our physical death. What ever nature we die with will be the nature that we are judged on. If we are still being controlled by the sinful nature when we die, then the sinful nature is still alive in us and it is that nature that will send us to Hell. God can’t and will not let any sinful thing into His eternal kingdom. If we have died to all our sinful nature and are living by His Spirit’s nature in us, then we will be given the crown of life and we will enter His gates of heaven with much thanksgiving. What ever nature that is alive in us when we die, that is the nature that will continue on with our soul into eternity. The choice to what nature we are going to live and die with must be made in this life. Again – there is no changing our mind after we die – there are no second chances after our physical death. There is no purgatory or any such time that God does the finishing touches on our soul after death. There are countless scriptures in God’s Word that emphasize the need for us to be ready for the day that Christ returns for us (when we die), but I will end this message with the scripture below.
Luke 16:19-31 - There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'
We have Jesus that was resurrected from the dead and people still don’t believe. Here I am - proclaiming the truth – who is going to have ears to listen and not be sent to Hell like the rich man in the scripture above
For the love of God – Listen to the truth – there is only one truth.
Michael Reid
Thursday, April 10, 2008
What Happened At The Cross
To value Christ’s crucifixion, we must understand we were all destined for a terrifying eternity in hell without it. How bad would this be? I want you to imagine being burned at the stake eternally, never being burned up, never losing consciousness, not being able to die, and the fire never being quenched. If you can imagine this – you might be able to understand what hell is like. With all the persecution that happened to Jesus, and Him being crucified on the cross instead of us, we now have a choice that we didn’t have before the Cross. Now we have a choice to have eternity in heaven with God or an eternity in hell with the devil and his demons.
God requires righteousness and full payment of sins to have eternal life with God. He requires us to be made holy as He is holy and righteous as He is righteous. This is not something we have the power to do; God must do this sanctifying work through His Holy Spirit. To make this happen, we must give up and let Jesus take our life. We have to die to ourselves. When we trust in Jesus and die to our selfish sinful nature and when we repent of our sins, He is just and will forgive us our sins.
What sins were paid for at the cross? When Christ was crucified, He paid for all of humanities sins, (past, present, and future), except one. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit was the one sin He would not pay for. I will cover this unforgivable sin topic in my next message. All sins can be broken down into three main groups, original sin, our personal past sins, and our personal present or active sins.
The fact that all sins are paid for does not mean that everybody’s sins have been forgiven. Forgiveness of our personal sins is conditional on our personal repentance. Payment and forgiveness for the original sin of Adam has been made complete through the cross. But we are all still responsible for our individual personal sins against God through our choice to repent and be obedient or not. Whenever God forgives us for any sin, the payment and judgment for that sin has already been made and paid for us through Jesus Christ at the cross. Rejoice that we don’t have to make payment for our sins. We couldn’t pay for our sins even if we wanted to – Christ had to do this for us.
Forgiveness comes through our willingness to be made righteous. Opposite to popular belief, we do not receive forgiveness just through the asking of forgiveness from God. We can ask God for forgiveness, but if the asking isn’t accompanied by repentance, the asking is not sincere. It is through our turning away from the ungodly to His godliness that we receive forgiveness from God. We must be willing to become righteous through the sanctifying work of His Spirit. We must be willing to become holy as God is holy. We must be willing to be sanctified to God. When we are sanctified, we are set apart for God. When we are set apart for God, we are set apart from the world and all its evil desires. Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve did not need to be sanctified, they were righteous already. They were right with God and needed no forgiveness. After the fall of man, humanity no longer had righteousness with God. If we are unwilling to let His Spirit totally transform our heart, soul, and mind, there will be no righteousness and there will be no place for us in heaven. Heaven (eternal life with God), is reserved only for the ones that have been made righteous.
The main reason Jesus went to the cross was to restore righteousness to whoever would be willing. Again the popular belief is that Jesus did everything necessary at the cross, so we don’t need to do anything. The truth is Jesus did everything we could not do for ourselves. The payment for our sins was an act that had to be done by God in order to restore the relationship to His creation. What was done on the cross by Jesus opened the door for the Holy Spirit to come. It is thru His Holy Spirit living in us that we are able to have this restored relationship to God. Enabling the Holy Spirit to come to us is the main reason Jesus went to the cross. God’s word says “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. “ (Gal 3:14 NIV)
With God’s Holy Spirit, we now have an awesome power within us to become righteous. We are called and are able to conquer and put to death all of our sinful nature within our heart, soul, and mind. This is why God was willing to send His only begotten son as a sacrifice, so we could once again have the choice and ability to have that true loving relationship God desires with us. Once again I have to emphasize, love has to be a choice. Just like Adam and Eve had the choice to show their love through obedience, now through the cross, all people once again have the choice to love God thru their voluntary obedience. The good news is that the Spirit does all the work to change our hearts, so we want to be obedient children, if we are willing to change.
How is our relationship different from Adam and Eve’s relationship with God? We have to remember, before the original sin, man had not fallen from God’s righteousness, but now we are born into a fallen state of righteousness. I want to help you understand this fallen state of man with a word picture. I want you to picture, in the beginning, Adam and Eve on top of a glorious mountain, having a close communion with God. When they ate of the forbidden fruit, they fell in a freefall down this big mountain. When they got to the bottom, they had no way to get back up since the walls of the mountain were too steep for any human to climb. This is the current state of where all humanity is at without the power of the cross and the Holy Spirit. This is where the power of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit comes in. We still cannot climb up this mountain by ourselves to get to a right relationship with God. We have to let the Holy Spirit enable us to climb this mountain. This is where our faith comes into the picture. Through our faith in God, we have to believe in what we cannot see. We have to believe in a spiritual climbing ladder. We need a spiritual ladder because the mountain is a spiritual mountain. God’s Spirit from within us will prompt us to put our foot upon a ladder that we cannot see. If we have enough faith, we will put our foot out into space and believe we will not fall because we have faith that there will be a spiritual ladder rung there to support us. After each step we take in faith on this spiritual ladder, that previous step enables us to take the next step higher and closer to our living Father on top of this glorious spiritual mountain. Each climbing step taken in faith will allow you to be closer to God and see His true glory and as a result, your face and life will glow with His radiance through His love flowing through you. For some, if your faith is strong enough, you can take God’s spiritual elevator up this great mountain.
I want to encourage everyone, to grab hold of the faith that is available to each and every one of us through God’s Spirit and start climbing or to continue climbing the spiritual sanctification path God has for you. I know God’s path is not easy, but with God’s help through His Spirit, the burden of following His path becomes light and even joyous.
With God's love and Spirit, I bring you this message. May God bless you! - Michael W. Reid
Some scripture verses concerning this message: Mt 13:47-50, Mt 10:38, Mt 16:24-25, Lk 9:23, Mt 25:34-46, Mt 18:21-35, Gal 3:13-14, Rom 3:21-26, Eph 5:3-7, Heb 10:14, 1Jn 2:2, Mt 26:28, Mk 1:4, Acts 2:38, Heb 9:22, Mt 6:12&14-15, Mt 11:25, Lk 6:37, Lk 17:3, Lk 13:3-5, Acts 3:19, Acts 8:20-23, Acts 26:20, Rev 2:5, Rev 2:21-22, Rev 3:3, Rev 3:19-22, Mt 12:31-32, John 3:5-6, John 4:23-24, John 14:26, Rom 7:6, Rom 8:2-17, Rom 8:26-27, Rom 14:17, Rom 15:16, 1Cor 2:9-15, Gal 5:16-25, Gal 6:8, 1Tim 4:1, 1Pet 4:17-19
God requires righteousness and full payment of sins to have eternal life with God. He requires us to be made holy as He is holy and righteous as He is righteous. This is not something we have the power to do; God must do this sanctifying work through His Holy Spirit. To make this happen, we must give up and let Jesus take our life. We have to die to ourselves. When we trust in Jesus and die to our selfish sinful nature and when we repent of our sins, He is just and will forgive us our sins.
What sins were paid for at the cross? When Christ was crucified, He paid for all of humanities sins, (past, present, and future), except one. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit was the one sin He would not pay for. I will cover this unforgivable sin topic in my next message. All sins can be broken down into three main groups, original sin, our personal past sins, and our personal present or active sins.
The fact that all sins are paid for does not mean that everybody’s sins have been forgiven. Forgiveness of our personal sins is conditional on our personal repentance. Payment and forgiveness for the original sin of Adam has been made complete through the cross. But we are all still responsible for our individual personal sins against God through our choice to repent and be obedient or not. Whenever God forgives us for any sin, the payment and judgment for that sin has already been made and paid for us through Jesus Christ at the cross. Rejoice that we don’t have to make payment for our sins. We couldn’t pay for our sins even if we wanted to – Christ had to do this for us.
Forgiveness comes through our willingness to be made righteous. Opposite to popular belief, we do not receive forgiveness just through the asking of forgiveness from God. We can ask God for forgiveness, but if the asking isn’t accompanied by repentance, the asking is not sincere. It is through our turning away from the ungodly to His godliness that we receive forgiveness from God. We must be willing to become righteous through the sanctifying work of His Spirit. We must be willing to become holy as God is holy. We must be willing to be sanctified to God. When we are sanctified, we are set apart for God. When we are set apart for God, we are set apart from the world and all its evil desires. Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve did not need to be sanctified, they were righteous already. They were right with God and needed no forgiveness. After the fall of man, humanity no longer had righteousness with God. If we are unwilling to let His Spirit totally transform our heart, soul, and mind, there will be no righteousness and there will be no place for us in heaven. Heaven (eternal life with God), is reserved only for the ones that have been made righteous.
The main reason Jesus went to the cross was to restore righteousness to whoever would be willing. Again the popular belief is that Jesus did everything necessary at the cross, so we don’t need to do anything. The truth is Jesus did everything we could not do for ourselves. The payment for our sins was an act that had to be done by God in order to restore the relationship to His creation. What was done on the cross by Jesus opened the door for the Holy Spirit to come. It is thru His Holy Spirit living in us that we are able to have this restored relationship to God. Enabling the Holy Spirit to come to us is the main reason Jesus went to the cross. God’s word says “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. “ (Gal 3:14 NIV)
With God’s Holy Spirit, we now have an awesome power within us to become righteous. We are called and are able to conquer and put to death all of our sinful nature within our heart, soul, and mind. This is why God was willing to send His only begotten son as a sacrifice, so we could once again have the choice and ability to have that true loving relationship God desires with us. Once again I have to emphasize, love has to be a choice. Just like Adam and Eve had the choice to show their love through obedience, now through the cross, all people once again have the choice to love God thru their voluntary obedience. The good news is that the Spirit does all the work to change our hearts, so we want to be obedient children, if we are willing to change.
How is our relationship different from Adam and Eve’s relationship with God? We have to remember, before the original sin, man had not fallen from God’s righteousness, but now we are born into a fallen state of righteousness. I want to help you understand this fallen state of man with a word picture. I want you to picture, in the beginning, Adam and Eve on top of a glorious mountain, having a close communion with God. When they ate of the forbidden fruit, they fell in a freefall down this big mountain. When they got to the bottom, they had no way to get back up since the walls of the mountain were too steep for any human to climb. This is the current state of where all humanity is at without the power of the cross and the Holy Spirit. This is where the power of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit comes in. We still cannot climb up this mountain by ourselves to get to a right relationship with God. We have to let the Holy Spirit enable us to climb this mountain. This is where our faith comes into the picture. Through our faith in God, we have to believe in what we cannot see. We have to believe in a spiritual climbing ladder. We need a spiritual ladder because the mountain is a spiritual mountain. God’s Spirit from within us will prompt us to put our foot upon a ladder that we cannot see. If we have enough faith, we will put our foot out into space and believe we will not fall because we have faith that there will be a spiritual ladder rung there to support us. After each step we take in faith on this spiritual ladder, that previous step enables us to take the next step higher and closer to our living Father on top of this glorious spiritual mountain. Each climbing step taken in faith will allow you to be closer to God and see His true glory and as a result, your face and life will glow with His radiance through His love flowing through you. For some, if your faith is strong enough, you can take God’s spiritual elevator up this great mountain.
I want to encourage everyone, to grab hold of the faith that is available to each and every one of us through God’s Spirit and start climbing or to continue climbing the spiritual sanctification path God has for you. I know God’s path is not easy, but with God’s help through His Spirit, the burden of following His path becomes light and even joyous.
With God's love and Spirit, I bring you this message. May God bless you! - Michael W. Reid
Some scripture verses concerning this message: Mt 13:47-50, Mt 10:38, Mt 16:24-25, Lk 9:23, Mt 25:34-46, Mt 18:21-35, Gal 3:13-14, Rom 3:21-26, Eph 5:3-7, Heb 10:14, 1Jn 2:2, Mt 26:28, Mk 1:4, Acts 2:38, Heb 9:22, Mt 6:12&14-15, Mt 11:25, Lk 6:37, Lk 17:3, Lk 13:3-5, Acts 3:19, Acts 8:20-23, Acts 26:20, Rev 2:5, Rev 2:21-22, Rev 3:3, Rev 3:19-22, Mt 12:31-32, John 3:5-6, John 4:23-24, John 14:26, Rom 7:6, Rom 8:2-17, Rom 8:26-27, Rom 14:17, Rom 15:16, 1Cor 2:9-15, Gal 5:16-25, Gal 6:8, 1Tim 4:1, 1Pet 4:17-19
Sanctification - What Is It Really
When we first come to the Lord and He starts changing us from the inside out, some of us don’t really know how he does this miracle. We talk about this as the sanctification process. Most of us think God’s Spirit is sanctifying us by ridding us of our sins. It is true He needs us to become people totally living for Him and living a righteous life for Him and in site of others. But getting rid of the sins is really a byproduct of something else that is really happening within our hearts.
The sanctification process is really all about changing who we love. When we first come to Christ, most of us are still absorbed in loving ourselves and only thinking of our self preservation and needs. The sanctification process changes this process from loving self to loving Him. This is done by getting to know and trust in God with an ever increasing love and dependence on God. The sanctification process in not really about purifying us from our sins, it is all about a transformation of our heart, it is all about transferring our love from loving ourselves to loving God alone.
What determines whether we sin or not, depends only on who we love the most. If we love the sin more than God, we will be disobedient to God and perform the sin. If we love God more than the sin, we will abstain from that sin for the glory of God. It is just like having a son who is obedient to his earthly father. If the son loves the father, he will try to please his father in everything he does, because the obedience is out of love for the father. But, if the son decides to be disobedient even though that son might have some love for the father, the love for himself over rules the love for the father and then the disobedience happens against the father.
It is all about who you love and who you are trying to please. Sin, disobedience, or righteousness is just the result of where your love lies.
God bless - Michael Reid
The sanctification process is really all about changing who we love. When we first come to Christ, most of us are still absorbed in loving ourselves and only thinking of our self preservation and needs. The sanctification process changes this process from loving self to loving Him. This is done by getting to know and trust in God with an ever increasing love and dependence on God. The sanctification process in not really about purifying us from our sins, it is all about a transformation of our heart, it is all about transferring our love from loving ourselves to loving God alone.
What determines whether we sin or not, depends only on who we love the most. If we love the sin more than God, we will be disobedient to God and perform the sin. If we love God more than the sin, we will abstain from that sin for the glory of God. It is just like having a son who is obedient to his earthly father. If the son loves the father, he will try to please his father in everything he does, because the obedience is out of love for the father. But, if the son decides to be disobedient even though that son might have some love for the father, the love for himself over rules the love for the father and then the disobedience happens against the father.
It is all about who you love and who you are trying to please. Sin, disobedience, or righteousness is just the result of where your love lies.
God bless - Michael Reid
Our goal is to be Christ like
The Bible says we need to become Christ like.
Rom 8:29 NIV - For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.
How can we become Christ like in every thing we do if we are all sinners. I will try to show you by God’s Word how this is possible through God’s grace filling up and working in your life. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
We can never be Christ because there is only one Christ. We will never be God, with all the infinite knowledge, wisdom, majestic power that God possesses, but from His Spirit we receive everything we need to live a perfected righteous life before God. We don’t need to be Christ to live a perfect Christian life. God sends just the right amount of grace we need to live the life God expects us to live. (This part of grace is the Holy Spirit working in and through us)
When someone has come to the point of being Christ like, it’s because God has filled that person with an extra filling of the His Spirit. It is this extra filling of the Sprit that enables them to ward off any temptation of sinning. This enables the Christian to live a sinless life before God and his fellow man as long as that person stays living by the Sprit. This perfection of our heart has been called “Entire Sanctification”, “Christian Perfection”, and “Victorious Living” depending on the denominational belief.
But, how can we still call ourselves sinners and live a life without sin? It’s because we realize we still live in this fleshly body which will continue to tempt us with selfish and prideful thoughts, but with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in us we can stop any temptation before it manifests into a sin. You can think of this empowerment as the armor of God.
Eph 6:11 NIV - Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Living our life without sinning is not of man’s nature but only of God’s nature in us. Think about this hypothetical example: lets take a man living a sinless life by the power of the Spirit and then if God would decide to take His Spirit away from this righteous man, temptation would easily overtake him and that man would be totally lost and a slave to sin as much as any unbeliever. This is why we have to live by the Spirit and only by the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 NIV - The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
Our fleshly physical body will always be corrupted with the nature of sin and this corrupted body must end in physical death, but the body is only a temporary housing for our spiritual soul. If our spirit and soul has been totally cleansed and sanctified by God’s Spirit, we will have the power to take control over the body even though the body is spiritually dead in Christ.
Rom 8:10 NIV - But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
What enables a person to live a life without sin is a full filling of His Spirit and living continually by the Spirit to persevere to the end. To be truly born again and receive this extra filling of the Holy Spirit, a person must become a true Christian by dedicating all of themselves to God. This extra filling of the Spirit is not the Spirit that comes upon an individual when they first believe (justification); where God’s seed is planted and with the Spirit’s help it grows to a mature plant. This extra filling of the Spirit happens after a person has let God’s Spirit sanctify them into a mature holy plant ready to produce Godly fruit. (I will talk more about this in another message, which is “Becoming a true Christian is a process”.) The Bible says that a person that is still struggling with sin has not yet come to the point of being a total living sacrifice for God. Where that person is not yet willing to spill his/her blood for His Glory.
Heb 12:4-5 NIV - In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV - Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.
Most people have been taught and believe that living a life without sinning is not a possibility in this life. I want to crush that deception and have people’s faith become full so everyone will not be hindered anymore by this lie of the devil. If anyone continues to believe this lie, they might not ever mature to the point of true and total faith in God. Faith in God’s truth is what unlocks the Spirit’s power. When a person does not have enough faith to believe in this “Entire Sanctification” concept, they are really saying they don’t believe in God’s Word or the power of God. The Bible says when a person is truly born again, that person will not sin.
1 John 5:4 NIV - For everyone born of God overcomes the world.
1 John 5:18 NKJV - We know that whoever is born of God does not sin.
1 John 3:9 NKJV - Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
When we are truly born again believers, we will not sin because we no longer will have the desire to sin. The Holy Spirit changes our desires of our heart so our desires are no longer selfish and of worldly intensions, but only desires to love God and others exist in our heart. Selfishness is gone. When the only thing that exists in our heart is God’s love, there is no room left for wanting anything sinful. Because of this total change of desires from evil to good, we are then no longer controlled or slaves to sin, but have become slaves to loving God and others.
Rom 8:9 NIV - You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Rom 6:18 NIV - You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Because we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness, we now have no choice but to live righteous lives. Just as before we were born again, we were slaves to sin, now after being born again we can’t help our selves but to do God’s good work he calls us to.
Rom 6:14 NIV - For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Luke 6:43 NIV - No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
When we are true Christians or born again, we are no longer bound to the old self/sinful nature. We are set free from the power of sin. This is the great news of the gospel. We are finally able to be free from the bondage of sin. By our willingness to be totally devoted in obedience to God by the power of His Spirit, He is then able to nail our old sinful nature to the cross.
John 8:36 NIV - So if the Son sets you free , you will be free indeed.
Rom 6:6-7 NIV - For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Rom 6:11 NIV - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
There are many, many more scriptures encouraging us that living a perfected life is possible in Christ. This life we are currently living on earth is the place God has setup for us to make the choice to follow Him and be sanctified to the point of Christian perfection that He requires to be worthy of His eternal kingdom.
Matt 10:38 NIV - anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
1 Thess 2:11-12 NIV - For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
May God’s grace be with you – Michael Reid
Rom 8:29 NIV - For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.
How can we become Christ like in every thing we do if we are all sinners. I will try to show you by God’s Word how this is possible through God’s grace filling up and working in your life. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
We can never be Christ because there is only one Christ. We will never be God, with all the infinite knowledge, wisdom, majestic power that God possesses, but from His Spirit we receive everything we need to live a perfected righteous life before God. We don’t need to be Christ to live a perfect Christian life. God sends just the right amount of grace we need to live the life God expects us to live. (This part of grace is the Holy Spirit working in and through us)
When someone has come to the point of being Christ like, it’s because God has filled that person with an extra filling of the His Spirit. It is this extra filling of the Sprit that enables them to ward off any temptation of sinning. This enables the Christian to live a sinless life before God and his fellow man as long as that person stays living by the Sprit. This perfection of our heart has been called “Entire Sanctification”, “Christian Perfection”, and “Victorious Living” depending on the denominational belief.
But, how can we still call ourselves sinners and live a life without sin? It’s because we realize we still live in this fleshly body which will continue to tempt us with selfish and prideful thoughts, but with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in us we can stop any temptation before it manifests into a sin. You can think of this empowerment as the armor of God.
Eph 6:11 NIV - Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Living our life without sinning is not of man’s nature but only of God’s nature in us. Think about this hypothetical example: lets take a man living a sinless life by the power of the Spirit and then if God would decide to take His Spirit away from this righteous man, temptation would easily overtake him and that man would be totally lost and a slave to sin as much as any unbeliever. This is why we have to live by the Spirit and only by the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 NIV - The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
Our fleshly physical body will always be corrupted with the nature of sin and this corrupted body must end in physical death, but the body is only a temporary housing for our spiritual soul. If our spirit and soul has been totally cleansed and sanctified by God’s Spirit, we will have the power to take control over the body even though the body is spiritually dead in Christ.
Rom 8:10 NIV - But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
What enables a person to live a life without sin is a full filling of His Spirit and living continually by the Spirit to persevere to the end. To be truly born again and receive this extra filling of the Holy Spirit, a person must become a true Christian by dedicating all of themselves to God. This extra filling of the Spirit is not the Spirit that comes upon an individual when they first believe (justification); where God’s seed is planted and with the Spirit’s help it grows to a mature plant. This extra filling of the Spirit happens after a person has let God’s Spirit sanctify them into a mature holy plant ready to produce Godly fruit. (I will talk more about this in another message, which is “Becoming a true Christian is a process”.) The Bible says that a person that is still struggling with sin has not yet come to the point of being a total living sacrifice for God. Where that person is not yet willing to spill his/her blood for His Glory.
Heb 12:4-5 NIV - In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV - Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.
Most people have been taught and believe that living a life without sinning is not a possibility in this life. I want to crush that deception and have people’s faith become full so everyone will not be hindered anymore by this lie of the devil. If anyone continues to believe this lie, they might not ever mature to the point of true and total faith in God. Faith in God’s truth is what unlocks the Spirit’s power. When a person does not have enough faith to believe in this “Entire Sanctification” concept, they are really saying they don’t believe in God’s Word or the power of God. The Bible says when a person is truly born again, that person will not sin.
1 John 5:4 NIV - For everyone born of God overcomes the world.
1 John 5:18 NKJV - We know that whoever is born of God does not sin.
1 John 3:9 NKJV - Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
When we are truly born again believers, we will not sin because we no longer will have the desire to sin. The Holy Spirit changes our desires of our heart so our desires are no longer selfish and of worldly intensions, but only desires to love God and others exist in our heart. Selfishness is gone. When the only thing that exists in our heart is God’s love, there is no room left for wanting anything sinful. Because of this total change of desires from evil to good, we are then no longer controlled or slaves to sin, but have become slaves to loving God and others.
Rom 8:9 NIV - You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Rom 6:18 NIV - You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Because we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness, we now have no choice but to live righteous lives. Just as before we were born again, we were slaves to sin, now after being born again we can’t help our selves but to do God’s good work he calls us to.
Rom 6:14 NIV - For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Luke 6:43 NIV - No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
When we are true Christians or born again, we are no longer bound to the old self/sinful nature. We are set free from the power of sin. This is the great news of the gospel. We are finally able to be free from the bondage of sin. By our willingness to be totally devoted in obedience to God by the power of His Spirit, He is then able to nail our old sinful nature to the cross.
John 8:36 NIV - So if the Son sets you free , you will be free indeed.
Rom 6:6-7 NIV - For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Rom 6:11 NIV - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
There are many, many more scriptures encouraging us that living a perfected life is possible in Christ. This life we are currently living on earth is the place God has setup for us to make the choice to follow Him and be sanctified to the point of Christian perfection that He requires to be worthy of His eternal kingdom.
Matt 10:38 NIV - anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
1 Thess 2:11-12 NIV - For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
May God’s grace be with you – Michael Reid
Are the USA Churches a Friend or Foe to God?
During the first few centuries of the church after Jesus Christ was resurrected, the Christians of the Church were much different than most of the professing Christians of our day. The Christians of the original church knew that by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would be heavily persecuted and face death for professing their faith. Actually most of these original church Christians did lose their life because of their faith in Christ. During the severe persecution by the Roman Empire against all Christians, most Christians were hunted down and killed during the first three centuries of the church’s history. These original church Christians knew to receive eternal salvation, they would have to give their lives as a living sacrifice, by living holy and blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit, even unto death. They knew they were God’s light in this world and that their only purpose for living was to glorify God. They humbled themselves and became totally submissive to God’s Holy Spirit in order to spread His Gospel and shine His holy light of love. The goal was not to see what God could give them of worldly possessions in their current physical life, but was to glorify the one and only almighty righteous God and to be found worthy of eternal salvation in God’s everlasting kingdom. Matt 10:37-38 - Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
The original church was mostly made up of totally dedicated born again believers with a small percentage of false converts that the devil used to try to change the truth of the Gospel. In Apostle Paul’s letters he seems to constantly be warning the original church against these false witnesses. Since most people of the original church were born again believers, they had the real truths of God planted within their hearts and were able to reject these false prophets of the devil.
So if we understand that God never changes and His Gospel truth never changes, what God expects of a true Christian doesn’t change either. God still requires us to love Him above everyone, including ourselves. God still requires us to die to all our selfishness and pride so he can use us as a living sacrifice. So how does the professing Christian of our day measure up to God’s requirements? What is most of the U.S. churches telling their congregations about what is required to become a born again Christian?
I want to point out where most of the U.S. churches have fallen way short of God’s glory and righteousness, but first I would like to point out that when I say most of the U.S. churches, this doesn’t include any true holiness churches that still teach and preach that we must become righteous and holy through and through by God’s grace to have the gift of eternal life. A small percentage of these true holiness churches still remain. These holiness churches usually have a very small congregation because most people are unwilling to believe that we must be made holy, righteous, and blameless by His Spirit, because this would require too much of a sacrifice from their current selfish living lifestyle.
Most U.S. churches try to look holy and righteous by outward appearances or actions, but are really like dirty rags on the inside. To give an example of this: I was previously attending a church that made a 15 to 16 year old girl that had a baby out of wedlock ask for the churches forgiveness in front of the whole congregation. I could tell that this action was forced upon her by the church leadership and she didn’t really want to do it. So far this might not seem so strange except for one other big factor. In a Sunday message to this same church congregation, the church’s pastor said very emphatically that everyone in his church are sinners and will continue to sin. He said no one can have sin conquered in this lifetime and that even if someone is living by the Holy Spirit – sin could not be conquered. Well if this is the case, why should the church require someone to ask for forgiveness from the entire congregation if the congregation are all still sinners themselves? What makes the daily sins of the people of the congregation any less sinful than the sin of one person? Matt 7:3-5 - Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. The really sad part of this true story is that most churches have these same beliefs as the church above. They are just religious clubs and not really God’s true church. If a church teaches that sin cannot be conquered in this life through Jesus Christ, then they are teaching and pointing their congregation directly toward hell. These churches need to make a decision. Either accept that they are of the devil and instead of having someone ask for forgiveness from the congregation, the congregation should welcome the sinner into the congregation club of sinners. 1 John 3:8 – “He who does what is sinful is of the devil” But it would be much better that the churches repent and realize the full power of God’s grace and live righteous and holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many U.S. churches also preach the “prosperity gospel” to draw people in, because this is what people want to hear. The prosperity message helps grow the congregation and boosts up the giving to support the pride and salaries of these prosperity pastors. The prosperity gospel goes along with what these churches think they need to support their lifestyle. These pastors think they are doing the congregation a favor by getting them to say a one time sinner’s prayer for salvation and then giving them an outlet to allow them to send in their money, or the new phrase “your seed”. Almost everything these fake preachers say are a deception of the devil. Salvation is not brought on by a one time sinner’s prayer; it is brought on by a life of repenting and dying to ones selfishness. We also can’t give money with the idea that we will receive it back with a greater return. God will bless those who give out of an unselfish heart, but will not bless those that give in order to expect more back in return. God wants us to give out of pure love for Him and others. If we give with the thinking of getting more back, we are still acting out of our selfishness - not love.
Most U.S. churches teach and preach that you are born again of the Holy Spirit upon that first sinner’s prayer and cannot lose that salvation. This is a lie that will end up sending most people to hell. First off the sinner’s prayer is not supported anywhere in the Bible. Sins are not forgiven by just asking to be forgiven; they are forgiven when we have truly repented of the sins. If we haven’t repented of a sin, then we are not forgiven of that sin either. The penalty of sin for all people has been paid for by Jesus Christ dying on the cross, but the forgiveness of sins is on an individual and conditional basis. We can only be born again of God after we have fully dedicated our whole self to God by dying to any selfishness and pride in us. We have to become His disciple before we can be born again. Luke 14:33 - In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Matt 10:38-39 - Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The devil has deceived almost all churches that we are born again from the very start of our relationship with God. Anyone that has been born again has been brought through a process of sanctification (or pregnancy time) to get them to the point of being born again. It is God’s Spirit that brings us through this process to get us to the point of being born again. Most churched people have been deceived by the devil’s lies that they are born again when really they are still in the pregnancy stage. This is where the devil wants to keep all believers - in the pregnancy stage. If the devil can deceive people into thinking they are already born again instead of in the process of getting there, the devil wins and all the souls still in this pregnancy stage will go to hell if they aren’t truly born again before they physically die. It is only upon being born again of God that we receive a new pure heart and after this is when we might be able to say we cannot lose our salvation.
The truth is – the devil is directing the leadership of most of our U.S. churches with his deceptions. In the original church of the first centuries there were mostly true born again Christians and a small percentage of fake converts, now in our current U.S. churches we have mostly fake converts and a very small percentage of true born again believers. The current U.S. churches on a whole have become an abomination to God. Our U.S. churches are mostly filled with people loving all what the world has to offer and religiously doing their time of service one to two hours a week going to church. James 4:4-5 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Most of the U.S. churches and their congregations are committing adultery with the world and in turn have become the enemy of God. The majority of the pastors of our U.S. churches are not born again and are proclaiming the deceptions of the devil instead of the full Gospel truth.
So suffice to say, most of the U.S. churches are not the light of the world any longer. The church should be like a light house shinning brightly to guide people through the darkness to the truth of God, but instead has been reduced by the devil’s deceptions to less than a nightlight where the church cannot even see the truth in this dark world.
If our country is going to have any true revival we must have these false teaching churches die and replace them with churches that require only the true Gospel to be preached. So my strong advice to anyone, to save your soul and possibly get this country back on God’s faithful footings, is to find one of these faithful small churches that still preach and teach the holiness and righteousness of God and also teach how we need to be made holy, righteous, and blameless through the workings of His Spirit to enter God’s eternal kingdom. After you have decided to move you and your family to one of these true holiness churches, find and take some of your friends with you.
God Bless,
Michael Reid
The original church was mostly made up of totally dedicated born again believers with a small percentage of false converts that the devil used to try to change the truth of the Gospel. In Apostle Paul’s letters he seems to constantly be warning the original church against these false witnesses. Since most people of the original church were born again believers, they had the real truths of God planted within their hearts and were able to reject these false prophets of the devil.
So if we understand that God never changes and His Gospel truth never changes, what God expects of a true Christian doesn’t change either. God still requires us to love Him above everyone, including ourselves. God still requires us to die to all our selfishness and pride so he can use us as a living sacrifice. So how does the professing Christian of our day measure up to God’s requirements? What is most of the U.S. churches telling their congregations about what is required to become a born again Christian?
I want to point out where most of the U.S. churches have fallen way short of God’s glory and righteousness, but first I would like to point out that when I say most of the U.S. churches, this doesn’t include any true holiness churches that still teach and preach that we must become righteous and holy through and through by God’s grace to have the gift of eternal life. A small percentage of these true holiness churches still remain. These holiness churches usually have a very small congregation because most people are unwilling to believe that we must be made holy, righteous, and blameless by His Spirit, because this would require too much of a sacrifice from their current selfish living lifestyle.
Most U.S. churches try to look holy and righteous by outward appearances or actions, but are really like dirty rags on the inside. To give an example of this: I was previously attending a church that made a 15 to 16 year old girl that had a baby out of wedlock ask for the churches forgiveness in front of the whole congregation. I could tell that this action was forced upon her by the church leadership and she didn’t really want to do it. So far this might not seem so strange except for one other big factor. In a Sunday message to this same church congregation, the church’s pastor said very emphatically that everyone in his church are sinners and will continue to sin. He said no one can have sin conquered in this lifetime and that even if someone is living by the Holy Spirit – sin could not be conquered. Well if this is the case, why should the church require someone to ask for forgiveness from the entire congregation if the congregation are all still sinners themselves? What makes the daily sins of the people of the congregation any less sinful than the sin of one person? Matt 7:3-5 - Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. The really sad part of this true story is that most churches have these same beliefs as the church above. They are just religious clubs and not really God’s true church. If a church teaches that sin cannot be conquered in this life through Jesus Christ, then they are teaching and pointing their congregation directly toward hell. These churches need to make a decision. Either accept that they are of the devil and instead of having someone ask for forgiveness from the congregation, the congregation should welcome the sinner into the congregation club of sinners. 1 John 3:8 – “He who does what is sinful is of the devil” But it would be much better that the churches repent and realize the full power of God’s grace and live righteous and holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many U.S. churches also preach the “prosperity gospel” to draw people in, because this is what people want to hear. The prosperity message helps grow the congregation and boosts up the giving to support the pride and salaries of these prosperity pastors. The prosperity gospel goes along with what these churches think they need to support their lifestyle. These pastors think they are doing the congregation a favor by getting them to say a one time sinner’s prayer for salvation and then giving them an outlet to allow them to send in their money, or the new phrase “your seed”. Almost everything these fake preachers say are a deception of the devil. Salvation is not brought on by a one time sinner’s prayer; it is brought on by a life of repenting and dying to ones selfishness. We also can’t give money with the idea that we will receive it back with a greater return. God will bless those who give out of an unselfish heart, but will not bless those that give in order to expect more back in return. God wants us to give out of pure love for Him and others. If we give with the thinking of getting more back, we are still acting out of our selfishness - not love.
Most U.S. churches teach and preach that you are born again of the Holy Spirit upon that first sinner’s prayer and cannot lose that salvation. This is a lie that will end up sending most people to hell. First off the sinner’s prayer is not supported anywhere in the Bible. Sins are not forgiven by just asking to be forgiven; they are forgiven when we have truly repented of the sins. If we haven’t repented of a sin, then we are not forgiven of that sin either. The penalty of sin for all people has been paid for by Jesus Christ dying on the cross, but the forgiveness of sins is on an individual and conditional basis. We can only be born again of God after we have fully dedicated our whole self to God by dying to any selfishness and pride in us. We have to become His disciple before we can be born again. Luke 14:33 - In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Matt 10:38-39 - Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The devil has deceived almost all churches that we are born again from the very start of our relationship with God. Anyone that has been born again has been brought through a process of sanctification (or pregnancy time) to get them to the point of being born again. It is God’s Spirit that brings us through this process to get us to the point of being born again. Most churched people have been deceived by the devil’s lies that they are born again when really they are still in the pregnancy stage. This is where the devil wants to keep all believers - in the pregnancy stage. If the devil can deceive people into thinking they are already born again instead of in the process of getting there, the devil wins and all the souls still in this pregnancy stage will go to hell if they aren’t truly born again before they physically die. It is only upon being born again of God that we receive a new pure heart and after this is when we might be able to say we cannot lose our salvation.
The truth is – the devil is directing the leadership of most of our U.S. churches with his deceptions. In the original church of the first centuries there were mostly true born again Christians and a small percentage of fake converts, now in our current U.S. churches we have mostly fake converts and a very small percentage of true born again believers. The current U.S. churches on a whole have become an abomination to God. Our U.S. churches are mostly filled with people loving all what the world has to offer and religiously doing their time of service one to two hours a week going to church. James 4:4-5 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Most of the U.S. churches and their congregations are committing adultery with the world and in turn have become the enemy of God. The majority of the pastors of our U.S. churches are not born again and are proclaiming the deceptions of the devil instead of the full Gospel truth.
So suffice to say, most of the U.S. churches are not the light of the world any longer. The church should be like a light house shinning brightly to guide people through the darkness to the truth of God, but instead has been reduced by the devil’s deceptions to less than a nightlight where the church cannot even see the truth in this dark world.
If our country is going to have any true revival we must have these false teaching churches die and replace them with churches that require only the true Gospel to be preached. So my strong advice to anyone, to save your soul and possibly get this country back on God’s faithful footings, is to find one of these faithful small churches that still preach and teach the holiness and righteousness of God and also teach how we need to be made holy, righteous, and blameless through the workings of His Spirit to enter God’s eternal kingdom. After you have decided to move you and your family to one of these true holiness churches, find and take some of your friends with you.
God Bless,
Michael Reid
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