Knowing God.
APOSTASY
Providing Shade For Our Children.
SPIRITUALLY MATURE, YET STILL SINFUL.
THE TRUE VINE
THE MOST HATED DOCTRINE
FOCUS ON GOD
TRUE WORSHIPPERS
PRAYER A CHRISTIAN'S LIFESTYLE
YOUTHS WHO SEEK GOD
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
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by TRAVIS KIMBUGWE
Apostasy is characterized by the denial of the truth. It can be a denial of God's reality; a denial of the true nature of God. It can be a denial of the Christian faith at any point. But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,(1 Timothy 4:1, NASB) Apostasy can be put simply as a denial of sound doctrine. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.(2 Peter 2:1, NASB) Apostasy can an attack on God, an attack on Christ, an attack on the gospel the way of salvation and in this place comes the doctrines of demons.
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"(this is the first commandment with a promise), (Ephesians 6:1, ESV) Children, does not mean only tinny little children but it means any child under the roof of his or her parents and is not yet married, regardless their age is; they are still children. For any child; Academics, athletics, fashion, sport and all sorts of entertainment and looks are not important, but obedience is the most important amongst all. For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him (Leviticus 20:9, ESV) The death penalty is to be applied to children who don't obey their parents. Therefore to raise a generation of people who can make a real civilization; children must be obedient to their parents.
In the Jewish culture it was believed that after four days the spirit of any person had left his body and that person is totally dead. This belief was rooted in various Rabbinic texts such as the Midrash Tanchuma and Leviticus Rabbah which suggested that; for the first three days, the soul lingers, hoping it might return to the body. And on the fourth day, the bodies facial features begin to change significantly due to decay and once the face is lost, the soul accepted that it could no longer inhabit the frame. This timeframe was so significant that traditionally a person could only be legally declared dead after three days had passed as it was thought however rarely that they might just be in deep coma. John 11:44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them,"Unbind him, and let him go." Lazarus offers an example to us the church today as we have been reborn into salvation. For our old self is gone and our new man lives. We are held prisoners by remanence of our former life, our very fallnness clings to us and though we live, we stink. It's as if we are bound in our grace clothes and this is the reality of our spiritual life. As soon as Lazarus's death rags were removed, the stench was gone and the corruption of death no longer clang unto him. Killing sin is a lifetime effort. There are no short cuts. For it's a daily routine to always hewn sin to pieces using all means of grace by reading and studying the word of God, listening to sermons, worshipping, meditating upon the law and commandment of GOD, pray, pursuing things that only bring us to holiness and righteousness.
There are two kinds of disciples in John 15:1-8 and are all attached to Christ who is the vine. Many people think and say quoting this passage in John that one can lose his salvation, the bible doesn't say that. All branches are attached to the vine. There are those that bear fruit and remain attached to the vine and those that don't bear fruit which are cut off and are burned. The more we read the word is the more we know it, the more we know it is the more we love it and it is the more we will allow it to prune us. As believers we can only bear much fruit when we allow the word of God to do its work in our lives.
When God gives someone His word, people will hate it because it’s the truth and they can’t receive it since they are preprogrammed to believe lies. Whoever is not of God has no capacity to believe and understand the truth that the Bible reveals. People will call anyone speaking boldly against their sin a demon. If you told them the truth, they will say that you’re from hell. Today the church is trying to preach the gospel not revealing and confronting the sinners what their sin is. It doesn’t have the courage to tell the person they preaching the gospel to, the true nature of their sin. In Roman 3:10-18; it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE. THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS; WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS; THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN. THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."
Today we have so many possessions that they possess us. We have stocked piles of possessions. There have been a development of storages today Everything that’s material that we have came from God and it comes out the creation of God. The issue is not possession but attitude towards God. The sin is not in the wealth but in the attitude a person gets after having much wealth. The sin is not having more but being discontent. When you have abundance doesn’t mean that you real life which is the eternal life. Greed is idolatry; it’s worshipping the creature and not the creator
True worship is any and every expression of obedience, praise, honor, adoration and gratitude offered to God by a regenerate soul who knows the truth about God and loves Him. Matthew 15:7-9 You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'" * Substituting any human knowledge for the word of God, is taking God’s name in vain during worship.
Ephesians 6:18 LSB praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, Our prayers must be constant, specific and intense because we are watching, discerning realities and seeing things which need to be brought before the throne of God. prayer must be done with perseverance. Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a slave of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand complete and fully assured in all the will of God. What would happen to a church if we prayed for everybody like Epaphras. All prayers must be a result of watching, do you know what's surrounding you, what's going on and who needs around you. Prayer is a struggle; you stay with it knowing that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man prevails much. And that if you ask you will receive. If the apostle Paul needed prayer, How about us. We need prayer. Paul is a guy who wrote 13 epistles in the New testament who was tested and proven every way possible; who met every enemy and every friend triumphantly and he is pleading for people to pray for him. We need prayer.
For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images. (2 Chronicles 34:3, NASB) Age doesn’t matter when it comes to seeking God, as a youth you might think and say that praying, fasting, ministry and everything that concerns God is not your concern before you are a Jajja. Frankly that’s sad. Even though it’s how this generation’s system is; it how we’ve been brought up, it’s heart breaking because it contradicts with the bible. Scripture is clear that regardless of the age, God can use you to do might wonders; if you seek Him diligently with your whole heart. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it doesn’t matter whether you’re great or small, whether you’re tall or short; what matters is that you seek God diligently with your whole heart, because when do, God can use you to bring a national revival; to bring a revival in the church. Many times we are told that any young man grows up to become his father, but Josiah shows us something very important in life. He shows us that we don’t have to be our fathers we don’t follow their footsteps, he shows us that true happiness and peace is when we are right with God. This is not only for us young men, but it’s also for you young ladies; you don’t have to follow the footsteps of your mothers, but let your focus be God.
You Reap What You Sow 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7, ESV) What you sow, you reap. Paul here speaks about the realm of spiritual life. If one sows to the flesh, you reap corruption, death, destruction, decay, ruin. But if you sow to the spirit, you reap eternal life. Sowing to the flesh Sin has consequences; It has person consequences It has physical consequences It has relational consequences It has national consequences It has global consequences and eternal consequences.