Church at War

 

    Christians are at war with society, themselves, and the spiritual world.  The battle is all spiritual, but it often feels personal.  The church is at war with society and not conforming to be like the world.  If you are a Christian, then you battle with your own desires versus living for God.  Then there is the unseen, but felt far too often spiritual battle where God is fighting Satan on the majority of it for you.  You still have to become a prayer warrior and scripturally strong to even know how to fight these battles.

    Your war is with wanting to live in the light with Jesus, but the darkness of human nature that Satan controls keeps creeping in somehow.  Satan is a liar.  He makes what looks and sounds good or logical into something ugly and dangerous.  He tricks people with false teachings, division in the church, persecution to get people to back down, and other evil tactics.

    Satan blinds the world to his tactics and works at misleading people from the truth.  That is why he attacks Christians.  Christians expose the truth and brings evil into the light.  Jesus has already won the war, but that makes Satan all the more dangerous.  He has nothing to lose and his goal is to take as many people down with him.  

    Do not lose sight of who the real players are in this war.  Satan wants to destroy everything good and pure in the world.  Don't be one of his victims.  Do not lose focus on what matters and stay close to Jesus. This war is supernatural and it is against Jesus' people.  It is real and it is vicious.  Just because you can't see it does not mean you are not in it.  Resist evil and lean into Jesus for strength, endurance, and rest.  

    The Holy Spirit does his part in protecting the church with spiritual gifts and the armor of God.  You do not have to be afraid, but you do need to be aware.  When you are going through it remember that God would not allow it unless it served a purpose bigger than yourself.  Sometimes you have to endure persecution to grow and see the bigger picture more clearly.  It is never easy or fun, but the reward makes it worth it in the end.

    A church that comes together to fight this spiritual war is a strong church.  People that come together to pray and study scripture are not easily broken.  If you chose to be an island, then you are fighting alone.  That was never God's design.  Christians need each other.  The church is not strong without all of it's people.  Together with God's power Christians can push back the darkness.

Matthew 4:1-11, Acts 4:23-31, 20:28-31, 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, 5:16-17, 11:1-4, Ephesians 6:10-20, James 5:1-18, & Revelations 2:9-10

Church Character

 

    Church character is comprised on many things like spiritual gifts, God's children, and obedience.  However a big part of that is God's people coming together to worship Him.  Worship is more than the singing part in the church service. It is an attitude of submission, love, and respects that pours over into how a Christian behaves.  Worship is believing and declaring God's greatness.  It is a good response to what God has done in your life.

    God is working in your life right now.  You may not feel like it.  You may not see Him being obvious, but He is working in and around your life.  He is in the details.  When you respond to honor God's greatness with appreciation and respect you are worshipping God.  It becomes a part of your character in how you make decisions, attitude, actions, how you work, and how you spend your free time.  

    If you are a Christian, then a typical response to God is a desire that becomes a practice to spend time in His Word.  You invest time and energy to become more like Jesus.  You want to spend more time with people you can talk about Jesus with, so church becomes a place where you eat, teach, talk, and pray with other believers.  You are open to correction if you are understanding things incorrectly.  You give your time and money for God's causes.  .

    Church is not perfect because it is full of imperfect people including you.  That means that it can get messy.  There can be dysfunction, but the point is to see church for what it is and what it could be.  Pray over it.  Seek wisdom on how you can help, solves, or stay out of issues.  The point is to not give up.  You may find the worst hurts come from church people, but remember hurt people hurt others.  Pray for them and give God time to change theirs or your heart.  

    If a church you are attending does not represent Jesus as a whole, then you do not need to stay.  If the pastor does not preach the complete Bible truthfully, then you should leave.  You can continue to pray, but you do not need to deprive yourself of what you need in God's people to be a martyr for people pretending to be God's people.  

    The character of the church is supposed to represent God's grace to the world.  It is supposed to be community that supports, loves, and lives each other like Jesus did with his apostles.  It should be a stable place in difficult times.  It should be a place of forgiveness and encouragement.  Acts of kindness is the mark of Christianity.  

    If you are not kind, then you are not representing God well.  Church is not about you and what you like.  If you make it about your agenda and desires, then you are part of what makes a church unhealthy.  Make sure that you reflect God's love instead of your personal desires.

Acts 2, Romans 12:9-13, Galatians 5:13-15, 6:1-3, Ephesians 4:31-32, Philippians 2:3-4, & 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

Body of Christ

 

    When Christians come together they make up the body of Christ in the church.  The church needs everyone to function properly, take care of each other, and go out into the world as disciples.  You have a part in the church.  It id determined by God.  The church is flawed because it is put together by flawed people including you.  That does not change the fact that you are a part of Jesus' church if you are a Christian.

    Every Christian faces persecution in some format.  The church can cause the worst hurts in people, so it could be where you feel persecuted.  If that is the case, push deeper into your relationship with Christ and figure out what you can do to change or make things better.  Forgiveness can be very hard, but it also leads to healing.  Forgiveness is also not something you can do when you feel like it.  Jesus commanded us to forgive each other because he knew you would benefit from it.

        When the church struggles it sometimes parts.  This is good if a part of the church wants to be unbiblical.  It is bad if it is just personality differences.  When you let the world into church you are going to have problems that hurts everyone in the church.  Sometimes you have to push your own agenda, pride, and opinions aside for the greater good.  

    The church needs to come together to pray over the world, each other, and confess struggles so that you can see the best in each other.  You are called to be a community not a meeting place of strangers that only talk once a week.  You are called to work together using your spiritual gifts to strengthen each other.  If you don't have community, then you don't have strength and security in the church.  

    If you have spiritual gifts, then you are exalted to serve not for your own benefit.  The body of Christ is to come together unified in trusting God.  Use your gifts to build each other up to be strong in Jesus.  If you are a Christian, then you do have at least one Spiritual Gift.  It benefits everyone if you learn what it is and how to use it the way it is meant to be used: helping the church.  Spiritual gifts leads to learning, counsel, prayer warriors, strong faith, revelations, boldness, and more.

    Society has a way to segregating people: sex, age, race, culture, education, money, and more.  In the church you are called to leave all that at the door.  God doesn't care about any of it.  He is aware of how it affects your life, but when you come together you are one.  You are united in Jesus.  Titles, class systems, and sin only cause division.  

    Unity does not guarantee that you agree on everything.  It means that you work at hearing people out and seek a solution.  You are still an individual person with your own personality, thoughts, and ideas.  You are also a part of something bigger than yourself.  You can still be you and a part of Jesus' body.  The point is that you as an individual are working to be closer to Jesus. If you do that, then you will naturally work at being a part of something bigger than yourself: the church.

    Jesu is the head of the church.  The pastor is the spokesman for Jesus.  The teachers are the educators of God's Word.  It doesn't change the fact that everyone still answers to God. Everyone has a different role, but when you put the roles together it is beautiful, holy, and strong.  It is all sewn together through love for Jesus and each other.  It isn't perfect because each person gets in their own way occasionally, but it is better than the alternative.  

Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12-13:3, & Philippians 1:20-24

Jesus Led Church

 

    You may not like going to church.  You may have a problem with churchy people.  That does not change the fact that if you are a true Christian, then you are part of Jesus' church.  That means that you need to surround yourself with other true believers to become strong and serve Jesus as he commanded.

    The church entails all believers from all over the world throughout time.  It is impossible to go to church with everyone throughout the world alive, let alone throughout history.  What you need to do is find one in your community in which your serve that the pastor teaches the entire Bible and not just the feel good part.  You also need to know the Bible to know that your pastor doesn't manipulate God's Word to suite what they want to say.

    A Jesus led church looks at how Jesus lived his life and the commands that he stated, then they try to follow like his apostles.  The church today is where believers come together to assemble.  It is fine for unbelievers to come and learn, but they have no role in the church until they become believers and take the time to learn Jesus' way of doing things.

    Jesus' church is unified through his sacrifice and faith.  It is set apart to live holy.  It is universal which means it does not belong to one nation or people group.  It is apostolic which means that it began with Jesus' apostles, the people who knew him best and had all the inside knowledge.  They outlined the church that the church should be living today.  You have it much easier because they took the time to build it from scratch and record what they did. You have the outline. 

    Jesus is the head of the church.  No man can fill that position.  When you become a Christian you enter a covenant installed by Jesus that gives you access to God.  In that covenant you are agreeing to all Jesus did and that he is the head of the church which consist of you, but is not only you.  You agree to work together to continue his work in the world.  You are agreeing to go into the world declaring the truth and offering to make disciples ( you can't force or manipulate anyone to follow Jesus).  In return you are adopted into God's family.  

    Following Jesus means that you submit to his authority out of love.  You rely on him for control in your life, provision, and the promises to be fulfilled.  You trust him with your best interest.  Your relationship with him is the most important relationship you have.  If you honor it, then your other relationships are healthier or fade away.  

    Titles do not matter to Jesus, but position and heart does.  Position yourself as a willing servant with a loving heart and you will be blessed.  You are a piece of the church.  You are needed, but it is not all about you.  You are a part of the church to serve, encourage, challenge, and be sanctified in truth.  You are a steward of God's grace and led by the Holy Spirit toward obedience.  You have a responsibility to the church, but it is always your choice to fulfill it or deny it.

Matthew 16:17-20, Acts 20:28-31, Ephesians 1:19-23, 5:22-23, & Colossians 1:15-20

Destiny

 

    Destiny are events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future.  It is basically set in stone.  God gives you free will, but there are certain things that are destined no matter what.  One thing that is destiny is eternity.  You will have an eternal body, but you chose where you end up: Heaven or Hell.

    Predestination is God's sovereignty in your life.  He created you for a purpose.  He made a direct and personalized path to Him.  You have choices.  You can follow the path or forge your own, but He has already cleared a path for you that gives you fulfillment.  

    Election is the destiny of those who choose to follow Jesus.  Only Christians get to embrace this destiny because they are set apart by God and serving His purpose.  There is some controversy on this.  The fact is God knows everything, so He knows who is going to follow Him.  He has opened the door for everyone, but He knows who will reject Him.  It doesn't mean that He doesn't still love them or care.  He still pursues them like everyone else.  He just knows that they are going to reject Him.

    Conditional election is based on faith.  You choose God or you reject God.  God knows the circumstances.  He knows the opportunities He has given you.  He knows what you will do with those opportunities.  On judgment day you will face Him and answer for good or evil what you did with the time and opportunities that He gave you.  You live by faith and salvation or you reject God's gift of eternal peace.

    Unconditional election is believed to be that God elects unconditionally without a person's choice.  People who believe this believe God chose you before you were created and you have no choice in the matter.  You are either saved or not saved.  It is your destiny to choose salvation.  It does highlight God's sovereignty, but it takes away free will.  

    Corporate election is God chooses select groups like a class system.  Everyone in a certain church or religion will have salvation.  It basically says there are the born Christians in Christ, but it takes away the individual or personalized aspect to salvation.  This group will be blessed through Jesus and ties more into the old testament.  Some believe this from stories of whole families being saved.  The stories do not got into detail, so it is unclear.  All we need to get from them is that families united in the decision to follow Jesus.

    Your destiny is tied up with God's sovereignty, but you do have free will to make your own choices in your life.  Theology gives you options on how to follow Jesus, but it does not force you to follow him.  Salvation gives you assurance.  If you have salvation, then your destiny is with God for all eternity.  God will not force your to repent.  He will never remove the gift of free will.  However, if you choose to follow Jesus in faith and repentance, then your salvation is guaranteed.  Once saved, always saved because your identity is stamped by the Holy Spirit as an adopted child of God.

Matthew 11:28-30, 13:1-23, John 3:18-21, 5:39-40, 10:25-30, Romans 8:26-39, 9:10-13, 11:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-8, 4:30, Hebrews 6:4-8, Jude 24-25, & Revelations 13:5-8

Christian Maturing

 

    A Christian is maturing if they are becoming more like Jesus every day.  Everyone has a different starting and end point, so every journey looks different.  Don't compare your journey to anyone else.  Your journey is personalized for you.  The point is you are growing in your relationship with God.

    Maturing is growth and development.  Christian maturity is not about how much you are at church looking the part.  It is about what you do when no one else is around.  Are you living out your sanctification?  Do you claim your identity in Christ with integrity?  Do you live set apart to be holy or are you like everyone else in the world?

    Christian maturity is accepting where you are at in life and thanking God.  It is being willing to give up dreams, aspirations, and ideologies about your life to follow Jesus.  You are mating if you are growing in that relationship becoming more like him in small ways everyday.  

    When you become a Christian you are positionally sanctified to be a part of God's family.  As you mature in your Christianity you are progressively sanctified.  This process last until the day you die and joint Jesus.  That is when you get the perfected sanctification by receiving your eternal body and living in perfection.  That is what all of this is about: eternity with God.

    God started His good work in you and He will see it through.  Are you willing to go along for the journey or will you reject your divine appointing?  The journey means working out your doubt, what you believe, why you believe it, and willing to continue to learn and grow.  A Christian maturing thinks, acts, and speaks differently from the person that they were before they encountered Jesus for the first time because their world has transformed from within.

    Maturing in Christianity is a slow process.  You work on it a little everyday.  You treat it like a marathon so you do not burn out quickly.  You take each temptation on winning some battles and losing some battles.  The point is to learn from the battles lost and try to do better next time.  The point is to never give up or quit.  

    Life has seasons that can make you reel, but always turn to the Bible to find the truth.  You will get tired, but God will also give you rest.  If you allow the Holy Spirit to always be working on your heart you will learn to ask for what you really need.  You will learn to love like Jesus.  You will learn how to forgive yourself and other people.  You will learn to take certain things in stride and not allow people to affect you too much. Make sure you place people in your life to be true friends to help you grow.     

Proverbs 27:17, Matthew 25:23, Roman 6:1-4, 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, Ephesians 4:17-24, Philippians 1:3-6, 2:12-13, Colossians 3:1-11, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, & Hebrews 5:11-14, 12:1-4

Adopted by God

 

        When you become a Christian, you are adopted into God's family.  Jesus makes you righteous.  You become a new person with responsibilities of the title you now hold.  However, God is the one that takes on the responsibility of you as His child.  It is a binding commitment.  He will never change His mind.  Once you are His, you are always His.  You will never be rejected by God.

    When God takes responsibility of you He does so as a good father.  That means that He will never stop loving you, but He will also discipline you when you do wrong.  He will not ignore you or pretend that you are just acting out.  He will show you His love in a way that will protect you in the long run.  He prepares you for the future and helps you grow into the Christian you need to be to go out into the world.

    Being adopted by God changes you.  It changes every aspect of your life.  It gives you an eternal identity and a certain status to go with that identity.  He gives you an eternal inheritance.  You get to be a part of a functional family.  It won't be complete on this side of Heaven, but you do get a feel for it.  

    Some of the blessings you get now is complete access to God.  He listens and wants to give you good things in life.  When you pray it is just a conversation with your father.  You can be honest, vulnerable, and truthful about everything without hesitation of judgement.  However, that does not mean when He replies it is always what you want to hear.  Tell Him your joys, sorrows, hurts, and everything else in between.  He wants to hear it all.

    Being adopted by God means you have freedom unlike the children of the world.  You get to learn what real love is.  You are no longer chained to your sins.  You have the Holy Spirit to guide, teach, and redirect you misguided ideology.  He helps you defeat temptation.  He understands you in a way no one else in the world ever will.

    The adoption is all up to you.  You can choose to believe and follow Jesus becoming a brother or sister to him or you can reject the only real truth and go your own direction.  You don't know everything when you first become a Christian.  There will be growing pains.  It is a lifelong journey to develop that relationship.  It comes with a lot of ups and downs and mistakes along the way.  Just remember that God loves you no matter what.  Hold onto your joy and hope while you find strength in your relationship with God.

    No matter what your biological family dynamic is, if you are adopted by God then you have the perfect family for eternity.  You get to experience it a little in the church, but remember the church is filled with people figuring out life too.  It will not be perfect now, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't love you or have a purpose for your life.  He is trying to give you an abundant life because life is meant to be lived.  Live your life, but make sure that God is the center of it.

John 16:31-33, Romans 8:12-17, 12:14-16, 1 Corinthians 12:22-26, Galatians 4:1-7, & Hebrew 4:14-16