Let’s Be PROACTIVE

Last week we finished our five part series Can You Handle The Truth.   In our study Paul showed that there are lifestyles that are unrighteous.  He also warned us that we are in danger of being deceived.  This week we will take a look at some verses that show us how to take a proactive approach is several areas of our lives.

The boundaries for physical involvement before marriage

1Co 6:18-19 KJVR  Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.  (19)  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Proper roles for husbands and wives

1Pe 3:7 KJVR  Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

True meaning of love

1Co 13:4-8 KJVR  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  (5)  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  (6)  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  (7)  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  (8)  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

How to deal with someone who has chosen a sinful lifestyle

2Co 5:17-21 KJVR  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  (18)  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;  (19)  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  (20)  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.  (21)  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

God has left us His Holy Word as guide.  He wants us to be proactive. That is why Peter tells us:

2Pe 1:5-8 KJVR  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;  (6)  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;  (7)  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  (8)  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH (PART 5)

This week is Part five of a Five Part series about Embracing Righteousness as a Lifestyle.  In a world where every lifestyle is accepted and embraced except the Christian lifestyle it is fitting that we title this series Can You Handle The Truth.   Remember Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.  I hope you have enjoyed this series

1Corinthians 6:9-11 NASB  Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,  (10)  nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.  (11)  Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Last week Paul told us when we reject God we are incapable of discerning between good and evil.  

This week we look at Paul’s first letter to the Church at Corinth.  Paul warns us that the unrighteous will not enter God’s Kingdom.  He goes on to give examples of several lifestyles that fall under the category of unrighteous.  It is interesting to note that Paul warns us not to be deceived.  By this statement Paul indicates that we can be deceived, which takes us back to the four previous lessons covering Romans 1, when we reject God and deliberately reason away His power and deity.  God turns us over to the lust of the heart and the desires of a corrupt world.

Paul ends this section of verses with hope.  Hope in Jesus Christ, by the blood of Jesus each unrighteous lifestyle can be washed, justified and sanctified in the name of Jesus Christ.  

Knowing this is a possibility we need to take a proactive stance toward our Christian lives.

Next week we will look at several verses to help us be proactive.   

CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH (PART 4)

This week is Part four of a Five Part series about Embracing Righteousness as a Lifestyle.  In a world where every lifestyle is accepted and embraced except the Christian lifestyle it is fitting that we title this series Can You Handle The Truth.   Remember Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.

Romans 1:28-32 NASB  And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,  (29)  being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,  (30)  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  (31)  without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;  (32)  and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Last week Paul told us that man, as a result of rejecting God has become obsessed with the lusts of the flesh.  When man rejects God there are consequences to pay.

When we reject God we are incapable of discerning between good and evil. The part of the brain that controls morality no longer functions.  We say it a disease. However, it’s a result of rejecting GOD.

When we reject God there is a promotion of wickedness.  The world tends to promote the attitude of the more the merrier. Paul tells us that people who reject God not only do these things but they gain more pleasure in dragging you down too.

Just look around, one need only watch the twenty four hour NEWS networks to see these things going on in our world, better still these same news networks seem to take pleasure in stirring the hatred. 

God said if we keep His commandments that we would be His people and He would be our God.  He said He would bless our obedience.

We cannot reject God and expect Him to bless our City, State, Nation, or World.

CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH (PART 3)

This week is Part Three of a Five Part series about Embracing Righteousness as a Lifestyle.  In a world where every lifestyle is accepted and embraced except the Christian lifestyle it is fitting that we title this series Can You Handle The Truth.   Remember Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.

Romans 1:24-27 NASB  Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.  (25)  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  (26)  For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,  (27)  and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

Last week Paul told us that man has explained away God.  Even with the truth that nature provides, man has invented his theories that leave out God.  As a result of man’s lack of regard for the Creator, Paul starts to outline the consequences of disbelief.  All you need to do is look around and you will see what Paul is talking about.  God gave them over to three things: Impurity of hearts, Degrading Passions, and Degrading Minds.  This week we will discuss the first two.

God abandoned them because they first abandoned Him.  One word explains the entire thought.  SEX  In today’s world one cannot watch 5 minutes of television without seeing something with a reference to sex.  We see sex introduced to sell items that has nothing to do with it.  Society is obsessed with sex.  Yes Paul was addressing the Roman Church but the same issue is still alive today. We live in a world where ever depraved thought can be enacted, all from a result of throwing God away.  This is happening in the heterosexual and homosexual world.  Any way of life that has no regard for God and tries to explain Him away to fit their life has missed the point that point is making.

See it is simple, when Jesus Christ comes into to our lives we are a new creature.  Our lives are transformed to live for Him and that means everything we do is for the one purpose of leading others to him.   He is our Savior and God’s grace is sufficient to make us what he would have us to be physical, mentally and spiritually.  However, we must be willing to listen, willing to see, and willing to believe.

If you would like to have Jesus as your personal savior go to the tab labeled “How to Be Saved”  read that page and ask Jesus into your life.  

CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH (PART 2)

This week is Part Two of a Five Part series about Embracing Righteousness as a Lifestyle.  In a world where every lifestyle is accepted and embraced except the Christian lifestyle it is fitting that we title this series Can You Handle The Truth.   Remember Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.

Romans 1:21-23 NASB  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  (22)  Professing to be wise, they became fools,  (23)  and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Last week we closed out the lesson talking about how man wants to put God into their mold.  People today want God to fit in to their lives instead of putting God in His rightful place and living a life that pleases Him.  Today there is cultivation of foolishness.  The world rejects the creator, even with the truth learned about God through creation people don’t worship God.

The world has created crazy theories to explain God away.  They do this in an attempt to improve society.  Today, our teachers cannot teach biblical morality but they can teach safe sex practices.  Today, school nurses cannot pass out bibles but can give out condoms.  People worship the creation without a thought about the creator.  We have people who look to horoscopes and astrology.  We have people worshiping animals, birds and other images.  It is sad, but true.  Today an individual who does something cruel to animals will get more time in jail then if they killed another human being.

These all stand as proof that man has rejected God.  We live in a wonderful world.  We live in a beautiful world and we should take care of it.  We live in a world created by the one true God.  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The God who has a son called Jesus.  The God who is the First part of the Godhead.

God the Father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit.  All one and all the same.

 
It is God who created the earth and it is God who created man.  It is God who put man in charge and made him steward of His creation.