Joy

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Faith, Hope & Love P49 (08-10-20)

Synopsis

If we do not love then we are a noisy, clanging gang. You can do all kinds of activity, good things even, persevering in the faith, calling out false apostles, proclaiming truth, but if you have not love, then that accomplishes nothing. Let us ponder over those passages in 1 Corinthians 13, Revelation 2 and the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10.

Sometimes we have a speck in our own eye and we just do not see ourselves as God sees what is going on inside us. That is why God disciplines those he loves. That is why in Revelation, we read about God’s correction and rebuke of those leaders of those churches. He wants us to bear fruit, and that only comes by remaining attached to the vine, receiving instruction from the head, who is Christ Jesus.

Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart. What are our motives for doing the things we do, the church activities, the preaching to crowds, and being about nickels and noses rather than teaching truth, or getting people involved in programs and activities, … Listen to Broadcast & Read More

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Faith, Hope & Love P48 (08-05-20)

Synopsis

We got through sharing in 1 Corinthians 13, this use of hyperbole, a literary construct that uses exaggeration to prove a point. Here is the apostle Paul, having been trained under Gamaliel, the rabbi of Rabbis. Paul, formerly described himself as the Pharisee of Pharisees. He later came to know Christ and had spent fourteen years in the desert of Arabia, being taught by no man but Jesus Christ. He was appointed an apostle to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, but he did not start what God had called him to do until those fourteen years of getting to know the love of God. He later wrote that all that training and knowledge under Gamaliel was nothing but dung in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ his Lord. What he wrote here in 1 Corinthians 13 is a letter to the believers in Corinth to straighten out error, to explain the most important truth in scripture, the love of God.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Faith, Hope & Love P47 (08-04-20)

Synopsis

It seems we create our own definitions of love. We say things like, “I love my car”, “I love my house”, “I love the beach”. We love those things that make us feel good. In our natural flesh, we have turned God’s definition of Agape love into something that makes me feel good. Oftentimes we do these things without realizing it. We have lived in the flesh for so long, it just seems to be the natural motivation if left unchecked or our minds are not renewed. And we all have a tendency to drift into these attitudes of the flesh.

Many of us can identify what Bob shared about his early days as a young believer where he would think he was so spiritual when he was sharing Christ to people, looking out of the corner of his eye to see who would notice. Even making demands of others in ministry to do what he does. That is not something he likes to admit, nor would I, but he has done that, and so have I.

See, all of us at times have had a … Listen to Broadcast & Read More

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Faith, Hope & Love P46 (08-03-20)

Synopsis

In this flesh of ours, we will have our struggles, this conflict between the Spirit who lives in us and our sin-indwelling flesh. We indeed are weak people. But that is what God wants us to realize about ourselves so that we may boast in Him, rely on Him. We are designed to trust Him, and that comes out of responding to Him. God is the initiator and we are the responder. That is so important for us to realize and understand. He truly is our life.

We love because He first loved us. God is love. God is Agape love. But sometimes, instead of operating in the Spirit, entering into that relationship we have with God, who is living in us, we rely on our feelings. We tend to drift to worldly wisdom, which is no wisdom at all. We think how much more fun it was when we were lost. What kind of thinking is that? That enslaved you, and made you so miserable that you came to Christ for life. Those thoughts are the enemy of our soul. God has so much better … Listen to Broadcast & Read More

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Faith, Hope & Love P45 (07-29-20)

Synopsis

The natural man does not know God, and God is love, so he operates in what is called fleshly love. We do the only thing we know, and that is to please our flesh. So we use phrases like, “I love pizza” or “I love the beach.”. What does that really say about our understanding of love? It is saying that love is anything that makes me feel good.

Then when we become born again, we come to know God, who is love, where you have come to the end of yourself and to the beginning of Him, where you came to Him for what He came to give, life, not just for forgiveness, but life. But we must in grace and knowledge. We are accustomed to living in the flesh, and so our mind must be renewed in order to walk in this new way of the Spirit. Yet, we also still have flesh, the place where sin dwells, to contend with, plus the lies from the enemy that tempts us to go back to where all that supposed fun was.

We forget about the … Listen to Broadcast & Read More