Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: Church

  • Given by God to those who obey Him

    Do YOU know what is “given by God to those who obey Him?”

    Consider the difference between a living church and a dead church… or if you prefer, look to your left and to your right and in the mirror of your heart; then consider the difference between a LIVING CHRISTIAN  and a dead christian.

    Have you ever considered these differences in a 21st c. church?

    What makes one group of worshipers (we call a church) different from another group gathered in a stone-cold building?

    What makes one Christian different from another christian?

    We often seem as sorry as the Apostles.  We appear as great failures in the Presence of Jesus.

    “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” – Luke 5:8 NKJV

    How all of us seem like sinful and ineffective men by comparison to our Righteous Savior.  Yet Peter at his calling to follow our Lord was just another guy, a lowly fisherman who thought he knew about fishing; then Jesus made him a fisher of men.

    In fact, even at the campfire in the courtyard of the trials of Jesus, Peter could not obey Christ… then the cock crowed.

    The Apostle Peter of the Acts of the Apostles, however, is quite a different man. He is a restored Peter.  Peter has repented of his sin. Peter has finally become obedient.  (Some of us are slow to obedience.  Take me, for example. )

    What changed Peter?  Certainly witness of his friend and mentor, Jesus, had much to do with it; but the new boldness of Peter and the Apostles in Acts can be attributed to a gift of God much more Powerful.

    Recall some of the source of Jesus’ Power in His three-year ministry and teaching prior to the Cross:

     Luke 3: 21 One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

    Jesus, as you may recall, remained in constant close contact with the Third Person of the Trinity, The Holy Spirit.

    Our Savior prayed to God the Father and the Holy Spirit of God guided the walk and Word of the Son of God on earth.  After Jesus’ resurrection, this same Holy Spirit, as promised, was given to all of the Apostles.

    Peter and the boys were now bold men of the Cross of Jesus: men on fire with the Holy Spirit of God. The Peter of Acts 5 is a man born again.

    Acts 5:3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.

    15 As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by.

    18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out.

    29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God… {31b} He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven.

    “Acts 5:32 “We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.

    • Are you different from some of the dead christians?
    • Are you one of the dead in a stone-cold church?

    IF (like me) you are slow to come to obedience to Jesus as your Lord, NOW is the time to give up your past life of sin.

    “REPENT and be changed permanently by the Holy Spirit of God.

    False christians will come up against you, as they opposed Peter and the Apostles, Jesus Christ, and the Prophets.  IF we are bold in the Spirit for Christ Jesus, we will be on fire for the Lord.  Hear the caution of Gamaliel, Pharisee mentor of Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul:

    Acts 5:38 “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown.

    39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”

    Are you fighting against God?

    Do you claim Jesus Christ, while remaining disobedient to His leading?

    Do you grieve the Holy Spirit?

    “You cannot follow Christ YOUR way.

    You must follow Christ HIS way.

    Obey our Lord. Repent and receive the Holy Spirit, given by God to those who obey him.

  • Many of His Disciples Left Him – John 6:66

    Many of His Disciples Left Him – John 6:66

    Updated August 21, 2023

    At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.

    John 6:66  

    Walking away from Christ

    Here is a Gospel commentary you might not consider Good News.

    It looks like the church is walking away from Jesus Christ. And church leaders do very little to take the ‘controversial Gospel’ of Christ Jesus into a world which has long ago walked away from God.

    “Many christians walk away from the church.  Biblical preaching is too confrontational for our daily lives.

    Roger@talkofJesus.com

    Many churches accommodate worldly sin as accepted doctrine.  Such preaching and failure to separate the Holiness of Christ’s Church from the sins of the flesh is NOT Biblical.  The atheist pulpits expect no miracles; nor will they be prepared for the Last Day.

    “The Bible is confrontational. Religious institutions as Temples of tradition will be torn down by the same crowds they once accommodated.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com – August 20, 2013 A.D. (soon to become the ‘common era’)

    a Challenge of the Gospel of John

    Yet what happened to Jesus?  

    The crowds rejected Him.  

    The Religious establishment remained for a time, then the Temple fell [A.D. 70], as had its religious leaders long before.  

    Jesus did not strike down the Pharisees (as political Caesars do each other). Or did the Son of the Most High God take over the Temple.

    Rather, He became our Sacrifice on its Altar.

    the Chaff of ‘christian’ Unbelievers

    What would cause the unthinkable thing of disciples turning away from Jesus — the so-called faithful to turn away and desert our Lord Jesus?

     To back up a little in John’s Gospel, Jesus said:

    63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

    64 But some of you do not believe me.”

    Men and women followed JESUS when it was 'the thing to do.' The number of Jesus' disciples multiplied again and again. But when their KING would not seize their imagined National Throne for the country of God most looked for another savior.

    Do you believe Christ Jesus? 

    He does not say that is doesn’t matter what you do.  What we do as witnesses of Jesus as Lord of our life matters greatly.  However, nothing we do – no acts which merit praises of men – can accomplish anything to save our soul from hell.

    Remember the miracle of feeding the 5000?  

    They would have made Jesus King right there on the spot.  But our Lord fled.

    Most leaders of a 21st c. church (unlike the Lord Jesus) would taken credit for their miracle, make certain to collect the offering and most likely fail to mention God, the Bible or Jesus Christ.

    The crowds of disciples found and followed Jesus.  

    “Give us more miracles – show more of  this Kingly power” —

    Isn’t that is our typical human response (rather than thankfulness for God’s provision and blessing)?  

    No more miracles; no more disciples.

    We'll find another religious leader for our kingly church vision.

    Is the Christ of the Cross GOOD NEWS?

    John 6;

    41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said,

    “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

    51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

    52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant.

    “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.

    53 So Jesus said again,

    “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day.

    Gospel of John 6:53b-54 ASV

    Do you, dear believer, murmur and complain that Jesus isn’t doing much for Christians in these last days?

    “Lord, to whom would we go?

    67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked,

    “Are you also going to leave?”

    68 Simon Peter replied,

    “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

  • And Walk in Love

    And Walk in Love

    Some may be familiar with the song: Footprints in the Sand.   Many of us are familiar with the comfort of the poem: Footprints in the Sand.  The poem speaks of the comfort of our Lord, Christ Jesus, during those most difficult times when we thought that we were walking alone. The poem was likely inspired by a sermon of Charles Haddon Spurgeon –  THE EDUCATION OF SONS OF GOD. (The link to it’s opening paragraph is well worth your consideration and prayer.)

    The test of Spurgeon’s sermon is Hebrews 5:8 KJV

     “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered

    Yes, we are all comforted at times from this application of the letter of Hebrews to our personal suffering.  We may wipe away a tear of loneliness and defeat in eventual memory and thankfulness that Christ Jesus IS always with us.

    Yet lately, not only was I finally comforted by this thought, but through conviction of the Spirit I have thanked the Lord for small ways He might use me to comfort others.

    Worse, I realized that I often thought that I walked alone because I never reached out to hardly anyone with this same love of our Lord, the One always carrying me and leaving footprints in the sand of many lonely places.

    I’ve sat with hundreds of my neighbors at almost every football game for the last two years.  I have lived in this small PA town for six years.  I see many nameless faces in the grocery store, at our community food bank, at the Borough Hall shelter after a last year’s hurricane,  and even almost every week at church.  

    “Who is my neighbor?  I have no idea.  

    After walking just a little in Jesus’ love, as if He were using me to walk with another, I became convicted even more.

    I am no different than someone who does NOT know Jesus.  I have not bothered to engage their souls in relationship in the same loving way as our Lord did for so many on every unexpected occasion. 

    Ephesians 4:17-5:2 excerpts:  17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

    18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

    19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

    20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!—

    30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

    32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

    “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

    Dear Lord,
    Forgive me. 
    I have not imitated God.
    I have not imitated the example of God’s Son.
    Most of all I have NOT walked in love — agape — as Christ Jesus loved me.
    I have not sacrificed time for hardly any neighbor.
    ..
    “I have not sacrificed my love for others as a sacrifice to God — the same God who did sacrifice his Son on the Cross for me.
    Dear brother or sister in the Lord,
    How are you doing with that?

    When was the last time you reached out to your neighbor to help carry their hurting soul?  Are you also convicted?

    Matthew 25 excerpt:
    40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’  41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
    ..
    Show your thankfulness.
    ..
    “Leave some footprints on the heart of someone walking alone — someone much in need Christ Jesus to walk with them through the sands of this brief time.