- araratchurch
- May 18
- 3 min read
Paul, after describing his call from the Lord to King Agrippa, declares that he had accepted the call of Christ, and had remained faithful to it.
“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”
Acts 26:19-20 NKJV
Now bear in mind, Paul had a past that could have haunted him, that could have prevented him from following after what the Lord called him to do. By his own admission, Paul was a persecutor of Christians.
““I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”
Acts 26:9-11 ESV
But when Jesus called him out, Paul accepted the call, and seemingly never looked back. Indeed, we see in Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians, that he had made the decision to leave what was behind and reach forward to what Christ had for him.
“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:10-14 ESV
We have been talking about becoming a new creation through the work of Jesus Christ. As we leave this topic (for now), let us be reminded that the work of Jesus Christ, not only redeemed us so that we could receive the Holy Spirit and be transformed into the image of Jesus, He has also replaced our past with His work. That is to say, whatever we did that is now been put under the blood of Jesus Christ, whatever that terrible picture may be, has been replaced with the perfect image of the Lamb of God. Indeed, when God looks at us, He sees us through the sacrifice of His dear son.
Now, the devil tries to make us look back at what we were, look back at our failings and our sin. But make no mistake, we are not that same person anymore. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Don’t allow the enemy of your soul to show you a mirror that’s reflecting back who you once were before Jesus Christ changed you. Rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit, allow the Lord to show you how you look now. Indeed, you will see that the reflection He shows you, is of Himself. Your old life story has been replaced with a story of victory, the story of Christ’s victory, the victory that He now shares with you!
Remember, God is the One Who has made you new. And, as you follow after Him, He will see to it that your transformation into His own image, will be completed, and fully realized at His appearing!
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:6 ESV
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- May 16
- 3 min read
Have you ever noticed that if someone is doing the wrong thing, they don’t want to be around people who are doing the right thing? For example, if someone has fallen off the “wagon,” they want their friends to join them. If someone is not doing well on their diet, they don’t want to be around people who are doing well on their diet. You get the gist: People want to be around other people who are doing what they’re doing. Not surprisingly, this is never more true than when someone who has been living as the world lives, commits to Jesus Christ, and begins walking in obedience to the word of God. The apostle Peter wrote about this very phenomenon:
“For the time already past is [more than] enough for doing what the [unsaved] Gentiles like to do—living [unrestrained as you have done] in a course of [shameless] sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries. In [connection with] all this, they [the unbelievers] are resentful and surprised that you do not [think like them, value their values and] run [hand in hand] with them into the same excesses of dissipation and immoral freedom, and they criticize and abuse and ridicule you and make fun of your values. But they will [have to] give an account to Him who is ready to judge and pass sentence on the living and the dead.”
1 Peter 4:3-5 AMP
Here, Peter gives three very good points to remember:
First, as we have already discussed, we should no longer live as the world lives. As a child of God, having been made into a new creation, we must walk in obedience to the word of God.
Secondly, Peter makes the point that the friends you had while you were living in sin, will castigate you because you are no longer joining them in their debauchery.
Third, Peter makes the point that everyone will have to face the Lord for what they have done. That is to say, none of us will be able to stand before God and defend our actions by saying, “Well, so-and-so did this.” Make no mistake, we will be judged for what we have done, separate and apart from what anybody else has done or not done.
Indeed, comparing ourselves to other people, in terms of making a determination of whether we are doing wrong or not, is foolish. Hear what Paul said about people who compare themselves to others:
“Of course, we wouldn’t dare to put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. They compare themselves to one another and make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and then they judge themselves by their own standards. What self-delusion!”
2 Corinthians 10:12 TPT
Jesus made clear, that in order to be His disciple, we must follow what He has said. We must be obedient to the cross of Christ.
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Luke 9:23-26 ESV
Christians who basically deny Christ because of intimidation by what other people think of them, are putting themselves in peril, in terms of their relationship with the Lord.
“The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;”
2 Timothy 2:11-12 ESV
Child of God, as a new creation, as a follower of Jesus Christ, please remember, what you confess in front of other people, matters.
“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Romans 10:8-10 ESV
Truly, we must make clear that our loyalty, our devotion, is to our Lord, and it is our determination to be obedient to Him, no matter the cost.
Whatever grief, rejection, etc., we experience from other people in this life, will be nothing
compared to sharing the glory of our Lord for eternity in His Kingdom.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- May 15
- 3 min read
Paul had to deliver quite a stern message to the church at Corinth. It seems that rather than serving the Lord together in the unity of the faith, they were acting out of selfish ambition, and it was dividing them.
“However, brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as to spiritual people, but [only] as to worldly people [dominated by human nature], mere infants [in the new life] in Christ! I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Even now you are still not ready. You are still worldly [controlled by ordinary impulses, the sinful capacity]. For as long as there is jealousy and strife and discord among you, are you not unspiritual, and are you not walking like ordinary men [unchanged by faith]?”
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 AMP
The particular issue at hand, seemed to be that they were fighting over who the best teacher was: Paul or Apollos.
“For when one of you says, “I am [a disciple] of Paul,” and another, “I am [a disciple] of Apollos,” are you not [proving yourselves unchanged, just] ordinary people?”
1 Corinthians 3:4 AMP
Paul explained to them that each individual’s work was important. As the body of Christ, we are to work for the common goal of advancing the knowledge of Christ.
“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Just servants through whom you believed [in Christ], even as the Lord appointed to each his task. I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was causing the growth. So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one [in importance and esteem, working toward the same purpose]; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers [His servants working together]; you are God’s cultivated field [His garden, His vineyard], God’s building.”
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 AMP
Paul then warned them that God would punish those who destroy His temple. That is to say, those who do harm to the church, would face harsh judgment.
“Do you not know and understand that you [the church] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells [permanently] in you [collectively and individually]? If anyone destroys the temple of God [corrupting it with false doctrine], God will destroy the destroyer; for the temple of God is holy (sacred), and that is what you are.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 AMP
Paul encouraged the people at Corinth to seek after the wisdom of God, and not to follow the wisdom of this world.
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [discarding his worldly pretensions and acknowledging his lack of wisdom], so that he may become [truly] wise.”
1 Corinthians 3:18 AMP
Child of God, we can’t continue to operate as those who don’t know the Lord. To do so—at the very least—causes us to fall far short of what God has prepared for us, and at the very worst, leads to destruction.
"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice."
James 3:16 ESV
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 ESV
"Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy."
Romans 13:13 ESV
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!