Bible

Jesus wants us to walk the path of holiness

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

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A man’s walk is the way he journeys through life–his direction, his focus, the steps he takes. Every day he chooses a path. One path will take him forward. All others will take him back. The way he walks affects every aspect of his being–how he relates to other people, how he treats his family, how people view him, even how he looks.

I have seen men who were unattractive by any standard change radically as they learned to walk in the Spirit of God. as His image became imprinted upon theirs, they develop a richness of soul, a glorious purity and an inner confidence of knowing what direction they were going. This gave them a strength and a sense of purpose that is not only attractive and appealing, it’s magnetic.

The Bible reveals much about the kind of walk we should have. We are to walk with moral correctness because “For the Lord God is a a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). We are to walk without fault  because “whoever walks blamelessly will be saved” (Proverbs 28:18). We are to walk with godly advisers because “blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1). We are to walk in obedience because “blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways” (Psalm 128:1). We are to walk with people of wisdom because “he who walks with wise men will be wise” (Proverbs 13:20). We are to walk with integrity because “he who walks with integrity walks securely” (Proverbs 10:9). Most of all we are to walk a path of holiness. “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness, The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray: (Isaiah 35:8).

Jesus said there is only one way to get on the right path, one door through which to enter. “I am the way,” He says (John 14:6). The way that leads to destruction is wide and broad and many choose to go that route. but “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14).

Integrity is what you are in the dark

Integrity is not what you seem to be when all eyes are on you. It’s who you are when no one is looking. (character is what you are in the dark). It’s a level of morality below which you never fall, no matter what’s happening around you. It’s a high standard of honesty, truthfulness, decency, and honor that is never breached. It’s doing for others the way you would want them to do for you.

A man of integrity says something and means it. He doesn’t play verbal games so you never really know where he stands. He knows to let his “Yes” be “Yes” and his “No” be “No.” “For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). He will not play both sides of the fence to please everyone. his goal is to please God and do what is right. A man can be highly esteemed among men but an abomination to God (Luke 16:15).

A man of integrity “swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Psalm 15:4). He will keep his word even if it costs him something to do so. When placed in a possible compromising situation, he will continue to stand strong in what he believes. (The three Hebrew boys stood strong and never bow to the golden image or worship Nebuchadnezzar‘s god. They were later thrown into a fiery furnace). Above all, he is a man of truth; you can depend on his solid honesty. A man “who walks with integrity walks securely” (Proverbs 10:9), because his integrity guides him and bring him into the presence of God (Psalm 41:12).

Integrity happens in the heart. Therefore, being a man of integrity is something  a man must choose to do on his own. But loved ones can prayerfully help him fight the enemy that seeks to snare him, blind him, and keep him from making that decision. Even when he makes the right choice, there will be a negative reaction to it in the realm of evil. Your prayers can help shield him from anything that causes him to doubt and waver, and give him strength to do what’s right–even when no one is looking. The Bible says “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him” (Proverbs 20:7).

Heaven is the new Jerusalem. Is it real?

The New Jerusalem

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Many people believe heaven is a wishful fantasy that weak-minded people cling to in order to cope with, or escape from, the tough realities of life here on earth. Some assume that eventually everybody will end up in heaven. But others say very few people will make it there. And nearly all argument about heaven typically generate more heat that light and more controversy than understanding.

So much confusion! So many opinions! But why all these different opinions and theories when the Bible is full of details about heaven? Yes, God wants us to know what heaven is like so that we will want to be there! Heaven is not a place He is trying to keep secret from us.

According to a Harris poll taken in January of 2003, 82 percent of Americans believe that a heaven does exist. But the truth is that these days most people–including Christians spend very little time thinking about heaven. From the moment we wake up in the morning till we collapse  in exhaustion into our beds again at night, we’re running, going, doing, eating working and doing all manner of things.

Meanwhile we Christians believe that somewhere inconceivable in the universe is an unseen place that we’ve been taught about and it’s called heaven. It’s part of the distant future, not the here and now. And though we can see and touch the immediate environment we live in every day, heaven is out of sight and out of reach. Therefore, it hardly seem real. Besides, our lives move so fast and are so full that we can barely keep pace with what’s happening around us, much less stop to contemplate a place to which we’ve never been.

Part of the problem is what many of us typically believe about heaven leaves us considerable  less than impressed. What if, for example, you are just not into playing harps all day? What if fleecy white clouds and halos and singing in heavenly choir leaves you cold? And do you really have to run around in a white robe all the time?

Undoubtedly one reason so many of us have a hard time getting excited about eternity is that we carry around a stunted and juvenile view of heaven as a spectacular setting in which we float around endlessly doing bland things and “being holy.”

But John tell us exactly what heaven will be like. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1,2).

This city is not just something that John saw and know about–God’s people have been aware of it throughout the ages. God tells us that all of His holy prophets had spoken about God’s plan to deal with a sin damaged world. Peter told the people of old Jerusalem that God would “send the Christ, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets” (Acts 3:20,21)

God’s Word Is The Source Of Faith

ScriptureSeedsLogo

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where does faith comes from? How can faith be increased? The word say “Faith comes by hearing , and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). Since this is true, faith is increased as believers fill their lives with the Word. This is quite revealing because it exposes the opposite truth. The reason believers have so little faith to exercise is the lack of the Word of God filling their livers.The application from these thoughts is, that the more Christians exercise themselves in Scripture the more their faith will grow.

There is one disclaimer to this application, some believers make it a ritual to read the Bible, some even memorize it, but their faith doesn’t seem to grow. Does this nullify the truth that the Word of God brings faith? No. The bible says it is “it is not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). It also adds, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63)

Exercising oneself in the Scripture without the illumination of the spirit is less effective or as the Bible say ineffective, to increase faith. Two Greek words are often translated as the Word in the Bible, logos and rhema. Logos speaks of the expression of God and is used in John 1:1 saying “In the beginning was the Word.” It refers there to Jesus or to the whole council of God elsewhere. Rhema  is often used to speak of a particular passage of Scripture that is illuminated by the spirit for a specific application. Some have called it a word from the Word. With this in mind, it would be a rhema from the  logos that the spirit would used to build faith.

Believers who experience faith rising as they engage in God’s Word are usually inspired by the Spirit in a particular passage which specifically speaks to illuminate their situation. That is a rhema from God’s logo, a word quickened by the spirit from the Word of God. So what should Christians do, wait with their Bible in hand till the spirit inspires them? No. Believers should search the Scriptures for passages which speak accurately and directly to their needs or situation. By meditating on these sections of Holy Scripture they are filling their minds, hearts and spirits with God’s thoughts, His Word.

As believers work with the Word, searching it and applying it in this way, the spirit will illumine some part and faith will come forth. Rather than waiting passively and praying for faith, believers can dive into God’s promises and then experience the spirit bringing light to their needs and faith to their hearts. Believers who understand this begin to stand up and say, “God’s Word say it, and I am believing it to happen.”

Validity and Authority of Scripture (Inerrant Word of God)

Jesus resurrected and Mary Magdalene

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The validity and authority of  Scriptures is often called into question, mostly by those who believe there is no God.

In an age where skepticism prevails, Pentecostals affirm the Bible as the divinely inspired and inerrant Word of God. Scriptures is the result of God moving upon holy men to carefully record His revelation of truth to all humanity (2 Timothy 3:16, 17 ; Matthew 5:18; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; John 5:39), a source the Church has always considered final and authoritative for doctrine.

Besides this critical claim as the source of infallible truth, there are two other alternative stances taken by others toward the Bible: (1) absolute error and (2) a composite of both truth and error. The first alternative is clearly understood and rejected by Pentecostals, though the second poses a more complex problem. Liberal scholars often point to contrived inconsistencies and contradictions in the Bible; however, if only discreet parts are accepted as true, then the whole must be judged as ultimately unreliable.

Further, it is argued, if the divinely infallible Christ is related to fallible Scripture, how can an errant word of God reveal an inerrant Christ who is believed to be the incarnate Word? Such logic is contradictory and inconsistent with the foundation necessary for strong Christian faith. Therefore, Pentecostals categorically reject all perspectives of Scripture opposing that of absolute inerrancy and divine inspiration.

In addressing this issue, Pentecostals offer further logic as notable evidence for this stand. First, it is of inconsistent character for a trustworthy God who desires reconciliation with lost humanity to offer a flawed revelation of the divine plan. Second, the power of life-transformation attests to the truth of the Bible; the lives of countless millions have been miraculously changed by the word of God.

Finally, that a pervasive unity and harmony exist in Scripture, despite the diversity of authors and centuries separating them, lends strong support to the Bible as the infallible word of God.

Though a majority of mainline protestant denominations reject the Bible as accurate and divinely inspired, Pentecostals hold steadfast to that claim and faithfully depend upon its truth as the foundation for their beliefs and practice.

http://kevinnunez.org/2011/11/20/authority-god-governs-his-people-through-scripture/