He who has My commandments and keeps them

Read Acts 10

He who has My commandments and keeps them, 

it is he who loves Me.  

And He who loves Me

 will be loved by My Father, 

and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

“Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him,

 “LORD, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

Jesus answered and said to him,

 “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;

 and My Father will love him, and

 we will come to him and make Our home with him...

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, 

He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance 

all things that I said to you.

                                                                                             John 14:21-23, 25-26
To many today, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is controversial, but it is a promise from Christ Himself.  He said,
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;
“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.”
  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,
He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers in the Upper Room, but it didn’t stop there.  The believers took what was given to them, to others who believed.  We only have to look at Acts chapter 10, to see that this baptism was with the believers at Cornelius’s house, that it was for all who believed.  
Samaritan believers received it in Acts 8, Ephesians believers in Acts 19.  The baptism in the Holy Spirit is for all who believe, even for us today.

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, 

it is he who loves Me.  

And He who loves Me

 will be loved by My Father, 

and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Something to think about:
If we truly love Jesus the world will see Christ manifested in us. If we ask God he will send the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and we cannot help but be changed by it.

Because

Because... “...He (God first loved us.”)
       1 John 4:19

I will... love God

Because... “...God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

I will... love God

Because... Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this shall all know that you are My disciples.  If you have love for one another.  John 13:34,35

I will... love my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Because... Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”   Luke 6:27,28

I will... love my enemies.

Because... The Bible says, “Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; loves does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things; believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  I Corinthians 13:4-8a

I will... I will love.

Because... The Bible says, “Now abides faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13:13

I will... love God and my fellow man

        Because..      according to Ephesians 2:8,9:
“...by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works; lest anyone should boast.”

I Have hope in Christ...
For according to Romans 5:1,2: “...having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace which we stand, and rejoice in hope of glory of God.”

Because... For Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40:
“...you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


I will love all mankind...

Because of this and much more

I will love.

Poor

“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

 1 John 3:17,18.

I remember hearing a very popular evangelist talking on television about people on welfare he called the majority of them lazy. His tirade went on for only a couple of minutes but it made me sick inside. He made it sound that they were the ones responsible for their situation.
In some cases, a minority of people, are responsible for themselves being on welfare. But the vast majority are not.
I would like to ask this evangelist, is it the poor that pulled the industries out of the United States and put them in other countries.
Is it the poor that caused the real-estate collapse or the need to bail out large corporations a few years ago.
Is it the poor that cause double digit unemployment in Ireland, Greece and other European countries?
Certainly not. A person can only get a job if one is available to him or her and if affordable education is available to train people for the jobs. (Have you seen the price of a good education?)    
Don’t blame the poor for being lazy. The majority are not.
Wasn’t it Jesus that said ‘the poor you will always have with you’?
I’m convinced since man began living in cities there have been poor people. And I’m sure there will be poor people living around us until the end of days.
I know a lot of poor people. People who are just making it. Some hold several jobs but for a myriad of reasons they can’t make ends meet.
These people are honest hard working people who have to make decisions at the end of the month. Do they feed their family or pay the utilities.
We need to pray for the poor. We need to put our faith into action and do our best to help them in deed as well as word.
Someone suggested to me the other day that wouldn’t it be wonderful if some of these evangelist and super churches that bring in millions would start schools.
Schools that would help people get the education they need to get jobs.
It is true that the great commission is to go into all the world and tell anyone who will listen the way to heaven. But couldn’t Christian based schools do that while teaching trades or other higher education curriculum designed to help those who cannot afford the price of regular university or collage.
What a fantastic witness this would be to the world.
While I know that the Talmud is not a holy book of Christianity, the truths there in most definitely reflect Christian values.
One portion of the Talmud states this,
“Rabbi Akiba was asked by a Roman general, “Why does your God who loves the needy not provide for their support Himself?”  He answered, “God the Father of both the rich and poor, wants the one to help the other so as to make the world a household of love.”
Perhaps it is time for any church that can do it here in North America, to set up places to train people in areas that will help them get out of poverty. And in so doing become a beacon of light to the world.
Think about it.

If we claim to be without sin

Read 1 John 1

“If we claim to be without sin, 

we deceive ourselves and the truth is no in us. 

If we confess our sins, 

he is faithful and just 

and will forgive us our sins

 and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

                                                                                          1 John 1:8,9

All to many of us once we become Christians take things for granted. We take our salvation too much for granted.
When we first come to Christ the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and need of a Saviour and we act on that conviction and confess our sins.
As time goes on and we grow there can come a point I think in most Christians lives when we take that salvation very much for granted. We’re saved that’s all we have to worry about seems to be our attitude.
But even as mature Christians we make mistakes we sin and we need to be aware of our sin. We must realize that sin is sin there is no such thing as a big sin and a little unimportant sin.
We must be open at all times to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives to convict us of the sins we are doing. And we must be ready to confess those sins to God.
Peter tells us

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this,

 make every effort to be found spotless,

 blameless and at peace with him.

                                                                                           2 Peter 3:14
We can only do what Peter is saying if we are aware of the sin in our lives and as soon as we become aware of it confess it to Christ.
Christians are not perfect people we are simply progressing. As we grow in Christ we see many areas in our lives where we fall and many areas we need to fix up. It is therefore imperative that we go on a daily basis to God and admit we’ve fallen.
There’s a radio show I listen to called Key Life on it the minister Steve Brown has a simple prayer I think tells it all, he ends the prayer to the effect “and forgive my sins for which there are many”
I like what John say in the last verse of 1 John 1:10

If we claim we have not sinned, 

we make him out to be a liar 

and his word has no place in our lives.

Something to think about.
All too often when we pray we are asking God for something. Or to get us out of something that has happened to us.
We over look the mistakes in our life. The places where we fall short of what God would want for us. We feel we are saved and that is the end of it. Not so.
We all sin and make mistakes it is just part of the growing process. But we should not be lax in confessing our sin.
As soon as we become aware of our sin we should confess it to God.
Do you?

Don't Judge

Don’t Judge
Read Luke 6:37-42

“Do not judge,

 and you will not be judged,

 do not condemn,

 and you will not be condemned.

 Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 

Give, and it will be given to you. 

A good measure, pressed down, 

shaken together and running over, 

will be poured into your lap. 

For with the measure 

you use. 

It will be measured to you.”

                                                                                                  Luke 6: 37,38
Take a look at what Jesus is saying here. He is laying down the foundation of what it is to be a Christian. What we need to be to reach a lost and dying world.
Do not Judge.
We are living in a world that judges us all the time. How we look, how we act what we say.
We as Christians are faced daily with a barrage of things that we don’t agree with. We live in a Democracy that votes laws and allows practices that are not in keeping with what we believe.
We face people that are at times violently opposed to what we are saying. To all of this Jesus says “DO NOT JUDGE.” He make it clear that if we do not judge anyone for what they are doing we will not be judged.
If we do not condemn people for what they are doing we will not be condemned. Its that simple.
We may hate the practice of some people but we are told plainly that we are not to judge. That’s God’s job and He is big enough to fight his own battles.
Forgive.
Forgive and you will be forgiven. People look positively on someone who forgives.
All to often I here the Phrase “I forgive them but...” Forgiveness with a but is not forgiveness.
Jesus who had the right to Judge and condemn never said while on the cross “Father forgive them for they know not what they do BUT”
He said Father forgive them, period, no but’s. This is how we should be.
Give.
Nearly every time I hear this part of the verse quoted it’s with regards to money. Take it in context here Jesus is not speaking of money. This is one paragraph about social responsibility. When Jesus say’s give here he means of one self.
We as Christians have a social obligation a divine order to tell the world of Christ’s Love.
That means giving everything we have to the cause of Christ. Not just our money, but our very life.
Something to think about
When I think about the Christian life it is about giving. That can only be done if we have love. Which brings me to 1 Corinthians 13:3-8a Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy, love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
If we truly have the love of Christ in us we will not judge or condemn people. We will give our very life if necessary to point a person to the Salvation Christ offers, because our actions have eternal repercussions.