On Being Christians

On Being Christian

C. C. Montefore said something  of Jews that can also be said of Christians,
“We Jews (Christians) have a more pressing responsibility for our lives and beliefs that perhaps any other religious community.
Don’t shelter yourself in any course of action by the idea that ‘it is my affair.’  It is your affair, but it is also mine and the community.  Nor can we neglect the world beyond.  A fierce light bears upon the Jew (the Christian).  It is a grave responsibility this—to be a Jew,(Christian) and you can’t escape from it, even if you choose to ignore it.  Ethically or religiously, we can be and do nothing light-heartedly."
Salvation comes from the Jews through Christ.
 Christianity is not a religion it is a lifestyle we choose to follow. A lifestyle we should not choose lightly.
Christianity is not a Sunday morning go to church thing.
We do not become Christians simply because our parents and grandparents were Christians.
It is a personal choice we make when we are old enough to understand what we are doing.
It is a moment by moment way of living in word and in deed. Following in the footsteps of Christ.
And people are watching us.
Non-Christians that know us, know we go to church and claim to be Christians but do they see Christ in us. It is imperative that they see and hear, in both our words and our deeds the message we have for the world.
Jesus said,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish 

but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through him. 

                                                                               John 3:16,17

“I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father 

except through me.” 

                                                                      John 14:6
In Matthew 7:1 He says,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” 

He also states,

“....“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart 

and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  

This is the first and greatest commandment.  

And the second is like it: 

‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

                                                                                            Matthew 22:37-40
These are the basic pillars of Christianity. These are the beliefs we are to take to the world.
Our God is an all inclusive God that has provided a way for all mankind to come to know him personally.
As Christians this must be what we want to do most of all. And it must beyond a shadow of a doubt be what we present to the world by our lifestyle.
Someone once said to me we should always be a witness for Christ no matter where we are even if we don’t use words.
                          Think about it.

Tribute to a Faithful man

“Then Jesus came to them and said, 

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. 

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

                                                                                      Matthew 28:18-20

He said to them, 

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.  

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, 

but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 

                                                                                      Matthew 16:15,16
On October 19th 2013 a faithful man died. He never became a household name but I’m sure today heaven is rejoicing.
His name Konstantin Vladianu. He was born in Pinzaran Moldova in the former Soviet Union. He died in Hamilton Ontario Canada.
His obituary reads in part.
“Konstantin’s faith in God was the most central thing in his life. He was very involved in the secret underground church, and he was a gifted preacher, blessed with dreams and visions from God which directed his life. He led his family by example in sacrificial giving of his time and resources.”
Konstantin truly knew what it was to serve God. To go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation and he did it under pain of imprisonment. Something few people here in the western world have ever experienced.
He did this because his first love was God and he was obedient to God’s word.
As Christians particularly here in the west we need to from time to time evaluate what we are doing for God.
Are we truly going into all the world our world, be that world within our country, our city, town or simply to our neighbour.
Think about it will you as a Christian one day stand before God and hear him say well done thou good and faithful servant?

Be prepared

Read Acts 26

“And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise

 made by God to our fathers.

“To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain.  

For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

“Why should it be thought incredible by you 

that God raises the dead?...

 “Therefore, King Agrippa, 

I was not disobedient to the heavenly realm,

“but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem,

 and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles,

 that they would repent, turn to God, 

and do works befitting repentance.

When he had said these things the king stood up as well as the governor and Bernice

 and those who sat with them.

and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying,

 “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”

                                                                                               Acts 26:6-8,19-21,30,31
Paul was prepared.  Paul had studied the Word of God and was able to give a good account of himself.
I hear, many in the church say “don’t worry about what you are going to say, God will put the words in your mouth.”  That maybe true, but we need to give a good account of ourselves.
Paul when writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 states this:

“Do your best to present yourself to God

as one approved,

a workman who does not need to be ashamed

and who correctly handles the Word of truth.”

Christians, both leaders and laity, constantly misuse Scripture.  Sometimes, it is out of deception.  Most times, I believe it is our lack of understanding.
It is imperative, that we study the Word of God to understand, what it means and how to use it.
Paul here, uses the Word of God very effectively.  He is standing before both a Roman, who doesn’t have a complete understanding of Scripture and King Agrippa, who knew the Word.
He lays down his argument in a way that both understood.  The result, was they pronounced him innocent.
We need to be like Paul, to study the Word of God, and know it in context.  We should also do our best to look at a bit of the history around the Scriptures, which will also give us a bit more insight.
Something to think about
You can use Scripture to produce almost any scenario you want.  When taken out of context, anything can be made to sound right.  The only way, we can be certain that we are getting the right message out there is to study the Word of God.
The words of Paul to Timothy are just as important to us in this century:

“Do your best to present yourself to God

as one approved,

a workman who does not need to be ashamed

and who correctly handles the Word of truth.”

One day we will have to give an account to God. Will you be able to stand before Him and not be ashamed?

Forgiveness

Read Matthew 18:21-35

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, 

as we forgive our debtors.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, 

your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

                                                                                  Matthew 6:11,12,14
Then Peter came to Him and said,

“LORD, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  

Up to seven times?”

Jesus said to him,

 “I do not say to you, up to seven times,

 but up to seventy times seven.

                                                                                              Matthew 18:21,22
Do you forgive?  Do you truly forgive?  Do you practice forgiveness even to the one who has wronged you the most.
As Christians, we can’t afford not to forgive.  If as Christians, we truly believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light, that no one can come to the Father but by Him, then we can’t afford not to forgive.  The eternal resting place of those around us, depends on us.
If we have unforgiveness in our hearts, then it becomes very difficult to witness.  We might even become a stumbling block to those whom we don’t forgive.
To be a Christian is to be like Christ.  We must do as He did.  Although, He had the right to judge as God, He didn’t.
Jesus forgave the very people responsible for crucifying Him.  What more of an example can we have?
Our call is to love even our enemies, listen to the words of Jesus:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

“that you maybe sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise

 on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? 

 Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

“And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? 

 Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

"Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

                                                                                             Matthew 5:43-48
In order to love someone, we must be able to forgive them.  Thus, Jesus said we must forgive and not keep track of how many times we forgive.
Paul states,

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though Io give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Something to think about:
Love is the key to forgiving.
Do you love? Do you love even when you hurts.  Christ did, he went to the cross.

Give Thanks

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 

Know that the LORD is God. 

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; 

give thanks to him and praise his name. 

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

 his faithfulness continues through all generations.” 

                                                                                          Psalm 100

As I write this it is thanksgiving morning in Canada. A time when we can reflect and give thanks to God for all we have.
I am not a Canadian I am simply a landed emigrant although I’ve spent most of my life here.
As a result I have been blessed richly by this country.
Thanks to the freedom of worship in this land I was introduced to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I was through serving the Lord introduced to my wife whom I have been with for thirty-four years.
As a result we have two wonderful children both of whom are serving the Lord in various capacities.
While there have been difficulties from time to time life has still been good to me and my family.
We know God will not forsake us. We know he loves us and will take us safely through even the worst storm. Which he has.
My oldest son when he was eight was hit by a car and lay in a coma for a week. With the doctors telling us every day he was in the coma meant that he may not recover fully.
After much prayer, God answered us and he today is in his mid thirties perfectly normal and planning his wedding.
My younger son just recently fell twelve feet from a ladder in Kenya and broke both bones in his lower leg.
He just happened to be near one of the best hospitals in Africa and there just happened to be one of the best bone specialist from England available to fix his leg.
He did an excellent job according to the Canadian doctors my son went to upon returning to Canada.
That to me is God.
Over the last two years both my wife and I have had to have life saving surgery after being rushed to hospital.
Surgery we came through with out any problems.
Not only that thanks to the Canadian health care system we didn’t have any medical bills.
The God I serve is a great and mighty God and I for one am thankful for all he has done for me and my family.
Above all I am thankful that God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. That I upon accepting Him into my life am assured of my salvation and a place in heaven.
Dear reader do you have that assurance.
Do you know for certain that if you were to die to day that you would get to heaven?
Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. 
The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.
All we have to do is pray a simple prayer and ask Jesus into our lives a prayer like this,
Dear Heavenly Father
I recognize that I am a sinner. That I have done things wrong in my life and fall short of what you want for my life.
I recognize that Jesus Christ is your one and only Son who came to this earth to die for my sins. To save me and show me the way to heaven.
I accept Him as my Lord and Saviour.
Please dear Jesus come into my life today. Cleanse me from my sins.
I give you permission to work within my life conforming my life to your ways.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer and truly mean it then you can be assured of getting into heaven. It really is that easy.
Now I would urge you to get a Bible and read it. Also pray and ask God to lead you to a bible believing Church. One that believes you are saved by faith according to Ephesians which states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—   not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
Ephesians 2:8,9
And may God bless you.

On these hangs all the Laws

Read Matthew 22

Then one of them, a lawyer asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, 

‘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 great 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.”

                                                                                                                   Matthew 22:35-40
The greatest commandment:

‘You shall love the LORD your God 

with all your heart,

 with all your soul, 

and with all your mind.’

The second greatest commandment:

‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

We have two responsibilities in life: The first to God, the second to those around us.  We must have love for everyone in order to successfully take the gospel out.
The apostle Paul defined as love it said,

 “loves does not envy, love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely,

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”.

                                 1 Corinthians 13:3-8a
This kind of love must be shown to God, to our neighbour and even our enemies.  Without it we are nothing.  The words of 1 Corinthians 13:1,2 make it clear:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,

but have not love,

I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,

and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,

but have not love,

I am nothing.

Something to think about?
Love is a recurring theme throughout the Gospels. And we need to know it. The whole of Scripture is based on love. God’s love for us, our need to love God and to love our fellow man as ourselves.
  It is a concept most of us think we have but quite often don’t.
Love is never about us. Its about our relationship with others, be it God, our family or our fellow man.
True love means we will “Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” for both God and all people. That we may lead the people we come in contact with to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the living God.
Is your love that strong?

All things are Gods

Read Romans 11

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  

How unsearchable are the judgments and His ways past finding out!

‘For who has known the mind of the LORD?  

Or who has become His counsellor?’

Or who has first given to Him

 and it shall be repaid to him?”

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things,

 to whom be glory forever.  Amen

                                                                                   Romans 11:33-36
I think, sometimes, we as Christians become smug, thinking, we have all the answers.  We even feel God owes us.
There is a troubling theology, out there, sometimes referred to as give to get.  Its premise is you give to God and He will give it back to you, ten times or a hundred times more.
God owes us nothing, anything we give to God, be it our time, or our money, we should not expect to be repaid for it.  We should give to God, with a willing heart.
I am not a firm believer in giving a tenth of all, we have to our church.  I strongly believe we should give to the church we attend first.  I also believe that we should give what we can when we can and all we can expecting nothing in return.
Mark records this incident:

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put 

money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one 

poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He

 called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you 

that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the

 treasury; “for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of

 her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”

                                                                                                 Mark 13:41-44
The New International Version states: “But a poor widow came and put in two very small, copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.” Mark 12:42
She gave her whole livelihood in faith, it seems because she wanted to.  No one was forcing her.
We must give to the church we attend.  We must support the work of our local congregation, missionaries, and other Christian works.  This is of the utmost importance.
We must, however, do this out of a willing heart with no expectation of remuneration.
Something to think about
Paul in our text makes reference to Job 41:11 where the LORD is speaking to Job saying:

“Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him?  Everything under heaven is Mine.“

Simply put God owes no one anything.  In giving to God, we are giving only what is His already.  We are merely custodians of what we have.
The New International Version puts verse 36 of Romans 11, this way:

“For from Him and through Him and to Him

are all things.

To Him be glory forever!

                                                                             Amen.”

We should be giving a portion of our income to God. A tenth is  good so is any amount. God knows our needs and will not leave us short. Therefore it is important to listen to Him. And give what we can, as often as we can, and as much as we can, as God directs. Doing it privately with a cheerful heart, without expectation of return.

The Vine

Read John 15

I am the vine, you are the branches. 

 He who abides in Me, and I in him,

 bears much fruit,

 for without Me you can do nothing.

“If anyone does not abide in Me, 

he is cast out as a branch and is withered,

 and they gather them and throw them into the fire,

 and they are burned.

“If you abide in Me, 

and My words abide in you, 

you will ask what you desire,

 and it shall be done for you.

                                                                               John 15:5-7
Jesus makes it clear, once again, that He is the true vine, and that it is only by abiding in Him that we bear fruit.
The Gospel is all about bearing fruit.  The Bible is about God’s relationship to mankind.  God’s love for mankind.
If we love God we should love our fellow man.  We should want to do the will of the Father, more than anything else.  It should be our desire to serve God, more than anything else, if we are truly part of the church.
Verse 7 states:

“If you abide in Me, 

and My words abide in you, 

you will ask what you desire,

 and it shall be done for you.

I think all too many people use this verse selfishly.  They take it to mean, if I ask for a million dollars I should get it.  Not so.
God knows what we need and when we need it.  He knows who can handle a million dollars, and who can’t.  There is a need for millionaires in the church, and history tells us there were some in the early church.
Having lots of money, is not wrong.  It is the “love of money” that is the root of evil.
What this verse is saying, you are the branches the same sap that is flowing through Jesus, flows through his followers.
So if God’s Word is abiding in you.  Your desires will be the desires of the Father.  They wont be selfish desires but rather filled with the love of God to save one’s fellow man.
Something to think about
God doesn’t necessarily need a million millionaires. He needs soul winners, teachers and people from every walk of life. People who are willing to go out and work for him. Be they are rich or poor is of no worry to God he Just wants willing people whom he will equip and whom will give Him the glory.
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gives us a model prayer:
“In this manner, therefore, pray:
“Our Father in heaven,
  Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come,  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  
                                                   Amen
The Lords prayer as we know it is an unselfish prayer that we should all take note of. It gives the glory for all things to God. Something we should always be doing.