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Fact Check them

Fact Check them

2 Corinthians 11:3 -4   But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted–you may well put up with it!

The apostle Paul was getting slammed by false teachers in Corinth. He had visited there, spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, and the early church was started. He had written an earlier letter to encourage them, strengthen them, and help with necessary disciplinary actions within the church. He had promised to return to Corinth. In his absence, there were those in the church who began to slam Paul and his ministry. The lied about many things, all to discredit Paul’s ministry and hurt the cause of Christ. Satan had infiltrated the church. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

We all must come to realize there are most likely more false teachers today; Satan’s captains disguised as angels of light. They flood our airways in all the media outlets, they are with us every Sunday at our churches. They preach soft gospels of prosperity and earthly riches that God wants you to have; to name it and claim it. Christ told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and give it to the poor. Luke 18:22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” When Christ was gathering his disciples, his call was not that of a two week notice; it was one of leaving all you have to follow Him, and reap the eternal reward. Matthew 16:24 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Nowhere in the Bible does he tell us to grab all we can for our short time here. We are told to live for the hope of eternal paradise. In that hope is the eternal peace that is a treasure the world cannot possess or steal from us.

Paul could have lived a life of exceeding any of today’s rich pastors. He could have used his testimony of Christ visiting him on the Damascus road, to his visit to Christ in heaven, (2 Corinthians 12:1-6), all to draw the attention and glory to himself. His understanding and love for Christ kept him humble and persecuted. This gave him a ministry that only glorified Christ and showed the power of Christ that was so evident in his life. When you hear a pastor speak something that either stirs your heart, or stirs a question in your soul, pray and go to God’s Word to find the answer. 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Don’t just blindly take their word for it; let God show you the truth himself in His Word.

 
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Posted by on March 5, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Entrusted

Entrusted

1 Thessalonians 2:4 But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

I have been thinking again this morning of the words my 6yr old used Christmas morning. There was such a burden on his heart that he had to tell me something before he could even seemingly look at his presents. “I am not really entrusted with the presents, I am entrusted with Jesus’s birthday.” His words blew me out of the water, and the choice of the word “entrusted” was what grabbed me. He had been a typical 6yr old with the persistent mention of opening presents for about 72hrs durning family functions. He had been consistently reminded of what Christmas was really about; Jesus’s birthday. At some time it seemed to sink in and God placed that burden on his heart Christmas morning in a beautiful way that I even caught on video.

I searched “entrusted” this morning and found it 3 times in the Bible. The scripture above is what grabbed me. Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, almost defending his ministry. He was speaking of how God had entrusted him with the Good News, and of how He had called Paul to minister, to become a vessel for God to share it through him to others. God trusted Paul and knew Paul’s heart. Paul had a heart for God and the things of God; he did not seek any glory or personal gain as a result of what God had entrusted him with. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed–God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. Paul could have taken what God had given him for self gain, but Paul only sought to point people to Christ; even preaching the Gospel when he knew he would suffer for it.

Have you been “entrusted” with the Gospel? Do you claim Christianity yet live with no evidence of it in your life? What would those that surround you every day say about your faith if they were asked? How many of them might say they don’t want to be a Christian if that is how they act? We will all stand before God when we die and answer what we did with the knowledge of Christ; what we had been entrusted with. Paul spoke of a heart transformed by Christ to those in Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Paul got it; he lived a life transformed by what he was entrusted with. He lived a life full of the evidence of Christ dwelling in him. He took was God had given him and treated it like a treasure. Nothing else matter in Paul’s life except the gift that he had been given through Christ; and all his life he sought to share what he had been entrusted to with others.

 
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Posted by on December 26, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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