Once a person has opened their heart to receive the good news of salvation through Jesus, they become a child of God and are given an inheritance in His Kingdom.
Colossians 1:12,13 "We give thanks to the Father, who made us worthy to receive an inheritance along with the saints. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son."
Ephesians 1:12,19 "In the past you were without Christ, strangers from the convenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Now, you are not strangers, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
As a citizen in this New Kingdom, we need to learn how the Kingdom works, just like when an immigrant becomes a citizen of the U.S., they learn how to live as a good citizen in this country. Scripture, of course, is our "handbook" that contains the information we need to be good, productive citizens in God's Kingdom. We are now 'co-workers' in building this Kingdom, which is found within you. As the Kingdom grows in your own life, it will expand to draw others in as your life becomes a light in the world.
There are some very foundational things that must be in place so that this Kingdom within you will not become lopsided, or built upon faulty doctrines and ideas.
Hebrews 6:1 tells us, "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment."
I Corinthians 3:10,11 "According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds upon it. But let every person take heed how he builds upon it. For there is no true foundation except the one which is already laid - the foundation of Christ. Now, if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, everyone's work will be revealed. . ."
With this in mind, I think it is worth spending some time making sure our foundation in solid. According to Hebrews 6, part of our foundation includes "repentance from dead works." What are "dead works"?
We know that something that is "dead" is not alive, not growing, and definitely not producing any fruit. Also, Jesus said that if we are not connected to Him, and if we do not base our lives upon Him, we cannot produce fruit in His Kingdom.
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, he shall bring forth much fruit, for outside of me, without me, you can do nothing."
How do we abide in Jesus? He tells us.
John 15:9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in My love."
John 15:12 "This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you."
John 14:23 "If any one loves me, he will keep My Words: and My Father will love him, and We will come and be at home with him."
Receiving Jesus' love is our foundation for good works. If we do work out of a sense of duty or guilt, or because we want to look good in the eyes of someone else, it is a "dead" work. This was a big problem for the religious people in Jesus' day. They didn't really love others. They just wanted to appear good. Only work that is done with love as the motivation will produce the righteous works that God is pleased with. It is our heart, our love that He desires. This has always been the case. In the Old Testament, God said,
Deut. 5: 29 "Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would revere Me and keep all my commandments always so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!"
Jeremiah 30:21,22 ". . .for who is this that engaged his heart to approach Me? You shall be My people, and I will be your God."
Jeremiah 29:11-13 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you. Thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon Me, and you shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 31:33 "But this will be the convenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days (when Jesus has come), I will put my law (commandment of love) within them and write it in their hearts; and they will be My people and I will be their God."
It is carried through in the New Testament.
I Corinthians 13 is known as the "love" chaper.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, if I do not love, my words sound brassy or like a cymbal tinkling. Empty noises. If I speak God's Word with power, reealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have mountain moving faith, but I do not love, I am nothing. If I even give everything I own to the poor and even be burned at the stake as a martyr, but don't love, I am bankrupt."
Romans 13:8 "Owe no 0ne anything, except to love each other: for he that loves has fulfilled the law."
This love (coming to know how much God loves us - so much that He was willing to sacrifice His own life for our benefit), causes us to reach out to others so that they can also know this love. Then God will be glorified in our lives as well as in the lives of those we touch, and we will be good citizens in His Kingdom, producing fruit that is pleasing to God. This is one of things that Paul prayed for in Colossians 1:10:
"That you might walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."
Colossians 1:12,13 "We give thanks to the Father, who made us worthy to receive an inheritance along with the saints. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son."
Ephesians 1:12,19 "In the past you were without Christ, strangers from the convenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Now, you are not strangers, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
As a citizen in this New Kingdom, we need to learn how the Kingdom works, just like when an immigrant becomes a citizen of the U.S., they learn how to live as a good citizen in this country. Scripture, of course, is our "handbook" that contains the information we need to be good, productive citizens in God's Kingdom. We are now 'co-workers' in building this Kingdom, which is found within you. As the Kingdom grows in your own life, it will expand to draw others in as your life becomes a light in the world.
There are some very foundational things that must be in place so that this Kingdom within you will not become lopsided, or built upon faulty doctrines and ideas.
Hebrews 6:1 tells us, "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment."
I Corinthians 3:10,11 "According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds upon it. But let every person take heed how he builds upon it. For there is no true foundation except the one which is already laid - the foundation of Christ. Now, if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, everyone's work will be revealed. . ."
With this in mind, I think it is worth spending some time making sure our foundation in solid. According to Hebrews 6, part of our foundation includes "repentance from dead works." What are "dead works"?
We know that something that is "dead" is not alive, not growing, and definitely not producing any fruit. Also, Jesus said that if we are not connected to Him, and if we do not base our lives upon Him, we cannot produce fruit in His Kingdom.
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, he shall bring forth much fruit, for outside of me, without me, you can do nothing."
How do we abide in Jesus? He tells us.
John 15:9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in My love."
John 15:12 "This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you."
John 14:23 "If any one loves me, he will keep My Words: and My Father will love him, and We will come and be at home with him."
Receiving Jesus' love is our foundation for good works. If we do work out of a sense of duty or guilt, or because we want to look good in the eyes of someone else, it is a "dead" work. This was a big problem for the religious people in Jesus' day. They didn't really love others. They just wanted to appear good. Only work that is done with love as the motivation will produce the righteous works that God is pleased with. It is our heart, our love that He desires. This has always been the case. In the Old Testament, God said,
Deut. 5: 29 "Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would revere Me and keep all my commandments always so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!"
Jeremiah 30:21,22 ". . .for who is this that engaged his heart to approach Me? You shall be My people, and I will be your God."
Jeremiah 29:11-13 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you. Thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon Me, and you shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 31:33 "But this will be the convenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days (when Jesus has come), I will put my law (commandment of love) within them and write it in their hearts; and they will be My people and I will be their God."
It is carried through in the New Testament.
I Corinthians 13 is known as the "love" chaper.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, if I do not love, my words sound brassy or like a cymbal tinkling. Empty noises. If I speak God's Word with power, reealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have mountain moving faith, but I do not love, I am nothing. If I even give everything I own to the poor and even be burned at the stake as a martyr, but don't love, I am bankrupt."
Romans 13:8 "Owe no 0ne anything, except to love each other: for he that loves has fulfilled the law."
This love (coming to know how much God loves us - so much that He was willing to sacrifice His own life for our benefit), causes us to reach out to others so that they can also know this love. Then God will be glorified in our lives as well as in the lives of those we touch, and we will be good citizens in His Kingdom, producing fruit that is pleasing to God. This is one of things that Paul prayed for in Colossians 1:10:
"That you might walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."
posted by Laurie T at
9:42 AM
2 Comments:
I have been looking more into some of the resources that my church offers to figure out what they believe. I cut and pasted some of the information that they share on the website. If you want to check it out you can visit the website at: www.cedarbrookchurch.net.
Most of you reading this aren't looking for deep theology. You just want to make sure we aren't into something weird. That's good! We're glad you're concerned!
We've kept this simple. If you want to get into deep theology, e-mail Remy with your specific question.
We believe that...
1. the Bible is God's word to us. It is God's primary method of communicating his truth. It contains real stories about real people. It's purpose is to reveal who God is, who mankind is meant to be and how God and man can be in relationship.
2. God is incredibly big, yet amazingly personal. His love for us is overwhelming. And his greatest passion is to be intimately involved in our lives on a daily basis.
3. God is a Trinity: he exists in relationship with himself in three equal forms simultaneously (Father, Son, Spirit). He is relational by nature, he created humans to be relational and he seeks to be in relationship with them.
4. Jesus is fully God and fully human. We come to God through our relationship with Jesus, the Son. He came to earth to reveal God to us in a way that we can understand. His virgin birth, crucifixion and resurrection were all necessary for us to be able to reconnect with God.
5. humans were created in the image of God. But this image was marred when humans willfully turned from God to serve themselves. This self-serving independence is called "sin" and has spoiled a pure relationship with God and a clear perspective on life in general. A barrier exists between us and God. But out of God's great love for us, Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin. Through Jesus we are invited to return to our intended relationship with God.
6. the Spirit of God was sent to empower believers to live transformed lives and carry on the mission of Jesus (seeking and saving the lost). This community of believers is called the church.
7. Jesus will personally and visibly return to earth to welcome his followers into an eternal heaven and judge those who have willfully rejected him, separating them from God for eternity.
8. the smartest thing we can do is live for God every day, enjoying both him and all that he has for us!
...answering "how" we do church.
1. 1. Authenticity:
We're talking about being honest, not phony. We don't want to act like we are something we are not and we don't want you to either. Too often we encourage people to act like their life is together or that they understand spiritual things when neither is true. If your life is a mess or you are still living on the "wild side" or you don't even believe in God, join us. We're glad that you are seeking some answers. Hopefully we can help provide them.
2. Relevancy:
When it comes right down to it, most people decide whether to attend church or not based on the relevance of the church. Fewer and fewer people are attending church out of obligation. If it doesn't make sense to them, help them live their life better or help them connect with God, they are choosing to stay home. We believe that the church's role is to show how relevant God is to daily life.
3. Inclusiveness:
The greatest need that every human has is to be accepted and included. Unfortunately, most people experience varying degrees of rejection. The church has often been guilty of communicating to people that "we will accept you when you look like us." But God always accepts us, even though he may not approve of our lifestyle. We will seek to create a culture that communicates this acceptance to everyone we encounter.
4. Excellence:
God is excellent in all things and empowers us for excellence as well. We believe that excellence honors God and motivates people to become involved.
5. Innovation:
Churches used to have the luxury of choosing whether to be innovative or not. That's no longer true. In our fast paced and ever-changing society, innovation is a necessity. We will always be looking for new ways to communicate old truths to accomplish our mission.
We value:
1. 1. Knowing God:
This is where it all begins. Connecting with God is the most important thing in life. It's not about rules or ritual. It's a daily relationship.
2. Experiencing Life Change:
When you connect with God, He changes you into the person He created you to be. Faith without change is meaningless.
3. Developing Relationships:
God created us to be in relationship with one another. Joy comes in community, not isolation.
4. Serving with Gifts:
God created us with unique gifts for a specific purpose. Personal fulfillment is found in serving others with those gifts.
5. Including Others:
God's love overflows us to touch others. True faith will always turn outward to help others.
I started a new study with the church on Thursdays. No one else showed up yesterday but it was nice to sit down with another member of the church. (who happens to be my doctor - how strange is that?) This is really all that it says about the study -
Do you feel like joy is always eluding you or like you'd like your life to bear more "fruit"? If you do, please don't miss out on our 8-week "Secrets of the Vine" groups beginning the week of March 18-21!
Its should be neat. I am hoping to learn a lot.
I decided to post two separate comments. The other is mostly about my church.. I am starting to understand more and more of what I need to do to lead a Christian life. Actually, it doesn’t seem to be what I do but more about how I treat others. I am still working on loving others. I know that loves is a big part of the foundation of living a life with God. Dad likes to tell me that I am a work in progress. I like that because I know that it is work not just something that happens over night. My neighbor said that Joyce Meyers is coming to town. Does that sound like something that you would want to attend? If everyone is interested I could look more into it. I think she said that it’s a free event it just getting a place to sit. I forgot to ask my Dad about it. I will try to remember the next time I talk to him. I also emailed the church to see if they had a copy of the Bono interview. I haven’t heard back from them yet. I think its to long to watch at the bible study but we could watch a couple minutes of it. Its really motivating.
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