All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The Hebrew and Greek meaning of the words mentioned are from Strong's Hebrew Greek Dictionary.
Do You Know What Spirit You Are Of? When the Lord Jesus was going through Samaria toward Jerusalem with His disciples. Due to the friction between the Samaritans and Jews, the Bible says in Luke 9:51-56 a village of the Samaritans refused to receive the Lord "because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem." When the disciples James and John, the "sons of thunder" (See Mark 3:15), "...saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village." Some time ago I published a post entitled "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the Bad News." The very word gospel, literally means, "From the same as G2097; a good message, that is, the gospel: - gospel," according to Strong's Hebrew Greek Dictionary. Aren't you glad? I am!
No, God did not call us to preach bad news. It was good news when my brother Joe at 18 had turned to the Lord Jesus and tried to entice me to go to church with him. (He even bribed me to go three times with a $20 dollar bill when I was about 16 or 17 years old. I went, got the bribe and never went again until my early twenties.) But he tried. I am so glad now. My brother Joe passed from this life in 2009 when he was 70 years old. Next to the Lord Jesus I am looking forward to seeing Joe when I get to heaven. I want to stand next to him as we worship the Lord. I don't really know what heaven will be like but my hope is in the Lord Jesus that one day, because my brother witnessed to me when we were teenagers, I can make heaven my home. He was a faithful preacher of the gospel, the good news that I could be saved.
The Lord Jesus is coming again. as one old song says, "it may be morn, it may by night or noon, we know He's coming soon." It is good news as Apostle Paul said in 1st Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." I love another old song called "When I See the Blood," one verse that goes like this;
Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will save
All He has promised, that will He do
Wash in the fountain opened for sin
And I will pass, will pass over you.
I have often thought of myself as the chiefest of sinners. I am not worthy of the least of His mercies and He has shown to me the greatest of them.
I know that there are those who preach with wrong motives. (This is true whether in or out of organized religion). The Apostle Paul also said in Philippians 1:15-17, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel." But Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached whatever the motive. My desire is to always preach the good news with a pure heart, with right motives. Having said that, it was the Apostle Paul who said in 1st Corinthians 6:9-11, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Yes, somewhere in the above description, you and I are identified.
The Apostle Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 6:14-18, "...Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." The good news is that you don't have to continue in a sinful lifestyle. The Lord Jesus came to save you in the here and now, not just the by and by. The above verses are talking about far more than a saved person and the unsaved person being joined in matrimony. Let me quote a couple more passages of scripture in closing this post. In Galatians 6:7-9, the Bible says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." In 2nd Corinthians 13:5, the Bible says, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" I trust that if you who have read thus far need salvation, you will not let another day go by but will put your hope in the Lord Jesus. Obey the gospel today. (See Acts 2:38 on how to be saved)
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