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IN ORDER THAT

12/10/2022

December 10, 2022 IN ORDER THAT
2 Peter 1:2-4 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificence promises in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
This passage contains some amazing truths that we must not overlook. One is that God “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us.” All too often believers feel that they are lacking in some way in their walk with the Lord, or that they are needy, or that they are sinners who continue to sin. The awesome truth is that we are not lacking anything we need for life and godliness! God has made us sufficient for anything we face in life. Of course we are not sufficient in and of ourselves, but only through the true knowledge of Him-and that is the critical truth we must understand. We can have a wrong perception of God and of what we think the Christian life is; and we can have a wrong understanding of the scriptures. For that reason, we must personally read and study the word of God; and we must do so without our pre-conceived ideas, our preferences as to what we want the scriptures to say, and without our traditional views that can cause us to have blind spots as to what the scriptures teach. In other words, read the scriptures and let them speak for themselves, and if we need to, let us adjust our thinking and our understanding to the truth of the scriptures. God desires that we have a true knowledge of Him-and we find that in His word. Another awesome truth we discover in this passage is that we can “become partakers of the divine nature.” A lot could be said at this point, but the fact is that God has given us a new nature-a nature like His! We no longer have to live according to our old nature. Please hear this: the most common and the biggest error for believers of our day is not knowing that we have been given a new nature like His and that now we can live in a way that is pleasing to Him and that we are no longer bound to sin! (If and when we sin, we do so because we choose to sin-there is nothing making us sin.) We can walk according to the Spirit and not sin. More good news is that we can escape! We can escape the corruption that is in the word; we can be pure. All of these things are for us, but they come only through a true knowledge of Him who has called us. We do not have to live in doubt or feeling as thought we are lacking anything; God has already given us everything pertaining to life godliness. Let us discover these precious promises He has given us.
Ephesians 4:20-4 “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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FILLED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING

12/8/2022

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December 8, 2022 FILLED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL WISODOM AND UNDERATANDING
Colossians 1:9a-13 “ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
Believing, receiving, embracing, and living according to the gospel that has been delivered to the saints, bears good fruit, not only in the life to come, but also in the here and now. The amazing thing is that throughout our life time, our understanding of the gospel and our knowledge of God continues to increase and it continues to bear good fruit. In verse 1:4-6 of Colossians, Paul was thanking God for the faith they had in Christ and for their love for all the saints, which was a result of hearing the word of truth, the gospel. I said in a recent blog that the spiritual was more real and far more important than the natural-and that is true. When we receive the gospel as being THE gospel of God-of God revealing Himself to His people-and it becomes our greatest desire to live according to His gospel, we are blessed. From the passage above, we discover that we can be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we can walk in a manner that pleases the Lord in every respect. And, we can bear good fruit in every good work. (We can all agree that bearing good fruit is much better than bearing bad fruit-right?) Our knowledge of God can be increasing and we can be strengthened with all power; not with our power, but with His power. The work of God in us produces steadfastness and patience in us-and we all want those qualities. There is one blessing we have that we may overlook because we are so focused on the here and now; that blessing is that we share in the inheritance that will be revealed when Jesus comes again for His people. Let us be conscience of the fact that God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and has transferred us to the awesome kingdom of His Son! May we be like the Colossians and have an unwavering faith in God and receive and act on the word of truth, the gospel? God’s word, the gospel, is not just a book of good suggestions, and it’s not just a book of history; the word of God is just that-the word of God-and it has the power to change lives, to change our destiny, to make us new, to give us purpose, and to enable us to live a life that is pleasing to Him.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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NOT THE HEARERS

12/6/2022

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December 6, 2022 NOT THE HEARERS
Romans 2:9-11, 13 “There will be tribulation and stress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” “for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”
In the day in which we live, it seems that knowledge is the goal; even in Christian circles particularly, we can find ourselves putting great value on ‘knowing the Word,’ while at the same time not ‘doing’ the Word. Certainly, knowledge is important and there is great value in learning; we should be continually expanding our minds and gaining new insights. The scriptures tell us to grow in the knowledge of God; that implies study and meditation. For believers, is gaining, or even having a certain level of knowledge the proper goal? One could debate whether or not Paul was addressing believers in Romans 2, but it seems that he was; but, the essence of what he says applies to all. Paul drives home the fact God has extended His grace to mankind that he might be saved, but mankind rejects the grace of God and chooses to live according to his own dictates. Verse 4 warns of the danger of ‘thinking lightly of the riches of the kindness and forbearance and patience of God.’ The crucial point for us to get out of this passage is that knowing the word of God and not doing the word of God has serious consequences and is the biggest error we could make. The central truth is that God has made believers righteous by the work of Christ; because we have been made righteous, we are to be about expressing that righteousness by doing good! That sounds so simple-but that is exactly the point. God is good-so we are to be good and do good. When you think about it, it becomes a no-brainer; we just do the things that please our Father God. So, we make choices; we choose our way, the flesh, or we choose to live according to the ways of our Father. For example, if my neighbor needs help and I am able to meet that need, I can choose to take action-do a good deed-and help my neighbor; or I can choose not to help. This all sounds so basic, but we need to make sure we are actually putting into practice the clear teachings of scripture; our thoughts, our motives, our responses, and our actions are to reflect the righteousness of Christ. It is the doers of God’s word who will be blessed.
Luke 11:28 “But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it.’”
Blessings,
Buddy

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ALWAYS OF GOOD COURAGE

12/4/2022

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December 4, 2022 ALWAYS OF GOOD COURAGE
2 Corinthians 5:5-9 “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, always being of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-for we walk by faith, not by sight-we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
As I read this passage, the words “always of good courage” caught my attention. The obvious question is how can anyone in this world of strife, discord, chaos, sickness and trials always be of good courage? When things are going great and the sun is shining in our life, we can be of good courage. However, when Paul penned this words, he and many of the believers of that day were experiencing great trials and tribulations. So, why could Paul and other believers of that day be of good courage always? The issue revolves around how we perceive life on this earth. A common viewpoint is that we get one chance at this thing called life, so we must go about doing whatever we need to do to make this life as enjoyable and problem free as possible. Paul understood an acted on an awesome truth that enabled him to always be of good courage; Paul knew that as long as he was in his physical body, he was absent from the Lord. (Now, we have the Spirit of God living in us, but we are not yet with Him in heaven.) When you look at it this way, who would not want to be with the Lord in heaven. We cannot prove that we will be with Lord in heaven one day; it is a matter of living with that belief by faith, and not by sight. Paul knew without any doubt that his physical death would be the door way to being with the Lord. Do not misunderstand; while on this earth, God has things for us to be about, but we do what we do knowing that one day we will be with the Lord. It is also true that it is sad when a loved one passes away, but we are sad because we will miss them; if they know the Lord, they will have no sadness. The astounding thing is that Paul preferred to be absent from the body so that he could be with the Lord. I think that if we align our thoughts and understanding with the fact that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, then we will always of good courage. Let is not forget that while we live in our temporary physical bodies, we are to be about what God has for us here, and as the temple of the Holy Spirit, we should take care of our physical bodies. And, because we will one day be with the Lord, and because we will on day give an account of the deeds we do in this body, we should have as our greatest desire to do the things that are pleasing to Him.
1 Philippians 1:23-24 “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. And convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you for all your progress and joy in the faith.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE

12/2/2022

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December 2, 2022 GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE
1 Timothy 2:1-6 “First of all then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quite life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.”
This passage of scripture is profound, but also beautifully simplistic. In our culture of being busy about whatever, the endless pursuit of what we think will make us happy, the overload of information, many find themselves far removed from simplicity; culturally speaking, perhaps there is more confusion and a sense of emptiness than ever before. As believers, we are not bound to live according to the culture; we have been transferred to the kingdom of God where we can live life from God’s perspective. That is an amazing opportunity for us! We live in the world and we have certain responsibilities, but we are not of the world. God does not burden us; He came that we might have life to the fullest. As believers, we must remember that God desires all men to be saved; it is good for us to pray to that end-pray for all men, for kings, and for all who are in authority-“that we may lead a tranquil and quite life in all godliness and dignity.” In the world, there is much division and conflicting beliefs regarding religion; but the good news is that there is one, and only one, mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus. That in itself simplifies. In our prayers, we often have many request, and that is good; but in our prayers, let us give thanks for all that God has done and is doing, and thank Him for giving Himself as a ransom for us. If we are to live life as God designed, then our view of God-our understanding of Him-must be in accordance to His word in which He reveals truth. If we embrace God’s word as the foundation of our life, then our thoughts, our desires, our intentions, and our actions will be pleasing to God and we will enjoy life to the fullest.
1 Peter 3:15-16 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ask you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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IN ORDER THAT

FILLED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING

NOT THE HEARERS

ALWAYS OF GOOD COURAGE

GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE

Buddy Fitzgerald

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