December 13, 2020 BE ON GUARD
Acts 20:28-30 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”
Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelist, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”
One general characteristic of those who live in the western world, is that of being independent and self-reliant. Those are good traits to have, but if carried over into our relationship with the Lord and other believers, they are counter-productive, and in fact, stuns our spiritual growth. The spiritual forces of darkness oppose us and oppose God Himself, and it is their desire to cause us to live contrary to the ways of God. You can rightly say that we, Gods created beings, are the focus point of the battle between the ways of God and the ways of Satan. For certain, God wins the battle and Satan and his demons will be destroyed in God’s timing. In the meantime, God actually uses the work of our enemy to further His purposes. In the grand scheme of things, God’s plans for us while we are on earth is to transform us into His image and to make us overcomers in life. This is where being independent minded can cause our demise. Simply said, and to the point, God designed it in such a way that believers need each other. God places individuals within the body of Christ, the church, to watch over the flock because there will always be those who depart from the gospel that is found in God’s word. Within the body of Christ, there are those who have oversight roles, and there are those who have been given various gifts to benefit the body. There are many spiritual gifts, including teaching, exhortation, administration, words of wisdom, prophecy, healing, discernment, evangelism, faith, giving-and others. Spiritual gifts are an “endowment or extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit” for the benefit of the various members of the body. We must understand and accept the fact that we personally are not complete within ourselves-we need the input of others. Because there is much that would distract us from the true gospel, we must remain on guard and we must find our place in the body of Christ where we find truth, encouragement, care, encouragement, and correction when we need it. Not only do we receive from others in the body, we also give to others what God puts in our hearts. So, let us be on guard for anything or anyone who would take away from the gospel, and let us not be dependent minded when it comes to the things of God.
Romans 12:4-5 “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”
Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Blessings,
Buddy
RSS Feed