https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander Thu, 16 Apr 2026 02:24:21 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/4336/freedom-from-sin-part-1 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/4336 The five parts are -
Part 1 - Jesus came to set us free from our sin.
Part 2 - How do we die and become free from sin?
Part 3 - Living according the Spirit.
Part 4 - Our security is in Christ.
Part 5 - Repentance, justification and sanctification.
Each blog is about one page. The rest of this series can be found at the following link -
http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/category/freedom-from-sin-series/
 
Freedom From Sin Part 1
Jesus came to set us free from our sin.
 
In this article I would like to look at verses which tell us that Jesus sets believers free from their sin. Being set free from sin does not mean a believer becomes sinlessly perfect. It means that he does not have a habitually sinful lifestyle. At one time or another a Christian may sin because of weakness or circumstances but his sin is not wilful or ongoing. That is, sin is not a part of his normal way of life. 1 John 2:1 tell us that Christians might sin occasionally while 1 John 3:9 says that they don't make a practice of sinning.    
In Matt. 1:19-21, an angel told Joseph that he was to name his son Jesus, meaning 'the Lord saves', because “he will save his people from their sins” . Notice that we are told that Jesus came to save His people from their sins; not IN their sins nor WITH their sins but FROM their sins. The word “save” means to keep safe or rescue from danger while the word “from” means separation, departure and cessation so Jesus came to rescue us from the danger of hell by separating us from our sin; we depart our sinful lifestyle and cease from habitual sin.
Many people say that we are only human and that sin is part of our nature so we will always sin. It is true that we have a sinful nature but Jesus is greater than our nature and He says that He can free us from slavery to sin. In John 8:34, 36 He said, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins [continually] is a slave to sin … if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus has made it clear that continuing in sin is nothing less than slavery to sin but He can set us free. In Rom. 6:22, Paul said, “you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Like Jesus, Paul tells us that Christians are freed from slavery to sin and become slaves to God which results in eternal life.

The following are some other verses which speak of freedom from sin: 1 John 3:5 tells us that Jesus appeared to “take away our sins” , that is, to remove our sins.
In Rom. 7:24-25, after talking about his sinful nature, Paul said that Jesus “rescued” him from his sinful body of death. “Rescue” means to deliver or set free so Jesus can set us free from our sinful nature just as He did with Paul.
Titus 2:14 tells us that Jesus gave Himself to “redeem” us from all lawlessness. “Redeem” means to release or to liberate so Jesus gave Himself to liberate us, to free us, from all sin.
Rom. 6:14 says, “sin shall not be your master.” Obviously, if we continue in sin then we are still in slavery to it and it is still our Master.
Col. 1:13 tells us that Jesus has, “rescued us from the domain of darkness.” As already stated, “rescue” means to set free so once again we are told that Jesus sets us free from sin.
The verses quoted so far clearly show that Christians are set free from their sins. 2 Cor. 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” If I say that I'm in Christ but I'm still wilfully sinning then what's new about me? Absolutely nothing at all! I'm still a slave to sin. To be freed from slavery to sin, and become a new creation, my old self must first die just as Rom. 6:7 tells us, “anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
The aim of this article has been to show that Jesus frees His people from their sin. Part 2 is about how we die to obtain freedom from sin. Amen.
The rest of this series can be found at the following link -
http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/category/freedom-from-sin-series/
 
This article can be downloaded as a PDF or an MP3 from -
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Christian Issues' blog can be subscribed to at -
http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/feed/

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
http://www.ChristianIssues.biz ]]> Thu, 26 Feb 2015 18:21:46 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3497/my-christian-videos-on-various-subjects https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3497




Are You Truly Born Again?


Do you really know what it means to be born again?


Click here for video





Law And Grace


What does it mean to be under Grace and not under the Law?


Click here for video





Salvation Part 1


What does it mean to be saved from sin?


Click here for video





Salvation Part 2


How to live according to the Spirit.


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Salvation Part 3


A deeper look at living according to the Spirit. False peace and false guilt.


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Salvation Part 4


The Once Saved Always Saved doctrine of Eternal Security.


Click here for video





The Rapture Part 1


A simple look at the Rapture.


Click here for video





The Rapture Part 2


The difference between the Great Tribulation and the Day Of The Lord.


Click here for video





The Rapture Part 3


Will Jesus come at any moment, like a thief, and surprise believers? What does it mean to watch?


Click here for video





Speaking In Tongues Part A


A close look at 1 Cor. 13:8-13.


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Speaking In Tongues Part B


Answering some common objections to the cessation of Tongues, Prophecy & Knowledge.


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Speaking In Tongues Part C


Further comments on the cessation of Tongues, Prophecy & Knowledge.


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Speaking In Tongues Part 1


Is the gift of speaking in tongues for today?


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Speaking In Tongues Part 2


What does 'face to face' mean in 1 Cor. 13:12 and why is a mirror mentioned?


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Speaking In Tongues Part 3


The purpose of tongues.


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Christians And Demons


Can a Christian be influenced by demons?


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Are You A Saved Or An Unsaved Believer?


Many churchgoers know the Bible and all about Jesus, but they are unsaved.


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Born Again, What Does It Really Mean?


There is a great deal more to being born again than a simple salvation prayer.


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Once Saved Always Saved


Can a person lose their salvation or do they have eternal security?


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How Do We Know If We Are Saved?


1 John 5:13 says that we can know that we have eternal life? How can we know?


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How To Be Saved


The Bible reveals how to get right with God and be sure of heaven.


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Are You A Living Sacrifice?


Romans 12:1 says to offer your body as a living sacrifice. Have you done that?


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Baptism


What should happen at baptism? Why should we be baptised?


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Christian Perfection


Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. What does perfect mean?


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The Rapture And The Great Tribulation Part 1


Will the church be raptured and escape The Great Tribulation?


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The Rapture And The Great Tribulation Part 2


The difference between the Great Tribulation and God's Wrath.


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The Rapture And The Great Tribulation Part 3


Who is the Restrainer of 2 Thess. 2:7?


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The Rapture And The Great Tribulation Part 4


"One will be taken and the other left". Is this the Rapture?


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Jesus' Second Coming


What are the two big events of Jesus' return?


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Is The Rapture Imminent?


Can the Rapture occur at any moment?


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Coming Like A Thief


"The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (1 Thess. 5:2). Will the Lord surprise the saved or the unsaved?


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Faith And Works


What is the difference between faith and works?


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Grieving The Spirit


How do believers grieve the Holy Spirit?


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Christians And Judging


Is it right for Christians to judge?


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Love One Another!


When Jesus said to love one another, He was giving a command, not an option.


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Paul The Sinner?


Paul cannot be used as an excuse for our sin as he was a well sanctified man.


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Prayer


"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful" (Col. 4:2). Download eight free books on prayer by E M Bounds.


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Seeking Jesus


Why do you seek Jesus? What does He require of us?


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Sinless Perfection


Can a believer be sinlessly perfect?


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The Calvary Road


Download a wonderful, free book on the Holy Spirit, holiness and the peace of God.


Click here for video





The Holy Spirit


Why do we have the Holy Spirit? What does it mean to walk in the Spirit?


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The Peace Of God


How is God's peace different from the world's peace?


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The Power Of Sin


Man is simply a slave to sin.


Click here for video





Why Did Jesus HAVE To Die?


"Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Heb. 9:22).


Click here for video ]]> Sat, 10 Jul 2010 04:17:58 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3306/the-return-of-jesus https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3306 “ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
When will this happen?

There is so much happening in the world today that most people believe Jesus will return soon. In Matthew 24, Jesus gives us an overall picture of the worldwide events which will occur before He returns. In Matt. 24:1-5, when Jesus was asked about the sign of His coming and the end of the age, the first thing He said was, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many” . This warning is of such great importance that Jesus repeated it twice more in Matt. 24:11,24 and, after speaking about false Christs, false prophets and the Great Tribulation, He said in Matt. 24:25, “See, I have told you ahead of time” . In these verses, Jesus has given us a very serious warning to be prepared for the possibility of facing the horrors of the Great Tribulation. So, let's look at the rest of Matt. 24.

Matt. 24:6-7 say that there will be wars, famines and earthquakes (the word earthquake also means storms). These worldwide tragedies are occurring one on top of the other and many barely even make the newspapers. Disasters that are fresh in our minds are soon blotted out by new ones.
Matt. 24:8 then says that these things are the “beginning of birth pains” so this means that greater pain will follow. If the 2011 Japanese tsunami is just the beginning of birth pains then what horror is yet to come?
Next, Matt. 24:9-13 speak of Christian persecution, death, hatred, apostasy, betrayal and the deception of false prophets. During this time, evil will be so great that “the love of most will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12) and this is why Matt. 24:13 warns us to remain in Christ. It says, “but he who stands firm to the end will be saved”.

Next, Matt. 24:15-22 again speak of the persecution and tell the Jews in Judea to flee when the Antichrist appears in the temple in Jerusalem because his appearance will be the beginning of great distress like never before seen in the world (this is called the Great Tribulation). Matt. 24:22 says that it will be so bad that, for the sake of Christians, those days will be cut short.
Then Matt. 24:23-24 once again warn about false Christs and false prophets who will perform such great signs and miracles that even the elect may be deceived.
In Matt. 24:25, Jesus warns us, “SEE, I HAVE TOLD YOU AHEAD OF TIME” .

Then, in Matt. 24:26-29, after warning about false Christs again, Jesus says that His return will be seen by everyone, just like lightening is seen from the East to the West. He said not to believe people when they say that Christ was here or there but to look for the special sign of His coming. That sign is given in Matt. 24:29 which says, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken” and only AFTER this sign will the Lord return.

So far, Matt. 24 has told us:
There will be wars, famines and earthquakes
then
The Antichrist will reveal himself in the Temple
then
Christians and Jews will be severely persecuted
and
False Christs and false prophets will deceive many
then
There will be a sign in the sun, moon and stars
and then Matt. 24:30-31 tell us that, AFTER that sign appears in the sky, Jesus will be seen coming on the clouds and the nations will mourn because they know that they are about to be destroyed. Matt. 24:31 tells us that, at that time, Jesus will send His angels with a loud trumpet call to gather (rapture) the elect to be safe with Him while God's wrath is being poured out on the earth, ending with the war of Armageddon.

So, it is quite clear that the church will see the Antichrist and go through great tribulation until Jesus returns to rapture believers and to destroy sinners.

2 Thess. 2:1-3
2 Thess. 2:1-3 also show that the Rapture won't occur until after the Antichrist appears. In part, these verses say, “ Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him [the Rapture] … Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness [the Antichrist] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction” . These verses clearly say that Christians will not be gathered to the Lord until AFTER the revealing of the Antichrist and that is exactly what Matt. 24 says.

1 Thess. 4:13-5:11
Many Christians believe that 1 Thess. 4:13-5:11 is talking about another gathering to the Lord. They believe that these verses say that Jesus will rapture the church before the Antichrist appears. However, Chart 1, below, compares 1 Thess. 4-5 to Matt. 24-25 and shows so many common points that it is clear that they are both talking about the same event.






The many similarities between 1 Thess. 4 -5 and Matt. 24-25 make it very clear that they are describing the same event. There is only one return of Jesus and it is after the Antichrist appears and persecutes Israel and the church. When Jesus returns, He will first rapture His elect and then God’s wrath will be poured out on the earth.

Rev. 6-8
Further proof that Matt 24. gives the sequence of events leading to Jesus' return can be found in Chart 2 below. This chart compares Matt. 24 with Rev. 6-8 and a clear parallel can be seen between these two passages.




Jesus Himself has given us both Matt. 24 and Rev. 6-8 and the obvious parallel is further proof that Matt. 24 is the sequence of events leading to Jesus’ single return. (The charts in this article have been copied from http://www.scriptorium.org and The Rapture Question Answered, by Robert Van Kampen).

Other passages, like Luke 17:22-35 and 2 Thess. 1:6-11, show that on the day that the Lord returns He will first rapture His people and then punish sinners who are left on the earth. There is not one verse which says that the Rapture will occur before the Antichrist appears.

The Antichrist
The Antichrist is a man who will be fully possessed by the devil. In effect, he will be the devil in the flesh. Through the Antichrist, the Devil will try to destroy Israel and the church in order to stop God's plan for mankind because he know that, after God's plan is fulfilled, he will be tossed into the lake of fire forever and ever (Rev. 20:10).
We are told that the Devil will give the Antichrist his power. In Rev. 12:7-17 it says that there will be war in heaven and Michael will hurl the Dragon (the Devil) to the earth. Then the Devil will be filled with fury and will persecute Israel (v.13) and Christians (v.17). He will do this through the Antichrist. In Rev. 13:1-2 the Antichrist is called the “beast coming out of the sea” and we are told that “the dragon [the Devil] gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority” and Rev. 13:7 says that “he was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation” , so the Antichrist will have the Devil's great power and authority to persecute and to deceive many.

2 Thess. 2:3-4 tell us a little more about the Antichrist. These verses say that “the man of lawlessness [the Antichrist] ... sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God”. Then, in 2 Thess. 2:9-10, we are told that “the coming of the lawless one [the Antichrist] will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved”.

So, we can see that the Devil will give his power to the Antichrist so that he can persecute God's people and do false miracles, signs and wonders to deceive people into believing that he is God. Because of the Antichrists' great power to do miracles, signs and wonders, Jesus warns Christians time and again not to be deceived but to stand firm to the end and wait for His return which will be like lightening and will be AFTER the sign in the sun, moon and stars.

Why should Christians face persecution?
Many people say that God would not allow His people to suffer the Antichrists' persecution but, besides the many examples of persecution in the Bible, Phil. 1:29 tells us that “it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him” and Rom 8:17 says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” . And Jesus said in John 15:20, “No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” so it is not right to say that God would not allow His people to suffer. But why will God allow it when He could easily prevent it?

Well, in Heb. 2:10 we are told that Jesus was made perfect through suffering and 1 Pet. 1:6-7 tell us that, through suffering, our faith is proved genuine and refined just like gold is refined by fire so suffering perfects us in the same way it perfected Jesus. Rom. 5:3-5 tell us that we should rejoice in our sufferings as “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us”. In 2 Corinthians, Paul talked about suffering several times and in 2 Cor. 7:4 he said, “in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” and, in Matt. 5:11-12, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”.

So, God uses suffering to prove our faith, to perfect us and to lead us to a great reward in heaven and it is God's promise that He will always be with us to carry us through hard times. In Rom. 8:35-39 Paul said that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus and in 2 Tim. 1:11-12 he spoke of his suffering and trust in Jesus to keep him - “And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day”. Throughout the ages, many Christians have suffered and even been martyred for their faith and Jesus was always with them so we can be sure that He will also be with us in our trials.

If we are to endure severe persecution, such as during the Great Tribulation, then we will have a very great need of the Lord's presence because He warns us that “at that time many will turn away from the faith” and that only “he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:10,13). So, let us all heed the Lord's warnings and learn how to walk very closely with Him. An article on hearing and following Jesus’ voice is at - http://www.christianissues.biz/thewayofpeace.html

Finally, Jude 1:24 comforts us in saying, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy”.

May we all say, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped” (Psa 28:7).

This article can be downloaded as a PDF from -
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/endtimes/thereturnofjesus.pdf

For another article on End Times see -
http://www.christianissues.biz/endtimeprophecy.html
At the end of the above article there are links to some authors on this subject.



Mick Alexander
+61 422 101 111
leeandmick@gmail.com
www.ChristianIssues.biz

]]> Sun, 29 May 2011 00:06:11 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3295/my-testimony https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3295
by Mick Alexander



I don't have an amazing conversion story but since I got saved I have had a strong sense of the presence of the Lord. The changes the Lord has brought about in my life are a great testimony to His love and His power to change the life of anyone who willingly submits to Him.



I was saved in 1994 at the age of 46. My wife brought a book home from church that I ignored for some time but I finally made the effort and read it. It was called Return From Tomorrow, by George Ritchie, and the writer told about how he was clinically dead for a few minutes and during that time Jesus showed him some of heaven and hell. My heart was pounding in my chest as I read about Jesus and I quickly read the book twice more. I couldn't wait to get to the part about Jesus. At the time, I didn't believe I was a sinner nor that I needed a Saviour but I sure did believe that Jesus was real so I went to a local church to get a Bible and it soon convinced me that I was a sinner and in great need of a Saviour. I was totally possessed by thoughts of God and after four years I quit my job and joined a missionary group in South Africa, with my wife and younger daughter, where I did the campsite maintenance for three years on their missionary training base. After that, I returned to Australia and worked for another missionary group doing building work and it was during that time that I lost all interest in practical work and the Lord laid evangelism on my heart. I was a shy person but I made a tract and walked the streets handing them out and talking to people about Jesus. After 3-4 years, the Lord made it clear that I was to stay at home and I had no idea why but I soon found myself making the web site you are now reading.



That is basically my conversion story but now I would now like to talk about the enormous changes Jesus has made in my life since then and, most importantly, how and why these changes came about. After I got saved I had a deep hunger to get close to the Lord but I didn't know how to do it and no one could tell me. It took about twelve years for me to find the secret in a book called The Calvary Road which is free to download from the link at the end of this article. I had read many, many books about walking with Jesus but none made it as simple and clear as this book. I can assure anyone that if they want a close walk with the Lord then read the book or follow the simple guidelines in my little article called The Way Of Peace (on my web site) which is basically a very short version of The Calvary Road.



The first amazing change that God made in my life was to deliver me from smoking and drinking. This occurred well before I knew how to walk closely with Jesus but, even though I didn't know it at the time, the change occurred exactly as outlined in The Calvary Road. As a matter of fact, all the changes the Lord makes in us follow the same pattern. Rather than write it all here, I have it on my web site in an article called The Power Of Sin and there you can read how the Lord eventually (and very painfully) delivered me from smoking and drinking. The two things I learned from this experience were

1) The Lord will only cleanse those who are truly repentant over their sin.

2) It is the Lord's power, and His power alone, that delivers and keeps us from sin.



The second outstanding change the Lord made in me was regarding my attitude toward a Christian lady whom I found hard to like. For quite some time I used to avoid her but one day I really lost my peace when the Lord heavily convicted me of this ongoing sin so I said something like, “Lord, it's wrong that I dislike my sister. Please help me to love her”. After this I went to visit her and as soon as I began speaking to her the Lord changed my heart. To my surprise, we became friends and I was at peace with her and with God. I know that I shouldn't have been surprised because God can do anything but it was very special to have God cleanse me of this sin and change my unloving, hard heart. This experience also occurred before I really knew how to walk with the Lord but when I finally got to understand how to listen to and follow Jesus, my mind went back to these experiences and they confirmed the way God works within us to lead us to repentance in order to be cleansed of sin (see Phil 2:12-13 and 1 John 1:9).



As well as smoking, drinking and an unloving attitude, the Lord has also delivered me from swearing, lying, stealing, jealousy, gossip and other sins that I won't mention but being delivered from shyness was a truly wonderful thing. I was so shy that I could hardly talk at Bible studies and I would not go to prayer meetings as I got a headache just thinking about it. I also used to get sick before mixing with people and was ashamed of the gospel but one day I got on my knees and, in tears, I said something like, “Christians are meant to live a victorious life but I am a defeated coward. If you want me to change then you will have to do it”. I felt no change but next day I met a friend in the city who was preaching on the footpath. When he finished, he asked me if I wanted a turn and with my Bible in one hand and a tract in the other I preached in the street and was as calm and confident as anyone could be – now THAT is the power of the Holy Spirit. I was set free and as John 8:36 says, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”.



Since quitting work in 1998, my wife and I have remained in the Lord's service. In Nov. 2010 I went to Malawi to work with a Pastor whom I had met through my web site and I hope to be able to continue visiting and working with those godly people for many more years.



My hope is that this short testimony makes it very clear that whenever we have no peace there is something wrong between us and God. The key to a close walk with the Lord is to let the Peace of God be our guide. If we aren't at peace then we should turn to God and ask why - He will soon tell us - and then we can repent of whatever it is and He will return our peace. As I have already mentioned, this is explained very simply in my little article called The Way Of Peace.



I am not being humble in the least, but entirely truthful, when I say that I am far from perfect but I have learned to look to God as soon as I am aware of any lack of peace. He has been absolutely faithful in telling me why He has taken my peace away and He is equally faithful in returning my peace when I repent. My wife will be the first to tell you that there are still some changes needed but she has no need to say anything really because the Lord is already telling me. On the other hand, she can also testify to the enormous changes that have occurred in my life and it has all been through the power of the Holy Spirit as we are told in 2 Pet. 1:3-4.



May the Lord bless you as you walk with Him.



The Calvary Road can be downloaded from http://www.christianissues.biz/revival.html

The Way Of Peace is at http://www.christianissues.biz/thewayofpeace.html

The Power Of Sin is at http://www.christianissues.biz/thepowerofsin.html



Mick Alexander

leeandmick@gmail.com

http://www.ChristianIssues.biz/

]]> Sun, 12 Jun 2011 05:23:52 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3282/luke-17-and-the-rapture https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3282

The following chart and text examine the verses in Luke 17:24-36 which are entirely about the day Jesus returns like lightning. I start with Matt. 24 to show the timing of the verses in Luke 17:24-36.
Point 3 on the chart is Matt. 24:21, the Great Tribulation, and then after the tribulation …
Point 5 (Matt. 24:27, 30) says that Jesus will appear like lightning - Luke 17:24 is the parallel verse.
Now let's follow the verses in Luke 17 which describe Jesus' return AFTER the Great Tribulation.
Points 6 and 7 (Luke 17:26-29) describe the sudden destruction of sinners in the days of Noah and Lot then …
Point 8 (Luke 17:30) says that it (the destruction) will be just the same when Jesus returns. Also …
Point 9 (Luke 17:31-33) says that “ON THAT DAY” no one should look to earthly things but to remember Lot's
wife because …
Points 10 and 11 (Luke 17:34-35) say that “one will be taken and the other left” and this is the Rapture.
So, AFTER the Great Tribulation, Jesus will return like lightning to rapture believers and to destroy sinners.


This chart shows the flow of events as:
1) The Antichrist ………………………………… at Point 1.
2) The Great Tribulation ………………………… at Point 3.
3) Jesus appears like lightening …………………. at Point 5.
4) The Rapture and the Day Of The Lord ……….. at Points 8 to 11.

Rescuing the righteous and then destroying the sinners was the pattern in the days of Noah and Lot and Jesus said, in Luke 17:30, that it would be the same when He returns.

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
www.ChristianIssues.biz
]]> Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:52:51 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3281/is-smoking-a-hell-deserving-sin https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3281




1 Cor. 1:11-13 and 1 Cor. 3:1-8 tell us that the Corinthians were fighting about which man they should follow. Paul said that they should follow Jesus rather than follow men like himself or Apollos. He goes on to say that they were just servants with God-given tasks; one man plants, another waters but God makes things grow and each man will be rewarded according to his own labour. Then in 1 Cor. 3:9-11 he says that we Christians are God's building and that he has laid a foundation as an expert builder and each of us must be careful how we build on that foundation, which is Jesus Christ.





Then 1 Cor. 3:12-15 talk about how we build the church and warn that fire will test the quality of each man's work. The verses say that we can -


a) Build with gold, silver or costly stones and receive our reward or


b) Build with wood, hay or straw and, although we will still be saved, our work will be burned up.


Building with gold, silver or costly stones represent good leadership and sound doctrine while wood, hay and straw represent poor leadership and unsound doctrine.





So far, the chapter has spoken about building the church with good or poor leadership but there can also be bad leadership which destroys a church. Back in 1 Cor. 3:9, we Christians were referred to as God's building and 1 Cor. 3:16-17 continue with that picture, calling us God's Temple - “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you [plural] are that temple”. The term “God's temple” is referring to the church, not individuals. When these verses are taken in the context of building the church, we see that they are saying that God will destroy bad leaders who destroy His church rather than build it up.





From this we can see that 1 Cor. 3:16-17 is not referring to destroying our body but to destroying the church. 1 Cor. 3:18 to 1 Cor. 4:6 continue on to further warn us not to follow the wisdom of men and in 1 Cor. 4:6 we are told, “Do not go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over against another”. So, if we follow what is written, and not follow men, then we will build well and not be corrupted by false teaching which will destroy a church.





So, we can see that this chapter is telling us to be careful how we build and to build on the foundation of Jesus because our rewards will be according to the way we build.
If we build well then we will be rewarded.


If we build poorly then we will still be saved but lose our rewards.


If anyone destroys the church then they will be destroyed.





If we take 1 Cor. 3:16-17 out of context and tell a smoker that he is going to hell then we ourselves will be guilty of poor doctrine. Also, the smoker may have little faith and poor self-control and what we say may destroy the little faith he has. Feeling hopelessly lost, he may turn to wine, women and song … which will certainly lead him to hell.





There is no doubt that smoking is bad for our health and people are in bondage to it but nowhere does the Bible say that smokers will go to hell. When the Bible is silent on something then we should be also but of course smokers should be encouraged to quit the habit.
Mick Alexander


leeandmick@gmail.com


www.ChristianIssues.biz ]]> Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:53:19 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3254/the-power-of-sin https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3254

The Power Of Sin
 
All Christians know about the great spiritual struggle between their sinful nature and the Spirit of God. Galatians 5:17 tells us all about that struggle where it says, "the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit , and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." The following testimony is to tell how the Lord delivered me from smoking and drinking. This experience showed me a very important truth that makes absolute sense and the same truth applies to any sin .
 
Here is my story:
Soon after I became a Christian I promised Jesus , rather reluctantly, that I would quit smoking and drinking - particularly smoking. Some time passed and I couldn't do it myself so one day I told Him that if He didn't help me then I'd never be able to quit. Amazingly, the next day the desire was totally gone - TOTALLY! It was hard to believe that the Lord had such power over my desires. Anyway, a week later I decided to have a couple of beers and smokes because " I" had it beaten and "I" could control things now. Well, I was immediately hooked again and consumed twice as much as before.
 
A few painful months went by and I couldn't keep my promise to the Lord so I asked Him for help again. Same thing! Again the desire totally disappeared and this time a month or so went by before I was foolish enough to "just have a couple". I knew that I had things under control this time so a couple would not hurt me. Naturally I got hooked again and I smoked and drank like there was no tomorrow.
 
Now the pain really started because I couldn't keep my vow to quit. I kept drinking and smoking for another year or two and I knew where every vow-to-the-Lord verse was in the Bible. I was suffering and I even got on my knees and wept a couple of times but God left me in the wilderness ... it was very, very painful as I believe we must always keep our word, especially to God. Anyway, one day after much heartache I said, "I'm going to quit today and if I have one tomorrow, I'll quit again and if I have one the next day then I'll quit again ... I'm going to the grave quitting." Well the Lord took it away for the third time and this time I never went back even though tempted a couple of times. Today I don't have the slightest desire to smoke or drink - I am totally delivered. He's a wonderful, powerful, loving and very patient God and I had learned that our strength is in Him alone .
 
The truth behind all of this is that when I made the vow in the first place I didn't really want to quit but I made the promise because I wanted to please God. It was a case of wanting my cake and eating it too. If you think about the way the Lord dealt with me you will see that He was willing to help me but I had to be truly repentant and not keep going back to the sin. The fact is I was hopelessly weak. James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Note the word 'resist' - we must fight sin, exercise self-control and call upon God for strength.
 
There are many sins to fight against but lust, like hate, is a powerful emotion. In resisting it, look the other way; don't go where you will be tempted; throw away any pornography you may have; resist temptation in all ways and be like Joseph who fled from Potiphar's wife (Gen 39:6-15). Exercise self-control as you call on the Lord to help you and He will deliver you and give you strength to resist future sin.

If you hate someone, pray for them. It's not possible to pray a genuine blessing on someone you hate so keep at it until you come to love the person. Ask God to change your heart so that you can love them as you should. Also, Jesus said that if we hate we will come under judgment and Romans 13:10 tells us that "love is the fulfillment of the law." If you suffer from hatred, bitterness or envy then you need to be pray it out of your life as these things will exclude you from the kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21).
 
I think that the best advice for anyone who is struggling in sin is, "Get on your knees with a repentant heart and tell the Lord how weak you are and that you need Him to deliver you and to give you the strength to resist whatever sin plagues you." If you think that you are too weak to do it yourself then you are very right because we are weak and Romans 8:7 tells us plainly that we can't do it ourself because "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's laws, nor can it do so ." However, remember that Mark 10:27 says, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God" , so take your sin to God.
 
Most importantly, you must want to be set free; you must learn to hate your sin as much as God hates it. Don't be like me and keep going back to it. I didn't really want to give it up in the first place so I suffered greatly until the Lord brought me to the place where I desperately hated what I was doing. Then He took it away and by that time I was so badly burned that going back to smoking and drinking was out of the question.
 
Remember, there is no sin too big for the Lord to handle, NONE! If you have a sin in your life that you can't get rid of then it is simply because you don't really want to stop. You actually love the sin more than you love God, just like me with my love of smoking and drinking. God is not too weak to take our sin away, we are too weak to resist it. Get serious with sin and then God will get serious with you. Rom. 6:14 says, "sin shall not be your master" and James 4:8 says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you" .
 
Lastly, Galatians 5:17 says, "the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." Paul confirms this in Romans 7:15 where he says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do." BUT, he went on to say in Romans 7:24-25, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! " So, we can see that our sinful nature wars with the Spirit but Jesus will rescue us, if we repent, and Galatians 5:16 gives us the promise that we can have victory over sin. It says,
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
 
May the Lord bless you as you walk with Him.

...ooo000ooo...
Demonic activity can cause havoc in a Christian's life. Please read the following link if you have sin which you believe may be caused by demonic influence from any past contact, association or activity. Go to http://www.christianissues.biz/christiansanddemons.html
Mick Alexander
www.Christianissues.biz
  ]]> Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:03:52 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3201/perseverance https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3201
To persevere means to continue to do something even when it is hard to do. The Bible tells us that we must persevere in holiness otherwise we may lose our salvation.
In this article I would like to do two things:
Firstly, I will give two examples which show that Christians can lose their salvation if they don't persevere.
Secondly, I will explain how to persevere.

The first verse I would like to look at to show that a Christian can lose his salvation was written to Timothy, a church leader. The Apostle Paul wrote to him with the following warning: "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Tim. 4:16). Paul told Timothy, in very clear words, that if he wanted to save himself then he must persevere in his lifestyle and his teaching. This means that if he wanted to get to heaven then he must be careful to continue to live a godly life and be careful about what doctrines he teaches.

The second example is in Heb 10:26-27. These verses say, “ If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God ” . The first thing to notice in these verses is that writer of Hebrews uses the word “we” so this means that he includes himself in this warning. What he is saying is, “If any Christian, including myself, deliberately continues to sin then he will be condemned and consumed in God's fire”.

So, these two examples tell us that both Timothy, a church leader, and the man who wrote Hebrews knew that they had to persevere in holiness if they wanted to get to heaven. There are many more examples that I could use but I think that these two are enough to show that we can lose our salvation.

Now I would like to look at what perseverance is and how we persevere.
Persevering is something that we must choose to do because God does not force us to do anything. God doesn't control us but instead His Spirit works within us to strengthen and encourage us to do what is right. When we sin, the Holy Spirit takes our peace away and we then have the choice of either repenting of that sin or ignoring it.
If we choose to ignore the Holy Spirit and deliberately continue in sin then we may lose our salvation as the verses in Heb. 10 have already told us.

However, if we repent of our sin then God will forgive us and that is how we persevere to be holy. Perseverance is simply using our self-control to resist sin and live a holy life but if we do sin then we confess it to receive forgiveness.



There is no reason why anyone should fear losing their salvation. It is only when we ignore God and refuse to repent of our sins that our salvation is at risk. There is a big difference between sinning occasionally and deliberately continuing in sin. We all sin from time to time and receive forgiveness when we confess it. This type of sinning is not ongoing in our life, that is, it is not part of our way of life and it does not put us in danger of losing our salvation.

The type of sinning that leads to salvation loss is deliberate, ongoing sin. This is the type of sin referred to in the verses we just looked at in Heb. 10:26-27. It is sin that is not repented of but allowed to go on and on. It can be any sin but some common examples are drunkenness, lusting, hating, stealing and lying. We must be careful to repent as soon as the Spirit convicts us otherwise our heart will become hard and we may never repent and end up in hell.

An important point I would like to mention is that a believer may struggle with a sin, even for a long time. The fact that they are struggling shows God that they have a repentant heart but are too weak to stop. Struggling with sin is not the same as deliberately sinning. Struggling means that we don't want to do it but we do not have the self-control to stop because we haven't yet come to hate the sin enough. If anyone is struggling with a sin then continue to confess it and ask God to strengthen you to resist. God hears your prayers and His promise is that when you confess, He will forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Don't give up, resist it with all your strength and God will deliver you.

I believe that, from what I have said in this article, that it is clear that Christians can lose their salvation if they fail to remain in Jesus by persevering in their faith. However, there is no reason for any of us to fear losing our salvation as long as we confess and repent of our sin whenever the Holy Spirit convicts us.

I would like to finish off by saying that n o one can live a sinless life. The fact is, we all sin occasionally but we will be condemned if we continue to live in a sinful lifestyle.
Do you have a sin that they need to confess?
If so, then please get on your knees and take it to the Lord.
If you have been struggling with sin for some time then please talk to a man or woman you trust so that you can pray over it together until you come to hate the sin. When you do finally hate the sin, God will deliver you from it and give you the strength to resist it in the future.
Remember that all things are possible with God and there is no sin too big for God to cleanse you of.

This is a condensed version of my article at
http://www.christianissues.biz/perseverance.html

Mick Alexander
]]> Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:47:34 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3194/christians-and-judging https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3194
Many Christians say that we should not judge but in this article I would like to show that God commands us to judge for two very good reasons.
1) To help our brothers and sisters remain on the Narrow Road of salvation.
2) To keep the church pure, separated from both sin and false teaching.

Many Christians misinterpret what the Bible says about judging and say that we should never judge. In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus did say not to judge but a close look at these verses will show that He is referring to hypocritical, unloving and unjust judging. It is very wrong for us to make judgments about a person's motives or thoughts because we simply don't know their mind. However, in John 7:24, Jesus said, "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment". In this verse Jesus is talking about making righteous judgments in regard to God's laws. We must make biblically based judgments in matters of doctrine and righteous living because the Bible is our foundation and if we don't do what it says then it will become just another book. Then we will have no standard and everyone will be doing whatever they think is right, just like the Israelites in the time of the Judges - "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25 ESV).

If we want to keep God's commands then we must first judge what is right and what is wrong. For example, God says that we must expel from the church someone who says he is a brother but is a drunk or immoral etc (1 Cor. 5:11-13). How can we expel someone if we don't first judge that they actually are a drunk or immoral etc? The Bible also says that we should hate what is evil and cling to what is good (Rom. 12:9). How can we do that if we don't first judge what is good and what is evil? So, we can see that we must make judgments about what is right and what is wrong so that we can obey God's commands.

Disputable matters -
Romans 14 talks about matters which we are not to judge because they are disputable. Disputable matters are things which God has left to our choice, such as as what we eat, what day we worship, what we wear to church etc. These are matters of personal choice and are not essential for salvation. We must always dress modestly but other than that we should be free to dress how we like. However, in Rom. 14:21, God tells us, ”It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall", so we must be careful not to do anything that could cause a person to fall because another person's salvation is far more important than pleasing ourselves.

Now lets look at personal things that are not disputable -
To decide if a personal activity is disputable or not ask yourself, "Can this affect someone's salvation?" If the answer is yes, then you can be sure that the Bible condemns the activity. God commands us to judge and discipline fellow believers concerning their personal conduct. For example, the Corinthians were told to "...expel the wicked man from among you … so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord" (1 Cor. 5:13, 5). This man was expelled from the church, after being judged as wicked, in the hope that he would repent and be “saved on the day of the Lord”. Another reason for removing unrepentant sinners from the church is so that their wickedness will not influence other believers because “a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough” (1 Cor. 5:6).

A second example of warning our brothers and sisters is in James 5:19-20 which say, "My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins." Again we are told to turn a brother or sister from their error and save them from hell. As hard as it may be to do, it is an act of love to confront a sinning brother or sister and unloving not to.

There is a lot of peer pressure telling us not to judge. People will say, "We must not judge" or "Let's keep the unity, let's keep the peace". However, the Apostles did not feel the same way as the following examples show:
a) Paul openly spoke against certain men in 2 Tim. 2:16-18, 2 Tim. 4:14-15 and 1 Tim. 1:19-20.
b) In 3 John 1:9-11, John named a man who was in error.
c) Paul openly corrected Peter, a fellow Apostle, in Galatians 2:11-14.
d) 1 Tim. 5:20 says that leaders caught in false teaching or immorality are to be rebuked publicly.
e) Matt. 18:15-17 say that Christians who persist in sin must be spoken to and removed from the church, if they fail to repent.
These examples make it clear that we must publicly expose sin and error and the reason is love. 1 Tim. 1:3-5 say, “... command certain men not to teach false doctrines … the goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”.

All throughout the world there are churches, televangelists and teachers with all sorts of false teachings, fake healing ministries and the false prosperity gospel. These people are described and condemned in 2 Pet. 2. The Bible urges us to separate from these errors and, in Gal. 1:6-9, God condemns those who preach false gospels. We must warn others about false teachings otherwise they may be badly misled and leave the path of holiness. So, it is most important that we make righteous judgments according to the Word of God so that we can separate ourselves from false teachings.

Once again, God commands us to judge both sin and doctrine for two reasons:
1) So that backsliding believers can be snatched from the fire and saved out of the devil's hand.
2) So that the church itself is free from evil influences, giving believers a holy place to worship in as 1 Cor. 15:33 tells us that “bad company corrupts good character”. Therefore, in the same way that an ex-alcoholic must keep away from alcohol, the church must separate itself from sin and error otherwise the sin will work its way through the church and corrupt other members and it won't be long before that church is little more than a social club.

To finish off, I would like to ask you this question, “If you were in error, and in danger of hell, would you want someone to warn you?” Yes, of course you would! So, in love, warn a brother or sister when it is necessary. Failing to judge righteously is most unloving because it will leave a sinner on the Broad Road to destruction so let us all follow God's commands and make righteous, biblically based judgments.

I have a slightly more detailed article at
http://www.christianissues.biz/judging.html

Mick Alexander



]]> Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:28:02 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3191/our-blessed-hope https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3191  
Titus 2:13 says that “we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” and in this article I would like to talk about our hope.
 
Hope is not something we can hold in our hand but something we hold in our heart. Our hope is that one day we will leave this sinful world behind and live forever in the presence of God. We will no longer have our sinful body of flesh which is weak and fading away but we will have an immortal body like Jesus (Phil. 3:21). It’s impossible to understand what it will be like but the Bible says that it will happen and, when it does, we probably won't understand how we could ever have been so sinful. Our future is sinless perfection in a world of eternal love and that is a wonderful hope to hold on to.
 
Hope and faith are united and it is because of our faith that we have hope. In Heb 11:1 we are told that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. We can’t see faith but it is through our faith that we have the hope of being with Jesus one day.
 
Examples of faith and hope
The Bible gives us many examples of people with great faith and hope and Job was one of them. Job lived hundreds of years before Jesus and was tested severely by the devil but he kept the faith. He was very wealthy and had seven sons and three daughters but he lost everything when God allowed the devil to attack him. He also suffered with painful sores and was deeply offended by his friends yet he kept his hope in God. In the middle of all his pain he said “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Even though he suffered terribly, he did not allow his earthly suffering to destroy his heavenly hope.
 
Paul was another person with great faith and hope even though he suffered many times while spreading the gospel. He was in prison often, flogged with a whip five times, beaten with rods three times, stoned once, deserted by all and suffered through many other trials. But, rather than destroy his faith and hope, these trials strengthened him and he said “in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” (2 Cor. 7:4). Paul is a great example of someone who suffered enormously for Jesus without losing hope. In Romans 12:12 he tells you and I to be “joyful in hope”.
 
What about our hope?
What can you and I do to have such a strong faith and hope? When we look at two men of great faith, Noah and Abraham, we see that they not only believed but they also obeyed. Noah was a righteous man and he obeyed God by building the Ark and, because he believed and obeyed, he was saved from the flood. Abraham also believed and obeyed God and was so near to God that God called him His friend. If we want God to call us His friend then -


1) We must obey the His commands. Jesus said “You are my friends if you do what I command”


2) We must talk to God in prayer and listen to Him through the Word because we can't be friends with someone we don't commune with.

 
There is a wonderful promise in James 4:8 which says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you”. As we seek to come near to God, through obedience, prayer and reading His Word, He blesses us with a greater awareness of His peaceful presence. Isa. 26:3 confirms this where it says, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you”. So, if we want to increase our faith and hope then we must “come near to God”.
 
Carefully read the following verses and note how God is urging us to draw near to Him in faith, to hold on to the promised hope, to practice love and to keep meeting together as a church. Heb. 10:22-25 say, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching”.
 
How strong is your hope?
Now I would like to ask you, “Do you have a strong faith and a sure hope or do circumstances and people easily upset your faith?” If your faith and hope are weak then you need to apply yourself and draw near to God through meeting with other Christians, prayer, Bible study and obedience to His commands. As already shown, it is God's promise that if you make the effort to get closer to Him, He will come closer to you and this will most certainly increase your faith and hope. Finding time for prayer and Bible study can be hard but if you make the effort and ask God to help you to find the time, as well as to give you understanding as you read, then you can be sure that your prayer will be answered.
 
There is a free book on the Internet called The Calvary Road. It dramatically changed my life as I learnt how to hear and follow the Lord's voice. At first, I didn't like some of the things the Lord was telling me about myself and I tried to ignore Him but He got through to me eventually and has made some serious changes in my life ... and is still making changes. Today, I know the Lord's voice well and have a certain hope of being with Him one day soon. Just Google “free book the calvary road” and you will find it.
 
Mick Alexander.
 
 ]]> Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:32:18 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3187/shepherding-the-sheep https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3187
In this article, I would like to talk about the responsibility church leaders have as“shepherds of the church of God” (Acts 20:28).

A shepherd has full responsibility for his flock. He takes care of his sheep by leading them to good pasture and protecting them from dangers such as thieves and wolves. In the same way, a shepherd of God's church must feed believers with sound doctrine and guide them into a close relationship with Jesus who will protect them from sin and the false teachings of thieves and wolves. A Christian needs to know the Bible well and to walk closely with Jesus so that he can stand firm against the evils of this world. In our own strength, we are very weak and easy prey for the devil and that is why the disciples deserted Jesus when He was arrested.

Peter told Jesus that he would never desert Him but Jesus said that he would deny Him three times before the cock crowed and that is exactly what happened. The reason the apostles deserted Jesus was because they were depending upon their own strength but they soon found that the fear of death was more than they could stand. Jesus, of course, knew this would happen and it was a bitter but very necessary lesson for the Apostles to learn. They had to learn to rely upon God for their strength because mere men are no match for the devil and his demons. After the resurrection, in John 21:15-19, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him and said to Peter, “feed my lambs … take care of my sheep … feed my sheep”. In saying this, Jesus was telling Peter, a future shepherd of the church, to spiritually feed and take care of those who would later be in his care. In vs.18-19 Jesus told Peter about the death he would face and then said to Peter, “Follow me”. At this point in time, Peter knew very well how weak he was in himself and that his future strength would only come from following Jesus. Through this lesson, Peter, and the other apostles, understood that feeding and caring for the lambs and sheep would be teaching and leading believers, young and old, to follow Jesus.

How do church leaders and elders feed and care for their sheep?
A leader should often speak to his sheep as though there are goats among them. There are many people in the churches who are not saved and there is a good chance that these goats don't actually know how to be saved. Perhaps they have never heard the gospel preached clearly or have misunderstood it. Everyone needs to be told clearly that they must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. To be born again, they must repent of (turn their back on) ALL sin and receive Jesus as Lord of their life. When they do this, the Holy Spirit will come into their life and then they will become spiritually born again, children of God. Unless they do this, all their singing, dancing, Bible study, church going, giving and even prayer will not save them because they are not born again.

The single most important thing a Christian needs to understand is the witness of the Spirit. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us to be our guide in all things and the Spirit controls our emotions to get our attention. Whenever we have no peace, He is telling us that we are off God's chosen path in some way or other. When we sin, the Spirit takes our peace away and this is God's witness for us to repent and, when we do repent, He returns our peace. It is the most simple process in the world and when we understand and follow this witness we come to know the Lord's voice very well and, because of our obedience, we enter into His peaceful rest.

Another very important job leaders have is to teach sound doctrine. They need to spend much time in study and prayer to be sure that they are not teaching false doctrine. Leaders need to be able to scripturally defend their beliefs and not just follow popular teaching. Regarding a leader, Titus 1:9 says, “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it”. A sure way to know if our beliefs are true is to listen for the Spirit's witness. If we are caught up in a false doctrine then we will not have peace when our beliefs are challenged and getting upset or angry when challenged is a sure sign that we need to look closer at what we believe.

I believe that teaching a believer to walk with Jesus and sound doctrine are the two most important jobs a leader has. Paul told Timothy, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers”. The devil will attack our life to entice us to sin and try to draw us into false doctrine to lead us into error as both take us away from the Truth and can result in loss of salvation.

Believers who have been led well
1) Know how to live by the Spirit and lead a holy life, no longer slaves to sin (see Gal. 5:16).
2) Know the Bible well enough to recognise and refute false doctrine (see Titus 1:9).
3) Know that love is the fulfilment of the law (Rom. 13:10).
4) Know how to take their problems to the Lord rather than continually burdening their leaders. It is good to discuss problems with others but only Jesus can deliver us from sin, family problems, worldly worries etc. so we need to learn to take our burdens to Him (Phil. 4:6-7).
5) Know how to call upon the Lord for strength when faced with persecution.

Well fed believers stand firm in their faith and may well go on to be leaders themselves.

Believers who have been poorly led
1) May struggle enormously with sin.
2) Usually have poor Bible knowledge and can easily fall prey to false doctrines.
3) May be caught up in angry or even hateful relationships.
4) May feel hopelessly burdened with the worries of life.
5) Will probably fall away when faced with persecution.

Poorly fed believers have a fragile faith and can be easily led astray by false teachings and, as already stated, these things may result in their falling away and being lost (Matt. 24:10-11; 2 Cor. 11:3-4).

To finish off, James 3:1 warns that those who teach will be judged more strictly. A shepherd in God's church has a great responsibility to teach his sheep how to follow Jesus and to ground them in sound doctrine. In doing this, he will protect his flock from the many traps the devil has set to devour weak sheep.

This article can be downloaded as a PDF from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/shepherdingthesheep.pdf

Mick Alexander
]]> Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:18:55 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3175/faith-and-works https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3175 "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead" James 2:26.

What is the connection between faith and works? Is there a conflict between what Paul and James say? In Eph. 2:8-9, Paul tells us that we are saved by faith and not by works, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" . But then James 2:26 says that “ faith without deeds is dead” . It appears that Paul and James contradict each other but, in fact, they don't. Paul is saying that doing good things before we are saved will not save us (Eph. 2:8-9) but James is saying that after we are saved our faith will lead us to do good works (James 2:14-26). They are stating separate truths which together tell us that

GOOD WORKS will not result in SALVATION but
SALVATION will result in GOOD WORKS.

James 2:18 says, "I will show you my faith by what I do" . James was saying that his deeds were a result of his faith. That is, he was already saved and his faith led him to do good works. The following three examples show that Paul, like James, also said that salvation will result in good works:
1) In Eph. 2:10 Paul said, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good work s, which God prepared in advance for us to do" . There are two things to note about this verse:
Firstly, it is 'in Christ' (when we are saved) that we do good works and
Secondly, this verse follows Eph. 2:8-9 which say that works will not save us.
So, combined, Eph. 2:8-10 say that good works won't save us but we are saved to do good works.
2) In Acts 26:20 Paul said, "I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds" . So, deeds follow and prove our salvation.
3) In Rom. 7:4 Paul said, "So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God" . Again, the deeds follow salvation.

From these examples we can see that Paul and James don't contradict each other at all. They both tell us that good deeds are part of a sincere faith. John the Baptist also put deeds after salvation when he said, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt. 3:8) .
 
Summing this up, we can do nothing to earn our salvation but, once saved, our deeds will bear witness to our salvation. A couple more verses in James also say this. Regarding Abraham, James 2:22 says, "his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did" , and James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: "to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" . So, we can't work for our salvation but salvation should result in good works and being kept from the sinful pollution of the world.
 
This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/miscellaneous/faithandworks.pdf


 
Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
www.ChristianIssues.biz
 
 ]]> Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:40:50 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3165/seeking-the-kingdom https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3165  
In Matt. 6:33, Jesus said, “ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” . When you pray, what is it that you seek from Jesus? Do you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness or do you go to Him with a list of personal wants? Do yo u ask Him to work through you or to work for you? Do you seek the miraculous to puff yourself up or do you seek to be a humble servant as the Lord requests? I think that we have all been guilty of all of the above at some point in time but let's look at what the Lord wants us to seek.
 
In this article I'd like to look at -
1) Seeking His kingdom.
2) Seeking His righteousness.
3) All things being given.
 
1) Seeking His kingdom.
The Sermon on the Mount in Matt. 5-7 is all about God's kingdom which exists spiritually now and will be a physical reality one day. Seeking the kingdom has many aspects some of which are evangelising the lost, being a light for the Lord, discipling believers, missionary work, serving in the local church, giving, being kind to a cranky neighbour, helping anyone in need and anything else which advances the kingdom.
 
1 John 3:18 tells us, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” and James 1:27 gives us practical examples of actions where it says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world ” . James tells us that looking after those in need, saved or not, and keeping from the pollution of sin is faultless religion.
 
Seeking His kingdom is serving the Lord to benefit the kingdom. Each of us can only do so much but if we do whatever God lays on our heart then we are doing well and storing up treasures in heaven.
 
2) Seeking His righteousness.
Righteousness is simply a state of being right with God. It is the holiness of heart and purity of life which Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount. Righteousness includes being salt and light to those around us, not hating or being immoral, loving even our enemies, not worrying, not judging hypocritically or seeking revenge, fasting, praying and bearing the spiritual fruit of Gal. 5:22-23.
 
Righteousness does not come in a bag that we can keep like money in the bank. It's our lifestyle. 1 John 3:7 (ESV) says, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous” . The words “practices righteousness” tell us that righteousness is ours only as we continue in a holy lifestyle. It follows that if we are not practising righteousness then we are not righteous. We can't be righteous and sinful at the same time.
 
Repentance is the missing link in many pulpits. In Isa 59:2, God says that “your iniquities have separated you from your God” and this separation will be eternal for those who refuse to repent. Repentance seems to have become a dirty word. Many pastors skip the subject of sin to please the flock and keep the money coming in because the church would empty if they heard a bit of fire and brimstone rather than what their itching ears want to hear. The link that binds man to God is a holy, repentant life and that link must be present in the life of every soul who wishes to inherit eternal life. Heb. 12:14 warns us very clearly to “ Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord ” .
 
Seeking His righteousness is practising righteousness and, as we continue to do this, we are holy and righteousness just as Jesus is holy and righteousness. We can't be in Christ and in sin at the same time.
 
3) All things being given.
In Matt. 6:25-33, Jesus talked about our basic needs in life and ended by saying “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well ”. Notice how Jesus said that these things will be given as a bonus for seeking Him. So, we can be certain that if seeking His kingdom and His righteousness is our first priority then our basic needs will be faithfully supplied by the Lord just as He feeds the birds and dresses the lilies of the field.
 
Nowhere does the Bible encourage us to seek personal fame or fortune.
Regarding money, Jesus said in Matt. 6:24, “No one can serve two masters … You cannot serve both God and money” (Matt. 6:2 4).

Regarding personal fame, Jesus said in Mat 23:11-12, “The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” .

Even our church leaders are told to be humble servants and not greedy for money. 1 Pet. 5:2-4 say, “Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” .


 
To finish off, seeking His kingdom and His righteousness is not about what we can get from God but rather it is about honouring Him with a holy walk and humbly serving to further His kingdom. Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” . When we deny self for His sake we can be sure that He will meet all our needs and 1 Tim. 6:8 tells us that “ if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” .
 
This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/seekingthekingdom.pdf
 
 
 
Mick Alexander
 
 
 
 
  ]]> Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:23:26 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3152/losing-our-rewardsl https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3152





Some Christians believe that if a saved person enters into a sinful lifestyle and fails to repent then he will still get to heaven but will lose rewards. Their proof text is 1 Cor. 3:13-15 which say, “his work will be shown for what it is … the fire will test the quality of each man's work ... If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames”. Notice that these verses are referring to the testing of a man's work, not sin. In this article I would like to show that, in context, these verses are not speaking about sin in the least but about how we work to build on the foundation of the gospel of Jesus.





Beginning with 1 Cor. 1:11-13 and 1 Cor. 3:1-8, these verses tell us that the Corinthians were fighting about whether they should follow Paul, Apollos or Cephas. Paul said that their focus should be on Jesus because men are mere servants with assigned tasks; one man plants, another waters and each man will be rewarded according to his own labour. Next, in 1 Cor. 3:9-11, he continues on to say that we are God's workers, His field and His building (His church) and that he, Paul, has laid a foundation as an expert builder and each of us must be careful how we build on that foundation, which is Jesus Christ.
 







Then 1 Cor. 3:12-15 talk about how we build the church and warn that fire will test the quality of each man's work. The verses say that we can -





a) Build with gold, silver or costly stones and receive our reward or


b) Build with wood, hay or straw and, although we will still be saved, our work will be burned up.





Building with gold, silver or costly stones represent good leadership and sound doctrine while wood, hay and straw represent poor leadership and unsound doctrine. Sin is not in question here.rewards





So far, Paul has spoken about building the church with either good or poor leadership and doctrine but now he continues on to speak about bad leadership and doctrine which destroys a church. 1 Cor. 3:16-17 say, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you [plural] are that temple”. The term “God's temple” is referring to the church, the body of Christ, and these verses say that God will destroy anyone who destroys His church (see 2 Pet. 2).





Then, from 1 Cor. 3:18, Paul continues on to further warn us not to follow men. In 1 Cor. 4:6 he sums up what he has said so far (from 1 Cor. 3:1) by saying that he has applied these things to himself and Apollos so that we could learn the meaning of the saying, “'Do not go beyond what is written.' Then you will not take pride in one man over against another”. He is saying that the entire passage is to warn us not to follow men but to stay with what is written. In 1 Cor. 4:2 he said, “it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful”, and it is by not going beyond what is written that we remain faithful to that trust.





So we can see that this passage of scripture has nothing to do with sin. It is a warning for us not to follow men's wisdom but to use the written Word to build on the foundation of Jesus because our rewards will be according to the way we build.





    If we build with sound biblical doctrine then we will be rewarded.I


    f we build with poor doctrine then we will still be saved but lose our rewards.


    If anyone destroys the church then he will be destroyed.








If we attempt to make sin the context of this passage then it will make no sense at all as words like build, labour and work don't relate to sin. Likewise, sin can't be related to building with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay and straw unless we say that we will be rewarded for good sins and lose our reward for bad sins. The fact is, sin and its reward are not the subject of this passage. The reward for sin is dealt with elsewhere where we are told that the wages of sin is death, not a loss of heavenly rewards.





This article can be downloaded from:





http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/losingourrewards.pdf








Mick Alexander ]]> Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:06:34 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3142/love-one-another https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3142 "A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another".
(John 13:34)
 
Jesus gave us a new command to love one another. When we honestly look at how we react to some people at times we find that we fall short of this command, to say the least. Loving others is Jesus' number one command yet we can think of it as being just too hard to do or something that is done only by people we read about. In our blindness, we can put love at the end of our list of things to do and still believe that we are a good Christian. The fact is, love is not an option but a command and if we want to be obedient to the Lord then we must make every effort to love as He loved.
 
What is love?
The Bible never describes love as a dizzy headed, love at first sight feeling but rather as caring and doing for others and real love is usually at our own expense. Jesus is the perfect example of love. He gave up the comforts of heaven to become the greatest servant ever by denying Himself to the point of willingly dying on the cross. He set aside every perso nal desire as He went to the cross and put His love for God ahead of all else. Rom. 5:8-10 say that Jesus showed His love and died for us when we were His enemies. Now He wants us to follow His example by loving our enemies but, as we all know, loving those who hate us does not come naturally.
 
How can we love our enemies?
When Jesus said, “as I have loved you, so you must love one another” , He knew very well that t here was no way, in our natural state, that we could love those who hate us. It's far more natural for us to curse an enemy than it is to love him but God gives us His Spirit so that we have the power to do what He commands. 2 Pet. 1:3-4 say that “His divine power [the Holy Spirit] has given us everything we need for life and godliness … so that you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” . Through the Holy Spirit, every believer has the power to escape the corruption of sin and to love those who hate and persecute him. But because we are inclined to follow our sinful nature, rather than the Spirit within us, the following often occurs -
 
We get angry and critical because others are not doing things our way.

We become jealous when another person is in first place.

We are envious when someone gets the glory that we believe should be ours.

We lose peace over little things and say, “I have every right to be upset because he /she … etc”.

We make cruel remarks that deeply scar people.

We judge hypocritically or without even knowing the truth.

We refuse to apologise when we are wrong or we won't accept someone else's apology.

We can strongly criticise or even condemn people when they disagree with our doctrine.

We get bitter saying, “I can't help getting angry over these things. It's part of my nature”.

… plus anything else that puts barriers between us.


 
The fact is, our sinful nature prompts us to do all of the above but God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we have His Divine Power to resist and be holy. Jesus has not given us a command that cannot be obeyed yet, instead of striving to be obedient, we make excuses saying things like, "Oh, I know I should try more but it's just too hard to change". We should take the command to love much more seriously as Gal. 5: 19-21 make it clear that anyone caught up in lasting hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions or envy will not get to heaven. This includes brothers and sisters in our churches as 1 John 4:20, 3:15 say, “If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar ... a nyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him” . Most of us would know brothers or sisters caught up in hateful relationships. The best advice we can give them is in Luke 13:3 where Jesus says, "unless you repent, you too will all perish" .
 
To sum things up, God commands us to make every effort to love one another and to be at peace with all men . It goes against our nature to love those who hate us but if we repent of our hatred then God will change ou r heart of stone into a heart of flesh and we will come to love those we once hated. I know this to be very true as the Lord has changed my heart on more than one occasion. The first time it happened I was a bit overwhelmed as one moment I didn't like a particular Christian lady and the next I cared for her. It happened after a simple prayer asking the Lord to help me to love my sister as He said I should. After this very brief prayer I visited her and God changed my heart the moment I began speaking. It was really amazing and this event showed me the power the Lord has to change our sinful ways, if we will only repent and call upon Him for help.
 
This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/loveoneanother.pdf
 
 
 
Mick Alexander

 
]]> Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:58:20 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3127/do-not-grieve-the-spirit https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3127 “ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” .
(Eph. 4:30)
 
The gift of the Holy Spirit is God's seal of approval for anyone who repents of their sins and puts their trust in Jesus but what is the full purpose of the Spirit and how can we grieve the Spirit of God?
 
Firstly, what is the Spirit's purpose in our life?
The Holy Spirit:
Brings glory to Jesus by revealing Him to us and through us (John 16:14).

Witnesses to us that we are children of God so that we know we are saved (Rom. 8:16).

Wills us to act according to God's good purpose (Phil. 2:13).

Empowers us to be witnesses for Jesus as we are powerless to convict sinners (Acts 1:8).

Guides us into all truth so that the world won't deceive us (John 16:13).

Convicts us of sin so that we will repent and live a holy life (John 16:8).

Empowers us to escape the corruption of sin and live a godly life (2 Pet. 1:3-4).


 
The Holy Spirit works within us and empowers us to live a godly life. The Bible tells us that “ His divine power [the Holy Spirit] has given us everything we need for life and godliness” and “the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:3-4; Rom. 8:4). Our sinful nature will always prompt us to sin but if we live according to the Spirit then we will have the power to overcome the world and no longer be slaves to sin. So, God's purpose in giving us His Spirit is so that we can live a Spirit-led, godly life.
 
How can we grieve the Spirit?
If we live according to the Spirit then we will please God. However, if we follow our sinful nature and refuse to respond to the Spirit's conviction then we will grieve the Spirit who strives to guide us into holy living. 1 Thess. 4:7-8 say, “ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction [to be holy] does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit” . From these verses we can see that ignoring the Spirit is nothing less than rejecting God and this grieves His Spirit.
 
Eph. 4:30-5:4 say that we will grieve the Spirit if we don’t get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger etc... We should not be obscene, talk foolishly or joke coarsely. All of these things grieve the Spirit because they are improper for God's holy people. Instead we are to be kind, compassionate and forgiving. We should live a life of love and there should not be even a hint of immorality, impurity or greed among us because these things can have a fearful result.
 
What is the result of grieving the Spirit?
The result of grieving the Spirit is given plainly in Eph. 5:3-7, “ But among you [Christians] there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people . ... For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them ” . These are strong words telling us, as God's holy people, not to allow ourselves to be deceived into thinking that we can get away with being immoral, impure or greedy because God's wrath, hell, will be the outcome. This is why Eph. 4:30 tells us not to grieve the Spirit with whom we are sealed for the day of redemption. (The day of redemption is the day Jesus returns and fully redeems us from our sinful nature by changing us into His likeness - Heb. 9:28; Phil. 3:21 ).
 
Eph. 1:13-14.
These verses say that we are sealed with the Spirit “ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption ” .
 
1) Regarding this guarantee: The deposit of the Spirit in our life is our guarantee that we are saved. If we did not have the Spirit then we would not be born again but would still be in our old life of sin. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we are able to live a holy life and have this guarantee that we are on our way to receiving our heavenly inheritance.
 
2) Next, saying that we are sealed “ until the redemption” gives the impression that we will be fully redeemed when Jesus returns, regardless of what we do. However, the following examples show several other more meaningful translations of the word translated “until” :
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit:
looking unto the final and complete redemption (PNT commentary)

for the purpose o f and against the accomplishment of the redemption (JFB commentary)

in anticipation of its full redemption (AMP Bible)

with a view to the redemption (NASB Bible).


From this it can be seen that it is more accurate to say that we have the deposit of the Holy Spirit with a view to , or in anticipation of , our full redemption.
 
So, the deposit of the Spirit in our life is not a guarantee of our final and full redemption but, rather, it is a guarantee that we are saved and looking forward to bei ng fully redeemed. When a deposit is paid to buy something like a house, conditions are put in place. If these conditions are not met then the final purchase can fall through. The conditions of our final redemption are given in Rom. 8:13 which says, “ if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” .
 
To finish off, in His love, God has sealed us with His Spirit so that we have the Divine Power to live according to His will and to be holy as He is holy. So, let's not grieve the Spirit but humbly repent whenever convicted and ask the Lord to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. In doing this we will be at peace with God and can confidently look forward to receiving a rich welcome into His presence.
 
This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/donotgrievethespirit.pdf
 
 
Mick Alexander ]]> Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:40:28 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3022/paul-the-chief-sinner https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/3022

God sets Paul as an example for us to follow.
If Paul was a habitual sinner then how could he say, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1)? Then in Phil 4:9 he said, "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice." These words of Paul's were inspired by the Holy Spirit so God Himself considers Paul to be a Christlike example for us to follow. God would not ask us to follow a struggling sinner therefore the belief that Paul struggled in sin is obviously wrong.


The Holy Spirit rescues us from sin.
The belief that Paul was a struggling sinner comes from not reading the rest of Romans 7 and on into chapter 8. If we read on we find that, through the Holy Spirit , Paul was delivered from his sinful nature. In Rom. 7:24-25 he said, "... Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" The words “rescue me” can be translated “set me free” , “release me” or “deliver me” so Paul is saying that Jesus rescued him and set him free from his sinful nature. As we read on, Paul tells us that through the Spirit a person can fully meet the righteous requirements of the law. Rom. 8:2, 4 say, "... 2 through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death ... 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." From these verses, we can see that after Paul initially spoke of his personal inability to resist his sinful nature, he went on to say that through the Spirit, through God's divine power, he was set free from his “body of death” and was able to fully meet God's righteous requirements. Fully meeting God's righteous requirements certainly does not include habitual sin so it is obvious that Paul did not struggle on as a helpless sinner. Rather, with the Divine help of the Holy Spirit, he overcome sin.


Paul was a very holy man.
Who among us would dare to say, "follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" ? I don't think any of us would say such a thing and this should lead us to realise that Paul was a very holy man. Because the Bible says that we should imitate him, we can be sure that God is not encouraging us to follow a struggling sinner but someone totally transformed by the Spirit. Paul didn't claim to be perfect ( Phil. 3:12-14) but he pressed on toward perfection. He was not a weak sinner but a powerful Apostle, full of the Spirit, and God greatly honoured him by declaring him to be an example for us to follow.


We have no excuse for remaining in sin.
As we have seen, Paul was not a struggling sinner but an example for us to follow so he cannot be used as an excuse for our sin. To believers who say, "We are only human after all and can't help sinning", the question is, "What sin do you have that is too big for God to handle?" or "What sin do you have that is too big for Jesus to bear?" There is no doubt that in our own strength we cannot stop sinning but God's promise is that through His Divine power we can live a godly life and “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Pet. 1:3-4). God sends the Holy Spirit into our life so that we may become new creations, spiritually born again into new life. Titus 3:5 tells us that “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” and Gal. 5:16 gives us a promise: "live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature".


The wages of sin is death, so we should not make excuses for our sin but rather submit ourselves to God because He “ chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).


This article can be downloaded as a PDF from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/perseverance/paulthesinner.pdf


Mick Alexander
  ]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:51:56 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2969/the-faith-of-abraham https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2969


What is faith?
We are told that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see and that it comes from hearing the Word. The Bible also says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:1, 6, Rom 10:17). So, in order to please God we must have faith in the unseen; we are called on to believe simply because the Word of God says so. It is very easy to say, “Yes, I have faith, I believe”, but the fact is these are just words. It is easy to impress others with words but God knows our heart and whether or not we truly believe. The real proof of our faith comes when it is put to the test.



Abraham's faith
Abraham was 75 when he obeyed God's command to leave his country and his people. He believed God's promise that he would be the father of a great nation and a blessing to all nations (Gen. 12) so he left his country behind in obedience to God.



It took 25 years for Abraham to have a child though his wife Sarah but the Bible tells us that, despite this great period of time, Abraham's faith did not waver. Rom 4:18-22 tells us that “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed ... Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness” . Because he clung to his faith in God's promise of a son, Abraham was declared righteous.



The greatest test of Abraham's faith was when God told him to sacrifice his son. In Gen. 22:2 we read where God told Abraham to "Take your son, your only son , Isaac, whom you love , and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about" . I am sure that Abraham had a long night thinking over what he was told to do but early the next morning he set out for the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. In the same way that he did not waver through unbelief regarding the birth of his son, he did not waver in setting out to obey God's command to sacrifice Isaac. Once again Abraham was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised which was to make him into a grea t nation through his one and only son. We read in Heb. 11:19 that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death” . Once again Abraham faithfully obeyed because he believed that God would keep his promise.



From these three examples of Abraham's faith we see that:
1) In faith he left his country because he believed God's promise of making him into a great nation.
2) In faith he believed that God would give them a son even though they were both well past it.
3) In faith he was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he believed that God would resurrect his son.



Abraham demonstrated his faith by acting on his belief, believing that God was able and would fulfil his promises. James 2:22 says that “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did” . God declared Abraham righteous because he lived out his faith. His faith went beyond head and heart to actions. God put Abraham to the test and he showed his great faith by unwaveringly doing what God commanded. For this reason, Abraham is called the father of all who believe by faith.



Living out our faith
Each person's faith is completely personal. No one can have faith for us. God deals with us individually as He works to increase our faith so that He can draw us closer and use us in His kingdom. God called Abraham His friend and used him mightily to establish the nation of Israel.



We can see from Abraham's example that real faith is accompanied by actions, with the full assurance that God will do what Has promised. It is not likely that we will be tested to Abraham's extreme but our faith is being tested daily. For example, Jesus tells us not to worry but how many of us truly cast worry aside and trust God to get us through? We are more inclined to say, “I believe God will look after me”, and then continue on worrying or giving Him a hand to do what we 'believe' He will do for us.



Have you refused God's call because you didn't feel capable? When Moses tried to get away from his call to lead Israel out of Egypt, God said, “ Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go ; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exod. 4:11-12). God promises to equip us to handle whatever He calls us to do but we won't know that personally until we act on it. We will remain an arm-chair Christian until we step out in faith.



Has God called you to leave everything behind and serve Him in some way or in some far off place but you lack the faith to take the step? Jesus said, “ I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). God promises to provide the needs of His servants but no one will ever realise the reality of that promise until they go.



There are many ways in which God can use us and test our faith. It is our job to listen for His call and to respond in faith. The Bible tells us that God honours those who honour Him and that without faith we cannot please Him (1 Sam 2:30, Heb. 11:6) so let us be like Abraham and show our faith by our actions. Let us believe His Word.



This article can be downloaded as a PDF from the Blog Articles group at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html




Mick Alexander ]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:08:18 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2942/christian-perfection https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2942 "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect".
(Matt. 5:48)


What does perfect mean?
Once a person repents of all sin, they are justified (saved) and the process of sanctification (perfection) begins. Sanctification is the cleansing of all outward and inward sin. We all know that no one will be sinlessly perfect while on this earth so what does Jesus mean when He tells us to be perfect? The word perfect in this verse does not mean sinless perfection but rather it means “mature” or “complete”. In Matt. 5:43-48, Jesus tells us that, as well as loving our neighbours, we are to to love our enemies also and in the last verse He says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" . The perfection Jesus is talking about is being perfect in love, mature in our faith, and it is achieved by loving everyone, even our enemies.


What is love?
There is no gift, no service, nothing at all which comes near to love. To stress the importance of love, Jesus gave a new command: " A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another " (John 13:34). Then Rom. 13:9 tells us that that all the commandments " are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbour as yourself' " , and v.10 continues on to explain what love is - " Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law " . So we can see that love, which is the fulfilment of the Law, is doing no harm to our neighbour. If we lie or steal or hate or lust or covet etc. then we are not loving our neighbour but rather we are harming him. So, Jesus' command to be perfect means that we should be striving to love God and all mankind by not sinning against them and, of course, to do good as we are able.


Some other passages urging us to perfection
Jesus' command to be perfect in love is not isolated. The Bible continually urges us to perfection, holiness and sanctification. Here are some examples -
1) The definition of a perfect Christian is one who strives to obey the two great commandments to " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength [and] love your neighbour as yourself " , (Mark 12:30-31).
2) 1 Pet. 1:16 says, " Be holy, because I am holy " . This verse speaks for itself.
3) 1Thess. 5:23 says, " May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ " . Paul's prayer clearly tells us that God wants to sanctify our entire being so that we are blameless at the coming of Jesus.
4) Eph. 5:25-27 tell us that Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might present it to Himself as a glorious church, not having stain, wrinkle or blemish, but that it might be holy and blameless.


From these examples we can see that perfection, being holy and blameless, is God's desire for everyone in Christ, so we should pursue it with all our might.


Considering our sinful nature, how do reach this state of perfection?
Loving all people does not come naturally to anyone. If we are to "love one another deeply, from the heart" , (1 Pet. 1:22), then we need a new heart, and that is e xactly what God provides. In Ezek. 36:25-27 God says, " I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" . God renews our stony hearts and sends His Holy Spirit to guide and empower us to follow His decrees … decrees such as “Be holy, because I am holy” .


The following two passages explain how the Spirit perfects us -
2 Pet. 1:3-4 say, " His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness [so that] you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world [which is sin] caused by evil desires " .
Rom 8:4 tells us that " the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit " .


From these two passages, we see that the Spirit guides and empowers us to escape the corruption of sin so that we can FULLY meet God's righteous requirements. So, it is through the God's Divine Power, the Holy Spirit, that we are able to be perfected.


The process of perfection (sanctification)
There is no doubt that being perfect in love is possible because Jesus commanded it and the Bible continually urges us toward it. The process of being sanctified " through and through " is a tough road but nothing is impossible for God. How close you or I come to perfection is entirely our choice. If we say, “Ahh, it's rubbish! No one can be perfect in love”, then we can be sure that we will never reach the goal ourself. However, if others are seeking it then we shouldn't be so unwise as to ridicule them as they are simply being obedient. What grounds can anyone have for objecting to someone seeking to be motivated by the love of God in all he says and does?


So, how do we achieve this goal? The answer is given in the likes of 2 Pet. 1:3-4 and Rom. 8:4, previously quoted. In these verses, it is God's promise that, through the Holy Spirit, we can fully meet His righteous requirements and escape the corruption of sin. This is done by humbly confessing our sins as soon as the Spirit convicts us. 1 John 1:9 says, " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness " . The promise in this verse is that once we confess, we are forgiven and will be purified from all unrighteousness – that is, we will be perfected. This takes time and determination.


Even though we are bound to stumble from time to time and may feel that we are wasting our time, let's immediately get up and persevere because the Lord is able to bring us to the goal He has set for us. James 1:4 says, " Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete , not lacking anything " .


We are told that " perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not ma de perfect in love " (1 John 4:18). Christian perfection is God's love filling our entire being and governing all our words and actions and it results in " the peace of God, which transcends all understanding " (Phil. 4:7). There is no greater goal in Christianity than perfect love ... and seeking anything else is missing the mark.


This article can be downloaded as a PDF, under Blog Articles, from
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html
 
Mick Alexander
 
  ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:09:50 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2893/repentance-the-missing-link https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2893

Many Christians say that leading a holy, repentant life is not necessary for salvation and others say that a person only has to believe. By this they mean that if someone just believes, just knows, that Jesus died for their sins then they are saved and that is that. In this article, I would like to look at what it means to believe and what Jesus meant when He said, “unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3).


Believing (Faith)
James 2:19 shows that believing for salvation is more than just understanding or knowing about something. It says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder.” James tells us that the demons believe in God but their knowledge isn't doing them any good so believing for salvation is more than just having head knowledge like the demons.


John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” In this verse, the word believe has a deeper meaning than simply knowing about something. Strong's dictionary tells us that believing means to have faith in someone and to commit to and entrust our spiritual well being to them. In 2 Tim. 1:12 Paul said, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” Paul was committed to and trusted in Jesus for his spiritual well being and he believed that Jesus was able to guard it until the judgment. Also, Jude 1:24 tells us that Jesus “is able to keep you from falling” so we can see that to believe in Jesus for our salvation is to commit our ways to Him and to trust that He is able to keep us spiritually strong so that we don't fall.


Confessing and repenting
Repentance is described as a change of mind but if we say we have changed our mind about sin, yet haven't turned away from our sinful lifestyle, then we are hypocrites and have not truly repented. For example, if I slapped you in the face, said sorry, then slapped you again, said sorry again, slapped you again etc., it would not take long for you to see through my hypocrisy and refuse to accept my apology. In the same way, God will not forgive anyone who comes to Him without a truly repentant heart.


For a non-believer to receive forgiveness and be saved he must repent of his sins. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out ....” As already said, to repent means to change our mind about something so to be saved a person must change their mind about their sinful lifestyle and turn away from it. Many people say that once we are saved there is no need to repent any more, however, in Luke 13:3 the word repent is present tense so Jesus is really saying, “unless you repent [and continue to repent] , you too will all perish.” So, to be saved, we must turn from sin and continue that way otherwise Jesus said that we will perish.


The purpose of this article is to show that repentance is the missing link in the salvation of many believers. Many in the churches are not saved even though they know the Bible very well and believe in Jesus. They only believe like the demons believe and are not committed to living a holy life by following the Lord's commands. If a believer does not confess and repent of any sin he may commit then that sin will remain unforgiven. Whenever we sin, we must confess to receive forgiveness and this is made clear by the word 'if' in 1 John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” If we don't confess then we won't be forgiven. In this verse, confessing our sins is more that just admitting we have sinned. When we confess a sin, if we have no intention of turning from that sin then the Lord, who sees our heart, will not forgive us. True confession of sin naturally includes repentance. If we simply admit our guilt without having the intention or desire to stop sinning then we are being hypocritical and God will not forgive us. God will only forgive if our heart is right - Isa 66:2 says, “ This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite [remorseful and repentant] in spirit, and trembles at my w ord.” God does not esteem hypocrites.


Is repentance the missing link in your walk with God? Does sin have power over you? It is God's promise that confession will bring more than just forgiveness. The promise in 1 John 1:9 is that God will not only forgive you but He will also purify you from all unrighteousness. Jesus verifies this truth in John 8:34-36 where He says, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin . Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed .” In these verses Jesus is saying that He can free you from slavery to sin so that you will no longer be a temporary slave in the family, but a son forever.


Finally, sin and repentance are rarely preached today; it is as though they have become dirty words. It seems that the vast majority of preachers avoid the subjects for fear of emptying their church and losing their income. However, this does not alter the fact that sin separates us from God as Isa. 59:2 tells us, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. ” Repentance brings down the barrier of separation to link us back up with God and without it there can be no relationship with Jesus, hence no salvation.


This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/repentancethemissinglink.pdf


Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
www.ChristianIssues.biz ]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2012 01:16:28 -0330 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2828/healing-why-not-everyone https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2828 I believe that until we reach heaven we will never know why God heals one person and not another. What we do know for sure is that God is on the throne; He is in absolute control of all things and will always do what is right. Rom. 8:28 tells us that " in all things God works for the good of those who love him " so we can be sure of God's love and the fact that if we are not healed then it is not because He does not care about us. He will always do what is best for His kingdom and our eternal good. An example of God healing for the good of His kingdom is in John 9:1-3 where Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. The disciples asked if sin was the cause of the man's blindness and Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." This man's healing was used by God to further the kingdom. Also, Job, a righteous man, suffered at the devil's hand even though he had not sinned. God has given us Job's story to make us aware of activities in the spirit world which we know little about. Who knows, some of us may face trials similar to Job's?


Sin related illness
Sin was not the cause of the man's blindness in John 9:1-3 but sin can cause health issues as John 5:1-15 tell us: After Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, He told him in verse 15, " Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. " This story tells us that sin can be behind sickness and this is also shown in J ames 5:14-16 which say, "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed ." These verses make it quite obvious that sin can cause illness and also that healing can come from confessing our sins. The Psalms also show a connection between sin and sickness. Psalm 38:3 says, "Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. " Psalm 32:1-5 and Psalm 103:1-5 show this as well.


Salvation healing
I have heard stories of people be ing physically healed when they were first saved and this is backed up by what is said in Mark 16:15-18. These verses are in the context of evangelists going into the world and preaching the Gospel. Speaking to the disciples, Jesus said, " Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved ... they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." So, sick people may receive both spiritual and physical healing when they first believe.


Death is inevitable
When Adam sinned, physical death entered the world and affected all mankind so we can't expect to be healed of every disease and live forever. Common sense tells us that most of us will die from some illness so we should not always expect to be healed.


So, the Bible tells us that illness may -
be from God so that He can be glorified through healing us.

be used by God to try us like with Job.

be caused by sin and healed by confession.

be used to discipline us as shown in the Psalms.

be a natural part of life that we must accept.


Other than the promised healing from a sin related sickness, as seen above in J ames 5:14-16 , a Christian has no biblical guarantee of being healed so it is wise to be willing to accept that fact.


Some Christians say that God does not want us to ever get sick or that He will heal us of any and every sickness but that is not scriptural (more on this below). Some even say that if a person is not healed then it is because of sin or weak faith. That is a very judgemental, hurtful and ungodly thing to say and it may destroy a person's faith. Also, it implies that God is a God of the strong and does not care for the weak. When I think of this it seems to me that God would be more likely to heal the weak to strengthen their faith and allow the strong to stand fast in sickness to show their faith. That is just a thought, who but God knows the truth of each individual case?


Healing in the atonement
1 Pet. 2:24-25 are often used to support healing but these verses are not talking about physical healing, rather they are talking about how our sinful souls were spiritually healed: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of you r souls." These verses are in the context of sin, in past tense, and are about our salvation. In plain words Peter is saying, "You were lost and sin-sick sheep but now , by Jesus' wounds on the cross, you have been healed, you have been saved, and have returned to the Shepherd of your soul." Returning to our Shepherd can only be understood in the sense of sin because it is sin that separates us from God, not sickness. So it can be seen that the healing sp oken of in these verses is not physical but spiritual healing which comes from the forgiveness of sin through Jesus' death on the cross.


Matt. 8:16-17 are also used to support healing in the atonement but these verses are only telling us that Jesus fulfilled the Isa. 53:4 prophecy about Himself: " ...he drove our the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases. ' " These verses only tell us that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that He would heal; there is no mention of healing for all believers. If there really was healing in the atonement then it would be for everyone; we would all be healed all the time and live forever. Also, all new believers who have the faith to be saved and cleansed of all sin would be immediately healed of all their diseases by that same faith - the blind would see, the lame would walk etc. but we know that does not happen. If a blind man was saved and not healed would we tell him that he has enough faith to be saved but not enough faith to be healed? There is a guaranteed spiritual healing for those who put their trust in Jesus but there is no guarantee of physical healing even though it occurs at times according to God's will.


Finishing off
Physical sickness is a reality of life and, putting aside unnatural events, we are all going to die from some health problem. I believe that we should confess our sins and pray for healing and for the faith to gracefully accept whatever God chooses to do with our life. We should never consider for a moment that He does not love us or that weak faith is preventing our healing. In Luke 22:42, Jesus faced His suffering saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." So, let's stand strong in our faith like Jesus and remember that many souls have been saved through witnessing the graceful death of a saint ... it would be a wonderful thing to be used so mightily by the Lord at the end of our days.


This article c an be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/healingwhynoteveryone.pdf





Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
www.ChristianIssues.biz
 ]]> Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:30:13 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2777/coming-out-of-egypt-psalm-106 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2777 "Out of Egypt I called my son." (Matt. 2:15)



Psalm 106 tells us about Israel's rebellion during the forty years in which God led them out of Egypt into the promised land of Canaan. In the Bible, Egypt represents t he world (sin) while Canaan was the promised holy land of rest for God's people. In the same way that the Israelites rebelled during their journey out of the sin of Egypt into the promised holy land of Canaan, you and I rebel on our journey out of our world of sin into a sanctified, holy rest in Jesus. As we examine Psa. 106, we will see that Israel's rebellion, thousands of years ago, is a picture of our rebellion today, as God strives to sanctify our sinful souls .



Psa. 106:1-5 - These verses praise God for His love and faithfulness.



Psa. 106:6-12 - Before crossing the Read Sea, Israel rebelled in fear when they saw the Egyptian army coming. Even though they had only just left Egypt, they had already forgotten the mighty miracles God had done there, right before their eyes. Amazingly, even the presence of God in the pillars of cloud and fire did not comfort them. We often do the same thing when problems come our way because we also forget the many times that God has faithfully delivered us from our troubles. We remember those times when things are going well but, when trouble comes, our memory soon fails and we rebel. Despite Israel's rebellion, God saved them from the Egyptian army and v.12 says, " then they believed his promises and sang his praise." Like the Israelites, we seem to need a miracle each day to keep us praising God and believing His promises. To stop our rebellion, we need to constantly meditate on His faithfulness and " stand strong in the Lord and in His mighty power " (Eph. 6:10).



Psa. 106:13 tells how their memory soon failed again: "But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel." Israel quickly forgot and continued to rebel, just as we do.



Psa. 106:14-15 - Israel again tested God by craving other food: "In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them." God gave them the meat they wanted plus a little extra in the form of disease so we need to be careful. Many of us crave things like money but what comes with such craving? 1 Tim. 6:10 says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." This is a solemn warning for us not to test God by craving things but to be satisfied with His provision.



Psa. 106:16-18 - Certain men rebelled and coveted the leadership. They "grew envious of Moses and of Aaron ... the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram … Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked." In those days, Israel knew very well whom God had appointed as leaders but they rebelled anyway. Today we have many leaders, some good, some bad, but we must not speak against them unless they are going against God's Word. Also, we need to be aware of our ability and gifting in the body of Christ. In Rom. 12:3 we are told, " Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. " The fact is, if we want to be great then we must follow Jesus' advice and be humble: "The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matt. 23:11). Whereas we love to promote ourselves, God loves humility so we must take care not to grow envious and rebel like some of the Israelite men did.



Psa. 106:19-23 - The Israelites made a golden calf idol; they worshipped a grass eating bull. God got so mad that Moses had to plead with Him not to destroy them. We also make idols of certain people, power, money, sports, movies, games etc. Also, prayer meetings and church often come second to things like sporting events. This is the same as making a golden calf so once again we can be just like the Israelites … and no doubt we grieve God also.



Psa 106:24-27 - The Israelites grumbled and despised their promised inheritance of Canaan because they feared the giants in the land so God let that generation die in the desert. Our promised inheritance is eternal life but we must stand firm and suffer hardship in order to inherit it. R om. 8:17 tells us that "we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." and Jesus said in Matt. 24:13, "he who stands firm to the end will be saved." There are Goliaths opposing us also. W e can be intimidated by the majority of the world which hates Christianity but we must stand firm to the end and not cower. Let's not despise our inheritance and die in the desert like the Israelites.



Psa. 106:28-31 - Through immorality with foreign women, some Israelites were enticed to join the pagans in Baal worship so God destroyed thousands of them with a plague. We must avoid ungodly groups like the Ecumenical Movement which is drawing most Christians into unholy fellowship with false religions like Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. 2 Cor. 6:14 warns us, " Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? " We must resist the great peer pressure which entices us into this type of unholy fellowship, which is supposedly in the name of love.



Psa 106:32-33 - The Israelites rebelled so often that Moses got mad at them and was punished by God for speaking rashly. We can drive leadership to do the same thing so we need to be obedient as Heb. 13:17 tells us, " Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you." Of course, we must separate from false teachers and bad leadership as Rom. 16:17 says, " I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. "



Psa. 106:34-42 - Israel disobeyed God in many other ways: they failed to destroy nations when commanded to; they mingled with the pagans; adopted pagan customs and worshipped the ir idols; they sacrificed their own children to demons and prostituted themselves etc. Because of this, God handed Israel over to the nations and their enemies ruled over them. Today, God commands that the church hand unrepentant sinners over to our enemy, Satan. In 1 Cor. 5, a man was proud of his immorality and God said, " hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord … Expel the wicked man from among you" ( 1 Cor 5:5, 13). Just as God disciplined Israel by handing them over to their enemies, He commands that the church expel unrepentant sinners in the hope that they will repent and later be restored to the church.



Psa. 106:43-48 - These verses tell of God's love for Israel. He often disciplined them and then later delivered them when they cried out in repentance. Like the Israelites, we quickly forget God's purity and faithfulness and as a result we fear, crave, covet, envy, idolise, despise our inheritance, join with false religions etc. and, just as God did with the Israelites, He forgives us when we repent of our rebellion.



So it can be seen that in whatever way the Israelites rebelled thousands of years ago, we do the same thing today. It seems amazing that they could witness so many great miracles yet so easily forget and grieve God through their rebellion. But the fact is, we do the same thing and probably deserve greater wrath because we have the Holy Spirit as a constant witness of God's presence. Just as the Israelites deliberately chose to forget the miracles and God's physical presence in the pillars of cloud and fire, we deliberately choose to forget God's faithfulness and the spiritual witness of the Holy Spirit. And, just as God brought His rebellious people out of Egypt and eventually into the promised holy land, He wants to deliver you and I out of our rebellious ways and into a holy rest in Jesus. Isa. 30:15 says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."



This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html




Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com


www.ChristianIssues.biz


]]> Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:46:40 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2752/the-fat-shepherds-are-fleecing-the-sheep-ezekiel-34 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2752

Looking after the flock
Ezek. 34 tells how the shepherds of Israel fed richly off the people but didn't take care of them, just as many of the church leaders do today. Ezek. 34:2-4 says, “ Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.” Israel's shepherds were feasting off the flock while neglecting to care for them physically or spiritually; the spiritually weak were not being helped in their faith; those needing physical help were ignored; those who had strayed from the faith were not brought back or even searched for – the flock was neglected and abused in every way whi le the shepherds ate off the fat of the land. This is exactly what is happening in many churches today. Leaders are not tending their flocks but rather they are fleecing them and living in luxury while there are believers in great need worldwide. It can't be justified.


Ezek. 34:5 gives the result of neglecting the flock: “They were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.” When believers are not being cared for, they can lose their faith and hope and wander off to become food for the many false religions and cults. It is common for people to get sucked into churches who promise all sorts of things but when these promises fail they leave in disappointment and bitterness, rejecting Christianity in the belief that it is full of lies. This leaves them wide open to other wolves who will seduced them into their hell-bound ways.


False doctrine
2 Tim. 4:3 tells us that “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Surely that time is now. Many leaders and televangelists have replaced solid doctrine with shallow 'all about me' nonsense - “Make me rich! Give me power!” Their teachings are shamelessly self-centred yet well received by many itching ears because it is all about what they can get from God, rather than death to self. Death to self is complete self-denial but many prefer the lies as Jer. 5:31 tells us: “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end [at the judgment] ?”


Most Christians believe that Jesus' return cannot be too far off. If we really believe this then we must also take careful note of His warnings of end time deception (Matt. 24). If you and I want to be able to discern this deception then we must have a good understanding of scripture. If we don't know the real thing then how can we discern a fake? Do you study your Bible and take it to church or d o you just believe the voice from the pulpit? That voice could be one of the Devil's co-workers masquerading as a servant of righteousness (see 2 Cor. 11:13-15). We only get one chance at salvation so we must be careful and study the Bible to see if we are in the truth and truly born again. Jesus commands us not to be deceived - can you biblically defend what you have been led to believe? Do you get upset when someone questions your beliefs? If so, then it is a sign that you are not secure in your doctrine, you may be in error. We all need to study opposing doctrine and have peace about what we believe. If we are misled then we can't blame someone else. We must check things out for ourselves. Remember, there is no second chance, no Purgatory.


Finishing off
The greatest reason for the world's ever worsening condition is that the church has lost its godly influence over society. Christianity was once a standard for morality and common decency but ungodly behaviour by so called Christians has blackened the name of Jesus. Sadly, the unsaved see the wickedness and nonsense in the 'church' and think it is Christianity. A good way to explain things to the unsaved, and witness at the same time, is to show them Matt. 24 where Jesus predicted it would happen before He returns to destroy the wicked.
We really can't do anything about the falling away of the church because it is part of end time prophecy. However, we can be good Bereans and search the scriptures to be sure of what we believe. My question to you is, “Are you in the faith or into heresy?” Search the scriptures and be separate from the wicked.


This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html


Mick Alexander
Email: leeandmick@gmail.com
Website: www.ChristianIssues.biz ]]> Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:59:04 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2701/keep-your-hand-on-the-plow https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2701
Every Christian is called to be God's servant and should strive to serve with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Luke 9:62, Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Jesus is telling us not to look back at the world and our old way of life but to to keep looking to God for all things. He seems to be speaking mainly to those in ministry, however, it applies equally to all believers. Even though everyone is not called into ministry, all believers are called to be servants for life. The Bible does not mention part-time Christians, part-time service or early retirement for anyone. Once a person accepts God's call into ministry, he becomes God's servant for life and should continue in service for as long as he or she is able. Once we have put our hand to the plow, we should not look back otherwise we will drift off the path God has chosen for us. If we long for what we have left behind, we will soon become worldly and backslide to become unfit for service in the kingdom of God. Our focus must always be on God and how to serve Him better.

Going into ministry
Jesus warned those who wanted to follow Him that He had no place to lay his head and if anyone wanted to follow Him then they must leave their old life behind (Luke 9:57-62). Elisha is a perfect example of the attitude needed by a person accepting God's call into ministry. In 1 Kings 19:19-21, we are told that Elijah anointed Elisha to succeed him as prophet. At the time, Elisha was plowing with his oxen. After Elijah anointed him, he went home to say goodbye to his family. He then slaughtered his oxen and burned his plowing equipment to cook the meat as a feast for the people. Then , after burning his bridges, he set out to follow Elijah and become his attendant. Elisha knew he was going into ministry for life so he completely cut himself off from his old way of life; he left family, friends, cattle and land to serve the Lord. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Elisha denied himself all things and completely relied upon God.

Remaining faithful to the call
Not all who go into ministry remain faithful. For example, Balaam loved the world more than he loved God and he became wicked (2 Pet. 2:15). Initially, going into ministry may not be such a hard thing to do but it can become very testing. It seems that when we first go into ministry, and also when we first get saved, we go through a honeymoon period with the Lord. We strongly sense the Lord's presence and everything goes very well (I floated on clouds for ages). However, after a while the Lord withdraws those feelings somewhat and the honeymoon ends, so to speak, because God wants us to live by faith, not feelings.

Continuing in faith
Some years ago, I quit work and went into full time service for the Lord. In Mark 10:29-30 Jesus promises to provide for anyone who, like Elisha, leaves everything for Him and the Gospel. He said, "I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." For many years I had no trouble believing this promise but, with age, my faith has weakened at times. It is easy to trust in something that is a long way off but the real test of faith comes when we are face to face with the situation. Jesus' disciples were very confident that they would not desert Him but they soon scattered in fear when He was arrested. In the same way, my faith is being tested as I face old age.

This testing of my faith resulted in serious agitation at times and a complete lack of peace for long periods. Recently, worrying that the Lord would not provide for me, I considered getting work to stop my bank account from emptying but that thought brought an even greater lack of peace. After much prayer, I came to understand how I was sinning against God: I was seriously offending Him in two ways:
I had previously fully committed myself to Him but now I was considering going back into the world and removing myself from His service. Num. 30:2 came to mind and heavily convicted me. It says, "When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said." If I went back to work then I would be breaking my word and that would make me a liar.

I was calling God a liar because I was no longer trusting His promise to provide for those who had left everything for Him and the Gospel.



It's no wonder that I had no peace. God doesn't like being lied to or being called a liar so it is easy to see why He had taken my peace away. Thankfully, once I came to see that my weak faith was leading me into great error, I repented and, needless to say, the peace of God returned. There is no doubt that in the future I will waver from time to time but big mistakes leave big scars and I am not likely to forget this lesson in a hurry.

Finally
When we look back, it is always easy to see our error but, the truth of the matter is, sin often creeps up and can overcome us like cancer. It starts out small but if we don't deal with it quickly then it will grow and cause us to sin. A lack of peace is a sure sign that there is sin between us and God; He always removes our peace when we sin. Sin can start out small but if it is not quickly repented of then it can soon cause big problems: A lie can utterly destroy relationships; dislike can lead to hate and even murder; a lingering look or touch can lead to lust and immorality; a covetous thought can lead to theft or jealousy or worse and our emotions can lead us into error just like my fear led to unbelief. For this reason, if we want to keep our hand on the plow and honour God then we have to keep our eyes on Jesus and deal with sin as soon as the Spirit convicts us. As soon as we lack peace we should ask God why He has taken our peace away. In this experience of mine, I was far too slow in seeking God and I suffered for it. I should have looked to Him much, much sooner. I have an article on hearing and following the Lord's voice, called The Way Of Peace, at
http://www.christianissues.biz/thewayofpeace.html

(Please note that this article is about my personal walk with the Lord. I am not saying that it is wrong to be in ministry and work at the same time. Paul worked as a tent maker during his ministry.)

This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Mick Alexander ]]> Mon, 14 May 2012 21:45:26 -0230 https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2680/denying-self https://indiegospel.net/mick-alexander/blog/2680 Denying Self
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself


and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).






Jesus left heaven and humbly denied Himself all things to become God's greatest servant. In Luke 9:23, He said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" so if we want to follow Jesus then we also must deny self. The Bible tells us of many great men and women of faith who, like Jesus, denied themselves all things to serve God. These saints humbled themselves and turned their backs on worldly power, position and wealth to serve the living God whom they loved more than life. The following examples highlight the self-denial we are all called to.



Humbling ourself


In Luke 14:7-11, Jesus tells us not to take the best seat at a gathering otherwise the host may ask us to move so that he can give the seat to a more honoured guest. We should take a less important seat and the host may honour us by moving us to a better place. Jesus said, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11). The first step to becoming a disciple is to be humble because "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (1 Pet. 5:5). Denying self starts with being humble.





Power and position


Peter was the leader of the Jerusalem church and a powerful, miracle-working Apostle yet he referred to himself as just a fellow elder. He didn't lord it over his fellow workers but wrote, "To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder … be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers - not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5:1-4). Peter put serving others ahead of power, titles and money. Denying self includes treating others as equals and not lording it over anyone.





Probably our greatest example of humility and servant-hood is Moses. We are told in Num. 12:3 that he was "more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." At forty years of age, he no longer wanted to be part of Pharaoh's family (Heb. 11:24-27). He chose to leave his great wealth and power in Egypt to become a simple shepherd in the desert for forty years. Then, when he was chosen to lead Israel out of Egypt, he resisted that powerful position but God commanded him to go. Moses was a very humble man who denied himself enormous power, authority and wealth in order to serve God. Denying self includes answering God's call at the expense of all things.





Wealth


Many Christians seek wealth but, in 1 Tim. 6:8, Paul said, "if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." Paul had absolutely no interest in money or the things of this world. Writing from prison he said, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish , that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8). The only thing Paul wanted was a greater knowledge of Jesus. Like all the great men of God, power, position and wealth were meaningless to him.





Money can cause terrible problems, even the loss of faith. We are told in 1 Tim. 6:10 that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." We need money for our basic needs but, other than that, the only thing money is good for is giving, either for the Gospel or to help those in need.





Regarding giving, in 2 Cor. 9:7, we are told that "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" and 2 Cor. 8:13 gives the reason for giving: "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality." The generosity of our giving is not determined by the amount we give but by the amount we keep. Jesus praised the poor widow of Mark 12:42-44 because she gave her last two small copper coins, all she had to live on. He said that she had given more than all the others because she had given not out of her wealth but out of her poverty. If what we give doesn't affect our lifestyle then we really have nothing to boast about to anyone, least of all to the Lord. Denying self includes not clinging to our wealth.





Reputation


Because of our pride, one of the most difficult things to give up is our reputation. We are easily offended by what others have to say but we must put our reputation firmly into God's hands, just as Jesus did. 1 Pet. 2:23 says, "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." Jesus didn't allow His pride to rule His actions and, in Matt. 5:11-12, He said that there is a great reward for those who do the same: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Denying self includes putting our reputation into God's hands.





Finally


Denying self is one of the greatest challenges in our Christian walk. We can't be a disciple of Jesus and love the things of this world at the same time; we must be willing to deny ourself worldly power, position, wealth and reputation; anything we put ahead of God is an idol. 1 John 2:15-16 tell us, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world." We only have a short time on earth in which we can honour and serve the Lord so let's fight our sinful nature and deny our cravings, lusts and boasting and humbly serve Him while we can.





This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at


http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html








Mick Alexander


Email: leeandmick@gmail.com


Website: www.ChristianIssues.biz






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