Brother Bob Sunday School 4/8/12

Brother Bob Sunday School 4/8/12

Jesus chose to be the willing and perfect sacrifice.  No one made Him.  The suffering He went through is unthinkable.  He did this to be an example to us.  He died so that we could be a living sacrifice for Him.

We are creatures of choice.  I cannot stress how important it is that we make the right choices.  The first right choice is to get saved and serve Him with our whole body, mind, and soul.  We must make this choice every day. 

When we get saved, with the sin life behind us, born again, new creatures in Christ Jesus, we’re just starting.  We start a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

This life takes maintenance.  Gird up the loins of your mind.  Keep your mind in subjection.  The enemy loves to come to our mind and cause war.  By the grace of God we can resist him.  We can have peace in our life.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

This Word is a perfect roadmap for us to make Heaven our home.  It leaves nothing out but covers every situation.

We don’t have to have a priest speak for us; we are a royal priesthood.  When we are living right, doing right, and talking right, He hears us.  We are a peculiar people, a holy nation.  Thank God we are living free from sin.  Only those that are saved can show forth the praises of God worthy of Him.

1Pe 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Do you feel beloved?  I do.  I beseech you, I beg you, as strangers and pilgrims.  We are in this world but not of this world.  When we are born again we have a new world to look forward to. 

Staying in the Spirit is the only way that we can serve Him acceptably and give Him an acceptable service.  We have not attained; we press on.  We need to war against the enemy that would use our fleshly desires to distract us.

We are no longer Gentiles, once we are born again, but spiritual Jews.  Another word for Gentiles, as used in the Old Testament, is heathen.  Thank God we are not heathen.  We can be saved from sin, have a new birth, and be spiritual Jews because Jesus died for us.

1Pe 2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Good works: when we do things, as directed by the Holy Spirit in our thoughts and deeds, we will have good works.  Some think that they will make it by doing good works.  Good works alone will not be enough.  We must be working for Jesus and not for ourselves.  Our righteousness is filthy rags.  We must be working in the Spirit.

I thought before I got saved that I was a pretty good man.  Everything crashed.  Then God showed me that He loved me.  This love will help us to love the lost.  The lost will only be won by love.  Charity never fails.

The World is checking us out.  They have a right to check us out.  We need to be living the life, walking and talking in the Spirit of God.  They may talk about us bad but the Bible says for us to return good for evil and to love our enemy. 

They may think that they are our enemy, but we have no enemy.  Just like Jesus, we have the love of God to show to them.  We are not at war with flesh and blood.  The struggle and strife that we are in is a spiritual warfare. 

Can you think of any more love than that Jesus had when He was willing to die for you and for me?  He wants us to love the lost in the same way.  Love never fails.  Love lifted me.  Didn’t it you?

Thank God for this gospel of Jesus Christ that was bought with such a dear price.  I cannot even touch it. 

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

When we do all we know that Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit want us to do then we can count on God’s love.  All the promises in the Bible are ours when we do so.  He is a present help in every time of need.  We can count on Him. 

In the same way, God wants to be able to count on us.  I feel very unworthy but I am so thankful and I want to be all that He wants me to be, all that I can be.

He has prepared for us:

Mat 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

We are to be saved FROM our sin, not IN sin.  Thank God we don’t have to be sinners, but we can choose a holy life by accepting the forgiveness that Jesus paid for with His blood.  I’m so glad to be free from that life of sin.  He is so good.

He wants us to be obedient children.  I cannot stress that enough.  Jesus is not going to let go of your hand.  We can let go of His hand and be lost yet His hand is reached out still.  He died that we could be saved from sin.  The very name, “Jesus”, is a promise of salvation. 

Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Thank God we can be children of God.  The children of God are peace makers and do their best to stay out of strife.  Strife separates from God.  When we enter into strife, God is not there.  Thank God we can be children of God.

Rom 14:17  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

When we get saved we are born into the kingdom.  These are awesome promises and awesome blessings from God.

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

No man will teach you the things of God.  Only the Word and the Spirit will teach us the things of God.

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

We meet people in the world today that seemingly talk the language.  Yet it is like sounding brass and tinkling symbol if they don’t have the experience of Jesus Christ living in their heart.  If they are not living in the Spirit of God then they are living in vanity and have missed it. 

This creates a lot of religious error.  That is why there are so many other religions.  It is so important to stay saved and walk with Jesus.  It is His desire to abide in our hearts.  He will only stay with us that way if we are walking in the Spirit. 

Without a new birth and accepting Christ as our personal savior we will not have a new life with the Spirit in our heart directing our steps.  We grow in grace daily and we must accept and measure when the Holy Spirit corrects us.  We say, “Forgive me lord I will do my very best.”  We don’t have a fat head with all the knowledge at one time when we get saved.  We take the milk of the Word: the things that we can understand. 

When I first got saved, I had a lot of things in my head that I thought were right and were not.  As God shed the light on those things I was ready to give them up.  There is nothing too great to give up.  It is silly the things that people hang onto.  The wood and the stubble, let them burn up.  Measure up. 

Nicodemas was a learned man in his own religion but had no spiritual understanding of how to be born again.  There is a real safety in us staying saved and keeping the Spirit of God.  In doing this we have the teacher.  I’m not taking away from the pastor, teachers and evangelists. 

The safety is in staying saved and keeping the Spirit of God to help us to stay right in the middle of the road.  Heresy is a work of the flesh.  How do people get off?  Do they lose the Spirit of God in order for them to get off?  There is a safety in staying saved and walking in all that we know.

We have an adversary that is good at setting snares.  Some people get off on a tangent when their own thoughts pull them, but God is faithful.  Many have started to get off when God checked them and the body of the Church of God checked them and they are here today. 

God knows you and me but we don’t know ourselves until we face the battle and go through it with the victory.  We don’t know how we will react in the battles until we face them and go through them.  The battles are for us.  God knows already what is within us.  The battles are to strengthen us so we can have spiritual growth and be better vessels, more able to be used of God. 

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

When we are doing all that we know to please God and walking in what He shows us then we have the mind of Christ.  It is not a carrot held out on a string.  We can have the mind of Christ, if we choose obedience.  Without this then our religion is vain. 

Walking in the light that God sheds upon our pathway is a continual thing.  If we draw back then we will be lost.  We must have hearts to measure.  Before I got saved I had a hard heart.  There were people that I hated.  When God saved me I wanted to tell those people what God had done for me and could do for them.  I didn’t hate them anymore.