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Acts 24:16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
What sort of person do you think you are? Do you go out of your way to keep out of trouble? Do you try to separate yourself from people who are not Christians?
Jesus did not come to only be with those who were Christians; He came to talk to everyone and to encourage others to become Christians…
This does not mean He joined in with what others were doing; He lived His life according to what God asked of Him. We have our bibles which tell us how we ought to live… try follow those words!
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Acts 24:16 So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.
Because of his past and the way he lived as a zealous Jew, Paul was all the more willing to spread the true gospel message to everyone who was willing to listen!
He also began to realise he could no longer be zealous in the way of religious acts but rather should express his love for Christ and give people the chance of doing the same.
We cannot force people to believe otherwise we are no better than Paul was as a zealous Jew.
How far will you go to express your beliefs?
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Acts 22:4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison
Just how far is too far? How far are you willing to go to keep your habits going? How far do you go to make sure people see things your way?
Paul did not see how far he had gone down the zealous route until God pointed out the truth to him! He thought he was doing the right thing by sending people to prison or to their death just because they wanted to believe in Jesus.
I am truly thankful I live in a country which allows me to express my beliefs – long may it continue this way; we need to make sure people have the choice of following Christ by giving them the truth which Jesus gave us...
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Galatians 1:14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
It does not matter how far you think you are away from God or how bad you think you are – God is always ready and waiting to take you under His arms!
The apostle was well and truly engaged with Judaism and the traditions which it promoted; traditions which God did not ask for!
But God was faithful to take him out of this life of habits and use him to spread the gospel message to so many gentiles- Paul was called by God!
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Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
Not only should we be watching ourselves to make sure we are not just doing things because of habits, but we need to watch what other people are telling us.
If people are more interested in telling us how to have habits instead of a true relationship with God, then we don’t need them to run our lives for us!
Compare what you hear with what God has told us through reading His word – our bibles.
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Matthew 15:3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
It is funny how we all have our own traditions: some always wash hands before eating anything, some always offer up prayers for their food, some always use their hands for eating…
Our habit may be based on what God has asked of mankind in the past, but some of them have become just that, habits.
It is those habits we have to break and draw back to God and obey Him. If those habit become more important than our relationship with God, we need to put them aside!
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Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
It is certainly not a new thing where people talk the talk but do not walk the walk – God warned people through Isaiah about how they were saying things without doing the things they talked about.
People have done this throughout the ages – and still we do not learn from other people’s mistakes.
God can see right through us when we are not genuine – we need to stop the pretence and get on and have a proper and right relationship with Christ, just as He wants us to!
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2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
If you read the first four verses in this chapter you will find an amazing array of excuses people have in their lives so they can do what they want instead of the right thing…
But then there are also the people who will portray themselves as being good people, but they will continue to use these same ways in their lives to gain self-worth in some form or another!
We need to be aware of not falling into the trap of following such people and certainly not getting involved with what they are doing!
Continue to follow God and His ways at all times.
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2 Timothy 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted
One of the things we don’t often get told about is reflected by Timothy in this verse: we are all going to face persecution from all fronts when we live our lives for God.
Timothy was under no illusion about the hardships he had to face, but he also knew God was there and brought him through all of those times.
Yes, we will face hard times, but we will survive because God is looking out for us – keep your faith in the one who can look after you!
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Mark 10:21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When Jesus looked at this man it was not a glance or a look at what he appeared to be; Jesus looked at his heart and what was important to this man.
Unfortunately for this man, Jesus picked up on the fact he was very pleased with all the belongings he had collected over the years because of his wealth he had accumulated… all earthly wonders…
Jesus wants us to focus on what is important in our futures with Him, our heavenly rewards! Do what is righteous and not what the world wants of you!
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Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
When Jesus was talking to the disciples about being disciples, He made sure they understood just what was going to be required of them!
First, they would have to be willing to follow Him. Then they should be willing to give up their sinful ways and obey Him. Then they should be willing to take on any request made of them by God.
We should be willing to follow these same steps when we put our faith and trust in Christ – not just talk about it, but do it!
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John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Jesus was talking to the Jews who had gathered to hear what He would have to say about why they thought He was making people doubt!
What makes any of us doubt? Is it not the difference between what you are hearing and your own beliefs?
Jesus was trying to tell the Jews the truth directly from God; they were not about to change the beliefs they had built up in their own minds…
We need to be open to what Christ is going to ask of us and willing and humble to do His will.
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Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Martha did what most of us would probably like to do – she complained to Jesus about how much work she had to do in comparison to others!
Christ wants each of us to do the work assigned to us without complaining and without constantly comparing our situation to others!
God alone knows what we are capable of and the result of the work He has asked of each of us. We need to humbly accept what He has in store for us and willingly do it – we don’t know what others are capable of or not…
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1 Corinthians 7:21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you - although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
God is not going to study your credentials, how many exams you have passed or how far you have got in life before He calls you to do something.
God looks at your potential and your surroundings to see what is best for you – if that means staying in your current world and working with the people whom you have grown up with, then all the better!
God has the best plan for each of us despite the things we have planned and the jobs we have lined up for ourselves – listen and obey!
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Colossians 3:11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
There is no race or religion which can say they have preferential access to God or to heaven – we are all equal.
God does not require us to belong to a race, people, religion or any other group which we think is better than the rest – God looks at each of us as individuals.
Jesus came to be a servant for all and to all. Just because we have great wealth or no wealth at all, God will not be particular about whom He chooses.
God looks at our lives, our surroundings and our interaction with Him and His people around us.
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Acts 10:34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism”
No matter how good we think we are or how well we compare with other people, God is going to look at what is in your heart and not what the world sees you as!
We can have the best reputation amongst people and still be bad on the inside – God sees right through that!
We can uphold the most amazing jobs and work for all the charities we can – but God sees what is burdened on our hearts and not our deeds!
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Job 1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
No matter how good we are or how much we do things according to God’s laws, we are not going to be free from bad things happening around us or even to us!
Some of the great men listed in our bibles such as Job, Noah, Abraham and Jacob are described as upright people – and yet bad things still happened – and in some cases they did bad things!
We live in a corrupt world where the evil one has free reign and if we allow him to have reign rather than God, then we should not expect things to always go our way. Trust God alone and look to the future!
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Psalms 37:37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace.
No matter how high we look at ourselves on the social ladder or the righteous ladder, none of us lead a blameless life and none of us can consider ourselves perfect!
But, as long as we are willing to allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit and consider the righteous ways God is teaching us, then we can look forward to a life where we do have peace, not with the world, but with our eternal Father in Heaven!
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James 5:11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Do you give up on things when they don’t work out as you wanted them to? Do you give up before attaining your goal?
When God asks us to do something, we should not limit His goals for the task ahead but must go at it with everything we have.
Just because we did not set the goal should not make it any less desirable or required.
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Hebrews 12:6 My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you
When we do step out of line we should not be too surprised when God allows us to get into trouble!
It is not His way to punish people just because they do something wrong, but if we have been warned about it and continue to do wrong, we should expect consequences!
God is very fair in His dealings with us and continues to want the best out of us – we need to listen, learn and obey at all times.