THE WORD OF GOD...

WHO DO WE LOOK LIKE???

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves, Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates." 2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourself by the standard of the Word of God....daily...who do we look like?

" (v5)This then is the message we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (v6) If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. (v7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (v8) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:5-8

We become sensitive to sin, against God first, and others, we have a new relationship with it...on this side of eternity we are never rid of it....we walk continually in righteous repentance...we cry over our sin....

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

"Now i rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance, for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing."
2 Corinthians 7:9

"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death." 2 Corinthians 7:10

The moral dread (gut wrenching grief) of being displeasing to God keeps us from grieving him, this is the fear of God.....

"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John 2:3

"He that saith i know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him." 1 John 3:4

We have a new relationship with His Word and his commandments for us.....for our lives...

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John 2:16

"Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." 3 John 1:11

Do we love God more than ANY earthly person or thing? (Matthew 22:37) Do we love being in his word and when we are with fellow believers do we talk of him and things that would please him? Does our life reflect that love in our actions, our speech, our love for one another? Are we really striving to be like Jesus to the utmost of our ability? Or do we reflect the world? i think we all fall short, me included. i believe as God said in his word, that there truly is only a remnant that shall be saved (Romans 9:27) and that the righteous will scarcely be saved
(1 Peter 4:18). This grieves my heart. Why do we think we have so much time? There is no time. Look around you, the signs of the times point to Jesus return. We must be doing all we can to bring in the sheep. To reflect his divine influence in our lives to others.

The treasures in the pages of The Word of God are priceless. John the beloved wrote his Gospel so men would be saved...and he wrote his letters so that man would know he has eternal life (1 John 5:13). The letters are meant to test us, to see for ourselves how we measure up. Read them...be forever changed and forever with God for eternity.

In John 3:19, Jesus says "And this is condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." All self professed Christians who say they are following Jesus but look like the world are not Christians. We need to check ourselves. We need to wake up. People in China, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Belarus, and numerous other countries all over the world are dieing for their faith (check out www.persecution.com and Back to Jerusalem.com). We cannot even be a little inconvenienced for ours here in America.