Tag Archives: new life

I have always wondered how the entire world could be swept away so easily by evil. I have also agonized over why the church of our day is being led into lukewarm Christianity. Why are most satisfied with a daily prayer, the reading of a few verses in Scripture, the chasing after the latest prophetic message, and a weekly worship service? While most of Christianity is on the verge of dying, all they can talk about is the great escape before things get too bad. Almost no one is talking about strengthening what remains and perfecting their works before God. Hardly anyone is talking about transformation in Christ and becoming all that God wants us to be. The Bible says, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God” (Revelation 3:2). We will discover together how to strengthen those things which remain and how to perfect our works before God. If we don’t then those things which lie ahead will drag us further down into a pit of misery and the Great Tribulation meant to refine and awaken His Church.

As athletes practice and work out daily to win the prize, so does the believer in Christ. Walking the aisle and deciding to follow Jesus Christ is only the first step in a long journey of enduring many different trials and tribulations. It’s a lifelong journey of overcoming many obstacles and dangerous pitfalls sent by the enemy. Yet through all this, the Christian grows stronger as he learns to walk in his faith every hour of every day. As he keeps in step with the indwelling Spirit, he learns all the disciplines of the Christian faith. He learns very quickly that the beginning of his strength comes from putting off the old life and the ways of the fallen world that have pulled him down from the cradle. He learns that everything in the world of fallen humanity is directed by the powers of evil and the wiles of the devil to keep him from experiencing the joy of his salvation. As the athlete strengthens his muscles to accomplish his goals, the Christian’s real strength comes from putting on the new life in Christ, but again this is only the first step. However, it is a very important step because one must really believe that they have a new life in Christ. Without belief in the new life, the old devil will continue to pull you down convincing you that you are not worthy of the new life in Christ. Or convincing you that you need the help of fallen humanity to succeed, which is a lie of the devil.

Let’s digress a bit and discover together how today’s Christian has suffered such a great loss and needs to strengthen what remains. Simply put, today’s Christian has believed the lie of the devil. He no longer believes in the new life in Christ. He no longer believes that old things have truly passed away, which is a direct contradiction of the Bible that says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). Furthermore, Christ does not give us this new life and then depart back to heaven leaving us to work things out on our own. On the contrary, He gives us the indwelling Spirit whose express job is to help us put off the old life and put on the new life in Christ through what is known as transformation in Christ. The indwelling Spirit does not come empty-handed but has all the resources of the Godhead that has been written down in Holy Scripture conveyed to us as we grow from one degree of glory to another. The Bible says, “According to his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (II Peter 1:3). Yet, fallen humanity and the carnal Christian no longer believe this truth and have suffered a great loss because of it.

So, the first step to strengthen what remains is to reject the lie of the devil and start believing the truth. Once that takes place then we need to learn “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” The best place to start is the inward discipline of meditation and prayer: to study, understand, and apply God’s Holy Word to your life. For example, if we read in the Sermon on the Mount that we need to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile along with many other beautiful truths, then through prayer and meditation we learn how to apply these truths to our lives. Step by step as the indwelling Spirit leads, we learn and apply each truth to our lives thus helping us to grow closer to Christ and to experience the power of the transformation, becoming all that He wants us to be in Christ. Friends, the world cannot do this. The unbelieving or carnal Christian cannot do this. This is only possible through faith, believing with our entire heart, and obedience to God’s direction through the indwelling Spirit. The good news is, the more we grow in Christ, the easier it becomes to throw off the yoke of the fallen world and the lies of the devil. Depression, anxiety, loneliness, grief, anger, along with hundreds of other so-called disorders pass away and are dealt with easily through the power and truth of the indwelling Spirit.

The second step is to learn and apply the outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. We begin by learning that we are no longer controlled by a desire to amass wealth and prosperity. Our true treasure is stored up in heaven as we give ourselves fully to others through both financial and Spiritual gifts. We learn that our true wealth is in our solitude before a holy God. We love and appreciate the truly quiet life of allowing God to speak to us through the indwelling Spirit. Allowing Him to direct us along the narrow path as we meditate on God’s written Word in the Holy Bible. No longer afflicted with loneliness we enjoy hours of quiet meditation before the Lord in solitude. We learn true submission to others through humility by honoring others above ourselves, seeking their opinion even if they are considered less than us. And then finally in our last outward discipline, we learn service to God and to others. Simply put, we live to serve others. All that we do, we do for others that God might be glorified. Each step of the way we begin to realize the Spiritual growth that is taking place within us as we experience the power of transformation in Christ.

Finally, as we seek to strengthen those things that remain in our Christian faith, we don’t ignore the corporate disciplines that are also essential to our Spiritual growth. The Bible says that we should confess our sins one to another. We all stumble by saying and doing things to others that are not right, that can be hurtful and even cause a weaker brother to stumble. It takes a mature believer in Christ to humbly confess one’s faults to another seeking their forgiveness as we also seek absolution from God alone. Although there are many other disciplines, we have only chosen to look at a few for this particular study. The next outward disciplines we will look at today are worship and evangelism. To worship God with others, even if it’s only a few others, is valuable to your faith in that we garner a much higher experience in both knowledge and insight through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). And of course, this leads into our last discipline to be discussed which is evangelism or sharing the gospel, or simply being able to explain to someone about the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. There is no greater help to your faith and growth in Christ Jesus than sharing it with others. An essential discipline to help us to strengthen the things which remain and being ready for the return of Christ in glory. Amen

Rev. Blair has recorded this Blog Article as a Tribulation Radio Show in HD Video with local vocalists, prayers, and much more to the glory of God. Please Click Here

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The Lukewarm Church is Blinded by The World (Video)

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The Lukewarm Church is Blinded by The World

September 11, 2018 Rev Daniel W Blair Leave a comment

When did we stop trusting God? When did we stop trusting Him to really make us into a new creation and then to grow us from one degree of glory to another (See II Corinthians 5:17; 3:18)? Perhaps it all started when the world turned its back on God and then discovered very quickly that humanity was in trouble. Why were they in trouble? There was no longer a moral anchor and humanity began to drift into a greater sea of immorality. Many tried desperately to reign in terror and gross immorality with new laws and mandates, but everything failed. As churches emptied and immorality increased fallen humanity needed a solution and they needed it quick. So, in time they resurrected some old theories of a pagan writer who lived a few centuries earlier; someone who thought he understood human nature. Then with the experimentation of new drugs, seemingly to affect behavior, and this new science of mental health, then the art of modern psychology was born. So, humanity no longer needed God to direct their path and provide them a moral anchor, because a new quasi religion had arrived on the scene to solve all the problems of fallen humanity. So how does all this affect the lukewarm church?

Let’s back up a minute. Humanity had been in great trouble once before. Many centuries before when every man called upon his own deity and decided his own fate. A time when most of humanity could change his moral commitment or religious devotion as easily as changing his soiled clothes. The world was on a collision course with destiny and all would have been lost if it were not for one solitary figure. Jesus Christ came offering a new life to all who would follow Him. This was the miracle of miracles! He came to offer eternal life, but the real miracle is that it would start immediately. There was no waiting. The new life in Christ was not just a promise, but a reality to be experienced now. All that was needed was faith to open the door and even that would become a free gift through His amazing grace. If God could create the heavens and the earth, then surely he could re-create new life in His children. Nothing was left to chance, but everything was planned down to the smallest detail. God would begin by giving us the indwelling Spirit with a specific job of growing us from one degree of glory to another, by putting His laws into our hearts and writing them in our minds, giving us a desire and the ability to obey them, and even convict us when we strayed from the path. But that’s just the beginning!
Jesus Christ would establish His Church. Let’s be clear this is not the building. It is the people of God who are encouraged to come together as one people. Jesus Christ knew we needed one another as we grow and change becoming the new person in Christ. We would realize almost immediately that becoming different from the world would cause some dire problems. We would soon discover that we are no longer loved as their own, but rejected, scorned, and even persecuted. In the beginning of my own Christian pilgrimage, I can still remember the words of exhortation, encouragement and even an occasional admonishment from other dear children in the Lord. Of course, the greatest teacher was the indwelling Spirit that validated the beautiful Words in Scripture and helped me apply them to my own walk. I also discovered the great joy that comes from corporate worship and intercessory prayer. Then there was the great reward of helping others who had just begun their new life in Christ. All the “one another statements” in the Bible became especially meaningful as we learned to mutually encourage one another. So you might be wondering how did counseling from the world, devised for fallen humanity, get into the Church?

Well, there is a two-fold answer. Most people coming from the world, especially the adults, have grown up being told about all the things that they could suffer from. People started looking at their mental health the same way that they looked at the rest of their health issues. For us older folks we know it didn’t always be that way, psychology and any talk of mental health was only for crazy people, not for us regular people. As time progressed it became the most natural thing to suffer from worry, anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness, fear or any other number of disorders. For the record, the book containing these disorders has grown very thick over the years. The counselor’s office became just as important as the regular doctor or even the preacher. The great turning away from God created the humanistic counselor who promised to help those who struggled with their sins, which by the way was no longer called a sin, but an illness. This became so popular among fallen humanity that the Seminary started teaching psychology to new pastors, first in the Catholic Church, then also in the Protestant churches. I can remember taking a class in psychology at Seminary 35 years ago with many new pastors vehemently resisting the notion of needing to learn something that was designed to help fallen humanity – for those who turned away from God.

So over the past 35 years, psychology or at least its bedfellow Christian counseling (that utilizes the same methods as psychology) found itself fully established into the ministry of the local church. Now I know some pastors today will say that my Christian counseling always points people to the Bible. Yes, I am sure that it does, but it does a lot more. It uses most of the same operative words of psychology allowing them to stay trapped in their perceived illnesses that takes a great deal of time to bring about healing even if that’s totally possible. Where is the promised new life in Christ? Where is the miracle of miracles? Some pastors even take it a step further and preach this lie of needed counseling for the new person in Christ and the perceived illness straight from the pulpit. Whatever happened to sin? Jesus Christ never established the Church to set up counseling offices to help His children. What He did do was give everyone a new life in Him along with the indwelling Spirit who is our Counselor. He gave us a body of believers to help one another by bearing one another’s burdens and utilizing all the beautiful “one another statements” in the Bible (See Galatians 6:2).

What we should be doing is helping them to confirm their new life in Christ. Help them to see if they are really saved and if not, then perhaps there is an issue with faith, not an illness. We need to be as bold as the New Testament that says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him then we no longer walk in darkness (See I John 1:6). If we say that we know Christ, then we keep His commands (see I John 2:3-4). If we love the world then the love of the Father is not in us (See I John 2:15). If we do righteousness, then we are born of Him (See I John 2:29). If we are born of God, we do not purposely sin or make a habit of sinning (See 1 John 3:9). That should do away with the idea that we continue to struggle for years with the same sins of worry, anxiety, fear, depression, and many other sins now categorized as illnesses. Where is the new life in Christ? We need to help people to know if they are truly God’s precious children then we should be helping them to put off the old life and put on the new life in Christ immediately. Yet, the lukewarm church has constant, non-ending counseling allowing them to remain as little more than babies in Christ or of a carnal mind which is an enmity to God. We pray Lord that you awaken the lukewarm church. It’s time we threw the heretical teaching out of the lukewarm church and become the true Church. Let us experience the miracle of miracles, our new life in Christ. Amen

Rev. Blair has recorded this Blog Article as a Tribulation Radio Show in HD Video with local vocalists, prayers, and much more to the glory of God. Please Click Here

TR Video, Tribulation Radio

Posting the Indisputable Doctrines of The Faithful Remnant (Video)

When posting the indisputable doctrines of the faithful remnant it will cut clean across the fault lines of modern Christianity. As Martin Luther nailed the ninety-five theses to the door of the Catholic Church and later said “Here I stand, I can do no other,” we too must take our stand on the truth. As the world moves further away from the truth of God’s Word and seeks to live by its higher knowledge we have witnessed the moral decline of society. Our featured vocalists are Cindy Tilkns Jennings, Lynda Sturdevant and Paula Disbrow. After watching the video please share with others.

Christians Against Psychiatric Abuse

Tag Archives: new life

Wake Up! And Strengthen the Things Which Remain (Video)

Wake Up! And Strengthen the Things Which Remain

The Lukewarm Church is Blinded by The World (Video)

The Lukewarm Church is Blinded by The World

Posting the Indisputable Doctrines of The Faithful Remnant (Video)

Wake Up! And Strengthen the Things Which Remain (Video)

Are We Rushing Headlong into a Repressive Dynasty? (Video)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new Creation"