SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05-19-04
My Worship Time Focus: Living in the truth
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2John 7-8
Message of the verse: “For many deceivers have gone out into the
world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This
is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but
that you may receive a full reward. (NASB)
“Many deceivers have gone
out into the world. They do not believe that Jesus Christ came to earth in a
real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. Watch out, so that
you do not lose the prize for which we have been working so hard. Be diligent
so that you will receive your full reward.”
(NLT)
John writes about deceivers in verse seven, and that is a
person who not only has wrong doctrine, but a person who tries to pedal his
poison to others around him. The
question on how we can recognize one of these deceivers is answered in verse
seven. A deceiver is one who does not
acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. By stating that He has come in the flesh John
is implying that He existed before he came to earth in the flesh. Jesus Christ has always existed as part of
the Triune God, and has always been the Son of God the Father, but He put on a
human body and came to earth to accomplish the task of paying the penalty for
the sins of the world by dying on the cross, being buried for three days, and
then being raised from the dead, and now He sits at the right hand of God the
Father in heaven. The false teachers do
not believe that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh. John goes on to call them antichrists, and
that term means that they are not only against Christ, but they are instead of
Him. “They are against Christ because
they deny that He is indeed God come in the flesh. They not only deny the truth about Christ,
but they give their converts a ‘substitute Christ’ who is not the Christ of the
Christian faith.”
John gives a warning to his readers in verse eight about
not looking back, and by doing this it is possible to loose rewards at the
Judgment Seat of Christ. I have heard it
said of the Christian life that believers are either going forward or backwards,
for there is no standing still. It is
the job of the Pastor of the local church to watch over the flock that God has
entrusted them with, Peter speaks of this in his first letter. When the believer is living for the Lord they
are abiding in the Truth.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I can truly understand that if I am not
going forward in my walk with the Lord then I am going backwards, and this is
not what I want to be doing. Worshiping
the Lord is 24/7, and that is what I want to be doing. I want to recognize the ways that God is
working in my life and also in all things that I do have a worshipful attitude
to the Lord, for He is worthy of all my praise and worship because of who He is
and what He has done for me.
The Word of God has brought
challenges into my life as I have read it this morning.
My Steps of Faith Today: Trust the Lord to give both Sandy and I the
right words to say to those who will be in our group this evening at Church,
and to give us wisdom as we study the material for the lesson, to trust the
Lord with our investments, and also with providing a car for us.
Memory verse for the week:
1Corthinians 13:1
If I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
No comments:
Post a Comment