|
|
Main page |
Bible
teachings |
Feedback
Concentrate on Jesus Christ Often, some believers speak how we must focus on Jesus Christ. Some of them even put pressure on and demand that we must focus on Jesus. Focusing on Jesus is the correct and true faith. From the grace of God, we can grow towards the faith that is focused on Jesus. In the last days apostasy increases and many people are demanding for one another that you must focus on Jesus. Some of them don't demand you to believe in the Lord Jesus according to the truth and love of God, but according to itch ears of their flesh. In this teaching, I bring forth how I understand that we must focus on Jesus in the light of the Bible. Following Jesus Christ Mr 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. Mt 9:9 ¶ And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. Mt 16:24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Following Jesus Christ is talking, thinking and living like Jesus talked, thought and lived. The Lord Jesus is perfect, but we are not perfect. However, from the grace of God, we can learn how to grow in righteousness. We learn more and more to talk, think and live like Jesus Christ. I emphasize that we are not perfect, but in the Holy Spirit, we can grow towards it and learn to live in the faith that is focused on Jesus. We study next that what kind of person Jesus Christ was and how He lived, talked and thought. Jesus Christ fulfilled the will of His Father Joh 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. When Jesus Christ lived on the earth, He didn't live according to His own will, but according to the will of His Father. If you want to focus on Jesus, so you don't have your own will, but you should want that the will of God happens in your life. Believer who is focusing on Jesus doesn't seek his own will, but in all the will of God. He loves God, who seeks with all of his heart the will of God. Jesus loved His Father and was obedient to His Father in all things. If you want to please the people, and by that way overrule and disprove the truth and love of God, so your focus is not on Jesus, but you are self-centered flatterer of the people. Ga 1:10 ¶ For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote that if we want to please men, we are not the servant of Jesus Christ. The love of God works by His truth and His truth works by His love by the power of the Holy Spirit. Servant of Jesus Christ can't please men, and he can't support sins and wrong doctrines. We can love sinner people, but we can't love sins. We must love all people as neighbours, even those who teach wrong doctrines, but we can't love wrong doctrines, but expose them. If we really love our neighbours, so we tell them the truth about sins and wrong doctrines. When from the grace of God, we act like this way, we show them the right direction. When exposing wrong teachings and sins, it must do loving them and showing that we care them. You can never expose wrong teachings by puffed-up attitude. You shouldn't raise yourself above your neighbors, but you must love and honor them. Jesus Christ loved God and His neighbours Mr 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. Joh 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. Joh 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Re 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. Jesus Christ loved His Father and His neighbours. If you want to live by focusing on Jesus, you don't choose a target of your love according to party spirit. You shouldn't choose people to whom you show love of Christ, because they agree with you. If your focus is on Jesus, so you love your neighbors unconditionally. Gossip and backbiting are not elements of a believer who is focusing on Jesus. Lu 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. If you want to focus on Jesus, so your first love should be God. The Bible teaches that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. A believer who is focusing on Jesus really loves God. Real love is not only in words, but comes forth by acts. The Lord Jesus spoke a lot of love, but also acted according to the love. Your acts expose that do you love God or not. Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Of course words are needed, but words without acts of the love and truth of God (by the Holy Spirit) are deception. and the Bible tells this to us. When you first learn to love God, you can learn to love your neighbor. All people don't understand this, but this is the clear order of the Bible. If your focus is on Jesus, so you love your neighbor and don't want cause to him any harm or evil things. Love of God Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Lord Jesus spoke much and many times from the love of God. A believer whose focus is on Jesus speaks also much about the love of God, but not according to itch ears of men, but according to the truth of God. Grace of God Lu 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? Jesus Christ spoke words of grace. If your focus is on Jesus, so you also speak words of grace. What is the grace of God? God's grace is so multiple that we can't perfectly describe it by human words. Grace of God is saving a sinner man for the sake of Jesus's redemption by His blood. It is very gracious to save a sinner man without his own earnings. It is very gracious to forgive sins of wicked ones. A believer whose faith is focused on Jesus speaks also about words of grace and is graceful and forgiving.
Tit 2: God's grace doesn't leave us slavery of sin. God's grace teaches us to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts (sins), and live soberly, righteously and godly in this world. A believer whose faith is focused on Jesus rejects sin and wants to grow righteously and godly. Righteousness Mt 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. The Lord Jesus spoke about righteousness and lived righteously. A believer whose faith is focused on Jesus lives also according to righteousness and righteously. The Bible speaks that Jesus Christ is our righteousness by the faith. The righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ toward all and upon all those believing; for there is no difference, for all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, for a showing forth of His righteousness through the passing by of the sins that had taken place before, in the forbearance of God, for the showing forth of His righteousness in the present time, for His being just and justifying the one that is of the faith of Jesus. Sanctification Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 2Th 2:13 ¶ But we ought to thank God always concerning you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, Jesus Christ lived in sanctification by the love and truth of God. If your faith is focused on Jesus, so you also live in sanctification by the love and truth of God. God has chosen that His children would live in sanctification of the Spirit according to the love and truth of God. Salvation and damnation Mr 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. The Lord Jesus spoke about salvation and damnation. If your focus is on Jesus you also speak about salvation and damnation. The gospel of Jesus is the message about God's love and grace, Jesus's redemption through His blood, salvation to those who repent and believe in Jesus. The gospel of Jesus is also as eternal life to those who believe in Him and who don't repent and believe in Him must go to eternal damnation. If your focus is on Jesus, so you speak from all of those preceding issues. Mr 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. The Lord Jesus spoke about repentance and exhorted people to believe the gospel. If your focus is on Jesus, so you also speak about repentance and exhorts people to believe the gospel (to Jesus). The Greek word metanoee means ( repent, changing of the mind, thinking in a new way). When a man repents his sins, it means that he by repentance confesses to God that he is a sinner and has done sin against God and want to believe God by the Lord Jesus. When a man makes this from the grace of God, God shall save him. In sanctification life, the Holy Spirit shall change his mind to think in a new way according to the will of God. Sanctification brings forth righteous acts by the power of the Holy Spirit. Sin Lu 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Jesus Christ said that people must repent sins and believe in Him if people want to be saved and get forgiveness of sins. If your focus is on Jesus, so you also speak to people that they must repent sins and believe in Jesus if they want to be saved. If your focus is on Jesus, so you speak that there is One Way to forgiveness of sins and to God, which is repentance and believing in Jesus Christ. People don't like to hear preaching or talking about repentance and sin. However, when the Holy Spirit opens the heart of man to understand sin, Jesus's redemption and salvation, so then he is willing to receive salvation. Don't be afraid to speak about sin, but speak of it like the Bible tells. Sin destroys and pollutes the heart of a man and wages of sins is eternal damnation. Deception and deceivers Mt 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God Mt 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees Mt 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Mt 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Mr 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Mt 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Mt 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
The Lord Jesus spoke much from deceptions and deceivers.
He even named those deceivers, and all His disciples knew them.
If your focus is on Jesus you also expose deceptions and deceivers, and even mention
their names. Jesus Christ spoke that in the last days will arise from many
kinds of deceptions and false prophets, who try to deceive even the elect ones.
If your focus is on Jesus, so you expose all deceptions and false prophets. If
you don't expose them, sins and deceptions have blinded you, and you fear men
more than God. If your focus is on Jesus, you don't hunt deceptions, deceivers
and false prophets, but you expose them when you see them. If your focus is on
Jesus, so you keep your focus in the love and truth of God, and you glorify
God by the Lord Jesus.
Amount of carnal religious people increases in the last
days. They demand you to focus on Jesus according to itch ears of men. They
don't allow you to expose deceptions, deceivers, false doctrines and false
manifestations of evil spirits. Carnality doesn't discern false doctrines and false manifestations, if there looks like a bit right among the lies. Carnal believer for this reason also attacks against those who love Jesus in the truth of God. Many believers in the last days shall accept false doctrines and ungodliness.. They accept it by silence, in which they don't speak against a lie, but they escape responsibility that belongs to Jesus' disciples. Disciples of Jesus Christ have responsibility to expose all sins and falsehoods and of course live in righteousness by the truth and the love of God. Carnal believer thinks that by silence, he loves his neighbor and not judges him. Exposing of sins and falsehood is not judging, but Biblical act where we expose sins and falsehood, which destroy our neighbor. Many believers say that we cannot judge others, and we have no right to judge anybody. Of course, we have no right to judge anybody and not say anybody as Pharisee without basis. Jesus Christ exposed Pharisees and said that they deceive people to damnation with their doctrines. Jesus' disciples have a right to expose religious hypocrisy (Pharisaism), because it can deceive Jesus's disciples away from the faith that is focusing on Jesus. In this point, we must remember that first, we must take a log from our own eye than a twig from a neighbor eye. Jesus Christ said that he is the hypocrite who doesn't see a log in his eye, but sees a twig in a neighbor's eye. Usually, he is the hypocrite who rummages twigs out of neighbor's eyes, although his own eye is full of logs. Why Jesus Christ exposed Pharisees and why also in the congregation Pharisees should be exposed? Jesus Christ said that Pharisees honor God with the lips, but their heart is far away from Him. For this reason, the Lord Jesus said that those hypocrites in vain worship God, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For this reason Jesus Christ exposed them, because hypocrite (deceiver) is eager to teach and deceive. The Lord Jesus Christ wants that His congregation remains holy and pure from the pollution of sins and deceptions, and faith that focuses on Jesus has a same goal as Jesus Christ has. Therefore, if your focus is on Jesus, so you expose all hypocrisies, sins, deceivers and deceptions. Exposing must do by love and truth, not hitting in the flesh, but telling the truth in love. This mean that you don't expose deceptions and deceivers raising yourself, but because those deceivers would come into repentance and that whole congregation will see discernment between sin and righteousness. Health and Biblical focusing on the Lord Jesus causes you act, think, talk and live as Jesus Christ did. Give up yourself on to real faith where your focus is on Jesus. People of this world give not thank to Jesus' disciples, but most important is that God pleases us, when we live according to the faith that is focusing on Jesus. Let the power of the Holy Spirit grow us deeper in the faith that is focused and centered on Jesus. Let it be so that Jesus Christ is the center of your life.
Petri Paavola from Finland
|
|
Translate this article into your native
language:
Translate the text
web maker
