Thursday, August 28, 2008

Mt 4:19 Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

We just saw that Christians who obey Jesus have a different perspective of Him than Christians who do not obey him. And here we see that if you are an obedient Christian, you will be a soul-winner.

Many Christians believe that greatness is achieved in the Christian life by becoming a ruler. They seek Christian office without ever making the sacrifices that soul-winners make. They won't spread God's Word, do menial tasks, or take sides against wrong.

Soul-winners, on the other hand, have a special manifestation from God, and they see greatness in terms of SERVICE. The Gospel being spread, souls being saved, the Word being taught, etc., are marks of success to them. Some time ago, we saw that conflicts betwen these two groups of Christians are inevitable; now we see that the Christians who seek to rule often are lacking in spiritual maturity.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Who Actually Loves Jesus?

John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me."

Unlike his brothers, Joseph obeyed his father. While Jacob favored him because he was the son of his old age, Joseph's conduct was a factor in continuing that love. The Christians who love Jesus the most aren't the ones who shout the most, arent't the ones who criticize the most, and aren't even the ones who read the Bible the most. The ones who OBEY are the ones who love Jesus the most.

Jesus continued in John 14:21 "And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." These Christians have a different viewpoint of Jesus than other Christians have. They place Him in a different position in their lives, and they re-act to Him differently, because they know more about Him.

This relationship with their father made Jacob's other ten sons jealous, and it sometimes makes Christians jealous as well.