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Importance of Food

October 1, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

Isn’t it amazing how much we focus on food? We get up and think about breakfast, we go through the morning wondering what to eat for lunch, we look forward to eating dinner. So much emphasis, thought and money are devoted to food. Obviously we need food to survive. Our body needs food for energy.

If only we would put that much thought into our spiritual food. Our spirits need nourishment to survive. That can come from many ways. We can feed on the words that were inspired by God in his written word. We can feed on words that come to our spirit through the living, inerrant word of God which is Jesus. We can be fed from circumstances, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ. God can and does speak to us in many ways, and his words are spiritual food to our souls.

There is nothing wrong with food and the importance we place on it for our bodies. More importantly, we should be just as concerned about the spiritual food that is needed for our spirits to function as God intended.

Posted in christian living | Tagged , , , |

Jesus, Our Life Source

October 1, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

John 15:5 – I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

We’ve read this verse many times, but it is so easy to pass over how important this verse is. Jesus is our life source. It is in Him that we live, move and have our being. He supplies all we need. He provides us daily with the requirements for life and what we need to truly live. We cannot do anything worth doing or that makes a real difference apart from Him.

AbideinChrist

Jesus has done all the work that is needed for us to be forgiven, made new and have a loving relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. All the spiritual things we think we need to do to put us in right standing are so unnecessary. Jesus is the one who has done everything needed to fulfill the Old Covenant and put us in right standing with the Father. All we need to do is accept his work and rest in Him.

Our main focus should be on Christ not on things about Him. He is our life, He is to be our all in all. We need to give Christ the preeminence in all things. He is the Vine, we are the branches; apart from Him we can do nothing.

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Simple Truths from Outside the Walls

August 23, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

I’ve read many articles about church abuse. Seems many Christians have been through bad times in the organized church and they have become angry and frustrated with the system. Certainly understandable.

For me, I can’t say I went through anything I would call abuse in the system. I grew up in church and was very active over the years. I truly felt I was doing what was pleasing to God and I earnestly was trying to learn and do what He would want me to do.

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So when I hear all the abuse stories and all the troubling times in organized religion, I don’t always understand. I know there are many people in the modern, organized church that truly love God and are trying to please him. I also realize there are many people who were unduly abused in various ways during their church life, and that is very sad.

For me, after several years of being unsatisfied with the system and feeling there certainly had to be more to it than what I had been part of, I dropped out of traditional church. Obviously this has to be something you feel is right for you, and I don’t think it is a good thing to tell people they should do the same. This is a choice that each believer has to make for themselves. I came to this conclusion after many years of seeing things, questioning things, reading things and just being completely frustrated with the system of organized religion.

I have no regrets in leaving, although I have no regrets for being a part of it for so many years either. I did learn a lot and made a lot of good friends. Of course because of the years involved, there are many beliefs and ideas I need to detox from now.

For now, feeling the system is wrong, I have decided to walk with God outside the walls of the organized church. Not that anyone is intentionally trying to do what is wrong but the whole modern-day organized church is off base. Granted, the system is the only thing we know. It’s been this way for years and we grew up with it and thought it was the way it should be.

We have it engrained in us that to assemble ourselves together is to go to church on Sunday morning and sit through a scheduled program. No where does scripture tell us that assembling together has to be done in a particular way, at a special time or in a set place.

We are told that the pastor is the spiritual head and he is who we learn from and come under authority and guidance. Of course God tells us that Jesus is the head of the church, which is his body, and the Holy Spirit is our teacher and we need no one to teach us other than him.

We are taught that we are saved by grace, but we need to live by the law to be pleasing to God. Reading through Paul’s teachings, it is easy to see that we live by grace, and trying to live under law is a curse (Galatians 3:10-13). Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant and the Law for us because we couldn’t. Jesus did the work, Jesus died and ended the Old Covenant. Upon his resurrection, the New Covenant began and we now live by grace. The New Covenant commands are to love God with all our heart and love others.

The Law was a tutor to show us that we were completely incapable of keeping the law and living a perfect life. Only Jesus was able to live a perfect life. For us Christians, a tutor is no longer needed because we have come to Christ and depend on his work and grace.

We are taught that the Bible is the true, living, inerrant word of God. John 1:1 tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. To me that says that Jesus is the living Word. The Bible is the inspired words of God, but we are not to look to the Bible as the all-powerful, inerrant source of what God has to say. We should look to Jesus who is our all in all, our very life.

We are taught to tithe, although that is not taught under the New Covenant. Giving as we see a need and as we feel lead is now done out of love, not tithing to the church as a requirement. I personally feel the church today is more of a big business than it is a religious organization. Tithing is pushed because the organization needs to have the bills and the salaries paid.

We are told we are poor sinners saved by grace and that we are weak, unrighteous worms who are unworthy of God’s love. Now apart from God, we are nothing. We can’t live a perfect life and we were not worthy to be in God’s presence. BUT, because of Christ and the work he has done, we were given the gift of righteousness. Apart from Christ, yes, we were poor sinners, but through Christ the sin nature was crucified and we were raised up with him as new creatures. We are now the house of God, and we are holy and righteous in his sight because of Christ.

People want to put themselves under the authority of a pastor or the elders of the church, but God says we are all kings and priests and Jesus is the head. We all have something to say when we come together to build one another up. There are no levels of authority among believers. We are all equal parts of his body and have equal parts to play in encouraging and building one another up.

I think an important fact for us to remember today is that no matter if you are ‘in church’ or outside the walls, we should be looking to each other in love and not fight and argue amongst ourselves. Whether you are going to church, you are going for the Lord, or if you don’t go to church, you are doing so for the Lord. Accept each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, pray for one another, encourage one another, and stop looking down on people who see things differently than you.

Even those outside of Christianity need our love, not our condemnation. Jesus loved those who the ‘religious leaders’ of his day didn’t want to have association. We want our Christian church, Christian schools, Christian dating sites, Christian this, Christian that, whatever we can do to be separate and apart from the non-Christians, yet we were told to go into all the world. That certainly doesn’t mean we are to act like the world, but we do need to love all those that are around us.

LovelikeJesus

I truly feel that being a person in Christ is a daily lifestyle. Being the church is a 24/7 way of life, not a Sunday only thing. God said that He is building His church and that He no longer lives in buildings made with hands. We are the church, we are God’s house. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are the body of Christ. We function together as equal parts of the body under the headship of Jesus. We may be the only Jesus a lot of people will ever know.

We need to adjust our way of thinking and realize that church and Christianity are not a religion. It is a lifestyle we live day by day. Jesus is our life, it should be no longer us trying and doing, but resting in what Christ has done for us. We are in Christ and it is him living in us day by day that makes the difference.

Posted in christian living, Community, The church | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Christian or Christ Follower

August 8, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

I recently saw a news article about one group of christians picketing another church group. Supposedly they were picketing because they felt the church group, who allowed gays and women who had abortions into their assembly, was being soft on sin.

I can only assume that the picketers thought the gays and the abortion people were to big of sinners to be in with the religious folk.

Seems the church assembly was being more Christ-like to me, but the whole situation made me feel a little ashamed to be called a christian. In fact, I think it is a good idea to give up being called a christian. It is just another man-made religion, and I feel that I am done with religion. Rather than being called a christian, I think it makes more sense to say I am a follower of Christ. Jesus didn’t start christianity and he didn’t come to start any kind of religion.

Being a Christ follower is a daily, 24/7 lifestyle, not something to be done once a week in a building. It isn’t following a doctrine, or set of rules and regulations.

As a Christ follower, we accept all people and we love all people, like Jesus did when he walked this earth.

This doesn’t mean we agree with everyone. It doesn’t mean people can live anyway they want and have fellowship with the Father. But once they come to God, the spirit comes to live within them and he will guide them in their daily lives and actions. It is not our job to condemn others. Jesus’ command under the New Covenant is for us to love God and love others.

Like the picketers and church group mentioned above, a lot of christians today spend more time fighting and arguing amongst themselves while the world watches and laughs.

As followers of Christ, we need to keep in mind that we, the Church, are the body of Christ in our world. We may be the only “Jesus” many people see. We should keep our focus on Christ as our all in all, and forsake our personal feelings. In our lives, Christ should increase and we should decrease.

 

This post was a Guest Post at New Covenant Grace
You can view it at http://www.newcovenantgrace.com/christian-or-christ-follower/

Posted in christian living, Jesus follower | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments »

We are holy

July 31, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

1 Corinthians 3:16,17 – Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

The Old Covenant days of the temple are over. According to the New Covenant, we are God’s house, His Spirit lives within us. So many people say the organized church is where God lives, but this verse tells us that God is more personal than that. God can no longer be contained within a building. We are His dwelling place.

Each one of us who are saved by grace are now the temple of God. It’s so hard to get away from the thought that God is up there somewhere, or that we have to go to church and wait for God to show up. This kind of thinking is now obsolete.

These verses point out that the temple of God is holy, and that is what we are. We are His temple, and that makes us holy. Not by any works we have done or can do, but by the work that Christ has done. It’s hard for us to accept the fact that in Christ, we are holy and righteous. We are kings and priests. We were sinners, but the old sin nature was crucified with Christ on the cross. It is now dead and we are new creatures in Him.

We need to stop being so negative and depressed because we feel like we’ve let God down and unable to live a holy life. Actually, you can’t live a holy life, but God, through the grace of Christ, makes us holy. We are the righteousness of God. It is Him, Jesus our all in all, living through us.

Our spirit is now holy and righteous in God’s sight. Our mind is still being transformed and our body is still a work in progress, but thanks be to God, our spirit has been made perfect in His eyes.

Let’s start focusing on the fact that God is right here within us through His Spirit. We don’t have to go somewhere looking for Him, we don’t have to wait for Him to show up. Right now we are in His presence. He is the vine, we are the branches. Just rest in Him and allow Him to live through you to touch those around you each day.

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The Body

July 23, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

Ephesians 1:22,23 — And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

What stands out most to me is the description of what true church is, which is His body. It is not a building. It is not someplace we go. Christ is the head of all of us who are saved by grace. We are the church.

I don’t see separation in this statement. I don’t see denominations, buildings and formal services trying to get people to come to us. I don’t see places based on doctrine.

I see a living, active group of people going out into the world day by day in the love and strength of God. I see a united effort seeking to show the love of God to all we meet each day.

I see people looking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit for truth and guidance. No more looking to a man/woman or a group of elders for teaching and guidance. Christ is our head and the Spirit is our teacher.

This leads me to think it is time to stop arguing over doctrine and interpretations. It’s time to stop looking to other brothers and sisters whom we elevate into a higher position and realize we are all kings and priests and able to teach and give a word to uplift one another. We need to allow God to live through us daily as we go out into the world and show His love to people who are hurting.

Posted in christian living, Community, Ekklesia | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Act in Faith

June 19, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

I remember when I was a little boy waking up in the middle of the night and calling out in the dark to my mom.

I could not see her but I knew she was there. If I went by sight I would never have called out to her and I would not have received the help I wanted.

The same with God, we cannot see Him but we know He is there. We must realize that we live by faith or we will never call out to Him and receive what we need.

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In certain ways, I see all people as people of faith. That is not saying that all people have faith in God but all have faith. Some people have faith in science, some in various religions, some in humanity and others have faith in God.

God loves each one of us no matter what we put our faith in. He has come to call us to himself, to accept us and to love us.

None of us can prove beyond a doubt that there is a God or that there is not a God. None of us can prove Heaven or Hell. It is all by faith.

Just as it is by faith that we flip a light switch and expect the lights to come on, or sit on a chair and expect it to hold us, it is by faith we accept God and know He is there and has provided access to fellowship with him by grace.

Don’t worry about trying to prove God to everyone you meet. Live your life daily by faith in God. Allow Him to live through you to touch others and, in his way and time, prove himself.

Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

Love Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

June 12, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

This is a familiar line from a popular movie several years back. I think we can relate this to our walk with God.

According to the true love story, the love God has for mankind, this phrase would go more like, love means never having to repent again.

In today’s world, we seem to be more sin conscious than grace conscious. Most of us are running around wondering how we can overcome sin and live a life that is pleasing to God. Of course the trouble with this way of living is that we can’t do it. The main reason is because God has already taken care of the sin problem through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The only way we can live a life pleasing to God is by relying on the strength of the Spirit within us, living by the power of Jesus. He is the vine, we are the branches. We can do these things only by His strength.

Jesus came into our world, born under the law, and lived a perfect life. This made Him acceptable as a perfect lamb, without spot or blemish, to be sacrificed once and for all, for the sin nature of mankind.

Our sin nature was crucified with Christ, and when we look to Him as our sacrifice, we are raised up as new creatures in Him. Obviously, we can’t do any of this on our own. We can’t pay for it or earn it or pay God back for what He has done. It’s a gift.

Now that the sin nature is gone, are we going to live perfect lives? Unfortunately no. The sin nature is gone, but we still have a natural mind and body. We still live in a fallen world and are continually influenced by worldly ways.

The problem is we sometimes focus more on sin and the way we used to be, that we forget who we now are in Christ. We go around saying we are just a sinner saved by grace. That was true, but now we are kings and priests, we are holy and righteous in God’s sight, all because of Christ.

It’s time we stop thinking so low of ourselves and start realizing that in Christ, we are holy and righteous. Certainly not in our own strength, or by anything we have done, but through the cross of Christ.

We no longer have to repent, since our sin nature and our past, present and future sins were taken care of at the cross.

The big difference here is the meaning of repent. The true meaning of repent is to change our mind or way of thinking. I think this is something we do all the time. As God reveals more truth to us, we repent, or change our way of thinking and become more in tune with His ways.

The traditional church’s idea of repent usually means come to the altar, confess your sins and get right with God. I don’t think we have to do this type of repenting but one time. Once we come to God through Christ, repent of our sinful nature and ask Him to forgive us, we no longer need to come to Him and repent over and over. Christ died once for the sins of the world, and that covered the sin nature for all time. We don’t have to keep coming back to God, repenting of our sinful nature.

When we do sin, we can change our mind as to how we want to live and be more God-like. All we need to do is say to God, I’m sorry for messing up, thank you for grace that has taken care of this and thank you that I am holy and righteous in your sight because of Christ.

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Spiritual Man

April 30, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

We are made in the likeness of God, that is, three in one. We are spirit, soul (mind) and body.

We were born under the curse of the law because of the fall of man through Adam. Our spirit man, soul and body were subject to trying to earn our salvation by following the law, which we could not do, eventually leading to death.

Through Christ and the grace He provided through His perfect life, death and resurrection, we were made new creatures in Him. Our old sinful spirit man was crucified and buried with Christ. He took our sins and nailed them to His cross.

We now have a new righteous spirit man within us. We still have a soul (mind) that needs renewed and an earthly body that will one day be changed into a spiritual body, but for now, God sees us as the righteousness of Christ, who lives within us by His Spirit.

Naturally speaking we will never be perfect on this earth, but because of the grace of Christ, God sees us spiritually as perfect already.

This doesn’t give us permission to live as we want and do whatever, but now we live for God and do what pleases Him out of love and not out of obligation. We now take up our cross daily and follow Him, allowing Him to increase as we decrease.

When you make a mistake, it is covered. We don’t have to repent each time, but we do acknowledge we made a mistake and thank God for His Grace that covers it.

A good thing to confess out loud after allowing our mind or body to take control is ‘I am the righteousness of God’. This will help us to remember God’s gift of grace and get us focused on our spiritual position in Christ.

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To Who Do We Talk

April 15, 2013 by DoneWithReligion

What would it be like to sit down and have a one-on-one talk with your favorite pastor or evangelist? How would you feel having some time of personal fellowship with Billy Graham or any one of thousands of leaders you could think of who you feel is really on fire and in touch with God.

First off, this is never going to happen. These big name pastors and teachers are so unapproachable that most people will never even speak to them. The thought of having true fellowship is basically an impossibility. By true fellowship, I’m not talking about sitting in their service for an hour looking at the back of someone’s head and listening to what this person is telling you they think God is saying. No, I mean actually spending time together, talking together, discussing, and getting to know one another.

I guess the main point is why do we Christians think like this? Why do we think it would be so great if we could talk to these religious superstars.

Jesus is building His Church out of living stones, namely us, who are saved by His grace. We are His Church, and we are told we are all kings and priests. There is no one who should be over us other than Christ, who is the Head of the body, His Church.

Why is it we think so much about talking with people who are really no different than us, no higher in the Kingdom, no better in God’s eyes, when we can talk directly to our Father Himself. Anytime, anywhere, we can speak to and have fellowship with our Father.

Why is it we are more impressed talking with another human being when we can talk with Him?

Obviously, we need fellowship with one another, and fellowship is talking and spending time getting to know one another, caring for one another and encouraging one another. But we need to get past this idea of looking up to fellow believers. We need to look to Christ, who is our head. Don’t look so much to people when we can go directly to our Father.

Posted in christian living | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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