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This is Dreamwalker1960. As a reminder you can read the transcripts of all my podcasts at dreamwalker1960.com. You can use most podcast platforms if you wish to listen. All you need do is do a search for Dreamwalker1960.

Discussion

“I shouldn’t have to give up my worldly possessions.”

“I have earned this car for it is my reward for serving God.”

“My house is my home, and I can keep it and all my worldly goods.”

These are the excuses I encounter nearly daily for those that profess to being “Christian.”

1 John 2:15-16 – Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.

One of the greatest hindrances in following Christ is the self and the desire to hold onto to this temporal existence, this world we now live in. I have done studies on this in four of my podcasts. #13-15 entitled the “Many faces of the selfish god,” and episode #50 entitled “Selfishness.”

One of the definitions from the Cambridge Dictionary says this about the “self”

“Interest only in your own advantage.”

Your OWN advantage.

The Bible says this about that type of mentality:

Exodus 20:3 – “You must not have any other god but me.

Philippians 2:3-5 – Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

I have found one of the greatest signs within the Body of Christ that people are still worshiping themselves, instead of God, is their insistence to show or talk about the fact that God loves them and posting only the verses that make the “self” feel better about themselves.

Yes, God does love you. In fact, He loves ALL of humanity. So how does that make you different than any other human. Be they sinner or saint? That answer: absolutely nothing.

So why do people keep insisting, once they have accepted Christ as their Savior, that they are loved and must feel good about themselves?

We return to the definition of the self. They are only interested in their own advantage. What is the definition of “advantage?”

A condition giving a greater chance of success. Once again per Cambridge Dictionary.

Did they not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior?

I will allow those reading or listening a chance to ponder that question.

Then they have already succeeded if they have.

Then why focus so much upon the love of God and daily reassurances which makes them feel good?

If they have already triumphed why continue to focus upon God’s love?

The answer?

Hebrews 10:26-29 – Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. 27 There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. 28 For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.

Their focus on His love is so they can continue to believe they are covered by the very blood they have tainted, by insisting upon keeping or getting expensive items, like a huge house, a fancy car, and other luxuries. Amongst other sins as well.

Once we accept salvation and we are filled with the Holy Ghost. That spirit dwells within us.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

Therefore, if someone has the Holy Spirit within them because they are a child of God by accepting salvation and then being filled with the Holy Ghost. Yet continues to live for themselves and do as they please, because of free-will, and what makes them feel good. Including living in sins which we are told to end within our lives (James 4:17), are we not defiling God?

Again, I will allow the reader or listener to ponder.

Let us look to Galatians.

First, we need to establish some facts about those inside the church within the province of Galatia.

Galatians 1:6-7 – I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

“Turning away so soon from God, who called you to Himself through the loving mercy of Christ.”

Aka they were saved and born again, yet they abandoned the true Word of God, for a false one.

Do we have a clue as to the type of false message?

Yes, we do:

Galatians 1:10 – Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

It was a message which twisted the truth for something that was only “pleasing people.”

They seek to hear just how great they are because they follow “God,” and believe they are special and loved.

One of the greatest things that pleases people is to continually hear that they are loved no matter what and that they can keep their worldly possessions. This spoils the “child.”

Proverbs 13:24 – He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

A message of love, love, love and daily comfort. This is a false and destructive teaching and mentality. It spoils the person that accepts it for they have no desire to face the conviction of their sins. The discipline that all He loves must suffer through to become closer to Him through His Son our Savior Jesus Christ. This is shown in the people in Galatia that were following what the “self” desired not the Word of God, thus the rod, as is witnessed here:

Galatians 5:16-21 – So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

An important statement is made here:

Galatians 5:18 – But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

Let’s look at this in the KJV:

Galatians 5:18 – But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

If we follow the Holy Spirit, we are well within the teachings of the Bible. However, if we continue to live in sin, we are placed under the laws given to Moses (1 Timothy 1:9).

The Bible also says this:

Romans 6:12-14 – Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

And:

Romans 7:7-13 – Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. 13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.

When we know the Bible, we know how to live and act, so the fact that God loves us is a given and does not need to be reiterated over and over and over.

This verifies that those that insist upon repeating God’s love for us, or platitudes about how perfect we are in Christ. They are most likely wishing to live in sin more than serving God through our Savior Jesus Christ with the aid of the Holy Ghost. Which shows that the self is their true god and not He who Created all of humanity, whom God does truly and completely love (1 Timothy 2:1-6). Which is why He wishes all to come to salvation through Christ Jesus. To live our lives with the help of our comforter, the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-26 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

By showing love to others, which is living in the Spirit. We show the love that God has for everyone. Always speaking of His love does not truly focus our mind, soul and heart on God, but upon those demanding this attention to know they are loved. Consequently, they can keep living in a sin they know in their soul they are committing. Including living for and in earthly treasures.

This is why Christ said this about those that draw attention to themselves during His Sermon of the mount:

Matthew 6:1-7 – “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. 2 When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. 3 But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. 5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. 7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

This goes for speaking in tongues as well (1 Corinthians 14:1-40). Yes, seek to speak in tongues but keep it between you and God. Unless you fit the criteria established in 1 Corinthians 14 for prophecy.

As I stated earlier, but it is needed to be said again. God loves All of humanity. Stop dwelling upon His love for you and start learning the Bible, to show YOUR love for Him and your fellow humans. Any who truly knows they are saved knows they are loved. Why? Because Christ died upon the cross (John 3:16).

When someone continually bring up the fact that God loves them. They continually place Christ upon that cross. What does this really imply about those that do this?

Hebrews 6:4-6 – For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— 6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

Before we conclude today’s study. We will return to Philippians chapter 2:

Philippians 2:3 – Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. (NKJV)

In the original KJV this verse goes like this:

Philippians 2:3 – Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Strife – 2052 – eritheia – ambition, rivalry, self-seeking; a feud, faction.

               a: ambition – a strong wish to achieve something

Ambition is much like advantage which we defined earlier.

Vainglory – 2754 – kenodoxia – empty pride, self-conceit

               a: conceit – the state of being too proud of yourself and your actions

these two words together equal “ego”

ego – an inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others.

We are told in this verse to think of others as better than ourselves. Simply to be humble.

Humble – marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful

               a: meekness – the quality of being quiet, gentle, and unwilling to argue or express your opinions.

What this boils down to is surrendering the self. Doing nothing for ourselves. Seeking nothing for ourselves. This includes seeking after worldly rewards and comforts. Once someone disagrees with this, they are allowing the “self” the “ego” to be who they really are. A worshipper of themselves, not God through our Savior Jesus Christ.

I leave this said for you the listener and reader to contemplate.

Think and ponder.

God Bless