GospelNotes.life

Category: The Christian Walk

  • The Ways of God: The Truth, The Will of God, Fully Pleasing Him, Walking Worthy of Him

    Three different ways of saying the same thing: walking worthy of God, doing His will for you, fully pleasing Him. What are these things?:

    Of God, the:

    1. Knowledge
    2. Wisdom
    3. Ways
    4. Truth
    5. Will

    In:

    1. Faith
      1. Believing the gospel alone for salvation: that Christ died to pay for all your sins, was buried and rose again the third day – 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9
    2. Character
      1. Exercising godliness (the conduct and character of God) by walking in the Spirit (producing the fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7):
        1. Love (patience, kindness, not envying, not boasting, not prideful – humble, not rude, forgives, selfless, not provoked to anger, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in evil, but rather rejoices in what’s good, bears with others, believes others, has hope in all things, endures all things).
        2. Peace.
        3. Joy.
        4. Kindness.
        5. Gentleness.
        6. Patience.
        7. Forbearance.
        8. Longsuffering.
        9. Self control.
        10. Faithfulness.
        11. Goodness.
        12. Forgiveness.
        13. Thankfulness.
      2. Exercising godliness by not doing the following evil spiritual things:
        1. Pride.
        2. Haughtiness.
        3. Headstrong.
        4. Boasting.
        5. Selfishness.
        6. Coveting.
        7. Envying.
        8. Complaining.
        9. Arguing.
        10. Even thinking of doing something evil or wishing it upon others.
        11. Deceitfulness.
        12. Gossiping.
        13. Slandering.
        14. Talking evil of anyone, to their face or behind their back.
        15. Disobedience.
        16. Being untrustworthy.
        17. Traitorous.
        18. Unforgiving.
        19. Unmerciful.
        20. Lewdness.
        21. Anger.
        22. Malice.
        23. Filthy language.
        24. Foolishness.
        25. Joking around.
        26. Sarcasm.
        27. Cynicism.
        28. Heretical.
        29. Blaspheming the name of God.
        30. Unthankful.
        31. Hatred.
    3. Conduct
      1. Exercising godliness by abstaining from sin:
        1. Adultery.
        2. Lust.
        3. Fornication.
        4. Loving money.
        5. Idolatry.
        6. Violence.
        7. Murder.
        8. Stealing.
        9. Lying.
        10. Drunkenness.
        11. Revelries.
    4. Doing good works
      1. Being useful and profitable to others, easing their burdens – bringing them peace and joy.
    5. Using your ministry gifts (whichever you have have been given by the Holy Spirit) to edify others:
      1. Evangelism: saving souls by spreading the gospel.
      2. Shepherding the flock (leading the church) with your wisdom in the things of God.
      3. Encouraging the brethren.
      4. Correcting, teaching and warning the brethren with all gentleness, humility, kindness and patience.
      5. Helping the needy.
      6. Church administrations.
      7. Prayers, supplications and intercessions for all people.
      8. Prophesying: bringing new knowledge and revelation to the body of Christ.
    6. Learning
      1. Reading scripture, giving yourself entirely to it, meditating on it day and night.
      2. Growing in discernment between right and wrong morally, and in the ways of God vs the ways of the world.
    7. Life
      1. Leading a quiet, peaceable life.
      2. Being content with what we have and thankful for all we receive from our Heavenly Father.
      3. Minding our own business.
      4. Working quietly with our own hands so that we may support ourselves and family, and have money to give to those in need.
      5. Waiting patiently on the rapture, or, the end of the Tribulation.

    To do these things, you must commit them to memory over time and exercise yourself daily in them. It’s a lifelong process of growth. The goal, as Paul states in Philippians 3, is to become a perfect man in the ways of Christ (the above things). Run the race as to win the prize (work hard at these things!). Start by memorizing the character of God in point number 2 (Character). The way to view this note is: point number 1 (Faith) is first and foremost – the only requirement for salvation – and all the rest of the points are equal and in no particular order, and are not salvation issues. 

    Further reading:

    For an exhaustive list of the knowledge of God, see the note: The Knowledge and Wisdom of God.

  • How to Not Be Bored

    1. Turn off the TV and music, and get off the internet (unless you’re reading a bible on the internet of course).
    2. Read the New Testament Bible for about 30-45 minutes, especially the epistles (equates to about 5-7 chapters).
    3. Sit in stillness and quietness and meditate on what you’ve just read, logically stepping through it in your mind and letting the Holy Spirit guide your thoughts into all truth.
    4. Continue to sit in stillness and quietness a lot more and just talk to Jesus. You won’t  hear an audible response to your words, but you’ll find that you can talk for hours (because He’s responding to you silently Spirit-to-spirit). You are never alone. He lives inside you.
    5. You’ll get the hang of it, and the peace it begets is like nothing else.

  • Our physical realm teaches us about the spiritual realm

    Romans 1:19-20 — “because what may be known of God is evident among them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”

    There’s the physical realm and the spiritual realm. The physical realm is visible to us, the spiritual realm is invisible to us. God designed our physical realm to teach us how the spiritual realm works (which we cannot see or hear).

    About His attributes

    1. The vastness of our world

      It shows His immense power to create all these things, as well as His size.
    2. The beauty

      Albeit in a cursed state, this world is still beautiful. And its beauty shows His creativity and design skills.
    3. The wisdom
      
The fact that all of nature is alive – from the trees to the animals that live in them – along with the fact that the world is so vast and how everything works perfectly together – the sea, the earth, the sky – shows the immense amount of knowledge and wisdom it takes to develop such a system.
    4. The power

      The sheer power of God can be felt in weather phenomena like booming thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.

    Day cycles

    God designed our world to go from night to day, dark to light on a daily basis. Light symbolizes life, truth, godly knowledge and wisdom, goodness, joy and holiness. Darkness symbolizes death, foolishness, uneducatedness, sadness and evil. Day after day, the physical realm is teaching us that our spirit needs to go from darkness to light.

    Daily bodily functions to stay alive

    In the physical realm, in order to stay alive and healthy, God designed us to need to: eat and drink, wear clothes, clean ourselves and rest. This whole process of taking care of ourselves teaches us the spiritual truths of how to be saved:

    1. Eating

      Bread is food and keeps our physical bodies alive. The Bible says Jesus is the “bread” of life, and that we must eat of Him. This simply means that we must believe in Him to stay spiritually alive (salvation).
    2. Drinking

      We must drink water to keep our physical bodies alive. For the spiritual: the Bible tells us that water is a symbol for the Holy Spirit. Once we “eat” the “bread” of Jesus (believe in Him), we “drink” (receive) of the “water” of the Holy Spirit which gives us eternal life.
    3. Clothing ourselves
      We must clothe our physical bodies to “hide the shame of our nakedness”. For the spiritual: the Bible tells us that white robes are a symbol of righteousness, and that we can only get those robes from Christ. This teaches us that we need to clothe our spirit man with the imputed righteousness of Christ that we can only get from believing in Christ alone, to hide the shame of our sins.
    4. Clean ourselves

      We must clean our physical bodies or else they can feel gross and get infected and fall ill, and sometimes even die. For the spiritual: this teaches us that we need to keep our ourselves clean and pure from the filth (sin) that is in the world – not for salvation, but because it brings true peace and joy, and when we’re filthy with sin, we feel emotionally gross and infected and ill with depression, anxiety, stress, fear, nervousness, panic, worry, anger, hatred, bitterness, etc. Some sins can even kill us.
    5. Rest (sleep)

      We need to rest our physical bodies so they don’t burn out and die. This teaches us in the spiritual realm, for salvation, we must rest from our works for salvation, and trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross alone for salvation, and not in any of our own works: Ephesians 2:8-9 — “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

    The agricultural cycle

    The agricultural lifestyle is: planting a dead seed, giving it light and watering it, the seed sprouting and up growing into a big tree, the tree producing useful fruit and providing comfort and shelter to animals, and the ability to be pruned in order for it to grow bushier and produce even more useful fruit. This cycle that repeats itself year after year in the physical realm teaches us about the journey of an unsaved person to a saved believer, who grows up into a perfect man/woman of God and does many good things:

    1. The dead seed is our spirit – we are born spiritually dead. Someone needs to “plant” (or “bury”) us by giving us the “light” (knowledge) of the gospel, and when we understand it and believe it, we become saved and receive “water” (a symbol of the Holy Spirit that comes into us and gives us life – just like watering a seed). When we believe in Christ for salvation, our fleshly bodies are spiritually put to “death” and “buried” (a symbol of planting) with Christ, and then our inner spirit man sprouts to newness of eternal life.
    2. We then become alive and sprout (a symbol of us becoming spiritually reborn and made alive in the spirit).
    3. Then as we continue to have light and water poured out on us (the knowledge and wisdom of God taught to us), we soak it up and grow up into a big, beautiful tree, being firmly rooted and grounded in the soil and built up tall and strong, so as not to be tossed about and knocked over by all of the storms (all of this teaches us that our spiritual journey is one of growth, where we need to be taught the ways of God, and as we’re taught we grow and become strong, firmly rooted and grounded and built up on the foundation of Christ and His ways, so we’re not “tossed about and knocked over” by all the storms of life, whether it be false gospel teachings for salvation, or discernment in the ways of the world vs the ways of God).
    4. Now, once the tree grows up, it starts producing useful fruit for others (this teaches us that a mature and strong believer will produce useful “fruit” for others – the fruit of faith by which others can “eat of” and be saved, the fruit of good works that benefit others, the fruit of love towards others which brings them peace and joy, and the fruit of godly knowledge and wisdom that can teach others the ways of God vs the ways of the world).
    5. And finally, there’s the ability for the vinedresser to be able to prune the tree so that it grows bushier and produces more and more useful fruit – and pruning can be a painful process, but later yields much benefit (this teaches us that the Vinedresser – our Father – can lovingly “chastise” and correct us, as well as make changes in our lives and circumstances (pruning can sometimes be painful) in order to help us grow and abound in producing more and more fruit that’s useful for others).

    Nature

    1. The wind
      In John 3, Jesus relates the wind to the Holy Spirit. Wind is (1) powerful, (2) invisible, and  (3) made of air that our bodies require for life. The Holy Spirit is (1) the power source of God, (2) He is invisible and (3) our spirit needs the Holy Spirit to give us eternal life once we believe in Jesus alone for salvation. Just like with the wind, you can’t see the Holy Spirit, but you can see and hear its effects. Jesus notes that the wind blows where it wishes, signifying the sovereign and uncontrollable nature of the Spirit’s actions (John 3:8). At Pentecost, when the first disciples received the Holy Spirit, in Acts 2:2, the Holy Spirit arrived as a “rushing mighty wind,” marking a powerful entrance. And although the Holy Spirit is powerful, symbolized by a mighty wind, He is also extremely gentle, peaceful and refreshing, like a gentle, peaceful breeze on a hot summer’s day.
    2. The heat of the sun
      The suffering of back breaking, brow beating work in the heat of the day teaches us about what we will receive if we try to work our way to heaven instead of resting in Christ’s finished work – suffering in the heat of hell.

  • Humility and Exaltation

    Exalt — hold someone in very high regard; to think or speak very highly of.

    A humble and loving servant of all is the one who is highly exalted according to the truth (of the ways of God) – in God’s kingdom. The lie of the world is that those who are beautiful, popular, powerful, wealthy and possess many things are highly exalted. But God’s ways are the real way, and the world’s ways are just a lie.

    Humble — not thinking you’re better than others for the beauty, knowledge, career success, wealth and things you possess – not making your boast in them. Not showing partiality, knowing we’re all equal. And not thinking you’re better than others for serving others. Having a lowly opinion of yourself (not a bad or negative opinion, just knowing you’re not better than others) in the way the world views people for their material and vanity. Knowing I’m not self-sufficient (I’ve accomplished nothing on my own)…being completely dependent on God for everything: salvation, health, safety, income, career success, help growing in godliness with the power of the Spirit, ministry, the timing of everything, and not relying on any of these things, knowing they can all be taken in an instant. Nothing makes you “better” than the next person. We’re just “highly regarded” and “highly spoken of”.

    Knowledge — to have knowledge simply means that you’re further along in your walk – not better than others. Use that knowledge to benefit others by teaching them in order to get them quickly up to speed where you are in your walk.

    Wealth — serve with love and use that wealth to benefit the needy.

    Prejudice — having a preconceived opinion of a person’s inward man based on the appearance of their outward man. Do you think a person’s inward man is better or worse based on how they dress? Do you think a person’s inward man is better or worse based on the car they drive?

    If God gives you a ton of wealth, the key is to remain humble, knowing you’re not better than anyone else for the wealth that’s been given to you. To remain content with simple necessities to get you through this life and not pursue excess luxuries: castles and planes and yachts and multiple mansions and dozens of fancy cars – all excessive things that one doesn’t need. Rather, lovingly serve others with the vast majority of the wealth that’s been given to you by distributing to the needy. That money is God’s money entrusted to you to distribute to the needy to get them through this temporary life.

    Exaltation according to the lie of the ways of the world: fame, fortune, power and beauty.

    Exaltation according to the truth of the ways of God in His kingdom: humility, love for God, love for strangers, servanthood.

    This life is but a blip compared to eternity. Our mission in this life is to get in, get saved, grow in godliness, get others saved, help others in need, and get out to the eternal state in heaven.

    We brought nothing into this world, and the key is that we will carry nothing out except our humility, our love for God and our love for our neighbor (or lack thereof). All we have – the only thing that lasts – is our humility, our love for God and our love for our neighbor.

    Your humility and love get you an exalted status.

    That extra wealth (and the intelligence/talent/opportunities used to acquire that wealth in this world) was given to you by God to bless the needy abundantly, not for storing up for yourself.

    It’s about the person – not the material. Are you a lowly, God fearing (you believe the gospel, you respect God’s ways, you follow God’s ways), loving person. The material means nothing. “I will exalt you if you are lowly, God fearing and loving.”

    “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” It consists of his humility, love for God and love for strangers. Possessions don’t bring our inward man peace and joy. The fruits of the Spirit of humility, love, kindness, peacefulness, gentleness, goodness, patience, self-control, faithfulness and holiness do.

    Reducing it down: Heart posture is what exalts you (the state of your inner man) – not material.

    You need to be able to separate what the world exalts you for, vs what God exalts you for. Knowing the way the world exalts you (according to the lie that you’re better for these things), and knowing the way God exalts you (according to the truth of the ways of God):

    • The world exalts you for your career success, wealth, power, beauty, fame, quality of possessions, the way you dress and present yourself. This is the lie. This is not what’s reality.
    • God exalts you for your love for Him (accepting His way of salvation, and respecting and following His ways of godliness), your love for others, and your humble, lowly opinion of yourself – not thinking you’re better than anyone for anything (in context of how the world ranks people from least to greatest based on material possession and vanity). This is the truth. This is what’s reality.

    I don’t mind at all that you have a successful career, that you have wealth, that you’re beautiful, that a lot of people know you. But I know that you’re not better than anyone for those things. What I judge is if you have a humble, lowly opinion of yourself despite having those things, and if you love God (believing the gospel for salvation and walking in godliness) and if you love and serve others, especially strangers. And if you do, then I exalt you.

    See the person, not the material. See what type of person they are – not what they possess. See the rich – they need humility. See the God fearing, loving, humble and poor – glory in your exaltation, for God has highly exalted you. See the rich – are they humble despite their circumstances? Do they fear God, exhibit godliness, and love others and serve them? James 1:9-11 – let the humble glory in his exaltation. Let the rich glory in his humiliation.

    The world judges and exalts you based on material and vanity. God judges and exalts based on love and humility. The world exalts the possessions. God exalts the inner person.

    The world approves you based on your career, wealth, beauty, fame, the quality of your possessions, the way you dress and present yourself. God approves you based on the heart – the inner man. I seek to be approved by God – not the world.

    You can’t know a man by simply looking at him – by whether he’s wealthy looking or poor looking. Test the spirit against the truth of God, to see what kind of man he is, and whether to exalt them or not. The world says a wealthy looking man is better, and a poor looking man is scum. But God says a poor looking man that loves God, loves and serves others and is humble, is highly exalted over the wealthy looking man who is prideful and unloving towards God and others. Take the wealthy looking and the poor looking man out of their homes, then out of their cars, strip them naked and judge their inner man. The poor looking man might be the rotten one, whereas the wealthy looking man may be exalted in God’s eyes, or vice-versa.

    Stop judging like the world and judge like God:

    1. Strip them naked of all their possessions, fame and beauty.
    2. Test the spirit to see if they’re humble, God loving and fearing, and love and serve strangers (Luke 6:32-36 — But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them).
    3. Make a judgement: approve or disapprove concerning the ways of God.
    4. If approved: exalt.

    See what comes out of a man/woman. See what comes out of you as well.

  • Overcoming evil with good

    Romans 12:21 — “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

    How do we overcome evil with good?

    First, what is good?

    Ephesians 5:9 — “(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)”. So, the fruit of the Spirit is what’s “good”, “righteous”, and “truth” (the ways it really is).

    What is the fruit of the Spirit?

    Galatians 5:22-23 — “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” What is “love”? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not boast, is not proud; does not behave rudely, does not self seeking, is not provoked to anger, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity (evil), but rejoices in the truth (the good ways of God); bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

    What is evil?

    Hatred, evil speaking, insults, criticisms, negativity, harshness, outbursts of anger, and the like.

    How to overcome that evil:

    When someone gives us evil (they insult and criticize us, hate us, get angry with us, etc.), we respond with the fruits of the Spirit: patience and longsuffering, self-control not to get angry in return, gentleness instead of being harsh in return, not returning evil for evil, and grace (undeserved kindness) – which ultimately leads to forgiveness.

    How many times should we forgive others?

    In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asked Jesus if he should forgive his brother up to seven times, suggesting a generous limit based on the cultural standards of the time. Jesus responded that he should forgive not just seven times, but “seventy times seven” (or seventy-seven times), meaning that forgiveness should be limitless and not based on keeping count.

  • Getting rid of anger and bitterness

    The sole key to getting rid of anger and bitterness is: giving grace (undeserved kindness), mercy and forgiveness. That’s it. It’s that simple.

    How many times should we forgive others?

    In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asked Jesus if he should forgive his brother up to seven times, suggesting a generous limit based on the cultural standards of the time. Jesus responded that he should forgive not just seven times, but “seventy times seven” (or seventy-seven times), meaning that forgiveness should be limitless and not based on keeping count.

  • Why we don’t argue to make a point

    “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel (be argumentative) but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient” — 2 Timothy 2:24

    First, why do we argue? We do it thinking we’re going to make a point and get the opposing party to “see it our way”.

    But we all know that never works. Rather, arguing breeds all sorts of hostility, anger, resentment and bitterness, and does the opposite of what your end goal is – it persuades the other person to not listen rather than listen.

    Instead, we must be kind, patient and self-controlled with the opposing party, even if they’re hostile, gently teaching them your point.

    However, when trying to teach someone a point, if they remain hostile and just won’t listen to what you have to say and don’t want to learn, after the second attempt, move on — Titus 3:10.