Published on June 1, 2018
The Spirit of God is the power by which God’s spiritual creation is being formed and perfected in the Church. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of power, but do we understand how powerful God really is? God is a Workman, a Builder, a Creator and the power by which He is perfecting His creation is His Spirit.
“The Power Behind the Spiritual Creation” by Messenger Church of God released under a cc-by-nc-nd Creative Commons License:
Published on June 1, 2018
Why is the Bible such a mystery, a book so few really understand? The Bible itself discusses a number of mysteries about its contents. What are they? And who can understand? Join Rod Reynolds for a discussion of the mysteries of the Bible.
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Does God lie? Did Jesus Christ speak in parables to deceive people?
A reader asked for my comment, writing to me, “I know of someone who said that Christ deceived. He was referring to the… parable of the sower and the seed. [He inferred] that Christ used the parables to deceive people so they wouldn’t understand.” The reader went on to say that some who think of themselves as Christians justify lying if one’s motive is to achieve a “good end,” for example, “to get the abortion law altered” so there would be fewer abortions.”
Should we lie? Should we do evil that good may come?
Continue readingOften when we think of sin we think of not doing this or that. Not smoking, not eating pork, not lying or stealing, etc. There’s nothing wrong with that because to overcome sin one must avoid wrong types of behavior. However, in this article let’s examine from a somewhat different perspective how you can overcome sin.
Those familiar with the commandments of God generally know what not to do, that is, the behavior we’re to avoid in order not to sin. But just knowing what not to do isn’t enough to overcome sin, that is, put sin out of your life and keep it out. Keeping yourself from sin requires establishing and maintaining in an active and positive way a right relationship with God. That is a key to conquering sin that we all must come to understand and practice.
What is your relationship with God? Do you understand its importance if you are to overcome sin?
When the people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt they were living under a very powerful government. While in Egypt they were forced to live under the rule of Pharaoh – who was not only king but considered by the Egyptians to be a god as well. The Israelites were oppressed by the laws of Egypt and the whims of its ruler – Pharaoh (Exodus 3:7). To escape the oppression of Pharaoh in Egypt, they needed a Savior.
Egypt typifies the rule of sin – the law of sin which operates in the flesh – and in the fleshly mind (Romans 7:23). This law, rule or dominion of sin which operates in the flesh is something we must overcome in order to please God.
Yet within our own flesh, within our fleshly minds, we simply do not have the power of and by ourselves to cast out the law of sin that rules us. The fleshly mind is too weak to exercise dominion and power over sin, even if it wants to. That’s what Paul is referring to when he writes in Romans 7:23 about the law in our fleshly members warring against the mind, and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin.
Just as without God – without a Savior – the Israelites were in captivity, in bondage to the law of Egypt, so our flesh without a spiritual savior is in bondage to the law, dominion and rulership of sin. Even with the Old Covenant, wherewith the laws of God were written on tablets of stone, but not written in their hearts and minds, the Israelites were powerless to break the dominion of sin in their lives (Deuteronomy 5:29; 10:1-5; Romans 2:27-29; Jeremiah 31:33; Mark 7:6). In the same way, our human flesh of itself is powerless to break the bondage of sin.
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