Hello everybody! As I write this blog post on Expounding God’s Word, I have to paint a picture for you! It is so beautiful outside where I am this afternoon my time. I have a backdrop of three crosses. This is one of my favorite spots in my neighborhood! I just wanted to share something real quick.
I’m taking my reading today from Romans 16 and 17. I’m reading out of the Amplified Bible Classic Edition:
I appeal to you, brethren, to be on your guard concerning those who create dissensions and difficulties and cause divisions, in opposition to the doctrine (the teaching) which you have been taught. [I warn you to turn aside from them, to] avoid them.
If this is the only scripture that we read today, we can say we have expounded on God’s Word! But we always want to establish the Word of God out of the mouth of two or more witnesses. And so I have another verse of scripture, which is the book of Titus 3:10-11:
10 [As for] a man who is factious [a heretical sectarian and cause of divisions], after admonishing him a first and second time, reject [him from your fellowship and have nothing more to do with him],
11 Well aware that such a person has utterly changed (is perverted and corrupted); he goes on sinning [though he] is convicted of guilt and self-condemned.
So here, Paul combines a couple: Somebody accused of practicing sin and has been corrected. In some churches, the church leadership may tell the individual to separate from the church because they would not follow the doctrines of that particular church. The other part is where somebody is the gossip in the Assembly of God, or is the one that causes friction among everybody. This person gets information from one person and relays it to another. So, there are two sides to the spectrum. None of them is good.
I want to encourage us today. Do not be that person who confuses the body of Christ. Similarly, do not be that person who gossips or is not content with your state of life or not satisfied with what we have and have to go around, you know, see what other people have.
God has called us to be in fellowship with one another. God has called us to love each other. God has not called us to be in a division with one another. There is a verse of scripture where Paul says to the church, and he says, I am so glad I did not baptize any of you.
2 To the church (assembly) of God which is in Corinth, to those consecrated and purified and made holy in Christ Jesus, [who are] selected and called to be saints (God’s people), together with all those who in any place call upon and give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
When we say we are of this denomination or that denomination and the like, sometimes, those actions create confusion. When you have a realization that we serve one God, and through His Son, Jesus Christ, and we have the Holy Spirit who helps us along the way as we’re here. Everything becomes apparent, and you’re not so particular about a person’s denomination.
Guess what, when we get to heaven, it’s not going to matter. So, you know, frequently, you may hear people say, Well, our denomination is the superior denomination, I’m like, Oh, okay. But we have the same Jesus, you know, and we all receive the same salvation.
So I just wanted to encourage us not to be those into a debate and all this confusion. It is essential to keep our minds on the Word of God, keep our minds on the gospel, and loving people. We do not want to engage in cliques in the body of Christ or the church. Cliques drive people away from receiving God! Some people will look at you and say that I don’t want anything to do with that Jesus if that’s Jesus.
Let us be about the business of welcoming people into our congregations irrespective of their race, creed, what they have or do not have! I never want to be responsible for turning anyone away from the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Remember that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. Everybody, the government, the land, and people all belong to the Lord.
Yes! Jesus is still Lord, and Yes! He still has you in the palm of his hand. God bless you! Shalom!
Thank you for hanging out with me! Dr. Abi Adeleke, #hangingoutwithdrabi on Spotify
