The True church

The temple of God is man, God dwells within a temple that is made without hands. We the church of Christ are the temple of God. The church is not a building but the body of believers.

The spirit of God dwells within us each. This is why we are not to defile the temple of God since the temple is holy. Do not confuse yourself into thinking that your flesh is holy, since all flesh shall return to the dust. It is the new creation that is where our Lord resides with us. That is why it is so very important to be obedient in our walk with Christ, so our new spirit grows and our Lord has a better dwelling place within us.

1Co: 4:6: And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

We often find that young Christians judge others as to whether they are in Christ or not. Apostle Paul said not to judge things before there time. Man receives a gift of salvation from God and puffs himself up like he deserved it. Man deserves hell, but God's grace made a path for salvation for sinners. We must remember who we are in Christ and that he is the one that saves, not us.

We received our salvation when we were sinners and become big headed and think we did it our self. We must remember that Christ did this for us. The Father called us and Christ saved us. We did nothing but sin. Who are we to be so big headed?

1Co: 4:11: Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place;

This was the Apostle Paul who was in this predicament, you see that in a love affair with Christ we are able to do things that to the world seem foolish but are wisdom of God. The Apostle Paul suffered for the cause of Christ because he believed in the salvation of the Lord. This is Faith when you can see works such as these because of a love for our Lord.

The Apostle Paul labored because the cause of Christ is not a money system where we are to make profit and charge people for the things freely given to us.

When a building requires payment for doing things that are the Lord's, we must consider whether they are there for themselves or Christ. Many people today are doing things in the Lords name for payments of one type or another, which is actually self-orientated, not other awareness. If we are in the ministry should we not do like our Lord. The Lord freely gave and received gifts of love, not gifts given because he charged for his service. We must reconsider what we support and whether we are supporting things that are going to give a reward to us in heaven.

If all your work that you do is to support a building that you call a church or a large so called ministry that is building giant industry within it your work will be revealed by fire in the end. This means your little buildings and retreats etc. will all be consumed. The only thing that will last through the trying of fire is souls that you helped to bring to Christ. This is a scary thing when people are listening to so called ministers of the word who are telling them to donate for a bigger building. It is in the ministry of people that your work will be made manifest. We need to put Christ first always.

1Co: 5:13: But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

We do not have to tell people that they are going to hell, since everyone gets to go there automatically because of sin in their own life. The only way out of hell is through Christ. The body of believers is to judge one another in order to edify each other. Edification helps us grow. This is supposed to be a help not a hindrance. Those who judge others in the body of believers in order to make themselves look like apostles are misusing their Lord. It is a sorry thing to treat the Lord like a cheap piece of jewelry instead of as our Savior. Christ is not a thing to make our ego feel better like a diamond ring. This is God's only begotten Son that they are messing with. We edify each other with the type of love that Christ our creator and savior showed us. This love makes us edify for the good of the other person, not for us to look good or receive gain from what the Lord did.

1Co: 6:11: And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

This is a lot of the church today. The Bible tells us that these people are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. A church that protects these things is not Christ's church but Satan's. If your church does not take a stand against adultery, gay rights, abortion, covetous or idol worshipers then you are not in the church of Christ. If your church supports one world religion then their master is not my Christ, but the Antichrist. We are to consider Christ as more precious than wealth and therefore not follow the world to acquire riches, but be fair and never charge more than what is right. If you ask what is right, then sin is at your door.

If you're so-called church does not stand against abortion (the murder (sacrifice to Satan) of babies) then you are standing among satanic dwellings and with a building of no value. Most people who get abortions live with a guilt complex that does not leave them except through the Lord's help. When there is so much guilt, we should consider this a warning like all forms of murder.

If your so-called church does not stand against gays, when the Lord because of their wickedness of the same type destroyed Sodom, then you are dwelling in Satan's nest. The world serves it's master and that is Satan. If you see nothing wrong with this then Satan is also your master.

As the body of Christ we are to stand against these sins and hate sin. It is not the people that you should hate but the sin they do. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to pay the price of redemption for you and me. God loved us when we too were in sin and made a path for our salvation, you should not hate the sinner since God saved you and you were a sinner. We should however hate the sin.

It is no value to hate a young girl who had an abortion, but to hate the sin and show the sinner a better way through the love of Christ. This means she can receive forgiveness for her sins just like you did. We should not be looking down on those around us, since we were the same until the Lord changed us, but we still should hate sin. We are representing our Lord, as Christians, and believe me you will come in judgment for misrepresenting your Creator. We as believers in Christ should stand against the world in the things that they promote, but to use Satan to do the Lord's work is actually Satanic.

To lie for the sake of the Lord is not Christian. If you cannot reach people with the truth, then the truth is not in them. This does not mean that if someone is in danger you should tell the world where to find them. It means if you are telling someone how wonderful Christ is, do not exaggerate to make it sound better. If the Lord is not sufficient then you are moving in the direction of sin. Christ brought grace and truth into this world and if you have not truth, then you do not have Christ.

As you can see the Lord is the head of the Church and if you are not seeking the Lord with all your heart then you probably are not reading your bible enough either. The Lord must come first in our lives as believers in order to have a heart like the Lord wants, we must grow towards the light. This means we must love the Lord more than our spouse, our children, our wealth, our possessions and ourselves in order for the Lord to put within us the new spirit.

The world loves themselves, their own, their things, their money, their causes more than they care about Christ. Christians will do right in all these areas if we have the Lord in first place in our lives. Serve no other master than the Lord or the Lord will not be your master.

If we as Christians place anything above the importance of Christ we are punished by that item becoming a wicked taskmaster. If we serve our spouse the Lord will not bless the relationship. We will find we cannot please them no matter how hard we try, we can never do enough for the wicked taskmaster. But if we serve our Lord, how can we not have a wonderful relationship with our spouse. Our God is a jealous God and will not share his place with any other. This includes money, which is easy to see, since no matter how much we make it is never enough, we will always need to make more and more because it becomes a wicked taskmaster. But those who do not serve money have enough even if it is far less, it will be sufficient.

If we place our job in front of our Lord we find that no matter what we do we cannot do enough for the wicked taskmaster. But if we serve Christ our job will be a lighter burden. All things in life are set so that our Lord must come first.

Some religions say that the ministers of Christ cannot marry, this again is man's law not the Lords. We must consider who we follow and what we believe, because we are going to be held accountable before the Lord for these things. We as the body of believers must not allow mans rules to control our belief or knowledge of Christ. We learn about our Lord due to the amount of love that we have for him.

1Co: 9:14: Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

As we can see we should support in anyway we can our spiritual leaders. I say again our spiritual leaders. This means we must receive Biblical truths and spiritual guidance from the ones we support. If we are partakers in support of a so called church that is not being a spiritual leader for Christ, then we are supporting a worldly church or Satan since he is the prince of the world today.

For those who are Christians to be a light to the world does not necessarily mean that they must receive a wage and work in ministry. The ministry is made up of believers from the body of Christ. The body has many parts and everyone is not to be getting paid for the ministry. If you are called you cannot help but shine and the gift of shining as a lighthouse was from God, you did not do it. You have already received more than your fair share of the reward in that you have received salvation from Christ. If you truly love the Lord you will do his will.

1Co: 10:5: But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

You can also see that just because people are baptized in church does not mean they are saved, since those that went with Moses were baptized in the cloud and died in the wilderness because of the wickedness of their hearts. We can do things in church, but it does not mean the Lord has to follow. He is our leader and if we are not following him, we are lost. He is our Shepard and if we are not following him, it is because we are not in his flock. Then we are following our self and that is no different than Satan does. We cannot serve two masters.

It was the type of play that they rose up to that is the problem. We should rise to play for Christ not for the flesh. The desires of the flesh are sin.

1Co: 10:10: Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

1Co: 10:11: Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

While we are following our Lord, complaining about everything he has done for us and blaming him for what we have chosen to do, we are not in his will. We find conflict between his will and ours.

1Co: 10:13: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Those of you who believe that you are the only one's in world that know how you feel are mistaken since the Lord says all these things are common to man. There are only so many ways we can feel and what we each have is our own circumstances that differ from others. Since it is only circumstances that differ not the way we actually feel we can share these with the body of believers.

As Christians we are to leave dishonesty and use the truth that only comes from our Lord Jesus Christ. When we are dishonest with another person, it is not for their sakes but our own. This is a sad thing when we as the body of believers have not the truth within us. It is the truth that separates us from the world. Christ brought grace and truth into this world. I don't have to work very hard to realize that before Christ came this must have been one awful lot of liars here since there was no truth.

The god of this world is Satan and he is ruling over his people. We must begin to understand that it is only by Christ that the truth can come and those outside the body of Christ cannot see the light. We are a light in the world but those who are blind cannot see the light. It is only for those that are lost to find their way to Christ. Not for the blind, but for those the Father has called onto the Son.

Lu: 4:29: And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

This is our ruling parties that are so happy in their sin that they do not wish to change. They became so angry because they knew in their heart that they were the ones that would not have been helped. The end result was the same as always, they tried to destroy the one showing them their ways. When a church becomes so worldly popular and is not teaching the word of God, it is not my God's church. This church the world will go to and enjoy since the prince of this world is there.

Lu: 5:32: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus came to call the sinners to repentance. This is because the righteous cannot be called to repentance, since they are to high on the totem pole. Just like a totem pole they are not going anywhere since they are at the top and not going anywhere but down in their due time. We are sinners called to repentance that make the body of Christ.

Lu: 7:9: When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

This was not a compliment to the Jew at that time. Why did Christ mention this? You see Israel was the chosen people to God. This was a badge to many of them the same as Christianity is to many so-called Christians. When something becomes a badge there is no need for faith, since you can flash your badge and people believe you are a representative. The church leaders have always been at this point. If someone says they are a priest or a pastor you do not ask them to prove it. It is presumed that they are and since they represent our Christian beliefs. This is not always so people, in fact in the majority of cases people in the priest or pastor category are not teaching the bible but are teaching church doctrine.

The body of Christ is made of all the Christians together and the temple of Christ is the body. The Lord meets you in your body not in a specific building. A building is only a meeting place, not where our Lord resides. Since this is the case you must seek the Lord on your own time in order for your time in church to be a positive thing. But your church must represent my Christ, not a church doctrine. Format in church will not make better Christians, it is the word of God and understanding the word that makes the difference. When the word is manipulated for the purpose of donations, doctrine, or any other reason, you are not going to find strength in Christ, if you can find Christ at all.

We have so many organizations that are asking for funding today for Christ, that it is ridiculous that there is any reason to start any more. Why? These are organizations and need to be supported? Wrong. They have become so handicapped that they are not even getting the support to where it should go. When there is to many people making a good living off the organization, there is not enough support for the ones the organization was setup to help. This is not a Christian organization anymore at this point. Organizations are to be set in place for only the time needed to accomplish the goal, otherwise to many people become to comfortable in them and this is where we are today.

We are to support our Christian beliefs in everyway, but we are also responsible for what we support. Many so-called Christian organizations have basically very little if anything to do with Christ.

When your work is tried with fire there is very little that can remain. The only thing that will remain will be those souls that were helped in Christ. This is a scary thing for those who have put all their help for a building since the building does not make Christians. Also for those who support various organizations that are not actually helping people to get to Christ, but are growing and doing nice things will also burn away. You see the only thing that will remain is the Lord's. The Lord doesn't care about your causes and idols since the people who are caught up in these aren't his.

We are to possess our body in sanctification and honour. This means the things our body enjoys are not to be indulged in. We are not to serve our body (overeating, drunkenness, drug abuse, sexual abuse, self abuse, laziness) but sanctify it through not allowing our flesh to rule our spirit.

We can vex or even quench the Holy Spirit within us through constantly trying to do our will while arguing with the Holy Spirit that we feel it is God's will. We prefer to serve self.

Prophesying allows the Holy Spirit to tell someone what is in our heart and instead of listening to what we are doing, we despise the messenger and the message. This is not Christian when we are serving our-self and fighting the Holy Spirit so that we are not feeling conviction for our sickness. We are to be truthful and if we need to ask what is the truth, then we are not in the truth but a lost sinner without Christ.

1Th: 5:21: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

We must as the true church prove all things by the word of God. This does not mean that we should always enjoy what the Lord is telling us, since we were born in sin, live in sin, and the only way we will ever overcome totally is through death. We should not think that we will enjoy everything that the Lord tells us. We are told to be obedient to Christ. This is probably because we are not naturally willing to follow our Lord so we had to be told. If we have to be told to obey, I guess that we probably will not want to obey naturally. We are to prove all things with the word of Christ, not with the way it makes us feel.

God would have saved all men, but not all men will accept salvation through Christ but have decided that God must do it their way. There are only two ways to do things, God's and Satan's, if we want to do them our way, we belong to one of these categories. Anything that is contrary to God's way is Satan's.

We see here that we must continue in sound doctrine in order to save our self. Judas did not stay in sound doctrine but he also never believed either. We are to keep the word of God and prove all things according to the word of God instead of the word that we like to hear.

Even those who are lost take care of their own, someone who will not even do that is probably the worse type of a person there is.

The body of Christ is so involved with trying to prove that each of us is correct that we are destroying the body from the inside. We must try to remember that the most important thing is that we believe in Christ and are obedient to the word of God. We as Christians must not spend our time trying to prove that we are standing next to Christ but are part of the body and that we all are to serve Christ, not our own desires.

The Lord knows those that are his and they will hear the Lords voice when he calls. Isn't it funny all threw the Bible the message is that the Lord knows his and that the sheep know their Shepard's voice and obey. We have to allow the Bible to tell the rules instead of our hearts.

2Tm: 2:21: If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

We should be a vessel fit to be used for the work of our Lord. We must force our flesh to stand on the road that the Lord wants so we may shine as lights in a dark world.

People want to hear new things instead of the Lord's word. Too many want something innovative when they are not ready for meat and need to be fed milk again since they have strayed. Let us seek the truth and show that we love the Lord by being obedient to his word.

The Lord made the new covenant when he died on the cross and paid for our sins. Since that time he has written in our hearts his laws and sent the Holy Ghost to teach each one of us. Since the cross the knowledge of the Lord is an individual thing and each one of us has to know him personally. The Holy Ghost will teach us and show us the wonderful truth of our Lord, if we will accept it. Our flesh will war with our spirit as we learn the truth that the Lord put in our hearts. This is the only good we have until we come to our Savior, but it is enough so we can find the way to Christ.

Heb: 10:25: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We are to assemble ourselves together to exhort one another for edification. We are to gather so that we can build each other's faith by sharing our own and correcting the wrong behaviors with biblical truths. This is the purpose of the body of Christ coming together. We must make sure that our Church is following this principle and not just using a denominational teaching. The Bible is the word and that is our purpose in life, to know Christ, not a denominational theory.