August 3, 2016

The heart, God and heaven by Gary Rose


"Do your own thing", "Whatever floats your boat", "You do your thing and I'll do mine","Different strokes for different folks" and the like all have one thing in common- My desires come FIRST!!! But, how smart is that, Really?  You may have just had a fight with your spouse, or not had your coffee yet, or had three, large unexpected bills that you don't have money to pay, or maybe you are sick or had no sleep last night- or a thousand other things that could cloud your judgment. And you rely on your HEART to make decisions???

I don't think so!!!

Trusting your heart won't get you to heaven- following God will!!! Following man-made rules, like "I'm a good person" or "I am a law abiding citizen" may be fine for your fellow man but its God you need to listen to if you want to enter the "pearly gates"

Frankly, your fate is determined by your relationship with God; specifically, with Jesus. Read on..

Romans, Chapter 8 (WEB)
  1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.  3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; 4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;  7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.  8 Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.  9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.  10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.  11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Jesus can save you by his blood and make you alive in him, no matter what you have done in this world. Of course there will be worldly consequences for your earth-bound actions (like murder or bank robbery and the like), but in Christ there is forgiveness and hope of life beyond life.

Follow God and not your heart and not your "heart"; you will make it!!!

Bible Reading August 3 by Gary Rose


Bible Reading  August 3 (WEB)

Aug. 3
2 Chronicles 34-36

2Ch 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:2 He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
2Ch 34:3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images.
2Ch 34:4 They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the incense altars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
2Ch 34:5 He burnt the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:6 So did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, around in their ruins.
2Ch 34:7 He broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the engraved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God.
2Ch 34:9 They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:10 They delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and the workmen who labored in the house of Yahweh gave it to mend and repair the house;
2Ch 34:11 even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy cut stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
2Ch 34:12 The men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and others of the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music.
2Ch 34:13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all who did the work in every manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
2Ch 34:14 When they brought out the money that was brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given by Moses.
2Ch 34:15 Hilkiah answered Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh. Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
2Ch 34:16 Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, All that was committed to your servants, they are doing.
2Ch 34:17 They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Yahweh, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen.
2Ch 34:18 Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book. Shaphan read therein before the king.
2Ch 34:19 It happened, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his clothes.
2Ch 34:20 The king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
2Ch 34:21 Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book.
2Ch 34:22 So Hilkiah, and they whom the king had commanded, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter;) and they spoke to her to that effect.
2Ch 34:23 She said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me,
2Ch 34:24 Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.
2Ch 34:25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore is my wrath poured out on this place, and it shall not be quenched.
2Ch 34:26 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall tell him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: As touching the words which you have heard,
2Ch 34:27 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you, says Yahweh.
2Ch 34:28 Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the evil that I will bring on this place, and on its inhabitants. They brought back word to the king.
2Ch 34:29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:30 The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of Yahweh.
2Ch 34:31 The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
2Ch 34:32 He caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
2Ch 34:33 Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they didn't depart from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

2Ch 35:1 Josiah kept a Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2Ch 35:2 He set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Yahweh.
2Ch 35:3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to Yahweh, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden on your shoulders: now serve Yahweh your God, and his people Israel.
2Ch 35:4 Prepare yourselves after your fathers' houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
2Ch 35:5 Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers' house of the Levites.
2Ch 35:6 Kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of Yahweh by Moses.
2Ch 35:7 Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls: these were of the king's substance.
2Ch 35:8 His princes gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundredsmall livestock, and three hundred head of cattle.
2Ch 35:9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock, and five hundred head of cattle.
2Ch 35:10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king's commandment.
2Ch 35:11 They killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites flayed them.
2Ch 35:12 They removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the children of the people, to offer to Yahweh, as it is written in the book of Moses. So did they with the cattle.
2Ch 35:13 They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.
2Ch 35:14 Afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
2Ch 35:15 The singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters were at every gate: they didn't need to depart from their service; for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.
2Ch 35:16 So all the service of Yahweh was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of Yahweh, according to the commandment of king Josiah.
2Ch 35:17 The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
2Ch 35:18 There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
2Ch 35:19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.
2Ch 35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
2Ch 35:21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; and God has commanded me to make haste: beware that it is God who is with me, that he not destroy you.
2Ch 35:22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and didn't listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
2Ch 35:23 The archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
2Ch 35:24 So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
2Ch 35:25 Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold, they are written in the lamentations.
2Ch 35:26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Yahweh,
2Ch 35:27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

2Ch 36:1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:2 Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:3 The king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
2Ch 36:4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
2Ch 36:5 Jehoiakim was Twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh his God.
2Ch 36:6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
2Ch 36:7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of Yahweh to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.
2Ch 36:8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
2Ch 36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.
2Ch 36:10 At the return of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of Yahweh, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem:
2Ch 36:12 and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh his God; he didn't humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of Yahweh.
2Ch 36:13 He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
2Ch 36:14 Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Yahweh which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:15 Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
2Ch 36:16 but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
2Ch 36:17 Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed: he gave them all into his hand.
2Ch 36:18 All the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.
2Ch 36:19 They burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels of it.
2Ch 36:20 He carried those who had escaped from the sword away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
2Ch 36:21 to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths: for as long as it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
2Ch 36:22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2Ch 36:23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Yahweh, the God of heaven, given me; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, Yahweh his God be with him, and let him go up.

Aug. 3, 4
Acts 20

Act 20:1 After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia.
Act 20:2 When he had gone through those parts, and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece.
Act 20:3 When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.
Act 20:4 These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.
Act 20:5 But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas.
Act 20:6 We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.
Act 20:7 On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight.
Act 20:8 There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together.
Act 20:9 A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.
Act 20:10 Paul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him said, "Don't be troubled, for his life is in him."
Act 20:11 When he had gone up, and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed.
Act 20:12 They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.
Act 20:13 But we who went ahead to the ship set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land.
Act 20:14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene.
Act 20:15 Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.
Act 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
Act 20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.
Act 20:18 When they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,
Act 20:19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;
Act 20:20 how I didn't shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,
Act 20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.
Act 20:22 Now, behold, I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there;
Act 20:23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
Act 20:24 But these things don't count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.
Act 20:25 "Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching the Kingdom of God, will see my face no more.
Act 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men,
Act 20:27 for I didn't shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Act 20:28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29 For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Act 20:31 Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn't cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
Act 20:32 Now, brothers, I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Act 20:33 I coveted no one's silver, or gold, or clothing.
Act 20:34 You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.
Act 20:35 In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "
Act 20:36 When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
Act 20:37 They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him,
Act 20:38 sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

Jesus is the true light that enlightens every man. Roy Davison


http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/light.html

Jesus is the true light that enlightens every man.

We need spiritual enlightenment.
Our society is bathed in artificial light and submerged in spiritual darkness. There is no lack of light except in the hearts of the people.
Two thousand years ago John the Baptizer condemned the spiritual darkness of his time. He warned people to repent.
Thousands turned away from sin to serve God. They were immersed in water, baptized, for the forgiveness of their sins (Mark 1:4).
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (John 1:6-9 RSV).
John the Baptizer was the forerunner of God’s Messiah, the Christ, who would bring spiritual enlightenment and forgiveness of sins to all mankind.
Jesus is the morning star,1 who has come “to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79). “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4, 5 RSV).
To be enlightened spiritually, one must find the light, believe in the light, come to the light, put on the armor of light, and walk in the light.

Where can light be found?
Can you find spiritual light in a disco? I have never been to one, but I understand that they often have hypnotic flashing lights, and loud, deafening music. No, definitely not. Discos and dance halls are dens of darkness, places to avoid if you want spiritual enlightenment. The flashing lights blind you and the loud music deafens you.
When a former teacher of mine, Cecil T. Bailey, was a young man, worldly young people kept trying to get him to go to a dance hall. Finally he agreed to go, but he took his Bible along and sat in a corner reading his Bible. Soon, he was asked to leave!
Can you find spiritual light in the universities? Paul wrote: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). Not much spiritual light can be found in the universities. Philosophy and theology are human endeavors of limited value, but they are not significant sources of spiritual enlightenment.
A professor asked his class, “How many of you believe in prayer?” My father and two girls raised their hands. The professor continued, “You three, pray then that this glass beaker will not break.” He dropped it and it broke. He then smirked, “How many still believe in prayer?” This time, only my father raised his hand. The professor said, “Well, Davison. How can you still believe in prayer?” My father replied, “I didn’t pray. Without God’s permission, your experiment was not valid.”
Can you find spiritual light in the traditional churches? Some light is there, but it is hidden under a basket of human dogmas, ecclesiastical politics and financial interests.
To the pious traditionalists2 of His time, Jesus said: “Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
To the religious liberals3 of His time, Jesus said: “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24).
Can you find spiritual light in a sect? Some are attracted to sects because they require extreme devotion. A sect, however, is a human system based on social pressure, brain-washing and mind control, rather than spontaneous personal faith in God. A sect usually has one powerful leader. He is sometimes called ‘father’. He is often considered to be infallible, and members must alwayssubmit to his authority. A sect usually uses hierarchical, army-like control. 
Jesus said: “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you” (Mark 10:42, 43).
All hierarchical religious systems are anti-Christian. Beware of people who try to dominate you in the name of religion. Your service to God must come from your heart. It may not be based on social pressure, coercion or hierarchical control.
Jesus said: “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ” (Matthew 23:8-10). God is our spiritual Father and we may not have any other father in a spiritual sense. Jesus is our spiritual Leader, and we may not have a spiritual guide, mentor or ‘discipler’ other than Christ.
Jesus Himself is our source of light. We must go directly to Him for spiritual enlightenment, and not allow the divine light to be obscured by traditions and denominations of human origin.
Jesus said: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Do we really want to find the light?
Although Jesus brought light, there is still much spiritual darkness because most people preferdarkness: “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:19-21).
Someone who wants to hid his sin, shuns the light. To find the light we must admit our need for enlightenment.
But just finding the light is not enough.

We must believe in the Light.
Jesus is the light of the world, He is our God-given source of spiritual enlightenment. But we mustbelieve in that light. Jesus said: “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (John 12:36). And: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46).
Many people stumble along in spiritual darkness because they do not believe in the light. Paul wrote: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).
But just believing in the light is also not enough.

We must come to the Light.
Many people have been deluded into thinking they can be saved by faith alone. It is not true: “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” ... “For as the body without the spirit is dead; so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:24, 26).
Faith in the Light is the first step, but we must also come to the Light. This means that we must turn away from sin and dedicate our lives to God. This is called ‘repentance’ in the Scriptures.
“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20).
Many people have a superficial, standoffish faith. They know exactly where the light is! But they keep their distance, to hide their sin. We must come to the Light so God’s word can correct our lives.
Jesus sent Paul to the nations “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18).
On the basis of our faith in the Light, we must turn away from evil and come to the Light.

We must put on the armor of light.
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:12-14).
We must “put on the armor of light” and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” How do we put on Christ? “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26, 27). We put on the armor of light, we put on Christ, by being baptized into Christ.
This must be our own, personal decision. The so-called baptism of babies is contrary to the word of God.
Just as John the Baptizer told people to repent and be baptized, we too must repent, turn away from the works of darkness, come to the Light, and be baptized. Peter said: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38).
When we put on Christ in baptism, God removes us from darkness. We can then rejoice “giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14). 

We must walk in the light.
After finding the light, believing in the light, coming to the light, and putting on the armor of light, we must walk in the light.
Obviously, we may not walk in darkness. Paul warned: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), proving what is acceptable to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8-10).
We must expose works of darkness.4 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,5 but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light’” (Ephesians 5:11-14).
Jesus is our source of light. We learn about Him, we learn to be like Him, not via some tradition or some sect, but through the Scriptures: “We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:19-21).
The Holy Scriptures are a beacon of light in a dark world. Through the Scriptures we learn about God. “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7). God has called us “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).6Christians are “sons of light and sons of the day” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).7 
It is not easy to walk in the light, surrounded by a world of darkness. We shine as lights in the world: “Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life” (Philippians 2:14, 15). 
To be a church of Christ, we must be a congregation of believers who have found the light, who believe in the light, who have come to the light, who have put on the armor of light, and who walk in the light.
By the grace of God, you can walk in the light. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that He died for your sins, that He rose from the dead the third day, if you are willing to turn your back on the works of darkness and come to the Light of God, if you desire to put on the armor of light, to put on Christ in baptism, let us know, and we will help you.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise. Permission for reference use has been granted.
Endnotes:

1 Revelation 22:16.

2 The Pharisees.

3 The Sadducees.

4 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

5 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

6 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9, 10).

7 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-8).


Published in The Old Paths Archive
http://www.oldpaths.com