Blog

• We need to live like the gospel tells us to live. We need to live godly lives (Why and How Are We to Live Godly Lives?).
• We use our intelligence to discern what God wants us to know and good from evil. We are to love as God loves. We are to preach His gospel and make disciples. We are to do whatever God asks us to do. We need to grow in faith and grace. We need to repent of the sins we continue to commit and omit and broken-hearted because we still commit the sins. We need to watch and waiting expectantly for Jesus’ coming. We must be sincere and diligent in living for God. We are to be patient. We need to live lives full of charity (Why and How Are We to Live Godly Lives?).
• I think the bottom line is we need to want it. We need to want godly lives. It is going to be hard. Satan is going to throw everything he has at us to try to derail us off the narrow path (Why and How Are We to Live Godly Lives?).
• Just believing isn’t enough. We have to confess — we have to talk about it (What Are the Causes and Effects of Evil? (Part 3)).
• We should make our conversations count. God expects us to tell others of the good He is going in our lives. We should use our words to build people up — not just give prideful, selfish discourses of ourselves (The Morality of Peace).
• Watching assumes that we are in the place in which we are supposed to be. We have to have our priorities straight (The Act of Standing Morally).
• Unrepented sin tarnishes our righteousness (The Act of Standing Morally).
• In order to be blameless, blessed, and perfect, we need to be sincere and genuine (Keeping Our Actions and Morals Consistent).
• Being blameless has to be coupled with a sincerity of heart. We have to submit to God as Sovereign Lord. We have to genuinely be trying to obey God’s laws and commandments (Keeping Our Actions and Morals Consistent).
• God wants us to be faithful in those things in which we have control. Sometimes, He may put it in our plans to try to remove the idols. If He does, we have to choose to be faithful there (Keeping Our Actions and Morals Consistent).
• We need to choose to be completely obedient to God. If we are faithful, it will cover our sins (Keeping Our Actions and Morals Consistent).
• Everything we do is written down in our book of life. We won’t get to cook the books in order to influence God’s judgment on our lives. We have to live godly lives now (Keeping Our Actions and Morals Consistent).
• We should be faithful in keeping our word, or we are liars (Why Lying Is a Moralities Issue for Disciples of Christ).
• Our character should not be dependent on the circumstances in which we find ourselves (Why Lying Is a Moralities Issue for Disciples of Christ).
• We have to exhibit truth in our character. This shows that we have a new nature as we are new creations (Why Lying Is a Moralities Issue for Disciples of Christ).
• We each have a purpose in this world. We must diligently work to fulfill that purpose (The Manner in which Disciples of Christ Are Merciful).
• That purpose is for us to do good works. Being merciful is all about doing good works for God (The Manner in which Disciples of Christ Are Merciful).
• We can only get to a solid relationship with God through prayer (What Are Acts of Mercy?).
• While we are pursuing righteousness, we should be pursuing mercy (What Are Acts of Mercy?).
• Mercy should be appropriate to the situation with which the disciples of Christ are addressing (What Are Acts of Mercy?).
• We cleanse our hands by confessing our sins and allowing the blood of Christ cleanse us (How Do We Cleanse and Purify to Submit to God?).
• We have to make the decision to submit to God. Then He cleanses us from sin (How Do We Cleanse and Purify to Submit to God?).
• We need to purify our hearts because that is where our character comes from (How Do We Cleanse and Purify to Submit to God?).
• We make many choices during the course of the day. Every time we make a choice that is counter to God’s Will, we haven’t resisted the devil (How Are We to Submit to God?).
• Bottom line is we can’t be passive in our salvation. We have to fight to stay in God’s Will (How Are We to Submit to God?).
• We can only resist the devil through God’s power (How Are We to Submit to God?).
• It is our choice to submit to God or not resist the devil (How Are We to Submit to God?).
• We are told God never leaves us, but we are to turn to Him (How Are We to Submit to God?).
• We have to be actively seeking Him (How Are We to Submit to God?).
• We are to conduct ourselves honorably. We are to be in the world. We are to have contact with non-believers. We are to be consistent in our behavior. What Peter is really getting at here is that we have to remain pure in heart regardless of our location and company at the time (The Morality of Good Report).
• The progress is to be applied over all of our nature. God isn’t interested in fixing only one or two aspects of our character (Diligence Is a Work in Progress).
• We glorify God by the good works performed through His righteousness in us. Our being and doing should be to glorify God (Improving Our Discipleship through Glorifying God).
• Our faith has to be whole. Everything we believe and do — from the largest thing to the smallest — must be governed by our faith (Honoring God with Our Lives).
• We can’t be begrudgingly obedient to God and think we are honoring Him. We have to be completely submitted to Him to cheerfully do His Will (Honoring God with Our Lives).
• We have to put ourselves into position to hear God’s Word. We have to work at it so we can understand who God is and what He has done for us. We have to live the way He wants us to live. We have to live moral lives (Peace and Safety Are the Rewards of Morality).
• The reward God gives us depends on our actions — not just our knowledge or thoughts. It is based on what we do with what we know. It is based on what we do for Him (How Do We Switch Our Affections in Our Redo for Godliness?).
• Thy Will be done. Really, that is what God wants in a nutshell. Remember, we said it wasn’t about doing or not doing. Perfection was all about being (Jesus’ Prayer of Submission).
• This renewal isn’t a Sunday-and-done-for-the-week thing. It is a daily renewal. It also isn’t a once-and-done renewal. It is a gradual, daily renewal (Renewing the Inward Person).
• We need to remember how He has provided for us in trials. We need to think about how God has saved us from difficult circumstances (How Else Do We Set Our Thoughts Above?).
• We need to be self-controlled in each area. If we aren’t controlled by God in our opinions, affections, and speech, we damage our witness. If we aren’t self controlled in our expectations, then we could come across as arrogant and uncaring (Renewing Our Inner Person by Being Sober).
• We are not to be going to extremes, but we should be grounded in reality (Renewing Our Inner Person by Being Sober).
• We need to switch our focus away from desiring worldly possession to focus on God (How Do We Switch Our Affections in Our Redo for Godliness?).
• We need to switch our focus to where God is working and help there (How Do We Switch Our Affections in Our Redo for Godliness?).
• A consequence of setting our affections below is being self-centered, instead of focusing on God (Why Do We Suffer Consequences When Setting Our Affections Below?).
• God wants us to master our pride and focus on Him (Setting Our Affections on Things of Earth).
• We need to be intentional in evaluating the priorities of our lives (Prioritizing Things Above).
• We can’t wait to come to God just when we have physical and emotional needs. We need to come to God as Sovereign God first. The praise and worship have to come before the laundry list of requests. We have to come frequently (How Do We Switch Our Affections in Our Redo for Godliness?).
• God does hold us accountable. We, as His creations, are obligated to follow His laws and commandments. If we don’t, we will pay the consequences (Why Do We Suffer Consequences When Setting Our Affections Below?).
• Worldview people want us to hear what God calls sins — and ignore them. They want us to hear “… Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16: 15 KJV) — and not do it. We have to do what God tells us to do, not what worldview people tell us. We can’t water down the gospel in order to get their stamp of approval (Why Do We Suffer Consequences When Setting Our Affections Below?).
• God is looking for a genuine confession. He is looking for obedience to His way (Why Do We Suffer Consequences When Setting Our Affections Below?).
• God will honor those who are obedient to Him (Benefits of Setting Our Affections on Things Above).
• We need to corral our thoughts to focus on pursuing perfection. If we focus our thoughts on God, we can renounce our self-righteousness and focus on the righteousness gained through faith (How Do We Set Our Thoughts Above?).
• Yes, we can question God. We cannot doubt Him. We have to always give Him the glory and honor He is due (How Else Do We Set Our Thoughts Above?).

We need to keep this in mind:

• God knows how much work it is going to be to diligently follow Him. He will reward us when we succeed in obeying Him (Renewing the Inward Person).
• We are to come acknowledging our need for Him rather than kicking ourselves that we don’t meet the standard (How Else Do We Set Our Thoughts Above?).

Father God. Knowing of You is not enough. Believing in You is not enough. We must change our character to be that of Yours and live our lives proving that we want to be like You. Satan tempts us to focus on the worldview. Help us to keep our focus on You. Amen.