Back To The Basics

It is good to recharge our batteries once in a while with the Original Basics of why we are here.  Our Lord told us to fill up with His great love and go dump in on every one, good and bad alike.  To look for His light in people who are looking for Him and to help them find him.  So lets go through some of the basics that our Lord set out for us to do.  And this is not at all of them, for sure….

Rom.11:20-22, “That it is true that they (Israel) were broken (pruned) off because of their unbelief (their lack of real faith), and you are established through faith [because you do believe]. So do not become proud and conceited, but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid.  For if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], neither will He spare you [if you are guilty of the same offense].  Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s gracious kindness to you—provided you continue in His grace and abide in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off (pruned away and burned).  We stand by faith, but can leave at any time.

John 12:24-26, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [ just one grain; it never becomes more but lives ] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.  Anyone who loves his life, loses it, but anyone who hates his life (dies to his life) in this world will keep it to life eternal. [Whoever has no love for, no concern for, no regard for his life here on earth, but despises it, preserves his life forever and ever.]  If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [[a] to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

OK… So what are we to do?
Matt. 28: 18-20,   “Jesus approached and, [a]breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them [b]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you [c] all the days ([d] perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. [e] Amen (so let it be).   (You have to know what Jesus taught, very clearly, to be able to share it with others.)
 
Unity Factor:
John 17:20-26, 20 Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching,  That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.  I have given to them the glory (power) and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one:  I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me.  Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory (power), which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

So what are the Basics
Redemption:  Romans 10:9-10, “Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation.
Sanctification:  Romans 6:19, “I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members [and faculties] as servants to impurity and ever increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members [and faculties] once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) [which leads] to sanctification. 
1 Thess.4:3 “For this is the will of God, that you should be consecrated (separated and set apart for pure and holy living): that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice,
God’s Power,  1 Corinthians 2:4-5, “And my language and my message were not set forth in persuasive (enticing and plausible) words of wisdom, but they were in demonstration of the [Holy] Spirit and power [a proof by the Spirit and power of God, operating on me and stirring in the minds of my hearers the most holy emotions and thus persuading them], So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God.”  1 Cor.4:20, “For the kingdom of God consists of and is based on not talk but power (moral power and excellence of soul).  Acts 8:13-17, “Even Simon himself believed [he adhered to, trusted in, and relied on the teaching of Philip], and after being baptized, devoted himself constantly to him. And seeing signs and miracles of great power which were being performed, he was utterly amazed. Now when the apostles (special messengers) at Jerusalem heard that [the country of] Samaria had accepted and welcomed the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,  And they came down and prayed for them that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit;  For He had not yet fallen upon any of them, but they had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then [the apostles] laid their hands on them one by one, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

For use with the following:
Fruit of the Spirit.  Galatians 5:21-23 Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [[a] that can bring a charge].   There is no substitute for a true believer not to be known by the fruit.

Gifts of the Spirit,   1 Cor.12:6-10, “And there are distinctive varieties of operation [of working to accomplish things], but it is the same God Who inspires and energizes them all in all.  But to each one is given the manifestation of the [Holy] Spirit [the evidence, the spiritual illumination of the Spirit] for good and profit.  To one is given in and through the [Holy] Spirit [the power to speak] a message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same [Holy] Spirit; To another [[b]wonder-working] faith by the same [Holy] Spirit, to another the extraordinary powers of healing by the one Spirit;  10 To another the working of miracles, to another prophetic insight ([c] the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose); to another the ability to discern and distinguish between [the utterances of true] spirits [and false ones], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, to another the ability to interpret [such] tongues.  Paul instructs us to covet and pray for the best gifts of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. 12:31

Ministries of the Spirit Eph.4:11-16, “And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (Visionaries), some prophets (Guides for His Truth), some evangelists (Preachers of the Gospel, with power.), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers (searchers of details.)  His intention was for the the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),  [That it might develop] until we all attain unity in the faith and in the comprehension of the [[a] full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.  So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of [b] unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.  Rather, let our lives lovingly [c] express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).  For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.”   And then the world can really see Jesus for who HE really is, King of Kings.
    
Yours, in His great and everlasting Love, Grace & Mercy, Pastor Ken <><   www.Trinity-Aloha.org