Lazy Christians & Revealing Yah'shua/Jesus to Others - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

2 Thessalonians 3:10 ……… For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

When the Lord called me to fulfil Matthew 25:35-40 by feeding the hungry, etc…. I was living in Southern Spain at the time. He gave me a house in which to minister and, very soon, there was a constant flow of young men who came seeking help. Some had a meal, others stayed for many months.

With this much activity going on, the house needed constant attention to stop it from degenerating into chaos. Try as hard as I could, I could not motivate these men to contribute to cleaning the house or to keeping it in order. Most of them had become apathetic and lazy after years of lifestyles as addicts.

Even although almost all of them became Christians – they were lazy Christians.
I pleaded with the Lord to show me what to do and one day He took me to 2 Thessalonians 3:10 ….. this was the answer I had been looking for; if you do not work you shall not eat.

I held a quick meeting with everyone in the house and shared this scripture with them. From that time on I had no problems keeping the house clean and tidy and in order.

This was a physical solution to a practical problem but it also has a spiritual application. We eat to grow and develop our bodies so that we have the strength to work and we continue to eat to maintain our strength to work.

We need to work at keeping our own ‘house’ in order; our body, soul and spirit. We need the daily discipline of ‘eating’ spiritual food, our daily bread, which nourishes us from the word of God.

We need to work at keeping our minds focussed on Jesus and not allow our thoughts to stray off in tangents.

We need to work at nurturing a Christ-like lifestyle and in doing so the Lord will nourish us with regular revelation.

Lord Jesus, help me not to be lazy but to give you my best effort every day. Amen
video: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=b6n-EWiEjfQ&feature=channel_page

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Revealing Jesus to Others
Colossians 3:3 ……. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
To truly reveal Jesus to those around us we need to get ourselves out of the way. In fact, to fully reveal Christ in us, we need to die to ourselves so that nothing of us mars His fullness in us.

Of course, it goes without saying, that when we were converted and became Christians we died to our old selves and were born again as believers in Christ Jesus. That should be the reality for every Christian convert.

However, keeping the old life dead is an entirely different matter! All too often our old character wants to resurrect itself and we have, sometimes, a daily struggle to keep ‘the old man’ down.

Only by absolute surrender to the lordship of Jesus and by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us is it possible to be a victorious Christian.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Jesus. Under His anointing people will see Christ in us but if we allow our flesh; our carnal nature, to assert itself, not only will we eclipse Jesus but people will use our shortcomings to criticise Christianity.
It is therefore essential that, as ambassadors for Jesus Christ and our Christian faith, we put our old man to rest – permanently. In this way we will reveal Christ in us and He will be glorified.

Lord Jesus, I choose to die so that you may live through me. Amen

Video: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=prCvX4FfyII&feature=channel_page

Reply by Rebecca (Rivkah) McFarland on January 28, 2009 at 2:04pm

Great post!

Reply by Lev/Christopher on January 29, 2009 at 12:44am

I think Messianics (in particular, though certainly not exclusively) forget that our primary witness is not theological (revealing the contents of Torah to define the Israelite lifestyle) but dying to self so that Yah'shua can live through us spiritually. The vessel (Torah) is important (to maintain, contain, cradle and promote the New Life) but it is the New Life (which requires a death of self) that is the main thing. So I agree, this witness is important.

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