2 EZRA 7:1-8:20
1 CORINTHIANS 4:1-21
PSALM 30:1-12
PROVERBS 20:28-30
1Corinthians 4:3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
For those who know Christ who are holding onto the sins of their past and present memorize these verses. For those who grew up being criticized and ridiculed, memorize these verses. For those who feel that they are too "bad" to be forgiven, memorize these verses. The only one whose opinion matters is the Lords. When you put your trust in Jesus you are washed clean and when the Father looks at you, He sees Jesus. When you put your trust in Jesus you have the power of the Spirit to help you to walk according to your faith and when your do, your conscience can be made clear. I am not saying that you should keep on sinning because you are forgiven. Go back and read Romans 6 again. We should be striving to live a Christ-like life. To do that our hearts must be surrendered to Him because "He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart". Those who live for Christ "will receive their praises from God." That is the real treasure in heaven.
1Corinthians 4:16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
We have been given the word of God and the Apostles have set the example for us of the way we are to live which mirrors the life of Christ which Paul talks about in the previous verses. Jesus discipled the other Apostles who in turn discipled Paul. Paul discipled Timothy and now Timothy is sent out to disciple others. That is how our life should progress. Look back to yesterday about how to build our temple out of the best materials. That means allowing ourselves to be discipled by those who have also been discipled. Paul talks about all the difficulties that the Apostles live through and they do it without concern of what the world thinks because they are not judged by the world in the end. We too can live a Christ-like life and still suffer struggles, heartache and persecution. When we do, we can imitate the Apostles. " 1Corinthians:4:12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment."
Psalm 30:1 I will exalt you, Lord,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 Lord my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.
3 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
you spared me from going down to the pit.
4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
Just as we look back to the word of God recorded by the Apostles, they looked back to the word of God recorded by David. They not only had Jesus to imitate they also had a "man after God's own heart" to look back at who had Moses to look back at. We can do the same thing because we have been blessed to be given the story of God's redemptive plan from the creation till eternity. The word of God is our most valuable resource. So be imitators of Christ and live for Him with clean conscious storing up treasures in heaven as you let the Sprit direct your heart. Learn from those that He has placed around you to disciple you. Be imitators of those who you see walking with Jesus. Be in the word of God and be imitators of those who have been faithful followers of Christ and stop worrying about what the world thinks.
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