“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ”
(Ephesians 4:11-15).
Today’s Morsel: I have come to realize that one of the major reasons so many born-again believers struggle in their walk with God is they do not know the doctrine. Some churches preach doctrine while others never mention it. I saw a bumper sticker once which stated, “Preach the gospel, use words if you need to.” Doctrine must be taught. When I was a Drill Instructor in the Army, my number one job was to teach doctrine to all new recruits, as all training centers came under the umbrella of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. Every soldier was to know the doctrine of the army. If soldiers do not understand doctrine, they can get killed or cause others to get killed. Paul told Timothy, “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:13-16). The quickest way to destroy a church is to neglect the doctrine.
Sing: The mighty God is Jesus, the Prince of Peace is He, the Everlasting Father, the King Eternally, the wonderful in wisdom, by whom all things were made, the fullness of the Godhead in Jesus is displayed.
It’s all in Him, It’s all in Him, the fulness of the Godhead it’s all in Him. It’s all in Him, it’s all in Him, the Mighty God is Jesus and It’s all in Him.
Thought For Today: Don’t neglect the doctrine (Parker).
Action=Genuine belief. The thing I realized recently is that resisting temptation is an act of love toward God, which He will honor. Another reason folks struggle is they are 'experts' at doctrine but novices at believing it through action, thus they heap to themselves judgement and consequence of wrong choices. This in turn diminishes their confidence in themselves and destroys their faith in doctrine which was already weak (unbeknownst to them, as they thought just 'knowing' is the same as belief. Action is they key; faith without works is dead.
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