Mislead Through Starvation

True Faith Means Continued Growth

We have been talking about Spiritual Food. We have been talking about the fact that in order to have True Faith, you must continually feed your Spirit. Starting with Milk, and then leading to more substantial and meaningful nourishment. When you are born, you start out with the Milk in your Mothers Breast.Then as you grow, you start eating Pureed Foods, then Mechanical Foods {all chopped up}, then finally Solid Foods.

The same is for those who are Born again, in the Spirit. You are not going to start off by learning who Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are. It really doesn't matter to your Salvation. No, you will not need to understand how long a Sabbath Day Journey is. You do not yet have Eyes to see, Ears to hear, and your Spirit is an infant. Not yet capable of understanding such things..

But what happens if once you are Born, you stop eating all together? Yup. Not only with you fail to grow, but you will die all together. So you must continue to eat. However, WHAT you eat, is just as important as eating in of itself. Just like our Bodies, if we fill our Spirit with Junk Food, it will not be as healthy as it would with a Healthy Diet. Garbage in, garbage out. If you fill your Spirit on a daily bases with the things of this world, and even with things of Religion, you may find your Spirit sick, starving, and you make even Spiritually die.

Just like our Bodies, if you eat a pound of Bacon for Breakfast and Lunch, washing it down with a two litter of Soda, then for Dinner washing it down with a Six Pack of Beer, having say a pound or two of candy for desert, you will not be healthy..

This {Holding up the Bible} Is Fruit, Vegetables, Meat we need to grow our Spirits Strong, Healthy, and make us Wise. This is Holy Food. Or WHOLE Food. This {Holding up the Bible} is the perfect Food. Any time I even walk into a Church, if they hand me anything other than this {Holding up the Bible}, I know that there is an issue with that Church.

What is this? "This is our Book. This tells you what to eat, wear, what time to go to bed. The days you have to observe, the way you need to Pray. This is our Book. It tells you all about our Founder, and his Vision of this Church. We will talk about the Bible of course, But we will be discussing things in our Book as well.. "

Now I understand, that in some cases, that is like candy. Oh it is SWEET, tasty, and oh so good. You can get caught up in learning all about that particular Church. You may find it fascinating.You may even feel it makes sense. But if you do not have a Solid Foundation, or you fail to continue to eat WHOLE Foods that is this {Holding up the Bible}, you can become misled.

I had a friend. Very devoted Woman of God. She was not shy. Problem is, She became whatever Church she was going to at the time. In other words, she came in and told me "Never wear the color Red. It is the Color of the Devil." It is? "Yes, and women should NEVER wear Pants." OK. Then for whatever reason, she would leave that Church and go onto another. She then showed up wearing bright Red Lipstick. Wait, huh? She then told me "You are listening to Devil Music. Any Music that has drums in it is of the Devil because Drums are make of Snake Skins.." I thought they were made of Calfskin or synthetic materials, but OK. Then drums were OK, but I had to eat nothing but nuts and berries. You get the point..

Remember Jesus warned us against such things as well.

"Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."

Think about that for a second. That IS Religion. We take the Word of God, and we pick and chose what we want to follow and what we want to ignore. Then we create Religions to teach these things. Remember, He is talking to religions folks here. Priests, and such.

"Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

Teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men. Just because you may be following the traditions of men, doesn't mean you are following God's Word. Or HIS Teachings. {Matthew 15:1-9}

Paul, in a rather fiery Letter to the Church in Galatia, writes this..

"Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." {Galatians 1:7-9}

Then a little bit latter Paul makes this statement..

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?"{ Galatians 3:1}

Basically, in a nutshell, the Galatians heard the Gospel, accepted it, Started a Church based on it, but then, for reasons unknown to Paul, started to teach things NOT in the Gospel. Instead of teaching Salvation by Faith, they were teaching that you not only could, but HAD to, WORK your way to Heaven. Their emphasis was on what they were doing, rather than on God's work in them. Their focus was on things dealing with the senses. The senses are that of the Physical and NOT Spiritual. They had more faith in themselves, in their own works, to save them than they had in Jesus's Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Intercession. They did not see or know God clearly enough, and the absence of Him in their lives created a void that was quickly and easily filled by these false ideas.

The word that Paul used, "foolish," means unintelligent or unwise. He was not trying to insult them, well, maybe, but he was telling them, they know no better. They should, but they do not, know what they are doing is wrong. Remember, in Paul's letter to Timothy, he warned him this...

"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."{1 Timothy 6:3-5}

Remember Jesus warned us that if we do not know the Truth, WE could be misled...

"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." {Matthew 24:24}

What does this mean? YOU are the elect. You did not stumble upon this Blog, or just by happenstance, end up watching that TV Preacher, or come to this Church by accident. You were called out. You were chosen by God. He led you to this message. He led you to this or that Church. He called you out of the World. He fills you with His Spirit. He gives you to Jesus. You have little to do with it save saying "Yes." "I accept Jesus's sacrifice for me." Now if that is all you do, and you do not eat the Bread of Life. You do not feed your Spirit with Whole Food {Holding up the Bible}, you will remain a Child, or worse, you can fall away altogether.

The simple truth is, if you do not know the Truth, you will believe the lie. Your Spirit is hungry. It wants something to believe in. It wants to be filled. If you do not allow God to fill it with good and whole Food, it will be filled with junk. Know the Truth. Then it will not matter how charismatic, or smooth tongued, or even how right it may sound, you will never fall for the Lie. Do not be mislead through the starvation of your Spirit.. Eat up..

Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Have you been adopted into the Family of God? If not, say this Prayer. Right now. Wherever you may be. Say it in your own words, and do not doubt in your heart. God will hear you. He will send the Spirit of Life to you. Let us Pray..

"Oh heavenly Father, Lord God. I am a sinner. I know this. I know there is nothing I can do to change that. But I know you can. I accept Jesus's sacrifice for me. I repent my sins. Please send the Spirit of Adoption into my life. Help me to get to know the real you. Save me. Please. In the name of Jesus, Amen!"

That's it. It really is that simple. Now go tell someone what you have just done. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." {Romans 10:9} You need to find a Church that God leads you to, and be Baptized the way Jesus said to be. You are now a Child of God. A new Creature. You "have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." {Colossians 3:10}

If you want to tell me, or comment, question, give testimonials, or just say "Hi," the Email is opntalk@gmail.com

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. {2 Corinthians 13}

Until next time, be Blessed, be a Blessing, and Jesus IS Lord..