The Bible tells us is James chapter 5 verse 16 that: The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. This leads one to think that if the prayers of a righteous person can do many great things then their actions or behaviors must do the same. When we reflect on this scripture we must at all times govern ourselves in the spirit of this divine instruction and apply it to rebuke any and all actions and behaviors that may temp us to do otherwise. I say this because we must remember that the many minions of satan who are the demons or agents of sin want us to follow them and practice what they speak or whisper in our ear. Consider the sins or demons of unforgiveness, hatred, or resentment just to name a few, that sometime control our behavior and actions in relation to other people and how we treat them. Ask your self is an unforgiving person a righteous person according to God? The Bible does reveal: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” Mark 11.25 If you are allowing for a demon/sin to direct you physically then we should not be angry or confused with God when He does not bless us spiritually by our prayers. While you are holding grudges or being particular towards people in an attempt to exact some form of revenge, remember you are serving satan and not faithfully following God. Sinfulness of any kind blocks Divine blessings…
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries ©2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
If you are a Christian then you are an Evangelist, so go Evangelize and Encourage
If you are a Christian then you are an evangelist and if you are an evangelist that means you are a voice and source of encouragement not discouragement. I will give an example, if you are talking to someone who is going through a troubling time in their life and they seem to have given up completely and feel that all is lost as overcoming this situation is impossible, as a Christian would you agree and continue to tear them down with decaying words that confirm the bleakness of their situation or would you as a Christian in the spirit of the Great Commission begin to lift them up with the Living Word of God? Surely as a Christian you would not call them a pathetic failure or a whinny loser who cannot survive in the real world, after all these are not words that one would find in the Gospel of Christ for us to use when speaking to each other. What we must realize is that as Christians we are always in the commission of an evangelist spreading the uplifting and overwhelming power of the Living Word of God not just to people we don’t know but to those that are closes to us. The main point I am making is that as Christians we cannot go out and evangelize to people and lift them up out of their problems in the Living Word of God if we are not doing the same thing to those we are close to who may have a similar or the same problem, if one does this it makes one a hypocrite because if the Word is good and working for a stranger then is it not the same for the ones in our lives? For example a Christian husband cannot evangelize to another woman about her addiction and how God can deliver her from this but at the same time tell his wife with the same addiction she is hopeless. The Bible tells us; ‘You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ’ 2 Timothy 2.3. This applies to everyone not just to those we just met but to those we have known for a while. If you are a Christian you are an evangelist which makes you an encourager to everyone in and at all times but never the source of calamity at anytime. We must remember that saving someone is as simple as what we say and do therefore never forget; The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise, Proverbs 11.30. In closing you never know what you are being asked to do for God but always know that as a Christian we are to be in the spirit of Matthew 5.13-14 (Salt and Light of the earth).
God Bless.
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries ©2011
God Bless.
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries ©2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Is it Emotional Abuse?
When we think of abuse we forget that a person can abuse another person emotionally by saying things that make that individual feel belittled or defeated. Emotional abuse follows the same pattern and displays the same traits as physical abuse in that it comes in cycles. For instance when a person is physically abusive they blame the person that they are physically abusing as the reason they are being abusive towards them, but as soon as the violent episode is over they are apologetic, say they are sorry it was their fault, they don’t know why they over reacted like this, become real loving and giving and then without warning they do the same thing over again and again, leaving the abused person feeling lost and completely turned inside out not knowing what to do or where to turn. Well it is the same with emotional abuse for example if a woman tells a man that he is not a real man and that he will never accomplish anything or a man tells a woman that she is worthless or stupid these are words that cut into the emotional stability of a person because they stay with that individual long after they have been spoken. Let’s take the man for instance whose wife/girlfriend says he is not a real man, they argue she says these things says she wants a divorce or too break up with him because of this and then after she calms down she goes back to him and says she was sorry and she did not mean to say that and she was just going through something and to please forgive her which the man does. Consider that this man tells the woman how her words had hurt him and made him feel emotionally vulnerable and asks her to promise not to ever hurt him like that again, to which she agrees and the two go on with their day. Then say a month later she does the same thing and attacks him with the same words but adds that she does not know why she stays with him because he will never be able to provide for her because he does not know how because he is not a real man that can and knows how. Do you see the pattern here this is a person being torn down emotionally with words that they have already indicated makes them feel helpless, demeaned and has lowered their self worth and esteem but yet the person tearing them down blames them for these actions just like before and then turns around and apologizes and just like before says they will never say these things again only to repeat the cycle with even more vicious verbal attacks and insults the next time. The thing about emotional abuse is not easily recognized because you cannot see the scars but they are there and it takes a lot longer for them to heal because there is no medicine or bandages to put on them to help the healing process go faster. We must remember that in the middle of what we are going through we must be careful of what we say to people that we love because words hurt and do the same damage as hands balled up in a fist!
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18.21
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries ©2011
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18.21
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries ©2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Excerpt from: Homosexuals are Human Organisms: Why Don't they Behave Like It
The numbers, 2, 5, and, 13 don’t seem to mean anything at first glance. However if we say these are ages they could mean a lot. Consider Erik Erikson stages of psychosocial development:
Infancy/ basic trust versus mistrust- a period encompassing approximately the first year of life. Erikson believed that this stage was a time of incorporation, which the infant {organism} takes in their environment through all their sense organs. The term oral-sensory arises in this stage as this is where an infants’ principle psychosexual mode of adapting begins. This is the start of the most significant interpersonal relationships with the primary caregiver, which is usually the mother. Realizing that their mother will provide food on a regular basis the infant learns basic trust, the soothing sound on the caregiver’s voice, and an environment full of positive activities will also enrich the basic trust of the infant organism. If the infant organism can find no correspondence between their sensory organs needs and environment then mistrust arises. On one hand basic trust is ordinarily syntonic while mistrust is dystonic. If an infant organism is exposed to too much trust they become naïve and easily influenced to the vagaries of the world; however too little will lead to anger, confusion, cynicism, hostility and depression, (Feist & Feist, 2009).
Early Childhood age 2-3/ Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt. Erikson’s view was that young children {still developing organisms} not only master the sphincter muscle but other body functions such as walking, throwing, reaching, pointing, and going potty. It is also at this stage that children not only develop a sense of control over their interpersonal environment but self control as well. This is also the stage where we see the child {organism} experiencing doubt and shame as children learn that attempts at autonomy are unsuccessful. The psychosexual mode observed during this time frame is anal-urethral –muscular. It is here control; cleanliness and mobility of the body are learned. Not how to mate or who to mate with, (Feist et.al, 2009).
Play Age ages 3-5/ at this preschool-age children are developing locomotion, language skills, curiosity, imagination, and the ability to set goals. The primary psychosexual mode at this point is genital-locomotor. Here the Oedipus complex {child develops feelings of love and or hostility for parent; son loves mother hates father reverse for daughter} is played out in the imagination of the child and includes the start of understanding the concepts of death, future events, growth and reproduction. At this stage a child may play at being {or model the observed behavior/actions} a mother, father, wife, aunt, sister, uncle, prince, princes, or husband. This expression of the genital mode also shows that developing rapidly is the child’s locomotor abilities. Erikson also believed that unless sexual interest (mating habits) is provoked by cultural sex play or by adult sexual abuse, the Oedipus complex produces no harmful effects on later personality development or behavioral choices. Even though children begin to adopt initiative in their selection and pursuit of goals, many goals, such as marrying their mother or father or running away from home, which must be repressed or delayed which results in guilt. This conflict becomes the dominant psychosocial crisis of play age. Where too much guilt leads to a child being overly inhibited and moralistic and too little may lead to chaos and a lack of morals. This conflict of initiative versus guilt produces the basic strength of purpose. At this stage children have a purpose in what they do, their genital interest have a direction, in which the mother or father being the object of their sexual desires, (Feist et.al, 2009).
POINT OF DISCUSSION
[Homosexual males were molested as children at much higher rates than heterosexual men: 35% versus 4%; one study found a ratio as high as 46% to 7%. A former law enforcement official pointed out, the information they had indicated that people who were molested as children have a greater likelihood of perpetrating that behavior on others when they grow up.
http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/06/pedophilia-in-the-homosexual-world/]
[In research, by the California School of Professional Psychology, Fresno, California, with 942 nonclinical adult participants, gay men and lesbian women reported a significantly higher rate of childhood molestation than did heterosexual men and women. Forty-six percent of the homosexual men in contrast to 7% of the heterosexual men reported homosexual molestation. Twenty-two percent of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women reported homosexual molestation. This research is apparently the first survey that has reported substantial homosexual molestation of girls.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/u10022r778788010/]
School Age ages 6- 13.The social world has expanded and now includes peers, teachers, and other adult models beyond the family or home environment. This does not necessarily mean an actual school or classroom like many modern cultures, but this also includes societies where less formal approaches are used by adults to instruct children in the ways of that particular society. This psychosexual mode in this stage is latency. Sexual {mating} latency is important because it allows children to divert their energies to learning the concepts within their culture and the strategies of social interactions, (Feist et. al, 2009).
POINT OF DISCUSSION
Social learning theory is one of the most popular explanatory perspectives in the marital violence literature. When applied to the family, social learning theory states that we model behavior that we have been exposed to as children. Violence is learned, through role models provided by the family (parents, siblings, relatives, and boyfriends/girlfriends), either directly or indirectly, and reinforced in childhood and continued in adulthood as a coping response to stress or a method of conflict resolution (Bandura, 1973). During childhood and adolescence, observations of how parents and significant others behave in intimate relationships provide an initial learning of behavioral alternatives which are "appropriate" for these relationships. If the family of origin handled stresses and frustrations with anger and aggression, the child who has grown up in such an environment is at greater risk for exhibiting those same behaviors, witnessed or experienced (Wofford-Mihalic & Elliott, 97).
from the book Homosexuals are Human Organisms: Why Don't they Behave Like It? Chapter 3 by Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Infancy/ basic trust versus mistrust- a period encompassing approximately the first year of life. Erikson believed that this stage was a time of incorporation, which the infant {organism} takes in their environment through all their sense organs. The term oral-sensory arises in this stage as this is where an infants’ principle psychosexual mode of adapting begins. This is the start of the most significant interpersonal relationships with the primary caregiver, which is usually the mother. Realizing that their mother will provide food on a regular basis the infant learns basic trust, the soothing sound on the caregiver’s voice, and an environment full of positive activities will also enrich the basic trust of the infant organism. If the infant organism can find no correspondence between their sensory organs needs and environment then mistrust arises. On one hand basic trust is ordinarily syntonic while mistrust is dystonic. If an infant organism is exposed to too much trust they become naïve and easily influenced to the vagaries of the world; however too little will lead to anger, confusion, cynicism, hostility and depression, (Feist & Feist, 2009).
Early Childhood age 2-3/ Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt. Erikson’s view was that young children {still developing organisms} not only master the sphincter muscle but other body functions such as walking, throwing, reaching, pointing, and going potty. It is also at this stage that children not only develop a sense of control over their interpersonal environment but self control as well. This is also the stage where we see the child {organism} experiencing doubt and shame as children learn that attempts at autonomy are unsuccessful. The psychosexual mode observed during this time frame is anal-urethral –muscular. It is here control; cleanliness and mobility of the body are learned. Not how to mate or who to mate with, (Feist et.al, 2009).
Play Age ages 3-5/ at this preschool-age children are developing locomotion, language skills, curiosity, imagination, and the ability to set goals. The primary psychosexual mode at this point is genital-locomotor. Here the Oedipus complex {child develops feelings of love and or hostility for parent; son loves mother hates father reverse for daughter} is played out in the imagination of the child and includes the start of understanding the concepts of death, future events, growth and reproduction. At this stage a child may play at being {or model the observed behavior/actions} a mother, father, wife, aunt, sister, uncle, prince, princes, or husband. This expression of the genital mode also shows that developing rapidly is the child’s locomotor abilities. Erikson also believed that unless sexual interest (mating habits) is provoked by cultural sex play or by adult sexual abuse, the Oedipus complex produces no harmful effects on later personality development or behavioral choices. Even though children begin to adopt initiative in their selection and pursuit of goals, many goals, such as marrying their mother or father or running away from home, which must be repressed or delayed which results in guilt. This conflict becomes the dominant psychosocial crisis of play age. Where too much guilt leads to a child being overly inhibited and moralistic and too little may lead to chaos and a lack of morals. This conflict of initiative versus guilt produces the basic strength of purpose. At this stage children have a purpose in what they do, their genital interest have a direction, in which the mother or father being the object of their sexual desires, (Feist et.al, 2009).
POINT OF DISCUSSION
[Homosexual males were molested as children at much higher rates than heterosexual men: 35% versus 4%; one study found a ratio as high as 46% to 7%. A former law enforcement official pointed out, the information they had indicated that people who were molested as children have a greater likelihood of perpetrating that behavior on others when they grow up.
http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/06/pedophilia-in-the-homosexual-world/]
[In research, by the California School of Professional Psychology, Fresno, California, with 942 nonclinical adult participants, gay men and lesbian women reported a significantly higher rate of childhood molestation than did heterosexual men and women. Forty-six percent of the homosexual men in contrast to 7% of the heterosexual men reported homosexual molestation. Twenty-two percent of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women reported homosexual molestation. This research is apparently the first survey that has reported substantial homosexual molestation of girls.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/u10022r778788010/]
School Age ages 6- 13.The social world has expanded and now includes peers, teachers, and other adult models beyond the family or home environment. This does not necessarily mean an actual school or classroom like many modern cultures, but this also includes societies where less formal approaches are used by adults to instruct children in the ways of that particular society. This psychosexual mode in this stage is latency. Sexual {mating} latency is important because it allows children to divert their energies to learning the concepts within their culture and the strategies of social interactions, (Feist et. al, 2009).
POINT OF DISCUSSION
Social learning theory is one of the most popular explanatory perspectives in the marital violence literature. When applied to the family, social learning theory states that we model behavior that we have been exposed to as children. Violence is learned, through role models provided by the family (parents, siblings, relatives, and boyfriends/girlfriends), either directly or indirectly, and reinforced in childhood and continued in adulthood as a coping response to stress or a method of conflict resolution (Bandura, 1973). During childhood and adolescence, observations of how parents and significant others behave in intimate relationships provide an initial learning of behavioral alternatives which are "appropriate" for these relationships. If the family of origin handled stresses and frustrations with anger and aggression, the child who has grown up in such an environment is at greater risk for exhibiting those same behaviors, witnessed or experienced (Wofford-Mihalic & Elliott, 97).
from the book Homosexuals are Human Organisms: Why Don't they Behave Like It? Chapter 3 by Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Monday, May 9, 2011
Spiritual Adherence first and Always.
Men and women, if you are not spiritually cleaved/adhered to and in God with each other, you have no business becoming legally married. The wedding ceremony and the license that must have physical signatures and witnesses is not in the model of Genesis 2.24- Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. This spiritual instruction comes first as it relates to a man and woman coming together for the purpose of being one both in body and spirit in God, this is always over all time. The legal marriage is what the law of man needs as the government does not recognize a spiritual bond or in others words the authority and anointing of God. Remember throughout the entire Old Testament before the Exodus the Bible mentions many being husbands and wives but we have to ask who was marrying them since the God did not establish the Levitical Priest until the Exodus and Aaron as it first. If we know history we would realize that the purpose for the wedding as we know it was to establish a physical record of fact in the presence of witnesses for the purpose of any future legal claims per the law of the ruling authorities. The Apostle Paul states in Romans 13.1; Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. This does not mean to ignore the commandments of God it means first do what God says do and you will be justified for your actions by your spiritual obedience {FAITH} it is written the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1.17. To review; first comes spiritual adherence between a man and a woman in the example of Genesis 2.24 for the purpose of fulfilling Genesis 1.25-28, then that man and woman to establish and keep the peace become legally/ physically married as husband and wife per the instructions in Romans 13.1. Remember please God first and always and everyone including you will be the better for it… “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12.17, the government needs a marriage of law but God requires a spiritual adherence to Him; therefore God first then man.
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries © 2011
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries © 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Homosexuality Void of Purpose
The Bible reveals to us:
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, Genesis 6.5, NKJV.
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…... Proverbs 23.7, NKJV.
Notice that with regards to homosexuals they think they were born to not function as they were designed/created, which means they are living in conflict, a conflict that is between their mind, body and their spirit.
The Bible reveals:
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, Genesis 1.27-28, NKJV.
This is clear that we {mankind} are created for a purpose in God’s perfect plan given to us from the beginning of time.
With regards to homosexuals consider this they are the only human organisms who claim that they are born with a predetermined behavior that has no purpose for the work of God or mankind. Homosexuals want us to believe/think that they were born equipped to do something that they think they should not do and that is follow God; first in spirit, then in mind and finally in body, per Genesis 1.27-28.
Ask the question, why did God create mankind {men and women}? The answer is in Genesis 1.27-28. Are not a man and a woman designed to complement the physical function of the other?
If we think about sin as a whole we can see that it is all about the mental perception being the sole direction of the physical person, void of an adherence to the Spirit of God. When people begin to ignore the inherent Spirit of God that lives in us in place of our mental reasoning for the pleasure of our flesh instead of the purpose of our perfect God, we justify our disobedient behaviors with excuses like I was born that way never considering how could I be born with a purpose to sin?
In the book I speak about modeling and how this is one way that children learn, consider this how does a child learn either good or bad, sin or righteousness, by modeling what he or she sees from those around them, I go on to ask if all heterosexuals must learn what to do as it relates to sex {birds and the bees} with their opposites, how are homosexuals learning to have sex with the same sex? Someone would have to introduce this behavior to them and through this modeling of the behavior got them to think that it was normal and this is true for every single sin.
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries©2010
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, Genesis 6.5, NKJV.
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…... Proverbs 23.7, NKJV.
Notice that with regards to homosexuals they think they were born to not function as they were designed/created, which means they are living in conflict, a conflict that is between their mind, body and their spirit.
The Bible reveals:
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, Genesis 1.27-28, NKJV.
This is clear that we {mankind} are created for a purpose in God’s perfect plan given to us from the beginning of time.
With regards to homosexuals consider this they are the only human organisms who claim that they are born with a predetermined behavior that has no purpose for the work of God or mankind. Homosexuals want us to believe/think that they were born equipped to do something that they think they should not do and that is follow God; first in spirit, then in mind and finally in body, per Genesis 1.27-28.
Ask the question, why did God create mankind {men and women}? The answer is in Genesis 1.27-28. Are not a man and a woman designed to complement the physical function of the other?
If we think about sin as a whole we can see that it is all about the mental perception being the sole direction of the physical person, void of an adherence to the Spirit of God. When people begin to ignore the inherent Spirit of God that lives in us in place of our mental reasoning for the pleasure of our flesh instead of the purpose of our perfect God, we justify our disobedient behaviors with excuses like I was born that way never considering how could I be born with a purpose to sin?
In the book I speak about modeling and how this is one way that children learn, consider this how does a child learn either good or bad, sin or righteousness, by modeling what he or she sees from those around them, I go on to ask if all heterosexuals must learn what to do as it relates to sex {birds and the bees} with their opposites, how are homosexuals learning to have sex with the same sex? Someone would have to introduce this behavior to them and through this modeling of the behavior got them to think that it was normal and this is true for every single sin.
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries©2010
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Christian World View and the Epistle of Rome
The Christian world view can be found in the passages of the epistle of Romans in many ways. When we think about the Christian worldview often times people think of it not in terms of the Bible but rather the way they see what Christians do and say. However; not everyone who says they are a Christian are living Christ like. This brings up a very important question as it relates to how are Christians to live in this world? Paul does much to explain this, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, Romans 12.1-2. In this passage reasonable service stands out as this reasonable service will allow Christians to avoid living unrighteous and avoid the consequences of sin which as Romans 6.23 reveals; for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In avoiding being worldly and separated from the divine nature of God, Christians must realize and adhere to the mission of Christ. If we read what the Apostle states; for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”, Romans 1.16-17. Paul is explaining to both Jews and Gentiles that Christ is God’s gift of Salvation to those who are living as Christians should from the moment of our very creation. We often forget that we were spiritually formed in God’s image first then physically created, this means that our first nature is spiritual as we are to as God revealed to us in Genesis by our nature; Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1.28. This is how and why we were created for a purpose in God and through fulfilling this purpose we reflect attributes of God. Paul explains; for since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, Romans 1.20. These attributes start and end within the righteousness of God from which we are able to see God’s holiness, goodness and love as explained by Paul; yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8.37-39.
If we as spiritually formed beings of God are not living in His image, an image that begins in righteousness as this is how we are able to be empowered by the Holy Spirit as the Apostle points out in Romans 15.13; Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, then we are not set apart from sin but rather we are living to commit it on a consistent basis.
What Christians understand is that if we are not living as we were first created in fulfilling the purpose of God in His image by His Divine nature and attributes to allow for us to live apart from the sin that is in the desire of the world then we can never live in the realization of Christ as our salvation from God to be reconciled back to Him. Throughout Romans the Apostle is explaining that a Christian worldview without spiritual adherence means there can be no physical deliverance from the troubles and temptations of this world. In all this none of it is possible for anyone if it is not done in faith. We cannot reasonably serve God, avoid sin, receive and accept the responsibility of salvation through the Body of Christ if we do not have faith. It is not just believing but doing and living by faith in and for God. If we are unfaithful then we are unrighteous, if we are unrighteous we are disobedient no one can be justified or saved in a life of disobedience. If we look at what the Apostle said about Abraham; for what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”, Romans 4.3. Recall Abraham was the father of faith by his obedience to God; he is not the father of the Law. Abraham serves as the example of how we as Christians must first live by faith, and by this be faithful-obedient and through this we are covered in all that comes in the righteousness of God’s mercy and grace through Christ.
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries ©2011
In avoiding being worldly and separated from the divine nature of God, Christians must realize and adhere to the mission of Christ. If we read what the Apostle states; for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”, Romans 1.16-17. Paul is explaining to both Jews and Gentiles that Christ is God’s gift of Salvation to those who are living as Christians should from the moment of our very creation. We often forget that we were spiritually formed in God’s image first then physically created, this means that our first nature is spiritual as we are to as God revealed to us in Genesis by our nature; Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1.28. This is how and why we were created for a purpose in God and through fulfilling this purpose we reflect attributes of God. Paul explains; for since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, Romans 1.20. These attributes start and end within the righteousness of God from which we are able to see God’s holiness, goodness and love as explained by Paul; yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8.37-39.
If we as spiritually formed beings of God are not living in His image, an image that begins in righteousness as this is how we are able to be empowered by the Holy Spirit as the Apostle points out in Romans 15.13; Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, then we are not set apart from sin but rather we are living to commit it on a consistent basis.
What Christians understand is that if we are not living as we were first created in fulfilling the purpose of God in His image by His Divine nature and attributes to allow for us to live apart from the sin that is in the desire of the world then we can never live in the realization of Christ as our salvation from God to be reconciled back to Him. Throughout Romans the Apostle is explaining that a Christian worldview without spiritual adherence means there can be no physical deliverance from the troubles and temptations of this world. In all this none of it is possible for anyone if it is not done in faith. We cannot reasonably serve God, avoid sin, receive and accept the responsibility of salvation through the Body of Christ if we do not have faith. It is not just believing but doing and living by faith in and for God. If we are unfaithful then we are unrighteous, if we are unrighteous we are disobedient no one can be justified or saved in a life of disobedience. If we look at what the Apostle said about Abraham; for what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”, Romans 4.3. Recall Abraham was the father of faith by his obedience to God; he is not the father of the Law. Abraham serves as the example of how we as Christians must first live by faith, and by this be faithful-obedient and through this we are covered in all that comes in the righteousness of God’s mercy and grace through Christ.
Pastor LaVaughn R. Carter
Patient Perseverance Ministries ©2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)