{"id":1608,"date":"2020-02-17T21:11:05","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T02:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gospelbillboards.org\/?p=1608"},"modified":"2020-02-17T21:45:18","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T02:45:18","slug":"as-i-follow-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gospelbillboards.org\/as-i-follow-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"As I Follow Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"has-text-color wp-block-heading\" style=\"color:#004872\">Feb 18, 2020<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #004872;\">Good Morning Fellow Travelers,<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #004872;\">Read: Php 3:12-17<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background is-style-default\" style=\"background-color:#005372;color:#005372\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#005181;font-size:18px\" class=\"has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color\">&#8220;Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.&#8221;  (1Co 10:31-33)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#005372;color:#005372\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#004872\" class=\"has-text-color\">When Paul was writing to the\nCorinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:1, he gave an interesting invitation to the\nreaders. He invited them to follow him as he follows Christ. (We would want to\nbe careful that we really are following Christ before we made such an\ninvitation.) I think Paul was encouraging them to turn from things they were\ndoing that was marring their Christian testimony. He discusses some of these\nthings in chapter seven of 1 Corinthians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#004872\" class=\"has-text-color\"><strong>The issue of divorce and remarriage<\/strong>. What did Jesus say about this in Matthew 19:3-12? \u201cWhat God has joined together, let not man put asunder.\u201d The focus is on \u201cwhat\u201d not \u201cwhom.\u201d Marriage is a divinely inspired institution. It is honourable in all and the bed is undefiled (Hebrews 13:4). This is a Biblical principle. The writer expands his thought in verse 9 of Matthew 19: God hates <em>putting away<\/em>. To put away one\u2019s wife and marry another is to commit adultery. Why then, are evangelical churches in our country sitting full of divorced and remarried people? If we are the only Bible many people read, what are nonbelievers reading in us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#004872\" class=\"has-text-color\"><strong>&nbsp;The neglected cross issue<\/strong>. For many people, self-denial and cross bearing are only concepts for discussion. Biblical separation from the world is scoffed at and ridiculed. Read II Corinthians 6:14-18, and think about it thoroughly. May we be cross bearing Christians who face the corrupted world and nominal church with pure hearts that can say sincerely, as Paul did, \u201cFollow me as I follow Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#004872\" class=\"has-text-color\">&nbsp;<strong>The corrupted worship issue. <\/strong>We now have what is called seeker sensitive worship that uses the world\u2019s music and methods to attract sinners. Don\u2019t we want a Christ centered worship? An obedience centered worship? Don\u2019t we want a worship that is pure and holy, one as Christ&nbsp;sought that throws out money changers and thieves that would defile our place of prayer? Of course, the doors of our church should always be open to receive the sinner and any soul searching for the truth and the Gospel. But these kinds of people cannot lead the worship. Jesus, in Matthew 7:21-22, spoke of many who would stand before the Judge in that last day, stunned to learn that their names are not in the Lamb\u2019s Book of Life. Why? Because they did not worship God in spirit and in truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#004872\" class=\"has-text-color\">May we be those who follow the Word of God and those faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Our blessings will be many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color:#004872\" class=\"has-text-color has-background has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size has-very-light-gray-color\"><strong>~ James Baer<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul challenged the Corinthians to follow him as he followed Christ. Are you following Christ so closely that it would be safe for you to give someone a challenge like that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[197,199],"tags":[308,324,140,207],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>As I Follow Christ - GospelBillboards.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paul challenged the Corinthians to follow him as he followed Christ. 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