The Teacher Inside You

You see, those who are true believers in Jesus Christ, that is, those who's belief springs from the spirit, have a teacher inside them that reveals the truth to them. As they walk in obedience to what is revealed to them, God is pleased to reveal more. As they search the Scriptures looking for the one truth, the Spirit opens their eyes so that they can see, and opens their ears so that they can hear.

One Spirit; One Truth; Without the Spirit You Can Know Nothing

A great deception has crept into what is called the church. A very subtle lie has crept in. Fine-sounding arguments of human reasoning have established what looks like the church, but is not. People who do not have the Spirit are reading the scriptures, and piecing together what they can understand of the truth, but without the Spirit of Christ truly living in you, you have nothing.

This is why there are so many denominations today, with so many different doctrines. There is only one Spirit. There is only one Truth. That one Spirit, who lives inside the true believer, will guide us all into the one Truth.

Well my beloved reader, does all this cause a little fear to well up in you? If it has, then don't panic. And please don't turn your face from me and hope I'll go away. It is to bring the solution to this very problem that the Lord has set me to write this.

All we need to do is to seek the Lord with all of our hearts. We need to surrender ourselves into his service.
Surrender Yourself Completely

1 Corinthians 8:6

...yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. (NIV)

Live for God, and in Christ Jesus.

Romans 14:7-9

For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

The Mind Worshipers

Oh my friend, you have been deceived if you think that you can receive Christ Jesus as Savior and then live a lukewarm Christian life. The zeal that Paul expresses here is not just for him, but for you too. If you don't see that Jesus is worth your total devotion then you should be very afraid.

Matthew 7:21-23

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (NIV)

Notice that here we see that many think that they are Christians but are not. They think they are, but their unchrist-like lives prove that they are not.

People today have made a Happy Little Club out of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They get people to pray the "Sinners Prayer" and everyone sits around agreeing with one another that they are saved. Are they? What does the Lord think of all this?

Revelation 3:14-22

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (NIV)

Take careful note that this letter is written to the church and not the world. This letter is prophetic in nature and speaks to the church of today.

First let us look at this lukewarmness. People in the Church today are not living for God as though their lives depended on it. People today love church and not Jesus Christ. They even tell one another, I am a (denomination name). It's all about Jesus, and nothing else but Jesus Christ.

Notice also in the letter that the people in the church think that they have got all the answers. If they have all the answers then why are there so many doctrines around? Is each of them correct? Is your denomination the only one with the right answers? As far as I have been able to determine none are even close. They each have pieces of the puzzle, but not enough to form a clear picture of the goal, which is Jesus Christ. They use his name, as though they knew him, but they don't look like Jesus Christ to me.
The Solution

Is the situation hopeless? not for you my friend. Though Jesus is shown to be on the outside of people's hearts, he is standing there knocking, with the promise that if you open your heart to him, he will enter in and sup with you and you with him. Praise God for this willingness to forgive.
Seek With Your Heart

Let us go back to the woman at the well story in John, where we learned what true worshipers were all about.

John 4:7-15

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. (NIV)

Please notice that this woman heard Jesus tell her that he could give her water that would satisfy her forever, and she not understanding a word in her mind, believed in her heart and asked him to give her this water.

Belief, true belief, comes from the heart, or spirit, and not the mind. I say this because the situation today in the world is very much like it was at the time of Jesus' earthly ministry. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law were all mind worshipers. They all spent countless hours reading the scriptures and piecing together a religion out of what they could understand of the Scriptures.

Let the Bible Tell You

Ah, my brothers and sisters, you who have been called, you who have true ears and eyes, you who honestly love the Lord, look around and see that things are pretty much the same. People are reading the scriptures to support some doctrine or other, but do not love the Lord with their whole hearts, and are not seeking him as though their lives depended upon it.

Friends don't listen to the Pharisees, or the Sadducees, or those who make out God's word to be a book of rules. Question everything, leave no stone unturned, until you know the truth, the one truth that fills every passage of the Bible. Listen to the Master, seek him, obey him, and draw near to him and him only.

"Give Me This Water"

Be like the woman at the well, who having heard spiritual truth from the Masters lips did not reject it, but asked the Master, "Give me this water."

The situation in the Church today, being all messed up like it is, is the reason I always advise people to get the bulk of their teaching from the Bible. Be leery of what is taught at church. Find true, Spirit filled, believers, to help answer your questions. Submit to God and let him fill you with His Spirit, so that you can understand the truth. The truth is not at all hard to receive. God is so willing, even eager, to fill you with himself, but we must be willing to give up everything for him. Also be careful of those who say that they are Spirit filled. Words are easy; do they look and sound like Jesus to you?

Oh my friends, we must repent of lukewarmness, and seek God in truth and in spirit.

Cry out to the Lord and ask to be filled with the knowledge of the truth, so that you can do it.

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There you have it! Be blessed by what the Lord has shown this true follower of Christ and take heed of his words. If we all worshiped the Lord in this way we would have truly brought into this world His Kingdom. Why wait a moment longer to please the Lord your God by worshiping in Spirit and in Truth.

JESUS IS ALL AND EVERYTHING!!

Patti C.