Perfect Fatih

1 Thess 3:10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

Perfection of heart is what the Holy Spirit does when He comes into the heart to abide. It is the teaching found in God’s word that gives us light into the possibility of being perfect in love. Being perfect in heart does not mean we have perfect vessels. We live in earthen vessels made of clay and are subject to marring. But God wants to fill the vessel with His pure love. It is possible to have pure motives with intent to always please our creator, but  total perfection of human error or even of faith is a matter of growing and learning toward perfection. There are times that our faith is weak and we lack the faith to see God move in our lives and in the lives of others. In times like these, we go to prayer asking God to increase our faith. We have not arrived yet, we have not finished our journey. Our faith continues to build, and we stand fast trusting God to help us have greater faith. 

Christian Perfection

Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in Heaven is perfect.”

What does it mean to “Be perfect” I read in a devotional this morning:

“it’s not possible to have perfect motives. We love the Lord and others, but our motives for how we live the Christian life are sometimes mixed with our desire to be valued or praised.”

This author’s opinion is that being perfect does not mean that we can always do things with a perfect motive. Jesus, the God-Man who walked this earth tells us that it is possible to be perfect. Is it possible to always make choices with the motive to please God? Can a Christian not always seek the Kingdom of God first in the way they behave, act, or react? As human beings, we live in a broken down human body that  are subject to the elements of this world. We make mistakes, our bodies grow weary and often our judgment in the choices we make our influences by the state of our mind when it reaches it’s limitation of handling stress. But is it not possible, when we have full control of our faculties to make choices with the intentions of always pleasing God? I believe that Christian perfection, the work of sanctification can give a person a heart that is always perfect toward God. Paul writes in the book of Romans to give yourself as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our service to God. It is this consecration to God and the infilling of the Holy Spirit that allows a person to always make choices that are perfect in the sight of God. Let us asked ourselves, Why do I do the things I do? Let God examine our heart and determine weather they are perfect before Him.

Justified By Faith

April, 13th, 2008
Galatians 3:1-14
Paul writing to the Galatians was totally bewildered how quickly they had been fooled. They were being taught that staying saved and being made perfect was done by keeping the law. He eloquently revealed to them through scripture, that faith in God’s promise (Christ) was the only way. It was the Spirit that begun the work and it is the Spirit that will bring it to perfection. We our not made perfect or more spiritual by keeping rules, it is our faith in God’s Spirit through Christ to bring us unto perfection and perfect obedience.

Bewitched and Fooled
• Galatians- Intellectual minds being fooled
• Obedience to the truth neglected
• Crucified with Christ- dead to the law
Brought to Question
• Persuaded by logic
• Where did this experience come from?
• Reflect back to day you got saved?
Begun in the Spirit
• The Work of the Spirit
• Receiving the Spirit in Salvation
Being Made Perfect
• Made perfect by faith or works (outward rules)
• Perfection is obtain through faith
Building in Vain
• All of their efforts of the past are for not
• Casting away that which they suffered for.
Believing God as Abraham
• The promise was give to Abraham before the law
• Abraham’s trust was in God, not a set of rules
Blessed with Abraham
• The Blessing (the promise) of Abraham to the Gentiles
• Heir of Abraham because of our faith in God promises
• The father of the faithful to all who believe.
• The promise of the Spirit only through faith
• Argument: The SEED is Christ, all nations are blessed
Book of Laws
• Was establish to show how sinful we are
• The is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ
• The Law requires payment and justice
• All have sinned (our cursed) and come short
Bought with a Price
• Christ took on the curse (the judgment-payment) for us
• We our redeemed through his death on the cross
• Atonement was made- Christ fulfill the law’s requirements