*What is the difference between religion and Christianity
There are many religions out there but only one Christianity.
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Acts 11:26
And when he (Barnabas) had found him (Paul), he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass,
that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church,
and taught many people.
And the disciples were called CHRISTIANS first in Antioch.
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Religion is the worship of a god or gods who are dead.
Religion is man's attempt to reach God
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Christianity is the worship of a living GOD.
Christianity is God reaching out to man to redeem us
through Jesus' Immaculate Conception - His sinless life - His death on the cross
and His resurrection.
HIS TOMB IS EMPTY
THIS IS MY UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THESE SCRIPTURES MEAN.
I do not claim to be all knowing as I write this.
Some things in the Bible we take by faith.
The gifts of the Spirit should be controlled by the fruit of the Spirit,
chief among them is love. Galatians 5: 22
1Corinthians 13: 11 - 13 KJV
11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child; but when I became a man,
I put away childish things.
12. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
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Most of us want to think our children are perfect little beings.
They would never tell a lie, they would never say a bad word.
They would never think evil thoughts. This is not so.
The Scriptures tells us we are all born with a sin nature.
Proverbs 22:6 says to "train up a child in the way he should go".
It is a sad thing to say, but some Christians never get out of
the baby bed or play pen stage of their life.
They want what they want when they want it.
They never think of the other person who is being
bullied or transgressed against. Most, seldom read their Bible.
They are satisfied to be given the milk of the word
which is what someone else tells about the Scripture.
Paul says when he became a man he put away childish behavior.
How do we put away our childish behavior? By ourselves we can't.
It is only by The Holy Spirit that we grow and mature in Him.
We must read our Bibles and study His words to know the Truth.
We must pray (talk to God and let Him talk to us.)
Reading the Bible and prayer will grow us into a mature Christian.
V.12. Paul says, "Now we see in a mirror, dimly,
but then we will see face to face".
When you look at yourself in a mirror you see only what the mirror reveals.
It does not show what is all around you.
You can't see the back of your head if you are looking at you face.
Most of the time we only see what we want to see. In our human bodies
we can only understand a little of what God is revealing to us.
Now we only know just a part of who God is and His plan for us.
BUT, when Jesus returns
Paul said, "Then I shall know just as I also am known".
We will have a full understanding.
It is time for all Christians to stop being bottle-fed,
and get into the meat of His word.
It is time for us to start living our lives for Him everyday.
To get out of the baby bed and play pen and
start acting like the mature Christians He wants us to be.
We do not have to be in the center of everything.
We did not write the Bible nor are we the first to write about it.
We will not be the last one to share our love for our Lord either.
When we take credit for that
we are saying the Holy Spirit only deals with us.
We all need to share His Gospel when ever we have the chance.
V.13. And now abides FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, these three;
but the greatest of these is LOVE. Each of these are a gift from God.
FAITH is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.
faith is a gift of God. It will grow as you learn more and more about Him.
Hope mean strong and confident expectations.
Our hope as Christians is our faith and the outcome of ours lives.
This is built on the "Blessed Hope" of when Our Lord Returns for us His children.
LOVE is the Agapa love that God has for all mankind. It is a never ending love.
It will never fail. Jesus loves all of us.
He wants all to come to Him. His love satisfies when nothing else will.
In Matthew 22: 38-39
Jesus told the Pharisee when asked what
the greatest commandment was,
"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind."
38. This is the first and greatest commandment.
39. And the second is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself".
If we keep these two commandments
we will not have to worry about anything else.
