1 Timothy 5:20 (GW) — “Reprimand those leaders who sin. Do it in front of everyone so that the other leaders will also be afraid.” This verse emphasizes public accountability and the sobering effect of visible correction. – Ephesians 5:11 — “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” IT IS TIME TO STOP ALLOWING CHRISTIAN LEADERS TO LIVE A LIFE OF SIN, AND CONTINUE GOING UNCHECKED. IT IS TIME TO STOP HIDING THEIR SIN LIFE, IT IS TIME TO START REPRIMANDING THEM IN PUBLIC. THINK ABOUT IT.
If you love God worldly things won’t have much appeal. I John 2:15-17, TLB. “Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God; for all these worldly things, these evil desires—the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance—these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself. And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever.” Don’t copy the popular fads of this world. Romans 12:2, TLB. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you.” You cannot enjoy worldly pleasures and be a friend of God. James 4:4, TLB. “You are like an unfaithful wife who loves her husband’s enemies. Don’t you realize that making friends with God’s enemies—the evil pleasures of this world—makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a friend of God.” What kind of activities are wrong? Galatians 5:19-21, TLB. “But when you follow your own wrong inclinations your lives will produce evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group—and there will be wrong doctrine, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Live as though your home were in heaven. I Peter 2:11, TLB. “Dear brothers, you are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for they fight against your very souls.”
ALLOW THIS QUICK REFRESHER TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE.
The prodigal followed the soul-wasting life by “riotous living” Luke 15:13 “After a few days, the younger son gathered his possessions and left for a country far away from home. There he wasted everything he had on a wild lifestyle. To “live soberly, righteously, and godly” in this world, is to prove we know the grace of God. Titus 2:12 It trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world. The believer in Christ is declared to “live” because of Christ (“by” means “because of”), hence the Christian life is from the Lord. John 6:57 The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me. The justified “live by faith”. Romans 1:17 God’s approval is revealed in this Good News. This approval begins and ends with faith as Scripture says, “The person who has God’s approval will live by faith.” As the Lord’s own, we are responsible to “live unto the Lord” Romans 14:7–8 It’s clear that we don’t live to honor ourselves, and we don’t die to honor ourselves. If we live, we honor the Lord, and if we die, we honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. To “live in the Spirit” is to evidence we have life from Him. Galatians 5:25 If we live by our spiritual nature, then our lives need to conform to our spiritual nature.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT, HOW ARE YOU LIVING? ALLOW THIS WORD FROM GOD TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE.
