Be careful in dealing with other believers.

1 Corinthians 2:15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

This chapter teaches us so much about our knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of God and His word. We understand that everything from God is a gift, and God gives His gifts in diverse ways to His children. 1 Cor. 12:1 – 11 will teach us more about this. But to us who are blessed with God’s gifts of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of God and His word. We are responsible for those teachings, to grow in them, to decern them, and to walk in them. Everyone, from the Pastor down are to spiritually know, understand and in wisdom how to properly decern biblical truths. And one of those teachings is to “spiritual judges all things.” Not somethings, not things we think of, not things with human understanding, but things taught by God in His word. Once we step outside of those guidelines, we have failed God. Everything we judge must be judged in LOVE, with the love God gives us and not human love. Since our understanding of God’s giving of gifts to each believer, our judgment must be with much caution. Because another believer may not understand spiritually or be as spiritually smart as you are. We must remember that only God can truly teach another believer and cause them to decern the scriptures. God went on to say “…yet he himself is judged of no man.” Because we do not know the workings of God in every believer’s spiritual life, or even what God is doing in our life. We only know and understand what God is showing us; we do not know the mind of God. Our judging others must be with much love and understanding of what God is doing, and this takes much prayer. Please understand, God is judging us on our action as we are judging His other children. Especially as Pastors and church members. Let us never stop studying, praying, learning, and walking in that spiritual education, because we do not want to fail God.

When God says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25 While our walk will not be perfect, that cannot be our excuse in a voluntary failure. Every believer is required to walk in the Spirit. Our walking in the Spirit or in the Holy Spirit is to follow our spiritual hearts in the Truth of the Word. And if we fail, we are giving in to the lust of the flesh. The Lord went on to say in the next verse Gal. 5:26 “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” That is by our failure to walk in the glory of our hearts and not that of the Spirit. Living in the Spirit is walking in the Spirit, a failure to do one is a failure to do both. Again, we will not be perfect, but that is not an excuse to fail. We may ask, “how does this equate to how we treat other believers,” well we must try to understand not only ourselves but others. God is the giver of everything good, therefore He gives His gifts diversely and while He may give to one does not mean He gives to everyone. This makes every gift a blessing and therefore we cannot blame another for not having that blessing. The greatest example is the gift of salvation, because God gives it, it cannot be obtained by anyone except to whom it is given. Therefore, we cannot blame a lost soul for not being saved, it is not within the person’s choices. Neither is any other of God’s gifts, they like salvation is a gift, not earned are a choice of getting. Therefore, we must be carful and not judge God’s other children for what they do not have, because God may not have blessed them with it. It is better to thank God for our blessing instead of being critical of believers who may not have it. Every saved soul is God’s child; it is Jesus who justifies and Jesus who judges and He has promised to judge us as harshly we judge others. As Christians we are to help the weak, we are to attempt to teach them, but while some judgment is right, it is extremely limited.

Matthew 7:1-6 “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

Are you prepared?

Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

Death is coming, I know people ignore the subject, but death is not far away, and the fires of hell await those who have ignored the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you live your life at your pleasure and ignore God and His word, please be aware that judgment day is coming. Your final place for eternity is either in heaven or hell. Think of it as a joke if you please, ignore it if you please, but the day of judgment without mercy and grace is coming, it is going to happen. 1Cor. 15:52 “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” As Christians all we can do is plant and water the seeds of God, any increase is of God. So, the seed and the water is this article, hate it, laugh at it, ignore it, but in judgment you will wish you had taken it to heart. Luke 16:24 “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

Here is the solution for your redemption, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:28 and in Luke 16:23 - 24 “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

John 5:22 - 27 "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."

John 8:16 "And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."

Romans 2:2 "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things."

2Cor. 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Revelation 20:11 - 15 "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

So, as we can all see, that judgment is coming and the lack of thinking about it will not delay it. There is a place called hell, and the road is wider than the road to heaven. When a lost sinner dies not amount of prayer, no amount of hoping, no minister preaching your funeral and just insert you into heaven. Only Jesus Christ, His being, His life, His work, His most painful suffering, His crucifixion, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His blood shed can save you from hell. Titus 3:3 - 7 “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Satan’s Walk.

Job 1:7 “And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

Satan works daily along with hidden demons to trouble those that belong to God through the salvation that God has so graciously bestowed on us. When we study the word of God on Satan, we learn that he has many names, the devil which means the slanderer, the tempter or one who entices Christians to sin, the evil one or the one who is the source of sin, then there is the liar that is the deceiver of truth, murdered because he the killer of life, God called him the god of this world because he has dominion over the people or rulers of this world, he is called a dragon because of the manifestation of the power of Satan, and while there are many more biblical names for Satan God gave him one more name we need to pay close attention to, and that name is Roaring Lion.1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” God called him this because he is “walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” This is why when God spoke with Satan in Job 1:7 he said he was “and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” As a hungery Lion seeking out his prey. I am sure when God suggested a more favorable target like Job, whom God said, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” Satan was like a hungry lion looking at the best piece of meat he could have ever been given to him. However, Satan is like so many they forget that God is Omniscient, and God knew the outcome. God never gives up His people, His servants without deity protection. However, God did not need to ask Satan what he was doing, God already knew that Satan was walking as a roaring lion seeking prey. But who exactly is Satan’s prey, it is Christians and churches, why, because he has the lost blinded already toward God and Truth. The lost are like dry bones to Satan, they have no meat because they have been blinded and dead since birth. Satan wants meat on those bones, he wants to hurt and devour as many of God’s people that he can, this is why he was overly excited when God offered up Job. The word “devour” does not mean that Satan wants to cause us trouble, it does not mean this very hungry wants a leg or an arm, the word “devour” means - to drink down, that is, gulp entire, swallow (up). Satan wants to totally control you heart and mind again, he wants to laugh at God that he has swallowed up one of His own. God allowed Satan to take almost everything Job had, about all he had was a wife that told him, “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” Job 2:9 But all that Satan put Job through, even turning his wife against him, he kept his “integrity”, God said of Jobs integrity in verse 3 of chapter 2 “my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” Do not be so hard on Jobs wife, her faith and integrity were not as strong as her husbands, in fact God said of Jobs integrity “there is none like him in the earth,” not even his wife. Satan uses the weaker around us in his effort to devour us, just as he did with Adam. So, what was Jobs answer to his wife, but he said unto her, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Job 2:10 Therefore, instead of Job allowing himself to be devoured by Satan, he remembered that no matter what, I will stand with the Lord, because all that I have was a gift from God. Therefore, Job said if Satan takes it all, “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1: 21. We all need to remember, as Paul wrote “But by the grace of God I am what I am:” no more and no less, God has made me what I am only as He has elected. Beloved, we all need to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil…” because we are all Satan’s prey and he is looking for our weaknesses and any kink in our armor, and crack he can slither through, to make us prime prey for him to stop our walk long enough to devour us. Satan never stops walking because God said he knows his time is limited therefore, his walk is constant. Beloved, be careful, remain alert, examine all things, and make sure God’s will is in it, and pray much.