Knowing God’s People

What is a good indicator that a person is a true believer?  Today there are so many that have been deceived and are deceiving others through what they are preaching and teaching; like the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it, hyper grace, and sinless perfection.  If they don’t repent they will have to give an account of why when they stand before the Lord someday.

God’s Word says this in 1 Timothy 4:13-16, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

It also says this in 1 Timothy 6:6-10, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Now read verse 20 and 21 in that same chapter, “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.”

Now please read this in Matthew 19:23-24, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’”

There are many who are counting on their good works to get them into heaven which cannot happen.  Please read Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

After we are born-again we have good works we can be doing, like helping our neighbor, blessing the poor with some of our resources, volunteering in food kitchens, teaching Bible classes, leading small groups in your home, visiting widows and orphans, also visiting inmates in jails or prisons plus there are many other things we can do.  Please read Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Some people teach that when you are born-again all your sins have been forgiven; all your past, present and future sins, so you will never be convicted again, so you never have to repent or confess sins because God’s grace has already been applied to you so anything else is just works.  

Please read what was written to the churches in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Now read James (Jacob) 5:13-20, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”

One more, and these were all written to God’s Communities (Church), please read 2 Corinthians 7:8-16, “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true. And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.”

Now please read Revelations 2, the whole chapter and then please read chapter 3, the whole chapter and I think you will see that God’s Word teaches something much different than many people are teaching and preaching today, so be careful who you listen to!!  There are other people that won’t admit that they’re sick and refuse to tell you what their sickness is because if they ‘name it they claim it’ so they live denying it.  I remember praying about my different sicknesses at one time and I heard a voice in my mind say this, “Jerry if you were to be healed of one of these things what would you want to be healed of,” and I said the asthma  and I have been healed for about nine or ten years now, praise the Lord!!  I never tried to conceal the fact that I had asthma and I was healed of it.     

Now, let’s get back to my original statement; what is a good indicator that a person is a true believer? A true believer has the fruit of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit resides within that person.  Another way is that they are not ashamed of the gospel, plus their actions and their words line up with what they say most of the time, I say that because no one is perfect.  They study God’s Word and spend time in prayer because they know where the power to endure comes from and their purpose is to honor the Lord.  They also praise the Lord and they also strive for perfection.  They are dying to the world daily and not conforming to it, but they are continually trying to transform their minds so that they can live a faithful life and learn what the good and perfect and just will of God is.

I could go on and on, but I think you got the message and I hope this has been an encouragement and a blessing.  May the Lord’s blessings be with you and yours and may you all have a super day!!