Custom Search
|
To receive notice of each days Bible Study,
please go to my Twitter and Facebook pages and sign up.
Facebook -
| Daily Bible Study | |
 You can help people worldwide. Please make a small donation. Make a difference in someone elses life. |
Subscribe Daily Bible Study Mailing List 
Receive Daily Bible Studies directly into your email inbox. |
| John 5:44 |
|
Lesson # John 5:44 Study Material - John 5:44 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. John 5:44 44 'How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? How can you lift up your pedestal when you are standing on top of it. None can. It is impossible to come to Christ when your arrogance, pride, vain glory and such are foremost in your thoughts. This does not mean that you cannot set aside those thoughts and then look to other options and thus discover the path to Christ, but while one is unwilling to change, then salvation (for unbelievers) is impossible, and advancement to spiritual maturity (for believers who remain rigid in their attitude) is impossible as well. Christ came as a son of a carpenter. But remember too that David came from the flocks out in the hills. Some forget that little point. Jesus' status is demeaning in the eyes of these Jews, as they have been described. They look to a leader who will ride in on a white war horse and gain their immediate respect because of what they perceive their leader should appear as. They are slaves to their own expectations. They desire honor. They expect honor. They focus their entire being on honor in all that they do in life. Too many people do this in their lives. They have expectations and when those expectations do not materialize, then they become bitter, they become disillusioned, they become unhappy. They have worked themselves up into a frenzy, worked hard at what they do, committed their energies of thought and action to their perceptions of honor or prosperity, and then they complain that it is all impractical. They have the wrong target for honor (man, things, status, a favorable opinion from others with regard to themselves), and the correct target should be God (the one and only true God) who is the issuer of true honor, an everlasting honor. And Honor that comes in differing levels. There is salvation honor - family of God. Maturity honor - mature believers. Resurrection honor - the ultimate, if one is mature, with all its additional rewards, awards, crowns and various other honors issued to those who achieve spiritual maturity (see the study in Rev 1-3). Ambitions often prevent humility. Ambition often prevents blessings in our current lifetime. Ambition (when God is neglected in the life) seeks honors for ones self and seeks all that one can gain from the world, and that is as far as it can go. At death, all ambition ceases, honors too. Worldly honors are nothing. Why pursue them? Those who pursue the world form their own clique. Their unique group (clique) is all that matters to them. They look down with contempt at others who are not in their clique. They look down at others who follow their ways, but are not inside their small clique. They are very dishonest with others. They are a very prejudiced crowd, though they will present a pious front. The long and short of all of this is again, that failure to believe, failure to advance in the spiritual life originates from one source, the negative individual him/her self. When the focus of your life is on the expectations that you have set up in your own mind, then you have created a barrier which is nearly impenetrable. You defeat yourself. Look into the mirror this evening, and everyday for that matter, and ask yourself, 'Am I stupid?' Anyone who hangs onto their bitterness, anyone who hangs onto their stubborn attitude is indeed stupid. Remember that your life has two components - that component outside the spiritual life (less than 1 % of your existence), and that component inside your spiritual life (more than 99% of your existence). On which should you focus ??? 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
