Truth Memoirs

WHAT RELIGION TAUGHT ME To please God I must be a regular church goer WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS JOHN 10:17  Reads: The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.  Context of the scripture Jesus tells His audience that He alone is the only Good Sheperd for the sheep and  He has been mandated to lead the sheep not just the  sheep that belongs to the Jewish flock but all the sheep. He then tells them that He was mandated by the Father because the Father is pleased with Him as He is prepared to lay down His life for the sheep so he can regain it again. What the scripture teaches me It pleases God when we lay down our lives for His purposes  to enable our lives to be restored to what He had intended. Going to Church is an important part of being an effective Christian but doing it without fully submitting to God is counterproductive. CONCLUSION To please God I need to submit to Him fully so He can restore me for His purposes

WHAT RELGION TAUGHT ME My personal troubles are more important than my alignment with God WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS MARK 2:5  Reads: "Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, 'My child, your sins are forgiven.'" Context of the scripture When a paralytic man was lowered from the roof by his friends Jesus first forgave the paralytic man of his sins before he healed him this all happened while the Pharisee are watching What the scripture teaches me Jesus could have healed the man before he forgave him his sins but in this case He chose to first forgive His sins to demonstrate to the Pharisees that He can do both the spiritual and the physical, but I believe he also did this miracle to demonstrate to us that our spiritual development is more important than our physical circumstances.  CONCLUSION God is more interested in my spiritual development than he is in my personal circumstances

WHAT RELGION TAUGHT ME Being born of a natural mother and father makes me a child of God WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS John 1:12-13 Reads: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.   Context of the scripture John says in this scripture that Jesus came into the world but the world ignored him however those who recieved and believed in him were given the right to be called God's children, he goes on to say they did not become God's children by being born of natural parents What the scripture teaches me To qualify to be a Child of God I have to accept and believe in Jesus Christ, being born of natural parents does not make me a Child of God CONCLUSION Being born of a natural father and mother DOES NOT make me a child of God

WHAT RELGION TAUGHT ME Freedom in Christ means independence WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS Matthew 6:34 Reads:  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Context of the scripture Jesus teaches his audience on the Mount that as his followers they should not worry about the things that also worries non believers  instead they should focus on the Kingdom of God and what God wants them to do and everything else will be provided for them. What the scripture teaches me As a Christian I should not worry about the same things that the world worries about instead I should be fully focused on God and the tasks he has set for me to achieve and He will provide me with all else that I need. CONCLUSION When I fully rely on God he frees from the worries of the world by providing for my needs. Freedom in Christ means dependence on God

  WHAT RELIGION TAUGHT ME? The purpose for prayer is to make God meet my own selfish expectations. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAYING ABOUT THIS? 1 Peter 5: 7   Cast   all   your   anxiety   on   Him,   because   He   cares   for   you. CONTEXT OF THE SCRIPTURE In giving the advise to the elders Peter tells them that God resists the proud and multiplies grace to those who are are humble, Peter therefore urges them to leave humble themselves before God and pour out their worries to God and leave them there because he cares about them WHAT DOES THIS SCRIPTURE TEACH ME I pray to give my troubles to God and leave them with Him. CONCLUSION I  should pray because God commanded me to pray as his preferred method of communication and there are other reasons I should pray but using prayer to make God meet my expectations is not one of them. I should pray to give my burdens to God and leave the consequences to Him 

WHAT RELIGION TAUGHT ME? Traditional rituals to honor ancestors are perfectly acceptable in a life of a Christian WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAYING ABOUT THIS? Matthew 6:24 Reads -  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. CONTEXT OF THE SCRIPTURE Jesus was giving a sermon to His followers and in this scripture He tells them it is impossible to serve 2 masters at the same time they will therefore have to choose between God and money as they cant serve both at the same time because they will be devoted to the one and despise the other. WHAT DOES THIS SCRIPTURE TEACH ME I cant give honor to God and money at the same time, even though in this scripture Jesus refers other as money I believe it also applies to other idols  CONCLUSION An idol in the Old testament referred to false gods but in the New testament it came to refer to any creature that is given de...

  WHAT RELIGION TAUGHT ME? The storms of life are an indication that you  are not in alignment with God they are an indication that you have sinned against God and He has is angry with you, hence your current troubles WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAYING ABOUT THIS? Genesis 50: 20 Reads: You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives . CONTEXT OF THE SCRIPTURE When Joseph's father died his brothers got scared because they thought Joseph will use the opportunity to settle the score with them for selling him to slavery when he was young, but Joseph reassured them that he will not do that because he is not God and even though it was their plan to harm him it was God's plan all along to use their plan for good so that others are saved WHAT DOES THIS SCRIPTURE TEACH ME God allows his children to experience storms in their lives so that He can build them up for the benefit of others  CONCLUSION Jesus followers can be i...

WHAT RELIGION TAUGHT ME? The biblical definition of an enemy is anyone who holds a different worldview to mine especially when they hold an opposing view to a Christian faith . WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAYING ABOUT THIS? Ephesians 6:10 reads - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. CONTEXT OF THE SCRIPTURE Paul encourages the Ephesians to stand firm against the schemes of the Devil they need to arm themselves with the armor of God because their battles are not with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces that have rebelled against God. WHAT DOES THIS SCRIPTURE TEACH ME As a Christian whenever I see another human being as my enemy I have already lost the battle because I am going to use the wrong weapons to fight my real enemy the Devil and using weapons aimed at fighting other human beings will not be effective with the Devil. CO...

WHAT RELIGION TAUGHT ME I have always used the expression " seeing is believing " in other words I must first see evidence and only then I will believe. I thought this applies to Biblical faith as well. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAYING ABOUT THIS? Hebrew 11:1 Reads:  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. CONTEXT OF THE SCRIPTURE:  The writer of the book of Hebrews explains biblical faith as as the confidence of our hope in what we have not yet seen. He also goes on to make examples a few examples in the chapters are this i.e. in chapter 7 he says Noah built an ark after he was warned about things he had not yet seen  WHAT DOES THIS SCRIPTURE TEACH ME Biblical faith means I must first believe what God says about me and then I will see Him personally acting in my life CONCLUSION Biblical faith is " believing is seeing" in other words to see the power of GOD I must first believe Him.

My understanding of the gospel was that believing in God was what was expected from me as a Christian as it distinguishes me from an atheist or non believer. I thought belief in God is all the difference required whether one will make it to heaven or not. But the gospel says otherwise. SAVIOR GETS US TO HEAVEN God expects our belief in him to be accompanied by the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as the Savior. When we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Savior we then get direct access to God and it is also a pass to spend eternity with God. LORD BRINGS HEAVEN ON EARTH When we acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior it has implications on our eternal future but making him Lord has implications to our current lives. Making Jesus Lord means giving him permission to Lord over our lives here on the earth. Making Jesus Lord over our lives enables God to bring heaven on earth through us. Bringing heaven on earth means defeating Satan. Jesus demonstrated to us that to bring heaven on the earth require...