The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message Blog

From Bro. Norm

The Book of Numbers 21:14, reads, “wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, what he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon”. And it continued in verse 16 saying, “ And form thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”

Two interesting things stand out in these verses. One of them is “The Book of  the Wars of the Lord”, mentioned in verse 14. It is a book mentioned in the Bible and yet nowhere in the Bible can we discover the Book called The Wars of the Lord. Secondly we find the Lord saying, “I will give them water”.

There are 17 books refered to in the Bible (a collection of books), that we are told to refer to and read, but simply are missing. Where are they? Then we also can note that the Lord is promising to give us water. The water is the water of life which is also refered to in Revelation 22:1-2. It is an everlasting water, which flows from the throne of God and gives us eternal life, however as the missing books of the Bible: do we find ourselves missing out of God’s Plan, because we are not partaking in the Living Water of God? The Water is free and the reward is eternal life. We simply need to be with Him and partake of Him to receive it. Are we absent from the Living water or are we there with eager hearts and souls?

Matthew 7:21-23

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Just because someone says that they are following God does not mean that they are telling the truth.  There will be lots of people who are doing great works that will not get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  We need to study the words of God to make sure that what people are doing and telling us agree wholly with God’s words.  God’s words can be found in the Bible, The Record of the Nephites, and The Word of the Lord.

From An Address to All Believers in Christ.

“Joseph did not know how it was, so he inquired of the Lord about it, and behold the following revelation came through the stone: “Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil.”

As we learn about God and Christ, we tend to follow the teachings of our elders.  As the prophets of old, we always have to be careful about what we believe.  There are several great men the history of the Church, going back to thousands of years, that have said things that are not of God, but thought they were.  We have to measure the words of our leaders against the known reference:  The Bible, The Record of the Nephits, and The Word of the Lord.  We have to be careful not trust the man, but God.

Revelation 14:6-7

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

We can rejoice in the fact God is sending us out to teach the everlasting gospel.  The gospel is found in the Bible, Word of the Lord, and The Record of the Nephites. The message in the gospel is one of repentance and love.  When people hear about the truth, they will rejoice and praise God in his fullest

1 Corinthians 11:1-3

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

After we have been the God’s work for a while, we begin to think that the teachers that the the gospel of the Lord will always tell us the truth.  This is especially true for the first person that we learn it from.  We have to be careful to make sure that as we learn, our teachers are still walking in the way of Christ.  It is very easy to follow a man away from Christ.  As humans we want to be loyal, but we have to remember that loyalty to Christ is more important than loyalty to a person on earth.

1 Thessalonians 3:13

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

As we learn about the gospel of the Lord, we as humans think that our teachers are the ones that have all knowledge and wisdom.  This is not true.  There are several people who know the Lords work and words very well, but they are still the Lords.  It is important to remember that man is not who we follow, but God is.  God words will never contradict themselves.

Acts 19:1-7

“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve.”

Even if you have been baptized before, when you come into God’s church you have to be baptized again under Christ’s true authority and be giving the gift of the Holy Ghost. This seems repetitive to lots of people, but this is what God told us to do.  The obedience of God’s will is one of the most important ways that we can serve God.  If don’t do what he tells us to, then we don’t truly believe it.

Mark 2:15-17

“And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

When we talk to people who agree with what we are saying, we often say that we are “preaching to the choir” meaning that choir is already at church and has learned about the truth of the Gospel. Where we need to be preaching is to the people who need to hear the Gospel. If we only talk to the people who believe we will never spread the word to non-believers so that they can believe. Don’t be afraid to go out and share the great news about Christ.  This does not have to be much, sometimes it only takes a quick smile for Christ to touch a heart.

Psalms 100:

“A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”

On this day of Thanksgiving, it is important to give God thanks for all the blessings in our lives.  God has the powerful way of reminding us how much we need him.  Every time we think we can do it on our own, we realize we can’t. Without God we would be void of life and love, both or sad to think about.

Romans 6:3-6

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

When we do decide to go thought the waters of baptism, we start anew. It does not mater what we have done in our lives up to this point, everyone is is clean in the eyes of the Lord.  This is the beauty of true repentance and forgiveness that only God can give.  We need to thankful for his mercy.

Eph 4:4-6  “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

There is only one God, and he only has one plan.

I am going to try something new.  I am going to post a thought or a verse every day.  This will allow everyone to start their day out on a positive note.  If you have any thing that you want posted let me know.

Chris

Hebrews  11:1  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

We have to have it in order to be apart of God Church and receive his blessings.  It is a simple think that, but sometimes seems so hard.