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For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

  Good morning. Do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. Remember back in Matthew 6:33; but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. I said that the Greek word that was translated “and” between His kingdom and His righteousness, in that case should’ve been translated either namely or even. That is, it should have been translated seek first His kingdom even/namely His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. When you translate it as “and“, it makes it sound like two different things – His kingdom and His righteousness instead of two different ways of talking about the same thing. Notice that it says His righteousness. Paul writes different times about the Jews seeking to establish their own righteousness. This next verse in Romans helps to confirm that His righteousness is synonymous with His kingdom. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (yesterday we talked about the Jews being concern...
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I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean

  Good morning. To the Jews there were a lot of things that were considered unclean. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. He is talking about food here; but it could apply to other things for Christians. In today’s world, there are some things that are in a gray area – are they OK, or are they sin? There are some things that come to mind, but I’m not going to mention them because I don’t want to get your dander up 🤗 . If you think they are wrong, then it is wrong for you to do them. Then there are some things that you believe they are OK to do, but if a fellow Christian sees or knows that you do them, they might take offense, because they believe they are wrong. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Again we are not talking about food here, but rather those things whic...
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But you, why do you judge your brother? And you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

  Good morning. But you, why do you judge your brother? And you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Take care of your own little red wagon. When someone feels inadequate, he/she always looks down on others and puts them down, hoping to lift themselves up. As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God. We always compare ourselves to someone who is “less than“ we are. We wouldn’t dare to compare ourselves to God. So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. So you better watch out you better not cry you better not pout I’m telling you why; God is watching you each day. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this – not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. The stumbling block was the part of a trap that held the bait. It would be the person through whom the temptation came. He/she is the one who ...
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For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord, therefore whether we live or die we are the Lord’s.

  Good morning. Then Paul goes through a bunch of verses about eating versus not eating, but you can actually apply it to just about any topic that Christians have different opinions about. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Again pick a topic about which Christians have opposing views. This applies in most cases. There are certain topics though in which there is only one way, and that is the Bible way. A few verses later Paul writes: for not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord, therefore whether we live or die we are the Lord’s. That is an excellent attitude to have in life. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead, and of the living. He was the epitome of someone living and dying for others. Father help us to view othe...
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Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

  Good morning. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in .... Remember that most of the bad stuff goes on at night. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. It’s almost like a mission impossible episode where people cannot tell that it is Tom Cruise; instead they think he’s really that bad guy.  When people look at you, they’re not supposed to see you, but rather Jesus. This does not mean that we’re pretending that we are Jesus. The transformation that takes place inside of us is supposed to come forth in our lives, and we are supposed to behave just like Jesus would if we really were He. Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. It is too easy to look down on others who do not believe the way we do, and in fact come up short (at least in our opinion). One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only – vegan! There were ma...
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Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

  Good morning. What has Paul been saying? Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Why didn’t you just say that in the first place? Wake up! Actually Paul said: do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. Of course he is not talking about being born again, but about the return of Jesus. The night is almost gone, and the time is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Remember that this is 2000 years ago that Paul was saying that the day is near. My Bible says that these verses do not mean that the early Christians believed that Jesus would return within a few years, and they were mistaken. Rather they regarded the death and resurrection of Christ as the crucial events in history that began the last days. Since the next great event in God‘s redemption plan is the second coming of Jesus, “the night“, no...
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Render to all what is due them: tax to whom taxes; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor

   Good morning. What everyone likes to hear: for because of this you also pay taxes (now come on Paul  😩 ), for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom taxes; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. And then a verse we all need to follow: owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. That’s very “simple “. If you truly love your neighbor like you are supposed to you won’t be breaking the following commandments: you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment it is summed up in this saying, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Those are the commandments that relate horizontally to people. It does not include those that relate vertically to God. Father help us to give to others what is due them (love). Help this to be a very spiritual...
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