Good morning. And the seed
whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. When you
plant a seed, hopefully you know what type of fruit will result from that seed
being planted. You don't plant a tomato seed and hope that corn will grow. You
are planting a seed of righteousness to get the fruit of righteousness. You
have to sew it in peace; you cannot sew it in strife. What is the source of
quarrels and conflicts among you? Church people? They don't have quarrels and
conflicts - we wish. Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your
members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. Of course it does not
mean literally murder. Remember that the desire to murder someone is just as
bad as actually doing it. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight
and quarrel. Sometimes adults are just like children – they don't like it when
they can't get what they want, especially if someone else has obtained it. You
do not have because you do not ask. Sometimes we go after things we want
without even asking God for them. Of course we don't ask because we know He is
going to say no. On the other hand: you ask and do not receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. Sometimes
Christians ask God for things pretending it is for the benefit of the kingdom.
"If I had all this money, I could do great things for the kingdom of
God." Liar, liar pants on fire. Father thank You that the reader only asks
for things with the right motives. He/she receives them because his/her heart
is right.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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