Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
How many of your wives have been out in the kitchen all day long because they wanted to present a perfect meal for you and the kids? I’m not speaking about spending 5 minutes heating up something in the microwave, but I’m talking about food that tastes better than anything you are going to find at a fancy restaurant. She was up at the crack of dawn, and busily mixing all of her ingredients together until the flavors were perfected. She even went through the trouble of shining up all of the China, polished the silver, and lighted some candles. The wonderful aroma filled the entire house and when you finally sat down and tasted the meal all you could do was smile at her and say well done!
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
In many ways, the Apostle Paul was doing the same type of thing. He wanted to present the Lord Jesus with a group of men that he had diligently.prepared for eternity. These were men in whom he had invested a lot of his time, perfecting their faith until they were completely transformed into God fearing, good-hearted, faithful, loyal, and obedient Servants of Christ. He too wanted to hear those precious words, well done thou good and faithful servant.
Colossians 1:27-28 (KJB) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
The church is a place where a process of perfection is being undertaken in the lives of God’s elect. The definition for perfection is the action or process of improving something until it becomes faultless. It is complete freedom from fault or defect, and has been also defined as the state of being Saintly. Men of God have been sent for the purpose of perfecting ones faith.
Ephesians 4:11-13 (KJB) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
In many ways, men of God such as the Apostle Paul are like an orchestra director who are constantly perfecting the ensemble so they are ready to play at an upcoming concert. Like finding a place on a musical score that needs work, the Apostles were always refining and improving certain issues in the church that they needed to practice and improve on. But perfection is something that comes at a cost, because it requires a lot of your time and attention.
For example, if a young student wants to become a great guitar player, they must seriously devote themselves to practicing. Their music instructor will constantly correct them until they become so good that they don’t need to be corrected any longer! Even as children, we are young and immature, and at that stage we need a lot of correction. But as we grow into maturity many times we will require much less. This is because we have grown and learned to do the things that have been required by our parents or others who have authority over us. Paul always wanted to be with the church, so he could find tune whatever was lacking in their spiritual lives.
1 Thessalonians 3:8-10 (KJB) For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
A lapidary will take a diamond in the rough, and continue chipping away at it until it is flawless, which is a job that is very similar to the Apostle Paul. The only difference is that he would take a group of men who were rough around the edges, and continue to chip away at them until they became perfected into the image of Christ. Like presenting a perfect meal to your husband, the Apostle wanted to present perfect men to God.
2 Corinthians 11:2 (KJB) For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
The Christian Life is about obtaining a perfect love for God, and ultimately the only way that this will happen is through humble obedience to the will of God.
1 John 2:4-5 (KJB) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
Becoming perfect in our faith is the ultimate goal for the Christian.
Hebrews 12:23 (KJB) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Matthew 5:48 (KJB) Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Psalms 101:2 (KJB) I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
But faith can only become perfected through our works.
James 2:21-24 (KJB) Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Consider the Apostle Paul for example who at one time was an ignorant unbeliever who was persecuting the church and trying to prevent the Christian faith from expanding. In that mindset, he hated the things of Christ Jesus, and was filled with the works of darkness. But after he converted to the faith, both his heart and his direction completely changed. He wanted to show the Lord Jesus how much that he truly loved Him, which was proven through his many works. He spent the remainder of his life starting churches and preaching and teaching the things of God. In fact, a lot of the New Testament that we have today was written by the hand of the Apostle Paul, and his writings are the outward evidence and proof of his love for Christ Jesus.
Works of repentance are the only way to sincerely prove your love towards God or others, which is one of the reasons why faith without works is dead. When we were younger, many of us tried to please our earthly dad as we grew up. So what did we do? Exactly what he told us to do! Although he might not have communicated to you how much he appreciated your obedience, or even said, good job son, but deep down inside of his heart, you were the apple of his eye. Doesn’t it please you when your child obeys you? I have always taught my children to obey, obey, obey, because I know that whenever we do this, God is going to reward, reward and reward! We must be filled with this attitude towards the Heavenly Father, which is the same mindset as our precious Lord Jesus Christ.
John 8:29 (KJB) And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
Obedience to the will of God is the proof of our love towards Him, just like obedience to the will of your husband is the proof that you love him.
John 14:21-24 (KJB) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
The heart of man is very deceitful and in order to enter eternal life it will have to completely change. It begins by getting forgiven for your past, and then bringing forth fruits that are meet for repentance. Repentance is not a one-time deal, it’s a daily process whereby we are transformed by the grace of God into new creatures. The Christian Life is like sitting down at a piano every single day,…. practicing to get better, correcting our mistakes, and……
……..Perfecting Our Faith
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
tlkjbc.com♥️
Note: Any copies may be printed and freely distributed among those who have no internet service. There is no AI creative involvement in my writings, and must be left intact because they are very personal to me. These are not to be sold, and are made public only for the free benefit of Spiritual knowledge to those who are genuinely seeking the will of God.
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 