The Word Is A Defense
We live in a world that is hostile to the truth of the gospel that is revealed to us in the scriptures. The truth is constantly under attack and if you do not know what to stand for, you will fall for one of the many lies that are out there. Our plumb line for living a life that is pleasing to our creator is the Bible: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth! The instructions are not complicated, they are basic, which is: ’Because we were all born sinners, we needed a savior and because our creator loved us so much he decided to make the ultimate sacrifice to atone for our sin and redeem us back to himself. So now we have to entrust our lives into his hands, so he can show us how to live a life without sin’. It is that simple, however we as human beings complicate it. One of the things that I like to watch is Christian apologetics debates. They like to go deep into the Hebrew and the Greek meanings of words and it is good that they have done that level of study. However if it took that level of study for all of us to be able to understand the gospel message, then the instructions would no longer be basic. God has designed his message to humanity in such a way that everyone would be able to understand it clearly. This is why we all need to read the Bible regularly and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us through what we a reading, so we can get a clearer picture of that particular topic. Joh_16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. Through the word, God has given us a way the defend ourselves against the world views and false religions out there and we find it in Ephesians 6: Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; The analogy here that is used is a uniform that a Roman soldier wears: The belt (Belt of truth) was the foundation for the whole of the armor, which things was held together. Breast Plate (Breast Plate of righteousness) to protect all the vital organs including the heart Shoes (Feet shod in the preparation in the gospel of peace) The Roman soldiers shoes where design the he could walk for long distances over all kinds of surfaces and still be ready to fight. Shield (Shield of faith) The Roman soldiers shield was big and designed to protect his whole body from attack especially fiery arrows from the enemy and the shield some soaked to absorb the flames Helmet (Helmet of salvation) To guard the head from attacks (or in our case our minds) Sword (Sword of the spirit which is the word) The soldiers sword was designed to be used in defense or attack in the heat of battle. If you do not understand that you are in spiritual war, then you need to understand it. So if you are not dressed for battle you will not survive. The word is our defense and our creator is our guide, but we choose whether or not we will allow ourselves to be guided. So choose right! Parallel Business Principles We have to use the things put in place to guide us and protect our businesses and that is the Reliv system. There are people all around the Reliv world who are building successful Reliv businesses because they are not making excuses for the system, they are just plugging into it. There are going to be people that speak negative about what you are doing, and the system will help to quench those fiery arrows as well as keep your mind in the right place, so you can go the distance. So choose today to make the right choice and that is to plug into the system. ********************************************* Jason Gregory Business Coach & Mentor Reliv *********************************************
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Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; Gen 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. As human beings we were not designed to survive and live a balanced life by ourselves, from the very beginning God knew that we needed help and companionship. When God created Eve out of the side of Adam, he created someone who was equal in essence, but different in function and together they reflected the image of God: Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Verse 27 gives an understanding of the unity of a man and a woman in the context of marriage and this is back up by the follow verse: Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. The Hebrew word for one is “echad” which is a compound unity e.g 1 month has 30 days. It is also the word used to describe the One God in the Shema, which every Jewish person recites in Deut 6:4 So it is only after the covenant has been made before God that the two become one flesh and this is why marriage is so important. It gives glory to God when people live in covenant relationship. Even if two people are not born again but they are living a committed married life, that still brings glory to God because of their faithfulness to their covenant. This is why marriage is under attack so much, with the redefining of what marriage is, straight through to the common law status of two people living together as if they were married but without any covenant being made. Satan is trying to take the glory away from God, which is what he has always tried to do. However, just as the scripture states: Isa 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. The Hebrew word for uplifting up a standard is pronounced “Noos” and means "to put to flight". Every born again married couple, should be that standard, so the world can see God’s witnesses being the plum line in which to measure against. Which puts to flight every accusation that the world tries to make about the sanctity of married. This means every time you hear about a Christian couple who gets divorced, that is one less witness to the kingdom and one more accusation against the kingdom. This is why God says in Malachi 2:16 that he hates divorce. God is a God of covenant and with is why he takes the breaking of covenant so seriously and we can see this here: Jer_3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. So when Jesus was dealing with the same topic in the New Testament he emphasizes the impact of what the breaking of covenant can do: Mat 5:31 It has been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: Mat 5:32 But I say to you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery. The word fornication in the Greek is porneia, which is the root word where we get pornography from in English and it means sex immorality. I also want to draw you to this scripture to hear what Jesus says Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. So what it looks as if Jesus was saying here is, Adultery is the unfaithfulness and Fornication is the physical act and the physical act of joining yourself to another person outside of your covenant relationship is the only grounds for divorce for a Christian marriage. Paul deals with this further in the NT (New Testament 1 Corinthian 7), which you can read for yourself, which focuses more on when a Christian is married to a none Christian. As people of God we need to lead by example, no matter how difficult the situation may be. So commitment to a covenant that you have made is so important, so with all integrity and person should first count the cost first before entering into any covenant or contract to make sure they are prepared to be faithful to it. Parallel Principals As independent distributors with Reliv we had to sign an distributor form, that is our contract we made between us and the company. A person should first count the costs before signing that contract, whether or not they are prepared to be faithful to the contract. So many people think that just because they signed the contract that they have the right to be successful. They are not willing to go through the UPS and the DOWNS, which are part of the journey to success, they just want the success. This is why many people join and many people leave, thinking the business does not work. Not realizing, the business does work, they just didn’t work the business! We all need help and this is why we have the system to help us build our business and take dominion over our finances. So from a business sense, if a person does not become one with the system, they will not use it and consequently they will not be successful. So understand your commitment you made when you signed the distributor form and be prepared to do what it takes to be successful. ************************************** Jason Gregory Business Coach & Mentor Reliv ************************************** The reason why the God that we serve can be trusted, is because he tell us throughout his word on may occasions that he is the God that changes NOT
He is the God that see all things and knows all things, he is the God that sits outside of time and yet was willing to enter into time to redeem his creation. He is the God of the living not the dead: Mar 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Mar 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. This world is constantly changing, new advances in technology causes the world to be moving on. Your latest smart phone is out of date 1 year later and you are encouraged to get an upgrade. 10 years ago there was no such thing as a smart phone, today people will look at you strange if you haven’t got one. These are the times we are living in. We have everything at our fingertips and distance is no longer an issue, you could be talking to someone over the other side of the world in seconds for free, through your smart phone. Everyone is connected and the Internet is the backbone to all of this. There is no other time in history where the possibility of a one world order could be a reality, other than right now. Yet through all of this, God has not changed, his word and principals are consistent. Man wants to put themselves in the position of God, because, the spirit of pride that caused Lucifer to fall, is also in mankind. However God is a jealous God: Deu 4:23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. Deu 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. Self-worship is a form of idolatry and God will deal with that. You see, many people think that God has changed, because they read of all of the punishments that Israel received when they sinned against God, and they think that because we are in the New Testament era called the dispensation of Grace, that they are immune to God’s punishments. How wrong could they be! If you want an example of that, just look at what happened to Ananias, with Sapphira his wife: Act 5:1 Ananias and Sapphira are Punished But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold some property. Act 5:2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back some of the money for himself and brought the remainder and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Act 5:3 Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land? Act 5:4 As long as it remained unsold, wasn’t it your own? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn’t lie only [The Gk. lacks only] to men, but also [The Gk. lacks also] to God!” Act 5:5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized everyone who heard about it. Act 5:6 The young men got up, wrapped him up, carried him outside, and buried him. Act 5:7 After an interval of about three hours, Ananias’ [Lit. his] wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Act 5:8 So Peter asked her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?” She answered, “Yes, that was the price.” Act 5:9 “How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter asked her. “Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men [Lit. and they] will carry you outside as well.” Act 5:10 She instantly fell down at Peter’s [Lit. his] feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband. Act 5:11 And great fear seized the whole church and everyone else who heard about this. If people understood that God has not changed, there would be more reverential fear in our churches. There would also be more confidence in God to get them through their situations because people would understand, if God healed people before in the past, then he will do it again. If he delivered people in the past, then he would do it again. If he provided for people in the past, then he would do it again. Knowing the God that you serve is so important, this is why oral tradition was so important in Israel and still is today. Remembering what God did in the past and teaching it to the next generation. Exo 12:26 And when your children say to you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ [Lit. is . . . to you?] Exo 12:27 you are to say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelis in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Then the people bowed down and worshipped. Today, because of all the distractions that are there through technology, there are homes where Christian parents never sit down with their children and discuss the deeper things of God, so that the children can have a sense of why they would worship him themselves. This is why you have a lot of children who where brought up in the church, that by the age of 16 -18 they disappear from church and go into the world. This is because there is a difference in forcing your children in the things of God and directing them in the things of God: Pro 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. So let us help the next generation to want to know about the God who changes NOT! Parallel Business Principals When something does not change, it can be trusted and this is why the Reliv success system is so important, because it does not change. It does not matter how much a person or person’s try to change it, it does not change. Therefore the results of the people who are persistent and faithful to the system, are consistent. Now there is a difference between consistently working the system correctly by bringing NEW people to it, rather than just turning up to the system elements. Just turning up is not working the system correctly. People who struggle to build their business are the people who once and a while will exposed someone to the system, but it is not consistent. The more people you expose to the system, is the more likely you will find your runner. So go out there and expose new people to the system, that does not change! ******************************************************** Jason Gregory Business Coach & Mentor Reliv ******************************************************* As Christians, today we need to be in prayer are our brothers and sister in Iraq. When we read and see the atrocities that are happening to our follow believers, it should push us to our knees. People are being told to convert to Islam or die.
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Click Image below to see an opportunity to work with a group of believers, passionate about helping people with their health and their finances. Click image Now!Me and Aneela with the European Chairman of Reliv International Click below to watch some powerful Christian videos KINGDOM PEOPLE AuthorFor the past Eight years, I have been hosting a weekly prayer call for the believers in the offline company that i work alongside. Looking at biblical principals and seeing how we can apply them into our businesses. Archives
May 2018
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