Our Testimony Says If There Is Faith Or Not

FROM: JULY 30, @ AUGUST 5, 2019

TOPIC: “Our Testimony Says If There Is Faith Or Not” (Retreat) Hebrew 12:1 They, men and women of faith, surround us as a great “cloud of witnesses.” It is those who are described in Chapter 11, who suffered severely for their “loyalty to the Lord” but who resisted. They maintained that firm perseverance with “less privileges.” How much more should we, to whom the best things of Christianity have come! They surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses.” Moreover, these believers, of whom the Scriptures tell us about how they overcame, testify to us through their lives of faith and patience, setting before us a great example to imitate. Do you doubt that heaven sees us? Luke 15:7 says: "I tell you THAT IN THE SAME WAY THERE WILL BE MORE REJOICING over one sinner who repents..." In heaven they see when a sinner repents! And they rejoice themselves! One who runs cannot have overweight in his feet and this does not refer to internal sin. It is that you have to run with light feet! If it was the weight of internal sin, one would already be disqualified, since anyone who is overweight with sin is already disqualified to run. The many temptations come to stimulate concupiscence and God's Word says "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).

A. It is that this career demands DISCIPLINE AND PATIENCE to live with a testimony of faith. We have to shed everything that weighs and can hinder us:

1. of material possessions, economic possessions

2. of family ties

3. from love to comfort If the runner does not renounce to these weights, he would never win the race!

B. Let us see these great men who had faith in the Lord and who left us their testimonies as an example of faith and for that reason their purity!

1. Moses (Exodus 32:26) ("...so he stood at the entrance of the camp and said: Whoever is for the Lord, come to me. And they gathered...") There was consecration! (Vs. 29) “…that. He may pour blessing on you today.” (Vs. 32) Moses prayed to Jehovah, “…but if not, then blot me out (erase me, unsubscribe me, eliminate me) now from your book you have written.”

2. Job 11:14 "If any iniquity ..." (evil, perversity, abuse or great injustice). Iniquity is evil, ungodliness or guilt and its gravity is above sin. As such, it is an offense against God, founded on ignorance and rejection of the "laws of the Lord." Iniquity is a contempt for God's laws, there is no subjection to the authority or law of the Lord. Ezekiel 28:12 and 17 "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty... Your heart became proud on account of your beauty... (exalt, take pride)." Here it refers to Satan.

3. 1 Corinthians 9:24 “Run in such a way as to get the prize.” You must abstain: (Vs. 27) “…but I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

4. Galatians 5:7 “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you (prevented you, made it difficult) and kept you from obeying the truth? Don't you follow the truth? Is it that you have your mind as your educator in order to defy God's laws and do iniquity?

5. Ephesians 4:22 In your former way of living. Don't say: “I was like that since I was a child! And I'll go on! Do you want to end that now? I mean, if you want, today it is for you to stop

and put an end to your evil forever. That is if you want! “…put off your old self, which is being corrupted (with impulse towards what is desired) by its deceitful desires (which is not the truth)

6. 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

a. Paul reached the crown of justice (Vs. 8).

b. Paul, our great man of faith and his testimony: of scourges, shipwrecks, prisons, escapes, hunger, illnesses, and people who betrayed him and left him (Vs. 10). His testimony shows how he struggled to "keep the faith" which is what led him to God. If you lose faith, then you no longer believe, there is no obedience, there is rebellion, bitterness comes into your life and you govern yourself and you condemn yourself alone!

7. 1 Peter 2:11 "...foreigners and pilgrims..." Is that what you are here on earth? Why should you live as pleasantly as Satan did in his iniquity outside the laws of God, in an anarchy, in impurity, lusts, fornication, adulteries (in unlimited disorder and pleasures)? "...I urge you...to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." Your flesh battles against your soul. You decide! Either you fight the good battle and you win or you don't and you lose! Ezekiel 28:12-16 Satan was the seal of perfection and evil was found in him. We are perfect when the blood of Christ cleanses us, but if we walk badly and turn back, the same will happen, "...wickedness was found in you." Will you fight? Will you keep the faith? You decide!

8. (Vs. 16) "Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned ..." Satan made trades. Men also make them with the world. If you make contracts with the world it is for pride. Are you from heaven? If pride is deadly enough to destroy such a powerful and wise being, how much more careful should we mortals be not to walk independently from the Lord! Do you pray? Do you read and love the Word? Do you live apart from the world? Do not make a contract (an agreement when two or more commit to fulfill a series of conditions), do not make a pact, do not bind yourself with others. Do not make agreements with others and not with the Lord! Your testimony says whether there is faith or not! Amen.