Koinonia

An integral part of a healthy walk with Christ stems from what we choose to focus on in life. The Christian life is a supernatural life that is lived in the natural realm. When the apostle Paul was writing to the church at Corinth about being at home in the body, but absent from The Lord, he declared that as long as we are in these mortal bodies, we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:6,7). Isn’t it interesting that in the verses that precede and follow this verse regarding walking by faith rather than by sight is the word confident.

Our study today presents us with the most important aspect of the Christian life; namely, living for the glory of God. Unfortunately, to speak of the glory of God has become a phrase that is used so much that it has become trite and void of any depth of meaning. To live for the glory of God simply means that I no longer live for myself. That is it in a nutshell. This living for the glory of God affects how we eat, drink, work, pray and serve. Living for the glory of God is living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Ponder this thought beloved. Any problem that you and I have in our walk with Jesus; be it in our marriage, our vocation or even in how we relate to on another here at Koinonia is a Lordship problem.

Charles Spurgeon wrote: "The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ". Thus, both the heart and essence of our redemption is our Redeemer Jesus Christ. God demonstrates his own love toward us.  Present tense.  Ongoing action. It is not that God showed His love for us 2,000 years ago, which of course He did! That’s past. That’s history. That is fixed, objective, unchanging. The idea here is that God commends His love today through the past, historical, objective fact of the death of his Son for us.

From the Garden of Eden to the present hour, the biblical truth of God regarding Jesus Christ and the gospel has been redefined, twisted, or simply called outrageous. Satan has his own "evangelists" who proclaim a counterfeit Jesus and a counterfeit gospel under the inspiration of a demonic spirit who transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Today we are going to look at the beloved 23rd Psalm together. No other Psalm captures the caring heart of God for His children as does this Psalm. Our Father in this Psalm is portrayed as our Shepherd. As a shepherd cares for his flock, God our Father cares for every one of His children. He not only sees a multitude of sheep, He sees you, beloved. As you ponder this Psalm, hear the tone of Abba’s voice as if He were speaking to you alone. Jesus said that if you have seen Him, you have seen The Father.