Monthly Archives: August 2025

Romans 14- Edify The Church

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Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 14:19-23

Satan wants to divide and destroy the Church, the Apostle Peter described him as “a roaring lion looking to devour” (1 Peter 5:8) Be careful of divisions started over non-essential issues, don’t allow them to destroy the local Church. With that being said, we must also be careful not to cause divisions ourselves. Satan is looking for any reason to destroy your Church, destroy your family and destroy you! 

The Apostle Paul instructs us here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “let us therefor follow pursue after these things which make for peace, and things which one may edify one another” The Church should be edifying one another, are you edifying to your Church or causing division? The word edification in the Bible, greek word “oikodomes” means to build up one another.  The Apostle Paul said to the Church of Thessalonia “Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

I’m going to give an example again at my local Church, there is a family that chooses not to celebrate Christmas, another family brought it to my attention that we should try to correct them. Based on Romans 14, I told them back then everyone has the freedom in Christ whether to celebrate Christmas or not. If they don’t want to celebrate Christmas that’s OK, and if they do want to celebrate Christmas, that’s OK also, everyone will be lead by their own conscience. When I said this, the other family was like, yeah that makes sense. And so we moved on without making an issue or division about it. We could have easily blown this up into a bigger issue, and probably caused division within the Church, however its not necessary. Let us edify one another as the body of Christ and not try to destroy one another

The root of the problem, Paul addresses with a question “Do you have faith?” (v22) Is your salvation so weak that eating pork or celebrating Christmas will send you to Hell? Or is our salvation in the works of Christ on the cross? When Jesus said “It Is Finished” (John 19:30) Do you not believe him? Many of these issues are due to weakness in faith, we must truly put our salvation in Christ alone and nothing else!

As the Apostle Paul ends with a strong rebuke, “for whatever is not from faith is a sin” If we are not living by faith in Christ, then we are trying to live by works, which will not save us! Edify your brothers and sisters in The Lord because Christ Is Risen! The debt has been paid, repent and become Born Again by faith in Christ, Amen!

Romans 14- The Kingdom of God

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I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Romans 14:14-18

What is the Kingdom of God? This is a good question, and the Apostle Paul answers this question under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Paul states “For The Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” The Kingdom of God is not about carnal things, its not about things that please the flesh its about living in communion with Christ 

So why do we as Christians worry so much about carnal things? As Paul taught earlier, divisions in the body of Christ about what food we should eat, or what day we should worship, in the end these are carnal issues. Jesus said “Unless you are Born Again, you wont see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3) You can try to keep the law perfectly, but you still wont enter the Kingdom of God, why? Because you must be Born Again in Christ, you must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul states “do not let your good be spoken as evil” If you are fully convinced in your mind that you must eat a Kosher diet, then why use that as evil to condemn your brothers and sisters in Christ? If you feel fully convinced that you shouldn’t celebrate the incarnation of Christ on Christmas, then why turn that to evil and attack the Church? You see what you believe is doing good for The Lord is actually turning it into evil again the Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is not about food or sacred days, the Kingdom of God is about righteousness, the fruits of the Holy Spirit , peace , love, joy, and self control. Don’t be a stumbling block for the body of Christ, remember a Kingdom divided against itself will not stand! I would like to end with a quote by JC Ryle “The day is coming when there should be a congregation that shall never break up, and a Sabbath that should never end, a song of praise that should never cease, and an assembly that should never disperse.”

The Kingdom of God is eternal communion with our Lord Jesus Christ, not the carnal things of the world, be Born Again and produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Christ, Amen!

Romans 14- Every Knee Will Bow

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For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. Romans 14:9-13

Jesus Christ Is Lord! This should be the foundational belief of every Christian, Jesus should be the Master of your life, because Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead on the 3rd day, defeating sin and death forever! Chirist is Lord of both the dead and the living, so why do you pretend that you are The Lord? We seen this yesterday in the comments sections, Christians condemning other Christians for the days they worship on or the foods they eat, do you not read the teachings given to us by the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit?

Paul reveals “For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ” Everyone will stand before Jesus and give an account for their life, including myself, are you ready?  “every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” (Matthew 12:36) Lets stop condemning your brother and sister in Christ, because its going to condemn you! Its one thing to teach and correct, its another thing to condemn your brother and sister as if they are a child of the devil. 

The reality is this, “Every knee shall bow to Christ, and every tongue confess to God” As the Apostle Paul reveals “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10) I want you to notice here, every knee will bow to Jesus, including everyone in Hell (under the Earth) will bow to The Lord , every knee in Heaven, every angel and demon including Satan, every human good and evil, will submit to The Lord Jesus Christ!  

“and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:11) Not only will every creature that ever existed bow to Jesus, but every creature will acknowledge Christ Is Lord! Every creature, including ourselves, will confess that Jesus Christ is ruler , Creator, Master, and God over everything including ourselves! Are you ready to bow to The Lord Jesus Christ? 

Knowing that Christ Is Lord, the Apostle Paul pleads “Let us not therefor judge one another anymore” (v13) Jesus Christ Is Lord, we are not, bow to the King of all Kings, The Lord of All Lords, submit to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,(Titus 2:13) Amen!

Romans 14- The Lords Day

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One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:5-8

The Apostle Paul continues to teach, we as Christians are under the Law of Liberty and not the Law of Moses. Holidays and Sabbaths are still a big contention within the Church, many Christians have even divided because of the days they worship, this is divisiveness caused by Satan. As Paul teaches “One person esteems or considers one day above another, another esteems or considers every day alike” So who is correct here? The Holy Spirit answers “Let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind”

Christmas is a great example of a divisive holiday. I personally love to celebrate the Christmas season with my family, I love the time to reflect upon the incarnation of Christ, a beautiful mystery that without it none of us would be saved! However there are some who refuse to celebrate Christmas because they believe it has pagan roots. We have a family in my Church that doesn’t celebrate Christmas, and somebody came to me and asked what should we do about this? I said nothing, nobody is obligated to celebrate Christmas, as I use this text for my discernment. As the Apostle Paul states “He that regarded the day, regarded it unto the Lord”

The Apostle Paul also wrote the warning to the Church of Colossae “Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.  These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17) The Holy Spirit warned not to judge other Christians based on what day they are worshipping or observing, so why has the Church divided over this matter? Because Satan knows as Jesus warned “A house divided will not stand” (Mark 3:25)

Paul gives us a great revelation, all of these feast days and Sabbaths are a shadow of Christ! Jesus is our Sabbath Rest (Matthew 11:28, Hebrews 4) without Jesus you will never enter into the Rest of God! Now some of you may disagree with me, and that’s alright, as long as we give this day to The Lord, and not to observe for legalism. 

One thing to remember, that Christ Is Risen on Sunday Morning (Mark 16:9, John 20:1, Luke 24:1, Matthew 28:1) All four gospels tell us Jesus rose on a Sunday morning, this is why we as a Church worship on Sunday. The early Church also began to worship on Sunday morning because of the resurrection of Christ “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7) There is nothing pagan about worshipping on Sunday morning, because as the Apostle Paul said “If Christ isn’t Risen, our faith is useless” (1 Corinthians 15:17) 

So whatever day you worship or observe, or whatever you may eat, do it for Jesus Christ, your Lord. “For if we live, we live for The Lord” (v8) Amen!