Would The True Followers Please Stand Up

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. the old has passed away; and behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting the trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 ESV

Good Morning Girlfriends:

How many of you remember the game show back a few years ago, okay many years ago, called "To Tell The Truth?" There were four celebrities who sat on the panel, and there were three guests who were selected, portraying to be the same person. It was the panels job, individually, to ask as many questions as they could within a certain amount of time, to each guest who was portraying to be this certain person, to figure out which contestant was the real "Mc Coy." (The real person) One was the real person and the other two were imposters.

The panel may have asked personal questions about the individual, questions about where they might have be known from, what they did for a living, whatever they could think of that would give them clues to who the true person was. When the time of questioning was up, the panel had to decide which one they thought was the right person, as they marked number one, two, or three on a card. When all of the ballots were displayed, the host would say to the contestants, "Would the real person, please stand up." Many times the panel would have guessed it right, but there were times that the panel was completely stumped, because the contestants were so good at portraying this certain person from the answers that they gave.

Girlfriends, I don't know about you, but I know that I have been seeing so much corruption come out in the last couple of years, people who have been saying that they are a certain person, but their actions are showing something different. Yes, I am talking about Christians, where are they, the true Christians. John 14:23 says, Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." Many people have done this in the very beginning of their walk with the Lord, but sadly after so many years people have let the world come into their way of living.

My heart aches for these people, as I pray for people that I know that this has happened to, that they would come back to their first love. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us that have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that , just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His...Romans 6:1-23ESV

I pray that each of these dear souls that are proclaiming to be a Christian that they would turn from their old ways, repent and turn back to the one who was crucified for them. (2 Chron. 7:14) Girlfriends, each of us have to work out our own salvation, (Phil. 2:12-13) it is our responsibility to get in the word and stay in the word so that we can know how we are to act in order to represent Jesus well. Galatians 5:22 talks about the fruit that we will see in a person who is serving Christ, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.

Jesus was and still is our one and only perfect example of the way a true Christian should live. Not only does a true Follower of the Lord carry these fruits and expound on them, but the way in which they live on a daily basis, will be easily seen by others. The way one follows the Ten Commandments, doesn't portray to the outside world that they are one way but to some they are another way, the way one will speak, the way they act. This is a time to get real with the Lord, it is a serious time to do an over all check within ourselves to see if we are living up to God's holy standards. Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted His eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life, that they know you the one only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed...John 17:1-26.

Jesus, being our true example of what a true follower of Jesus should look like, we are only hurting and kidding ourselves if we think that we can continue to live like we did in our past, thinking that God does not truly see what we are doing, we are not bringing glory to the Lord, but we are bringing destruction upon ourselves if we do not acknowledge it, repent for it, and turn from it.

Girlfriends, God speaks to us to pray for one another, and to help one another to see the errors of our ways, so that we will see the glory of the Lord, in order that we will not miss out on His return for His bride. So my question today is, "Are you a true follower of Jesus Christ?" Important note, is to do an internal check to make sure that each of is truly living to the word of God, and so that we do not depart from it.

Let's Pray,

Father God, I praise you Lord, and I thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your one and only Son to die for us, that we too may have eternal life. Lord, help each and every one of us to do a thorough internal check, to make sure we are living according to your word. Lord, you are so quick to forgive us when we are able to see the errors of our ways. You have not come to condemn us but you came to save us, and we truly needed saving from ourselves. Lord, help us to see if there is any errors to our way of living and then if it does not line up to your holy word, let us be quick to repent and ask for forgiveness, knowing that you are just as quick to forgive, and I thank you in Jesus Mighty name, amen.

Be blessed sweet girlfriends, and pass the blessings on. Thank you for passing this message on to others in hopes that it will be a blessing to them.