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Hi!
I'm
Bruce Collins. I am an evangelist and teacher of the Bible. I
became a child of God by faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ on November 24, 1963 and have tried to serve the Lord in various
capacities since then. I am presently an itinerant minister of
the Gospel. I do not work for an organization but I try to
serve the Lord in the best way that I can wherever He leads. That
means that my wife and I have our financial needs met by the Lord as we do
not have a salary from any church or organization. We believe
that the Gospel is free so we have never made a charge for our services.
I
am available for Bible studies, conferences, Gospel meetings, children's meetings
and camp work. I have traveled throughout much of the United States
and Canada in my service for the Lord. My wife helps me, and
we attend the Bethany Bible Chapel in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They have encouraged us
by commending us for this work.
My
wife, Geneva and I live in Waterloo, Iowa. We have four children.
One of them is married and has provided us with two grandchildren.
This
web site has a weekly meditation that I hope will encourage you. It
has links to literature and organizations that I think are helpful.
You can also listen to my weekly radio program here.
Yours
because of Calvary,
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Meditation--updated
weekly
If
you would like to comment go to
http://bdcministries.com/
Christ
Lives in Me!
Galatians 2:20-21 I have
been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes
through the law, then Christ died in vain."
Introduction
In this letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul is trying to
correct an error that was plaguing the Galatians.
Paul had taught them that salvation was by grace through faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. But
now Jewish teachers were telling them that to really be “saved”,
they had to keep the Old Testament law.
These Judaizers were trying to make Christians a new sect of
Judaism which it is not. They
were effectively preaching salvation by works rather than salvation by
grace. Paul emphatically
says in Galatians
2:16, “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified (or
declared righteous).”
Paul's
Experience
Paul
had been a leading Pharisee. He
was blameless with regard to keeping both the moral and ceremonial law
of the Old Testament. In
Acts 9 he had met the Lord after having his conscience bother him about
his persecution of Christians. When
he met the Lord, he turned his back on all of his political aspirations
and became a fully-committed preacher of the Gospel.
He preached that Christ died, was buried and that He rose again
and it was all according to the Old Testament scriptures which he now
realized spoke of a suffering Christ. But
something else had happened, Christ now was living in Him.
What does that mean?
Does
Christ live in Every Believer?
We
know that upon believing, every believer is sealed with Holy Spirit.
That is taught in Ephesians 1:13. We
don't have to ask for the Holy Spirit to seal us.
We don't have to pray for the Holy Spirit to seal us.
We get that blessing automatically upon believing.
However, because of that blessing we usually have a joy we didn't
have before. We usually have
an understanding of spiritual things that we didn't have before.
We usually have motivation to please the Lord that we didn't have
before. Unfortunately, we
can grieve or distress the Holy Spirit who dwells within us by how we
speak to others and how we treat others.
That is taught in Ephesians 4:30.
So because the Holy Spirit is God, yes, God or Christ does live
within each believer. That
doesn't mean believers are little gods, it just means that they should
be motivated by those things that please the Lord.
They should not grieve the Holy Spirit.
Instead they should be filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit as
taught in Ephesians 5:18.
Question?
When
Paul says that Christ was living in him, was he talking about being
sealed with the Spirit or was he talking about being controlled by the
Spirit? I think He was
talking about being controlled by the Spirit since he says his life is
now lived by faith in the Son of God.
I would assume that means that he didn't direct His own life but
that he allowed the Lord to direct his path.
It was through Ananias that he was told that he would be a
special evangelist to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15-16).
But of course he couldn't be controlled by the Holy Spirit if he
hadn't been sealed by the Holy Spirit.
The
Preciousness of Having Christ Live in Us
As
we have already stated, since each believer is sealed by the Holy Spirit
and should be controlled by the Holy Spirit, each believer has Christ
living in him. To me it is
almost beyond comprehension to think that Christ is dwelling in me.
It's a precious truth, but it is also kind of scary.
Paul was confident that he was properly reflecting his faith in
the Son of God. I have to
wonder if I am. Do people
really see Christ when they see me?
I have to ask, "Does Christ really act the way I act?"
I
thank God that Christ does live in me.
But I hope that because of that nobody is ever able to use me as
an excuse for rejecting the Lord. Many
people that I talk to do not accept Christianity because of the way
Christians treat one another and because of the way Christians treat
minorities and the poor. I
realize that the Lord is going to hold people accountable for their own
sin regardless of how un-Chistlike professing Christians may act.
But I pray that since Christ is living in me, that people at
least get a little glimpse of the real Christ when they see me.
Meditation for the week of
September 25, 2016
Archived
Meditations
If
you would like to be on the email address list for these meditations
write to me at
mail@bdcministries.faithweb.com
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