Things We Confuse with Knowing God

Notes from a message given by Pastor Claudia, Brazil

Are you confused in these six areas?

1. Activism - Being Active in church, and in the Christian life, we think being Active means we know God.
2. Knowledge - We think that knowledge of the Bible, or knowledge in general means, "I must know God."
3. Seriousness - Because we are serious, always reading the Bible, always looking spiritual, or always listening to God, and we do not have time for anything else, we think that we know God.
4. Isolation - Because of where we go, and where we don't go, or who we associate with or don't, we can believe that this makes us holy or (holier than thou). There is a condemnation that is attached to this.
5. Perfection - The idea that I never make a mistake, so therefore I am spiritual. If we do everything right we are holy. In reality, without God we are lost; we don't know Him.  When we become Christians, we are Holy through Jesus; only though Him are we holy.
6. Demonstration of Power- Because a person moves in signs in wonders, we think, "Oh they must be holy, they must know the Lord."

These are all things we can confuse with knowing God.  We have to renew our lives in the Spirit, Know what sin is and what it is not and begin to really renew our minds.

We are not saved through self-righteousness, or what we do or don't know. We don't become more like God, because of self-righteousness, but by Jesus Himself working in our lives.

Ask yourself.  What is the world? To you, what is the world? It's important on how we relate to people. This little girl was telling a boy, "I am not a part of the world."  He answered, "Oh, are you like ET?"  We have to be relevant to people. We can't just speak in “Christianeze” phrases.

We try and separate music: This is worldly music, this is Christian music. No, there is good music and bad music. There is music that uplifts you, and music that isn't uplifting. There is a lot of music that is not labeled Christian that is very positive, and there is a lot of music that has a "Christian" label that doesn't produce life. We have to discern the difference.

What is the world?  We think the places we go make the difference. The workplace is the world, it's full of unbelievers. We divide people.Today, we think clubs. Twenty years ago, we thought if you go to a movie you’re going to hell. We perceive the world from the outside like we judge people by their clothes, from the outside, not the person inside them.

A pastor once said it was okay for a girl in his youth group to get a piercing, "Yeah that's no problem,” he said, “but just make sure you don't wear it, when you lead worship at church."

Know clearly what is of the world and what isn't.  Use Jesus as your example.  We are to be in the world, but not be of the world. We must go into the world, and make disciples, and change areas of influence. We cannot always expect them to come into our four walls.  We must meet people where they are at.  Only can we go outside, when we are strong and have our roots planted in the church, this is really where having a spiritual mother or father is so important.

You see there cannot be a separation. We are who we are everywhere we go. Jesus didn't say that He only has power in the church, or we are only to be Holy in the Church. The whole earth is His possession. Everywhere we go we are His vessel. There cannot be a separation of your life. It's all for Him.

Real Spirituality is fed by the Grace of God.