Q: The bible says The "LOVE" of money is the "root" of all evil...So is it "evil" for Christians to be "wealthy"?
A: No, it is not evil for Christians to be wealthy. However, God is not concerned whether or not we are wealthy, poor or somewhere in between. Christians focus on blessings of the flesh because they mistakenly believe that through the acquisition of these material blessings it will meet the deepest desire of their heart for unconditional love and total acceptance. Therefore, the unhealthy pursuit of material wealth and money has caused some to " have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Tim 6:10)." Therefore, you see many Christians sitting under the teaching of "men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain (1 Tim 6:5)." These men manipulate scripture, primarily hanging out in the Old Testament, in order to control their flocks by telling them that God will bless them if they are obedient. They take scriptures meant for the Jews and apply them to Christians in an effort to separate them from their money under the promise God will reward them for doing so. The only one "blessed" with wealth is the pastor. What Christians need to realize is that God has already given you everything you need for life and godliness and blessed you with every spiritual blessing in order that you will be content regardless of your circumstances. When you have the deepest needs of your heart met through what you have already received from God you will no longer chase after those things in an area that can't provide them. Thus, you won't be expecting something from God He didn't promise to give. Be blessed.
Q: Why is the five fold ministry (pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, apostles) important for us in the body of Christ?
A: I don't believe the "Five Fold Ministry" is in effect today. The primary reason is because two fifths of the so called ministry are not possible today. There are no apostles or prophets still around. An apostle was one who was chosen to give eyewitness testimony of the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:21-26;5-32; 1 Cor 9:1). And Paul indicated he was the last one to see the risen Christ (1 Cor. 15:8). Unless one is 2,000 years old there is nobody alive today that can qualify to be an apostle. In Ephesians 2:20 and 3:5, Paul states that the church has ""been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" and that Christ's mystery regarding the church was "revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit." Any revelation regarding scripture or God's plan ended with the closing of the Canon of Scripture. There is no need today for visions and revelations from modern day apostles and prophets. To claim otherwise is to deny the sufficiency of the Bible (2 Tim 3:16) and opens the door to all sorts of heresy and error. Paul even warned us about "false apostles" (2 Cor. 11:13-15). The thing that must continue, in context of Eph 4:11-13, is not the "five fold ministry," but the "building up of the church" (v12). The offices of apostle and prophet ceased once their role in "equipping the saints" was completed. That happened at the end of the first century when the final letters of the scripture were finished. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals to us the meaning and purpose of the Scriptures already in our possession. It is He that leads us into all truth, not modern day "apostles" and "prophets." Be blessed.
Q: How do you know you are walking in the "spirit" and not the "flesh"(old sinful nature)?
A: You are not walking in the Spirit if you are living a life of obedience and repentance. If you are then you are guilty of being deceived by the same lie that Satan told Adam and Eve in the Garden. In order to live a life of repentance and obedience you have to live your life in accordance to good and evil. And that is eating from the wrong "tree." Satan told Adam and Eve that they would "be like God" knowing good and evil. Many Christians are guilty of trying to "be like God" through subjecting themselves to a lifestyle designed to modify their behavior in order to do good and avoid evil. The truth is much different. God designed us to have the deepest needs of our heart fulfilled. That can only be accomplished through total trust and dependence on Him. God gave Himself to us, in the form of the Holy Spirit, when we accepted Christ by faith. We were given everything we need for life and godliness and blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms through faith in Jesus. Therefore, we have unconditional love, total acceptance, meaning and purpose to life our hearts truly desire, in Him. This knowledge allows us to engage the world with what we have been given rather than what we hope to get from it that it cannot provide. We sin because we are looking for the desires of our heart to be met in something other than a relationship with our God. The goal of the Christian life is not to stop sinning through obedience and repentance. The goal of the Christian life is to start trusting and depending on the Holy Spirit to live the life only He can live through us. And when we do that He is not going to lead us into sin. Remember, the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit, not our fruit. Be blessed.
Q: How can we as christians not "yield" to "temptations" that come our way?
A: The answer lies in identifying the reason why we sin. We sin because we are looking for unconditional love, acceptance, meaning and puropose to life apart from a relationship with our God. Mankind was designed to have the deepest desires of our heart filled. God did this so that He would be the only one that can fulfill those desires. If we don't believe we are having those needs met through a relationship with Him through faith in Christ, we will seek it from the world. And all the world offers is it through some form of sin. Keep in mind, we don't have these desires met through an obedient lifestyle designed to identify sin and avoid it. We will never avoid sin completely, but we will only experience a diminishing of sin through trust and dependence on our God. This happens as a direct result of the knowledge that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Part of that inheritance is the fact that we are unconditionally loved and totally accepted by God. And it is this knowledge that leads to us engaging the world with what we have been given from God rather than trying to get from the world that which it cannot provide. Remember, the goal of the Christian life is not to stop sinning through a lifestyle of repentance and obedience by avoiding evil and practicing good. The goal of the Christian life is to start trusting and dependening on God through the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead us from within. And when we are doing that He is not going to lead us into sin. Be blessed.
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