Ok...I need you to hear me out on this one today as I anticipate it will be challenging to receive; so at least be willing to look up the verses and ask God to confirm if what I am sharing here is truth... or not (Acts 17:11;Mark 16:20)...and let me begin with what many might take exception to with a statement I have made in times past:

Too many churches today spend more time ‘enabling’ people who sin instead of teaching them what true repentance is and then instructing them how to walk in the freedom that Christ purchased for us (Rom. 6:17-22,1-4). I mean we go out of our way to coddle, comfort, pacify, and yes...even ‘make excuses’ as to why 'believers' continue to sin. We ‘lovingly’ remind them that ‘nobody is perfect’ and we are just ‘saints who sin because we are sinners saved by grace’, capping it off with ‘Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven’. There’s just one small problem with that- it’s not biblical! (1 Cor. 5:9-13)

Jesus calls us to ‘abide in Him’ if we ever expect to see genuine, lasting fruit produced in our lives...which is how we bring glory to the Father. We are called to abide in Him if we want to see prayers answered. And none of this happens... if we don’t abide in Him (John 15:1-8)

John would later write that whoever claims to abide in Him...”ought himself to walk... just as He (Jesus) walked” (1 John 2:6) [Can you verify if that verse in your Bible says the exact same thing, please?] Or does it say we are to 'try hard...to walk as He did'?

In fact, if you turn back to chapter 1 there, John opens his letter by making it known that the only way we can have ‘fellowship with Jesus, (not to mention being cleansed from all sin by His shed blood)...is IF...we ‘walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:6-7). Now you really need to pause here a moment and let that marinate in your spirit.

This is what it means to ‘abide’ in Him. Did Jesus sin? Nope. And what does 1 John 3:6 & 9 say, along with 1 John 5:18? You can go look those up now while I wait here for you. :- ). So a simple question here...if you are continuing to ‘sin’, which most churches teach you will continue to do...why would we think we are ‘abiding in Jesus’ IF...we continue to ‘walk in the darkness’...and sin?

Friends...are we supposed to be ‘walking like Jesus walked’ if we call ourselves a ‘Christian’...yes or no?

So now consider this: we know from reading through all four gospels that countless numbers of healings took place during the three years Jesus ministered and preached (Matt. 15:30-31). We have a couple of specific incidents where He healed some lame people, two in particular...found in John 5 and Mark 2:1-2. In both of these instances, the healings were IMMEDIATE. I mean, Jesus told them to ‘pick up their beds and walk’... and they did! One of those men had been afflicted for 38 years. And all Jesus told them was “Take up your bed and walk’...(in the manner in which you were created to walk-implied). We read in Acts 3:1-7 where Peter came up on a man who was ‘lame since birth’ and when touched by the Spirit of God flowing through Peter, he was healed immediately and went ‘walking, and leaping’ into the temple. We see another case where the same thing happened at the hands of Paul in Acts 14:8-10.

Do you want to hear something crazy that followed those dramatic healings? The ‘religious establishment’ of the day got angry, and were incensed over witnessing these dramatic healings. They nearly tripped over themselves rushing out to try and discredit Jesus, even accusing Him of having a demon working in Him. “These kind of things can’t happen like this!” And yet...all it took was one touch by Jesus, one command consisting of a few words –‘take up your bed and walk’...and they walked. Nowhere do we read where they needed a ‘running start’, or ‘physical therapy’, nor given counsel that it will take them the rest of their lives on this side of heaven to learn how to walk the way they were created to walk.

It. Was. Immediate.

[turn-signal for lane change...]

Have you ever watched video clips of animals in the wild being born, like elephants or giraffes? How about those of you who grew up on farms and lived in the country...ever seen a calf or foal or even a fawn born? How long is it before any of these newborns are ‘up and walking’ on all four legs? Is it days...weeks...or months? Actually, it’s usually within hours.

Granted, they have four legs to stand on so maybe that’s why humans take a tad longer to get up on two legs and balance. But even then... consider this- If the average human life span is 75 years, which is 900 months...and many ‘babies’ start standing and wobbling at 9 months, it’s usually within days before they are getting around on both feet. Now do the math, that’s like in the first 1% of their 900 month life-span that they learn to ‘walk’ so that they can continue on to grow and live productive lives. If human beings spend the first 50, 75, 90% of their life ‘learning how to walk’...can we all agree that something is wrong?

So again, I ask...according to scripture, how are those who abide in Jesus...’supposed to be walking?” And if you want to point to those ‘babes in Christ who were carnal’ (1 Cor. 3:1-3), remember...Paul had to rebuke them for their lack of progress in walking as mature saints.

Do you think it’s possible that somewhere along the way...we were given some ‘bad intel’? (Hosea 4:6). See you tomorrow?