Not Your Mail
Claiming that the whole Bible is personally written to you, to apply in your life, is a lie.
There was a period of time I lived in a cabin next door to my mom’s house. She had cancer and needed me to be closer for doctors appointments and help around the house. It was easy since she already had the extra little house on her property. They were separate but had the same address and used the same mail box.
We both received mail at that address, hers was addressed to her, mine to me. Having the same address didn’t make her mail mine or the other way around. If she received mail, I might even open it but that still didn’t make it to me. If it were a credit card statement I could see her information, what her balance was, what her credit limit was and how much interests the credit card company charged her based on her credit score - but that doesn’t mean I can use her credit card.
That account is between her and the credit card company. My account with them is based on our agreement and who I am financially. We can’t mix accounts.
You can go to the Bible and read someone else’s mail, learn what God has for them, what they can do and not do, but that doesn’t mean that information is to you and can be applied or used in your life.
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God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so they wouldn’t die. Genesis 2:16-17
God told Noah to build an ark to keep him and his family alive through the flood. Genesis 6:13,22 and 7:1
God told Moses to lead his people out of Egypt through the Red Sea to save them from Pharaoh. Genesis 8:1, Exodus 15:22 And then God told Moses to tell the children of Israel to offer a long list of sacrifices. Numbers 28:1-3
God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord so Israel could receive their Messiah. John 1:6-7
God told Peter to follow him and he would make him a fisher of men, gathering true believers out of Israel. Matthew 4:19
God told Paul to tell the world that Jesus died for their sins, not only for Israel but for the Gentiles also. Acts 9:15
Those are some really obvious examples of extremely different things those men were told to do. You couldn’t build an ark to God’s specifications today, even if there was a worldwide flood coming. And it wouldn’t matter how long I stood at the edge of the Pacific Ocean or Puget Sound, I am not going to be able to part the water and walk across on dry land. And why would I?
God gave each of these men instructions to be carried out in that time, in God’s way, for God’s purpose. Following those instructions was an act of faith for those men. It would be an act of our will, contrary to what God is telling us now, if we followed those instructions today. God’s instructions are always clear, without confusion.
God’s word to us today is found in Paul’s letters to the church the Body of Christ. Romans - Philemon. Our instructions for living are found there.
Compare these passages.
Matthew 6:15
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
And
Ephesians 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So, which is it? Either you have to forgive others to get forgiveness or you have already been forgiven.
James 2:17
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone
And
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
These passages show you that there are differences in God’s instructions to people over time. In the first verses God is talking to the nation Israel in the later passages He is talking to the Church the Body of Christ. God called Abraham to be the father of a nation He would make great.
Genesis 12:1-3
1Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And
1 Corinthians 12
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
Ask yourself again, which is it? Are we as Christians part of a nation - Israel, or are we the body of Christ? God’s instruction and information to Israel is different than his instruction to Christians today. That’s why things like healing, speaking in tongues, animal sacrifices and so much more are not happening today.
Compare these passages.
Joshua 24:17
For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:
Mark 16:17
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
And
Corinthians 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight:
Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Israel was raised up a nation under signs and wonders. They expected and received information from God through signs. God use signs to authenticate information so they would believe. When they saw signs they could be sure the information was from God and and accordingly.
When the disciples when out to preach the Jesus was the messiah, they only went to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and they were able to do signs and wonders as proof their information was from God.
We have the complete word of God in the Bible - God’s word to us through the Apostle Paul. We don’t need to look for signs and wonders, we have God’s perfect word to us.
Colossians 2:16
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
Today if you are a Christian you have been saved by grace through faith, so walk in that. Do not walk in works, looking for signs, trying to figure out what God is doing. Read Paul’s letters to the church the Body of Christ so you KNOW what God’s instructions are for you today and apply those to your life.
If your pastor is telling you to get your instructions for life from outside of Pauls letters, Romans through Philemon, he is lying. He is following the empty traditions of man and not the word of God.