THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND EVERY OTHER RELIGION
TRUE CHRISTIANS KNOW GOD RELATIONALLY - OTHER RELIGIONS SPECULATE, AND ARE DECEIVED
CHRISTIANS HAVE FOUND GOD - RELIGIONS SEEK GOD
TRUE CHRISTIANS HAVE A RELATIONSHIP - RELIGION IS PHILOSOPHY MIXED WITH RULES
REALLY KNOWING GOD LEADS TO GREAT POWER, BEING DECEIVED ABOUT WHO GOD IS LEADS TO GREAT DANGER!
Christianity is not religion… Christianity is a relationship with God that is made possible through the covenant that Jesus established and paid for with His own blood.
In Job 42:5, Job says, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”
Everything before job 42 demonstrates ‘religion’. The father of all religion is the devil. Everything that the devil leads is based upon deception. Deception is the cornerstone of all religion. Chapters 1-41 in Job demonstrates deception, and the danger of deception in an attempted relationship with God. Deception contains some truth, but intimately leads to a lie. Job did not know God, and because he was deceived as to WHO God was, he lived in constant fear. He would constantly offer sacrifices to God, ‘just in case’ somebody ‘may have’ sinned. He saw God as a legalistic ruler, not a loving Father.
When calamity came to Job and his household, he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Then, later he said, “The thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.”
Job’s FEAR and his deception towards God gave room for the devil to put stuff on Job, ‘in the name of God’. God does not give, and then take away, His gifts are without repentance (Romans 11:29)… in other words, when God gives something, He never changes His mind and takes it back.
The rest of the books of Job demonstrate deception in full swing. Finally in Job 42, job admitted, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Deceptive RELIGION cost Job everything, but after Job got a revelation on WHO God really was, the Lord restored Job’s losses and gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Religion does not know God, nor does it operate in His ways, or according to His knowledge, but true Christianity knows God, operates according to His ways, and does great exploits by His power! Daniel 11:32 says, “The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”
2 Peter 1:1-4 is a powerful portion of scripture imparts truth about the blessings of KNOWING God…
2 Peter 1:2-4 says, “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: GRACE and PEACE be multiplied to you IN THE KNOWLEDGE of God, even of Jesus our Lord, as HIS DIVINE POWER has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE of Him who called us by glory and virtue, BY WHICH have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through fleshly desires.”
The word for “knowledge” here is the Greek ‘epignosis’, which refers to three things…
1. KNOWING WHO GOD IS through a heart experience, rather than mere intellectual knowledge of facts about Him.
2. KNOWING WHAT GOD KNOWS (Possessing the mind of Christ)
3. PARTAKING OF GOD’S DIVINE NATURE and operating the way that it operates
HERE ARE THE RESULTS…
1. GRACE AND PEACE MULTIPLIED!
UNLIMITED, STRESS FREE, PRESSURE FREE, UNMERITED FAVOR, PROVISION, ABILITY AND POWER.
2. ALL THINGS FOR LIFE AND GODLINESS (EXCEEDINGLY GREAT PROMISES)
A. SOZO (DIVINE PROVISION)
B. THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT (DIVINE CHARACTER)
C. THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT (DIVINE ABILITY)
Knowing God, knowing what God knows, and operating the way He operates as partakers of His divine nature, in miracles, signs and wonders in Jesus name sets Christianity apart from every religion!
CONFESSION
“Jesus, by your grace, I am righteous, and because I am righteous in You, I can know You!
Jesus, Knowing You imparts what You know!
Jesus, by faith, I partake of your divine nature!
Jesus, I operate in your ability, by your power, according to your provision, in your Name!
By grace, I know You Jesus, and by faith, I do mighty exploits!”
In His amazing love, Nick.
