Roots by the River

I have had a few positive responses for the 6 week School of Practical Christianity. If you do not mind coming to a small class, we will go for it. The first class will be 2:00-4:00 P.M. Saturday January 11, 2014 in my home at 114 S. Howard St. Moscow, ID. The first hour will be on where we are in Jesus Christ. The second hour will be on Walking in the Light Please email me if you plan on attending the 6 week course: jimwilson27@frontier.com

There is another type of peer pressure. It is much heavier than the type I mentioned in the last post. It is tradition. Religious tradition has hundreds of years of pressure. It could be religious, or family, or national. The whole culture may be into this tradition. The Jewish culture in the present day is more tradition than it is theological. Jews could be atheists but very into the tradition. It was the same in the time of Jesus. The traditions were hundreds of years old. It is the nature of tradition to gradually grow away from the truth that started the tradition. The tradition is the new truth. Jesus both bucked the tradition but taught against it, “He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’ And he continued, ‘Y

There are several types of peer pressure – some of it neutral; most of it bad. Neutral – Clothing. Styles change from country to country and from generation to generation. People dress like other people dress. This is not bad unless it is disobedient to parents or sexy. We know this from teaching in I Corinthians 9:19-23, “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” This

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1) We can focus on the “sin that so easily entangles” and get more mired down or we can focus on the command, “throw off everything.” This is something we do at the start of this distance race. We are not to discard them during the race. Although “sin easily entangles”, it is also easy to throw it off. Do it. In the Lord Jesus Christ, Jim Wilson

There is some difference between a person's persona and his personality. His persona is what he wishes other people will think he is. His personality is what he really is. We all have a persona. It may be mild or wild but it is not real. It may be innocent imagination or it could be hypocrisy. The question is: “Are we more concerned about what people think of us or what God knows about us?” Do we get upset when people at church find out how we act at home. Are we more upset about how we act or that people know how we act ? If there is a difference, fix it.