Lukewarm Church
Once again Jesus says "He who has an ear, let him hear..." to the 3 other churches that were contained in Revelation 2. But to the Church in Laodicea he tells them that he recognizes what the other churches have done, but this church was neither hot or cold (Revelation 3:16). They were lukewarm. Hot would mean having heard the word and following through. Cold would be having ignored or not yet received the word and living as you were. Being lukewarm means you heard the word and believe it, but don't act like it. That didn't make Jesus very happy. Therefore, he wanted to spit them out of his mouth. Jesus doesn't us to ride the fence. It might even be more of an insult to hear the word and believe it and not act like it than to no believe the word.
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Faith Without Works
James 2:19-20 exposes the view points of those who claim to be Christians/Christ Followers, but they lack evidence to prove their status. Just because you known that Jesus is God in the flesh doesn't make you more of a believer than others nor does it solidify your belief either. Even the demons know that Jesus is Lord (James 2:19). Once you know Jesus is Lord then how does that play into your life? What do you do with that? Sit on it? Tell others? Serve others because you are a good person or because you serve the Lord and serve others? basically,m just because you have faith, if you do nothing with it, then what is the point (James 2:20).
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Paul's Guidance of Timothy
Paul tells Timothy in Chapter 4 some guiding words or advice, if you will. In verses 1-5, Paul tells Timothy about those that will depart from the faith and start believing and teaching things that are not of the faith and kind of making up their own rules, so to speak. Paul said people will forbid marriage and tell you that you cannot eat certain foods, but if you have asked God to bless it, then there is no issue with what you eat.
In verses 6-10 Paul tells Timothy to train himself up in godliness. He says that yes physical training is important, but godliness training far exceeds physical training in importance. Also, in verses 11-16, Paul basically challenges Timothy to stand up for himself as people will tell him he is too young to lead, teach and preach. He tells him to conduct himself in love and purity (godliness). He tells Timothy to practice these things and watch himself. Timothy is going to be a leader and teacher, so if he is not already doing these things, then how will others that he leads follow his example.
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Herod's Disbelief
Remember Herod from Matthew 2 when Jesus was born? He was in power when Jesus was born. He was the one that sought to kill Jesus after he was born but was tricked by the wise men who originally had been instructed to bring baby Jesus to Herod. His son, Herod the tetrarch (the Herod from this chapter) is the one that had John the Baptist beheaded (click here for more details).
John the Baptist was someone who foretold of the coming of Jesus in Luke 3. Herod the tetrarch had heard about all of the healing and miracles Jesus was doing and was perplexed (puzzled). Rumors were going around that a dead prophet (Elijah or John the baptist) had risen from the dead and was the one really doing the miracles through Jesus. Even though Herod the tetrarch was puzzled, in Luke 9:9 is says "And he sought to see him."
You know what you don't see much is the disbelief in Jesus that leads to an individual doing their own research. Herod the tetracrh went to go see for himself. I see alot of disblief in Christ today that leads to belief in emotion and feelings. People feel it must not be true (Jesus's miracles and life and resurrection) and then they believe it. They do not try to find out how something done is so amazing that it must not be true.
My point is that if you do not believe, do your own research. There are plenty of resources out there online that give you the information you need in order to understand the existence of Christ. Many say Christians have blind faith because you cannot prove this (the ark of the covenant or that Noah's ark) so things must not be true. People provide no evidence to counter, just an emotion.
We have to be careful not to let our emotions dictate what we do and do not do. Reactions from our feeling such as anger and lust can lead to sinful ways that draw us further from God. No matter what you feel, seek. Seek Jesus. Seek God's will. Seek the evidence. Go and see for yourself. Jesus wasn't made up.
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