Examining our walk in Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 13

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.

• The judgment of Christians comes in the Holiness of Jesus Christ.
• Christ lives in us who is the Holiness of God.
• We are weak but He is strong.
• Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.
• Living for Christ is a voluntary devotion, not just putting on “Sunday’s best.”
• We are glad when others are strong in Jesus Christ.
• Jesus wants us to be whole, united, at peace, comforted, and loved.

The judgment of Christians comes in the Holiness of Jesus Christ. “This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” 2 Corinthians 13:1 Paul had to be more of a judge between the Corinthians instead of being able to enjoy their fellowship in the Spirit of Christ. He prepared them to verify their accusations towards others with two or three witnesses. As followers of Christ, fellowship in His Spirit is more desirable than criticizing and judging each other.

“I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare— ” 2 Corinthians 13:2 Judgment of Christians come from the Holiness of the soul against the ugly attitudes and behaviors which surfaces from sin. The Corinthians asked Paul to be a judge over them, and Paul will not hold anything back when he comes and judges them in the Holiness of God.

As followers of Christ, if Christian fellowship is filled with more bickering than communion then it’s time to do or say something. In the Spirit of Holiness, we can’t participate in a dog-eat-dog environment between people who are supposed to be living by the Spirit of Christ. Either they conform to the teachings of the Bible, or we set ourselves apart from their gatherings.

Christ lives in us who is the Holiness of God. “…since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.” 2 Corinthians 13:3 Paul definitely has the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is such that when Jesus comes back, His judgment is against sinners, and He will not spare any. His coming is the end of this world’s system, the global government of the beast, the thing that forms what a person thinks, feels, and does, and all those who live by the mark of the beast. The fiery tongue of the Holy Spirit lives in us against sin in the Spirit of Holiness.

Today, the fiery tongue and judgment of the Holy Spirit is being killed, which is killing speaking against sin in the Spirit of Holiness. Those who govern by the mark of the beast considers it to be hate speech to judge the killing of the unborn as sin, and they use humanitarian sounding words to call it “Reproductive Rights.” Likewise, it’s considered hateful to judge the LGBQT+ lifestyles as sinful as they promote it with words such as the, “Respect for Marriage Act.” Meanwhile, it’s considered hateful to judge the destruction of God’s plan for the marriage bond and family unit as sinful. They despise the teachings of the Bible, and the Gospel of Christ has been discarded from the churches. They purposely cause conflict within Christian fellowship.

We are weak but He is strong. “For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.” 2 Corinthians 13:4 The flesh and blood is weak and dies, but the power of God is in the Spirit. Jesus Christ died in the weakness of the flesh to atone for sin so that we can live in the Spirit of God through Him. The resurrection is the power of God over the flesh, and God empowers us by giving us life in the Holy Spirit by the remission of sin. We live with Christ in the weakness of the flesh and the power of God’s Holiness is put forth towards others.

Jesus Christ did not come to make war with this sin sick world, instead He came to bring Salvation by giving His life on the Cross for the remission of sin. Likewise, the judgment of Christians does not come with aggressive protests, riots, and violence against sin but comes in the meekness and gentleness of His Spirit. Today, we are burdened and afflicted by those who live for the “democratic” society of the mark of the beast, but it is the power of God that lives in us through Jesus. In this world, we stand unwavering in the Holiness of God.

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.” 2 Corinthians 13:5-6 Jesus Christ lives in us unless we have dismissed ourselves from Him. We have to look within our own heart and mind to determine if we are living in the faith of Jesus Christ. Do we believe God? Do we acknowledge the need for Jesus Christ for the remission of sin? Do we embrace the Holy Spirit and walk in Holiness? The only way anyone else will know our faith is by lifting up the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Today, when we examine our heart and mind (the temple of God), we discover something else lurking within. It has the power to form what a person thinks, feels, and does, which serves to synchronize people to the mark of the beast. It does not allow a person to be known by faith in Jesus Christ. “…it opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that it sits as God in the temple of God, showing itself that it is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4

Living for Christ is a voluntary devotion, not just putting on “Sunday’s best.” “Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified.” 2 Corinthians 13:7 Paul wasn’t asking the Corinthians to behave so that he would look good to the Romans and Jewish leaders. Paul wanted the Corinthians to experience the beauty of Holiness in the Spirit of Christ. Likewise, we are not asking others to be on their best behavior to make ourselves look good to community leadership. We want people to live for Jesus so that the Holiness in them puts in remission the evil within ugly attitudes and behaviors. “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” 2 Corinthians 13:8 As followers of Christ, we do nothing against the truth of God, and we do everything for His truth.

We are glad when others are strong in Jesus Christ. “For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.” 2 Corinthians 13:9 We are very happy when others are strong in the Lord Jesus Christ, even though we are considered weak. That’s because strength in the Spirit of Christ benefits other Believers by lifting them up and strengthening them in their weakness. There is no better joy than for others to be made complete in the walk of Holiness.

Those who live and govern by the mark of the beast use their strength to subject those who are deemed to be weak, and they boast, “Who is like the beast, who can make war with it?” Revelation 13:4 The thing that has power over physiology empowers them with uncanny knowledge, extraordinary skills, amazing physical feats, appealing emotional responses, heightened intuition, etc. They consider it nonsense to be glad in weakness.

 “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.” 2 Corinthians 13:10 The power we have in God through Jesus Christ has nothing to do with ruining somebody. Jesus Christ came to save not to destroy. We speak against sin, but we do not engage in riots, violence, and physical aggression. The power in the Spirit of Christ is to build up others so they can have a closer walk with God.

“I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.”
(Church hymn)

Jesus wants us to be whole, united, at peace, comforted, and loved. “Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” 2 Corinthians 13:11 The Apostle Paul was writing this letter to us before he said farewell to this world. He wants us to be complete in Jesus Christ, which some refers to as “Whole-ness” in reference to Holiness. He wants for us what Jesus wants for us,

1. Jesus gives us the Comforter. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:15-18
2. Jesus wants us to be one and complete. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:20-21
3. Jesus wants us to have peace. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

“Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:12-14

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1