Date: September 5, 2022

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to Him be the Glory and to the Holy Ghost that abides within me. God has laid on my spirit to write a weekly message to the saints and friends of The Church of the Living God, The Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Which He Purchased with His Own Blood, Inc.– Jewell Dominion. This week’s key words are Steadfast and Unmovable.

I Corinthians 15:58 (KJV) tells us about the future resurrection of our earthly bodies. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Paul encouraged the Corinthian church to remain faithful to everything he had taught them. When we see the word therefore in Scripture, we should always back up to see why it is there: what is the “therefore” there for? The word usually indicates a summation of what was previously stated. In this case, Paul addresses those who had fallen away from his original teaching on the resurrection. They were embracing heresy and introducing destructive ideas contrary to the gospel. Paul restates the truth of Jesus’ death for sin and bodily resurrection and then exhorts them to remain firm in that teaching. Saints and friends, the “truth” is that God sent his only begotten son, His son gave his life; and His life set us free. Free from sin, whatever the sin maybe. People usually associate sin with fleshly lust, adultery, and/or fornication. But the sin list also includes: anger, arrogance, bitterness, blasphemy, boasting, brutality, carousing, clamor, complaining, conceit, coveting, cowardice, deceit, desiring, disobedience, defrauding, denying, divorce, envy, evil thoughts, false witnessing, foolish talking, haters of God, greed, homosexuality, impurity, jealousy, jesting, judging, knowing to do good but don’t, lovers of self, lying, malice, murmuring, pride, reviling, slander, sorcery, speaking against the Holy Ghost, unbelief, ungodliness, treachery, ungratefulness, wickedness, wrath, etc., to name a few.

However, Galatians 5:1 tells us “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”. Saints and friends’ bondage is grievous but keeping of God’s law is not. Bondage gives a person difficulty, but keeping the commandments do not, for they are a law of liberty to be steadfast and unmovable is to be spiritually grounded. A steadfast person knows what he believes and cannot be “tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4:14).

An unmovable person can hear false teaching, engage doubters, and defend truth without it shaking his own faith. In his other epistle to Corinth, Paul expresses his concern for this church: “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Even believers who had been personally taught by the apostle Paul were victims of deception. How much more vulnerable are we?                                                     

To remain steadfast and unmovable we must know the Word of God. II Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. To accurately handle the word of truth, we must not only read the Bible, but we must allow it to become part of us. Its truth should so penetrate our minds and hearts that it shapes our thinking and our actions. It should so fill our minds that we can detect error when we hear it. Satan uses Scripture for his own purposes, twisting it to sound as though it says something it doesn’t say (Luke 4:9-11). If we have not been diligent in our study and meditation on truth, we are vulnerable to error. Even Christians can be duped by smooth-sounding heresy if they do not have a solid grounding in the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). It is God’s desire that we grow daily in our understanding of Him and His Word so that we will remain faithful to the end (John 8:31; 2 Peter 1:2; 3:18; 1 John 2:24).

In closing, Saints and friends let nothing move you. Be loyal to your local church; pay your tithes, and offerings. Tell the youth of your church to stand up for Jesus Christ and invite their friends to church services. We must show agape love and not be faithful to an individual but to Jesus Christ.  Being faithful to Jesus Christ entails attending Wednesday night Bible Study, Sunday School, Sunday Worship service, paying tithes and offerings and not just attending assemblies. We must go out into the hedges and byways in our communities and pass out tracks, snack packages and bottles of water with salvation scriptures attached.  Remember to always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong, steadfast, and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. Because “With God ALL things are possible”.

In His Service,

Bishop Dr. Calvin Worthem

General Chief Overseer/Senior Bishop

 “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26