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The Church of God in Sidney!
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Scripture Center
• For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
- 2 Timothy 3:2-5 NLT
• Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.
- Luke 21: 34-36 NLT
• But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 NLT
• Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
- Matthew 6:19-21 NLT
“STRIVING TO BE THE BRIDE OF CHRIST”
Those who are striving to be the Bride of Christ must study and search the Word of God for everything God requires of that special people. Those desiring to measure up must make a commitment to find out everything necessary to become the Bride and to pursue it with all diligence because God will not settle for anything less –Bishop Percy Williams
KEY TEXT: ''...Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:9b,10).
One of the first requirements set forth in the Word of God for the Bride is that she must be holy. Notice in our key text that the Bride is called “the holy Jerusalem.” The word holy means to be consecrated, sanctified or separated to God. Consider the following scriptures: Hebrews 12:14 and I Thessalonians 4:7. Isn’t it amazing how little holiness is talked about on religious programs and in religious circles?
The next requirement of the Bride is that she be pure. The word pure means to be unmixed with any other matter, free from moral fault, free from what vitiates. The word vitiate means to make faulty or defective often by the addition of something that impairs. Read Revelation 14:4 and II Corinthians 11:2. The Bride must be free from false doctrines and other spirits that would corrupt and contaminate her.
Another quality that God has always desired in His people is obedience (Deuteronomy 28:1). The Bride will “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” (Revelation 14:4). For us to be considered to be part of the Bride of Christ, we must be humble and obedient just like Jesus (Philippians 2:8).
The Bride will also be without guile meaning she will be without deceit or deception. Consider this in light of Philippians 2:14-16 and I Peter 2:1,2,21,22. There are things that we must get rid of and put away from us, just as there are things that we need to seek after and put on.
Revelation 14:4b reveals that the Bride will be “redeemed from among men”. Jesus paid the ransom with His own blood to free us from the captivity of sin (I Corinthians 6:20; Psalms 107:1,2).
The Bride must make herself ready (Revelation 19:7,8; 21:2). Consider what it will take for the Bride to be “adorned” as you study I Peter 3:3-6 and Isaiah 61:10,11. The adornments that will grace the Bride of Christ will consist of the same attributes found in the Groom–Jesus Christ.