A Holy Kiss: Show Affection To The Community Of Believers In Christ

1 Thessalonians 5:26
26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

Romans 16:16
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send you greetings.

2 Corinthians 13:12
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

A holy kiss in Greek means to show with other genuine believers in Jesus who are set apart for God’s good work a warm affection, for we share a common bond. See Strong’s Greek 40-Holy & 5370-Kiss

The bond that binds all the saints is the Holy Spirit living inside of us. 

Sometimes is hard to tell who truly belongs to God’s family. We have to be very careful as Satan with the aid of demons plants his children next to God’s children for deception.

Matthew 13:24-25, 36-39

24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.

Jesus’ interpretation of the wheat [genuine believers] and the weeds [false believers]

36 Then He dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached Him and said, “Explain the parable of the weeds in the field to us.”
37 He replied: “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

We have to love the community of believers, but at the same time be very vigilant in detecting the fake ones. Remember, if you belong to Jesus Christ, you are a target and a demon or demons have been assigned to you. Their purpose is to stop you from bringing people to Jesus at all cost. 

Love and defend the Word of God for we are living in unparallel times when the truth is thrown out of one’s house and “do what is right in your own eyes” is its replacement. 

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Many Christian Denominations But All Believe In The Same Core Doctrine

[John Arthur the Atheist/Agnostic] said, “If the above claim is true, why then are there over 40,000 denominations in the world today, most of whom are Fundamentalist ones, each differing in aspects of theology, biblical hermeneutics, Christian ethics and Christian praxis?”

A spiritually dead person trying to explain spiritual things is like a mechanic explaining brain surgery. It is never going to happen. 

The different denominations who are Evangelical ALL believe in the core doctrine of Holy Scripture, no deviation.

Core Doctrine of the Christian faith

• Jesus is God
• Jesus is the Son of God
• The Trinity [Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons but at the same time all three are the same God]
• Virgin Birth of Jesus
• The Bible as the Word of God
• Jesus’ death and resurrection
• Faith in Jesus alone brings salvation

For example:

You have 32 NFL Football Teams who do some things differently, but they ALL follow the same rules and regulations. The different teams practice with the standard ball, wear the same helmet, pads, shoes, and sports jerseys. Even though they have different colors and images on their clothes, it is all relatively the same.

That is a picture of the many denominations. They are all Christians that do things a little different but when it comes down to Biblical doctrine, they all believe the same, unless they are liberal Christians and cults who believe and worship a false Jesus.

  

Can A True Christian Be Lukewarm?

Which one will you drink from?

The degrees [Hot, Cold, and Lukewarm] of water represents the condition of one’s heart. 

Lukewarm comprises of both cold and hot water. When both degrees of water come together, both get affected in a negative way. The cold water does not make the other water cold nor does the hot water make the other as hot, but both get compromised and become less of what they were. 

Lukewarm is the result of combining both hot and cold which is reconciling the truth with the lie. 

When a professing believer in Christ becomes too much like the world, he becomes less like God. His light gets faint [resembling a lukewarm person].

The good news is that God brings us back before we become completely lukewarm [Hebrews 12:5-6].

Lukewarm is synonymous with apostasy. I will illustrate this with the hot water representing an individual who believes in the truth found in God’s Word and the cold water an unsaved person. When the person who is holding on to the truth [hot water] intakes and believes in some worldly philosophies [Evolution, Cultic doctrine, New Age, and etc.] and intermingles it with Biblical doctrine, they have compromised the truth of God’s Word and has become lukewarm in belief and lifestyle, in other words, they became a liberal Christian [believing in a different Jesus and accepting the world’s teachings] which is full-blown apostasy.

If you notice in Matthew 7:17-18, it says, “17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.”

The tree illustrates 2 types of people and if you notice, a third is not mentioned. Lukewarm does not mean that the person is half Christian, but it means the same as a bad tree. The reason is given in Revelation 3:16 which says, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.”

The lukewarm who is a professing Christian is not really one as he is expunged by force/rejected by Jesus “vomit you out of My mouth.” 

Jesus will never reject those who are truly His…John 6:37 “Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.”

A true lukewarm person is one that is not fully committed to Jesus and is devoid of the Holy Spirit.