A People for God’s Own Possession

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

As Christians, we belong to God. We are to live in such a way that we can say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). We no longer live for ourselves but for God and His Son. We “have been bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20), that price being “the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19; cf. Acts 20:28).

Understanding then that we belong to God, how should we conduct our lives?
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Testing the Spirits

Man from behind

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

This warning from the apostle John is for us not to believe everyone who claims to be bringing a message from God. There are “many false prophets” – many who teach things that are wrong and lead to damnation. So we are to “test the spirits” and identify false teachers among us. It is important that we know how to identify such individuals.
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Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees

And Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees…” (Matthew 16:6).

In the verse above, Jesus warned his disciples about an influential religious group that He confronted on many occasions. He exposed them repeatedly and openly. There are lessons we can learn from the Pharisees that we need to heed so we do not fall under the same condemnation.
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