Aliens and Strangers

Christianity involves a culture. While many churches and preachers seek “decisions for Christ,” the scriptures demand much more. The body of Christ is a holy nation, a peculiar people. As such, its members are to engage in a culture that is unique to the kingdom. Actions such as prayer, worship, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper are intrinsic to the kingdom culture. And Christians should unapologetically engage in them as a testimony to the world of not just what Christ has done, but who they are in this world.

Scriptures:

John 8:44 – Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

Ephesians 2:1 – And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the prince of the cosmos, according to the prince of the authority of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of unbelief.

1 Peter 2:9 – But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you from darkness into his marvelous light

1 Corinthians 7:23 – Ye are bought with a price; be ye not the servant of men.

1 Corinthians 6:20 – For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

John 5:30 – I can do nothing on my own. As I hear I judge; and my judgment is righteous because I seek to do not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

Ephesians 2:12 – remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

Ephesians 2:19 – so that you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.

1 Peter 2:10 – Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (11) Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.

Romans 12:1 – I appeal to you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies (culture) as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual worship. (2) Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.

Hebrews 10:25 – not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the Day approaching

1 Timothy 2:8 – we lift up holy hands; we don’t applaud

Acts 3:1 – One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

Acts 10:9 – The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. (trance)

Acts 10:30 – And Cornelius said, Four days ago about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing.

Acts 12:5 – Peter therefore was kept in prison; but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

Romans 1:9 – God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers

1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.

2 Timothy 1:3 – I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.

1 Corinthians 14:2 – For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

1 Corinthians 14:4 – He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. 

1 Corinthians 11:20 – When ye come together therefore in one place; this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

1 Corinthians 11:26 – For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come. 

Hebrews 4:9 – So, then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; (10) for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his.

Matthew 28:18–20 – And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”