Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1
What more needs to said?
But I've been really bad! God has 'abundant mercy'. I'm going to die and I don't have much hope! You can be born again unto a lively hope, JESUS is raised from the dead!! But I have nothing to look forward to, my life is a mess, I lost my job, I'll never be rich! God has reserved an inheritance for us and it is not like earthly treasures, it will never be stolen, it can never get old, you can't mess it up or defile it, it won't fade with time, and it won't crash along with the stock market. Our inheritance is in heaven! But I'm not sure that I'll make it to the end. God will personally watch over you making sure that you will. He will use His power to keep you through faith. He is going to keep you until this salvation, this eternal inheritance, will be revealed! But life is really hard and I'm facing all kinds of trials. Well God won't take away all of your trials, in fact the trials are good for you, they test your faith and root out all of your impurities so that your faith will be glorious and honorable on the day when Jesus comes back. On that day you will stand before all the world and Jesus himself will praise your faith, and will talk about how glorious it is. Your faith, the one that God is keeping you in, will be found unto praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus. So rejoice, even though right now you're going through some trials, they will only be here for a season. But I have a terminal disease. Yes I know, but even that is only a season, your life is but a vapor. People hate me, they mock me, they criticize my walk with God. Rejoice! Rejoice, I know you haven't seen him yet, but HE's coming. Love HIM, rejoice in HIM, follow HIM, and REJOICE! The best is yet to come! Keep believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory! IT WILL BE WORTH IT ALL! It's Jesus, rest assured, He'll come through, in fact He already has! He's coming soon and then all will be well. In the mean time rejoice!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Jesus made PEACE!
There is such a thing as subjective peace, something you feel in your heart. This is not the kind of peace that Jesus made. The peace that Jesus has made for us is first objective. It very well may result in a subjective peace, but that is not the focus at all! You see the problem with humanity is not that we don't have inward peace. It is not that we live in fear, anxiousness, and depression. The problem with humanity is that we don't have peace with God! We are God's enemies. That is the reason why Jesus having made peace for us is so significant! He didn't die to give us peace in our hearts, though we do get that as well, he died to give us peace with God. Let me show you what I am talking about.
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross,
Here it says that there was a point in time in which peace was made. This peace making took place way before you were even born! Obviously Jesus did not make peace in your heart before you even existed! Somehow there is this silly idea afloat that Jesus applied his blood to our hearts. This would not help us in the least! We have offended GOD, and the blood needs to be applied before the throne of GOD in order for there to be peace available to us.
by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Just a question. Who did we have need to be reconciled to?! The reconciliation that we are in need of, is with Jesus/God himself.
Some people 'feel' in their hearts that they are such good people that they just can't believe this. "I feel like I'm a good person, I can't be at enmity with God." But those feelings of yours are irrelevant! Lets read the next verse and see what God says about you and your good feelings.
Col 1:21 And you, (don't exclude yourself) that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
As far as God is concerned you are an alien! You have no part in the life of God. In fact you are not only separated from God, you are against him! God says that you are alien enemies! Why you say, "why is God my enemy, why does he count me as an alien??" Because of your wicked works! That is what the Bible says! Don't argue with me, argue with GOD! He is the one that said it.
Can you see by now that you are need of much more that a silly, emotional, subjective peace?! You need peace with GOD! And that my friend, is what makes the gospel such good news. God, whom you have offended and declared war on, has made peace with YOU! You don't make peace with HIM, HE makes peace with you!
So you know that you can have confidence in this salvation, after all it was made by Jesus.
But just how sure is it? "What if I'm not good enough? What if I am still to blame, and come short of all that God wants me to do?" Well, lets continue to read, Paul was not done.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Jesus has died so that you can have peace. It took him dying on a cross to save you. You were reconciled to God in the body of Jesus' flesh, through death! 'To what end,' you might ask? To the end that HE could present you, holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in GODS sight! That is the most amazing thing in this universe! Nothing else even comes close to it! No other religion would ever conceive something like this. God became a man, and shed his blood and died, so that HE could make peace with His enemies! Now not even in God's sight am I unholy, blameable, or reproveable!
That is PEACE!
In fact, I think I can even feel it right now!
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross,
Here it says that there was a point in time in which peace was made. This peace making took place way before you were even born! Obviously Jesus did not make peace in your heart before you even existed! Somehow there is this silly idea afloat that Jesus applied his blood to our hearts. This would not help us in the least! We have offended GOD, and the blood needs to be applied before the throne of GOD in order for there to be peace available to us.
by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Just a question. Who did we have need to be reconciled to?! The reconciliation that we are in need of, is with Jesus/God himself.
Some people 'feel' in their hearts that they are such good people that they just can't believe this. "I feel like I'm a good person, I can't be at enmity with God." But those feelings of yours are irrelevant! Lets read the next verse and see what God says about you and your good feelings.
Col 1:21 And you, (don't exclude yourself) that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
As far as God is concerned you are an alien! You have no part in the life of God. In fact you are not only separated from God, you are against him! God says that you are alien enemies! Why you say, "why is God my enemy, why does he count me as an alien??" Because of your wicked works! That is what the Bible says! Don't argue with me, argue with GOD! He is the one that said it.
Can you see by now that you are need of much more that a silly, emotional, subjective peace?! You need peace with GOD! And that my friend, is what makes the gospel such good news. God, whom you have offended and declared war on, has made peace with YOU! You don't make peace with HIM, HE makes peace with you!
So you know that you can have confidence in this salvation, after all it was made by Jesus.
But just how sure is it? "What if I'm not good enough? What if I am still to blame, and come short of all that God wants me to do?" Well, lets continue to read, Paul was not done.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Jesus has died so that you can have peace. It took him dying on a cross to save you. You were reconciled to God in the body of Jesus' flesh, through death! 'To what end,' you might ask? To the end that HE could present you, holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in GODS sight! That is the most amazing thing in this universe! Nothing else even comes close to it! No other religion would ever conceive something like this. God became a man, and shed his blood and died, so that HE could make peace with His enemies! Now not even in God's sight am I unholy, blameable, or reproveable!
That is PEACE!
In fact, I think I can even feel it right now!
Monday, April 6, 2009
I attempted to save myself!
Do you think yourself better than most? I did. Only I think I really was. I didn't curse, or drink, or smoke. I didn't get high, sleep around, or steal. I wasn't a fighter, a molester, or a queer.
I was good. I went to church every Sunday, I read the Bible everyday. I was kind to my friends and family. I loved my wife, worked hard, and gave money to the church. I prayed, and told others to respect God. I was an all around pretty good guy.
Were you that good? Most aren't. I told you I was better than most.
But, there was another thing that I was....I was deceived! God says in his Word that the most important command in all of the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength,and mind. I didn't do that.
I was guilty of not always putting God first and foremost in my life. It is easy to know if you love God with all of your heart, just ask yourself this question. What is it that takes up the majority of my time, energy, resources, talents, and thoughts? Is your answer that you have always spent all of these things on God? He is the one that has given you all of life after all! Clearly I was guilty of not loving God all of my heart! I lived with guilt for much of my life because I knew that I was not being as good as I should be. Do you ever feel this way? Do you live with regret over the things that you have done? Do you know that you should have done differently than you did?
If you have not loved God, how can you continue to live with yourself?! How can you go on with life, thinking that maybe everything is going to be o.k?! You have slighted God! You've robbed the God of heaven of the glory, attention, and affection that only he deserves! How, oh how can you go on with life normally!? Things are not o.k! You would think it was a bad thing if a man did not love his friends, and a very bad thing if he did not love his parents, but how much worse if he does not love the very God that gives him life and breath and all good things? We ought to be extremely ashamed of ourselves! How dare we enjoy life and God's goodness and not love him with all that we are? Shame on you!
This is the state that I found myself in a few years ago. I was ashamed, guilty, blameworthy, and according to God, hell deserving!
Many people have realized that this is their condition before a holy and righteous God, but have taken a man made religious approach at seeking to reconcile themselves back to God.
I found myself seeking to pray more fervently, crying more desperately, and striving to live righteously more earnestly. I continued to live in guilt. My God given conscience persisted in telling me that I was to blame! I sought peace with God through whatever means I knew. I confessed my sins, still the guilt returned, I prayed anxiously, consistently, but it would not be long after that I would sense God's displeasure with my life. I asked God to forgive my sins and Jesus to help me to live better, but the battle remained. It seemed as though God was very far away indeed. I had no confidence in a positive after life, I only hoped that God would see my feeble attempts at pleasing him and have mercy and pity on me. That was my attempt at saving myself. That is all of humanities approach at pleasing a perfect God.
According to the testimony of God himself, all of this so called 'righteousness' is like filthy menstrual rags! Isaiah 64:6. You say, that is disgusting language! I know, I was shocked to find out what God thought about all of my righteousness as well. God is not religious, he is holy.
The answer to this problem is not in man. Don't believe all of the garbage you here from the psycologists, or the modern 'christian' preacher (they are basically synonymous). You are not a good person living with a bad self esteem! You are a bad person living under the righteous condemnation of God. You are not alone! We all have this dilemna, the Bible says that all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.
In all false religion, hope for the sinner lies in the character, life, or religious duties of the sinner himself. This is entirely hopeless!
There is a division between God and man, there is enmity. Humanity is fighting against their creator and you are a part of it. The gap will not be bridged by efforts to reach God, this gap can only be crossed by God himself!
God comes to you, you don't go to him! God saves his enemies while they are still battling against him. Romans 5:1-11. No conscience will ever be cleared without full reconciliation being made, not without full penalty being made! This is exactly what God did for us.
We don't have a God that can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He became a man and walked among us. The Word (the second member of the Godhead) became flesh. He was tempted in every way that you and I are, yet he always loved God with all of his heart, he never sinned or offended God in any way. He was the perfect man!
He did this so that he could suffer and die to take away your and my sin. Jesus died on a cross, a long and extremely painful death. He took the mocking, the spitting, the torturing, and the pain of death willingly. He submitted himself to the cruelty of man's wickedness so that he could satisfy God's anger toward you!! He took upon himself the sins of the whole world and as 2 Cor.5 says, became sin for us, endured the wrath of almighty God for us, so that God could be just in accepting us! All of his blood was shed, so that yours need not be! He took your rightful place! And mine as well. We victimized God! We caused God to suffer on a cross! We killed the very God that we ought to have loved! The Bible says in Isaiah 53 that when God saw the travail of Jesus upon the cross that he was satisfied, it says that it actually pleased God to crush Jesus! Why? Because that is exactly what you and I deserve! Jesus did all of this in order to give room for God to put away your sin!
I attempted, in ignorance mind you, to save myself through offering to God my filthy rags, and I failed miserably. And I was better than most (tongue in cheek). Do you think you have what it takes to reach up to God and to save yourself? Please listen to me and stop trying. Obey the gospel. Accept the good news of God. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto HIMSELF! God did not make an attempt to save us, he made FULL provision for ALL! Behold, now is the day of salvation, today if your hear his voice, don't harden your heart! Turn to him in faith and believe on Jesus with all your heart and your sins will be blotted out and your conscience cleared of your guilt! Jesus said, 'IT IS FINISHED!', and so it is. Turn to Jesus for pardon and cleansing.
I was good. I went to church every Sunday, I read the Bible everyday. I was kind to my friends and family. I loved my wife, worked hard, and gave money to the church. I prayed, and told others to respect God. I was an all around pretty good guy.
Were you that good? Most aren't. I told you I was better than most.
But, there was another thing that I was....I was deceived! God says in his Word that the most important command in all of the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength,and mind. I didn't do that.
I was guilty of not always putting God first and foremost in my life. It is easy to know if you love God with all of your heart, just ask yourself this question. What is it that takes up the majority of my time, energy, resources, talents, and thoughts? Is your answer that you have always spent all of these things on God? He is the one that has given you all of life after all! Clearly I was guilty of not loving God all of my heart! I lived with guilt for much of my life because I knew that I was not being as good as I should be. Do you ever feel this way? Do you live with regret over the things that you have done? Do you know that you should have done differently than you did?
If you have not loved God, how can you continue to live with yourself?! How can you go on with life, thinking that maybe everything is going to be o.k?! You have slighted God! You've robbed the God of heaven of the glory, attention, and affection that only he deserves! How, oh how can you go on with life normally!? Things are not o.k! You would think it was a bad thing if a man did not love his friends, and a very bad thing if he did not love his parents, but how much worse if he does not love the very God that gives him life and breath and all good things? We ought to be extremely ashamed of ourselves! How dare we enjoy life and God's goodness and not love him with all that we are? Shame on you!
This is the state that I found myself in a few years ago. I was ashamed, guilty, blameworthy, and according to God, hell deserving!
Many people have realized that this is their condition before a holy and righteous God, but have taken a man made religious approach at seeking to reconcile themselves back to God.
I found myself seeking to pray more fervently, crying more desperately, and striving to live righteously more earnestly. I continued to live in guilt. My God given conscience persisted in telling me that I was to blame! I sought peace with God through whatever means I knew. I confessed my sins, still the guilt returned, I prayed anxiously, consistently, but it would not be long after that I would sense God's displeasure with my life. I asked God to forgive my sins and Jesus to help me to live better, but the battle remained. It seemed as though God was very far away indeed. I had no confidence in a positive after life, I only hoped that God would see my feeble attempts at pleasing him and have mercy and pity on me. That was my attempt at saving myself. That is all of humanities approach at pleasing a perfect God.
According to the testimony of God himself, all of this so called 'righteousness' is like filthy menstrual rags! Isaiah 64:6. You say, that is disgusting language! I know, I was shocked to find out what God thought about all of my righteousness as well. God is not religious, he is holy.
The answer to this problem is not in man. Don't believe all of the garbage you here from the psycologists, or the modern 'christian' preacher (they are basically synonymous). You are not a good person living with a bad self esteem! You are a bad person living under the righteous condemnation of God. You are not alone! We all have this dilemna, the Bible says that all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.
In all false religion, hope for the sinner lies in the character, life, or religious duties of the sinner himself. This is entirely hopeless!
There is a division between God and man, there is enmity. Humanity is fighting against their creator and you are a part of it. The gap will not be bridged by efforts to reach God, this gap can only be crossed by God himself!
God comes to you, you don't go to him! God saves his enemies while they are still battling against him. Romans 5:1-11. No conscience will ever be cleared without full reconciliation being made, not without full penalty being made! This is exactly what God did for us.
We don't have a God that can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He became a man and walked among us. The Word (the second member of the Godhead) became flesh. He was tempted in every way that you and I are, yet he always loved God with all of his heart, he never sinned or offended God in any way. He was the perfect man!
He did this so that he could suffer and die to take away your and my sin. Jesus died on a cross, a long and extremely painful death. He took the mocking, the spitting, the torturing, and the pain of death willingly. He submitted himself to the cruelty of man's wickedness so that he could satisfy God's anger toward you!! He took upon himself the sins of the whole world and as 2 Cor.5 says, became sin for us, endured the wrath of almighty God for us, so that God could be just in accepting us! All of his blood was shed, so that yours need not be! He took your rightful place! And mine as well. We victimized God! We caused God to suffer on a cross! We killed the very God that we ought to have loved! The Bible says in Isaiah 53 that when God saw the travail of Jesus upon the cross that he was satisfied, it says that it actually pleased God to crush Jesus! Why? Because that is exactly what you and I deserve! Jesus did all of this in order to give room for God to put away your sin!
I attempted, in ignorance mind you, to save myself through offering to God my filthy rags, and I failed miserably. And I was better than most (tongue in cheek). Do you think you have what it takes to reach up to God and to save yourself? Please listen to me and stop trying. Obey the gospel. Accept the good news of God. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto HIMSELF! God did not make an attempt to save us, he made FULL provision for ALL! Behold, now is the day of salvation, today if your hear his voice, don't harden your heart! Turn to him in faith and believe on Jesus with all your heart and your sins will be blotted out and your conscience cleared of your guilt! Jesus said, 'IT IS FINISHED!', and so it is. Turn to Jesus for pardon and cleansing.
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