I Love You, Lord

 Psalms 18:1-2 NIV

 

“I love you, Lord, my strength.

 

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

 

When we believe in Jesus Christ with God-persuaded faith, we die with Christ to sin, we are raised with Christ to new lives in him, and we now live to him and to his righteousness in the power of God’s Spirit now living within us (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

 

Now Jesus, in the person of his Holy Spirit, is living within us in intimate relationship with us. He is now our Lord (master) and Savior, but he is also our husband and we are his bride. He loves us as a husband ought to love his bride, and we are to love him as a bride ought to love her husband.

 

We aren’t just saved from the punishment of sin so that we can go to heaven when we die, but our lives have now been transformed of the Spirit of God. We no longer live like we did when we were single (apart from God), but now we walk with him according to his righteousness.

 

Yes, we are not perfect overnight. I agree! Yes, we still live in flesh bodies and so we still have a propensity to sin and we are still tempted to sin. And yes, the Christian life is a process of growing in our relationship with the Lord, daily dying to sin and self, and daily following our Lord in obedience.

 

But Jesus Christ is not just a ticket to heaven and he doesn’t just rescue us from the punishment of hell. Believing in Jesus Christ is entering into an intimate relationship with him, by God’s grace, through God-persuaded faith in Christ, and now he is our husband and we are his bride.

 

So, we all ought to be able to write what the Psalmist wrote here. We all ought to be able to wake up in the morning and say to our Lord, “I love you, Lord, my strength,” much like we would say “I love you” to anyone with whom we have a close intimate relationship, only much better.

 

But love for the Lord is not just sentiment, and it isn’t just words that we speak, but love for the Lord is to obey him in living the lives he has called us to live and in doing the things he has called us to do. For, our lives are no longer our own to be lived how we want, for we were bought with a price.

 

Psalms 18:3-5 NIV

 

“I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

    and I have been saved from my enemies.

The cords of death entangled me;

    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me;

    the snares of death confronted me.”

 

I know what it is like to experience what the Psalmist has expressed here, both from the aspect of being trapped in sin’s deceitfulness and from the aspect of being wrongfully accused and attacked by the enemy who came against me when I was walking with my Lord in obedience to him.

 

For, our enemy Satan will try to get to us in any way that he can. If he can convince us to sin against God, by convincing us to engage in wickedness, sexual immorality, lying, cheating, and the like, he is pleased. But if he can’t get us to sin in that way, he will try to bring us down in other ways.

 

If Satan can’t get us to live in sin again, he will try to destroy our reputations in other ways. He will use other humans to falsely accuse us, to try to trip us up, to persecute us, to ignore us, to reject us, to call us names, to ostracize us, and to otherwise mistreat us hoping we will give up.

 

So, this is where especially that we need to draw on the strength of the Lord, when our enemy Satan is on the all out attack against us. But we have to listen to our Lord and do what he says or we won’t be helped. He can only rescue us if we want to be rescued. So, we have to cooperate with him.

 

Psalms 18:6, 16-19 NIV

 

“In my distress I called to the Lord;

    I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;

    my cry came before him, into his ears.

 

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

    he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

    from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

    but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place;

    he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

 

I have cried out to my Lord so many times in my life during times when the enemy was fiercely coming against me, many times with tears streaming down my face because the attacks were so fearsome (strong, powerful). For, the enemy may flee for a time, but he comes back and tries again.

 

When we are in situations like these, though, we must remember that our enemy Satan has no power over us. Yes, his attacks can be very fearsome, and yes, he is able to cause much havoc to our lives and render much hurt to us in our relationships with others, but he can’t destroy us.

 

We must remember that God is still all powerful, he is still on the throne, he is still completely sovereign over all that he has made, and he is still in control. Nothing can touch us but what God has allowed it and he has allowed it for his purposes, and he will see us through it if we trust him.

 

If we will place our hands in the hands of the Lord and let him lead us, and if we will follow his lead, no matter how bad things get, he will carry us through it all. He will keep us from giving in to the enemy’s tricks. And he will give us the strength we need to endure and to keep pressing forward.

 

We just have to believe him. We have to believe that he is who he says he is and that he is fully sovereign over all that he has made, and that his will is going to be accomplished. Even when things look dark and grim, we must trust that he is in control, and we just need to rest in him and follow him.

 

Seek the Lord  

 

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

 

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

 

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy, and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

 

https://vimeo.com/379408296

Many Rebellious People

Titus 1:9 NIV

 

[An Elder] “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”

 

Not just elders, but all who believe in Jesus Christ are to hold firmly to the word of God and to our faith (1 Co 15:2; Phi 2:16; Heb 3:14). And we should all be those who correctly handle the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15).

 

We should all be those who encourage others with the truth of God’s word (1 Thes 5:11-14; Rom 15:4-6; 2 Co 13:11; Heb 3:13; Eph 4:15-16; Heb 10:24-25; Col 3:16). And we should all expose what is false (Eph 5:11).

 

Titus 1:10-11 NIV

 

“For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.”

 

It is important that we hold firmly to the word of truth, and that we expose the lies, and that we encourage one another in our faith and in the word because there are many rebellious people who are deceiving the masses into believing a false gospel of salvation which gives them a false hope.

 

Many are teaching a faith in Jesus Christ that is a mere acknowledgment of who Jesus is (or who they think he is), or it is words repeated after someone else in a prayer. But those who “believe” never have changed hearts, because they never died with Christ to sin so that they could be resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

And that is because nothing is required of them – no repentance, no obedience to Christ, and no submission to Christ as Lord – or else these are more like suggestions. But what is being taught is that our behaviors (our actions, our deeds) will not impact our eternal life with God.

 

And so, we have a whole lot of people claiming to believe in Jesus Christ who are still dead in their sins, headed to hell, while they are claiming heaven as their eternal destiny, and while they claim that their sins are covered by the blood of Christ, so it gives them freedom to keep living in sin.

 

Titus 1:12-14 NIV

 

“One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.”

 

Since we are taught in Scripture that we are to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them, then that is what we should do when we become aware of the liars and the lies they are telling which are leading people astray and to hell (Eph 5:1-21).

 

We must expose the lies for what they are by showing the truth of what God’s word teaches (in context). For many of these liars and deceivers are teaching the Scriptures, but they are teaching them out of context and they are twisting them to say what they do not mean.

 

For example, one of their key passages is Eph 2:8-9 which teaches that is by God’s grace that we are saved, through faith, and this not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. But they leave out verse 10 which says that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.

 

They use verses 8-9 as proof text for their theory (or lie) that we are not to do works at all. But that isn’t what it says. It says we aren’t saved by our works, the works we do in our own flesh of our own choosing. We can’t work our way into heaven, in other words. We are saved by God’s grace, through faith, but that faith is not absent of works and we’ll be judged by our works.

 

It is just that the works we are required to do are of God and he is the one working them in us as we yield control of our lives over to him and as we submit to his will for our lives and we follow him in obedience. And if we don’t do what God requires, as a matter of practice, we don’t have eternal life with God (Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10).

 

Titus 1:15-16 NIV

 

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”

 

This is exactly the result of this false gospel with its false hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

 

There are many who are claiming to know God, but by their actions they deny him. So, you see, our actions matter for they show whether or not our faith is genuine. It is not enough just to profess faith in Jesus Christ, but we have to walk in that faith in the power of God’s Spirit.

 

Because so many are now teaching that we can have faith in Jesus but that our actions don’t matter, they are opening the door wide for many professing Christians to continue living in sin without conscience. For, if they begin to feel guilty for their sin, they are just told to claim who they are in Christ to alleviate the guilt.

 

And so, we have a whole lot of professing Christians living no different or even worse than those who make no profession of faith in Christ at all. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good because they are still walking in the flesh, denying Jesus as Lord, living for self-pleasure and in self-indulgence while claiming Christ’s blood covers it all.

 

But Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died to deliver us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we would no longer be slaves to sin but so we would now be slaves to righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who WALK not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For, if we walk (in practice, in conduct) according to the flesh, we will die in our sins. But if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we will live (Rom 8:1-17).

 

So, yes, we are saved by God’s grace, through faith, and this not of ourselves, not of our own works lest we should boast that we somehow earned our own salvation. But our faith in Jesus Christ means that we deny self, die to sin, and that we walk in obedience to our Lord (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Lu 9:23-26).

 

If we choose to not die with Christ to sin and if we choose to continue living in sin, and if we choose to not obey our Lord, but we choose to live however we want, we will die in our sins. We won’t have eternal life with God (Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10).

 

So, if you want to be saved from your sins and have eternal life with God, you must stop believing the lies, and you must stop living the lies, but you must know the truth which will set you free, and then you must live the truth of God’s word (the whole counsel of God), not in absolute perfection, but as a matter of your life course to the glory of God and to his praise.

 

My Sheep  

 

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

 

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

 

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

 

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full…

 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

 

https://vimeo.com/114938263

When Enemies from Within Attack

 Psalms 59:1-2 NIV

 

“Deliver me from my enemies, O God;

    be my fortress against those who are attacking me.

Deliver me from evildoers

    and save me from those who are after my blood.”

 

Who are our enemies? Primarily our enemy is Satan and his evil forces, but we have human enemies, too, some of whom work for Satan and some of whom Satan is able to influence to do his dirty work, with or without them realizing they are being used of Satan.

 

For example, Peter was one of the Lord’s disciples. He was a follower of Jesus Christ, in truth. But he was human, too. After Peter had just proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and after Jesus had just pronounced that Peter was blessed, for God had revealed that to Peter, then Peter failed.

 

Jesus had just finished telling his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. But then Peter took him aside and rebuked him. He said, “Never, Lord!”

 

But Jesus then turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” True! Peter was thinking like a human and not with the mind of God like when he declared Jesus to be the Messiah.

 

So, was Peter Satan? No! But Peter fell prey to Satan’s influence, and Satan did use Peter to try to get at Jesus, even though Peter was not aware he was being used of Satan. So, the point here is that Satan will use other humans to come against us and to attack us and some of them may be followers of Jesus who were listening to the flesh more than they were listening to God.

 

Psalms 59:3-4 NIV

 

“See how they lie in wait for me!

    Fierce men conspire against me

    for no offense or sin of mine, Lord.

I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.

    Arise to help me; look on my plight!”

 

Let me give you an example of this from my own life. I believed in Jesus early on in my life, and I had been following him closely for at least ten years (this was the early 1980s). I was not perfect, but I was walking in obedience to my Lord. And my heart’s desire was to serve him.

 

Our pastor had been preaching on Spiritual gifts and how we need to use our gifts in the church. So, he distributed some type of form for the people of the congregation to fill out (paper only back then) where we listed what we believed were our spiritual gifts and our desired areas of ministry.

 

The implication was that if we turned in these forms that someone from the church staff would contact us and would plug us into some area of ministry within the church. My heart hungered to use the gifts I knew God had given me because I wanted to obey my Lord, and for no illegitimate reason.

 

Six months, at least, went by, with no word from anyone. The Lord was filling me to the brim with his word and what he was teaching me through it, and I hungered to share it with other Christians to encourage them in their walks of faith with the Lord. But no word. Nothing!

 

So, I finally got up the courage to call the pastor. He came over to our house. I think I asked him why I had not heard from anyone. And then he blurted out a whole list of objections he had against me, which were not true, and none of which I remember, only that they were mean and hateful.

 

When I tried to tell him that what he was saying was not true about me, he said, “Would you say you have been crucified with Christ?” I said, “Yes!” Then he said, “I would say you haven’t!” And that crushed me in my spirit, and from that point on I ran away and just pretended I was ok. Until…

 

I was reading the story of Jonah to my kids one day and the Lord spoke clearly to me that I was running away like Jonah did and that I was to get back in there and fight this through. But I said to God, “But God, you don’t understand!” I believed God didn’t, and that this man had power over me, because God had not delivered me from the abuses of my father.

 

To make a long story shorter, my next visitors were the elders of the church who I had invited there, for that was recommended to me. They judged me falsely, too, for they were comparing me to themselves. When they wanted to serve God, it was for selfish reasons, to be seen of men, so they decided that was my intention, too, and if I just prayed about it, I would see it.

 

So, I told them that I had prayed about it, and that the Lord had told me that I was innocent in this matter, not that I was perfect, but that I was not guilty of what they were accusing me. But they wouldn’t listen to me, either, for their minds were made up. They had decided who I was, period!

 

Eventually, through a friend of mine and her talking with the pastor, the pastor called me and he apologized to me. He said that as my pastor that he was to be my spiritual father but that he hadn’t been a very good one, but that he wanted to be. So, he began to work with me instead of against me. And God grew us both through it.

 

Psalms 59:9-10 NIV

 

“You are my strength, I watch for you;

    you, God, are my fortress,

    my God on whom I can rely.”

 

Were these men all enemies of God? Some of them may have been, but the pastor didn’t stay opposed to me. I believe some of them were genuine believers in Jesus, but like Peter, they were listening to their flesh and they were thinking like humans instead of with the mind of God.

 

And if we are following our Lord in surrender to his will, and if we are listening to him, and if we are following him wherever he leads us, those Christians who are thinking more like humans rather than with the mind of Christ may serve Satan’s purposes in attacking us for no offense of ours.

 

But the Lord is our strength through it all. He is our fortress. We can’t rely on man, but we can rely on God. But we can’t run away from God when people attack us. We can’t retreat just because people in positions of authority over us don’t love us but treat us unkindly and judge us unfairly.

 

God allows such situations in our lives to strengthen us in our faith. We must persevere. We must move forward. We must keep doing what God says and we must listen to his voice above all other voices which may be lying to us or accusing us falsely. And we must go forward in the strength of the Lord.

 

What the Lord Says  

 

An Original Work / February 24, 2014

Based off Isaiah 43:1-44:5

 

This is what the Lord says to you:

Fear not, for I have chosen you.

I have summoned you by your name.

You are mine. I died, you to save.

 

When you go through your trials, so deep,

I will be with you; you will not sink.

You are so precious always to me.

Trust in your Lord, Savior and King.

 

This is what the Lord says to you:

He who gave salvation to you;

Who delivered you from your sin;

Takes your burdens now upon Him:

 

Forget the former things of your life.

Give of your heart not now up to strife.

See all the new things I have for you.

Walk in vict’ry. Trust in what’s true.

 

This is what the Lord says to you:

He who made you; who will help you:

Do not fear what humans may do.

Walk in freedom. Follow what’s true.

 

Drink of my Spirit given for you.

Trust in my mercy, for I love you.

I have a plan for all of your life.

Follow my ways. Do what is right.

 

https://vimeo.com/87634334

"Come My Children, Listen to Me"

Psalms 34:8-10 NIV

 

“Taste and see that the Lord is good;

    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Fear the Lord, you his holy people,

    for those who fear him lack nothing.

The lions may grow weak and hungry,

    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

 

This is not a call to experiment with God-Jesus Christ, but this is a call to discern, to perceive, and to recognize and acknowledge his goodness – that he is faithful, trustworthy, merciful, kind, gracious, holy, and righteous, that he is a God of truth, and that what he says he will do, he will do.

 

We are blessed (benefitted, shown favor) who take refuge (sanctuary) in him. And the way we take refuge in him is by God’s grace (favor) being shown to us, through God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ. By faith we die with Christ to sin and we are raised with Christ to new lives in him.

 

And these new lives are not like our old lives. For, by faith in Jesus Christ we are delivered from slavery to sin so that we can now live to the glory of God as bond-servants of his righteousness by God’s Spirit who now lives within us. So now we walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

 

Now we are in intimate relationship with God-Jesus Christ. Now he lives within us and we are his temple. And now our lives are under His control and no longer under the control of Satan and the flesh. Now, in the power of God’s Spirit, we can live holy lives, pleasing to God.

 

Now that we are in Christ Jesus, by faith in him, because of God’s grace to us, we are to walk in him in the fear of the Lord. We are to show him honor, reverence, and respect, and we are to listen to him and obey him and do what he commands us to do.

 

We are to live for the Lord as his holy people, set apart (unlike, different) from the world because we are now being conformed to Christ’s likeness. We are to no longer be conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but we are to be transformed in heart and mind away from sin to living for our Lord.

 

When we choose the Lord and his ways, and we walk in holiness and purity of devotion to him, and we no longer are living to please our flesh, but our desire is for the Lord, to please him in all that we do, we will not lack in any good thing that we need, that is for our good, for God will provide for us.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Ac 26:18; Jn 14:23-24]

 

Psalms 34:11-14 NIV

 

“Come, my children, listen to me;

    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Whoever of you loves life

    and desires to see many good days,

keep your tongue from evil

    and your lips from telling lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

    seek peace and pursue it.”

 

When we believe in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior, we die with Christ to sin that we might live to Christ and to his righteousness. For, Jesus died to deliver us out of our slavery to sin so that we might now become slaves to God and to his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

Thus, we are to no longer live under the control of sin and Satan as we did before we believed in Jesus. Now we are to put out of our lives anything that is of the flesh and of sin, and we are to even cut out of our lives anything that might be leading us into sin or hindering our walks of faith.

 

So, anything that God calls sin must be put out of our lives, and in place of the sin we must put on what is of God and of his righteousness.

 

So, we are to rid our lives of lies and we are to speak truthfully to others. We are not to sin in our anger. Instead of stealing, we are to work and then to be generous in giving to others as they have need. Instead of unwholesome talk, we are to say words of edification and exhortation.

 

We are to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph 4:31-32).

 

And we are to walk by the Spirit so that we don’t gratify the desires of the flesh, for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. So, we are not to live in sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, selfish ambition, and the like, or we will not have eternal life with God (Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; 1 Co 6:9-10; Eph 4:17-32).

 

So, we are to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things, for we died, and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:2-3).

 

Psalms 34:15-18 NIV

 

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

    and his ears are attentive to their cry;

but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

    to blot out their name from the earth.

 

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;

    he delivers them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

 

Some people have this idea that belief in Jesus Christ requires no action and no change of behavior on their part, that they do nothing, and that God does it all.

 

While it is true that it is only by God’s grace, and because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and it is only because of God drawing us to Christ that any of us can be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God, it is not true that God requires nothing of us who believe in him.

 

You would have to wipe out over half of the New Testament and over half of the teachings of Paul, too, to be able to pull off that scenario. For, Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live with him to his righteousness.

 

So, if you have this idea that you can continue living in sin, and that you can even be engaged in deliberate and premeditated habitual sin, and that if you feel guilty you can just claim who you are in Christ, then think again. Read the New Testament books word by word.

 

If we continue living in sin deliberately and habitually, as a matter of practice, we will die in our sins. We won’t have eternal life with God. And while we still live on this earth, we won’t have the blessings of God in our lives, either.

 

So, if you want to be in relationship with Jesus Christ, have your sins forgiven, be on your way to heaven, and have the Lord hearing your prayers and giving you what you need for this life, then you need to learn what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord, for that is required.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10]

  

Seek the Lord  

 

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

 

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

 

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy, and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

 

https://vimeo.com/379408296

So Your Faith Might Not Rest on Human Wisdom

With Eloquence and Human Wisdom

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV

 

“And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”

 

Much of today’s church in America joined forces with the US government and the world of big business and they turned God’s house of prayer into a marketplace to be marketed to the world just like any other business with all the marketing schemes, tricks, manipulations, and trappings of the world.

 

So, they rearranged (remodeled) the church and the gospel and even the character and divine nature of God in order to make “the church,” and God/Jesus, and the gospel of Jesus Christ more attractive, inviting, pleasant, agreeable, and enjoyable to the world and to human flesh.

 

Thus, they discarded much of the teachings of Scripture and the gospel as Jesus and Paul and the other apostles taught it, which teach living lives separate from the world, and which teach repentance, dying with Christ to sin, obedience to God, submission to the Lordship of Christ, and walks of holiness and righteousness by God’s Spirit (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17).

 

And it is becoming more and more apparent that the support behind all these alterations is a one world religion of the New World Order, which is eclectic (diverse, wide-ranging, and encompassing all religions and diverse lifestyles and all walks of faith into one). For, the altered gospel can easily fit into or be acceptable to any religion the way it is taught now.

 

For they teach God’s love and his grace as salvation only from the punishment of sin and as the promise of eternal life with God, but they do not teach that Jesus died to deliver us out of our slavery to sin and that we must die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness by God’s Spirit if we want to be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10]

 

Thus, they give their adherents free license to continue living in sin, only now without guilt and shame and with no requirements for remorse and repentance. So, nothing has to change in their lives. They can keep living like they did before guilt-free. All they have to do is say they believe in Jesus or all they have to do is accept God’s grace in its altered form.

 

Thus, they turned the altar of God into a one-sided relationship where humans call all the shots, where they decide how they want to live and what they want to do and where God/Jesus isn’t even part of the relationship. His name is just being used so it sounds “Christian,” but it isn’t Christian, for Christ is not the master of people’s lives in this scenario. Flesh still is!

 

The Deep Things of God

1 Corinthians 2:6-10

 

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

 

“’What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ — the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

 

Those who are teaching the true gospel of our salvation will not teach a diluted gospel or a false (another) Jesus, but they will expose the lies for what they are, and they will proclaim the truth (the whole counsel of God). For, they do not want to see people dying and going to hell on the basis of a lie and a false hope based in human wisdom and not in the wisdom of God.

 

For, those of us who are relying on the wisdom of God and not on the wisdom of man are not concerned with people flocking to us and liking us and following us. What we are concerned with is people loving God and following Jesus in obedience with their lives and with them forsaking their sins and living in freedom from bondage in victory over darkness.

 

We do not teach the wisdom of this age with all its compromises with the world and with all its alterations of truth and with all its lies and false hopes which promise people heaven while sending them to hell (Matt 23:13-15). For, that stems from hate, not from love, from Satan, not from God, and from the world, not from God’s Spirit and the Word of God.

 

If we are teaching the true gospel of Christ, we also don’t teach from our own minds but from what we have been taught by God’s Spirit via the Scriptures, as best we understand it, so that our wisdom is not human wisdom, but it is the wisdom of God. And I am not saying here that it means that we have perfect understanding of everything, for we won’t until Jesus returns and takes us to be with him (1 Co 13:9-10, 12).

 

The True Gospel of Christ

 

So, the true gospel, in a nutshell, is this. By God’s grace we are saved through faith, and this not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of our own fleshly works lest any of us should boast. But we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk (in practice) in them (Eph 2:8-10; Tit 2:11-14).

 

So, we are not saved by our own fleshly works, but by faith in Jesus Christ we become God’s workmanship and we do (in practice) the works he had planned for us to do before he even created the world. And we learn about those works he planned for us to walk in by reading the Scriptures, for we are called to live holy and godly lives, pleasing to God (Rom 12:1-2).

 

But before we can become God’s workmanship we must, by faith, be crucified with Christ in death to sin and be resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness so that we no longer live as slaves to sin but so we now, by God’s power, live as bond-servants of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 6:1-23).

 

And then we must walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. For if we are still being ruled by the flesh we are not servants of Christ, we are not God’s children, we don’t know God, and we will die in our sins. We will not have eternal life with God (Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Lu 9:23-26; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Jn 6:35-58; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8).

 

So, if we want to be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God, we must die with Christ to sin and live with Christ to his righteousness, not in our flesh, and not necessarily in absolute perfection, but in the power of God’s Spirit now living within us, daily dying to sin, daily denying the flesh, and daily submitting to the Lord to walking in his ways (Lu 9:23-26).

 

Walking in The Light  

 

An Original Work / November 16, 2011

Based off 1 John 1-2

 

When I lift up my voice, and

Sing praise unto God,

I will fellowship with my

Lord and Savior, King.

In Him there is no darkness.

He is in the light of truth.

If we walk in His light,

From sin He purifies.

 

If we repent of our sins,

He’ll forgive us now,

When we humble ourselves, and

Before Jesus bow.

The man who says, “I know Him,”

But does not obey His truth,

There is no truth in him.

In darkness still he’s found.

 

Do not love the world of sin,

For it is hell bound.

If you follow the world, you’ll

Not in Christ be found.

The world and its desires

Will not last; they’ll expire.

The one who does God’s will,

Receives eternal life.

 

See that what you have heard from

Christ remains in you.

Then, you’ll remain in Christ, and

In His Father, too.

This is what He promised us –

His eternal life with God.

So, continue in Him, and

You’ll receive a crown.

 

https://vimeo.com/114160122

Out with the Old, In with the New

Colossians 3:1-4 NIV

 

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

 

To be raised with Christ, we have to first die with Christ to sin. We must be baptized spiritually into his death to sin in order that in him we may live a new life not like the one we lived before. Our old self must be crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin but slaves to God (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

When that takes place in our lives, now we are new creations in Christ Jesus, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. We have died with Christ to sin and we now live to Christ and to his righteousness, empowered by God’s Spirit. Whereas we once lived for ourselves, now we live for him who gave his life up for us (Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15, 21).

 

Thus, since we have now died with Christ to sin and we have been raised with Christ to newness of life in him, which is to be lived for his glory, we are to set our minds and our hearts on the things of God and of his kingdom and not on the things of this earth. So, how do we do that?

 

First of all, we can’t in our own power and strength. We can’t live for God and for his righteousness in the flesh. They are in conflict with each other. So, this isn’t about just following a set of rules which we can check off our lists as though completed. This is about full surrender of our lives to Christ.

 

When we surrender our lives to Christ and we submit to his will and purposes for our lives, and we allow his Spirit to make the necessary changes in our hearts, and we do what the Lord says to do, in his power and strength, our thinking changes toward God and away from the flesh.

 

This is a daily walk of dying to sin and denying self and following our Lord in surrender and in obedience to what he teaches us and to how he directs our lives. It is being sensitive to the voice of God’s Spirit living within us, too, directing our paths in the way the Lord would have us to go each day. And it  is choosing each day to set our minds on God and not on worldly things.

 

Colossians 3:5-10 NIV

 

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.

 

“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

 

Many people today are teaching that faith in Jesus Christ requires nothing of us – no obedience to Christ, no submission to his Lordship, and no repentance (no leaving our lives of sin behind us). If we do these things, they say it is works-based salvation, which we are not to engage in.

 

But it is NOT works-based salvation to die with Christ to sin and to follow our Lord in obedience and in submission to his will for our lives. For we are taught all throughout the New Testament that this is required of us as part of our believing faith (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Lu 9:23-26).

 

For, if we don’t die with Christ to sin, then we can’t be raised with Christ to newness of life in him. We can’t be born again of God if we don’t first die to sin with Christ. And we can’t be born of God and have salvation from sin and eternal life with God if we continue living in sin, instead (Rom 8:1-17).

 

But we don’t die to sin just once. We die daily to sin. Daily we deny self. And daily we walk in obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will for our lives. So, even though we died with Christ to sin, we must be, by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the flesh if we want to live for eternity.

 

In other words, we aren’t “saved,” then we live however we want, and then one day we go to heaven. We are saved (past), we are being saved (present) and we will be saved (future) when Jesus returns and our salvation is complete.

 

In the meanwhile, we have to be walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. We must walk (in practice) in obedience to our Lord and not in obedience to our flesh. If we claim to have fellowship with God while we continue to walk in the darkness (sin), we are liars (1 Jn 1:5-9).

  

If we make adultery, sexual immorality, lust, lying, and cheating, etc. our habits, our practices, we will die in our sins. We won’t have eternal life with God. And a practice is something we keep repeating over again without change, because there has been no real change of heart.

 

But this is not us earning our salvation via good works. This is us, in surrender to our Lord, walking in his power under his control by his grace, through faith, in obedience to his will for our lives, which is why he died on that cross, that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24).

 

So, if we continue living in (walking in, abiding in) sin, as a matter of practice, and we choose not to surrender our lives to Christ and to walk in obedience to his commands, by his Spirit, then we must know that we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God, so please believe this!

 

[Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8]

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

*Caution: This link may contain ads

Do Not Forget the Lord

This passage of Scripture comes from the Old Testament and was written to the Jewish nation who were under the Old Covenant Relationship with God. Yet, it parallels what is taught in the New Testament to true spiritual Israel today under the New Covenant Relationship we have with God/Christ.

 

And let me state here that biblical Israel today is not the Jewish nation, but it is only those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. We are the children of promise. Anyone who does not believe in Jesus, according to Scripture, does not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and is not God’s chosen, and is in fact the antichrist.

 

[Rom. 9:6-8; Gal. 3:10, 16, 26-29; Gal. 4:22-31; Eph. 2:14-18; 1 Jn. 2:22]

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV

 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

 

Jesus said that if we love him, we will be keeping his commandments and he and the Father will love us and they will make their home with us (Jn 14:15-24). And John said that the way we know that we have come to know Christ is if we are keeping (in practice) his commandments (1 Jn 2:3-6).

 

Paul taught that we are slaves to the one we are obeying – either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness which then ends in eternal life with God (Rom 6:16-23). And the writer of Hebrews said that Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for all who are obeying him (Heb 5:9).

 

Also, we have been chosen of God for obedience to Christ (1 Pet 1:2). Those who are obeying the Lord’s commands live in him and he in them (1 Jn 3:24). And love for God is to be obeying his commands (under the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant) (1 Jn 5:3; 2 Jn 1:6; Jas 1:21-25).

 

Going along with that, Jesus said that if we would come after him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (daily die to sin and self) and follow him. And following him is obeying him (Lu 9:23-26). And Paul said that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk (in conduct), not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:1-17).

 

So, what the Lord said to Israel of Old he is still saying to Israel today, but not to the physical nation of Israel, but to true biblical Israel, who believes in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of her life, and who is (or should be) walking in obedience to his commands.

 

Love for God is to walk in obedience to his commands, and it is a matter of practice, of lifestyle, not of an occasional or a selective choice to obey some of his commands. But these commands are not the Old Covenant, but the New Covenant, which teaches that we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want eternal life with God (Rom 8:1-17).

 

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 NIV

 

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

 

For the physical nation of Israel, their inheritance was then physical. Ours is now spiritual, as is theirs, too, who obey(ed) the Lord and who do/did not deny him and who do/did not live in disobedience to him in unbelief. Our Promised Land is not physical, but it is eternity with God in heaven.

 

The Lord delivered physical Israel out of physical slavery in Egypt and he then led them to their Promised Land, which was physical in nature, but which had a spiritual future home for them with us. Their deliverance was a type or a foreshadowing of our own deliverance from slavery to sin.

 

So, when God delivers us out of our slavery to sin and he is bringing us into our future home in heaven, we are not to forget the Lord, either, or his deliverance he provided us from our slavery to sin. We are not to take God’s grace for granted and think that we can now do whatever we want.

 

Deuteronomy 6:13-19 NIV

 

“Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.”

 

Everyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him (Ac 10:34-35). We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12-13). And we must offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:28-29).

 

To fear the Lord is to obey, respect, and honor him as the Holy God that he is. We are not to take his grace for granted or presume upon him some level of tolerance of premeditated, habitual, and deliberate sinning against him. For, the Scriptures teach that if we live to sin we will die in our sins (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8).

 

There is much teaching in the New Testament against idolatry, against following after other humans and the gods of this world, and there are many warnings that if we live in idolatry that we will not inherit eternal life with God (1 Co 6:9-10; 1 Co 10:7; 2 Co 6:14-18; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6).

 

These OT warnings against destruction due to disobedience and idolatry are not just in the OT. In the NT we are taught that if we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction. But if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8).

 

So, please take these warnings seriously. What was taught here in the OT is repeated for us, the church, in the NT. If we walk according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God. But if by the Spirit we are putting to death the misdeeds of the flesh, then we will live (Rom 8:1-17).

 

My Sheep  

 

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

 

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

 

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

 

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full…

 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

 

https://vimeo.com/114938263