Though He Sought it With Tears

Hebrews 12:14-17 ESV

 

“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”

 

Strive for Peace and Holiness

 

Pursuing peace with everyone is not about compromising faith or convictions or godliness or moral purity in order to make peace with all people. This is not about us having the same mind as the people of the world so that we can unite with the world as one in perfect harmony so that no one offends anyone else. I know this is being pushed BIG TIME, but don’t yield to it! It is not of God! It is of men who want to tempt us to forsake our Lord.

 

For, this is in the context of the whole of Hebrews 12, which is talking about casting off sin, and not yielding to temptation, but enduring persecution for the sake of righteousness, and not giving up when disciplined by God, but seeing God’s discipline and our trials as for our good, and so then allowing God to train us by them so that we share in God’s holiness and so that we yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

 

And then this striving for (or pursuing) peace with everyone goes hand-in-hand with us pursuing holiness. And holiness is living lives which are separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. And it is living lives which are separate unto God and to his service and to walking in obedience to his commands and to forsaking our sins and to submitting to Christ as Lord (Owner-Master).

 

Therefore, pursuing peace with everyone is never about compromise of faith and convictions or holy living, but it is about loving our enemies, and praying for them, and doing good to them and not evil. It is about not getting even with those who do wrong to us, but showing them love and kindness. And it is about us not yielding to the flesh when we are persecuted but us responding to our persecutions with faith and with perseverance.

 

For, if we do not live holy lives, we will not see the Lord. If our lives are not committed to serving Jesus Christ, to following in his footsteps, to obeying his commands, to forsaking our sins, to loving others, and to living lives separate from (unlike) the ungodly, then we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For if sin is what we practice and righteousness is not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

Obtaining the Grace of God

 

The grace of God is something we obtain from God and it is not of ourselves. And his grace to us is not just forgiveness of sins and the promise of heaven when we die. His grace is freedom from our slavery to sin so we will now be slaves of God and of his righteousness. His grace to us enables us to die with Christ to sin and to live to him and to his righteousness in his power. For sin shall no longer have dominion (power, control) over our lives.

 

His grace, which brings salvation, in fact, instructs (trains) us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Titus 2:11-14; Eph 2:8-10).

 

So, if we fail to obtain the grace of God, it doesn’t mean that we never confessed Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It means that we did not yield to his control over our lives, and we did not forsake our sins, and we did not follow him in obedience, and we did not do the works which he prepared beforehand that we should do. But instead we went our own way, and we chose our own course, we remained walking in sin, and we did not walk in righteousness and holiness to the glory and praise of God.

 

Let No One be Sexually Immoral

 

Now, we must take this to heart because our eternity depends upon us believing and living the truth of God’s Word. Sexual immorality is running rampant in today’s modern market-driven “churches.” Statistics have it that a large majority of males who call themselves Christians are engaged in pornography, as are close to half of pastors of churches, with male children high in numbers and with females following behind.

 

And even if we didn’t have statistics to show us how bad this is, it is obvious by how people who call themselves Christians are living their lives, and by the things that they say, and by what they believe and practice. For so many of them now have accepted a “cheap grace” gospel which makes no demands on them for honoring Christ as Lord, or for obedience, or for the forsaking of sins (repentance), but it pacifies them in their sin, instead.

 

And it isn’t just pornography that is the issue. First of all it has to do with what is in people’s hearts which then comes out through the things that they do and say. It has to do with what their minds are set on and what they truly believe, for we live what we truly believe. And yes, included in that is what people view on TV and in movies and in music videos and games, etc. which can be mild sensuality all the way to the very worst of the worst.

 

But they don’t have to view anything to be sexually immoral. For Jesus said that a person commits adultery when he lusts in his mind after another. So one can sin only in his mind. And adultery isn’t just physical relations with another person, for it is also in the mind, but it can also be physical relations with oneself, too, via self-gratification. And it can be romantic affairs, etc. There are many ways to commit sexual immorality in our day and age.

 

And we are not to be unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. And our birthright is our salvation from sin when we believe in Jesus. And many people have sold that in order to engage in sexual immorality and in all sorts of wickedness. They have given up their salvation from sin by continuing to live in sin and to walk in unrighteousness. And no matter how much they want that inheritance with God, it will not be theirs because they chose to walk in the ways of the flesh and not in the ways of the Lord.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

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

Enduring Discipline for Righteousness' Sake

Hebrews 12:3-4 ESV

 

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

 

The subject matter here is the forsaking of our sins so that we can run with endurance the race that God has set before us to run, which we can learn about by reading the Scriptures. For we who are in Christ Jesus, by genuine faith in him, are to no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit of God. We are to no longer live disobedient lives, but we are to walk in obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus Christ, although he is fully God, when he lived on this earth he was also fully human, only he did not sin. But he was tempted to sin like we are, so he fully knows what we go through when we are tempted to sin, only he never played with sin. He never gave the devil a foothold in his life. So, he never opened any doors and invited sin into his life like many humans do, including many who call themselves Christians.

 

No matter how he was treated, and he was treated badly by many people because he lived a holy life, and because he taught the truth of God’s word, still he did not let other people’s treatment of him lead him into sin. He resisted all attempts against him to try to get him to sin, and his enemies tried to trip him up left and right. For, they wanted him to fail, and we may have people in our lives like that, too. So be on your guard!

 

Hebrews 12:5-11 ESV

 

“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

 

‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

    nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

    and chastises every son whom he receives.’

 

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

 

What discipline did Jesus have to endure? Well, he had Satan trying to tempt him, and he had the religious rulers and teachers of the Scriptures in the temple of God hot on his trail all the time accusing him falsely of things he did not do, trying to trip him up, hoping he would fail, calling him names, and persecuting him.

 

And he had followers who were just using him for what they could get out of him, and some deserting him because his words were too hard for them to accept. And some of his own family members were against him, and one time they wanted to put him away, for they thought he was crazy.

 

And then one of his chosen disciples, one of his closest companions betrayed him to his enemies to the death, and his other disciples deserted him when he was arrested and put on trial (a mock trial), although he had done no wrong. And one of those disciples denied him three times, even vehemently the third time before the rooster crowed, as Jesus had predicted.

 

And then he was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit, and he was beaten beyond recognition, and then he was hung on a cross to die a painful death all because he was pure and righteous and he told people the truth.

 

And if we are following Jesus Christ with our lives, and we are doing and saying the kinds of things Jesus said and did, then we, too, should be facing some of the same kinds of treatment as did Jesus. We should have ungodly people, whether professers of faith in Jesus or not, who will come against us and accuse us falsely of what we did not do or say and who will try to trip us up, and who will attempt to lead us into sin, but we must resist them.

 

And if we are not facing the kinds of hostility from sinners that Jesus faced, and if we don’t have people against us because of our walks of faith in Jesus Christ, and if we are not being persecuted for righteousness’ sake, then chances are good that we are illegitimate children of God who are pretending to be in relationship with Jesus Christ while we are still living according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit.

 

But all that God allows us to go through is for our good, that we may share in his holiness. For, if we respond correctly to these difficult situations in our lives, and we don’t retreat, but we persevere, later it will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to us who have been trained by it.

 

Hebrews 12:12-13 ESV

 

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”

 

The image of drooping hands and weak knees brings with it the idea of those who are giving way to fear and who are not walking by faith. And sometimes giving way to fear means retreating from what we know is right to follow after what we know is wrong and/or it is refusing to do the good we know we ought to do out of fear of being hated, mistreated, and rejected on the account of righteousness. These things we must put away from us.

 

And we are to strengthen those drooping hands and weak knees by choosing to walk in obedience to our Lord in submission to him and to his ways regardless of how we are treated by other humans. And making straight paths for our feet has to do with choosing the path of righteousness and holiness and then walking that path in the power of God’s Spirit. And that involves daily saying “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God.

 

And there is great healing that takes place in our hearts and lives when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, and when we choose to walk in his ways and in his truth despite how we are treated by other people, and despite the hostility we may have to endure from those who are walking in sin. For we can endure such treatment for the same joy that Jesus had set before him which is the salvation of human lives and lives committed to following Jesus in purity of devotion to him and in surrender to his will for their lives.

 

He Lifted Our Burdens

 

An Original Work / February 15, 2014

Based off Isaiah 9:2-7

 

People walk in darkness.

They abide in their sin.

It has power o’er them.

True belief escapes them.

 

Jesus Christ came to save them.

He gave His life up for them;

Crucified; died for our sin,

So we might be forgiven,

And have life up in heaven.

 

Many come to know Him.

God’s love now o’erflows them.

They rejoice in vict’ry.

Their sin is but hist’ry.

 

We were once bound in slav’ry.

Jesus lifted our burdens;

Set us now free from Satan,

So we now walk in freedom.

Sin has no more dominion.

 

Praise be to our Savior!

He showed us His favor.

He took all our burdens;

Cast them all upon Him.

 

He is our mediator;

The Light which shines in darkness.

Counselor in our troubles;

He gives peace now in our hearts;

Joy which is everlasting.

 

https://vimeo.com/86854416

Keep Following Jesus Christ

The priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees were annoyed that Peter and John were teaching about Jesus Christ and so they arrested them. The next day they brought the apostles before their rulers, elders, and scribes, along with their high priest, etc., and they examined them. And Peter ended up sharing some of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

 

Acts 4:15-17 ESV

 

“But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, ‘What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.’”

 

Now, the apostles had been instrumental in the healing of a man who had been lame since birth. Yet, it was by the name of Jesus that this man had been healed. Peter then took the opportunity to share some of the gospel with the crowd that had gathered then, and it was at that occasion that the religious rulers were annoyed with them and had them arrested.

 

So, now the religious rulers were conferring with one another regarding what they should do with the apostles, and so they decided to warn them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus so that the gospel message would spread no further. Therefore, the apostles were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ and for the sake of the gospel.

 

Christian Persecution Today

 

And ever since then Christians have undergone persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ and for the message of the gospel of Christ. Not everyone has faced the kind of persecution that they faced then, but many people have in different countries at different times in history. But in America in the 21^st Century, as a general rule, we have not had to face that kind of persecution.

 

But this is not to say that we are not persecuted. Some of us are. But many are not, and that is because American Christians overall, though not all, are more like the church in Laodicea as described for us in the book of Revelation chapter three. They are lukewarm, neither on fire for Jesus Christ nor totally opposed to him. For the American church, at large, has become worldly.

 

And because the American church has largely become worldly, and they are marketing “the church” to the world like any other product, and thus they are appealing to the felt needs of the people, and they are patterning their gatherings after what the world is craving so as to attract the people of the world to their gatherings, they have also diluted the gospel message to make it more acceptable to the world, and so they are not being persecuted.

 

So, we Christians who are still on fire for the Lord and for his gospel message (the whole counsel of God), we are the persecuted, and we are being persecuted primarily by those within the gatherings of the institutional church. We are not being told we can’t speak in the name of Jesus, but we are being counseled strongly not to speak the whole truth of the gospel.

 

For the big thing now, in and out of the church, is not to say anything that will offend other people. And the truth of the gospel is an offense to those who are perishing and to many who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who adhere to a cheapened version of the gospel which appeals to human flesh and which does not put sin to death or walk in obedience to Christ as Lord.

 

If you are speaking the “whole counsel of God” and you are not diluting the gospel to make it more acceptable to the world, now you are accused of teaching “works-based salvation,” or of being hyper-religious or of being judgmental and negative and self-righteous and/or hateful, etc. And people are being warned against people like you who have “strong convictions.”

 

And so you should expect to be rejected, to be ostracized, to be pushed out of gatherings of the church, to be ignored, and to be treated as though you are a bad person or a legalist or mean, etc. And that is because the vast majority of those claiming faith in Jesus Christ are buying into the “cheap grace gospel” which alters the truth of the gospel to appease human flesh.

 

Acts 4:18-20 ESV

 

“So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’”

 

So, when you are persecuted by the world or by the worldly “church” (or by what is falsely called “church”), put on your armor of God like Peter and John did, and declare boldly that you cannot stop speaking the truth of the gospel, because only the truth will set people free from their slavery to sin and will give them the true hope of eternal life with God.

 

And if they try to convince you that you are wrong because you are in the minority, and that they are right because they are in the majority, don’t listen to them, but listen to what the Word of God teaches. But read it in context, for many false teachings come from Scriptures taught outside their context and are made to say what they do not say.

 

And if they try to shame you into following them because they pulled some Scripture out of context to use against you, don’t give in to their intimidation, but go to the Scriptures and read them one verse at a time in order and let the Holy Spirit speak his truths to your heart. And compare Scripture with Scripture because then you will get the whole big picture.

 

And let me say this one thing here in closing. The Scriptures do not teach the total silencing of women. Some people push this when they don’t like what you are teaching. But Jesus gifted us equally with men, although we don’t all serve in the same functions, and we as women are not to rule over men. And the Scriptures teach that in these last days that God’s sons and daughters will prophesy, i.e. give out God’s messages from his word.

 

Also, Jesus sent women to tell his male disciples of his resurrection from the dead, and he essentially sent the woman at the well back to her town to tell a bunch of men about Jesus so that they would come and listen to him and so they would be saved. And Jesus honored the woman who washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, and he chided the man who did not do for him what he should have done but that she did (Luke 7:36-50).

 

So, God has called us women, too, to share the message of the gospel with the people of the world, and he has called us, too, to minister to the body of Christ, and to work together with the rest of the body of Christ in speaking the truth to one another in love so that we will all reach maturity in our walks of faith and so we will not be led astray by false teaching. And we are all necessary to the proper working of the body of Christ (1,2,3).

 

[Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-21; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; 1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18]

 

For Our Nation 

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

https://vimeo.com/379406352

 

(1)       https://runwithit.blog/2019/08/04/women-in-ministry/

 

(2)       https://runwithit.blog/2019/05/12/honoring-of-women/

 

(3)       https://runwithit.blog/2020/09/20/faithful-to-his-design/

Proclaim Liberty for the Captives

Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV

 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

    and the day of vengeance of our God;

    to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.”

 

The Good News!

 

This, in essence, is the message of the gospel of our salvation, and Jesus quoted the first part of this about himself (Lu 4:17-21). But he was not the only one to bring this good news. All of us who are in Christ, by God-given faith in him, are to be sharing the good news of this gospel to the world around us (1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18).

 

So, what is this “good news”? It is not just that Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that by faith in him we can be forgiven our sins and have the hope of heaven when we die. It is that Jesus Christ died on that cross in order that we might become the righteousness of God, and that we would live righteously in his power and strength. For he died that we might no longer live to please ourselves but him who died and was resurrected.

 

For, when Jesus died on that cross, he who knew no sin became sin for us so that when he died our sins died with him. And this was in order that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we would be crucified with Christ in death to sin and that we would be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. It was for the purpose to deliver us out of our slavery (captivity, bondage) to sin, not just to forgive our sins.

 

And that is what makes it “good news.” For, if all his salvation does is just forgive us our sins and promise us heaven when we die, but we remain in slavery (addiction) to sin, then we aren’t really free. We aren’t healed. For sin still has power over us, and we aren’t free from its control, and that is a horrible place to be. That is like still being in prison with no way out. But the “good news” is that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness in victory over sin. Hallelujah! Praise Jesus!

 

The Lord’s Favor

 

The Lord’s favor is his grace to us. We can do nothing to earn or to deserve God’s grace. It is a free gift to us which must be received by faith in Jesus Christ. But the “free gift” is not just forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven when we die. The “free gift” is being liberated from our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we can live in victory over sin in righteousness and holiness by the grace of God and in his power and strength (Rom 6:1-23).

 

For, God’s grace, which brings salvation, instructs (teaches, trains) us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. For we are now God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Titus 2:11-14; Eph 2:8-10).

 

And the faith that is required of us for salvation does not come from us. It is also gifted to us by God, it comes from God, Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith, and we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father draws us to Christ. And faith is God persuading us as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to repent of our sins and to surrender to him as Lord, and to follow him in obedience.

 

The Day of Vengeance

 

The gospel message is that we are born into this world with sin natures, in the image of Adam. We have all sinned, and we all come up short of attaining God’s divine approval and his righteousness. Not one of us can be righteous in ourselves and in our own good works done in our flesh. We all need Jesus and his grace to save us from our sins. But Jesus died to free us from our addiction to sin so we would now be slaves of righteousness.

 

But faith is not of ourselves, and it is not an emotional experience, and it is not just praying a one-time prayer to receive Christ. Faith is something that is of God which we must appropriate to our lives, and it must be continuous and enduring and fruit bearing until the day we die or we don’t have the hope of heaven when we die. For faith is obedience, and it is action.

 

Therefore, the Scriptures teach that we must walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. We must no longer walk in sin. We must not make sin our practice. Righteousness is to be our practice, by faith, by the grace of God. And obedience to our Lord and to his commands is also to be our practice, as well as we are commanded to love and to not hate our fellow humans.

 

So, if obedience, submission to Christ, forsaking our sins, and walking in righteousness and holiness are what we practice, by the grace of God, then we have eternal life with God. But if sin and unrighteousness and disobedience and hate are our practice, instead, then we will not inherit the kingdom of God, no matter what anyone else tells you. And these are not my words. This is what the Scriptures teach, so please follow the truth.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

For Our Nation  

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

https://vimeo.com/379406352

We Must Do the Works of Jesus

John 14:12-14 ESV

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

 

Whoever Believing in Jesus

 

The word “believes” is really “believing,” which means it is present and active belief. It is the same as the word “faith” which means to be persuaded by God as to his holiness and righteousness and as to his divine will and purpose for our lives. For faith comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith. We can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ.

 

So, this faith is not of ourselves, of our own willpower or of our own thinking with regard to what this faith should look like. So, when we say that all we have to do is “believe” in Jesus, we don’t get to define what that means. The Scriptures define what that means. And if this faith comes from God and is gifted to us by God and is perfected by Jesus Christ, then this faith is going to submit to Christ as Lord, forsake our lives of sin, and obey our Lord.

 

For, we read in Hebrews 12 that we are to lay aside (forsake) every weight and sin which so easily entangles or clings so closely to us. And we are to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, which God designed and purposed for us. And we are to look to Jesus as our example, and he is the founder and perfecter of that faith, and he endured death on a cross in order to free us from our slavery to sin so we’d walk as slaves of God and of his righteousness, in holiness, in the fear of the Lord, in obedience to him.

 

For we are now God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (in conduct, in practice) (Eph 2:10). For Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Tit 2:14). And, as obedient children, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Php 2:12-13).

 

Also, since this faith means “believing” which is present, continuous, and active belief, we have to be believing in Jesus like this when he comes back to take us to be with him or we don’t get to be with him. We must endure with him until the end steadfast in this faith by which we stand if we want to be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God. And this faith requires submission to the Lordship of Christ and death to sin and walks of obedience to God.

 

Not only is our faith to be continuous and steadfast until the end, our salvation also is not a one-time deal and we are good to go. We are saved (past), we are being saved (present) and we will be saved (future) when Jesus returns for us, which is when our salvation will be complete, provided that we remain in that faith until the very head, not moved from the hope of the gospel, and we don’t live in sin and we do walk in obedience to Christ.

 

[Jn 6:44; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; 2 Pet 1:1; Tit 2:11-14; Php 2:12-13; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2;; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 3-4; 1 Co 10:1-22]

 

The Works of Jesus

 

And it is us who are believing in Jesus until the very end with this God-given faith, which submits to Christ as Lord, and which surrenders to his will and purpose for our lives, and which forsakes our sins to follow him in obedience to his commands, it is us who will do the works that Jesus did and even greater works, he said. And “greater” is not necessarily more magnificent but of greater magnitude, i.e. further reaching.

 

For Jesus was limited by his physical body to ministering to only the people he could physically reach, and he was one person. But in our world today, we can get on the internet and share the gospel and it goes out to people all over the world to many different countries, even countries I have never heard of before. Plus we who are following Jesus, although few in number compared to how many people are in the world, we are many and we can be in many different places in the world because of that.

 

But what are the works of Jesus? Now we can’t and we don’t need to, even if we could, die on a cross for the sins of the world. Only one person could do that, and that was Jesus Christ. But we can die as martyrs sharing the truth of the gospel, and if people believe in the gospel of salvation they are delivered from their bondage to sin and they are given new lives in Christ Jesus to be lived for his glory, and so we can have a part in that.

 

We are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth and we are to make disciples of Christ of people of all nations, teaching them to obey our Lord’s commands (New Covenant). And we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. And we are to be the Lord’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. And we are to open eyes that are blind and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan to God so they may receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified by faith in Jesus.

 

And God has given each one of us spiritual gifts and he has assigned each one of us our “body parts” within the body of Christ, and we are to use those gifts in our assigned roles in the body for the mutual edification and encouragement of the body of Christ until we all reach maturity in our walks of faith, speaking the truth in love to one another, and as each part does its work. I.e. we each have a part we are supposed to do. So we need to find out what God has for us to do and then do what he has called us to do.

 

[1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Ac 2:42-47; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; 1 Pet 2:4-6; Col 1:18; Col 2:19; Eph 1:22; Eph 2:19-22; Eph 5:17-30; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13]

 

Glorious Grace 

 

An Original Work / August 8, 2012

Based off Ephesians 1:3-10 NIV

 

Praise be to God, the Father of Jesus,

Who has blessed us in heavenly realms.

For He chose us in Him from beginning

To be His holy children of God;

All in accord with His will and pleasure;

To the praise of His glorious grace.

 

In Jesus Christ we receive forgiveness.

We have redemption through His shed blood.

Glorious grace God freely has given us

In the One He loves and adores;

All in accord with the riches of His grace

Which He pours out on those He loves.

 

With all His wisdom and understanding,

God has made known His will unto us,

According to His will and good pleasure,

Purposed in Christ till all be fulfilled;

To bring all things on earth and in heaven

Under our Lord Christ; be unified.

 

https://vimeo.com/119441766

If They Persecuted Jesus, Then..

Matthew 20:17-19 ESV

 

“And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.’”

 

Jesus Persecuted and Falsely Accused

 

I was on Twitter today reading through various tweets (posts) by other Tweeters (people who post on Twitter, i.e. social media) when I saw this:

 

“I’m convinced the church today would call Christ a heretic.” (1)

 

This is so true! And how do I know this is true? Well, mainly by the teachings and practices that are prominent in the majority of what is called “church” today – which includes the body of Christ and the institutional church together – and the fact that what seems to be the majority of “the church” in America today, that it has largely accepted a diluted and altered gospel message and it is applying its lies to the people’s lives.

 

For, how they treat the Scriptures and the teachings of Christ, and those of his New Testament apostles, is how they are treating Christ himself. And the Lord’s servants and messengers, i.e. those who are doing the will of God, and who are following in the Lord’s footsteps, and who are doing the kinds of things Jesus did, and who are saying the kinds of things he said, how they treat them is how they are treating Jesus Christ today, too. For Jesus said:

 

Matt 24:9-13: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

 

Luke 6:22-23: “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

 

John 15:18-21: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

 

Are You Living Like Jesus?

 

Now, if you are living a rather worldly “Christian” life, and Christ is truly not Lord (Owner-Master) of your life, but you are still lord of your own life, and so you are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin, and thus you are not walking in holiness and in righteousness in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, in practice, you will most likely be accepted by the world and by the worldly church and you will not be treated as Jesus was.

 

But if your life is surrendered to Jesus Christ, and your life is given over to the Lord Jesus as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and daily you are denying self and dying to sin and walking in obedience to the Lord, and you are submitting to his Lordship over your life, you are most likely being treated like Jesus was, and therefore how others are treating you when you are walking in obedience to the Lord is how they are treating Christ himself, too.

 

So, if you are following the leading of the Holy Spirit, and you are going where he sends you, and you are saying what his Word teaches, but the institutional church rejects you because you are not conforming to their expectations of you, not that you are being rebellious or unsubmissive – you are not – but that they just reject who you are and what you do and say, then they are treating Jesus Christ the same way, for you represent him.

 

Let me give you some examples so you know what I mean:

 

1] You are rejected for any ministry opportunities in “the church” because you want to serve the Lord with all your heart, and so they judge you by themselves and accuse you of just wanting to ‘be seen of men.’

 

2] You question privately and respectfully, and via the approved means of communication, something being taught and you are told by the pastor that you just need to let him be “God’s voice to you,” or “go someplace else”.

 

3] A Pastor accuses you of lying about him when you did not lie, and after he did a non-denial denial in front of your college ministry leadership team, and so you are called to a meeting with church leadership, but you must admit that you lied as a prerequisite to the meeting, but you did not lie, so you can’t attend the meeting, and so they put you on church discipline.

 

4] You know the pastor is teaching a false gospel and that he is allowing a woman who is having an affair with a man in the church to sing on stage and to dress and to move her body and to sing sensually, and you have already spoken with him privately about part of this and now others are concerned over the same things and so you share with them what the Scriptures teach on this and it gets back to the pastor and he immediately bans you from the church property and demands an audience with you.

 

You did nothing wrong. It doesn’t mean you were perfect in everything you did and said, but you were innocent of wrongdoing. You were following the Lord. You were following the teachings of the Scriptures. You were doing what the Scriptures teach, and you did them according to the Scriptures. You did not have wrong motives, and you did not lie, and you showed respect, and you were submissive except to sinning against the Lord.

 

Why These Things Happen

 

So, why did all this happen to you? Well, God certainly allowed it, but Satan was behind it because he doesn’t want you to have a voice. He doesn’t want you to speak the truth of the Scriptures. He doesn’t want you warning people against lying and cheating and stealing, etc. He doesn’t want you calling out false doctrines and telling people the truth of what the Scriptures teach. He wants you silenced and/or dead.

 

The other reason is that many of these pastors of churches are not following the Scriptures, and they are not following Christ, but they are following men and marketing schemes and tricks of men, and they are teaching a false gospel which appeals to human flesh and so they don’t want anyone teaching the truth, for the truth offends the people they are trying to draw into their gatherings. So, they don’t want people with ‘strong convictions.’

 

So, if you are being like Jesus in the things that you do and say, you will be rejected, and you will be cast aside, and you will be accused of wrongdoing when you did no wrong, and you will be banned from “church” properties and put on church discipline and told to “go someplace else where you will be a better fit” because they were warned about someone like you, i.e. someone with “strong convictions,” and so they don’t want you!

 

And the truth of the matter is that they don’t want Jesus Christ because he does not fit in with their marketing schemes, either, and he is a person of “strong convictions,” and he is very passionate about ministry and about serving God the Father, and he definitely questioned things that were wrong, and he spoke out against false teachings. And he told people the truth that they must deny self and die with him to sin daily and walk with him in obedience or they would not inherit eternal life with him (Luke 9:23-26).

 

I Pray for Them

 

An Original Work / June 4, 2013

Based off John 17

 

“Glorify Your Son, that Your Son

May glorify our God in heav’n.

Father, You granted Him all power

And all authority over men,

That He might give eternal life

To all those whom now

You have given Him.”

 

“This now then is eternal life:

That they may know You,

Father, and Your Son;

That they may know the only true God,

And Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.

I have brought You the glory by

Finishing the work that You’ve given Me.”

 

“I have shown You to those whom

You gave to Me out of the world;

They were Yours. You gave them to Me

And they have obeyed Your words

And they accepted them. They knew

That I came from You, and they believed

With certainty, I was sent.”

 

“Holy Father, I pray for them by the

Power of Your name: Protect them,

So that they may be one as we are,

For they are still living in this world.

I have given them Your word;

Because of Your word, the world

Has hated them.”

 

“I pray they may have the full measure of

My joy now living within them.

Father, I pray You sanctify them

By Your word; truly Your word is truth.

As You sent Me into the world,

I send them to tell the world to repent.”

 

https://vimeo.com/116141024

https://twitter.com/grace__truth__/status/1509236154884833282?s=20&t=f9HIuUDJBRLe7yUXVwcmNQ

The Race Before Us

Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

Laying Aside Every Weight

 

I believe the “great cloud of witnesses” to be a reference back to the previous chapter, chapter 11, which is regarded as the “faith chapter” of the Bible, for it records for us the faith of many people who have gone before us who, by faith, followed God and did what he said and/or they did what pleased God and their actions revealed that their faith was genuine. They are examples to us as to what our faith should look like.

 

Therefore, by faith in Jesus Christ we are to lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, so that we can run the race God has set before us to run. So, what is a weight? It is a burden, a hindrance, something that holds us back or slows us down and hinders us from running this race. Sin is definitely a hindrance, especially if it is habitual sin, and we will get to that in a minute, but there are other hindrances, as well.

 

A weight is something that slows us down, something that prevents us from doing what we ought to do. It can be such things as poor time management or lack of organization, or it can be distractions and, in our day and time, distractions abound! They are everywhere! And what slows us down can also be not setting priorities but just letting life happen to us as it comes. And hindrances can also be what lead us into sin which need to be thrown off.

 

For example, if we know that certain things tempt us to sin and have, in the past, led us into sin, we should cut those things out of our lives, which is what that Scripture talks about when it says that if your eye or your hand causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell (Matt 18:8-9).

 

Now, I take this more metaphorically in the sense that this is just letting us know the degree to which we should take sin seriously, and if there is anything in our lives which keeps leading us down a path of sin, whatever that is, we should cut it out of our lives. We should get rid of it. For we need to sometimes take drastic measures to insure that we don’t keep falling into sin, and so we will now have victory over darkness, so we don’t land in hell.

 

For example, if your sin issue is lust and sexual immorality but you keep feeding that sin by watching TV shows or movies which give glory to sexual sin, or if having a smart phone and private internet access in your pocket is what hinders you, then you should not have a smart phone and private internet access. I am 72 years old. Smart phones have only been out now about 20 years or less? Somehow we survived without them for a long time.

 

Out of the Heart

 

But truly we can cut out all sorts of physical hindrances and still be led into sin if our hearts do not change. For the Scriptures also teach that out of the abundance of what is in our hearts our mouths speak, and out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. So, if our hearts are still inclined to sin, nothing will stop us from sinning when we are tempted to sin other than us saying “No!” and then refusing to yield to the sin. [Lu 6:45; Matt 15:17-20]

 

And when I think of sin which clings so closely, I think of habitual sin, which does cling so closely to the person who is addicted to the sin. And the sin is not going to just go away on its own. And it will not go away if we continually feed it. And it will not go away if we do not put up guards against it. And it will not go away if our hearts are not transformed of the Holy Spirit away from sin to following Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways.

 

If we do not die with Christ to sin and then continue to die daily to sin and to deny self and to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, we will not conquer sin and it will still have victory over us. We have to set our faces like flint (Is 50:7) in full determination to not let sin conquer us and to walk with perseverance in faithful obedience to our Lord. For the devil is out to defeat us, and he will have us if we are still playing with sin and if we are still feeding the sin and if we are not willing to cut out all hindrances to our walks of faith and get dead serious about holy living.

 

Run With Endurance

 

When we have died with Christ to sin that we might live to him and to his righteousness, and daily we continue to deny self and to die with him to sin and to walk in obedience to his commands, and to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly passions (lusts) and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return, by the grace of God and in his power and strength, then we will be able to run this race with endurance.

 

And what is our race? It is really our walks of faith in Jesus Christ which involve actively and daily saying “No” to sin and “Yes” to God. And this is necessary for us to maintain our walks of faith but for us also to remain in the faith, for our faith in Jesus is not a one-time experience, and neither is our salvation. Our faith must be continuous. We must be believing in Jesus Christ when Jesus comes to take us home, and that believing involves us dying with Christ to sin daily and walking in obedience to his commands.

 

But we don’t do this in our flesh. Flesh can’t put flesh to death. We do this only by faith in Jesus Christ in the power and working of God’s Spirit now living within us. We walk by faith and not by sight, and this faith also is not of ourselves, but Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith, and our faith comes from God and is gifted to us by God, and we can’t even come to faith in Jesus unless God the Father draws us to him.

 

And because Jesus is the author of this faith, our faith will submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master), and we will forsake our lives of sin to follow Jesus in obedience to his will and to his ways. And we will look to him as our example for how we are to live our lives in his power and strength, for he endured the cross in order to provide for us our salvation from addiction to sin so that we can now, by God’s grace, be slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]  

 

He Lifted Our Burdens

 

An Original Work / February 15, 2014

Based off Isaiah 9:2-7

 

People walk in darkness.

They abide in their sin.

It has power o’er them.

True belief escapes them.

 

Jesus Christ came to save them.

He gave His life up for them;

Crucified; died for our sin,

So we might be forgiven,

And have life up in heaven.

 

Many come to know Him.

God’s love now o’erflows them.

They rejoice in vict’ry.

Their sin is but hist’ry.

 

We were once bound in slav’ry.

Jesus lifted our burdens;

Set us now free from Satan,

So we now walk in freedom.

Sin has no more dominion.

 

Praise be to our Savior!

He showed us His favor.

He took all our burdens;

Cast them all upon Him.

 

He is our mediator;

The Light which shines in darkness.

Counselor in our troubles;

He gives peace now in our hearts;

Joy which is everlasting.

 

https://vimeo.com/86854416