Seek Good, not Evil, and Live

Amos 5:4-5 ESV

 

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

 

“Seek me and live;

    but do not seek Bethel,

and do not enter into Gilgal

    or cross over to Beersheba;

for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,

    and Bethel shall come to nothing.”

 

If we are going to be followers of Jesus Christ we need to be those who are seeking after the Lord and who are not going after the gods of this world. For, these places mentioned here are symbolic of places of idolatrous worship. We are to seek (pursue, go after, aim for) the Lord in all that we are and do and say. And we are not to pursue the pleasures, values, philosophies, culture, attitudes, thinking, and behaviors of the world.

 

So what are some places of idolatrous worship today? For Christians the biggest place of idolatrous worship today is the institutional church. For it is called “the church,” but it isn’t the church. It is a business of man, created in the minds of human beings, which is being run just like a business and it is being marketed to the world just like any other commodity. And so the meaning of “church” has been altered to conform to the ways of the world.

 

Now, not every gathering of what is called “church” is following the ways of this sinful world and is altering the meaning of church and the gospel in order to conform to the ways of this world, and in order to attract the world to their gatherings and to keep them coming back. There is a remnant who are still holding to the truths of the Scriptures and who are conducting themselves in the order of the New Testament church with EVERY PART doing its work.

 

But finding such a gathering today is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I am sure they exist, and I have been told that they exist, but I am not seeing them, and I have searched far and wide. But every search ends up with a gathering that is following after the ways of man and/or which is compromising truth and righteousness in one way or another in order to appeal to human flesh and to attract the world to their gatherings.

 

To begin with, if “the church” has partnered with the government and with big business and with “church” denominations, it isn’t the true church. For the true church is the body of Christ – all those who have died with Christ to sin and who are living to God and to his righteousness and who are walking no longer according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. We are the people of God, not a building, and not a location. And our purpose in gathering together is for the edification and exhorting and encouragement of the body of Christ toward holy living and away from living in sin.

 

[Ac. 2:42-47; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Rom 12:1-8; Gal 5:16-21; 1 Co 3:9,16-17; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Co. 12:1-31; 2 Co 5:1; 2 Co 6:14-16; Eph 1:4,22; Eph 2:19-22; Eph 4:1-32; Eph 5:17-30; Col 1:18-24; Col 2:19; Col 3:12-16; 2 Tim 1:9; 2 Tim 2:21; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 1 Pet 2:4-9; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Lu 9:23-26; Jude 1:20-21; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10] 

 

So, don’t go after what is not of God and which is contrary to the teachings of Scripture. Don’t get caught up in the ways of sinful man and with marketing schemes, tricks, and manipulations of man which are intended to attract the world to the gatherings of what is falsely being called “church.” Read these Scriptures above and become familiar with what it means to be the church (the body of Christ) and with the purpose of our gatherings.

 

And please don’t misquote Hebrews 10:25 by taking it out of its context in order to try to guilt-trip people into attending the gatherings of institutional “churches.” The verses before this one and the verses following this one are all about holy living and not living in sin and about exhorting one another daily so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13), which is the purpose for us not neglecting to meet together (read Hebrews 10:19-31).

 

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27).   

 

[See Also: Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Amos 5:10,12 ESV

 

“They hate him who reproves in the gate,

    and they abhor him who speaks the truth.”

 

“For I know how many are your transgressions

    and how great are your sins—

you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,

    and turn aside the needy in the gate.”

 

If you are following Jesus Christ in wholehearted devotion to him, and sin is not your practice, but righteousness, holiness, and obedience to the Lord are your practice, and if you are at all verbal about your faith and about the truth of the gospel as Jesus and as his New Testament apostles taught it, you are going to be hated, and not just by non-professers of faith in Jesus Christ, but probably mainly by those who profess to believe in Jesus.

 

For, who were Jesus’ biggest persecutors? And who were Paul’s greatest persecutors? They were the rulers in the Jewish temple or in the Jewish synagogues, who were the learned of the Scriptures (Old Testament), and who were the teachers of the Scriptures, but who did not believe in Jesus, and who were opposed to Jesus and to his gospel message. And some of our biggest persecutors may be pastors of “churches.”

 

And why may our greatest persecution come from within the walls of institutional Christianity? Because most of what is a part of institutional religion is not of God, and is not under the headship of Christ, but is of man, and is following after the ways of man. Thus, it is diluting the truth of the gospel to make it more acceptable to the flesh of man and more appealing to the people of the world. And so they don’t want to hear the truth, for the truth offends human flesh, and it offends the people of the world.

 

Amos 5:14-15 ESV

 

“Seek good, and not evil,

    that you may live;

and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,

    as you have said.

Hate evil, and love good,

    and establish justice in the gate;

it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

    will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

 

Now, when it says here to seek good and not evil that you may live, this is not just Old Testament teaching. It is what the New Testament reverberates. All throughout the New Testament we are taught that we must die with Christ to sin and live to God and to his righteousness, that we must forsake our lives of sin and we must follow our Lord in obedience. For if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin and not in obedience to God, we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God (see Scriptures noted above).

 

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

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At the Revelation of Jesus Christ

1 Peter 1:13 ESV

 

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

 

Preparing our Minds for Action

 

Many professing Christians continually fall back into sin because they do not put this into practice. They are not in the practice of preparing their minds for action. They are not being sober-minded (serious-minded) Christians, but they take their Christianity light-heartedly or casually and with no plan of action. They just let life happen to them as it comes, and so when temptation comes they have no plan of action, and so they cave to the sin.

 

But we can’t be followers of Christ and just live “by the seat of our pants,” i.e. by following our own instincts to tell us what to do in any given situation rather than following God’s plan for our lives and relying on him and his strength and wisdom. You have probably heard the saying, “If you don’t plan to succeed you plan to fail.” Many people fail time and time again because they have no plan of action to not fail and no plan to succeed.

 

My husband and I 

So, if we want to be true followers of Jesus Christ we have to take our Christianity seriously. Now I am not suggesting that we walk around with grim looks on our faces all the time or that we not enjoy life or that we never laugh. I smile a lot, and I am happy, and I laugh regularly, and I enjoy good humor and I enjoy play time with my grandchildren yet I take God and his word seriously, and my mind is being prepared for action.

 

So, how do we do this? How should we be preparing our minds for action? How do we become “serious-minded” Christians but still happy and filled with the joy of the Lord? We do this by surrendering our lives over to Jesus Christ, not just once, but daily. This involves daily dying to sin and to self and choosing to follow our Lord in obedience. And we have to be students of the Scriptures who study them in context and who obey our Lord.

 

If we have an area of weakness where we have previously been trapped in sin, then we have to set up guards against us falling back into that sin. For example, if you were once trapped in sexual sin, you don’t go anywhere near anything that might tempt you to go back to that sin. You can’t “play with fire” and expect “not to get burned.” You know those back doors to sin. Nail them shut! Don’t make them accessible. Set your face like flint (Is 50:7).

 

Set Your Hope Fully

 

When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord (Owner-Master) and Savior of our lives, we die with Christ to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin but to God and to his righteousness. For one who has died has been set free from slavery (addiction) to sin (Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 4:17-32).

 

Thus, we are to no longer let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. For, if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness and to sanctification and to eternal life (Romans 6:1-23). For God condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-14).

 

Now please pay attention to the language in these verses in relation to our salvation. We are not saved once, done deal, and now we can live our lives, and one day when we die we go to heaven. That is not what the Scriptures teach us. Our faith must be present and active and continuous until the day Jesus returns or until the day we die. And our salvation is not a one-time experience in our lives but it is progressive sanctification which involves us daily dying to sin and to self and us walking in obedience to our Lord.

 

And our salvation will not be complete until Jesus Christ returns and he takes his bride to be with him for eternity. And we will not be part of that bride if we do not continue in the faith steadfast until the very end, and if we do not walk according to the Spirit in walks of obedience to our Lord. And these aren’t my words. This is what the Scriptures teach, which I will note, and which I recommend that you read. And I recommend that you read the New Testament from beginning to end in context.

 

For those who live according to the flesh (in practice) set their minds on the things of the flesh, and to set the mind on the flesh is death, not life eternal. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So, if we live according to the flesh, making sin our practice, and righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will die in our sins. But if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, then we will live with Christ for eternity (Romans 8:1-14).

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Jn 8:31-32,51; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:1-12; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Col 1:21-23; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 5:9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:1-5; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10,24; 1 Jn 5:2-3; 2 Jn 1:6; Jas 1:21-25; Eph 4:17-24; Jude 1:1-25; Lu 9:23-26]

 

1 Peter 1:14-19 ESV

 

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

 

Therefore, as obedient children we are to no longer be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance when we were still enslaved to sin. But we are called of God to be his holy people, and to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world of sin because we are being conformed, by the Spirit, to the likeness of Christ, if we are cooperating with God in his work of grace in our lives. For we are to be holy (unlike the world but being conformed to be like Jesus) in all our conduct, not just in status.

 

For God is going to judge each one of us according to our deeds (our works). So we should conduct our lives on this earth in the fear of the Lord, in obedience to his commands, in the forsaking of our sins, and in walks of holiness and righteousness. For if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God. And Jesus will say, “Depart from me you workers of lawlessness! I never knew you!” (Matthew 7:21-23).

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

The Glory-Land Way

 

By J. S. Torbett

 

I’m in the way, the bright and shining way,

I’m in the glory-land way;

Telling the world that Jesus saves today,

Yes, I’m in the glory-land way.

 

List to the call, the gospel call today,

Get in the glory-land way;

Wand’rers, come home, oh, hasten to obey,

And get in the glory-land way.

 

Onward I go, rejoicing in His love

I’m in the glory-land way;

Soon I shall see Him in that home above,

Oh I’m in the glory-land way.

 

I’m in the glory-land way;

I’m in the glory-land way;

Heaven is nearer, and the way groweth clearer,

For I’m in the glory-land way.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgc3GM_CSvA

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P.S. A good article on “setting your face like flint”: https://www.gotquestions.org/face-like-flint.html

You are Being Saved IF You..

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 ESV

 

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

 

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

 

Paul then went on to say that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day – all in accordance with the Scriptures. And then he told of how Jesus appeared to many, to more than 500 people, including to his disciples, minus Judas who had hung himself. So he was no longer with them. And Paul included himself as the last one Jesus appeared to, though I believe that was after Jesus ascended to heaven.

 

And then he went on to discuss the resurrection of the dead, which some people did not believe in. And he presented his case for that which you can read about in 1 Corinthians 15:12-57.

 

But the gospel message goes beyond Jesus’ death and resurrection, his appearing to over 500 people in his resurrected body, and his ascension back to heaven. It goes to the subject of why Jesus died on that cross and to what it means for us personally that he died and that he was resurrected, and as to how that applies to our lives. And this passage does touch on that somewhat. For we live in Christ because Jesus was raised from the dead.

 

Now I have had people ask me before if I could simplify the gospel into one sentence or into one Bible verse, and the verse that always comes to my mind is 1 Peter 2:24 which says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

 

For Jesus died and he was resurrected NOT just so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die. He died that we would die with him to sin and live to his righteousness. That is the essence of the gospel message. Jesus died on that cross so we would be delivered out of our slavery to sin, not just to forgive us our sins, and so we would live for him, and not for ourselves, and so we would honor God with our bodies (with our lives).

 

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

 

The Gospel Paul Preached

 

So the gospel that Paul preached was Christ crucified, buried, and risen from the dead so that, by God-given faith in Christ, we would die with him to sin, be buried with him by a spiritual baptism into death (death to our old lives of living in sin), in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life in him. For our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:1-23).

 

So, when God the Father sent his own Son (Jesus Christ) in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, IN ORDER THAT the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who WALK (in conduct, in practice) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For if we live according to the flesh we will die in our sins. But if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the body, we will live for eternity (see Romans 8:1-14). And this is the consistent message of the gospel.

 

Thus, we are to no longer walk in the ways of our sinful flesh like the ungodly do, who are alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. We are not to become callous and to give ourselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. For that is not the way we should have learned Christ if we were taught the truth in him, which many people are not being taught today.

 

And that truth that is in Christ Jesus that we should have been taught teaches us “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:17-24). Again, this is the essence of the gospel – death to our old lives and living for Jesus.

 

“…and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

 

Two things of note here: by which we are BEING saved, and IF we HOLD FAST to the word that Paul preached (in over half of the New Testament). So our salvation is not a one-time experience in our lives which secures heaven as our eternal destiny regardless of how we live our lives on this earth. Our salvation has a beginning and it is ongoing and it will NOT be complete until Jesus returns and he takes his bride to be with him.

 

And we have to continue in that gospel teaching that Paul taught, which says that we must continue steadfast in that faith until the very end in order to receive our salvation from sin completed, and to have eternal life with God. For we are saved (past), we are being saved (present active ongoing) and we will be saved (future) when Jesus returns provided that we continue in that faith until the very end. For there are conditions to our salvation.

 

[Rom 8:24; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Jn 8:31-32; Jn 15:1-12; Rom 11:17-24; 1 Co 15:2; Col 1:21-23; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 1 Jn 2:24-25]

 

So, please know that the Scriptures teach that we must die to sin and live to righteousness and that we must continue steadfast in our walks of faith until the very end. And they teach that if we walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh, we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what we have professed with our lips or thought we believed in our hearts. For our faith is proved genuine by what we do.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

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

We Implore You: Be Reconciled to God

2 Corinthians 5:11 ESV

 

“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.”

 

What does it mean to fear the Lord? It certainly means to be in awe of him, to show him respect and honor, to value him, to believe in him, to die with him to sin and to live to him and to his righteousness, and to obey him. But it also means to see him as he really is and to take him seriously, and to take his word to heart and to do what it says. And it means to take his warnings seriously, too, and thus to walk in holiness and righteousness.

 

And what did Paul and the other apostles persuade others to believe or to do? They definitely persuaded (or attempted to persuade) them to forsake their lives of habitual and deliberate sin and to now walk in holiness and in righteousness, in obedience to the Lord and to his commands (New Covenant). And they persuaded them to put their trust solely in the Lord and not in other humans and to let God/Jesus be their only God and Lord.

 

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV

 

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

 

This passage of Scripture is a little confusing and so here we have to compare this to the rest of the teachings on death to sin. First off, 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. He took our place on that cross to put our sins to death with him in order that we might become the righteousness of God (see v. 21) but also that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 8:1-14).

 

So, it isn’t as though we don’t have to die to sin. We do. But we can only die with Christ to sin because he already put our sins to death with him. So our faith in him is us participating with him in his death to sin, and then in his resurrection to new life in him, which is what our water baptism symbolizes. And we don’t die just once to sin, but daily we are to be putting the deeds of the flesh to death and walking in obedience to our Lord. And we are to no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin but in righteousness.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 12:1-2; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:26-27; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ESV

 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

 

Now, we don’t become new creations in Christ Jesus merely by acknowledging who Jesus is and/or what he did for us on that cross, nor by merely making a statement of acceptance of his grace and forgiveness of our sins. We are not saved by lip service only. Words are just words unless they are backed up with action. For to be in Christ means that we no longer walk according to the flesh but now according to the Spirit (Rom 8:1-14).

 

Being in Christ means we no longer walk in sin, making sin our practice, but now we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. It doesn’t mean we are absolutely perfect, but it also doesn’t mean we can use lack of perfection as an excuse for continued and deliberate and habitual sin. It means we no longer live in sin. Sin no longer has dominion over our lives. Righteousness and obedience to the Lord are now what we practice.

 

[See the verses referenced above]

 

And this is why it says that if we are in Christ that we are a new creation. Our old lives of living in sin and for self are now put behind us and now we walk in newness of life in Christ in righteousness and holiness and in obedience to our Lord. Jesus is now our Lord (Master) and sin is no longer our master. Again, we are not talking about sinless perfection here but what we practice. If sin is what we practice, we do not have new life in Christ.

 

All this is from God! Yes, it is! But this doesn’t mean we do nothing and that our Lord does it all. Yes, we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness and of our sinfulness and of our need to repent of our sins and to follow the Lord in obedience. And even the faith to believe in Jesus is God’s gift to us, and it is not of ourselves, of our own doing, so we can’t determine for ourselves what that faith should look like. For Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith.

 

[Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Acts 5:32]

 

Okay, so since Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith, and our faith is gifted to us by God, and God must persuade us to put our trust in Jesus, and that faith is not of our own doing, then that faith is going to align with God’s will and purpose for our lives. So that faith is going to embrace and embody holiness, righteousness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, uprightness, integrity, repentance, submission, and obedience.

 

Also, while it is true that we are saved by God’s grace, and this not of ourselves, not of our own works lest we should boast, our faith is not absent of works. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should WALK IN THEM (Eph 2:10). And we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, and we are always to be abounding in the work of the Lord, etc.

 

[Eph 2:10; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:21; Tit 2:11-14; Jn 15:1-11; Tit 3:8; Jas 2:17]

 

So, when Paul said, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God,” he is not saying for you to give a thumbs up to having your sins forgiven so when you die you can go to heaven. He is imploring you to change, to leave your lives of sin behind you and to now follow the Lord Jesus in obedience to his ways, i.e. to change to his ways, and to change from being his enemy to now living according to the Spirit of God.

 

But if you refuse, because you think it is not required of you or for whatever other reason, please know that the Scriptures teach that we are all going to be judged by our works. If we walk according to the flesh, we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God. But if we walk according to the Spirit, in obedience to our Lord in walks of holiness and righteousness, then we have the hope of eternal life with God. So please take this to heart.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

 

Happiness is the Lord

 

By Ira F. Stanphill

 

Happiness is to know the Savior

Living a life within His favor

Having a change in my behavior

Happiness is the Lord!

 

Happiness is a new creation

Jesus and me in close relation

Having a part in His salvation

Happiness is the Lord!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_NSVqUJirE

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Will You Not Revive Us?

Psalms 85:1-3 ESV

 

“Lord, you were favorable to your land;

    you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You forgave the iniquity of your people;

    you covered all their sin. Selah

You withdrew all your wrath;

    you turned from your hot anger.”

 

In New Testament times, God the Father sent his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to the earth to be born as a human baby to a human mother, conceived of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ lived on this earth as both fully God and fully man. And during his 3 years of ministry on the earth he performed many miracles. He healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, fed the hungry, and he comforted the sorrowful.

 

[Jesus Christ is God: Heb 1:8-9; Jn 1:1-18; Jn 8:24,58; Jn 10:30-33; Col 2:9; Tit 2:13; 2 Pet 1:1; Rom 9:5; Jn 20:28-29]

 

But Jesus wasn’t on this earth just to be a good deed doer. He began his ministry with the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). And to repent is not merely to have a change of mind, but it is to have a change of heart, to turn away from our lives of sin to now follow Jesus Christ with our lives. It is like making a spiritual U-turn in a road. We were walking one direction, and now we are going the other way.

 

[Matt 3:8; Matt 11:20-21; Matt 12:41; Matt 21:28-31; Mk 1:15; Lu 5:32; Lu 13:3; Lu 15:2-8; Lu 24:47; Acts 3:19; Acts 5:30-31; Acts 8:22; Acts 11:17-18; Acts 17:30-31; Acts 20:21; Acts 26:20; Rom 2:4; 2 Co 7:8-10; 2 Co 12:21; 2 Tim 2:24-26; 2 Pet 3:9; Rev 2:5; Rev 2:16; Rev 3:19, etc.]

 

And Jesus taught that we must follow him with our lives if we want to have eternal life with God and salvation from sin. And he said that if we want to follow him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. He made it quite clear that there is a cost to following him with our lives, and it involves death to self and making him the Lord and Master of our lives, and then following him in obedience.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 10:37-38; Lu 9:23-26,57-62; Lu 14:25-33; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:51; Jn 10:27-30; Jn 14:23-24; Jn 15:1-11; See also: Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

 

But even though Jesus was God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – not many recognized him as such, and not many followed him in truth with a desire to forsake their lives of sin and to follow him in obedience. And many of the rulers in the temple of God hated him and fought against him continually, and eventually they had him put to death on a cross. But God the Father raised him from the dead.

 

Now this was in God’s plan that Jesus should die on that cross, for in his death he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we would now honor God with our bodies (2 Co 5:15,21; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20).

 

So, when we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, which requires God-given faith, which is not of our own doing, but which is a gift of God, this is not just about escaping hell and getting a free ticket into heaven. This is about having transformed lives of the Spirit of God away from living in sin and for self to now walking in holiness and righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, in the power of God’s Spirit living within us (Eph 2:8-10; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 12:1-2).

 

Psalms 85:4-7 ESV

 

“Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

    and put away your indignation toward us!

Will you be angry with us forever?

    Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

Will you not revive us again,

    that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,

    and grant us your salvation.”

 

But in our day and time, at least here in America, the people who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives have largely gotten away from the teachings on repentance and obedience and the cost of following Jesus with our lives. And they have largely diluted the gospel to make it nothing more than a verbal acknowledgment of him or a verbal profession of faith in him which requires no repentance and no obedience – no changed lives.

 

And this is because so many people who call themselves pastors of churches and ministers of the gospel are not teaching the true gospel of Christ, but they are teaching a gospel of men. They are not teaching commitment to Christ but to men. They are not honoring God, but they are honoring men. And they are not looking to please God but to please all humankind.

 

Their concept of God’s grace is for him to merely forgive us our sins so that when we die we get to go to heaven and to escape hell. But God’s grace, which brings salvation, trains us to renounce (to say “No!” to) ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon 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 (Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

 

But sadly what most are teaching is a “fast food” gospel to get people “saved” so that when they die they go to heaven. And they will even coddle the people in their sins by calling sin something less than what it is, like “I messed up,” as though all one did was spill a glass of milk. But the Scriptures do not deal with sin lightly. They teach that if we continue in sin, in deliberate and habitual sin, and if sin is our practice, and if obedience to God and righteous living are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, and Jesus is going to say, “I never knew you!”

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10, etc.]

 

And so the vast majority of those professing faith in Jesus Christ today, at least here in America, are in great need of revival and/or of genuine salvation to begin with. And the bulk of the church here in America definitely needs revived and restored to God for they have gotten so far away from the Lord and from the Scriptures and from what Jesus taught about himself and what is required of us if we are to be his followers.

 

Psalms 85:8-9 ESV

 

“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

    for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;

    but let them not turn back to folly.

Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,

    that glory may dwell in our land.”

 

But when you come to genuine faith in Jesus Christ, and you do repent of your sins, and you do follow the Lord in obedience, know that you must continue in this walk of faith steadfast to the end if you want to be saved from your sins and to have eternal life with God. So guard your hearts and your minds against going back to living in sin, for our Lord’s salvation is near for all who fear him, who honor him with our lives, who forsake our sinful practices, and who follow our Lord in obedience to his commands.

 

[Rom 8:24; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Jn 8:31-32; Jn 15:1-12; Rom 11:17-24; 1 Co 15:2; Col 1:21-23; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 1 Jn 2:24-25]

 

Be with Me, Lord

 

By Thomas O Chisholm

 

Be with me, Lord – I cannot live without THEE,

I dare not try to take one step alone.

I cannot bear the loads of life, unaided,

I need THY strength to lean myself upon.

 

Be with me Lord, and then if dangers threaten,

If storms of trial burst above my head,

If lashing seas leap ev’rywhere about me,

They cannot harm, or make my heart afraid.

 

Be with me Lord! No other gift or blessing

THOU COULDST bestow could with this one compare –

A constant sense of THY abiding presence,

Where’er I am, to feel that THOU ART near.

 

Be with me, Lord, when loneliness o’ertakes me,

When I must weep amid the fires of pain,

And when shall come the hour of “my departure”

For “worlds unknown,” O Lord, be with me then.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJrS9ppeWk

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Are You in Need of Rest?

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

 

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

All Who Labor

 

There are many reasons we can be heavy laden or burdened or weighted-down from labor (toiling, working with effort of body and mind) to the point of exhaustion, of being worn-out, and of being depleted physically and mentally and emotionally of all energy, and to be in need of rest. As a woman who was once a young mother of four, there were four perfectly good reasons right there. Life as a young mother can be very tiring.

 

Another reason may be if you have a physical handicap and so any amount of physical labor will wear you out. I am there, so I understand this in a way I never did before. I have to stop and rest in between just about every strenuous activity or I don’t make it to the next one. And if I don’t rest then my pain level increases tremendously. And if my pain level increases, especially since I do not take medication, then that can hinder productivity.

 

Or you may have a job which is physically strenuous and so when you finish your day you must rest so that you can make it through the next day and the next. And these are just some of the reasons why we might be there.

 

But then there are non-physical reasons such as worrying, fearing, not trusting in the Lord, and taking matters into your own hands to “help God out,” etc. Or you may be someone who is trying to earn God’s approval through human effort and not through surrendering your life to Jesus Christ via trusting in his strength and wisdom. And this could be because you are still holding on to sin and so you are trying to be good enough on your own.

 

And then I think of the Apostle Paul and what he said:

 

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9).

 

Now this was beyond their control. Paul had people who tried to put him to death, who stoned him and left him for dead, and he was beaten, and falsely imprisoned, and was whipped with lashes, beaten with rods, and he suffered shipwreck, and many other physical attacks against his body. Plus he was persecuted verbally, and he had people lying about him and trying to destroy his reputation, and some of this happened while he was in prison.

 

And then I think, too, of Job, and how Satan killed off his servants and his animals and his children and then he attacked Job physically will all sorts of sores all over his body. And while he was in pain and was suffering the agony of all of that, his friends were accusing him falsely of sinning against the Lord, and they said that is why he was suffering as he was. And even though he tried to explain the truth to them they would not listen, and they continued to attack him. And that would be enough to exhaust anyone.

 

And then one more thing. We can be weighed down with sin because we are trying to go it alone without God and we are following our flesh instead of the Spirit. And that weight is never going to be lifted unless we give it up and we lay it aside and we don’t take it up again, but then we follow our Lord in obedience to his commands. And then we can run the race he has marked out for us to run in this life (Hebrews 12:1-2).

 

Rest for Your Souls

 

So, we can be heavy laden (exhausted, worn-out) from many different things, some of which we do have control over and some of which we don’t. But the rest that this is talking about is not physical rest, though we do need that, too, and it is important that we get that when we can, when it is needed, even if it is just a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Our bodies need physical rest, but too much rest is not healthy, either.

 

But this is speaking of rest for our souls. So if we are exhausted physically because of a strenuous job, or because we are raising young children, or because we are being persecuted, or because of a physical handicap or an illness or an injury, or for other reasons, this also affects us mentally and emotionally. I definitely get more emotional when I am physically tired. I cry more easily. And then I know that I need not only more physical rest, but I need to rest in my Lord and in his strength.

 

For it is in times like these when Satan will attack us in our minds and in our emotions and we won’t have the defenses we might normally have when we are more well rested. And so especially in such times as these we need to go to him to find rest for our souls, for our inner being. And we need to cry it out to the Lord, if need be, and talk it through with him in his word and in prayer. And then we need to trust him to work it all out for our good.

 

And this is what it means to take God’s yoke upon us. It means we relinquish control over our own lives to God and we let him have his way in our lives, and we trust in his sovereignty, and we believe that he is absolutely in control over everything in our lives. And then we let him guide us in the way that we ought to go, and we rely on his strength, which we absolutely don’t have, and then we just obey him.

 

Boy I can tell you of so many times that I sat down to write and had nothing to offer at all and God just took over. I would sit in front of the computer with my fingers on the keyboard but I had absolutely nothing to give other than to just rest in Jesus. And then he just poured it into me. And when I got done writing I definitely knew that only happened by the grace of God. Now he guides me in all that I write, I believe, but sometimes it is when I am just not there physically or mentally that he just creates a miracle.

 

But now let’s talk about those who are weighed down with sin. You will never know peace and freedom in your spirit until you surrender it all to the Lord Jesus and you take his yoke upon you and you let him have control over your life and then you do as he says. And this has nothing to do with trying to earn or to deserve your own salvation. This is Jesus working out your salvation in and through your life as you yield to his control (Php 2:12-13).

 

So, if you want to know peace, and if you want to find rest, then you must surrender your all to Jesus Christ and let him lead you where he wants you to go. And the burden will be light because he will be carrying the weight of it. Doing God’s will is not heavy labor. Walking in sin is heavy labor and you will never find rest now or in the life ever after if you continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. So, give your all to him, and find rest.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:26-27; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Be with Me, Lord

 

By Thomas O Chisholm

 

Be with me, Lord – I cannot live without THEE,

I dare not try to take one step alone.

I cannot bear the loads of life, unaided,

I need THY strength to lean myself upon.

 

Be with me Lord, and then if dangers threaten,

If storms of trial burst above my head,

If lashing seas leap ev’rywhere about me,

They cannot harm, or make my heart afraid.

 

Be with me Lord! No other gift or blessing

THOU COULDST bestow could with this one compare –

A constant sense of THY abiding presence,

Where’er I am, to feel that THOU ART near.

 

Be with me, Lord, when loneliness o’ertakes me,

When I must weep amid the fires of pain,

And when shall come the hour of “my departure”

For “worlds unknown,” O Lord, be with me then.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJrS9ppeWk

*Caution: This link may contain ads

The Midst of Much Conflict

1 Thessalonians 2:1-2 ESV

 

“For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”

 

When God calls us to a specific area of ministry, provided that it is indeed of him, and not of our flesh, we should obey without hesitation. And we should do what he has called us to do even if all forsake us and turn away from us, and even if we are despised and rejected of man, and even if we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and even if presently we are not seeing a lot of fruit for our labors. For that is what Jesus faced.

 

I remember when God called me to this ministry of writing down what he teaches me from my times with him in his word each day and to place these writings on the internet. I didn’t have much moral support at all back then, and for the longest time I had little to no responses, and in some cases I didn’t even know if people were reading these or not. And I also faced a lot of opposition, too, and yet I persevered, convinced that this is what God called me to do and that he was using it for his purposes and for his glory.

 

When I began, I had a lot to learn, and I didn’t have everything right, for there were things I had been taught wrongly, plus I was doing something I had never done before, so there was much to learn. But with each step that I took by faith in Jesus Christ he taught me what I needed to learn and I grew in my walk of faith in him and in my knowledge and understanding of the Word of God and even in how to write. I’m certainly not saying that I have now arrived but that I can see how much I’ve grown in my faith.

 

And one of the primary things I learned was to trust God fully and to keep persevering even if I faced strong opposition and even if I didn’t see much fruit for my labor. But if I did face strong opposition, that only led me back to the Scriptures where I tested what I was hearing against the Word of God to make certain that what I was sharing was the truth of the Scriptures. And that is critical that we make certain that we are sharing the truth. And then, over time, I began to see how God is using these writings for his glory.

 

1 Thessalonians 2:3-4 ESV

 

“For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.”

 

This is very critical that we make certain of where our own hearts are and of our own motivation for doing what we do so that as we minister to people according to God’s callings on our individual lives we remain people of integrity, and so that our hearts are always in the right place. And if our ministry is writing devotions then we need to make certain that what we are teaching is indeed the truth, to the best of our understanding, and that we are being led of the Spirit of God and not of our own flesh.

 

And we need to check our hearts regularly to make certain that we are obeying the Lord despite all opposition, and that we are not altering what we teach in order to appeal to or to please human flesh. For it is human nature to want to be approved and accepted by other humans, but we must resist wanting to be approved by other humans. And our goal must be to want to please God in all that we are and do and say. And if we are being led by the Spirit, and not by our flesh, we will then be pleasing to God who tests our hearts.

 

1 Thessalonians 2:5-6 ESV

 

“For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.”

 

When we share the Scriptures and the gospel message, we need to keep our flesh out of it. We just need to follow the Lord and say (or write) what he gives us to say even if we get rejected in return. But it needs to be the truth of the Scriptures, taught in context. And we need to have pure hearts not given over to the flesh and not given over to pleasing the flesh. Yes, those who are charmers and who know how to be winsome and flattering do get a lot more followers and more “likes”. But what are they then following? The flesh of man? Or God?

 

So many “churches” today are seeking to please the flesh of man and not God, and so they are altering the gospel to make it more appealing and acceptable to human flesh and to the people of the world. And so they have removed God’s requirements for repentance, obedience, and submission to Christ as Lord. And they are not teaching that we must walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, nor that if we walk according to the flesh that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

And that is because they want to please human flesh, and they want to attract people to their gatherings, and so they don’t want to tell people what will offend them or what might keep them from coming back to their meetings. Thus, they do so for greedy purposes without concern for the people and for where they will spend eternity. But they will try to convince you that they are being loving and that those who are teaching the truths of the Scriptures are not being loving.

 

And so try to find a gathering of the church today in America that teaches the whole counsel of God. Very few even come close. And even if their statement of faith has the elements of the truth of the gospel, it is no guarantee that they are actually teaching the truth. And even if they teach repentance, it may be more of an acknowledgment of sin and nothing more. And even if they teach obedience, they may teach it more as something you should do but not as a requirement for eternal salvation.

 

So, please be those who test everything you hear against the Scriptures (in context) for many Scriptures are taken out of context and are twisted to say something they don’t say and in order to lead people to believing lies rather than the truth. Many charlatans are in our pulpits today teaching lies disguised as truth, and they are leading many people straight to hell on the promise of heaven when they die. So please know that if you live to please the flesh and not to obey God, you will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:26-27; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; 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

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