Standing Firm, with One Mind

Philippians 1:27-30 ESV

 

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.”

 

Worthy of the Gospel

 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to live lives which are worthy of our Lord and which are worthy of (fitting, appropriate, suitable to) the gospel of Christ. So, this means that we should be those who are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, in character, and who are following our Lord in obedience to his commands, and who are not walking in sin, but who are dying daily to sin and who are walking in holiness and righteousness.

 

And Jesus Christ should be number one in our lives. Nothing and no one else should ever be in first place in our lives other than him/God. We are to put no other gods before him, and we are not to put our family members before him, either, to where we would choose to please them and we would choose to disobey our Lord in order to please them. For our family members may disapprove of our walks of faith in Jesus, but Jesus must remain first.

 

And we are to die daily to sin and deny self and follow Jesus in obedience, or we are not worthy of him. And if we make a commitment to follow Jesus with our lives, but then we turn back to our old lives of living in sin, we are not worthy of him. And if we make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ but then we assume that all sins are forgiven and heaven is our eternal destiny, regardless of how we live, then we are not worthy of the gospel.

 

[Matt 10:37-38; Lu 9:62; Eph 4:1; Php 1:27; Col 1:10; 1 Thess 2:12]

 

Standing Firm

 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be those who are steadfast in faith, who are not wavering between opinions, but who are following our Lord and his gospel, in truth. We are to be those of strong convictions who are standing firm on the truth of the gospel even in the face of much opposition, and even in the face of much rejection and persecution. We should be of one mind, which is the mind of Christ, and we should not let the opinions of other humans dissuade us from the truth that we have been taught by Christ in his word via the Holy Spirit.

 

And in today’s world, this takes a lot of faith to stand strong on the truth in the face of enormous opposition, for much of this opposition, at least here in America, will come to us, not so much from the world, but from the church and from pastors, elders, and deacons and other people within the church and/or within its gatherings. For you may be yelled at and cussed out and falsely accused and called names and be treated as though you are the enemy by others who call themselves your brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

And you may even be encouraged strongly and invited out or pushed out of church gatherings (or institutional market-driven “churches,” i.e. businesses) because you stand on the truth and on righteousness and because you follow the teachings of the Scriptures. And so you speak the truth in love to the body of Christ for their encouragement, which includes exhorting one another so that none of us is hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. For so many are following the world and not the truth of the gospel these days.

 

Not Frightened

 

But we are not to be afraid of opposition. I used to be. For I was severely abused by my father when I was young and living at home with my parents, and so I ended up fearing people in positions of authority over me, and so rather than stand up to them, my tendency was to run away from them, but not just from them, but to run away from what the Lord called me to do, that I knew was his calling on my life from early on in my life, but more of a general calling then, and not exactly the specific calling I have today.

 

So, the Lord took me through many of these circumstances before I learned that I must stand strong and not run away, and that I must not fear opposition and people attacking me or calling me names or rejecting me, etc. He brought me to the place, in fact, where at one time I felt that everyone had turned against me and that all opposed me, and it was then that I had to make the decision to stand with God, and to stand alone, or to not stand with God, and so I chose God.

 

And it is my hope and prayer that you will learn that now, and that the Lord won’t have to take you through the kinds of things I went through for you to learn what I eventually learned, which is to not fear opposition, but to stand on the truth of the gospel, even if it appears that all have turned against you and that you are standing alone without any human support. For it may come to that, when we face severe persecution in America and we are scattered and we don’t have each other for support.

 

And so we need to remember that our salvation isn’t all about Jesus just forgiving our sins so that we can go to heaven one day. It, too, is about us dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and it is about walking in obedience to his commands. And when we do that, we are going to suffer for the sake of righteousness. And our Lord will put us to the test, too, and he will try us through persecutions and other sufferings to make us strong in our faith and so we learn perseverance and reliance on him alone.

 

[Matt 5:10-16; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Acts 1:8; Acts 14:22; Acts 26:18; Rom 5:3-5; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; 2 Co 1:3-11; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Phil 3:7-11; Col 3:16; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; Heb 3:13; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 2:9; 1 Pet 4:12-17]

 

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

Manipulative Tactics

Video Talk

 

Galatians 2:4-5 ESV

 

“Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”

 

There are false Christians in the gatherings of the church (or what is falsely called “church”) today who are using marketing schemes and manipulative tactics in order to convince even seasoned Christians and non-Christians to yield to a false “cheap grace” gospel which does not put sin to death in the life of the believer, and which does not call for repentance nor for obedience and walks of holiness and righteousness. In fact, they demonize such things as that by calling them “works salvation” and “legalism.”

 

So much of today’s “church” – mostly consisting in institutional churches, i.e. those incorporated under the state and beholding to church denominations who are marketing “the church,” i.e. their businesses, to the world – they are teaching a cheapened and altered and diluted gospel message, and they are altering the character of God/Christ in order to appease and appeal to human flesh and the people of the world, and in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world to their gatherings.

 

But we are to be people of faith who are walking in obedience to our Lord, and who are testing what we hear and read from other people, for not everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ has genuine God-given faith. There are many wolves in sheep’s clothing (charlatans) among us who are pretending to be Christians but who are not Christians in practice. They are among us solely for the purpose to deceive us and to manipulate us into believing their lies and into rejecting the truth of the gospel.

 

But when we test what we hear or read against the Scriptures, we need to do so in context. For many of these false teachings are being widely accepted because they are using Scriptures out of their context, and they are twisting them to say what the Scriptures do not teach. They are cleverly blending the lies in with the truth so that those who are not students of the Scriptures are not able to discern the lies from the truth. But once you learn their tactics and their message, the lies will just jump out at you.

 

[Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:3-23]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6neSuSwVm1g

Caution: This link may contain ads

 

Praise the “I AM!”

 

An Original Work / February 24, 2012

 

Jesus, my Savior, full of compassion,

Glorious in power, mighty in strength;

Gracious Redeemer, mighty deliv’rer,

My heart adores Him. Praise to His name!

Perfect salvation my Lord provided

When He died for my sins on a tree;

Crucified my sins; conquered in vict’ry,

When He arose, so I could be free!

 

I am so thankful for His forgiveness;

Grateful that He chose to pardon me,

Giving me new life full in His Spirit,

So I can serve Him; His servant be!

Walking in daily fellowship with Him,

Obeying Him whate’er He commands;

Forsaking my sins, living in freedom,

I will endure with Him to the end!

 

He gives me peace and calm reassurance

In times of sorrow, or in distress.

His grace is sure, and oh, how sufficient

To meet me in my need for sweet rest.

Oh, how I love You, Jesus, my Savior.

My heart longs for You where’er I am.

Your word is precious; speaks to my spirit;

Brings comfort, healing. Praise the “I AM!”

 

https://vimeo.com/125736554

God's Great Goodness

 Isaiah 63:7-9 ESV

 

“I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,

    the praises of the Lord,

according to all that the Lord has granted us,

    and the great goodness to the house of Israel

that he has granted them according to his compassion,

    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

For he said, ‘Surely they are my people,

    children who will not deal falsely.’

    And he became their Savior.

In all their affliction he was afflicted,

    and the angel of his presence saved them;

in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

 

Now, this is regarding the children of Israel in the Old Testament, and they were God’s people by physical birth, by being born into this world as physical descendants of Abraham. But that doesn’t mean they all had faith, and those who did not have faith did not enter into God’s eternal rest. So, when we read the Old Testament Scriptures, if we want to apply them in any way to our lives today, then we must interpret them in light of the New Testament and the Messianic age and the New Covenant God has with his people.

 

For, when Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who is the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – was crucified on that cross, he became our Sacrifice for sins. And the Old Covenant, with all its liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification and dietary laws and restrictions, was done away with. But God’s moral laws remained the same, only Jesus summarized them into two – to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40).

 

Now we become God’s people by God-given faith in Jesus Christ which involves us being crucified with Christ in death to sin, and us being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer in sin, but now as those who have been set free from slavery to sin, and now living as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we are no longer to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, but if obedience to God is what we obey, it leads to life eternal (see Romans 6:1-23; cf. Ephesians 4:17-24).

 

So now we must walk (in conduct, in practice) not according to the flesh but according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God. For to live according to the flesh is to set our minds on the flesh, and to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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, we will die, but if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, then we will live (see Romans 8:1-14).

 

Therefore, our salvation from sin is not a one-time thing which takes place in our lives, done deal, regardless of how we live. Our salvation is progressive and continuous, and it won’t be completed until Jesus returns to take his bride to be with him for eternity. But for us to be that bride, we must walk no longer according to the flesh, but now according to the Spirit, and we must walk in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, but in righteousness and holiness, by God’s grace, in his power, strength, and wisdom. And we must continue in that faith steadfast until the very end.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

So, even if we have professed faith in Jesus Christ, and even if we have attended gatherings of the church, or of what is falsely being called “church,” and even if we have been taught the Scriptures, and even if we have done religious things and even good things, none of that guarantees us heaven when we die or eternal life with God or salvation from sin. For human-based faith is not what saves us. God-given faith is what saves us, and since it comes from God it is going to obey the Lord and what his New Covenant teachings teach us to do. For faith = obedience.

 

Isaiah 63:10 ESV

 

“But they rebelled

    and grieved his Holy Spirit;

therefore he turned to be their enemy,

    and himself fought against them.”

 

Nonetheless, many people, at least here in America, profess faith in Jesus Christ, but by their words and their actions they deny him. For they do not follow him in obedience, and they are not dying daily to sin and denying self. But they are going their own way, doing their own thing, living just like the world, and mostly ignoring the Lord or giving him only a cursory nod here and there. And the New Testament teaches what this Scripture passage teaches us, too. The Lord may be giving you time now to repent, but that is not going to last forever. So, please take that to heart.

 

So, please pay attention to what Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught us, for they did not teach that we could believe in Jesus and yet still walk in deliberate and habitual sin and not walk in obedience to our Lord in righteousness and holiness. They taught that if sin is our habit (practice) and if obedience to our Lord and walks of righteousness and holiness are not what we practice, that we do not have salvation from sin, and we do not have eternal life with God, but we will face the wrath of God.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; 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 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Praise the “I AM!”

 

An Original Work / February 24, 2012

 

Jesus, my Savior, full of compassion,

Glorious in power, mighty in strength;

Gracious Redeemer, mighty deliv’rer,

My heart adores Him. Praise to His name!

Perfect salvation my Lord provided

When He died for my sins on a tree;

Crucified my sins; conquered in vict’ry,

When He arose, so I could be free!

 

I am so thankful for His forgiveness;

Grateful that He chose to pardon me,

Giving me new life full in His Spirit,

So I can serve Him; His servant be!

Walking in daily fellowship with Him,

Obeying Him whate’er He commands;

Forsaking my sins, living in freedom,

I will endure with Him to the end!

 

He gives me peace and calm reassurance

In times of sorrow, or in distress.

His grace is sure, and oh, how sufficient

To meet me in my need for sweet rest.

Oh, how I love You, Jesus, my Savior.

My heart longs for You where’er I am.

Your word is precious; speaks to my spirit;

Brings comfort, healing. Praise the “I AM!”

 

https://vimeo.com/125736554

Discerning the Lies

John 10:27-28 ESV

 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

 

I am going to begin with these verses in order to establish who our Lord’s sheep are, and then I will go back to the beginning of John 10, and I will talk about those verses in light of these two verses above.

 

We are not the Lord’s sheep merely by making a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. We are not the Lord’s sheep because we went through catechism, or because we got baptized in water, or because we joined a local “church,” which could be the body of Christ, or which could be an institutional church, most of which appear to be market-driven instead of Holy Spirit driven, at least here in America. None of these things make us his sheep.

 

We are the Lord’s sheep who listen to our Lord and who heed his words. He knows us, and we follow (obey) him. So, like Jesus said, if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with him to sin (lose our lives), and thus we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, which is what we are doing, then we have the hope of eternal life with God (Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23).

 

So, those who are listening to the Lord intently, and who then are following him in obedience, they are his true sheep. He gives us eternal life, and we will never perish, and no one will snatch us out of his hand. And it doesn’t mean we are following him perfectly, but we are not walking in sin, but we are walking in holiness and in righteousness, and in walks of obedience to our Lord, in practice. We are not continuing in deliberate and habitual sin, but we are continuing in our walks of obedience to our Lord.

 

John 10:1-5 ESV

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

 

So, if the sheep are those who are listening to the Lord and who are following him in obedience, then the sheepfold would be the gatherings of the sheep and/or it would be the body of Christ, his true church. But no one can enter into the body of Christ except for those of genuine faith in Jesus Christ. But many can enter into the gatherings of the body of Christ, making it appear as though they are also the Lord’s sheep when they are not. For they did not enter via genuine faith in Jesus Christ but via another way, which is not the true way.

 

So, they may profess faith in Jesus Christ, but they are not of the true faith, for they are just pretending to be the Lord’s sheep when they are not, or else they are deceived into believing that they are his true sheep, when they are not. For there is only one way into fellowship with our Lord’s sheep, and that is through God-given faith in Jesus Christ. And those of that faith are then crucified with Christ in death to sin, and they are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23).

 

So, what other way? It is through a false faith that many enter into the gatherings of the sheep and thus into what they believe is fellowship with the sheep, but they are not in true fellowship with God. For those of the false faith have not died with Christ to sin, and so they have not been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, and so they are still dead in their sins, bound for hell, but on a false promise of heaven as their eternal destiny. And so they are not walking in obedience to our Lord in walks of righteousness and holiness.

 

Now Jesus Christ is the door to a true relationship with Jesus Christ and to becoming his true sheep, plus he is the true shepherd of the true sheep who listen to his voice and who follow him in obedience. So, his true sheep know his voice, but they do not follow the voices of those who came into the fold by another way. But I am certainly not saying that genuine followers of Christ can never be deceived. I know we can. For those who deceive disguise themselves as servants of righteousness and they can be very convincing. And this is why we have so many warnings in the New Testament about not being deceived.

 

But if we are the Lord’s true sheep, I believe he will let us know when something isn’t right, and he does lead us to test whatever we hear or read coming from everyone. But we have to be listening, and we can’t have our minds cluttered with the world to where we can’t hear the voice of the Lord clearly. So we need to have open communication between us and the Lord all the time, and we have to be listening for his voice, and we must be in his word learning what it says so that we are not duped into believing lies.

 

But the lies are often cleverly blended in with the truth, so if all we do is give things a cursory read or listen, but we don’t pay close attention to what is actually being said, we may miss the clever lies inserted within the truth. And then we may end up accepting the lies thinking that we are accepting the truth. And this is why it is so critical that we are students of the Scriptures who study them in context and who are those who are in the practice of testing what we hear, for the lies can be so subtle.

 

But if we are discerning, we should recognize the lies for what they are, and we should also recognize those who are the strangers, for many of them today are all following a similar script which they are being taught by those who are training them in the ministry. And if we have seen it enough times, we should begin to pick up on it earlier than before and to see the patterns and how so many people are just copies of each other. But not many these days seem to be picking up on the lies, and so many people are falling for them and they are following them. So know the truth!

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Full Release  

 

An Original Work / April 15, 2012

 

Walking daily with my Savior

brings me joy.

Loving Father; precious Jesus;

He’s my Savior and my Lord.

Gently leads me; follow Him.

I’ve invited Him within.

Now abiding in His presence,

oh, what peace.

From my self-life

He has brought me,

By His mercy, full release.

 

Hope and comfort,

peace and safety Jesus brings

When I daily bow before Him;

Obey freely; do His will.

Follow Him where’er He leads.

Listen to Him; His words heed.

Now obeying his words fully,

oh, what love

That He gives me

through salvation,

By His Spirit, from above.

 

Loving Father; precious Jesus,

He’s my friend.

With my Savior, by His Spirit,

I will endure to the end.

Share the gospel, tell what’s true.

Witness daily; His will do.

Tell the world of how their Savior

bled and died.

On a cruel cross He suffered

So that we might be alive.

 

https://vimeo.com/115169203

Walking in Newness of Life

Romans 6:1-4 ESV

 

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, 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.”

 

God’s grace to us is not free license for sensuality and immorality. His grace, which is bringing us salvation, trains (instructs, teaches) us to renounce (say “No” to) ungodliness and fleshly passions, 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; cf. Ephesians 2:10).

 

So, we don’t make a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now we are “saved,” done deal, and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now we are guaranteed heaven as our eternal destiny, regardless of how we live, even though this is a very popular teaching. For when we believe in Jesus with God-given faith, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, in obedience to our Lord, in holiness and in righteousness, by God’s grace.

 

So, we are not to continue living in sin once we have died with Christ to sin and we have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. For if truly we did die to sin, then how can we live in it any longer? For by faith in Jesus Christ we were buried with Christ in a spiritual baptism into death so that we might now walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus, our Lord, not like our old lives of living in sin and for self, but now for the glory and praise of God, in the power, wisdom, and strength of our Lord.

 

Romans 6:6-7 ESV

 

“We know that 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. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”

 

Now, Jesus Christ did not die that horrible death on a cross just to forgive us our sins and to promise us heaven when we die. He who knew no sin became sin for us on that cross, and so our sins were put to death with him so that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. So, when we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, it is in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we will no longer be enslaved (addicted) to sin, but to God and to his righteousness. For Jesus freed us from our slavery to sin.

 

Romans 6:12-13,16 ESV

 

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness… you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.”

 

So, we are not to let sin reign any longer in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. We are no longer to walk in sin, making sin our practice. But righteousness and holiness and walks of obedience to our Lord are to be what we practice. And we are to live our lives on this earth as though truly we have been turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, and from death to life. For, if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, not to life eternal. But obedience leads to righteousness and to eternal life.

 

Romans 6:20-23 ESV

 

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

And we need to pay attention to the wording here in the whole chapter, but mostly on what it says here leading up to verse 23, which is often misquoted and used in the wrong context. For if we are still enslaved to sin, making sin our practice, and obedience to our Lord is not what we practice, then the end of those things is death, not life eternal. But if we are living as those who have been set free from sin, and so we have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

 

For… the wages (payment, fruit, results) of sin (deliberate and habitual sin, the practice of sin) is death. But the gift of God, which is our salvation from sin, is eternal life with God, for it sets us free from our addiction to sin so that we can walk no longer as slaves of sin but as slaves to God. It frees us from the control of sin over our lives so that we can now come under Holy Spirit control and now walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. So, the gift of God is not just forgiveness of sins. It is freedom from bondage to sin so we can walk in obedience to our Lord.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 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

Opposition to Christ and His Gospel

I am reading Acts 4:1-31

 

The apostles were instrumental in the healing of people in the name of Jesus, and they were sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people. But many of the Jewish rulers did not like what they were doing. So, they arrested them, and eventually they decided to warn them to no longer speak in the name of Jesus, for they were against Jesus Christ, which is why many of them participated in plotting and in carrying out his death on that cross.

 

“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’” (Acts 4:19-20 ESV). Amen!

 

So, the Jewish authorities released them, and then the apostles went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

 

“And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

 

“Why did the Gentiles rage,

    and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers were gathered together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed”—

 

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”  (Acts 4:24-31)

 

Why Do They Rage?

 

So, why do the ungodly of this world rage against the Lord and the peoples plot in vain against him? For they are still doing this, in case you didn’t know. Only now they just alter the character of Jesus Christ to make him more acceptable, and so they also alter the gospel message to make it more acceptable, so it doesn’t appear that they are against Christ and his gospel, but that they are against those who they say are teaching “works salvation.” For they have twisted and turned everything inside out.

 

But, in truth, because they have altered the character of Christ and they have altered and twisted his gospel to make it more acceptable to the people of the world and to human flesh, it shows that they are still raging against the Lord. And they are still plotting against our Lord in order to put biblical Jesus and his gospel to death, and so that they could raise up a false Jesus and a false gospel to take their place, in order to deceive the masses into following the false Christ and the false gospel.

 

Have you noticed how many TV shows (series) and movies and documentaries (perhaps) of late have been about Jesus Christ, where they are painting him as someone everyone loved, pretty much? I believe this is purposeful, and the intent is to move everyone from following the true Jesus to now following this false (altered) Jesus and his false (altered) gospel. So, this is of Satan, and he is still trying to put Jesus and his message to death.

 

And preachers and teachers of the Scriptures are doing this, too, but not all of them, but the majority of them in America, perhaps. And many of them are twisting the Scriptures, and they are teaching them out of their context in order to deceive the masses into believing and following after their lies, and in order to demonize the truth so that they will reject the truth of who Jesus is and of what he taught and of the truth of his gospel of our salvation.

 

And many people in America are flocking to these preachers, and they are flocking to these movies and TV series about Jesus, and they are adopting these dramatized and altered versions of who Jesus is and was, and of his gospel message, too, and they are being convinced that the lies are the truth and the truth is the lie. And so we who are bringing the truth of the gospel to the people are being demonized, too.

 

Now, in America, we are not being told that we can’t speak in the name of Jesus, for they have made the name of Jesus a household word, and they have altered his character to make him more acceptable to the ungodly. And we are not being prevented, so far, from speaking the gospel, unless what we are teaching is not the altered gospel. For so much of what is called “church” in America has adopted the altered Jesus and the altered gospel, and so they are largely rejecting us who are teaching the true Jesus and the true gospel. And in many cases we are being silenced.

 

But thank the Lord, the internet in America, so far, is still a place where we can share the true Jesus and the truth of the gospel, although not in every location, not even on all “Christian” sites. For wherever they have adopted the altered Jesus image and the altered and diluted gospel, it appears they are mostly discouraging the teaching of what is truth. I know I have found that to be true in most institutional churches (businesses) I have been part of over the years of my life and on some websites.

 

Now the point here is that Satan and his messengers are still trying to put Jesus and his message to death, and they are still opposing those who are still speaking the truth of the gospel. And the truth is that by God-given faith in Jesus Christ we must die with Christ to sin and live to him and to his righteousness in walks of obedience and humility and submission to Christ Jesus, our Lord. And this is to be our daily practice, not in absolute sinless perfection, but in walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, by the Spirit.

 

And it is that there are many people who are now following after the lies and who are professing faith in Jesus Christ, convinced that heaven is their destiny, while they continue living in sin, for the flesh, with no fear of God. They refuse to believe our Lord’s teachings and his warnings, and so they go on in their sin convincing themselves that they are in fellowship with God. But the Bible is clear. If we make sin our practice, and if righteousness, holiness, and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, then we will NOT inherit eternal life with God.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Full Release  

 

An Original Work / April 15, 2012

 

Walking daily with my Savior

brings me joy.

Loving Father; precious Jesus;

He’s my Savior and my Lord.

Gently leads me; follow Him.

I’ve invited Him within.

Now abiding in His presence,

oh, what peace.

From my self-life

He has brought me,

By His mercy, full release.

 

Hope and comfort,

peace and safety Jesus brings

When I daily bow before Him;

Obey freely; do His will.

Follow Him where’er He leads.

Listen to Him; His words heed.

Now obeying his words fully,

oh, what love

That He gives me

through salvation,

By His Spirit, from above.

 

Loving Father; precious Jesus,

He’s my friend.

With my Savior, by His Spirit,

I will endure to the end.

Share the gospel, tell what’s true.

Witness daily; His will do.

Tell the world of how their Savior

bled and died.

On a cruel cross He suffered

So that we might be alive.

 

https://vimeo.com/115169203

Called to His Own Glory

2 Peter 1:1-2 ESV

 

“Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

 

“To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

 

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

 

What would be a faith of equal standing with the apostles? Well, first of all I want to define “equal standing.” And this is what I found: “If two things are equal or if one thing is equal to another, they are the same size, number, standard, or value” (Collins Dictionary). So, this would be about having a faith that is the same as the apostles’ faith, that is of the same standard and value as their faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

So, to find out what that is, we have to read the Scriptures, and we must read what Paul and Peter and John and James, etc. described as their faith and/or the faith that we are all to have. And we need to read the words of Jesus, too, for he described the kind of faith we are to have in him, and then his apostles taught and lived those truths, though not necessarily in all the same words as what Jesus said, unless they were quoting him.

 

So, Paul taught that coming to faith in Jesus Christ means we die with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and that it means walking in obedience to our Lord, in righteousness and holiness, and not in sin. For if sin is what we obey, it will lead to death, but if obedience is what we obey, it will lead to righteousness and sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God. For by the Spirit we must be putting to death the deeds of the flesh.

 

And John wrote that if we say we have fellowship with God, but we walk in darkness (sin, wickedness), we lie. And if we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments (New Covenant), we lie. And if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness is not what we practice, then we are not of God, and we are not born of God, but we are of the devil. For no one who abides in God, and God in them, makes a practice of sinning.

 

And Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to (try to save) our old lives of living in sin and for the flesh, we will lose them for eternity. But if we lose our lives, i.e. if we die with Christ to sin that we may live to him and to his righteousness, then we have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

 

[Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23]

 

2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV

 

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

 

Okay, so the “us” here, as we apply it to our lives today, must coincide with “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” We are to be those who are walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh, and who by the Spirit are in the practice of putting to death the deeds of the flesh so that we can walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.

 

And we are those who are walking in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, for whom righteousness, godliness, and holiness are what we practice, and sin is not our practice. For Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he died to put our sins to death with him so that we will no longer be enslaved to sin, but so we would be slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

[Romans 8:1-14; Romans 6:1-23; 1 Peter 2:24; Titus 2:11-14]

 

Our Lord has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. In other words, the faith that is required of us for salvation from sin and for eternal life with God is authored and perfected by Jesus Christ, and so it comes from God, and it is gifted to us by God, and it is not of our own doing. And we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father draws us to Christ. So we can’t, of our own accord, decide to believe in Jesus.

 

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 6:44]

 

But then we have to take hold of that faith, and walk by it, in the power and strength and wisdom of God via obedience to his commands, and via willingly dying with him to sin and living to him and to his righteousness – all in his strength and power and not of our own flesh. For, according to the Scriptures, faith = obedience, and disobedience = unbelief. So, faith and obedience are inseparable. And you can see this in the context of Hebrews chapter 11, which is regarded as the faith chapter of the Bible.

 

[1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 11]

 

And so when it says here “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire,” please understand that if you continue living in sin, making sin your practice, that you don’t have these precious and very great promises. For all of God’s promises to us are conditional upon us doing what he says to do.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Jesus is All the World to Me  

 

By Will Thompson, 1904

 

Jesus is all the world to me,

My life, my joy, my all;

He is my strength from day to day,

Without Him I would fall.

When I am sad, to Him I go,

No other one can cheer me so;

When I am sad, He makes me glad,

He’s my Friend.

 

Jesus is all the world to me,

My Friend in trials sore;

I go to Him for blessings, and

He gives them o’er and o’er.

He sends the sunshine and the rain,

He sends the harvest’s golden grain;

Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain,

He’s my Friend.

 

Jesus is all the world to me,

And true to Him I’ll be;

Oh, how could I this Friend deny,

When He’s so true to me?

Following Him I know I’m right,

He watches o’er me day and night;

Following Him by day and night,

He’s my Friend.

 

Jesus is all the world to me,

I want no better Friend;

I trust Him now, I’ll trust Him when

Life’s fleeting days shall end.

Beautiful life with such a Friend,

Beautiful life that has no end;

Eternal life, eternal joy,

He’s my Friend.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnQxWqg-NDE

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