Our God can Move Mountains

Matthew 6:25-32 ESV

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

 

“And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

 

I think our society, or our culture, teaches us to be afraid about everything. I know the news media promotes fear all the time. And, if we grew up in an abusive home, like I did, we grew up being afraid all the time, too. So, fear is instilled in us, and so we must learn to overcome it by trusting Jesus.

 

Yes, there are healthy fears, such as the fear (awe, honor, respect, reverence) of the Lord. And, the fear of danger can be healthy, too, which is more like wisdom, such as fearing (respecting) a hot stove so that we don’t touch it and get burned.

 

But, anxiety never solves anything. It never changes anything for the good if we sit around and worry about our circumstances or about our future or what we are going to do if this or that happens. All worry does is it makes us sick, and it can produce all kinds of physical and mental ailments.

 

In addition to that, when we are worrying about anything or everything, we are not trusting the Lord with our lives or with other people or with our circumstances. It is like saying to God, “God, I don’t believe you are capable of handling this situation.”

 

When we give way to worry and we begin to fret about things, we also have a tendency of taking matters into our own hands because we fear, honestly, that God is not going to do a good enough job. So, the opposite of worry is to have faith in our Lord and in his sovereignty over our lives.

 

Matthew 6:33 ESV

 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

 

Instead of worrying, we commit our lives to the Lord, and we trust him. But, let me say this here. If we are not listening to the Lord, and if we are going our own way, doing our own thing, and so we mess things up badly, we can’t expect the Lord to bail us out.

 

We need to take responsibility for our own actions and not expect the Lord to fix our messes for us. And, we need to be following him in all ways, doing what he says to do, and we must resist taking matters into our own hands or making all our own decisions without consulting the Lord.

 

Seeking first his kingdom is not some light, casual, or momentary thing just when we need help. Seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness is 24/7, in all things, and in all ways. It is desiring his desires and wanting his best for us in all things instead of seeking our own desires.

 

Seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness is giving our all to the Lord, fully committed to him and to doing his will for our lives. It is dying daily to sin and to self and it is walking daily in his righteousness, empowered by his Spirit now living within us.

 

And, when we do that, our basic (fundamental) needs will be met by the Lord. But for Americans, we need to understand that we don’t “need” most of what we think we “need.” We all can live on a whole lot less – less money, less space, less stuff, less food to eat, and less clothing/shoes, etc.

 

We made a move a few years ago from a house to an apartment half the size of our house, so before we moved, I went through our entire house and just cut everything in half, i.e. I downsized our stuff by half of what we had. And, we weren’t in need of anything.

 

A year later we moved again to an even smaller space, and this time I cut out another third of our stuff, and you know what? We survived just fine. We didn’t need all that stuff. I also learned that I could eat a whole lot less and be healthy, and that we, as Americans, don’t need the amount of food the average American eats.

 

So, when the Lord says if we seek his kingdom first that “all these things” will be added to us, he is not talking about all the things we think we need to survive. He is talking about what he knows that we need to survive. For, we serve an amazing God. And, just like he fed 4,000 people, I think it was, with a few loaves of bread and a few fish, he is quite capable of not only making our food stretch, but of making our stomachs shrink, too.

 

He can give us strength when we are so tired we don’t think we can go on another minute or another mile. And, God will do amazing things in our lives if we just get out of the way and we learn to truly trust him in all things and in all ways. All glory to God!

 

My Prayer 

 

An Original Work / May 30, 2011

 

“Fill me with Your Spirit;

help me to love others;

Let me know Your power;

be an overcomer.

Show me how to follow

Jesus Christ, my Savior;

Be His faithful servant

to obey Him always.

 

“Lead me with Your presence;

help me know the right way;

Teach me love and kindness,

generous compassion.

Give me grace and courage

to be Jesus’ witness,

Teaching His salvation

to a world who needs Him.”

 

Won’t you come and follow

Jesus Christ, your Savior?

He died so you’d be

free of control of your sin;

Free to follow His ways

in complete surrender;

Living sacrifices –

let His grace transform you.

 

https://vimeo.com/122052093

 

What's Your Treasure?

Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

These “treasures” are not speaking just of money. They are not speaking only of material possessions, either. For, what is a treasure? It is anything we cherish, adore, value, or hold dear to our hearts. It may be money. It may be possessions. But it could also be intelligence, education, physical appearance, our personal time, people, entertainment, and the like.

 

Treasures can be anything of this world and of our human flesh which we cherish and value. But everything that is of our flesh and of this world is passing away. And, at age 70, I am ever more aware of that reality. My body and my mind don’t work like they did when I was even 68 years old. I am slowing down.

 

We should hold lightly to the things of this world. Yes, there are things we need to do our work, and we need to have food in our stomachs and money to pay our bills, and places to sleep, although Jesus had nowhere permanent to lay his head.

 

But the things of this world should not be what we invest most of our time, mind, emotions, passions, and energies into. They serve a purpose, but they must never become our gods. They should be a means to an end but never the end itself. We work so we can eat, but we should not work to amass wealth so we can indulge in our earthly pleasures.

 

For, God put us on this earth to serve him, and to do his bidding. He has something for each one of us to do where we will be laying up treasures in heaven and not on this earth. And, so our focus in this life should not be on stuff, but on doing the will of God and on shining the light of truth to all who will listen, for many people need to know Jesus.

 

Matthew 6:22-23 ESV

 

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

 

It is with our physical eyes that we see so that we can walk without running into or tripping over things. They help us to discern colors and shapes and sizes of things to see if they fit or match. They help us to see to select food out of our cupboards to prepare meals. And, they help us to see to write, to pay bills, to drive, to read, and to watch grandchildren, too.

 

Now, this is being used metaphorically here to represent our minds and our spirits or hearts, which is where we exercise discernment and judgment, and we make decisions regarding actions to take or to not take or words to say or to not say.

 

If our minds and hearts/spirits are spiritually healthy (wholesome, pure, unadulterated) then our whole being is full of light (truth, righteousness). But if our minds and hearts/spirits are wicked, immoral, and vile, then our whole being is going to be full of darkness (wickedness, evil).

 

So, how do we get spiritually healthy hearts and minds? Well, we have to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Lord (owner-master). And, this faith is God-given, and thus it submits to Christ as Lord. And the one believing in Jesus dies with Christ to sin, is transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and then walks (in practice) according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17).

 

And, this is daily. This is a daily surrendering our lives to the Lord Jesus, denying self, and dying to sin, choosing to obey the Lord in doing what he says instead of to yield to our sinful flesh and to our fleshly desires.

 

And, this involves feeding our minds and hearts with what is spiritually healthy, too, which is the word of God. And, it involves not feeding our minds and hearts with what is contrary to God’s word and is contrary to his instructions to us and is contrary to holiness, purity, and uprightness.

 

So, we can’t be taking in the garbage of this world into our minds and hearts on a daily basis and then expect to be spiritually wholesome. We can’t be taking false teaching into our minds and hearts, either, and expect to be spiritually well and to be able to resist Satan and to flee temptation and to draw near to God.

 

We have to be discerning regarding what we choose to watch or listen to or read or to participate in, for even the slightest amount of evil can infiltrate our minds and hearts and can make us vulnerable to temptation to sin against our Lord. Even when we are being discerning and guarded and we are living holy lives we can be tempted, so don’t play with evil.

 

Matthew 6:24 ESV

 

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

 

I believe there are two key words in this verse which we need to understand if we are to interpret its meaning correctly. One is the word translated here as “serve,” and the other is the word translated as “money.”

 

Now, the word “serve” actually means to be a slave to, to be subject to, to obey, or to be devoted to. And, this means that all personal ownership rights are assigned to the owner, who is supposed to be Jesus Christ, but it can be a false god or an idol in our lives which is taking the place of Christ.

 

The word “money” is literally “the treasure a person trusts in.” So, it isn’t just money, but it can be anything we cherish, adore, value, or hold dear to our hearts, meaning things or people of this world or of the flesh of man, since it states that we can’t serve (obey) God and mammon (earthly treasures).

 

So, basically this is saying that we can’t obey (be slaves to) the things of this world and obey (be slaves to) God at the same time. Interestingly enough, Romans 6:16 goes with this:

 

“Do you not know that 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?”

 

Jesus Christ is to be our only Lord and Master. Our lives are to be given over only to him. He is to be our treasure, as is his word, his gospel of salvation. So, we are laying up treasures in heaven when we are walking according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh and when we are then sharing with others the gospel of our salvation so that they can know Jesus, too.

 

But we need to be telling people the truth of the gospel and not the watered-down version that so many are passing off as the gospel these days. We have to be making a “straight way” for people to receive Christ as Lord, and not the twisted path that so many are sharing.

 

We need to be sharing with them that we must die with Christ to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness if we want forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

 

Come and See  

 

An Original Work / May 20, 2013

Based off John 1:35-51

 

John, the Baptist, called of God to

Make straight the way for the Lord,

Told his disciples about Jesus,

So, two of them followed Him.

 

One of them who followed Jesus

Told his brother, Simon Peter,

Who then he brought to the Savior,

Who had told them, “Come and see.”

 

Jesus Christ, our Lord, Messiah,

On his way to Galilee found a man, Philip,

So he told him, “I want you to follow Me.”

 

Philip then found his friend,

And he told him, “We have found the one

The prophets spoke of – He is Jesus!”

Philip then said, “Come and see.”

 

Jesus saw the man, Nathanael,

While he sat beneath a fig tree,

Even before Philip called him,

So Nathanael did believe.

 

Nonetheless the Lord said,

“You believe because of what I told you.

You will see much greater things than these

If you will Come and see.”

 

Jesus’ calling to each one of us.

He tells us to believe in Him

As our Lord and Messiah,

And to follow where He leads.

 

He says we must turn from our sins,

Die to sin and self each day,

And put on our new lives in Jesus;

Bow before Him; humbly pray.

 

https://vimeo.com/117022624

Make Your Choice

Don’t Be Idolaters

Psalm 16:4 ESV

 

“The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;

    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out

    or take their names on my lips.”

 

The New Testament speaks often on the subject of idolatry, and of its consequences. In 1 Co 5:11 the church is counseled not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother (or sister) if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, etc.

 

We read in 1 Co 6:9-10 that the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers and those who practice homosexuality, etc., will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

And, in 1 Co 10 we are told about God’s idolatrous people Israel when they wandered in the wilderness and God was not pleased with them, so he overthrew them. He said these things took place as examples to us so that we might not desire evil as they did.

 

So, then we are commanded that we are not to be idolaters as some of them were, and we are not to indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and we must not put Christ to the test nor grumble as they did, all for which God judged them by putting them to death.

 

These things happened to them as an example to us, and they were written down for our instruction, so we don’t do what they did.

 

So, we are to flee idolatry, for we cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, too. We cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons, too. “Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy?”

 

Then, in 2 Co 6:14-18 we are commanded not to be unequally yoked (bonded, partnered) with unbelievers, for there is no fellowship between light and darkness, and there is no agreement between the temple of God and idols, and we are the temple of God.

 

Therefore, we are to come out from among the fellowship with unbelievers and we are to touch no unclean (unholy, wicked, vile) thing. THEN the Lord will welcome us, and he will be a Father to us, and we shall be his sons and daughters.

 

Then, in Gal 5:16-21 we read that the works of the flesh are evident, which include sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, and idolatry, etc. And, there we are warned that those who practice (who are doing) such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

The same message is repeated for us in Eph 5:3-6, where it says that we may be sure of this, “that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (See also Col 3:5-10)

 

In 1 Peter 4:1-5 we are instructed that we are to live no longer for human passions but for the will of God. “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.”

 

We are to keep ourselves from idols – 1 John 5:21.

 

And, lastly we read in Revelation 21 & 22 that the cowardly, faithless, murderers, the sexually immoral, idolaters and all liars have their portion in the lake of fire. They will not enter into the new (heavenly) Jerusalem. For, nothing unclean will ever enter it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

 

Make Jesus Your Choice

Psalm 16:5-11 ESV

 

“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;

    you hold my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

 

“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;

    in the night also my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me;

    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

 

“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

    my flesh also dwells secure.

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

    or let your holy one see corruption.

 

“You make known to me the path of life;

    in your presence there is fullness of joy;

    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

 

This is how we are supposed to live. Do you know that when we are instructed in the New Testament to love God and other people that the word translated “love” is “agape”? And, it means “to prefer (to choose) what God prefers.” It means that we choose his choices, to live to Christ and to his righteousness, in holiness, purity and faithfulness to our Lord.

 

And, do you know that Scripture teaches that to love God is to obey God? And, if we are not obeying him (in practice), that we are not loving him? And, that we don’t know him? And, if we are obeying sin, instead, that we are slaves to sin, and it ends in death? (1 Jn 2:3-6; Jn 14:23-24; Rom 6:16)

 

And, do you know that Scripture teaches that we must walk (in practice, in conduct) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God? (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 6:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

 

Jesus didn’t die on that cross just to forgive us our sins or just to promise us heaven as our eternal destiny. He died on that cross to put our sin to death with him so that we might die with him to sin and live with him and to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15, 21; 1 Co 6:19-20).

 

So, faith in Jesus Christ is not some status we have after we acknowledged Christ or said some words in a prayer or whatever we were told to do to “believe” in Jesus and to have eternal life in him. Faith in Jesus is dying with him to sin and it is living to him and to his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23).

 

So, if we are truly in him, by genuine faith in him, he should be our chosen portion, not our idols. And, we should rejoice in his counsel to us, and not fight against it because it doesn’t agree with what we want to believe. For, we can’t make up our own faith to suit our own lifestyles.

 

The Lord Jesus should not only have first place in our lives, but he should be our lives. We should live and breathe because of him and for him, and not for ourselves and for what we want out of this life, unless it agrees with what he wants for us, according to his word.

 

When the Lord is our portion, and not the cup of demons, and not our flesh, and not the idols of this world, then we dwell secure, and we can be confident that our souls will not see hell, nor will we see corruption (decay, death).

 

Instead, the Lord will make known to us the path of life he has for us to travel, and there we will find peace and joy and fulfillment in knowing we are who God wants us to be, where he wants us, and doing what he has called us to do. And, we’ll be saying whatever it is he gives us to say to the glory and praise of God, too, and for the salvation of human lives.

 

So, do you choose Jesus and all that entails? Or do you choose your idols, instead? If your idols, know that will end in death, not in life everlasting. So, if you are living in immorality, following after the gods (idols) of this world, instead of following Jesus with your life, I pray you will turn from your sin, and turn to follow the Lord today, for you don’t know if you have tomorrow.

 

Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet

 

Frances J Crosby, 1880

William H. Doane, 1876

 

“Though your sins be as scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they be red like crimson,

They shall be as wool!”

“Though your sins be as scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow.”

 

Hear the voice that entreats you,

Oh, return ye unto God!

He is of great compassion,

And of wondrous love;

Hear the voice that entreats you,

Oh, return ye unto God!

 

He’ll forgive your transgressions,

And remember them no more;

“Look unto Me, ye people,”

Saith the Lord your God!

He’ll forgive your transgressions,

And remember them no more.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FDaARQ-Rnk

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To Do Your Will

 Hebrews 10:4-10 ESV

 

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

 

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

 

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

    but a body have you prepared for me;

in burnt offerings and sin offerings

    you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

 

When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

Law and Grace

 

There is much confusion these days regarding what it means to be no longer under the law but under grace. So, there are those who are perverting the truth of the gospel to make it as though we are now to be lawless, teaching God's grace as free license to continue living in sin.

 

Before Jesus came to the earth and took on human flesh and died on a cross for our sins, and was resurrected from the dead, and ascended back to the Father in heaven, God’s people were under “the law,” which required them to follow many different regulations regarding ceremonies and sacrifices and purification, etc., in addition to the Ten Commandments.

 

But, once Jesus came and died for our sins, and was resurrected, and ascended back to the Father, and sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers, God’s people, now believers in Jesus Christ, were no longer required to follow all those Old Covenant regulations. They were not free from God’s moral laws, though. And, they were not free to disobey God.

 

All those Old Covenant regulations, apart from God’s moral laws, were externals. Yes, they were required to do them, but following them by the letter of the law did nothing to take away people’s sins. They were not saved from their sins by following all those external regulations.

 

The law was a means to an end, but it was not the end in itself. It was to lead us to Christ, but it could not do for us what only Christ could do for us. So, Jesus Christ, God the Son, left his throne in heaven, came to earth, became flesh, and was tempted in like manner as we are also tempted, but he did not sin. So, he was our perfect sacrifice to take away our sins.

 

When he was crucified on that cross, he literally became sin for us, thus when he died, our sins died with him. And, when he was resurrected from the dead, he rose victorious over sin, Satan, and death. And, he did this that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.

 

Obedience and Grace

 

Jesus’ sacrifice on a cross for our sins was to deliver us from our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin, not to free us from having to obey God. We still have to obey the Lord, and if we are not obeying him, as a matter of practice, the New Testament teaches we don’t love God and we don’t know the Lord (Jn 14:23-24; Rom 6:16; Heb 5:9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:24).

 

For, if we are not obeying the Lord, then we are obeying the flesh, and if we are obeying the flesh (sin), it will end in death, not in life eternal with God.

 

“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. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Heb 10:26-31 ESV

 

So, you see, Jesus’ death on a cross for our sins did not free us to now sin as much as we want now that we are no longer under the law but under grace. For the grace of God, which brings salvation, instructs us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and fleshly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (Tit 2:11-14).

 

So, if, in pride, and with an insatiable appetite to keep on sinning, a person who claims Christ as his Lord and Savior, ignores the Lord’s commandments, and he chooses to walk in the darkness, instead, heaven is not what is in his future.

 

It doesn’t matter what he confesses with his lips. What matters is how he lives, either to please the flesh or to please God. If he is double-minded, trying to claim his salvation from sin all the while he continues living in sin willfully, the judgment of God and the fires of hell are what he now faces.

 

And, it doesn’t matter how many “good deeds” he does, either, for it is not our good deeds, done in the flesh, that is going to get us into heaven. We are saved only by God’s grace, through faith, but that faith involves repentance, obedience and submission to Christ as Lord (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Gal 6:7-8).

 

For, again, Jesus’ death on a cross was not just to forgive us our sins, and especially it was not to free us to continue living in sin, which is a slap in the face to our Lord who sacrificed his life on that cross for our freedom from our bondage to sin.

 

And, this goes back to what Jesus said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” And, that is the whole point of our salvation, to do the will of God for our lives, not to see how much we can get away with and still be in good standing with God.

 

And, again, this goes to what Paul said in Rom 6:16:

 

“Do you not know that 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?”

 

We are either slaves to obedience to our Lord or we are slaves to sin. We can’t be both. We can’t go back and forth like on a seesaw (teeter-totter) between living in sin and trying to obey the Lord. The two don’t mix. It is not saying we will never sin, but that sin is to no longer have mastery over us.

 

So, we must choose to walk in obedience to our Lord, according to the Spirit of God, and have eternal life with God, or to walk (live, in practice) according to the flesh, and to face eternity in hell. We can’t have it both ways, living in sin and living for the Lord (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10).

 

My Prayer  

 

An Original Work / May 30, 2011

 

“Fill me with Your Spirit;

help me to love others;

Let me know Your power;

be an overcomer.

Show me how to follow

Jesus Christ, my Savior;

Be His faithful servant

to obey Him always.

 

“Lead me with Your presence;

help me know the right way;

Teach me love and kindness,

generous compassion.

Give me grace and courage

to be Jesus’ witness,

Teaching His salvation

to a world who needs Him.”

 

Won’t you come and follow

Jesus Christ, your Savior?

He died so you’d be

free of control of your sin;

Free to follow His ways

in complete surrender;

Living sacrifices –

let His grace transform you.

 

https://vimeo.com/122052093

Return Ye Unto God

The Israel of the Old Covenant is different from the Israel of the New Covenant in that they were God’s people by natural birth, whereas we are God’s children by spiritual birth. But we were/are both saved the same way, by faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, via repentance and obedience and submission to our Lord.

 

The Scriptures make that perfectly clear in Hebrews 3-4 where it warns the church against rebelling against the Lord like the Israelites did in the wilderness, and so many of them did not enter into God’s eternal rest, because of their unbelief (their disobedience).

 

So, although the Scriptures teach that a true believer in (follower of) Jesus is one who has died with Christ to sin, and who has been born anew of the Spirit of God, and who is walking according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh, it warns believers against rebelling and falling back into sin.

 

What I see of these warnings throughout the New Testament is that those who profess faith in Jesus Christ should know that if we walk (in practice) according to the flesh, we are going to die in our sins, and that those who make a practice of sin will not inherit eternal life with God (Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10).

 

So, how does this all work exactly? Well, when we have a proper understanding of faith and of salvation, then it begins to make sense. For, we are saved (past), we are being saved (present), and we will be saved (future) when Christ returns, and our salvation is complete.

 

So, right now we are in process, and the way we choose to go will determine where we spend eternity. And, this is why the church is given all these warnings about not going back to how we lived before we believed, for we are slaves of the one we obey – if sin, it ends in death, and if obedience, it results in righteousness which ends in eternal life with God.

 

Hebrews 3:12-15 ESV

 

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

 

“’Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’”

 

Warnings Against Falling Away

 

Now, some people will tell you that this is not speaking to the church but to the Jews. I believe it is both, i.e. that the intended audience here is the Jews, but they are Jews who profess faith in Jesus Christ, for that is clear by the wording of the writing.

 

But since many other passages of Scripture in the New Testament, outside of the book of Hebrews, give the same or a similar message, we can gather from that that this message is for the church, in general, as well, for it speaks of holding fast our confidence (faith) in Jesus Christ until the end.

 

So, what this and other passages like it teach us is that our faith in Jesus Christ is not a one-time thing, we live, we die, and then we go to heaven. Faith in Jesus Christ is a lifestyle. It is how we walk, how we conduct our lives day after day. It is dying to sin and living for the Lord (Rom 8:1-17).

 

These warnings, thus, are not peculiar just to the book of Hebrews. The Apostle Paul, who many claim as their champion of God’s grace, which usually they mean the “cheap grace gospel,” speaks many warnings against believers in Jesus being deceived and falling back into sin.

 

In Romans 6 he warns that we are slaves of the one we obey, and if that is sin we obey, we will die in our sin, but if obedience, then it ends in eternal life. And, then in Romans 8 he says that if we walk (in practice) according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, then we have eternal life with God.

 

Then, in Galatians he warns us against making sin our practice, and to practice sin means we regularly (habitually), willfully and premeditatedly choose the same sins over again, as our normal pattern of behavior. And, so he says if we are engaging ourselves in sexual immorality, idolatry, drunkenness, orgies, and the like, we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

Continuing on in the book of Galatians, Paul warns us that we are not to be deceived, that God is not mocked, for whatever we sow we are going to reap. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (decay, death). But if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal 6:7-8; cf. Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10).

 

In Ephesians 5:3-6 he reiterates what he said in Galatians 5:16-21 regarding living in (walking in) sin habitually, making it our practice. We will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and God if that is how we live. But prior to that, in chapter 4, he details for us what it means to have faith in Christ.

 

Ephesians 4:19-24 ESV

 

“They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 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.”

 

The Truth in Jesus

 

Many people today are teaching that we can be saved from our sins and be on our way to heaven, guaranteed, but that we can still continue living in sin. Scripture does not teach that. It does teach it is possible for us to sin, as followers of Jesus, but we have many warnings that if we continue living in sin that we don’t have eternal life with God.

 

This is one of those passages which detail for us what it means to be in Christ, and to be a believer in Jesus Christ. The truth in Jesus Christ is that we must put off (die to, forsake) our former way of living to sin and to self. God’s grace to us is not free license to continue living in sin.

 

And, we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds by the Spirit of God in rebirth so that we don’t have the same mindset as we had before. Our minds are moved away from deceitful desires to desiring Christ and his holiness, and away from a desire to sin to now having a desire to obey our Lord.

 

So, we die to our former lives of sin, and we are transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, then, by the Spirit, we put on our new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord, which are created to be in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness, which is how we are to walk.

 

So, if you have not done that, i.e. if you have not surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, died to your old life of sin, and put on Christ and his righteousness, by faith in Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to do that today, for you don’t know if you have tomorrow.

 

And, if you have had genuine faith in Jesus Christ, but your faith has been wavering, and you have drifted from your pure devotion to Jesus Christ, and you have fallen back into some of your old sinful practices from your old life of sin, I encourage you today to repent of your sin and get right with God.

 

Jesus will forgive you and he will restore you if you are truly repentant.

 

Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet

 

Frances J Crosby, 1880

William H. Doane, 1876

 

“Though your sins be as scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they be red like crimson,

They shall be as wool!”

“Though your sins be as scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow.”

 

Hear the voice that entreats you,

Oh, return ye unto God!

He is of great compassion,

And of wondrous love;

Hear the voice that entreats you,

Oh, return ye unto God!

 

He’ll forgive your transgressions,

And remember them no more;

“Look unto Me, ye people,”

Saith the Lord your God!

He’ll forgive your transgressions,

And remember them no more.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FDaARQ-Rnk

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No Lie is of The Truth

1 John 2:18-19 ESV

 

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

 

Who is the antichrist? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah – who denies both the Father and the Son. And, what does it mean to deny Jesus as the Christ? It may be a verbal denial, but it doesn’t have to be. The main way we deny Jesus is by how we treat him and others.

 

And, this is because the Scriptures teach us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and that his servants masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness, and that wolves in sheep’s clothing will be among us, and they will twist the gospel of grace (Matt 7:15-23; Acts 20:29-31).

 

So, what this is saying is that people can confess Jesus with their lips but deny him by their wicked and evil hearts and by their actions which are just faking faith in Jesus Christ for their own evil purposes. How else would Satan be able to deceive Christians? He pretends to be one of them.

 

So, when this says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us,” this is NOT speaking of them leaving the institutional (state) church, which is how many people are interpreting this passage. For the institutional (state) church is NOT the church, and Jesus is not its head.

 

The true church is the body of Christ, which is comprised of true believers in Jesus Christ across the globe. We become members of this church by faith in Jesus Christ, which involves repentance, obedience, and submission to Christ as Lord of our lives (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

 

So, when this says “they went out from us” it is speaking of a spiritual departure, not a physical one necessarily, because these antichrists, i.e. these wolves in sheep’s clothing are still physically among the people of God pretending to be servants of righteousness.

 

So, how is it plain that these “antichrists” are not of us? It has to do with what they teach. It has to do with their lifestyles. And, it has to do with the fruit that they bear. Are they teaching the unadulterated truth of God’s word? Or are they teaching a mixture of truth and lies?

 

1 John 2:20-23 ESV

 

“But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

 

Anointed by the Holy One

 

When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior with God-given faith, we die with Christ to sin and we are reborn of the Spirit of God to newness of life in Christ, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

When this takes place, the Holy Spirit of God comes to live within us and to teach us all things related to Jesus – to counsel, correct, instruct and empower us to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God. This is our anointing. We have the mind of Christ living within us.

 

So, because we have God’s Spirit living within us teaching us and instructing us in the ways of God, and because we have the mind of Christ now living within us, we don’t need prophets (like in the OT) telling us what God is saying. Now Jesus speaks directly to us through his Spirit and his written word.

 

So, we have the truth of God and of his word planted within our minds and within our hearts, so we can’t say that we don’t know the truth. We may not understand all of it, but even non-believers in Jesus know enough to choose right from wrong (See Rom 1:18-32), so we are all without excuse.

 

Yet, this is not saying that we don’t need the gifts of teaching, encouragement, or prophecy within the church or that we don’t need to be instructed in the ways of the Lord from the written word of God and from people anointed of God to share the truths of God’s word with us.

 

This is just saying that we don’t have to hear from human prophets to tell us what God is saying because we now have the Spirit of God living within us teaching us the ways of the Lord. But we still need to be in the Scriptures, studying them, following them, and sharing them with others.

 

Discerning Truth from Lies

 

Thus, when others do share the word of God with us, we need to be discerning as to whether or not what they are sharing is indeed truth. So, what is one of the tests to see if it is truth? No lie is of the truth. If what they are sharing does not agree with Scripture (in context), then it is a lie.

 

Also, we have to watch out for lies mixed with truth, for this is one of the biggest ways the enemy deceives by disguising lies as truth and by mixing them together. So, if the Scriptures teach us that if we walk (in practice) according to the flesh that we don’t have eternal life with God, then we can’t say someone who walks according to the flesh is of God/of Christ.

 

The Scriptures teach us that if we are not obeying God (as a matter of practice) that we don’t know God, and that if we claim we do know God, but we do not make it our practice to keep God’s Word, that we are liars. Thus, we can’t turn around and claim that someone who habitually, willfully, and premeditatedly disobeys God’s word is a child of God.

 

Either the word of God is true, or it isn’t. We can’t change its meaning depending upon our own circumstances or to justify sinful practices. If to love God and to know God is to be obeying him, in practice, though not necessarily in perfection, if sin is what we practice, then we don’t know God.

 

If we live in sin we deny Christ by our lifestyles. And, tears are not necessarily a sign of repentance. True repentance involves forsaking our sinful practices, being transformed in mind of the Spirit of God, and walking by the Spirit in obedience to our Lord (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Tit 2:11-14; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8).

 

So, if someone tries to tell you differently, don’t believe them. If someone ends up rejecting you because you are telling the truth about what God’s word teaches, then praise the Lord! Stand on the truth! Do not compromise the truth for the sake of acceptance from other humans.

 

Know that the truth of God’s word is what is going to set people free from their slavery to sin so that they can now become slaves (bondservants) of his righteousness. So, keep telling the truth, even if you are hated for it in return.

 

God is With Us

 

An Original Work / June 11, 2019

Based off Psalm 46

 

God’s our refuge. He is our strength,

A present help to us when in pain.

Therefore, we will not be afraid,

Although the earth beneath us gives way.

 

Though the mountains be moved to the sea,

Roaring waters abound so free,

And the mountains now tremble so,

We will not fear, God is near, we know.

 

God is with us and He makes glad

The hearts of all who to Christ have fled.

Christ is in us, so we’ll not fall

When on our Savior our hearts do call.

 

God will help us, as mornings arise,

To be faithful to His design.

Nations raging, and tempers flare.

Our God is with us. We know He cares.

 

Come and see the works of the Lord.

He’s armed for battle with His great sword.

He’s the Word, and He is the Life.

He gives us strength in all of our strife.

 

Be still and know that He is our God.

He’s exalted where’er He trods.

The Lord Almighty, with us still;

The God of Jacob, our citadel.

 

https://vimeo.com/341717561

I Belong to Jesus

 1 John 2:1-6

 

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

 

If We Sin

 

When Jesus died on that cross for our sins, he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. He shed his blood for us to buy us back for God that we might now honor God with our lives and with our bodies (1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15, 21).

 

He died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us. And, he died that we might be delivered from our slavery to sin, so we now become slaves of his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15; Rom 6:1-23).

 

The faith in Jesus that we must have to receive salvation from sin and eternal life with God is God-given (Eph 2:8-9) and it is divinely persuaded, thus it submits to Jesus as Lord, it dies with Christ to sin, and it lives to Christ and to his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

 

Faith in Jesus Christ, in other words, is not an emotion, or an experience, or a religion, or a confession, or an acknowledgment of who Jesus is and of what he did for us in dying for us and in rising from the dead. It is dying to sin and it is living to righteousness, empowered by God’s Spirit (Eph 4:17-24).

 

The goal of our salvation from sin is that we not sin. But, we do still live in flesh bodies, so we still have a propensity to sin. We will still be tempted to sin, too. But Jesus made the way of escape for us out from under temptation to sin when he put sin to death for us on that cross.

 

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we should no longer be under the control of sin. Sin should no longer rule our lives. It should not have dominion over us so that we continue to yield to its control. So, our salvation from sin is not free license to continue living in sin. And, what we read here in 1 John 2 is also not permission to keep living in sin (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

So, this is meant to be a mere acknowledgment that, as human beings, we are still living in flesh bodies, we still have the propensity to sin, and we may sin from time to time, but if we do, we have not lost our salvation. But, this in no way is free license to keep living in sin now that we are “saved.”

 

If We Keep Them

 

When we study the Scriptures, we must study them in the context in which they are written. So, we can’t pull out verses 1-2 and build a doctrine of salvation around them. Verses 1-2 must be read in the context of the whole of 1 John and in the context of verses 3-6.

 

So, although we may sin occasionally, no longer as a matter of habit or practice, yet if we are not obeying the Lord’s commandments (under the New Covenant), then we don’t know the Lord. For, if we claim to know Jesus, but we are not in the practice of obeying his teachings, we are liars.

 

But if we, by the Spirit, are in the practice of obeying the commandments of God (under the New Covenant), then God’s love is perfected in us, for that means we are growing to maturity in our walks of faith, and that we are learning what it means to love God and to love others, too.

 

And, what are his commandments? They can be summed up in the same way in which Jesus summed up the ten commandments. We are to love God with our whole being – hearts, minds, spirit, bodies, and strength. And, we are to love other people as we love and care for ourselves.

 

So, if we love God in this way, we are not going to habitually sin against him willfully, knowingly, and premeditatedly. We are not going to take his grace for granted, thinking his salvation gives us permission to live in sin. For, sin also hurts other people, and that is not loving others as ourselves, either.

 

Emulating Jesus

 

And, this is how we know that we are in Christ: If we are living (walking) in Christ, if we are continuing in him, and if we are remaining steadfast in him, in his truth, and in his righteousness, then our walks should be in the same manner as how Jesus walked.

 

Obviously, we can’t claim that we are sinless like Jesus was, but in what ways can we, as his followers, emulate him? We ought to love people like he did, considering their legitimate needs above ourselves. And, we ought to humble ourselves by serving others as Jesus did.

 

We need to be healers in the way that we talk with and treat others, too, but this is not in the sense that the world would consider being healers. For, we don’t lie to people just to make them feel good about themselves while they are living in sin. We speak the truth in love to them, as Jesus did.

 

So, what truth did Jesus teach? He taught that if we want to come after him we must deny self and daily we must die with him to sin, and we must walk in obedience to his commands. He said if we hold on to our old lives of sin we will lose them for eternity, but if we lose our lives (die with him to sin) for his sake, we will have eternal life with God (Lu 9:23-26).

 

Over and over again he taught the cost of being one of his disciples. It means to leave everything to follow him wherever he leads us. And, this leaving everything is not necessarily physically leaving, but mentally, emotionally leaving (giving up) all to follow (obey) Jesus.

 

So, what this looks like is we surrender it all to Jesus, and we let him decide where we live and what we possess, but it is his, and we have to truly see it all as belonging to him, so that when he says “give to this person” we give, for we don’t see it as ours to begin with.

 

And, if he says to pack up our bags and move, we move, and we go with him wherever he leads us. We speak to whom he leads us to speak, and we willingly say whatever it is he gives us to say, even though we know it is going to get us hated and rejected in return.

 

Basically, we don’t consider our lives our own, for we are now God’s possession, and thus we are to glorify God with our lives in doing what he has called us to do, which is to be like him.

 

A Believer’s Prayer

 

An Original Work / July 31, 2012

 

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray

To be Yours, and Yours always.

Lead me in Your truth today.

May I love You and obey.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

When I sin, may I confess;

Bow before You when I pray;

Live for You and You always.

 

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.

Life with You will never end.

You are with me through each day,

Giving love and peace always.

You will ne’er abandon me.

From my sin You set me free.

You died on that cruel tree,

So I’d live eternally.

 

Soon You’re coming back for me;

From this world to set me free;

Live with You eternally.

Oh, what joy that brings to me.

I will walk with You in white;

A pure bride, I’ve been made right

By the blood of Jesus Christ;

Pardoned by His sacrifice.

 

https://vimeo.com/114796263