Run With It

Monday, June 26, 2023

Not Ashamed of The Gospel

Romans 1:14-17 ESV

“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’.”

As followers of Jesus Christ we are to be those who are proclaiming the excellencies of God who called us out of darkness (sin) into his wonderful light (truth, righteousness, salvation from sin, eternal life, Jesus Christ). We are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and we are to be his witnesses, and we are to make disciples of Christ of people of all nations, teaching them to obey our Lord’s commandments (New Covenant), and baptizing them with water in the name of God (wherever that is possible).

See: [Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]

And what is the gospel that we are to be proclaiming to them? It is that Jesus Christ, who is God, and who is the Son of God, came to earth, was born as a human baby to a human mother, with God as his birth father, and that he grew to be a man. At around age 30 he selected 12 men to be his disciples who would travel and minister with him. And he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, drove out demons, fed the hungry, and preached repentance and obedience to him for forgiveness of sins, for salvation from slavery to sin, and for eternal life with God.

But the Jews largely hated him and would not accept him as their Messiah, so they plotted and carried out his death on a cross. But it was the will of God the Father that his only begotten Son Jesus Christ would be our perfect lamb sacrifice on that cross to take away the sins of the world. For Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us on that cross so that when he died our sins died with him. And this was in order that we might now die with him to sin, not just once but daily, and live to his righteousness. For if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, 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]

And we should not be ashamed of this gospel of Christ taught in these noted Scriptures above. We should not be reluctant or unwilling to repent of our sins and to follow our Lord in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) and to live holy lives pleasing to God. And we should not be reluctant or unwilling to share the truth of the gospel of Christ with others so that they can be delivered from their slavery to sin and be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God.

And the reason we should not be ashamed (reluctant, unwilling) of the gospel of Christ Jesus is because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. But faith is not some intellectual assent to who Jesus was and is and to what he did for us, nor is it some emotional one-time decision made at an altar during an appeal to believe in Jesus Christ whereby all our sins are forgiven and now heaven is guaranteed us when we die, but regardless of how we live. Our faith, which is gifted to us by God involves us living by faith, forsaking our sins, and obeying our Lord.

[See noted Scriptures above on the subject of faith and salvation.]

Songs in the Night

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.

You, my Savior, I now adore.

Hope in heaven awaiting me,

Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,

And I’m bound for heaven.

Jesus set me free from

All my sin, I say.

I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:

Overcame death, my vict’ry won!

Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!

I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!

My sin is but hist’ry!

I am free to please Him

With my life today.

I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me

A new life bought at Calvary.

Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.

Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;

Through my Lord, I’m able

To sit at His table;

Fellowship with Him.

I will thank Him always!

https://vimeo.com/379484387

Set Apart for The Gospel

Romans 1:1,8-12 ESV

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.”

Now, we as followers of Jesus Christ don’t all have the same exact calling as Paul did, but we are all called to proclaim the gospel of our salvation and to serve the Lord Jesus with our lives, as his own possession. We are to tell people of how he died to free us from our slavery to sin so that we can now walk in holiness and in righteousness, as part of saving faith. And we are to submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master) and do the works which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them, in his power and strength.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV).

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

“..waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who 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 2:13-14).

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]

And we should be thankful to God for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are our family by God-given faith in the Lord Jesus, who are following the Lord Jesus with their lives. And we should be praying for the family of God according to the will of God and according to their needs in any particular situation. And we should be encouraging, exhorting, instructing, urging, and reassuring one another, speaking the truth in love one to the other.

For we need that mutual encouragement and exhortation so that we are not led astray by false teachings, and so that we don’t become hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, and so that we love God and one another with the kind of love which prefers what God prefers, which is what is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, and faithful; and so that we do the works (deeds) of God which he prepared in advance that we should do.

[Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25]

For, as followers of Christ we are his disciples, and if we are not his disciples, then we don’t know him, in truth. For to believe in Jesus is to follow him. It is to obey him and his commands (New Covenant). It is to walk in holiness and in righteousness, in the power of God, and not in habitual and deliberate sin against God and against our fellow humans. For if sin is what we obey, and not God, we don’t have eternal life with God.

So, when you share the gospel of our salvation, make certain that you are sharing the truth of the gospel and not a half-truth gospel. For many are buying into the lies of the enemy, convinced that if they make a one-time in their lives profession of faith in Jesus Christ that all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future) and now heaven is guaranteed them. And so many of them have the idea that their sins no longer matter to God.

But the Scriptures make it very clear that to know God is to obey his commandments (New Covenant), and that to be in fellowship with him requires that we no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin. We must now walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, in obedience to our Lord, in holy living. And we must continue in those walks of faith until the very end if we want to be saved from our sins and to have eternal life with God. For this is what the Scriptures teach:

No Less

An Original Work / March 19, 2012

I can do no less than praise You,

Lord, for all You’ve done for me.

You died for my sins to save me,

So I would be set free.

I adore You! Lord, I praise You!

Jesus, Savior, King of kings!

You provided my redemption.

Your grace has pardoned me.

I can do no less than serve You.

Lord, Your witness I would be,

Telling others of Your love,

And why You died on that tree.

Tell of how You gave of Your life,

So from sin we’d be set free,

So we could worship You forever,

And live eternally.

I can do no less than love You,

Lord, for You have first loved me.

You gave of Your life so willing,

Because You cared for me.

Turn from my sin! Obey freely!

Live for You each passing day.

Read Your word, and follow Your lead,

Lord, as I humbly pray.

https://vimeo.com/125493623

What is Unwholesome Talk?

Ephesians 4:29

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” ESV

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” NIV

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” KJV

So, I looked up this word “unwholesome.” The word means: rotten, worthless, useless, corrupt, depraved, unfit for use, putrid. Synonyms: tainted, polluted, immoral, unethical, dishonest, crooked, shady, fraudulent, perverted. The opposite of this is: honest, decent, moral, and upright.

And the Lord gave me an example of this, which I will personalize:

An example of this unwholesome talk or corrupt communication is: Someone pretending to be on my side, pretending to be my friend, pretending to be supportive of me so that I would now trust that person, but what this person is really trying to do is to get me to support the opposition, my adversary, my enemy, my rival. So it is deceptive and manipulative, trying to make me feel accepted so that this person can get me to support the enemy.

And as I read back over that example, the Lord brought to mind the fact that we have, at least here in America, many men (and some women) who serve as pastors of church congregations (or of what is falsely called “church”) who are “sucking up” to the people (trying to win their approval and good opinion by praising them insincerely) in order to gain their trust so that they can get them to support and agree with what is not of God and what is opposed to Christ and to the cross of Christ.

So what they are doing is immoral, shady, unethical, dishonest, and crooked. For they are trying to convince the people that they are on their side and that they support them in what they are doing. And they may even give the impression that they are on the side of truth and righteousness, and that they are on God’s side, but while they skillfully and dishonestly and craftily scheme in finding ways to lead the people to support what are the lies of the enemy, thus supporting the opposition.

So, this “unwholesome talk” is not just crude and foul language. This is about underhanded schemes to lie to people and to make them feel good, so they will feel that they are being supported and agreed with only to then turn around and behind their backs scheme in how to convince them to now come around to the ways of the opposition and to give their support to what is not of God. And so they won’t lie to you outright. They will use misimpressions (indirect lies) to deceive you into accepting the lies as truth.

And an impression is “an idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, especially one formed without conscious thought or on the basis of little evidence” (source: Oxford Languages). So a misimpression is a willful and deliberate attempt to get someone to form an idea or opinion about something or someone that is a lie, but it is an indirect lie, and indirect lies are very difficult to prove for they are not outright. They are more like suggestions to the subconscious mind, but they are successful.

So, when this tells us that we should not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, this goes beyond just using language that is considered offensive to the bulk of the population. And I apologize in advance if anyone found “sucking up” offensive, for I did look it up, and I did not find it to be a generally understood offensive term. For it just means to give insincere praise to people in order to gain their approval and good opinion so that you can lie to them in an underhanded way for deceitful purposes.

And the point of this is that “unwholesome talk” goes way beyond just what is offensive to the general populace to using underhanded schemes as a way to lie to people to where they don’t realize they are being lied to but to where they will accept the lie as truth in their subconscious which will eventually move its way to their conscious mind without them even realizing what is taking place. So, we must not be dishonest people who use misimpressions (indirect lies) in order to deceive other people.

Instead, we are to be those who are speaking the truth in love, one to the other, to help one another to grow in our walks of faith to maturity in Christ, and so that we aren’t led astray by these charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing who are deceiving the people in underhanded ways into believing the lies as though they are truth. We, as followers of Christ, are to be people of integrity who do not lie to people, in practice, either outright or in backwards, deceptive, and underhanded ways. So always tell the truth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOtwcY7YWNY

Caution: This link may contain ads

The Battle for Truth

An Original Work / May 18, 2013

Based off Malachi 1-4