In the Gospel of Christ Jesus, I bring you life.
It is painful by reason of necessity.
For you have not moved your limbs since a little while after you had been born.
Now the Gospel tells you to move your limbs.
It tells you to believe and do.
But in the wickedness of desire you have let your soul become lazy.
Spiritual atrophy belongs to you.
Now the message I bring you is of difficult work.
You must let yourself believe.
Endure the pain or die.
By His Grace
By His Grace
Of all the things that man can perceive, there is but one truth. The Holy Christ of God has given himself for the salvation of every man, woman and child who ever lived.
As we believe this we are set free of every wicked thing. We are set free of fear; the greatest enemy of man. Who can fear anything if he knows he has eternal life?
Because of fear, men turn to all manner of wicked and abhorrent behavior. They invent their own religions. But every religion of man is full from top to bottom with fear.
By fear, men subject one another for the sake of wicked gain. But it is impossible to subject the one who believes.
“Christ has died for my sins. Nothing you can do to me can take that away. Though my body shake with anxiety for the coming pain, my soul is that perfect rest. For when you are finished applying what torture you may envision, I will go and be with he who has died for my sins. How should I fear? What can man do to me? When in comparison, Christ has given me eternal life.”
A Christian believes this and is saved. Anything less than this is not the fullness of Christ within us. Anything less than this is worthless religion.
By His Grace
When you go to church on Sunday morning, will you be prepared? Or will you go with only a partial clue as to why you’re there?
Wishing is useless. But I wish that in my forties I had known what I know now. I had all the right knowledge. I said all the right things. And everybody thought I really understood.
So no one took me aside, that they might mentor me. No one challenged my life. No one asked me to prove the things I was saying. So I fell flat on my face and squandered a beautiful gift from God.
I will not blame anyone. They couldn’t possibly have known how shallow my faith really was. And frankly, out of the hundreds of people I knew, only two had the things I have now.
When you go to church on Sunday, will you be prepared? Will you go there to worship the Most High God with everything you have? Or will you worship him with everything he is willing to give?
There is a statement I wish someone had said to me. “When you worship the Lord, try to percieve the first worship session in heaven. Then worship the Lord as if you were not here.”
We are so caught up in the things of this world. We are so caught up in the things called “Church”. Mistakenly, we think that if we have banded together with men in the name of Jesus, we have fulfilled a proper worship of the Most High God.
There is so much more I could say about this. But I’ll bet you have many things to say in regard to this also. And I have learned that it is so much better when we understand these things personally.
But I will give this a shove in the proper direction. What we are looking for is the full power of God in a Christian. Not just the proper words, knowledge, or timely arrival in the proper place
It might be good to ask someone you can trust, to sit you down and grill you about Christianity. Submit to all their questioning. Let them either prove what you really have, or show you plainly what you lack.
It doesn’t matter to me how you respond to these things. Who am I to order anyone around. But what you stand to lose is a pittance. There is no profit at all in being incomplete. What you stand to gain is immeasurable. What fully profitable things might be accomplished if you fully belong to God?
You could be like me, and wait until you’re 60 to get a partial clue. Assuming God will be merciful and let you live that long. Or you could just cut to the chase today. What could you be in Christ if you gave everything you had to find out?
I thought it might be good to add the following. Instead of looking for only one man to grill you about your Christian life, perhaps you want to look for a team of three.
And who knows, in the process of questioning the three may be grilling themselves. Certainly a profitable circumstance for all.
Humility is the target. Profitability to Jesus is the cash flow.
By His Grace
Standing on the balcony, I stood in silence. Listening to the natural noises, as opposed to the noises of man.
From the trees flew a Blue Jay. His intent was the railing of the balcony; his perch to search for food on the ground below.
I didn’t move as I watched his intent. His target was 15 feet from my body. But having stood still, he didn’t perceive me.
He came within inches of setting his feet on his intent. But just as he neared landing, he perceived a man standing there.
With a tiny squeak, he turned as though he had bounced off the railing, and bolted back to the trees. Safety is his primary concern, eating is his second.
“Look at him with understanding.” So my soul whispers to my heart. See how quick he is to turn from his desire at the slightest provocation against his safety.
Does man do these things? Doesn’t man head into his desire without consideration for safety? Look how we run headlong into destruction without the slightest perception of danger.
Where we go matters. What we choose to do matters. Who we desire to become matters. Freely God gives wisdom. Who, among men, is willing to take his warnings and freedom?
22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13)
Have you listened to the murmuring of the waters? Do you understand the definitions of the words they use?
Language is from God. But wickedness defines the sounds.
There is nothing innocent in the definitions of man. In everything man says, there is desire to manipulate.
The ear of God plainly hears the blasphemous prattle. Are your ears tuned to his perception?
Do not think we cannot Hear. Christ’s promise offers wisdom to discern.
Or do his people also render blasphemous prattle? Is that the reason why we embrace man’s definitions so readily? Is that the reason why we are restrained from “becoming”?
By His Grace
We: Live, Die, Face Judgment. Jesus or die twice.
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