Tag Archives: Christ Jesus

Frustration Unleashed

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Not one single man has ever lived that was able to please the expectations of the Most High God.  I exclude the Holy Son of God from this mass of men, for he came from heaven and has ascended.  But not one man has ever done the will of the Holy Father in heaven.

Do you think you are a righteous man?  I’ll get right up into your face, eye to eye with vast boldness, and whisper through clenched teeth, “You are not”!  Respond as you will, I can’t afford to care.  Go ahead be offended.  What is that to me?  Hate me if you like, for saying this in your face.  With what payment can I be made to care?

Do you think these words are too harsh?  Do you think my boldness is unwarranted from a man?  You likely do.  Very likely.  And if you knew the man I used to be, you would hate me all the more.

Does it incense you, that a man should confront you like this?  Do you ponder my sanity?  Why would you not?  Today’s people simply don’t do such things, do they.

I have used soft words.  I have displayed my life openly to all.  I have served with the diligence of the Christ that lives in me.  Still it is as if no effect at all.

Is it hatred to accuse a man of the truth?  Isn’t it the love of God to let you hate me?

God Himself has spoken,  10 “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3)

Why should I beat around the bush, trying to flush you out?  Why should I not risk damage to myself and crawl in there to get you?  What is death to me?  

The hatred of man is not priceless!  With a few simple words I can purchase more than I can handle.  Of this commodity there seems to be no end.

It is right that I should be hated by men for speaking the truth with boldness.  For they hate the Living God and His Christ already.  How should his people be treated any differently?

Do you know that you will die if you do not turn to Christ Jesus?  Do you know that God will not accept the testimony of men in regard to their own righteousness?  Judgement Day is not a day for debate!  It is a day reserved, that men should receive the righteousness of God.

You have demanded that the gospel wear softer gloves, for you cannot bear harsh treatment.  And look how you’ve gotten your way! 

You filthy people who have perverted the Gospel of Christ!  You have loved men more than God!  You have feared what man can do to you more than you fear the Holy Living God!  And now you demand that I wear fuzzy gloves also?  I WILL NOT!

God does not want to see you die.  He has proven it by allowing man to murder his Holy Son.  And again he has proven it, by raising up men such as I.  (Of whom it can will be established, I am the least.)

If you will heed the warning, then good.  Join me in this bold proclamation which is the Christ of God.  If you desire to refuse, then by all means refuse.  This one day I have had my fill of wearing fuzzy gloves!

I have made a fool of myself here.  I have let my frustration be vented in your sight.  I care, but then I don’t.  For as I look around, this message is not being proclaimed with enough intensity to shake the world.  There are thousands of preachers who simply want everyone to “Just get along”.  And such things turn my stomach!  Don’t give me numbers!  Provide proof that the fruit of the Gospel is blatantly apparent in those you convert!

I write this propelled by mercy.  I do not hate my fellow men.  I gladly risk everything you can throw at me, if by chance one of you will humble yourself before the Living God’s Christ, and truly become his disciple.

May the will of God to save men be done.  May the Glory of Christ Jesus be furthered by my folly.

Amen

By His Grace

Suffering Complaints

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Are you suffering under a burden that threatens to drive you to the dust?  Has your heart become calloused, so that you will not call out to God for the sake of the things that oppress you?  Have you allowed yourself to blame the One who made you?  Have you come to believe that you are righteous in blaming God for your trouble?

Jesus did no such thing!  Faultless, blameless, and full of love for his Father, the Lord was beaten beyond recognition.  Yet he did not blaspheme the will of God.

He endured his Holy Father’s will, because he knew his God can do no wrong.  And he considered even the greatest of torment as if it should not be compared to the Glory that awaited him.  How is it that we cannot even sustain the sufferings of the common cold without complaint?

The Holy Bible uses a very curious word to describe the testing of the Holy Lord Jesus, “crushed”.  Have you been so treated?  And that for no apparent cause?  Are you without sin?  Don’t we deserve to be crushed?

10 “But the LORD was pleased
            To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
            If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
            He will see His offspring,
            He will prolong His days,
            And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53)

For our sake, and his love for God, he was sustained through it all.  For the sake of his Father’s love for man, he endured the most vicious possible death.  For your sake Christ was purified of all possible pride.  Stripped of his Glory and Majesty, humbled to the likeness of an animal, Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins.

He did not complain.  He did not beg for mercy.  He did not resist the ungodly hands.  He did not strive to evade the whip.  He offered the tender portion of his hands to the nails.  He forgave sins as he hung toward death!  And all of this with the most resolute heart!

And then horror came to visit him; his Loving Father turned his face, as his son became a curse for hanging on a tree.  As it is written in the law of the Most High God, “for he that is hanged is accursed of God”.

Still he did not all allow sin to encompass him.  He endured the will of his Holy Father.  Shall we do any less? 

Consider the tiny burden we bear.  Even if we suffered as Christ Jesus, we deserve the beating. 

As we consider these things, so we become more like him.  As we consider these things, we reach to the victorious one for the strength which sustains. 

Do you want strength to overcome your intolerable need to complain?  You will find that strength in Jesus the Christ of God.

Amen!

By His Grace

In the Shelter of his Wing

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I wake up before dawn and look out my window at a light dusting of snow.  Out pops a little bird, hopping about in the snowflakes.

Then I wonder, “Where have you slept little one?  Did you sleep among the reeds in the ditch?  Did you forsake the tree limb for the shelter of the reeds?

You would have not perched yourself too deeply within them.  You would have slept in a place where two hops allowed your wings to spread.  You would be no food for the predator.”

And then I wonder.  Where did I sleep?  I slept peacefully under the outstretched wing of the Most High God.  I woke to His Glorious covering.  Lacking fear, I woke only to stretch my bones, and then to pray; even as the little bird sings his song of joy.

Is this how Jesus slept in the boat while the storm raged around him?  Is this how Daniel slept with the Lions, for the weariness of their bodies?  Is this how the Apostle Peter slept so soundly in the jail amidst the soldiers?  Is this how the Prophet Elijah slept alongside the Kerith Ravine, knowing the wings of a bird would feed him in the morning?

Oh how desire rages within this servant to instill these things in my fellow man!  Will you please consider the power of God to sustain your tired soul.  His name is Christ Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man.

By His Grace

A Righteous Rebellion

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In the utter darkness of this world, this man will not remove his cloak to toss it over the Light of God.  Though I perceive the wickedness of men with clarity, I will raise up the Lantern of hope.

I refuse to be ashamed.  I refuse to hide the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  I refuse to lower the Lantern.  I refuse to fear as I walk among the angry dead.  And I refuse to obey Man; “Take this filthy name away from us!  We have no desire to hear it spoken again.  If you continue, so will we.  The punishment of obscurity is in our hand to deliver.”

I will not cease to speak the only hope you have.  There is no hope among you but the message of Christ Jesus, the Holy Son of God!  In Him alone, is the forgiveness of your sins.  In Him alone, is the majestic power to raise you from the dead. 

From the living grave of rebellion you gnash your teeth at his Holy name.  Therefore proof lives among you that you need his eternal sacrifice.

I do not write this as a declaration of war.  I do not stand defiantly against you.  Though I defy your order to cease, I do so that you may learn to live.

I will not hide the Light of Life.  I will ascend to whatever prominent place among you I can.  And I will speak and live among you that you may know there is hope.

The declaration of war is impressed upon your heart from the day you are born.  And how gladly and easily you obey the rebellious one.  You are bent toward sin like the trees along the coastline.  But God is able to straighten your crooked trunk. 

He will cause you to chase the Sun like a sunflower.  Malleable bark will cover your stiff frame.  He will cause righteousness to blossom on your limbs.  Instead of the fruit of rebellion, you will produce the fruit of Godly love.

God will come and eat the fruit of righteousness you will offer.  He will promise you, on oath, a portion in his Garden of Eden.  He will walk among you with pleasure instead of eternal threats.  And joy will be yours forever.

You call his name filthy because you do not know him.  You are blind and ignorant to the definition of love.  And for this reason I will hold high the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

By His Grace

To What End?

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Why do you protect your family?  Why do you work so hard to earn a living?  Why do you go to church?  Why do you read the Bible?  Why do you study devotions?  Why do you pray?  Why do you speak the name of Christ?

Are all these things only for show?  Or are they so that you can become as devoted to the Living God’s Christ as are the Holy Angels?

When you have done these things for years, have they produced a holy man?  Or have you found yourself only becoming a socially acceptable Christian? 

What is the fullness that God desires in all his people?  What does that look like?  Can you point to someone and say, “That is it”?  Can anyone point to you and say the same thing?

It is like men to pursue a dream, only to find a place where they are comfortable.  What about death to all the things in this world?  Does that sound comfortable to you?  What about a beating by the hands of men because you have spoken the Gospel in their presence?  How many friends have abandoned you because you love God?  What about a burning willingness to obey God’s command, regardless the outcome?  Does that apply to you?

I ask this many questions, because you are the only one who can answer them for yourself.  I do not command anyone to do anything.  But I have an obligation to ask my brothers these things.  And they distinctly apply to me also.  And why would anyone not ask his brother at these things?

Who will shake the world for Christ?  Will it be you?  Who will cower in a corner, amassing all kinds of peace and luxury.  Will that be you?

By His Grace

Amazement Thus Beckoning

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I will speak of myself, for it is impossible for me to know the heart of anyone who might read this.  I do not want to give confidence where it is not warranted.  But I find desire within me to encourage those things that warrant encouragement.  And I desire to share a mutual amazement.

When I ponder the Glory of Christ within me, I am astounded.  That I should contain the Gospel of the Glorious and Eternal God!  That I should not be tossed about by all the rumors regarding him.  But that I should know the Holy and Living God in Christ Jesus his Righteous and Holy Son.

When I think of the billions who have died without this knowledge, I am amazed that this man should understand.  I say “knowledge”, knowing that it is only in small portion.  And the same is true of the word “understand”.  But that there is a seed in me is undeniably true.  And the joy of this knowledge goes far beyond words to express.

There are many who hold what they say is the Gospel, yet are thoroughly hard-pressed to give account of themselves.  This too, adds to my amazement.  Not that they are at all amiss, but that I should know the truth.  In this great joy there is no room for judgment or comparison!  Oh that I could live this way all my days!

For the glory of Christ!  Again, for the Glory of Christ!  These words are placed prominently for the Glory of my Lord. 

Let all the world hear.  Let all the world be told.  I will not shrink back into the sea of men.  I cannot, for he sustains me in “The Way”.  No enticement shall bind me!  No tears of beckoning shall sway me.  Such things have no hope of any Life.  They are like the useless tapping of bird’s feet on my roof.

Can you agree with these things?  Do you find proof in your soul that the Living God has come to you with all his Glorious Promises?  Then say “Amen” full of thanks, for the willingness to obey which lives in you with endless strength.

I do not need to perceive your agreement.  Who am I that I should demand any such thing from any man?  But render your agreement and thanks to the Living God in his Holy Son.  And let what is unseen receive what is rightfully his.

Let us all go to the Holiest Holy of Holies.  Let us spread our soul before the Light and Life of all creation!  There, in that place, let us render to God what is God’s.  There, in that place, we shall be as one.  There, in that place, we shall be at peace and unity.

He has spoken, there are far fewer of his people than those who are destined to destruction.  But do not think I say such a thing with malice, or boasting.  For I have not received this joy because I am a righteous man.  It is God’s mercy to teach us these things, and to cause us to become his children.  And anyone who desires this place I have described, is welcome to come share in the things of joy.

Are you a filthy person?  That need not remain your case.  All you need to do is believe that God’s Holy Son is Glorified in the very presence of the Most High God. 

But in the beginning of your transformation, do not believe the weakness of lies; those words which tell you that belief is the end of your responsibility.  There are many who have gone out of Christianity.  They spout such a weak expectation.  And sadly they have destroyed millions.

If you are to receive this joy, it will require you to agree with the Holy Lord in all that he commands you to do.  You cannot be his, and remain bound by the things for which you are now ashamed.  He will grant you release but you must receive it.  If you are to attain this joy you must become his disciple.

But indeed come, all who will!  Come and share with us in this scourging from men!  See how they hate you, they do not love you!  They only love the things they can take from you.  They only love you in that they may debase you and use you for no good purpose.  Why would you willingly submit to such things?

See how boldly his children proclaim their love for him.  See how fearless they are.  Yet you can see how full of fear your soul remains.  Why would you not desire freedom?

By His Grace