Deeds Done in the Body


The Hope of Christ causes we who believe to agree:

God has placed us among His belongings in Christ.

6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”  (2 Corinthians 5)

How much of this does each of us believe?  It is easily determined, how much of this we believe, by an assessment of our “doings”.

May sobriety tend to us as a caring nurse.

Why Me? Why You?


I am not beckoned to live with Christ because I am a worthy soul.

I am beckoned to display the essence of God.

He is Love, to the fullest.

He is Sustaining, to the fullest.

He is LIFE.

I am His answer to rebellion.

“They have hated me for no reason.”

 

That Fully Peculiar Sadness


I perceived a sadness within me.  Did it belong to me? 

A cursory search of my soul says no, this sadness does not belong to me.  Joy belongs to me, for it is given to me by the Holy One of God.

Then to whom does this sadness belong?  Doesn’t it belong to those who do not believe?  Yes to those who don’t believe.

My soul stands at the door of heaven and looks back.  I don’t see an excited horde rushing toward the door of Christ.  I see all men milling about with frantic enthusiasm for everything that is futile.

The sadness I am feeling is that, Man is not sad at all.  Like condemned men who stand against the wall of a firing squad, yet celebrate the place where they stand.  Mindless and blind as to what comes next, they busy themselves with an obvious joy.

We can only speak of what we have been told.  He who receives receives, he who does not receive is the source of my sadness.

So be it.  God is first in Christ.  It is to him I owe allegiance.  This sadness will not consume me, even as a foolish enjoy consumes all men around me.

By His Grace

Please Hear This


The Lord reasons with me this morning.  I don’t desire to make anyone feel bad, or compel them to do what they do not find themselves able or willing to do.  But how can I keep this to myself?

How many centuries has our Lord been diligent to save souls?  What great strength of patience and faithfulness has the Lord shown us, as the world rebells against him, and his people so blatantly lack faith?

Then the urgent question comes: Are we, who have received his Great Mercy, unwilling to struggle with him for a few short years?

No one answers to me.  Who am I that I should matter?  But isn’t there One to whom we do answer?  And isn’t the answer found in the doing?

By His Grace

Two Callings


Unholy wickedness runs through the streets day and night.  With an ungodly smile he spouts the words of fleshly pleasures. 

Traipsing about with his darkened hoard, he entices the weak to the grave.  Oh, the vast number of those who follow him! 

“Come and be proud!  United we will stand forever.  Bring all your desires to me and I will fulfill them.”

The appetite of hell is not satiated.  It has never heard of fasting.  And it does not care that its food has been basted by manure.   Drool runs down his beard for the souls of ungodly men.

Come and be consumed; all you people who love the call of the unholy one.  Come and feed the mouth of hell.  Past the last soul of Man, the belly of Hell will still have room.

He who is ungodly promises you freedom.  And as surely as you take it, it is taken from you.  His intent is true, you will surely be fuel for the flames.

Misery loves company.  Who is more miserable than the one from whom Glory has been stripped.  He will have great company in his horror on that Day.  So the Living God has promised, so his promise is busily coming true.

Let the wise hear these words.  Let fear strike their soul with understanding.  The Christ of God is compassion, but there is no compassion in the death of the wicked.

It is not the desire of God that any man should join this “one of misery”.  But billions are already there.  And there are billions more yet to join them.

The good news of God goes out, who hears it’s call?  He has raised up his Holy strength in the person of Jesus his Christ. 

Unholy desire has murdered the Son of God.  But the grave could not contain him.  The Living God has raised his Christ to be first among all creation!  And by the Holy Oath of the Living God, the Christ will never cease to be first!  No one who comes to him will be turned away.

Salvation belongs to God and to his Holy Lamb.  Yet who will bend their knees with earnest heart?  Who will enter into pleading with a continuous desire for Life?

Listen to the call of Wisdom; that beautiful call of compassion which speaks the perfect Holy Word. 

Who will choose to live and not die?  Let him fall to his knees in prayer.  Let him cover his ears in an inner room.  Let him not strive to listen to the unholy call of pleasure.  Let the ears of his soul listen intently for the beautiful sound of Holy Life.

Let he who desires to live, open his heart to the Living God’s call. 

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11)

Let the thirsty come and drink.  Let the hungry come and be well fed.  Let those who are naked come and be clothed with eternal robes of white.  Let the sorrowful be filled with joy.  Let Holy Love conquer fear and hatred.  Let the wicked come and be made righteous.

Those who desire what are not the things of God, let their unholy belly be full.  Let them be fattened and healthy for the appetite of hell. 

But the humble soul will escape.  He will understand and turned his face to the Living God’s Christ.  Those who belong to Christ will never die.  Though their flesh is stripped from their soul, they will enter his Holy Kingdom with great and unceasing joy.

May the will of the Living God be done forever.  He is faultless and true in all his Holy judgments and mercies. 

By His Grace

Plethora


abundance, cornucopia, feast, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, superabundance, wealth.

So many voices saying, “This is the way”.  So many claims to truth.  So little time to devote to “shaking out” the differences.  What’s a man to do?

Look what Charles Spurgeon said, I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ.  My hope lies in another quarter.  I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, “You are mine, and you shall be mine.  I claim you for myself.”  My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will. 

No man can save himself.  No man can even be sure that he has ahold of the things of the Living God.  Even as he sets his hand to understanding, others tell him he is wrong.  Not only that, but doubts rise up in the man himself.  To read all the literature of man regarding religion, is too much.  A man will die before he finishes the readings.  Then, if he’s finished reading, will he be any better off?  What’s a man to do?  Then we add all the socially accepted means of pleasing God; and there are billions of those!

I’m not talking about opinions.  I’m talking about absolute, concrete, unmovable, eternal, holy, and vibrant Truth.  How does a man “know” he has the Truth of God?

I said, “Read the Bible”.  But that’s a really large book.  And so many books set themselves up along side the Bible.  I said, “Believe me, when I tell you that Christ Jesus is the Truth of God”.  But why should a man believe me, when there are millions of others who say the same things?  And those millions don’t speak of Christ in the same loving terms.

Here’s the answer:

The truth of God lives in God’s Holy Son.  I know that even that saying is too much for those who doubt.  I know that there are many claims to the truth of God.  But I testify that the power of life from God lives in His Holy Son.  In Jesus’ own words, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day”. (John 6: 44)

What’s it take to get God to show you his Holy Son?  You must humble yourself in prayer.  God will filter out pride.  God will filter out man’s ability.  Requests to God that contain anything more than humility, will not receive His favor.  God protects His Son from the onslaught of man’s violent pride and greed.  It is the hungry, the broken, the humiliated, the lost, the desperate, and the diligent, whose prayers are heard.

Forget about being able to figure it all out.  The mind of man cannot know the things of Heaven except that Heaven is revealed to him.

Ok, you don’t have time to read every written word regarding religion.  But are you willing to pray?  Nothing more I can tell anyone will help them.  The answer to all the confusion lives in humbling ourselves before God and asking for His Help.