Tag Archives: gospel

The Game of LIFE

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Board for the game Quantum

Board for the game Quantum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was said, “The game is afoot.”  And we knew the action was about to pick up.  Just what did that mean though?  It meant that someone was to pursue.  Someone was to avoid.  And, usually, someone had been victimized.  Quite possibly someone was either going to die or someone had died.  Regardless the story line, a crime had been committed and justice was employed to rectify the situation as well as it can be rectified.

I find this same concept in the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  We all know what it means to play a game.  And in some games we are the direct players, hide and seek is one which comes to mind.  There are also board games and video games, in which we are simply the ones who manipulate the outcome according to our choices.

This “place of testing” is just that sort (in my understanding).  We are the pieces which are moved from one place to another according to the skill of the Most High God.  He will win.  And He will reward the players according to their submission.  He is not unjust at all.  But in this concept I find myself more willing than ever to submit.

What is pleasing to God is pleasing to all, in the end.  And it is a privilege to encounter this game with a light heart; a heart willing to die for the sake of the pleasure of my God.  I know this is a slightly childish look at suffering for the sake of Jesus’ name.  But it is also a powerful word of inspiration to those who can stomach the reality of their position, plight, and hope.

Spreading the Gospel

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The “Jesus freaks” of the 70’s have gone. Other “movements” for the Lord have come and gone.  There are some who continue to proclaim the Gospel with a rather loud voice.  And I am not speaking of pastors, evangelists, or TV preachers.  There are some who simply can’t keep their lips closed.  And these are blessed to continue.  They are not enduring a fad.  They are completely consumed with the message of God.

Now the question is, is their state of affairs a direct gift from God?  Or is it a purposeful and singular dedication to what is right, good, and eternal?  In the end, does it matter?  Isn’t it true that, in the end, all that matters is that the Gospel was preached to every corner of the world?

Symbol of Christianity, white version.

Image via Wikipedia

How to Make Friends?

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Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

Some days are clarity.  Some days are a fog of stupidity.  These are three posts I made on facebook this morning.

Like getting little children to eat what’s good for them (and worse), it is impossible to convince most people that serving the Lord Jesus is the very best of life.  Try to force, if you want to, but you’ll end up simply smearing the Gospel in places where it’s not welcome.

Look to do what the Lord has placed right into your lap.  We are told to do good for the family of God and to live such good lives that even if we are accused our lives will prove otherwise.  But if our lap is covered with materialism and selfishness, how can we see what the Lord has put there?  Stand up. Empty your lap.  Then you can see what remains.

Why are so many transfixed on the body?  It is as though their body is the ultimate religion.   Don’t they realize that in just a very little while that body they love so much will be a rotten stench and food for worms?  The priorities of man are so very trivial and foolish.  It is the soul that should get all that attention.  That is the part of you that will remain forever.  Either to your horror or to your great joy.

Listening to Glenn Beck panic.  He thinks America can reverse the current direction by uniting as a people.  I doubt that he will recognize that it is God who is allowing this degeneration of America.  The only way out is to individually unite with Jesus.  This might not stop what is happening.  But it will ensure that we have a distinct hope where others won’t.

 

Are there rumors about you being spread?  Are they bad?  Personally, I have no doubt that rumors have floated about regarding me.  And likely many of them are bad.  I find it easy to shed the burden of this plight.  For if those who spread the rumors knew the truth about me, they would kill me.  What power, then, does any rumor have that the truth hasn’t already supplied?

You judge for yourself how they received.  I didn’t expect to make friends by posting them.

Do You Have the Courage to Live?

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Symbol: alpha omega

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In any confrontation there are men who will endure what comes toward them.  We call them courageous men.  We admire these men.  The wise soldier will admire that same trait in his enemy.  I don’t mean that he agrees with all that his enemy believes.  But the courageous soldier will give proper respect to the potential of that enemy who has no fear.  To lack respect for such a man is to commit yourself to death.  Because that enemy will kill you.

We do not encounter God without ultimate respect.  He never lies.  He is always ready to receive as well as punish.  He is absolute love, mercy, forgiveness, and hope.  But respect of the Holy One also tells us that He does not allow ANY sin to come before Him.  This is the nature of the Gospel.  We do have a High Priest in Jesus who is able to bring us before the Father with clean clothes, heart, soul, and mind.  But being able has a restriction.  The will of man will not be circumvented.  If you wish to live in sin, in sin you will be allowed to live.  If you wish to be free of sin, then free from sin the Lord is able to cause you to be.

I wrote this post to bring up a subject that is rarely heard.  We all know a list of sins that God will not receive in His people.  But there is a sin that rarely gets mentioned anymore.  Revelation tells us something wonderfully, and fearfully beautiful.  Along with all the things we know aren’t righteous, God states one more.

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”  (Rev. 21)

Cowards will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!  I won’t bother to go much farther with this.  I simply wanted to make that point.  However, I will mention that man’s perception of God (that is to say how man without the Spirit of God perceives God) sees Him with fear.  This is much like a wall of fire that stands between God and man.  We are forced to believe in the power of Christ Jesus’ sacrifice in order to walk into that fire and find the embrace of the Most High God.  A coward will get close to the flames and turn around.  It takes a courageous heart to believe in what God has said regarding His Son.

By His Grace.

The Great Gift!

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Christ Healing the Blind Man c 1640

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Two blind men heard that Jesus was passing by.  They shouted, “Son of David!  Have mercy on us.”  The people told them to be quiet.  Evidently the people wanted a ceremony of pomp and revere.  Perhaps they were thinking, “Silence, a great teacher is passing by.”  But the men with no sight knew their only hope for working eyes lay in the man who had done such greater things than anyone before him.  So they shouted all the more.  For if there was any hope, this was the moment!  How could a blind man hope to chase after the man of such power?  This slice of time was all they were going to get.  Hope was NOW!

Have you any hope from the moment of time when you shouted to the Lord for sight?  Do you now know that Jesus is the Christ of God?  Do you believe that Jesus is Glorified and Lord of all things?  Is your life laced with a particular hope that non-believers cannot own?  Regardless how much faith you have, it is as if you have received working eyes.

The two blind men received their sight.  Now they saw shapes, colors, shadows, and light.  What did they do in response to this great gift from the Lord?  They followed Him.  They considered that they had nothing before He touched them.  Now they had all they had ever wanted.  They didn’t consider that they could now go out and earn a living, create a household, and perhaps marry and have children and a social purpose.  They left behind all the things the people around them craved.  They forsook this world and all it offers and bent their will and lives around the Son of God.

Far too often, people who receive an understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven receive this gift as if it is owed to them.  Many are indifferent to the gift given them in the Gospel.  They receive this gift as if it is some kind of social rite of passage, not realizing that this gift is precious and glorious.  The gift of salvation is the beginning of the central reason for life here.  But it is not often perceived as such.

What have we forsaken after receiving our sight?  I recognize that not everyone is called to forsake their households, land, income, social status, and position in life.  But surely, before we received our sight we held dear the things the people in that crowd desired.  It should not be that the Gospel makes no permanent and radical change in our lives.  It is not a rite of social passage.  It is a soul shattering change from death to life.  It is not religious ceremony and a particular belonging to a social club called the church.  It requests and requires a vibrant following after the Glory of God in Jesus the Christ.

Want Friends? Don’t Share the Gospel.

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Paul, 1410s (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow)

Image via Wikipedia

Speaking the Gospel will not be well received by most.  But we are compelled to speak what is true regardless the response.  Though we couch our words in mercy, we should not couch them in the honey of this world’s folly.  Millions have died because of God’s message through His Holy Son.  Should we not join them?  Do not allow yourself to become a pleaser of men.  They will hound you to coat your message with softness.  They will say to you, “It is too harsh for us.  You speak a word that is not welcome in this age.”  What age was the message of God welcome?  Find one.  Point it out.  Among men, without a love or reverence toward God, God was never acceptable.  He is still shunned this day.

The Apostle Paul spoke of this truth.  And we know he lived during the time of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice.  If it was true then, it’s true now.  Speaking the truth of God’s message will never gain you friends in this world.  But you may save others by allowing yourself to become hated.  The truth is the truth.  And the soul of man knows when it hears what is true.

” 6I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”  (Galatians 1)