Tag Archives: the gospel

From the Beginning

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September 9, 2010, watched me write my first post on this blog.  I’m glad to see I had an iota of wisdom.  It was a good beginning.

I hadn’t learned what the word “paragraph” meant yet.  So I tried to inject returns where they might have been.   Otherwise, I didn’t change the words.  Let the man I was testify by himself.

 

There are many who will tell you various ways of ensuring your place with God for eternity.  Some will talk about doing certain things, saying certain things, thinking or praying certain things.  It’s easy to be confused.

 

If you are expecting me to give you a formula now, you’ll be mistaken.  There are millions who will give you a formula; a step by step procedure to follow to ensure acceptance by God.  So many claiming to know the “way”.  How can you really know?

 

But let me ask you something: Who do you seek to be accepted by?  Isn’t it God Himself?  Then why are you looking to humans for the way?  Before you begin, you turn away from God, in that you look to humans for the answers.  The only way to avoid all the pitfalls laid before you is to go to the source.

 

Consider something: you’re seeking eternal peace, right?  So why look here on earth for it?  There are some simple truths.   Look at the creation and think it through.  Anyone seeking God, and expecting to please Him must, believe that He exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him.  So, humble yourself before Him and earnestly (with all your mind, heart, strength, and soul) seek Him.  If you do so, He will be found by you.  You’re not seeking a burger at a fast food joint, so why act like it?

 

God is the God who searches through out the earth seeking those who humble themselves before Him.  Admit that you are full of lies, hatred, envy, strife, idolatry, and more.  Look inward and consider your ways.  Listen to your mind and you will see it is full of these things.  If anyone says they are without sin, they lie.  So, humble yourself before the Lord of Heaven and Earth.

 

When the time is right, from God’s perspective, He will lift you up.

 

Jesus is His Son.  There is Salvation for eternity in His sacrifice.  But you will find that God desires truth from His people.  You will be required to lay down all sin in your life.  Through the cleansing of Jesus, you will find the power to do this.  But make no mistake, the way to eternal life is a VERY narrow path.  There are billions of ways to hell, but ONE way to eternal life.

 

Walk to God in Faith, Believe Him, accept and admit that your failings are fatal and eternal. Then. . . prepare to meet your maker.

 

Pray and act as though you want His approval.  Be ready to lay down your present life if you find Him.  Consider what he said about that: “IF ANYONE COMES TO ME AND DOES NOT HATE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, WIFE AND CHILDREN, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, YES AND HIS OWN LIFE ALSO, HE CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.  AND WHOEVER DOES NOT BEAR HIS CROSS AND COME AFTER ME CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE” (Luke 14: 26, 27).

 

If you want a quick, sure fire way to find God’s favor, go looking.  You’ll find thousands of them.  They might make you feel good.  But they might lead you astray too.  Want God?  Seek God.    “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14).

I See Your Fear

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I see you everywhere you go.  I do not judge you, but I see the signs of your fear.  You hide behind your things, so sure that no one notices.  But even a man like me see through your charade.

You have become so adept at hiding from truth, that you wouldn’t understand it if it were explained to you.  Why?

You’ve heard the saying, “He’s bought into the things of this world”.  But that isn’t true, is it?  You haven’t bought into anything.  You’re simply afraid.  Why?

You’ve got your music, your favorite  television shows, your job and aspirations.  You have your friends to hide with.  You have all those trophy trinkets you’ve gathered.  And in spite of all these things you don’t know the truth.  Why?

The truth is not hidden.  It’s just that you refuse to look.  It’s so easy to think of yourself as a good person.  But if you stood before God you would know better.

Do you think you will stand the judgment of God without the help of the Lord Jesus?  My friend, you don’t know the living God.  And you don’t know the Lord Jesus.

God is the very truth you are hiding from.  Yet he is a truth that never ceases.  This is why you are afraid of him.  This is why you love lies more than truth.

But you will meet him very soon.  If you hide in this place, where truth is but a shadow, what will become of you when there is no place left to hide and truth is no longer the shadow?

Yes, I see how you push others around to get what you want.  I see how you manipulate truth with lies.  But my friend, you will not push God.  And He will laugh at your attempts to manipulate His truth.

You love your excuses.  Why?  Isn’t it because they help you hide?  In a great variety of ways you say, “I am this way because. . .”  And you fill in the blank with any number of reasons.  Why?

You don’t have to answer to me.  I couldn’t help you if you did.  And what good would your confession be to a mere man?  Your confession would only become another tool to hide behind.

I will tell you this in the form of a warning, but remember I am not judging you.  You’d better get it right with the Holy Lord Jesus.  He’s not that cute fuzzy little teddy bear you’ve heard about.  He is a blazing fire of righteousness.

No one on earth is beyond his willingness to have compassion.  But he absolutely hates lies.  He will put up with your faults if you are willing to learn.  But this offer is only extended while you are still here.

So that brings up the old question.  How long do you have yet to live?  Perhaps 40 years?  Perhaps 10 seconds?  Regardless the time, when you leave this place you are immediately under judgment.

Don’t listen to the liars my friend.  There is no such thing as a good man.  You will not receive eternal life for the good things you think you’ve done.  It’s either His way or death.

And as a passing note, dear friend, it doesn’t matter whether you agree or not.

By His Grace

God Cannot Lie

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The salvation of men is in heaven.  Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Holy Father of Life.  The condemnation of man, for all his wickedness, also is in heaven.  For Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.

In John 3:13 I find something very interesting.  Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus.  And Jesus refers to himself as “the Son of man who is in heaven”. (NKJV)  One might ask, “How can he be in heaven when he sitting here talking to Nicodemus”.  Jesus is in heaven, while speaking to Nicodemus, because he has come from heaven; as if the finger of God has landed on Earth. 

Heaven is not a physical place, as most the people of Earth believe.  It is a matter of belonging and becoming.  It is a state of being, to which a man must be transferred by the power of Christ.

I mention this because it brings to bear something that people conveniently forget.  Though there is a difference between flesh and spirit, there is no difference in belonging.

Those who do not belong to Christ stand condemned already because their condemnation sits with the Holy Father.  And to our great joy, those who receive and obey the grace of God in Christ are already in heaven.  For their salvation sits with the Holy Father.

Those who belong to this world will reap the benefit that is due all wickedness.  Those who humble themselves and believe the message of God in Christ will reap the beautiful promises of life.  For God has seen their hearts, received the confession of their mouth, and has promised them on oath.

It is interesting to me how the wicked apropriate the good promises of God.  By some perverted means, they attribute salvation to themselves with no apparent fruit.  They have a hope, but no proof of it in their soul.  They are from the earth, they are within the earth’s beliefs, and their condemnation waits for them.

While this is true for the wicked who do not believe (toward “The Becoming”),  I often find that those who believe in Christ suffer under confusion and doubt.  So I have stated these things here to give encouragement.

A man belongs to the place he obeys.  And the proof of our belonging is within every man.  The wicked do not strive to obey.  They simply believe with no foundation, or proof, within themselves.  They seek to enter where they do not belong.

But the purchased of Christ will find themselves embroiled in an internal war.  They cannot be at peace in this place, for the Spirit of God lives in them to war against the desires of the flesh.  The war within the Christian should be proof to him that he is already in heaven.  God cannot lie.

There is no war in the wicked.  They war among one another for the sake of selfish greed.  They even go so far as to apropriate what is not theirs from the Holy Throne of the Living God.  But the outcome of the wicked and the outcome of the Christian are sealed forever in Christ the King.  It is impossible for God to lie.

By His Grace

That Peculiar Brand of Fear

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Sin has its own distinct pleasures.  There’s no reason to lie about it, sin is fun.  Preferring to live in sin is to live a life full of joy and laughter.  It’s kind of like being drunk with abandon instead of alcohol.

But there’s also no reason to lie about the following.  Sin has its own particular brand of fear. 

The one who lives a life of sin fears everything.  He can’t trust God to watch out for him, so whatever is unknown becomes a potentially destructive enemy.  And the volume of unknowns is endless.

The sinner may say he fears nothing.  He may make great bold statements of his ability to cope.  But as Shakespeare wrote, “Me thinks thou dost protest too much”.  The bold proclamations of a sinner, in regard to his fearlessness, are nothing more than a golden blanket covering the thumb sucking child within.

The sinner knows he stands in a very precarious place.  God has promised to rip him apart at the judgment, and the sinner knows it.  By sheer will and deft ignorance the sinner simply puts it out of his mind.

On top of the coming promise of destruction, is a very curious fear.  They call it bad luck.  It’s also called Murphy’s Law. 

The sinner is always looking over his shoulder to see what’s coming to bite him in the butt.  He’s absolutely sure God has it in for him.  In the sinners mind, God is always trying to cause him trouble.  But such thoughts are only a mirror of his own evil heart.

The sinners fear is equal to his pleasure.  All the while he goes about trying to secure his next joy, he worries and frets that he will be assaulted in some peculiar manner.  Perhaps a broken bone, perhaps severe sickness, perhaps he will be caught doing what he should not be doing and end up in jail.

It’s ridiculous the measures people take to avoid thinking about God and the judgment to come.  But even more ridiculous is the ease with which his fearful burden can be lifted.  All it takes is a tiny measure of humility.  But humility isn’t fun, so it’s given no place on the sinners agenda.

God will not despise the humble heart.  And God will teach the humble man how to be fearless. 

Forgiveness from Christ Jesus provides a distinctly different joy.  While apparently the body is cast into sorrow, the forgiven sinners soul is laughing in the language of heaven.  While the sinner’s joy ends when his current preoccupation is taken away, the joy of the forgiven sinner never leaves him.  Little by little that peculiar fearfulness is replaced by a gentle confidence.

Serving God in Christ Jesus is pure and true freedom.  Pursuing sin and joy of the body will always result in slavery to fear.

The forgiveness of Christ Jesus is not just an arbitrary phrase.  When it is received, the soul knows it has been set free.  With forgiveness from God comes peace and hope.  Two things the sinner cannot possibly attain and retain.

By His Grace

You are Invited!

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It is possible (Very possible) that someone might think to themselves, “I will wait until I am able to consider myself holy before I testify about God’s things”.  When will that be?  What sign, within yourself, are you expecting to find?

Isn’t the Lord of Life worthy of proclamation?  Isn’t the consistent nature of creation testifying about God’s Holy Son, regardless how men use it?  Dirt is still dirt, whether it covers a corpse or builds a brothel.  The stars remain in their place, though no one has embraced one with a massive hug.  Sinful men testify about what is godly every moment of their pathetic life.  Yes, the Gospel is that replete among men.  What right, then, do Christians have to hide the holy word within themselves until they receive a “certain” sign from heaven?

The testimony goes out regardless how His people keep their mouths shut.  And didn’t He testify to this when it was written, “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Why would you let the Glory of God emanate from what is ungodly?  Have you no respect for the One who bought your worthless soul?  Why would you relinquish your place to proclaim, knowing that the proclamation will come from those who display no godly attributes?  Have you forgotten the phrase: “I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.”

Grip your fear and unwillingness by the adams apple.  Choke it till it gasps to proclaim.  If fear has you, then go in fear.  If you are unwilling, then drag your worthless butt there.  Proclaim or lose the honor of it.

Listen, my brothers and sisters, we dance before the King of kings.  We live before the Living God.  So what if we’re not worthy to carry holy words!  Neither are they who would so accuse us if we spoke them!

The Gospel is an offence against the pride of man.  How humble would a man be who can’t obey the will of God, yet proclaims His Honor anyway?  Wait for that “something more”, and you will be waiting far past the closing of the banquet door.

ONE

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It is happening all over the world.  In broad view of every man, God is saving souls.

From the meager child who believes that the Bible is true, to the great man of God who displays the works of God by his faith.  The testimony of God blazes clearly.

Who will open his heart to humility that he may understand?  Who will take a long hard look at his own heart and ways and mind?  Who is willing to risk all he has for all there is to gain?

There is but one God, the living God.  There is but one Holy Son, Jesus the Christ.  And there is but one power of truth given to men, the Holy Spirit.

The world will call these things opinion, for they have so many variations of religion.  But the power of eternal life is proven in Christ Jesus, the Holy Son of God.  If you humble yourself in prayer and earnestly seek the face of God, you will know that these words are true.

By His Grace