Lord, hear our prayer:
Father, we come as your children, knowing you love us. We come with no hope of proving our worth. We come as those who through grace you have already accepted to worship you, our Saviour and Lord. We come knowing our strengths and our weaknesses to the one who holds all things by the power of his word. We come to sing glory for the life, love and joy of knowing Jesus the Savior of all. It’s in his name that we praise and glorify you.
Amen.
Scripture References – Romans 5:15-21
Verses 15–21 contain six comparisons between Adam and the result of his sin and Jesus and the result of His redemptive work. Each of these verses individually follow a simple pattern.
The paragraph opens with the assertion that “the gift is not like the trespass.” God’s act of grace was out of all proportion to the offense of Adam. The conditional premise (accepted as true) is that “many died by the trespass of the one man.” The term translated “the many” should be taken in the inclusive sense to mean “all” (who are, in fact, many). Adam’s sin led to the death of the entire human race. Since that is so, what should be said about the gift of God given freely in Jesus Christ? “How much more” indicates that its effect is vastly greater for all humans. “God’s grace is infinitely greater for good than Adam’s sin is for evil.” Although sin extends to all who are in Adam (and all are by birth), the grace of God transforms for eternity the life and destiny of all who are in Christ (and all who turn to Him in faith are in Him).
While verse 15 shows that “the gift is not like the trespass,” verse 16 proceeds to teach that the result of “the gift most certainly can not be compared to the result of the trespass.” Adam’s one sin was followed by judgment and brought condemnation. The many trespasses (of all who come from Adam) was followed by the gift that brought justification. The one is the story of divine reconciliation through the obedience of the second man, Christ Jesus. The second is the story of humankind’s fall from God’s favor through the disobedience of the first man, Adam. What mankind did was to rebel; what God did was to restore.
Verse 17 supplies the next comparison. This verse sets the premise (accepted as true) that the reign of death was set into motion by the sin of the one man. Sin, with death as its consequence, entered the world through Adam (see Romans 5:12). Since that is true, how much more will those receiving the abundant grace of God and His gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. The future tense of the verb is probably assumed to point to a time yet to come when believers will join with Jesus Christ in His reign (for example 2 Timothy 2:12 and Revelation 22:5). It is most likely, however, to understand the reign as the present experience of believers who have already passed from death unto life (see John 5:24). If the sin of one man caused death to reign, the obedience of one man brings triumph over death to all who believe.
Paul returned to the comparison he began in verse 12 but only began to finish in our reference verses. The contrasting elements are clearly established with one another:
Just as the one sin of Adam brought condemnation, so also did the one righteous act of Christ bring justification. Just as condemnation spread to all, so also is the divine acquittal offered to all. We need to understand that Paul did not intend to imply that the result of Christ’s atoning work automatically provided justification for all regardless of their willingness to accept it. The Apostle is not teaching universal salvation in this text. Context indicates that Paul was comparing the fate of those who are in Adam (the position of all due to their birth into the human race) and the blessings of those who are in Christ (the position of all who have responded in faith).
Paul’s final contrast was between the disobedience of Adam and the obedience of Christ as seen in verse 19. By the disobedience of the first man the entire race was constituted sinners. But by the obedience of the second man “the many will be made righteous.” Again, as in verse 15 we are to understand “the many” in terms of all who are in Adam (everyone born into the human family) and all who are in Christ (everyone born spiritually into the family of God by faith in Christ). The righteousness Paul is speaking about is a right standing before God (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). It is assigned by God as a result of faith. Growth in holiness is the proof that righteousness by faith has truly been imputed. By definition, life is growth. Where there is no growth, there is no life.
Since righteousness is by faith, it is reasonable to ask where law fits into the picture since it takes up so much of the first part of the Scriptures. The answer is that law was brought in so that the offense might increase. Law actually makes wrongdoing all the worse. Later Paul would write that apart from the law we would not have known the nature of sin (Romans 7:7; Galatians 3:19). The law was never intended to provide salvation but to convince people of their need for it. The Law actually increased sin. That is the sad story of humanity estranged from God. Verse 20 states, “but where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” God lavished His grace upon us beyond all measure. His grace exceeded beyond comprehension the extent of human sin. Only by understanding the depths of human degradation can we hope to grasp, even in part, the surpassing wonder of divine forgiveness.
Grace “superabounded” in that as the reign of sin brought death, the reign of grace brings a righteousness that results in life eternal. Death is the fate of all who follow sin as master. Eternal life is the destiny of those whose allegiance is to Christ. A right standing before God is a gift offered freely by God to all who will respond in faith. It is life eternal. Death—eternal separation from God—is the self-inflicted penalty for pursuing sin rather than accepting salvation.
The Twofold Coming of Christ
“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” – Revelation 16:15.
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. – Revelation 1:7.
Both of these passages refer to the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet in the one His coming is described as secret and sudden like that of a thief in the dead of night, unobserved except by those for whom He comes. He disappears again before the rest of the people are aware of His visit. The Lord says, “Behold, I come as a thief.” In the other event He is described as coming publicly. “He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.” Both of these passages refer to the second coming of Christ, but to two distinct phases of that second coming.
All Christians believe in the coming again of Jesus. To reject His coming again is to reject His Word, and the record which God has given concerning His Son. That record concerns His second coming as well as His first.
All Christians, however, are not agreed as to the details of His coming again. There are some who believe that the world will get better and better until, through the influence of the Gospel, education, better understanding among the nations, inventions, science, legislation and reformation, the world will cease its warfare and strife and finally usher in a golden age of peace. After this golden age of peace the Lord will come back to judge the world. People who believe this are called “Postmillenarians” because they “postpone” the coming of the Lord until after the Millennium.
There are also those who deny that there will be a Millennium. They teach that the world will continue to become worse and worse until the end of time. Then the Lord will come to judge the earth and usher in eternity. These people are “Amillenarians,” meaning “No Millennium.”
Finally, there are those who interpret the Bible literally. These maintain that the Lord will come at any time. They believe the Bible teaches that the world will become more and more wicked as the end of this age approaches, that the Church will wax cold and apostate, that wars will increase, hatred and iniquity shall abound and then, when everything is black and dark for the world, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17.
This we call the “Rapture” of the Church, which is the secret sudden coming of Christ for His own. Immediately after the Church is raptured, the Antichrist will be revealed, the time of the world’s greatest sorrow and anguish will begin and for seven years the Tribulation will last, when the world will experience the greatest period of sorrow, warfare, bloodshed and destruction in its history. So intense will be that holocaust that unless those days are shortened no flesh shall be saved. During this period of tribulation on earth the Church will be with the Lord in the air. Then, at the close of this brief but intense period of tribulation, the Lord will come again publicly on the clouds of heaven with His glorified Church which was caught away before the Tribulation. He shall descend with her until His feet stand on the Mount of Olives from which He ascended—after His first coming—and at the touch of His omnipotent feet the mountain will split wide open, causing a valley to be formed from east to west from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, through which the waters of the ocean will rush, forming the greatest inland seaport in the world, with Jerusalem on its banks as the greatest city in the world. The Lord will then destroy His enemies and the enemies of Israel. He will set up His kingdom on the throne of David and reign over the earth for one thousand blessed years. Those who believe this are called “Premillenarians” because they believe the Word of God concerning the coming again of Christ to set up His kingdom before the Millennium. After the Millennium will come the end of the world, when God shall sit on the Great White Throne and the wicked dead will be judged and cast into the Lake of Fire. The redeemed shall dwell with Him forever in a new and rejuvenated heaven and earth, where there will be no sorrow, death nor pain but everlasting peace and perfect contentment and blessing with our reunited loved ones and Jesus Christ forever and ever.
THE RECORD of our origin, as stated previously is brief. A few verses in Genesis 2 tell us how we were created and where we came from. Here is God’s brief record of that incident:
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” – Genesis 2:7.
That is practically the entire story in one verse. There, in twenty-seven simple words, we have all God deems as necessary for us to know concerning our origin. Again, the rest of the Bible is concerned with where we are going.
God wants us to prepare for the future, not to ponder over the distant, musty past. The past and how we were created seems to be unimportant in the estimate of God, especially those things that don’t pertain to His plans for His creation; the future is the all important issue, and God, in His grace does not want us to be ignorant of our future. But sinful, natural man turns this truth completely around. The natural man is intensely concerned about the origin of the earth, but pays little attention to where it is heading as evidenced by his very actions. He searches the heavens with his telescope, digs into the earth with his spade, burrows through the rocks with his drill, examines the earth in the crucible and test tube and splits the atom. As he engages in his frantic search into the realm of astronomy, archaeology, geology, chemistry and physics to try to find out how and when the earth came into being as if that alone can prepare him for anything in the future.
What does he come up with? A thousand foolish theories of evolution; and I reiterate that word, theories. He invents the nebular hypothesis, discards it; invents the primordial cell theory, discards it; then invents the fire-mist theory, and a hundred others. He writes volumes and fills huge libraries full of books and articles on evolution, on the origin of things, on the origin of the species and of the earth, and on the age of the earth. All these things can be and are interesting, but they aren’t important in the eternal scheme of things. All this time the natural, carnal man gives but little thought to the future, makes no preparation for eternity, has no interest in his future abode and refuses to study the one Book which can tell him about these things. Therefore he proceeds forward at breakneck speeds towards an endless and eternal hell.
Sadly, the natural, unregenerate, man has the same reckless concern about the origin of mankind. Instead of searching the Scriptures for God’s plan for his own eternal future, he neglects AND rejects all this and spends his time trying to find out where he came from. What does he come up with this time? Evolution again, and again. He expects us to believe that man began as a little cell; that the cell became a plant; the plant became a fish; the fish began to fly; the bird lost its feathers, grew hair and climbed a tree; the monkey lost his tail and much of his hair; and the result was man.
It reminds me of a humorous story I once heard long ago:
It’s about three monkeys discussing the theory of evolution. Sitting in a tree, one says to the others, “Listen, you two. There’s rumor going around that just can’t be true—that man descended from our noble race. Why, the very idea is a dire disgrace!”
Then, listing things monkeys don’t do, he continued, “You’ll never see a monkey build a fence around a coconut tree and then let all the coconuts go to waste, forbidding all others a taste. Here’s another thing a monkey won’t do: go out at night and get on a violent stew, or use a gun or a knife to take another monkey’s life. Yes, man descended—that ornery cuss. But brothers, he didn’t descend from us!”
I guess for now, all I can add is, ’nuff said!
I am ready to preach the gospel – Romans 1:15
For Saturday April 22, 2023
Ecclesiastes 4:9
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.
In Hollywood history there have been but a handful of couples who were so perfectly paired that they created their own brand of magic for the silver screen. For some of us, this movie magic is indelibly etched on our memories. Couples such as Fred and Ginger, Bogey and Bacall, and Lucy and Desi will live on in the classic films and TV shows that made them famous.
Fortunately for us, there was another couple who left a lasting legacy. Aquila and Priscilla were two people who were continually present throughout several chapters of the New Testament and became a wonderful example of a husband-wife mentoring team. They worked together to contribute to the body of Christ, leaving us an example of how married couples can greatly impact just about anyone God leads them to (Acts 18).
If you are married, the Lord may use you and your spouse in mighty ways to minister to people, whether they’re newlyweds, young parents, or struggling singles. Make it your aim to leave a lasting legacy as a classic duo for the Lord. If you don’t have a spouse to minister with, the Lord has still designed you to serve in the context of community. Perhaps there is a friend or family member you can team up with as you labor for the Lord.
Lord, please help my teammates and me to work together
to bless and encourage those around us.
DAVID JEREMIAH
JEHOASH’S dealings with the priests concerning temple repairs is a useful lesson in accountability:
Accountability involves far more than simply telling someone what to do and then coming back later to see if instructions have been carried out. It means that a leader commits to overseeing the worker’s performance and making sure that the project is completed.
The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong. – Numbers 15:26.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. – Acts 17:30.
Blaise Pascal said there are two kinds of ignorance. One comes as our birthright. The other comes as we grow in knowledge, only to realize how little we know of all that is available. When he felt boastful of his knowledge, Churchill once said, he walked into a library. The very sight of all those books reduced his hat size.
Christians need a third “ignorance”—the ignorance that something “can’t be done.” We need to teach, with the ignorance that “it can’t be done.” We need to evangelize, with the ignorance that “it can’t be done.” We need to start new churches and rebuild wounded ones, with the ignorance that “it can’t be done.” Not knowing it can’t be done, with God’s empowerment, we will do it! Even mountainous challenges, even insoluble spiritual defiance, yield to God’s “everything is possible” promise.
Philip Doddridge: Piercing Heaven – Puritan’s Prayers
Lord, may you answer our united prayers with peace. Pour out your Spirit on our families, and your blessing on our children, that they may grow up before you as willow trees by the river, that they may be a comfort to their parents, a support to the church, and a name and a praise to you.
Amen.
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols [or anything other than me]. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart [a heart of flesh]. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to follow my directions and leading. You will be my people, and I will be your God. But remember, says the Sovereign LORD, I am not doing this because you deserve it. I do it because of my promises and my unending love for you, and everyone will know that I am the LORD.”
The Word of the Lord is steadfast, sure and unchanging. Praise His Holy Name for ALL His promises!
Based on the Word of the Lord found in Ezekiel 36.
Oh, but you say, “I won’t enable or compromise their sin! It is my job to turn them from it!” Actually, no, it isn’t. In fact, it is our job as Christians to show them that Jesus loves them for who they are and He is the one that can change them by starting with their hearts, if He so desires. Of course we know a changed heart changes, but what those outside the Body of Christ don’t realize is that God, through Jesus Christ loves them for the creation they are. Isn’t it time we started demonstrating that?
I put a challenge to all Christians who might be reading this; show me anywhere in the Bible where Jesus Christ Himself, beat a sinner, any sinner and even one caught in the act, over the head with their sin.
I can find a LOT of instances where He ridiculed and in anger tore into the religious leaders and Pharisees of His day, because they did the same thing that Christians today are doing to others in the world. He didn’t have a lot of nice things to say to them because as He told them, “they should have known better because they had the Words (oracles) of God, Himself!”
All I can say is, how much less of an excuse do we have today, with so much more of God’s Word AND the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us into ALL truth?
When Jesus healed the sick, or the demonic, or any myriad of other things, did He first tell them to go and repent and come back and then I will demonstrate God’s love to you, by healing or deliverance, etc.? Most certainly not, He showed God’s love and compassion on them and then let them know, God knows their hearts!
When Jesus was teaching in the temple and the scribes and Pharisees brought before Him a woman who somehow had been caught in an adulterous act, they weren’t concerned about God’s love, or compassion, all they were concerned about was that her sin was an affront to them and God and cared nothing about her, God’s creation!
John 8:3-9:
Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
And then Jesus started to berate her about being caught in the very act of adultery and telling her how wicked a person she was and she should repent so that God would love her!
Okay, okay, got a little carried away there! He didn’t do that and He didn’t even think those things. Here’s what really happened:
John 8:10-11:
When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Jesus, God’s only Son, (Who only speaks what the Father tells Him – John 12:49) told her that He didn’t condemn her, just go, but don’t sin anymore! “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” – Romans 5:8-9.
In closing, I want you to meditate and consider what I have said here and to remind you that we are to follow the EXAMPLE of Christ Jesus Himself. Everybody knows John 3:16, you even see the Scripture notation displayed at large arena sporting events, what few people share or even remember is what follows after that and so, what better example to pattern our Christian walk by than the following:
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. – John 3:17.
I can give you a Scriptural principle to make my point using this very verse:
For God did not send His children, the disciples of Christ into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through them might be shown the Father and Salvation through the Father’s Son, our example, Jesus Christ!
Something to seriously think about before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ breaks through the clouds and sounds that mighty trumpet calling His chosen and anointed home to be with Him and the Father!
Things are getting serious for the writer of Ecclesiastes (“the Preacher”), and sometimes confusing for us, as we follow him through the labyrinth of his discourse on the meaning of life. Death is better than birth, mourning is better than feasting, and sorrow is better than laughter? What happened to his “eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil” statements from earlier (Ecclesiastes 5:18)?
The Preacher might sound like he’s contradicting himself, but the twist in his argument is meant to show us exactly what folly we may be inadvertently embracing. It’s easy to brush over these verses while thinking in terms of standard, run-of-the-mill folly, or obvious sins.
But folly can even look like a daily routine: goals, successes, and our happy, fulfilling lives. It can take the form of anything that skims the surface of life, but keeps us from confronting our greatest need and the reality of eternity.
When life is good, it’s tempting to gloss over our need for God. Everything is going as planned, and it’s easy to rely on ourselves—not on Him. But the Preacher wants us to address this temptation. It might take death, or times of extreme pain and sadness, to help us realize the truth. Only when we attend a funeral or lose a family member does the veneer start to chip; then, we get a glimpse of the turmoil bubbling under the surface. Only when we’re convicted of our great need can we admit that we truly need a Savior.
A University of B.C. philosophy professor, Dr. Peter Remnant, told 1,100 students in a noon-hour speech that “there is no proof in the Bible that God exists.”
Quite right. The existence of God is taken for granted in the Bible. The Scriptures are started with these words: “In the beginning God . . .” (Genesis 1:1).
Friday April 21, 2023
John 21:15
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
We’ve heard about the seven disciples who went fishing. We heard about the long, disappointing night. They caught nothing.
But to Peter it had been night since Good Friday morning. But now after the long dark, a resplendent day was dawning.
It is true that the three questions had been very humiliating to him. He knew very well that there was a connection between them and his threefold denial. He no doubt felt also that the thrice-repeated questions were intended to remind him of his self-assurance and his ignorance of his own failings.
But it was nevertheless a glorious moment to Peter. Now he knew not only himself but also his risen Savior. He sank humbly down at His feet and said: Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest my terrible denial of Thee, and Thou knowest my self-righteous heart. But Thou who knowest all things, Thou knowest also that I cannot live without Thee.
Today He asks you and me: “Lovest thou me?”
This is an exceedingly painful question to all true children of God. Every time they proceed to examine themselves to see if they love Christ their love disappears between their fingers and they find virtually none.
They are slothful in prayer. The Word of God seems dry. Their hearts are cold. And even worse: their hearts are full of worldliness, evil thoughts and desires. When the question is put to them, they have only this to say:
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
Thinking, praying, reading, studying the Bible – when we do these things, we are reflecting on the Word of God. To reflect is to contemplate and/or consider, and God wants us to deeply reflect on His Word so that we can better understand Him.
Friday Reflecting
Sow beside all waters. – Isaiah 32:20.
Never mind whereabouts your work is. Never mind whether it be visible or no. Never mind whether your name is associated with it. You may never see the issues of your toils. You are working for eternity.… If you cannot see results here in the hot working day, the cool evening hours are drawing near, when you may rest from your labors, and then they will follow you. So do your duty, and trust God to give the seed you sow “a body as it hath pleased Him.”
~ MACLAREN
Lord, hear our prayer:
Lord, your greatness calls us to worship you, your power calls us to adore you and your love calls us to trust you. Your creation gives us the challenge to praise you, your Son gives us the reason to thank you, and your Spirit gives us the strength to serve you. Lord, take our words, our lives and our service and use everything, everywhere, for your glory. Accept all our praises for your glory alone, through Christ Jesus our King.
Amen.
I have always considered myself a student. For the longest time, my wife and her family thought I was going to be a professional student. Can’t make money from that, but you can sure learn a lot of things. However, my teaching has always come from observing and watching human nature, and to be honest with you all, yes, mine included, and that, especially in the light of the Word of God.
As I started to mature and get older, and with some of the experiences I have been through with people of all ages, many times in the worst of natural circumstances, you start to see how people react the situations in the world around them.
The one thing that has never ceased to amaze me and even more so as I have grown in the knowledge of the Word of God, is how little human nature changes over the many, many decades and even centuries!
A television show that my wife and I used to watch a lot when we were younger were the different Star Trek series, from the first original one up until after Star Trek Voyager. Yes, we’ve probably also seen all the major movies as well, but the thing that I always found fascinating is that no matter how far into the future man has supposedly gone, according to the series, and how enlightened they have become, the writers could never get around that pesky problem of innate human nature! In fact they used that to create drama in so many story lines! But to me, that didn’t show a very enlightened nature for supposedly evolving so much from the base things like greed and lust, envy and even lying!
Which brings me to what I want to share today. Jesus said it more than once to those either caught in sin, or those suffering from a result of natural sin, “Go and sin no more.”
Pretty straight forward and pretty simple really. Yet for some reason and especially among very strong conservative Christians, in which I claim to also be, there is a tendency to bypass that, and by the way, all the compassion, empathy and love that is inherent in that phrase, and go straight to beating the sinner over the head with the horror of their sin. It’s like the mindset behind that kind of onslaught, is “we’ll show them how bad they are and for sure they will cry out to the Lord!” I mean, I will be honest with you, other than base human nature and the need to be either over people which puts you above them, I don’t understand the concept from a Christian perspective.
We’ve all heard the theology, but I don’t think many Christians have let it sink in; yes, God hates, He abhors, detests even, sin. He is a holy, just and righteous God and there is absolutely no stain or spot of darkness in Him. But Christians seem to forget, the Lord created mankind with the ability to choose whether to sin or not to sin. He hates the sin, but out of an unfathomable ability to love His creation, He created US! And according to the Word of God there is nothing that will ever stand in the way of His love for us. (Romans 8:38-39).
Now I know what a lot of “preachers” teach, that it is because of a person who accepts Jesus Christ as Lord, that His love never fails. But that is NOT what those Scriptures say, and there are many more. It is through Christ and His sacrifice that nothing will come between God’s love AND His ability to love His creation. Now I don’t know if you’ve thought of this, but that means even hell AND the eternal lake of fire CAN’T keep God from loving His creation.
However, because Agape (Godly love) cannot exist without holiness, justice and righteousness, man is the one who refuses to love God and in that refusal subjects himself to the ultimate free-will choice, to be separated from the very presence of God and the love that the Father has for all His creation, by choosing utter and total darkness, away from any source of light and love that originates from God, the Creator! God does NOT choose that, man, himself chooses that and God out of His unfailing love, and despite every effort to sway the heart of man, will give man the desires of his dark and stony heart! If that doesn’t do something to the heart of a Christian, then that “Christian” needs to rethink his stance on whether or not he is truly surrendered to Christ Jesus!
God does NOT want us to judge another in the sense of condemning to eternal death or sentencing to eternal punishment another person, Christian or otherwise, because we have all sinned and we all have the freedom to choose forgiveness. That type of judging will come from Christ Jesus who won that honor by obeying the Father on the Cross of Calvary!
However, God DOES want, and He equips His children to judge, based on discerning right from wrong, good fruit from bad fruit, and falsehoods from truth. We are to be aware AND vigilant to that fact, not just for ourselves but for each other who are in Christ Jesus, for the protection and growth of the Body of Christ.
So, instead of wooing others who feel there is no hope, or there is no other way to live other than the world’s ways, just to get by or survive, we will beat them over the head with their sins and sinfulness in the hopes of showing them the way to Heaven!
Sorry, I don’t thing so and in fact through experience I KNOW it doesn’t work that way. The way you win people, is to show them there is a way to hope, there is a way to escape the ways of the world and a way to do more than just survive, but to actually live life more abundantly until the promise of eternal life is redeemed.
If you’re going to beat someone over the head with something, do it with something they would least expect, Godly, compassionate, sincere love, through our actions towards them and not just in empty words. Anyone can say I love you to another, it happens all over, every day. BUT, it is very rarely demonstrated in a Christ-like way.
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:9). Idiomatically, this means: “Save [me], I pray, the Son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh! Save [me], I pray, by the highest!”
When the people shout these words about Jesus as He enters Jerusalem, they affirm His divinely appointed role and His ability to save them. And the original psalm that this phrase comes from is about their God, Yahweh. Perhaps the people understood Jesus as one with God (Psalm 118:25–26).
As He enters Jerusalem, Jesus’ actions align with Zechariah 9:9, which foretells of a savior-king who will enter on a donkey (Matthew 21:5).
For first-century Jews, everything lined up to affirm Jesus as God’s way of bringing salvation, and they responded to Him as such. This prompts several questions: how often do we see the alignment between what’s happening and God’s plan? How many parallels or opportunities do we miss? And how often do we forget to say “save me”?
Whenever possible, and just like the whole city of Jerusalem during Passover, we should be stirred to ask, “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10).
A Christian doctor who presided at a Bible Conference where I was speaking was seated on the front row. I was well into my message when suddenly a voice said, “Doctor 22, please check with the hospital at once!” It came from a paging device attached to his belt. The physician got up and left immediately. Although he had told me this might happen, I confess I was momentarily distracted. When God calls, it is time for action.
Thursday April 20, 2023
2 Corinthians 1:20
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
Jesus told the parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25 as a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacity. This parable has not to do with natural gifts, but with the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost. We must not measure our spiritual capacity by education or by intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured by the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, before long we will slander Him as the servant slandered his master: ‘You expect more than You give me power to do; You demand too much of me, I cannot stand true to You where I am placed.’ When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say ‘I can’t.’ Never let the limitation of natural ability come in. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in us.
The servant justified himself in everything he did and condemned his lord on every point—‘Your demand is out of all proportion to what you give.’ Have we been slandering God by daring to worry when He has said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”? Worrying means exactly what this servant implied—‘I know You mean to leave me in the lurch.’ The person who is lazy naturally is always captious—‘I haven’t had a decent chance,’ and the one who is lazy spiritually is captious with God. Lazy people always strike out on an independent line.
Never forget that our capacity in spiritual matters is measured by the promises of God. Is God able to fulfil His promises? Our answer depends on whether we have received the Holy Spirit.
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FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 