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Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts

Friday, May 13, 2022

Is it Safe? His Truth, Your Shield – Psalm 91– Purity 730

 

Is it Safe? His Truth, Your Shield – Psalm 91– Purity 730

Purity 730 05/13/2022 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a sunrise just beneath some clouds over the Atlantic Ocean comes to us from a friend in Jacksonville who shared this photo to wish all of his friends a good morning  back on the first day of the month. He also shared his hopes for his favorite sports team’s success with a simple “Go Yankees. Go Jets.”  We can understand the Go Yankees. As they had a game against the Kansas City Royals that day, in which they won 6 to 4, but the Jets? 

Well my friend is a loyal and suffering Jets fan and as it was the first day of the new month, so we could consider that day as “May Day”. So why not speak, his allegiance to the Jets on “May Day”, because as their recent history reveals, the Jets could use all the help they could get! 

And in this world with its penchant for calling what is evil good, and calling what is good evil, and current economic inflation, we could use all the help we can get too!   

Well, it’s Friday again, and as some will undoubtedly correctly call us to give thanks to the Lord for the day, we should realize that we can always give thanks to God regardless of the day because although it may not always seem like it, He is always helping. As Psalm 121 reminds us, our help comes from the Lord.    

Psalm 121:1-2 (NKJV)
1  I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help?
2  My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

 

Of course, to make a legitimate claim to the Lord’s help, we should have a personal relationship with Him through faith in His Son, Jesus.  Although God’s common grace is poured out on everyone, as the sun will shine on the unjust just as much as it will shine on the just, those who put their faith in Christ are forgiven of their transgressions, adopted into God’s family, and given the role of ambassadors to His kingdom.  

 

The promises of God apply to those who trust in Him but the enjoyment of those promises really comes from being in a close personal relationship with the Lord and from knowing what those promises are by studying God’s word.  

 

At last night’s Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course Zoom meeting, one of the participants shared how he has greatly benefited from the content of the course thus far stating that he never knew that his faith in Christ could fundamentally change the way he not only viewed himself and world but it could change how he lived his life. He stated that he never knew how there was great hope and peace to be found in his identity in Christ and how living according to the Lord’s ways could help him to solve his problems and could give him strength to persevere when he was in the midst of them. He never knew what was possible until He listened to what God’s word had to say about Him.   

 

This morning my ongoing relationship with the Lord brought me to the study of Psalm 91 and I just have to share it because of the mighty promises of God that it contains.   Some of these verses or their themes may sound familiar because they have been shared by others to encourage us in our faith and in what the Lord can do.

 

Psalm 91:1-16 (NKJV)
1  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2  I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."
3  Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.
4  He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5  You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6  Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7  A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
8  Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.
9  Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10  No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling

11  For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

12  In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13  You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

And Here God speaks, Saying


14  "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15  He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
16  With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."

Psalm 91 speaks about the promises of protection that Lord provides to those who make Him their refuge and fortress.  There are testimonies throughout the history of Christendom of amazing moments of deliverance and protection.  There are lots of “near misses” in our lives that some people could ascribe to luck but as God is sovereign we know that nothing happens that is not controlled or allowed by Him.

 We can glory in that when things go well but boy are we challenged when bad things happen. Looking at Psalm 91, the enemy and skeptics would say where was God when “the plague” of Covid-19 came or when lives of civilians were lost in the Ukraine, and everywhere else?  

This world is broken by sin and the evil that men do to one another. The enemy seeks to kill, steal and destroy but God also uses calamity to judge and chastise the people of the earth. 

Those are some hard truths. The problem of pain is big problem.  But the pain has a purpose. The suffering in this world will cause us to seek help.  The pain is supposed to cause us to seek help from the Lord.  Only He can save us.   

While we are all destined to die because of the effects of Adam’s fall, for through his disobedience sin came into the world and with it, death,  the Lord calls us to forgiveness and everlasting life through His Son.  

While we are on the earth and walking and talking with God we will enjoy providential moves of God to protect us that simply amaze us. But one day our number will be called, and at that time, when our final breath is expelled, we will truly know just amazing God’s grace is as we transition from life here and go into God’s eternal kingdom.  

So is it safe here on earth?  Not really. I mean look around. We should wear our seatbelts and be wise and cautious to avoid dangers because let’s face it we can use all the help we can get.    

And while we could twist the words of Psalm 91 by being reckless, like Satan did when He tempted Christ in the desert by saying to Him:

Matthew 4:5-6 (NKJV)
6…, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "

We still need to be wise like Jesus and not take Satan’s bait to test the Lord. We should not twist the word to try to declare our right to safety, good health, a long life or to be blessed with prosperity even though those things are possible results of living by faith. 

We have to be balanced and responsible with the great and precious promises that the Lord makes because as Christ said to Satan:  

Matthew 4:7 (NKJV)
7  "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' "

We don’t tempt God, we trust Him. We don’t demand safety and prosperity.  We humbly ask for it and accept whatever He gives us on this earth because we know that it’s not all about us and it’s not all about what happens here on earth for we know that there is an unseen kingdom that will come where our faithfulness to follow and trust in the Lord will be abundantly rewarded.  

So keep walking and talking with God. Get to know just what is possible in a life of faith in Jesus Christ, by getting to know the Lord’s will for our lives that is revealed in His word and by abiding in His presence as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. But we need not fear for the Lord is our shield, our fortress, and our refuge and in Christ we are safe.  For He said:

John 11:25-26 (NKJV)
25   "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

So let’s believe this. Let’s thank God it’s Friday and let’s thank Him for the safety and help we have through our faith in Jesus Christ.  He will protect us here on earth and gives us the ultimate protection of eternal life when its time to call us home, because there is nothing that can separate us from His love.   

______________________________________________________________

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Luke 16:10 (NKJV)
10  He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Today’s Bible verse is points to a basic truth that if we can’t trust someone with small responsibilities, we won’t be able to trust them with large responsibilities.  

Jesus Christ’s teaching is pointing to a man’s character and how we can discern whether or not someone is trust worthy. 

This verse comes from Christ’s teaching about the “Parable of the Shrewd Manager” who makes some “side deals” with people who are indebted to their master by accepting partial payments as full, to gain their favor for the inevitable days that will come when he loses his job!  The shrewd manager’s boss actually admires his servants pragmatism at his expense!   The NLT makes this point of this challenging parable a little clearer by

Luke 16:8-9 (NLT2)
8  “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light.
9  Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

So, okay, Christ is not condoning the “ends justify the means here” He really isn’t.   The emphasis is on using “your worldly resources” for good and not relying on them to “welcome you into an eternal home”. He is encouraging good stewardship not necessarily the shrewdness of “the dishonest rascal”.  

And today’s verse could actually serve as a word of warning in dealing with dishonest rascals, because it tells us that those who aren’t faithful with little, won’t be faithful with much. 

So be a good steward of what the Lord has given you to bless others. Be faithful in the small things and it whole possible that the Lord will make opportunities for us to faithful in much more.

 

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. 

Today we continue sharing from John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”.  

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase John Pipers’ books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $5.00.

The Credibility of Christ Hangs on How We Use Our Money

The issue of money and lifestyle is not a side issue in the Bible. The credibility of Christ in the world hangs on it. “Fifteen percent of everything Christ said relates to this topic—more than his teachings on heaven and hell combined.” Listen to this refrain that runs all through his teachings:

• “You lack one thing: go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mark 10:21).

• “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.… But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:20, 24).

• “Any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

• “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25).

• “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

• “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

• “Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags … in the heavens” (Luke 12:33).

• “Zacchaeus … said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.…’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house’ ” (Luke 19:8–9).

• “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44).

• “[Jesus] saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, ‘Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them’ ” (Luke 21:2–3).

• “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20–21).

• “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.… Follow me” (Luke 9:58–59).

Hazardous Liberality

Over and over Jesus is relentless in his radical call to a wartime lifestyle and a hazardous liberality. I say “hazardous” because of that story about the widow. She gave her last penny to the temple ministry. Most of us would call her foolish or, more delicately, imprudent. But there is not a word of criticism from Jesus:

And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:42–44, emphasis added)

The point here is not that everyone should give everything away. The point is: Jesus loves faith-filled risk for the glory of God. I don’t have laws to give you concerning the particulars of how to spend your money, any more than Jesus did. I simply want to point to Jesus and let his word have its shocking and saving effect on us.

Use Money to Show That God, Not Possessions, Is Our Treasure

Jesus’ emphasis on money and possessions is picked up throughout the New Testament. There are the stories in the book of Acts (“They were selling their possessions … and distributing the proceeds … as any had need,” Acts 2:45). There are the words of the apostle Paul (“In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity.… God loves a cheerful giver,” 2 Corinthians 8:2; 9:7). There are the words of James, the brother of Jesus (“Its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits,” James 1:11).

The issue is pervasive because it is crucial for the witness of the church. If we want to make people glad in God, our lives must look as if God, not possessions, is our joy. Our lives must look as if we use our possessions to make people glad in God—especially the most needy.[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), 109–111.


Thursday, May 12, 2022

Did the Devil Make Me Do It? – Submit to God – Purity 729


 Did the Devil Make Me Do It? – Submit to God – Purity 729

Purity 729 05/12/2022   Purity 729 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the sun shining above a tree that stands beside a pathway that to the waters of Tampa Bay comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene at Picnic Island Park while on the last day of my honeymoon vacation back on February 24th .

 

Well, It’s Thursday again and as is my habit I share a photo of some form of pathway on Thursdays because I have been encouraging people to “get on the pathway of Christian Discipleship” through various ministries, typically on Thursday nights, since 2015 when I discovered that the application of our Christian faith, that walking in the Spirit, was the key to solving all of life’s problems and if followed would lead to an abundant life of peace, love, joy and all the other fruit of the Spirit manifesting in our lives as the Lord’s way would lead us to abandon the things that cause us guilt, shame, and pain and would encourage us to do and think on that which is true, noble, just, pure, and lovely. 

Our walk of faith doesn’t guide us to stop doing what is wrong and just have some neutral blank space in our lives. Our walk of faith is intentional in that we forsake what is evil and choose to think about and to do what is good.

Tonight I facilitate a Men’s Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course on Zoom and the topic we will be discussing is the battle for our minds.  The lesson we will be covering deals with the reality of the dark spiritual forces that actively try to lead us astray through:

·       Deception -  telling us lies and feeding us worldly philosophies that contradict the truth of God’s word

·       Accusation – by coming at us hard with condemnation when we make mistakes and using our doubt and failures to attack our sense of identity, or status, as a Christian

·       Temptation – by encouraging us to sin     

The lesson uses scriptures from the Bible that demonstrate that the enemy could even influence people who wanted to follow the Lord to do things that was against God’s will.  King David, Judas Iscariot, and Ananias and Saphira were all tempted and deceived by the enemy to do his will rather than the Lord’s and the Apostle Paul’s discourse on the full armor of God in the book of Ephesians demonstrates that we are subject to the enemy’s attacks and need to follow the advice in

James 4:7 (NKJV) that tells us to:
7  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

So how do we do that? And how do we know when we are being fed thoughts that come from the enemy, or if they are something we learned in the world, or if they are our own sinful ideas?

Well the good news is that the same defense against the spiritual forces of darkness, will also work to help us overcome worldly influences or our own bad ideas.   

We submit to God by agreeing that His word is true and by choosing to live by its principles.  But our faith is not just rule keeping.  Our faith is a relationship with God where we recognize that God isn’t somewhere off in the distant cosmos but that He is immanent, that God is near – He encompasses or is manifested in the material world – and that God is personal and relational – He reveals Himself to us as Father and He loves and cares for us and wants us to benefit from a relationship with Him.

God proved both His immanence and love for us by sending Jesus into the material world, to speak the truth of His word, to demonstrate His standards by living a sinless life, and by paying for our sins on the cross.  When we put our faith in Jesus, we are forgiven of all our sins and are given a new eternal life with which we can give God glory by overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil through the simple choice to follow the Lord and to reject any thoughts that would contradict His truth.  

We don’t have to worry whether our impulses or thoughts come from some demon, the world, or ourselves. We just have to submit to God and His wisdom and ways in order to be defended from deception, accusation, and temptation. We reject that which false or is contrary to God’s word and accept that God’s word is truth in which we can trust and that we can live by.   

Thinking about, and doing, what true, noble, just, and pure will not cause us guilt and shame.  Doing what’s right won’t result in a guilty conscience and when we don’t have a guilty conscience we can have peace. For the Christian, this is more than just “doing the right thing” which is not bad advice, this is submitting to God. We aren’t just doing “what’s right for the right reasons”.

We are obeying the commands of our Heavenly Father as an expression of our identity, as Christians, as a recognition that God’s Holy standards are good and authoritative, as a defense against the spiritual forces of darkness, and also as an expression of the love we have for God.    Our submitting to God is our purpose and our armor.

So submit to the Lord because not only will the devil flee from you, but you will also be protected from the world system that would lead you into error,  and you will also be protected from the man in the mirror, who can at times be our own worst enemy.  

So keep walking and talking with God. Remind yourself that when you put your faith in Christ all things are new, we are no longer who we used to be, and that all we have to do to find our purpose in this world is to walk in the ways of the Lord and to follow where He leads.

______________________________________________________________

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Luke 15:10 (NKJV)
10  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Today’s Bible verse are the words of Jesus who tells us that the kingdom of heaven rejoices when sinners are brought from death to life when they repent.  

Repenting is turning away from the worlds ways and choosing to go God’s way.  It is said to mean to change one’s mind. To decide to no longer go on the highway to hell but to take the narrow road that leads to ever lasting life.  

This statement of Christ confirms the existence of a spiritual kingdom that is unseen.  This and other statements from Jesus tell us that this world is not all there is and that we are wise to put our faith in Christ to be with Him in paradise and to avoid the wrath of God that would rightly send us to hell.  

So let’s not just let the angels rejoice over our salvation, let’s rejoice in what the Lord has done for us and let His will be done in our lives through a continual process of evaluation and repentance. 

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. 

Today we continue sharing from John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”.  

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase John Pipers’ books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $5.00.

7 - Living to Prove He Is More Precious Than Life

 

To make others glad in God with an everlasting gladness, our lives must show that he is more precious than life. “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:3). To do this we must make sacrificial life choices rooted in the assurance that magnifying Christ through generosity and mercy is more satisfying than selfishness. If we walk away from risk to keep ourselves safe and solvent, we will waste our lives. This chapter is about the kind of lifestyle that may keep that from happening.

How Not to Betray Jesus

If Christ is an all-satisfying treasure and promises to provide all our needs, even through famine and nakedness, then to live as though we had all the same values as the world would betray him. I have in mind mainly how we use our money and how we feel about our possessions. I hear the haunting words of Jesus, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things” (Matthew 6:31–32). In other words, if we look like our lives are devoted to getting and maintaining things, we will look like the world, and that will not make Christ look great. He will look like a religious side-interest that may be useful for escaping hell in the end, but doesn’t make much difference in what we live and love here. He will not look like an all-satisfying treasure. And that will not make others glad in God.

If we are exiles and refugees on earth (1 Peter 2:11), and if our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and if nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35), and if his steadfast love is better than life (Psalm 63:3), and if all hardship is working for us an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17), then we will give to the winds our fears and “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). We will count everything as rubbish in comparison with Christ (Philippians 3:7–8). We will “joyfully accept the plundering of our property” for the sake of unpopular acts of mercy (Hebrews 10:34). We will choose “ rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin,” and we will count “the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt” (Hebrews 11:25–26).[1]

Why Don’t People Ask Us About Our Hope?

There is no doubt that if we lived more like this, the world would be more likely to consider whether Jesus is an all-satisfying Treasure. He would look like one. When was the last time someone asked you about “the reason for the hope that is in you”? That’s what Peter said we should always be ready to give an answer for: “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

Why don’t people ask us about our hope? The answer is probably that we look as if we hope in the same things they do. Our lives don’t look like they are on the Calvary road, stripped down for sacrificial love, serving others with the sweet assurance that we don’t need to be rewarded in this life. Our reward is great in heaven (Matthew 5:12)! “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). If we believed this more deeply, others might see the worth of God and find in him their gladness.[2]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


[1] John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), 107–109.

 

Friday, May 6, 2022

Simply Amazing – Asking THE Awkward Question - Purity 724

 

Simply Amazing – Don’t Doubt Who You Are In Christ - Purity 724

Purity 724 05/06/2022   Purity 724 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of “a beautiful view late in the afternoon with some silhouettes of people enjoying the day” on the shores of Hallet Cove Beach in Adelaide South Australia comes to us from Dave Baun photography. You can follow Dave on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DaveBaunPhotography/) with a link on the blog today and you can also read a blog post I shared last year about how a photographer from Pennsylvania found himself living in the land Down Under.  His wife Liisa shared their ” beautiful story of how God can take two hearts from opposite sides of the planet and make them collide” with me after she discovered my teachings of Victory Over the Darkness on the mt4christ247 podcast and allowed me to share it on the blog. Follow this link to read Liisa’s story in her words and see the wedding video (https://www.mt4christ.org/2021/04/this-is-testimony-of-my-australian.html). 

Well it’s Friday and stories like Liisa and Dave’s, and My wife TammyLyn and mine, testify of the fact of how God will move people to do things, to go places, and to meet people that they would have never experienced if they didn’t answer the call to make the Lord a part of their life.  In our stories, we sought the Lord first and followed where he led us not knowing what He had in store for us.   

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) says
6  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

If I were to only able to share one piece of advice or one word of encouragement, it would be: to seek the Lord. The rewards we receive for faithfully seeking the Lord lie beyond our imagination because when we decide to seek and to follow God we simply do not know all the things He will work together for our good.  A life dedicated to following the Lord’s call is best described as amazing. It is amazing in its grace that takes us from death to life and amazing in the true sense of the word as we will live in the definition of amazing – that we will encounter things “causing great surprise or wonder”. Things that are “astonishing.”

Last night, in the Men’s Freedom in Christ Course that I facilitate on Zoom, even though we are only in the half of the class, one of the participant’s is already testifying of the peace that he has found now that he has decided to investigate the Christian faith for himself and to apply the truths of God’s word to His life. 

In this world where one’s religion can be seen as a list of requirements, and Christianity can be no different, one can wonder and doubt whether they really are a Christian.

This particular participant didn’t necessarily come boldly into the class proclaiming himself as a Christian so I was somewhat hesitant to directly ask him if he has put his faith in Christ but as we have advanced in the course the questions in the course are presented with the presupposition that at this point the participant’s have alrready put their faith in Christ. So last night it was a little awkward asking they guys about what they have noticed has changed since becoming a Christian, when in this man’s case I didn’t know for sure if he was a Christian.  

So, being me, and actually following a basic principle of Nouthetic (biblical) counseling, I just asked the question: are you a Christian? 

And this is a good point to recognize, if in our walk we come to a place where we are in conflict, may be we find ourselves between two people who are presenting different views of what they are going through and we really don’t know what to think and while we don’t want to offend anyone, we are stuck in our ability to advice or counsel because things are unclear.  So what do we do?  Well we have to make things clear.  We have to confront the “elephant in the room”. We have to present what we have heard, how we perceive it, clarify if our perceptions are correct, and point out the inconsistencies that we are getting from the various views and try to rectify them with the wisdom found in the word of God.  When we are seeking to reconcile people to God and put them on the path to peace that comes from being in harmony with Him, all problems are considered through the lens of the Christian faith.   We recommend just doing what feels good or to do things according to what society deems okay, we direct people to seek and follow the Lord’s wisdom for our lives.   

So when the course brought us to a place where the presumption was being made that the participants had faith in Christ,  I had to ask the awkward question and clarify things, one way or the other.  Have you put your faith in Christ? Are you a Christian?  

And not surprisingly, I was asked a clarifying question in response. 

Well, what do you mean by “Christian”?   Yup, he “Bill Clinton”ed me!  And you know what? that’s okay.  Sometimes we need to know what the meaning of “is” is!

So for him, and for you, I simply presented being a Christian through the lens of scripture, right? With

Romans 10:9 (NKJV) which says
9  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  

And I should have included

Romans 10:10 (NKJV) which says
10  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Because I then asked him if there was ever a point in his life where he had a moment where he say the truth of who Jesus was and made a decision is his heart to ask God for forgiveness of his sins and to make Jesus his Lord and Savior.  

To which my friend, and now fully confirmed brother in Christ said:  “Oh, yeah! Absolutely.”  

He then explained that he had doubts about his faith or status as a Christian because of the other Christians that he had experienced in his life seemed to present the Christian faith with a lot of “have to’s” or “should’s”.  Like you “have to go to church, and read the Bible, and do street preaching, and tithe, and etc, etc , etc.”  

So looking at Romans 10:9, we can see that all that “stuff” while good are not required for salvation. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart (like really believe -not just a mental assent) that He was raised from the dead (why is this a big deal – oh maybe because His resurrection proves He is God). then you will be saved. That’s it. That’s all folks. It is through faith in Jesus Christ ALONE that we are saved.  

This basic truth was a great relief to our friend, our brother in Christ.  After this exchange, a burden seemed to be lifted from his shoulders and he testified of how he was greatly encouraged by the Case for Christ documentary, link on the blog (https://youtu.be/rbTSyqbUz1A) , that I had shared with Him because it demonstrated how the Christian faith was rational and reasonable and he described how since he started investigating his Christian faith he has increasingly experienced peace that he simply didn’t have before. Amazing.   

So, if you are a sheepish sheep in the Lord’s flock, who may doubt your membership in God’s royal family, let me assure you that the only requirement for being in the faith is faith, faith in Christ.  

If you believe in your heart that Jesus was and is who He said He is, and that His death on the cross was meaningful, that it did pay for the sins of all who put their trust in Him, and you believe that He was raised from the dead, you are saved. You are forgiven. You are a child of God and only need to believe and trust in what the Lord has already done for you. In Christ we have new life, it’s only a matter of believing that truth, and living according to it, to experience the amazing life that God wants you to live.  

So Thank God it’s Friday, and keep walking and talking with God because when you do that you will be amazed at what Lord has in store for you.   

______________________________________________________________

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Luke 1:37 (NKJV)
37  For with God nothing will be impossible."

Today’s Bible verse comes from a heavenly messenger and encourages us to know that there is nothing that is impossible with God.

This statement was from the Angel Gabriel who was sharing the amazing news that Mary would have a baby through the power of the Holy Spirit. Talk about impossible. But Mary was a virgin and Christ was born, as the song says “on Christmas day in the morning!” Nothing is impossible with God.  

God is the creator of the universe.  He literally created everything out of nothing.  He is self-existent. No one created God. He is the One who has always been and is over above time and space and will determine the course for His creation.  

The miracles of Jesus teach us that Jesus was God and that things we would think were impossible were possible through Christ.  

Testimonies through out the history of Christendom speak of miracles in the lives of believers.  While miracles are very rare, they prove that God is still active in our world  and nothing is impossible for Him.  

In our lives as disciples as we repent from our worldly ways, the Lord may put it on us to do things we never would have even through to try to do before coming to Christ. Changing our lives and obeying the Lord might seem impossible. But the Lord gives all believers the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to empower us to accomplish all that He call us to do.  If we believe, if we have faith, if we trust the Lord and do what He calls us to do, not just get what we want necessarily,  we will see the Lord help us to do what we thought was impossible. 

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us but the first step to being amazed is believing that with God nothing is impossible.

 

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. 

Today we continue sharing from John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”.  

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase John Pipers’ books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $5.00.

Risking for the Wrong Reasons

There is more than one danger in calling Christians to take risks. I mentioned one of them in Chapter 4, namely, that we might become so fixated on self-denial that we are unable to enjoy the proper pleasures of this life that God has given for our good. Another danger, which is worse, is that we might be drawn to a life of risk for self-exalting reasons. We might feel the adrenaline of heroism rising. We might scorn the lazy and cowardly and feel superior. We might think of risk as a kind of righteousness that makes us acceptable to God. What would be missing from all these mistakes is childlike faith in the sovereign rule of God in the world and in his triumphant love.

I have been assuming that the power and the motive behind taking risks for the cause of God is not heroism, or the lust for adventure, or the courage of self-reliance, or the need to earn God’s good will, but rather faith in the all-providing, all-ruling, all-satisfying Son of God, Jesus Christ. The strength to risk losing face for the sake of Christ is the faith that God’s love will lift up your face in the end and vindicate your cause. The strength to risk losing money for the cause of the Gospel is the faith that we have a treasure in the heavens that cannot fail. The strength to risk losing life in this world is faith in the promise that he who loses his life in this world will save it for the age to come.

This is very different from heroism and self-reliance. When we risk losing face or money or life because we believe God will always help us and use our loss, in the end, to make us more glad in his glory, then it’s not we who get the praise because of our courage; it’s God who gets the praise because of his care. In this way risk reflects God’s value, not our valor.

This foundation for fearlessness must not be assumed. We are wired to risk for the wrong reasons. Without Christ, we are all legalists or lechers at heart—wanting to do our own thing, or wanting to do God’s thing in our way to prove our own ability. Since we are wired this way, we need protection. God has given us another way to pursue risk. Do it “by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). And the way God supplies his strength is through faith in his promises. Every loss we risk in order to make much of Christ, God promises to restore a thousandfold with his all-satisfying fellowship.

The Power to Risk Is in the Promise of God

Earlier in this chapter I mentioned Luke 21:16 where Jesus says to his disciples, “Some of you they will put to death.” But I did not mention the promise that follows: “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish” (verse 18). This is one of those painful paradoxes in the Bible: “Some of you they will put to death.… But not a hair of your head will perish”! What does this mean? What is Jesus trying to say to us when he says, “Go ahead and risk obedience; some of you they will put to death; but not a hair of your head will perish”?

I think the best commentary on these verses is Romans 8:35–39.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Compare these terrible and wonderful words with what Jesus said: “Some of you they will put to death.… But not a hair of your head will perish.”

Like Jesus, Paul says that the love of Christ for us does not eliminate our suffering. On the contrary, our very attachment to Christ will bring suffering. What is Paul’s answer to his own question in verse 35: “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword separate us from the love of Christ?” His answer in verse 37 is a resounding NO! But don’t miss the implication of the question: The reason these things will not separate us from the love of Christ is not because they don’t happen to people whom Christ loves. They do. Paul’s quoting of Psalm 44:22 shows that these things do in fact happen to Christ’s people. “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” In other words, Christ’s love for us does not spare us these sufferings. Risk is real. The Christian life is a painful life. Not joyless. But not painless either.

Does God Really Supply All We Need?

This is the meaning of the little word “in” found in verse 37: “In all these things we are more than conquerors.…” We are more than conquerors in our afflictions, not by avoiding them. So Paul agrees with Jesus: “Some of you they will put to death.” Obedience is risk. And it is right to risk for the cause of God. Some of the risks are mentioned in verse 35:

• “tribulation”—the trouble and oppression of various kinds that Paul says we must walk through on our way to heaven (Acts 14:22).

• “distress”—calamities that bring stress and threaten to break us like a stick (2 Corinthians 6:4; 12:10).

• “persecution”—active opposition from the enemies of the Gospel (Matthew 5:11–12).

• “danger”—every kind of threat or menace to body, soul, and family (2 Corinthians 11:26).

• “sword”—the weapon that killed James (Acts 12:2).

• “famine and nakedness”—the lack of food and clothing.

I put “famine and nakedness” last because they pose the greatest problem. Did not Jesus say:

Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? … do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” … your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:25, 31–33)

“Well, which is it?” we might ask. Are Christians subject to “famine and nakedness” or will God provide “all these things” when we need them? Will Christians never hunger or starve or be ill-clothed? Have not some of the greatest saints in the world been stripped and starved? What about Hebrews 11:37–38? “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” The losses and miseries of these believers was not owing to their unbelief. They were faithful—people “of whom the world was not worthy.”[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


[1] John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), 90–93.