Sunday, April 26, 2015

Rest on the work of the cross

I recall when after I was born again that there was a time I felt this heaviness that I had to earn my salvation. I also felt like I didn't have enough passion or faith in God. Also, I thought that I was not good enough to be loved by God because of all the sins I had committed before I was born again. I would sometimes wonder "What must I do so that God would accept me because I don't feel good enough?" It was such a heavy and burdensome feeling. It was terrible! That went on for months. It wasn't until a brother in Christ told me that I needed to rest. I didn't know what he meant by that. He told me that I needed to take rest on the work of the cross and stop trying to earn my salvation. After that conversation, I thought a lot about it and prayed about it. What has compelled me to write this entry is that many people I know either from church or on social media are struggling through this too. I thank God that He drew them to me so that I can comfort them like I had been comforted.

Jesus, who is God in human form, came into this world. Not to start a new religion, but to fulfill the prophesies and restore the relationship that was lost in the garden of Eden. He lived the life that we could not live. Mankind could not live out the 10 commandments. If you broke one commandment, you broke them all according to God. Jesus was able to live this life. When Jesus started His ministry, He had 3 years to teach His disciples because they would go and preach the gospel to the masses. He knew that He would have to die. But why? Since Jesus was the only one who could live the life we could not, He voluntarily took the punishment meant for us and died the death we deserved. His resurrection proved that 1) His life was payment for all the sins of those who believe in Him 2) That death could not hold him, therefore defeating Satan 3) that He truly was God.

Jesus lived the life we couldn't. He die the death we were suppose to get and now is glorified sitting at the right hand of God. Take rest in that. That Jesus did all the work and all you have to do is simply believe it. If you believe and have accepted Christ as your Lord and savior then you are born again. You have been chosen. You didn't choose God.  Jesus will make you Holy and righteous because we cannot do it ourselves. Here is what the word of God has to say on this matter.

John 15:16 - You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.


Jeremiah 1:5 - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

Isaiah 43:1 - But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel:“Fear not, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

When I got born again, I was a mess. I had taken my very own life and made a huge mess of it. I was broken in every way. But when I surrendered my life to Jesus, He took ownership of my life and my life belonged to Him. It became His mess to fix and clean up. Why? For His glory. Jesus came to save sinners. Mark 2:17 - ...Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

Ephesians 1:3-9 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

One other thing I want to touch base on is sanctification.  When I was a babe in my faith, it was explained to me that sanctification is a marathon, not a sprint. We all want to be righteous, free from our sins and be Godly RIGHT NOW. But that is not how it works. Its a daily thing. Your goal should be to better then you were the day before. When you got born again, you were purchased and may I add purchased at a very high price. The price was the blood of Jesus Christ. He was the last sacrifice for the sins of man. You were taken from the bloodline of Adam and put into the bloodline of Jesus. You were born again spiritually. You received the Holy Spirit. What we are waiting for is 1) for Jesus to come back and 2) to get our glorified bodies. Philippians 3:21 - Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. This is a process. Christians are not made over night. You will stumble but you get back up and keep going. If you sin, repent from you sin and keep going. Yes, you have to keep repenting of your sin after you get born again. With time, you will sin less. You wont be sinless when the Lord comes back because He promised He would be committed to completing the work He started in you.

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,  who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 - Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,  who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

 It saddens me to know that there are people who think they must earn their way to heaven and work for God's love. I know for sure God feels the same way. Stop working for your salvation. Jesus did the work and He did a really good job. Ecclesiastes 12:13 - Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. 

I want to close out with these two verses that Jesus Christ said. I hope and pray that people will be delivered from the heaviness of trying to earn Gods love, acceptance and salvation.  If following Jesus feels heavy, then something isn't right. Either you are not born again or you need to take rest.
John 14:15 - If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Matthew 11:28-30 - Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. 
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Sanctification,-Means-And-Results#sthash.Sk5AaDjC.dpuf
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Sanctification,-Means-And-Results#sthash.Sk5AaDjC.dpuf









Friday, April 3, 2015

Good Friday 2015 / Once we were slaves

I had not been excited about Good Friday as much as today. I made preparations because I really wanted to be at church for Good Friday. Last 2 years I don't recall going. So this was my first time going to Goof Friday service. Earlier this week I asked my supervisor if I could come in early so I can go to church on Friday evening. Service started at 6:30 pm. I usually get off at 6pm. I went into one and a half hours early. I also wore what I planned on wearing to church to work so that I didn't have to come home and change clothes. I didn't want to waste anytime. I wore a long sleeve shirt that I really like that I got at the Goodwill store, a pair of black Dickies, and some dress shoes I picked up at Ross. Nothing flashy.

The past week or so I had been reading the book of John. Today I got as far as when Jesus was going to be crucified. I wanted to read when Jesus was crucified but I got busy with work and then I had to leave. I got off a little later from work then I wanted but I felt compelled to stay just a bit longer to help a couple more people. My wife and kids came and picked me up from work. We got my sons hair cut at Great Clips. Then we had a quick dinner and off to church we went. The kids went to their class while me and my wife Erin went to the worship center.

The worship music was so beautiful. I felt so peaceful. My pastor began the sermon by explaining how Jesus dieing on a cross could be considered a good Friday. It's the day our Lord Jesus, our Messiah, took the punishment that was meant for us so that we can be free of the bondage of sin. I am and will be eternally grateful to him for that. They showed a video of a movie called "Once We Were Slaves". Its not based on fact but a story on how maybe the 2 criminals Jesus was crucified with, ended up along side with him. My Pastor said that crucifixion was Romes way of punishing the worst of the worst. Possibly the equivalent of the electric chair or lethal injection is today.

It dawned on me what it meant when Barabbas was released and chosen over Jesus to be crucified. Barabbas means "son of the father". A sinner was free to go, all charges dropped, and Jesus took the place of Barabbas on the cross. If Pilate had released Jesus, Barabbas would have been crucified. But that also would have meant, no salvation for us. So what happened, had to happen because God interned it to happen this way. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior, we become sons/daughters of the Father. We are set free from our sins and the penalty of death is not on us because Jesus took our place on the cross.

 Sin has a penalty and it is death. Somebody  has to die for sin. Blood must be shed. Jesus was the final sacrifice for the sin of man. All of our charges are dropped and we are not slaves to sin anymore. Isn't that just great? Thank you Jesus! We celebrate the greatest act of love on the face of the earth. God, becoming a man, taking our sins and dieing for us so we can return to perfect harmony with Him. I tried to find the movie on YouTube, the video I mentioned, but all there is a trailer to the movie. If anybody could find a link to it that would be great. (Post the link the comments if you find it online.) I don't want to spoil the movie because it is really good.

The closing comments my Pastor said was, which of the 2 criminals are you? The one who doesn't believe and mocks Jesus or the one who realizes that Jesus was innocent and was on the cross and died to save those who crucified Him? Luke 23:42-43 -"Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” That man never lived out his life for Jesus or went out witnessing or did any works. His faith in Jesus is what saved him. We are so fortunate to be able to do works for the Lord. 

Being religious and trying to be self righteous will take you nowhere. Grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ is the way to Paradise. So after the movie, we closed out in prayer. There was communion outside and the worship team stayed on a bit after and sang some more worship songs. Me and my wife took communion and we prayed together and thanked Jesus for what He did for all of us. We thanked Him for coming into our lives. We thanked Him for choosing us to be His people. What an honor and privilege to be chosen by the Creator, the King of Kings, the Holiest of Holy. Once we were slaves, now we have been set free. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed me white as snow. Amen. This truly was a good Friday. 



Thursday, April 2, 2015

The Book is Always Better Than the Movie

I was thinking about a conversation I had the other day with someone about the new bible flick "Killing Jesus". The person asked me if Jesus knew He was God before He was baptized. I answered yes. Let me explain to you why. To be completely honest, I haven't watched it and I really don't have a desire to watch it either. If you want to, that is fine.

I recall listening to an interview with the man who plays Jesus in this movie and he said he wanted to give a human aspect to Jesus. I liked the idea because other movies I've seen they make Jesus seem so cold and inhuman. Yes He was God but He was also human. The shortest verse in the bible points out the humanity of Jesus. That verse is found in John 11:35 and it simply says, "Jesus wept.". But making people think Jesus was oblivious to who He was and His purpose is wrong. 

Remember what is always said about movies based off books. "The book is better." In this case the bible is better and it true. Don't let these movies be what you compare scripture to. Instead compare the movies to scripture and see how accurate or how inaccurate the movies are compared to the bible. Read Luke 2:40-51 and see for yourself if Jesus knew who He was before He was baptized. From a young age Jesus seemed to have known.

A brother in Christ of mine pointed out that  he applauds Hollywood for making biblical movies. I totally agree with that statement. But only to a certain extent because they (Hollywood) warp the context, meaning and truth about God's word for the sake of movie/TV ratings. He closed his comment with this quote, "The road to hell paved is with good intention." That blew my mind.

In conclusion, what I was trying to point out is that biblical movies aren't always biblical. There are people out there who don't read the bible and will believe what ever is displayed on the TV screen as truth. I was fooled  once too you know. I don't like to be lied to especially when it comes to God. I don't like to see people be lied to about God either. Us who call ourselves believers, followers of Jesus Christ, we need to dive in head first into our bibles and soak in the knowledge. We are all the bible and Jesus people might ever see. This is serious folks! 

If you are like me, I loath reading. But I love to read my bible. I know its weird and contradicts it self. Ask God to breath life into the words. Ask Him to give you wisdom and understanding concerning what you are about to read. God wants to give us wisdom. He wants to understand Him. Guess what? He gives it away freely. The bible says that God says that His people die because of lack of knowledge. Read it in Hosea 4:6. Get knowledge or die.