It's June 26, 2013.
Sometimes my heart just cries out to the world---Follow JESUS!
Why?
Let me barrage you with reasons. Here is a list of thoughts that I keep answering to my agnostic or spiritually growing acquaintances. I hope it is helpful to you, spurring you on to spiritual growth in Christ.
The Gospel is everything. Know it. Preach it: Jesus is God, Mankind sins, Jesus died for our sins, believe that He is your Savior. Become a Christian.
Prophecy is truly amazing. Don't fear it. Learn it. Watch. Look UP! It is being fulfilled before our eyes. We ARE in the last days, ever since Christ's death and resurrection. We are closer than ever to His return.
You have the answers to everything, Christian believer. God is the ANSWER to everything.
Ask with your heart spiritually open, non-believer, and you will find rest for your soul.
People who don't know Christ are spiritually dead.
Satan is a person. He is a deceiver. He counterfeits almost everything. Count on his deception being a part of your belief system right now. He is the father of lies, and we tend to follow in his footsteps with lying.
Salvation and sanctification are two different things. You are saved when you believe in Jesus. You are sanctified as you learn to understand Him more.
I love the command of Christ, "Follow me and make fishers of men."
In those days they cast nets for fishing. Lesson learned: just be light and attract people into the net! You don't need to "lure" anyone. Just look at the Light, Jesus Christ, be light, and you will attract "fish."
So, stop looking around, and start looking up. To look around is to be discouraged. Your sister, your uncle, your nephew, your son or daughter---your spouse---may not believe! How heartbreaking!!!!!! But don't look at them. Look at Jesus. Be like Jesus. He is the Lover of the Universe. If Jesus doesn't attract them then nothing will.
Forgive. Live. Love. Serve. Give. Invite. Clothe. Feed. Comfort. Follow your God, your Shepherd, your Guide. READ THE BIBLE.
Biblical illiteracy is the bane of this generation. TOO MANY people have not ever read the Bible, let alone all of it. READ IT. OVER and OVER again.
Stop judging other flavors of Christianity. Their experience is not yours. We (believers) are all on that path to sanctification, and GOD IS THE JUDGE. The Word of God is our plumb-line. Take it to the Word and work it out with fear and trembling.
Jesus is everything: Healer, Lover, Sustainer, Savior, Giver, Comforter, Revealer of Truth. Look for EVERYTHING in Him. It is enough.
Your soul will survive through the darkest hells of this earthly domain when you know Christ. Nothing separates us from Him. You have the power to withstand all within your belief in Christ.
If you follow Satan or one of his manifestations your soul will burn in hell forever. You must reject all other Gods and follow Christ alone. You may not be a Moslem, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a ____________. You MUST be a Christian. "I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by ME." Jesus is God, and what He says is Truth. Believe Him.
God created the World. He made it all perfect. Creation suffers through the fall of mankind. Just believe Genesis and get on with life. Your intellectual suppositions and garbled human reasoning will never match the infinite Truth, so just accept God's Word and run with it. You'll find yourself miles ahead. It really is a head start.
God's laws really matter. All of them. Some were for setting apart a people to bring forth a Savior. Some are simply good sense for living with fellow humans. Jesus' commands are to bring light to the spiritually blind and deaf. All people are blind and deaf, spiritually, until they know Christ.
So, don't murder anyone. Don't have sex outside of marriage, and marriage is, of course, ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN-----FOR LIFE (Think Adam and Eve). Don't Lie. Don't Steal. DON'T EVEN COVET.
Don't swear. Don't forget to go to Church and make the Sabbath holy. Make sure you are in good standing with your parents, and see that they are all right. Love God. Don't worship/love/honor/think about all the time/follow anything else. That's idolatry. Don't try to make God conform to your imagination of Him. He is simply GOD. Accept Him as He is: the God of Jacob, the LORD, I AM, Creator God.
Be kind to each other.
Speak kindly to each other.
Run to Jesus when you are persecuted. He is all you need.
Remember, Jesus is coming for His own, and EVERY knee shall bow. When we see Him we won't have any choice.
And guess what? Your "righteous works" have no value in earning yourself salvation. Sorry. You can only be saved by the blood of Christ Jesus. His work alone atoned for your sin. You must "only" believe.
Your works are an offering to the One who saved you.
May God bring you into His Kingdom, not of this world, forever, beyond time, to be with Him eternally.
Repent. That means "turn." Do it now.
Extremely Righteous:
Wouldn't it be something if anyone could label you "extremely righteous?"
No one is righteous. Not one. Our "righteousness" is as bloody menstrual cloths----filthy rags.
Yes, it's disgusting. Remember, evil is disgusting. Sin is evil. We all sin (no exceptions).
But God loves us, and we are called to righteousness. Apparently there is hope for even our own puny attempts to please Him.
Our salvation rests on Christ's sacrifice alone, but we bear a responsibility for our behavior that will be judged by the Righteous Judge.
There is no power spiritually apart from God.
Without Christ there is only spiritual death. Oh, yes, everyone's soul has been affected by the spiritual world, but until you are born again you are DEAD spiritually. You are DEAD. You are blind to the Spirit. You cannot hear the Spirit. It's there in Corinthians.
So this year, ask Jesus to forgive you. Repent. (That means turn, or go a different way.) Ask Him to be your Savior and experience spiritual LIFE as never before. Join those forgiven, those joyful, those with everything to live for. Join the living.
And love righteousness. Pursue godliness. Strive to please Him. We must give an account when we see Him, our infinite Judge. So be known as an extremist---extremely righteous.
1. God loves you more than anyone else does. He will let you hit bottom if it takes that to get your attention. He is the hound of heaven, but he never forces anyone. You are free to choose hell.
Sometimes my heart just cries out to the world---Follow JESUS!
Why?
Let me barrage you with reasons. Here is a list of thoughts that I keep answering to my agnostic or spiritually growing acquaintances. I hope it is helpful to you, spurring you on to spiritual growth in Christ.
The Gospel is everything. Know it. Preach it: Jesus is God, Mankind sins, Jesus died for our sins, believe that He is your Savior. Become a Christian.
Prophecy is truly amazing. Don't fear it. Learn it. Watch. Look UP! It is being fulfilled before our eyes. We ARE in the last days, ever since Christ's death and resurrection. We are closer than ever to His return.
You have the answers to everything, Christian believer. God is the ANSWER to everything.
Ask with your heart spiritually open, non-believer, and you will find rest for your soul.
People who don't know Christ are spiritually dead.
Satan is a person. He is a deceiver. He counterfeits almost everything. Count on his deception being a part of your belief system right now. He is the father of lies, and we tend to follow in his footsteps with lying.
Salvation and sanctification are two different things. You are saved when you believe in Jesus. You are sanctified as you learn to understand Him more.
I love the command of Christ, "Follow me and make fishers of men."
In those days they cast nets for fishing. Lesson learned: just be light and attract people into the net! You don't need to "lure" anyone. Just look at the Light, Jesus Christ, be light, and you will attract "fish."
So, stop looking around, and start looking up. To look around is to be discouraged. Your sister, your uncle, your nephew, your son or daughter---your spouse---may not believe! How heartbreaking!!!!!! But don't look at them. Look at Jesus. Be like Jesus. He is the Lover of the Universe. If Jesus doesn't attract them then nothing will.
Forgive. Live. Love. Serve. Give. Invite. Clothe. Feed. Comfort. Follow your God, your Shepherd, your Guide. READ THE BIBLE.
Biblical illiteracy is the bane of this generation. TOO MANY people have not ever read the Bible, let alone all of it. READ IT. OVER and OVER again.
Stop judging other flavors of Christianity. Their experience is not yours. We (believers) are all on that path to sanctification, and GOD IS THE JUDGE. The Word of God is our plumb-line. Take it to the Word and work it out with fear and trembling.
Jesus is everything: Healer, Lover, Sustainer, Savior, Giver, Comforter, Revealer of Truth. Look for EVERYTHING in Him. It is enough.
Your soul will survive through the darkest hells of this earthly domain when you know Christ. Nothing separates us from Him. You have the power to withstand all within your belief in Christ.
If you follow Satan or one of his manifestations your soul will burn in hell forever. You must reject all other Gods and follow Christ alone. You may not be a Moslem, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a ____________. You MUST be a Christian. "I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by ME." Jesus is God, and what He says is Truth. Believe Him.
God created the World. He made it all perfect. Creation suffers through the fall of mankind. Just believe Genesis and get on with life. Your intellectual suppositions and garbled human reasoning will never match the infinite Truth, so just accept God's Word and run with it. You'll find yourself miles ahead. It really is a head start.
God's laws really matter. All of them. Some were for setting apart a people to bring forth a Savior. Some are simply good sense for living with fellow humans. Jesus' commands are to bring light to the spiritually blind and deaf. All people are blind and deaf, spiritually, until they know Christ.
So, don't murder anyone. Don't have sex outside of marriage, and marriage is, of course, ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN-----FOR LIFE (Think Adam and Eve). Don't Lie. Don't Steal. DON'T EVEN COVET.
Don't swear. Don't forget to go to Church and make the Sabbath holy. Make sure you are in good standing with your parents, and see that they are all right. Love God. Don't worship/love/honor/think about all the time/follow anything else. That's idolatry. Don't try to make God conform to your imagination of Him. He is simply GOD. Accept Him as He is: the God of Jacob, the LORD, I AM, Creator God.
Be kind to each other.
Speak kindly to each other.
Run to Jesus when you are persecuted. He is all you need.
Remember, Jesus is coming for His own, and EVERY knee shall bow. When we see Him we won't have any choice.
And guess what? Your "righteous works" have no value in earning yourself salvation. Sorry. You can only be saved by the blood of Christ Jesus. His work alone atoned for your sin. You must "only" believe.
Your works are an offering to the One who saved you.
May God bring you into His Kingdom, not of this world, forever, beyond time, to be with Him eternally.
Repent. That means "turn." Do it now.
Extremely Righteous:
Wouldn't it be something if anyone could label you "extremely righteous?"
No one is righteous. Not one. Our "righteousness" is as bloody menstrual cloths----filthy rags.
Yes, it's disgusting. Remember, evil is disgusting. Sin is evil. We all sin (no exceptions).
But God loves us, and we are called to righteousness. Apparently there is hope for even our own puny attempts to please Him.
Our salvation rests on Christ's sacrifice alone, but we bear a responsibility for our behavior that will be judged by the Righteous Judge.
There is no power spiritually apart from God.
Without Christ there is only spiritual death. Oh, yes, everyone's soul has been affected by the spiritual world, but until you are born again you are DEAD spiritually. You are DEAD. You are blind to the Spirit. You cannot hear the Spirit. It's there in Corinthians.
So this year, ask Jesus to forgive you. Repent. (That means turn, or go a different way.) Ask Him to be your Savior and experience spiritual LIFE as never before. Join those forgiven, those joyful, those with everything to live for. Join the living.
And love righteousness. Pursue godliness. Strive to please Him. We must give an account when we see Him, our infinite Judge. So be known as an extremist---extremely righteous.
12 Steps
1. God loves you more than anyone else does. He will let you hit bottom if it takes that to get your attention. He is the hound of heaven, but he never forces anyone. You are free to choose hell.
2. Repentance is a "must" step to get right with God. Repent. Stop sinning. Ask the Holy Spirit for supernatural power to cleanse and overcome sin.
3. Signs of true conversion: love for others, insatiable desire for the Bible, grateful heart to God.
4. Desire to do God's will. Desire to do what is right. Desire for righteous living.
5. Immediate conviction of sin in your life. The Holy Spirit points out one area at a time for you to work on. Addictions are the first to be addressed.
6. So, addictions. God cares. Pray for an immediate loathing for the substance. Pray for strength to never touch it again. Children, don't ever THINK about trying an addictive substance. It is the seeds of thought that begin the journey to slavery. Take those thoughts "captive" as Scripture says. Just ask God to help you figure this out. I say "Take that captive, Lord" and seek immediate distraction. God has honored that for me. He will show you how.
7. Confess your sin. You need the help of God's family. You are not to do it alone. Show your spiritual family your vulnerability and let them keep you accountable.
8. Cry out to God. This is the example of Biblical saints. It works. God hears your cry of repentance and weakness. He gets the glory in your weakness, and He is jealous of His glory. This isn't about you. It's about Him. That is who He is. Get over yourself.
9. Back to the Word. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit you will have fewer desires to be filled with carnal desires. RUN to the Word for strength.
10. Do the next thing, as Elisabeth Elliot said. Go clean house, start a project, read a book! Think of ways to go the extra mile at work. Just DO SOMETHING.
11. Eyes fixed on Jesus. Remember His sacrifice for YOUR sin. Don't cheapen that sacrifice by continuing in sin. STOP sinning. When you do sin, you have an advocate. Jesus. He covered it. But STOP sinning.
12. Rest in His power. Keep a clear conscience. Take everything to Him. Pray constantly. God has promised to show you His power, but be prepared for tribulation. It's part of the deal. Your surf board is His power to get over the waves of tribulation. That is the most exciting thing in all of life. Think of all the stories written down about this supernatural help. Tap into that power, hope in it, and give God the glory.
You are loved.
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