If God came to you and said, "Will you give up your salvation, under the condition that every person you ever meet for the rest of your life will be saved", would you do it? I hope your answer would be no, because only Jesus has the power to save, and if this were true you would make those people idolaters, BUT I think this is the kind of love we should have as followers of Jesus! It is easy to say you would give up this life for your brother, because this life has nothing for us, but what if God raised the stakes? We need to learn to be absolutely reckless in our love…loving all people with reckless abandonment as though our salvation depended on it, EVEN THOUGH IT CERTAINLY DOES NOT! Praise the Lord!
Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
What does it mean to be, "For us"?
Mark 9:38 John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." 39 But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
When Jesus says, "For the one who is not against us is for us," what does He mean? It is my very presumptive guess that many Christians would say, "those who believe in God and those who don't." Or, "those who go to church and those who don't." Or worse yet, "those who go to MY church and those who don't."
But Jesus does not say, "If someone gives you a cup of water because you believe in God he will not lose his reward." He says, "BECAUSE YOU BELONG TO ME!!!!!"
As Christians we need to make it clear that we belong to JESUS! Jesus is the Truth, and most people are afraid of the Truth because the Truth exposes their earthly weaknesses. People will always be more cautious of committing to the Truth than they will committing to a lie because that is the sinful nature. If we stand for anything other than JESUS people will always come willingly, but if we procliam His name then they have a serious decision to make.
When we make the very bold distinction that all people are either "for us" or "against us" we had better make very well certain exactly what it is we are for. Therefore, we ought to pray continuously for the strength to proclaim the name of Jesus, and that God reminds us of the life we have IN CHRIST ALONE.
When Jesus says, "For the one who is not against us is for us," what does He mean? It is my very presumptive guess that many Christians would say, "those who believe in God and those who don't." Or, "those who go to church and those who don't." Or worse yet, "those who go to MY church and those who don't."
But Jesus does not say, "If someone gives you a cup of water because you believe in God he will not lose his reward." He says, "BECAUSE YOU BELONG TO ME!!!!!"
As Christians we need to make it clear that we belong to JESUS! Jesus is the Truth, and most people are afraid of the Truth because the Truth exposes their earthly weaknesses. People will always be more cautious of committing to the Truth than they will committing to a lie because that is the sinful nature. If we stand for anything other than JESUS people will always come willingly, but if we procliam His name then they have a serious decision to make.
When we make the very bold distinction that all people are either "for us" or "against us" we had better make very well certain exactly what it is we are for. Therefore, we ought to pray continuously for the strength to proclaim the name of Jesus, and that God reminds us of the life we have IN CHRIST ALONE.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
HIS NAME IS JESUS, PRECIOUS JESUS!
Who is this King of Glory, that persues me with his love
And haunts me with each hearing, of His softly spoken words
My conscience a reminder, of forgiveness that I need
Who is this King of Glory, who offers it to me
Who is this King of Glory, O blessed Prince of Peace
Revealing things of Heaven, and all its mysteries
My spirits ever longing, for His grace in which to stand
Who's this King of Glory, Son of God and Son of Man
Who is this King of Glory, with strength and majesty
And wisdom beyond measure, the gracious King of Kings
The Lord of Earth and Heaven, the Creator of all things
Who is this King of Glory, HE'S EVERYTHING TO ME!
His name is JESUS, PRECIOUS JESUS
The Lord Almighty, the King of my heart, the King of Glory
And haunts me with each hearing, of His softly spoken words
My conscience a reminder, of forgiveness that I need
Who is this King of Glory, who offers it to me
Who is this King of Glory, O blessed Prince of Peace
Revealing things of Heaven, and all its mysteries
My spirits ever longing, for His grace in which to stand
Who's this King of Glory, Son of God and Son of Man
Who is this King of Glory, with strength and majesty
And wisdom beyond measure, the gracious King of Kings
The Lord of Earth and Heaven, the Creator of all things
Who is this King of Glory, HE'S EVERYTHING TO ME!
His name is JESUS, PRECIOUS JESUS
The Lord Almighty, the King of my heart, the King of Glory
-Third Day
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Freedom Of Speech
Consider the following:
"I should be able to speak all of God's Word, that is freedom of speech. That is what we are losing..."
Let me as you this: Is our ability to speak God's Word something that can really be taken away from us? I am reminded of the cliche teacher response, "I don't know, can you go to the bathroom?" Here's the point: Our government can say, "you may not speak the Bible", but does that really mean that we can't? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Short of killing us, nobody can ever take away our decision to speak God's Word! So my question is: Will Christians continue speaking out for our right to speak out? OR, will we begin speaking God's Word instead? The former is NOT unimportant, BUT the latter ALWAYS trumps the first by a million times!!!
Ultimately, Jesus does not command us to fight for our safety or our rights, He commands us to fight for the Gospel! Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Paul, and most of the apostles scrapped tooth and nail for the Gospel. They were stoned and beaten and imprisoned. They were Soldiers of Christ! Stephen and many others became martyrs for the Gospel! This all took place in a region that was a lot more "scary" than the current U.S.
So here is the bottom line: We owe EVERYTHING to GOD, and NOTHING to ourselves. It is only by God's sovereign mercy that you and I have been born into this country. How can we owe ANYTHING to the United States or our Founding Fathers, and still owe EVERYTHING to Jesus? In my opinion that is not possible. You might say, "That is so un-patriotic!" I say, "In God we trust!"
Many of us want to sit here and blame the unredeemed, but the problem is not with non-believers, it is with us! Our continuous desire is to cling to our own pathetic lives in the hope that we can find something within ourselves to make a change. How arrogant of us!!!! Only Jesus has that power! I pray that we would trust JESUS with our lives, and remember that our ONE and ONLY hope is in the return of Christ! Who will give it ALL to Him??????
This is a short prayer that got sent to my email today, I think it fits perfectly:
TODAY'S PRAYER: Father, forgive me for my arrogance and thinking that I am somehow necessary in your work. I recognize that my only sufficiency for ministry comes from my weakness being offered to your service and empowered by your grace. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
P.S. I love Jesus for showing me that I am nothing without Him!
"I should be able to speak all of God's Word, that is freedom of speech. That is what we are losing..."
Let me as you this: Is our ability to speak God's Word something that can really be taken away from us? I am reminded of the cliche teacher response, "I don't know, can you go to the bathroom?" Here's the point: Our government can say, "you may not speak the Bible", but does that really mean that we can't? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Short of killing us, nobody can ever take away our decision to speak God's Word! So my question is: Will Christians continue speaking out for our right to speak out? OR, will we begin speaking God's Word instead? The former is NOT unimportant, BUT the latter ALWAYS trumps the first by a million times!!!
Ultimately, Jesus does not command us to fight for our safety or our rights, He commands us to fight for the Gospel! Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Paul, and most of the apostles scrapped tooth and nail for the Gospel. They were stoned and beaten and imprisoned. They were Soldiers of Christ! Stephen and many others became martyrs for the Gospel! This all took place in a region that was a lot more "scary" than the current U.S.
So here is the bottom line: We owe EVERYTHING to GOD, and NOTHING to ourselves. It is only by God's sovereign mercy that you and I have been born into this country. How can we owe ANYTHING to the United States or our Founding Fathers, and still owe EVERYTHING to Jesus? In my opinion that is not possible. You might say, "That is so un-patriotic!" I say, "In God we trust!"
Many of us want to sit here and blame the unredeemed, but the problem is not with non-believers, it is with us! Our continuous desire is to cling to our own pathetic lives in the hope that we can find something within ourselves to make a change. How arrogant of us!!!! Only Jesus has that power! I pray that we would trust JESUS with our lives, and remember that our ONE and ONLY hope is in the return of Christ! Who will give it ALL to Him??????
This is a short prayer that got sent to my email today, I think it fits perfectly:
TODAY'S PRAYER: Father, forgive me for my arrogance and thinking that I am somehow necessary in your work. I recognize that my only sufficiency for ministry comes from my weakness being offered to your service and empowered by your grace. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
P.S. I love Jesus for showing me that I am nothing without Him!
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