Make Jesus Your Choice!

Joshua 24:24"And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord God will we serve, and his voice will we obey."

Joshua didn't sigh in relief when the Israelites responded to his challenge to serve the Lord and him only.Instead, he questioned them to say,"Do you really mean what you say?"He wanted them to make a conscious decision for God,and he even presented the alternatives so they could make a clear choice, without conviction there is no real conversion or committment, worldly distractions will draw us away from God.He then presented to them the consequences of failing to follow through on their commitment.

This was wise on Joshua's part. Sometimes people are made to feel that choosing God is simple and easy.They choose to serve Him,but then want to serve Him their way,under their terms and at their convience.They sometimes have doubts, and wonder if they made the right decision, when trials and tribulations began to come their way.Some even choose to follow God,but then don't think much about it, it is treated like it is no big deal.They allow their days just to flow without a focus on serving Him. Those who haven't chosen to serve God, need to hear Joshua's challenge."This day", right now is the time to choose to follow Him.See this is a serious lifetime commitment, that involves putting Him in charge of your life.Even if we have already chosen to serve God, we choose everyday whether we will honor that commitment in the things we do and say.It is through conviction that we will continue to be cleansed of the things in life that might distract us from our committment to serve God.God has lead us through life and with his shepherd's rod, he has pulled us out of ruts and fought off the enemy.

God still calls us to follow Him by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.Once we have made that commitment, we must still choose to keep our lives free of those things that can keep us from feeling the joy of his presence, or that divert our attention away from a single-minded devotion to him. Make Jesus your choice,he has choosen to make you His choice. 

You Can't Keep A Good Man Down!

Luke 24:5 " And as they were afraid,and bowed down their faces to the earth,they said unto them,why seek ye the living among the dead"?

The resurrection of Christ is the foundation to the integrity of Christianity,and of course the truth of God's word.For if Christ had not risen then our faith would be in vain.Yet many still don't believe that he lives.The soilders  guarding Jesus tomb said the disciples came by night and stole him away.But he was seen by many, and he rose in many.

 

When the women arrived at the tomb the angels asked,why seek the living among the dead.We serve a living God.Let us now show the world that He has risen,as we live a life before man worthy of the savior whom we serve.Let our lights so shine that all will know he is alive within us.Let us live with the power he rose with.Love with the power He gave us and overcome the hatred of this old world.Let us love with the love shared by God as He gave His only begotten Son who laid down His life so that a we might live.Becoming a living sacrifice,"for greater love has no man than this ,to lay down his life for a friend". Let us give cheerfully to others, all the blessings that he shared with us,as he withheld no good thing from us. Forgive others with the same mercy Jesus shared with us,forgiving inspite of ,for we know not what we do.Let us proclaim His resurrection by living a resurrected life,and show the world "you can't keep a good man down".

When we as soilders in Christ's army, live true Christ like lives, it is then that the world will know that he has risen, because they will witness his resurrection in the lives that we live.So let us walk worthy of the name we behold, and go out and proclaim to a dying world the good news,you can't keep a good man down!

He Died.......

John 19:30 "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar,he said "It is Finished: and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost".

The single most significant event in history is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.We are saved by His death;because he died we can live.However there is a condition,we must believe.In Jesus death,justice received the wage paid by sin,for the soul that sinneth, shall surely die.Someone had to die and Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for an imperfect people.Because of our sin, He died...

Here we have Jesus on the cross,it was a cross that He bore,and He willingly went forth.Pilate delievered Him, the soilders led Him, but Jesus bore the cross and went forth.He was not a victim,He was a victor,for He was bearing the cross to save man.He was crucified between two sinners, two unjust thieves.He was surronded by a world of unjust men,yet we live because He died.He said it is finished,all that is needed for man to be reconciled back to God had now been completed.He had given sight to blind eyes,so man could see the love of God.He had cured the lunatic, that we might let thsi mind be in us that is in Christ Jesus.He put hearing in deaf ears that we could hear what thus said the Lord.He put speaking in dumb lips, that we could proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.He put standing in lame legs that we might walk in the righteousness of His spirit,and he raised the dead that we might have a new life in Christ.Hanging from the cross, He said it is finished.

Jesus died that all might have a right to the tree of life,but we must believe and recieve His death as our own that we might be raise up as a new creature in Christ.Let us walk in this new life that a lost world will come to know what we already know;He died............

The Best of Your Service

Romans 8:32 "He that spared not his own Son,but delievered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things".

Members of the early Church often referred to themselves as those who followed "the way".Paul refers to their way of life as "the way of the Lord" and "The way of God".In other words,the early Christians, directly taught by Christ apostles,were recongnized by their deeds and action.The way they lived, separated them from those of the world around them.It was called the way because they lived the way Christ lived.They followed his example,they obeyed His instructions.The way was then,and still is, a way of living and thinking that is different from that followed by those of this world.

When Christ came to earth He explained that this different way of thinking would through the power of the Holy Spirit, produce the fruit of righteous actions and deeds.He taught that God's way is the way of giving rather than the normal selfish human way of alway getting.The key to living a way of life different from the way of the world is to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us so we think like Jesus Christ. Through His spirit,God not only leads us in a different way of thinking,He helps us change the motivations that govern our actions.This focus on unselfishness rather than the self-serving approach produced by our natural way of thinking brings,in turn a dramatic change in the way we live and everything we do.God ask that we reorder our priorities,allowing his spirit to change our thinking, serving God by doing his will and seeking his kingdom.When we put God first ,he promises to provide ways for us to meet our needs.He will with hold no good thing from us.

Living a godly life is much more than merely calling on God's name as though that alone will excuse us for doing whatever we please.Living a godly life is doing what pleases God.It is practicing what he commands us, and living a way of life defined by his word.Jesus taught a way of life based on observing God's commandments from a heart of love that willingly makes personal sacrifices for the sake of others, focusing on giving rather than receiving.A true Christian cannot base his way of life, his new way of living on his own ideas about right and wrong.God's law and Christ example of perfect obedience to those laws, set the standards for the genuine Christian way of Life.Our new life is based on giving,a free gift given by God to all who will receive it."For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son",Giving is the way of God and the foundation of His love to mankind.Let us use this same foundation as we give to a lost world that which God gave to us, the best of your service.

Following or Follower?

John 6:66-67 "From that time many of His disciples went back,and walked no more with Him.Then said Jesus unto the twelve,Will you also go away?

" No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." For which of you,intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it. Who hath believed our report?And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Do you truly believe? Have you truly counted up the cost? Will you go on with Jesus regardless of the suffering that comes alone with the journey.Will you continue on, when the road gets rough,when your friends turn there backs on you. Will you stay the course when you find that you might not get rich,or that you might have to let go of some of the material things in your life,or will you go back, and walk no more with him.

Here in this chapter of John we have what can be called the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus reveals who he is,why he came and our work in this great plan of salvation.Since the fall of man ,it has always be about reconciling man back with God, from  Noah's ark, to Joseph in egypt, Moses leading the children of Israel from Egypt and even Samson's battles, were all about the salvation of  mankind. Here in the story we have a great multitude following Jesus.But as we see, all following Jesus were not follwers of Jesus.Are you following him, or are you a follower of his.Many followed seeking the miracles he preformed and the food which they ate.We have many today seeking Jesus for material and worldly possessions and not for the salvation of their souls. Jesus reveals to us our work in this great plan, he took the loaves Blessed it then broke it and gave to the disciples, who then distributed it among the people, Jesus then instructed them to gather up the fragments that none be lost. See Jesus came that none be lost,he has given us the blessed word of God for us to take out and share with a dying world, that none be lost, we are then to take up the fragments of broken lives, and lead them to Jesus. Then Jesus reveals who he is, stating that all who don't eat of his flesh and drink of his blood shall not enter the kingdom

 Jesus must live on the inside of us, he is the living word by which we shall have everlating life. He is the abundant life promised us by Gods word. God never promised us big cars, fancy houses, large bank accounts, he never said the road would be easy , a narrow uphill road is never an easy road ,especially when so many are bumping into you on the downward road. But what he did promise is that he would never leave you nor forsake you, and life more abundantly.What can be more abundant tha a life lived in the arms of our Savior.

The Power Of The Blood

Zecharich 9:11-12 "As for thee also,by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoner out of the pit wherein is no water.Turn you to the strong hold,ye prisoners of hope:even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee".

Here we behold a description of our Savior,we see his Kingdom,his character,his power to save,his lowliness,  and the weapons of his conquest.Because of Him and through Him there is mercy for the oppressed and troubled ones in Zion.This is a wonderful text for all those who are in the lowest possible state of mind.Those prisoners bound in servatude,freedom gone,trapped in the power of another, where escape seems impossible,the darkness intolerable and your fate seems unavoidable.You are comfortless feeling like you are dying of thirst,for there is no comfort in sin.The many oppressed souls helpless in the power of despair until the Lord comes and rescues them.

He has an all seeing eye, He alone has the power to set you free from the bondage you feel.He is the light the shines in the darkess hours of our lives,he saves us by the blood,the blood of the covenant made between Zion and her King.True redemption is in the blood.All the temporal, spiritual, and eternal deliverances which we enjoy, they swim to us through the blood of that covenant that is passed between the Father and the Son.By virtue of the same blood of the covenant,the shed blood of Christ, we are reconciled,justified and saved.We who were in the dungeons of life,trapped in the despair of darkness, thirsting for the freedoms which evade us, while being bound by the ones which inslaves us, were all set free by the blood of the Christ.

Look as all the choice mercies, the high favors, the noble blessings that we enjoy and lay claim to,they are all purchased by the blood of Christ.What ever desperate situations, or dangers,we the children of God may find ourselves falling into,we can hold on to the fact that we are prisoners of hope,and should look forward to delieverance,because it is all in the blood of the lamb.Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day with all power that we might be made the righteousness of God,if we only believe.

Only Believe

Romans 10:16 "But they have not all obeyed the Gospel,For Esaias saith,Lord, who hath believed our report"?

Man is the same disobedient creature under all dispensations.We morn his rejection of the gospel,and so did Isaiah,who spoke in the name of the whole company of the prophets.It is one of the greatest proofs of the depravity of man's heart that he will no more obey the gospel than the law. Man disobeys his God, whether he speaks to him in love or in law.Men would sooner be lost than to trust in God.When any of us  receive the gospel,it is the work of grace:"the arm of the Lord is reveald."But when we refuse it,it is our own sin:"they have not obeyed the gospel."Many have not believed our report.

The gospel comes with the force of a command,it is not optional to us to accept or refuse the gospel at our pleasure.(Acts 17:30) tells us "God now commandeth all men every where to repent".He commands them to repent and believe the gospel(mark 1:15).To refuse to believe is to incur a great sin(john 16:8). There is a death penalty attached to disobedience.As the prodical son was right in returning to his father, so would it be right for each of us to return to our Father through our obedience to the gospel.The gospel calls us to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to renounce our self righteousness and confess our guilt. We must repent and be obedient to both teaching and to his example.This is how we show that we believe the report.There are way to many who say with their mouths they believe, but the life they live is one of doubt and disbelief.

The design of the gospel is to bring us into a union with the Son of God and to believe on him whom the father hath sent.Christ seeks to gather in souls for the Father,but through our disobedience we refuse to be gathered.To disobey the gospel is far worse than to break the law.For disobedience to the law,there is a remedy in the gospel,but for disobedience to the gospel no remedy can be found, for there is no more sacrifice for sin.Let us obey the gospel, this obedience is a grace of great value,and is a great force on the whole man;for when  the obedience is in the heart it works a conforming to the whole will of God.Be it life or death,one word from God will command the whole soul as soon as obedience has found admittance into the heart.