New!

John 3:3" Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee,Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Birth, the sign of Life; it is a symbol of new life, a new creation. If you want to see King Jesus, you must be born again. It is a must if you want to walk on this journey. Jesus said you must be born again. Every sincere Christian purifies his soul to rid it of the uncleanliness and the defilement of sin, which pollutes the soul. Whoever is seeking salvation, must be purified thru the truth of the gospel, for we are clean by his words. The word of God says at our best we are but filthy rags. Jesus said "except a man be born again". We must have a new life; birth is the beginning of life, so the walk must start here. Just as physical life begins at birth, so must our spiritual life begin with the birth of our spiritual man.

The old foundation has faults and short comings, it can't support the glory or the treasure of this new building. We must have a new nature, with new principles, with new affections and new aims. We must be born another, a different person than the first; like the birth of Israel from Jacob and Paul from Saul. We will have different traits, different desires, doing different things. all Christians are born again. The first birth was after the first man Adam, corrupt, born in sin and shaped in iniquity, born to die, lost in need of a savior. So we must under go a second birth,  a spiritual birth to take on the nature of our adoptive Father.

Born again, changed from a dead soul into a life giving quickening spirit. Walking in the spirit and not giving way to the flesh as it has been crucified with Christ on the cross, as we now live in a resurrected body, a temple not made with hands, now we are a new creature in Christ, sons of the most high Gods.

In Jesus Alone

1Peter 4:18 "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear"?

"Scarcely saved" points out the difficulty of salvation. Some think it easy to believe, but the prophets cries, " who hath believed"? and Jesus asks, "when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth"? Some may also think it easy to persevere to the end, but the godly are hard put to it to keep their faces toward Zion. It is no light thing to be saved; omnipotent grace is needed. It is no trifling thing to be lost, but it can be done by neglect.

The fact is the righteous scarcely are saved. The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God. It can be hard to lay hold to and hold on Christ simply as sinners. There is a challenge to give up and overcome the desires and lust of the flesh day after day, and moment by moment. To resist the world with its blandishments, threats, and customs. To vanquish Satan, his horrible temptations, and all the false hoods he promises.  It will not be easy to perform duties in a humble and holy spirit, to forsake the earthly in search of the heavenly, and continue in them. When the apostle uses the phrase if the righteous scarcely be saved, he does not doubt salvation, he is speaking of the difficulty of making it through the fire and the water, coming through many trials and tribulations, and staying faithful to the call. It wasn't easy to get Lott out of Sodom, and Israel out of Egypt, and it is no easy matter to get man out of his state of corruption.

 

Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? IF the saints scarcely reach heaven, what of the ungodly? What can they do who have no God? what can they do who have no savior? What can one do who are without the spirit of God? What without prayer, the word, the promise of God etc. What without truth? If the saints be sorely chastened, what will the justice be to the openly defiant sinner? Surrender unto Christ rest in the peace of the savior of the world. Jesus never fails....

He Died For Me

2Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him".
Jesus Christ death; the message is unbelievable, a message of redemption, that is a substitution for sin. This is one of the great verses proclaiming the unbelievable love of God. It is impossible for man to grasp the fact that God made Christ to be sin for us, yet that is exactly what the scripture says. He who knew no sin made to be sin, for the sole that sinneth shall surely die, so for man to live He had to die.

Did He die in vain? Why was this act necessary? Because man needs more than just righteousness to stand perfect before God. To stand righteous before God is not enough, for man has already sinned. Man already stands guilty of breaking God's law, and the judgment and condemnation of death has already taken effect upon man. So the condemnation and judgment of sin had to be taken care of. God did this by laying all the sins of man upon Christ, all the guilt and condemnation of sin, God placed it all on Christ and let Him bear it all Himself. God's purpose for this was that we through Christ death, might be made righteousness of God in Christ. When a person really believes in Jesus Christ, God takes that man's faith and He counts it as righteousness. The man is not righteous, but God considers the man's faith in Christ as righteousness. God does this because he loves man so much, that he sent His only Son to die that we might have a right to life. Jesus secured righteousness for man. He came into the world to die for man. He came and arose from death and thus conquered death for man, thus His resurrected life could stand for the resurrected life of the believer. But did Christ die in vain in your life?Have you accepted this truth?

The truth is this God loves His Son Jesus Christ so much, that He honors any man who honors His son by believing in Him and believing Him. When we sincerely trust Christ, God takes that faith and counts it as righteousness, thus He judges us , and treats us, as though we are innocent. We are not innocent, us and God both knows this, but God counts us as innocent because of our faith in Jesus Christ. To God we have died with Christ and rose a new creation. He took our sin that we might have His righteousness.

Come To Jesus

John 4:29" Come, see a man,which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ".

Here Jesus' interview with the Samaritan woman establishes, for all the readers of John's Gospel, that salvation is for everyone, regardless of social, or racial, position. If we want to be an effective witness for the Lord, we must be willing to cross all barriers. The wall of separation has been destroyed, God is now accessible to all through Jesus Christ. Let us invite all to come to Jesus.

In this scene at Jacob's well, the metaphor of water that satisfied the woman's physical thirst represents the need for spiritual nourishment that can satisfy the thirsty soul. Jesus initiated the conversation by asking for a drink. He then offered her living water that would meet her eternal needs. We must realize that Jesus is that one thing that meets our most basic need. Jesus did not rush His discussion with the woman. He began where she was, drawing water. We too should share at the other person's pace, meet them where they are in Christ. We all have a story to share, if Jesus has changed our life.  When Jesus told the woman that He was the Messiah, the woman immediately went to share her experience with those in her town. She invited all to come to Jesus, she challenged them to answer for themselves:  "could this be the Christ?" 

What will you do with Jesus? God has given him to us all, now will you invite all to come and see? When a Christian shares his or her story, they never know how far the gospel will reach, and they never know how much one changed life can change the world. Remember Jesus started with twelve, look how far their testimony have come. Let us tell all that we see to come to Jesus.

Gift Offered; Now What?

2 Chronicles 7:14 " If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land".
Now what; the gift has been offered now what? Well it is time for all who has accepted this gift to lift up the savior in all that we do.What if we truly was to come together as one with a singleness of heart and message and loved one another as Christ has loved us we could save the whole world. What if we truly believed " One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism".If we did these things from our hearts, God says he would hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal the land.

"If my people", if the people of God would do what He has asked of us, then will I forgive their sins and heal their land. We must be careful not to get so wrapped up in the fig leaf of self righteousness that we begin to think we are more than we are. Those who profess to be of God are required to live a life pleasing to God before man that all in darkness could be lead to Jesus the light of the world. What if we truly lived the life we talk about, what if we were half the saint we professed to be. What if we truly accepted the free gift of salvation with all of our heart soul and mind, and shared it with all that we see.

The love of God has made salvation available to all who will accept it, now let us who has accepted it do our part and with the love of God share this free gift with all that we see, in both word and deed, that all might be saved.

The Gift Of Everything

2 Corinthians 1:20 "For all the promises of God in Him yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

Everything God wants to give to man He gave with Jesus. When man was lost, God gave us Jesus, as he is the way. When he wanted to man love one another, he gave us Jesus. When man needed an advocate, and a high priest, a sacrifice, a Savior, a redeemer, a provider, an example, and a light in a world of darkness God gave us Jesus. God said he was supply our every need, and he did when he gave us Jesus.

 

Here we have Paul explaining to the church at Corinth, that all they need, and every promise of God was fulfilled in Christ. He says all the promises; that includes those in the old testament as well as those of the new testament. Everyone from Genesis to Revelations, every promise in the word of God was fulfilled with Jesus. The conditional and the unconditional, the physical and the spiritual, all promises of God are in Him. They are established beyond all doubt, they are confirmed beyond all alterations. In Christ lies the stability of the promises, for He is the foundation and truth of God's word. Christ is the witness of the promises;the surety of the promise, the sum and substance of the promise. The fulfillment of the promises by His actual incarnation, His virgin birth, his living plea, His atoning death, and in his rising with all power.  

The closer we are to Christ the more of God's promises are fulfilled in our lives. Let us glory in the promises of God, through living a life led by his spirit, in obedience to His word, and in the way of His darling son Jesus the Christ, the promise of God to all mankind.

Good News

Luke 2:11" For unto you is born this day in the city of David, A savior, which is Christ the Lord".

Have you given birth to Christ in your life? With all of the commercialization of Christmas, have you come to the realization that you need a savior? With the worries and worldly cares about what is under the tree, have you taken to heart the most wonderful gift that was born to hang on the tree.
Jesus the Christ, the infant Lord who was born Savior of the world. Who was rejected by the inn keeper, hunted by a king, and received joyfully by Anna and Simione, is still being presented to all today. The good news about Christ is being proclaimed as we read this message.We each have the same choice that was available back then. We can like the inn keeper have no room for a savior. We can be like the king and try to kill the savior, not wanting him to enter in and make changes to who we are. Then we can be like Anna and Simione, who prayed not to see death, until they saw the salvation of the Lord for themselves.They heard about it but they prayed to see it.

We should not want to see death without seeing our salvation. Hearing about it is great, but we must pray not to see death until we see it for ourselves. Let us not kill him off., let us make room in for him in our life. Receive Him in our hearts, and share him with a dying world........Merry Christmas