Be Dead

Did you know that if we are in Christ we have been raised to new life spiritually just like Christ has been raised?  We are new creations in Christ, praise the Lord!!  We were once dead spiritually in our sins and trespasses, please read Ephesians 2:1-7, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”   

We were also created in the image of God and we have been given different gifts and talents to be used for God’s glory.  Please read verses 8-10 in that same chapter, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

We were not saved by anything that we did prior to our conversion, but God did prepare good works that we can and should be doing after our conversion.  This may sound strange but before we can really be effective in our walk with the Lord we must die.  What I mean is we must die to ourselves and live for Christ and not desire or run after the things that the worldly run after.  Please read what Paul said about this in Philippians 3:10-21, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

Now please read Romans 6:5-11, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If we can ever be effective in our ministries, or works, that we put our hands to, we must each and every day put to death the old man with its evil, sinful desires and put on the new man and live a life of holiness.  We must resist the devil so that he will have to flee from us, praise the Lord!!

So let us put on the armor of God, you can find this in Ephesians 6:10-18!!  

I have given you something to think about, I pray that it will be a help to you and also an encouragement.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!

Itching Ear Syndrome

Why did I put this as a title?  Well it is like this, it seems like many people put up with things that shouldn’t be taught in this day.  It seems like preachers or teachers can say almost anything and many people will drink it in like it is all living water.  It seems like many people want to hear mostly what makes them feel good, whether it be true or false doctrine.  Some of your inspirational speakers have the largest congregations because they speak what people want to hear and not what they need to hear.  What we seem to have is a famine of God’s Word and it is not like we have a shortage of the Word of God in our country, but it seems like instead of reading and studying for ourselves and trusting the Holy Spirit to help us we are depending on someone else to teach us.

Read what Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Think of this, who is the true teacher, is it the pastor or a Sunday school teacher?  No, the true teacher is the Holy Spirit.

Read John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the Lord never anoints anyone such as a preacher or a teacher, sure He does, like I have said so many times the Lord doesn’t always call the equipped but He always equips the called!!  I think you and I know that there are some preachers and teachers that may have never been called, or if they have been called they may have wandered off the narrow path and need to get back on it again.  I want you to know that this isn’t a Tidbit just to tear people down, on the contrary, it is to make people aware of teaching and preaching that does not line up with the Word of God and to encourage believers to read the Word and pray, asking the Holy Spirit to teach them the truth and to lead them into all truth and to keep them from deception.  

There are a lot of things that you and I hear that sounds good, but are they true?  The only way you can really know is by spending time with the Lord and reading and studying His Word and being connected to the Lord in prayer.  Then on the other hand sometimes you may even have this problem; you may be expressing a truth to someone but all you may hear is that you talk too much, or I don’t believe you but in all reality they may have a problem with listening.  We live in a time where many people we may talk to don’t want to hear the truth because it is to convicting for them or they just want to hear things that make them feel good, but that’s not biblical either.  If all we hear are the things that make us feel good, or make us feel good about ourselves, then we may never be convicted of our sins and we may feel good about ourselves but be separated from the Lord.  I know that any true believer would never want to hear these sad words when you stand before the Lord someday, “Get from Me, I never knew you.”  

It seems like we are living in the times that Paul wrote to Timothy about in his second letter, in 2 Timothy 4:1-4, please read this, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

We have a responsibility and the resources to live a holy life, but if we neglect them by not using them then shame on us.  Enough said, I hope this has been a blessing and an encouragement to you.  The Lord loves us and has provided a way that we can be set free of the grip of sin in our lives and the lies of the enemy.  Just get a hold of this; that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, if we are truly born-again and He is worthy of our praise, praise you Lord!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!

Rescued

Question: have you been rescued from the spiritual darkness that we were all born with and have been set free by having the light of Christ shining in your hearts. This reminds me of when God created the earth in Genesis 1:1-2 from the Tree of Life Version Bible (if you haven’t heard of it check it out you may like it), “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”  When it talks about darkness here, it is talking about the whole earth.  

Now read Genesis 1:3-4, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light!’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good. So God distinguished the light from the darkness.”  Everything was total darkness until God said let there be light and the light overcame the darkness.  Light dispels the darkness and the dark cannot withstand it.  

I believe that there is also spiritual darkness and Jesus Christ the true light came to shine His light in our hearts and drive away the spiritual darkness that resides there.  Please read Isaiah 9:1, “The people walking in darkness will see a great light. Upon those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, light will shine.”

Now please read Matthew 4:12-16, “Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”

Jesus was that light.  Please read John 1:1-9, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that through him everyone might believe He was not the light, but he came to bear witness concerning the light. The true light, coming into the world, gives light to every man.”

So what happens when we repent and ask the Lord to forgive us and to be our Savior and Lord?  Read what Jesus said about Him and His disciples in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on a lampstand so it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  

The natural man, or non-believer, cannot receive the things of God, he cannot understand them.  Without the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, which is given at rebirth, they are blinded to the truth.

Please read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

The title of this Tidbit is ‘Rescued.’  So, have you been rescued from spiritual darkness?  You can be!  When Jesus started His ministry He told the people to repent and that message hasn’t changed.  Repentance means to turn from your sins to go in the other direction and ask the Lord to forgive you and to come in and be your Savior and Lord.

This is what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

Let the Lord’s peace, love and joy fill your heart and life, then the spiritual blindness will be replaced by light and freedom, praise the Lord.  I have given you something to think about!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a very nice day!!

The Day

If you are a believer, you probably know that every day is a gift from God.  I think we all would acknowledge that fact.  So what is the first thing we ought to do when we wake up each day?  Well I am not sure what you do, but I try to just lie there and praise the Lord before I do anything else because He is worthy no matter how I feel, and believe me sometimes before I get up I am not the happiest person on the planet, maybe you can relate.  But regardless of how we feel it doesn’t change the way the Lord feels about us because He never wakes up grouchy like we do and He is always the same, He does not change and He is always holy and worthy of our praise!!  He actually inhabits all our praise!!  

As far as I know the Lord never sleeps and He is always watching over us, but that doesn’t mean that He never allows things to happen to us that we may not agree with, but He knows what is best for us.  Read what His Word says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  Even when we don’t understand everything that takes place in our lives we can know that the Lord is with us and not against us.  And remember this, because the Lord has made everyone in His image and likeness and given us all a free will we don’t always make the right choices.  Some of the choices that are made are very destructive and devastating and affect more people than ourselves, so because of the consequences, things happen that we will never understand. But the Lord does and He says in His Word vengeance is mine saith the Lord I shall repay!!  The Word also says that a man will reap what he sows.  

Read what it says in Psalms 34:12-23, “Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.”

These are some very encouraging words and we should fill our minds with these things.  So no matter where we are in our walk with the Lord we should be praising Him and thanking Him first thing in the morning and every day!!

Read what the Lord’s Word says in Psalms 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Then read this in Philippians 4:4-8, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

Enough said, I hope this has been an encouragement to you.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super, super day!

Jesus Paid It All

 

In early bible times no sin could be atoned for except by the shedding of blood.  The shedding of blood started way back in the early days when the Lord killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve because they sinned and were ashamed, so they hid in the garden from the Lord because they knew that they were naked.  Before their rebellion, which according to God’s Word is the same as witchcraft, they knew nothing about sin and they were not ashamed.  Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, as time went on there were people born and all of them were born with a sin nature and when the law was given they were required to atone for their sin by bringing a sacrifice; a first born animal from their flock without spot or blemish.

At the time, the shedding of blood was a requirement for the forgiveness of sins, and many animals were killed and their blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat where the Ark of the Covenant was, also where the presence of God was along with Moses staff that budded.  It has been many years since I have heard about these things from the pulpit and they are so important.  It seems like sin and godly sorrow and repentance and being broken over your sins and the Lord’s atonement are more for the past than they are for today, some people just seem to try to avoid them all together, but they are just as important today as they ever were and the people that just take them lightly or just ignore them altogether, will be accountable to God someday.  

I don’t say these things to lay a guilt trip on anybody, only the Lord can convict people of sins.  I do pray that the Lord will open people’s eyes and ears and remove the veil from the minds of those that need to preach and teach these things but are not doing so.  Getting back to the sacrifices, the problem with all the sacrifices of the animals and their shed blood was that they were like a covering over of the sins of the people, it could never wash their sins away, but they needed to be obedient to what the Lord told them to do. They were like shadow of the things to come.

Please read Hebrews 10:1-4, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”

Jesus shed blood was a completely different; His shed blood was only needed once to cleanse sins, not like the animals which had to be sacrificed year after year.  Jesus was the spotless Lamb of God and even though our sin had left a crimson stain Jesus’ blood can wash them whiter than snow.

Please read Isaiah 1:16-18, “Wash and make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your deeds from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says Adonai. ‘Though your sins be like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they will become like wool.’”

 

When Jesus was born His main purpose was to set the captive free from their bondage and sin.  He came to lay His life down for a ransom so that through His shed blood man could be put back in right standing with God.  Please read what it says in Hebrews 9:22, “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Now read Hebrews 9:24-28, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

When Jesus was crucified He said it is finished; at that point He accomplished everything He came to earth to do and paid the price for our sins so that we could be redeemed from the curse of the law and of sin.  Please read Galatians 3:13-14, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Enough said, there you have it, Jesus paid it all and we could have never been made right with God any other way.  God’s Word says the righteous shall live by faith, no amount of works that you can do will do it.  You can’t buy it and you can’t steal it or get it any other way, that is why it is called grace, God’s unmerited favor towards us who chose to receive this free gift.

Please read what it says in Acts 2:36-41, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”  

We all should do the same!  I have given you something to think about.  The most important decision you will ever make is to turn away from your sins and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  The choice is yours, may the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!