Let Faith Prevail- by Mike Evans
Jerusalem Prayer Team
"Do you sometimes feel that your needs exceed your supply? Do you run out of money before you run out of bills? Do you feel physically drained? Are you afraid of emotional bankruptcy? Do you feel like you are spiritually starving? Again, whatever your need, God is your Source, and His provision is perfect!
First Kings 17 shows how God brought a drought to the land of Israel to punish Ahab, the King of Israel, for his wickedness. The drought lasted for 3 ½ years, and it resulted in a great famine. Yet, despite the shortage of food and water, God took care of Elijah. He told the prophet, “And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there” (1 Kings 17:4).
God used birds to feed Elijah, and He supplied water from a small stream. If you are facing a famine in your life, take heart! God has not forgotten you! He will meet your needs, even if He has to use birds and brooks! The famine that hit Israel lasted a long time and was devastating. You may feel devastated by your circumstances today. You may have a serious shortage in your finances. You may feel pressured, worried, and upset. You may have unmet emotional needs, and as a result, you feel depressed and alone. You may be experiencing a physical setback through sickness, disease, mishap, or outright catastrophe. You can live in fear—or, you can turn your attention to the Source.
When you have calamity in your life, you can do one of two things: You can turn to God and learn from the experience, or you can give in to fear, worry, and unbelief.
If you permit fear and doubt to dominate your thinking in times of need, you will be unable to receive the provision God has for you. The dry period will escalate into a full-blown famine. You must be on guard during the dry times, or you will be overwhelmed by your own needs. When famine comes, you cannot talk yourself into abundance or bargain your way out of debt. Famine will drain you of your life, energy, hope, joy, finances, and health.
Elijah's attitude was to focus on God's goodness and mercy, making the best of his situation and learning from this experience. He refused to let fear and unbelief dominate his thoughts. Instead, he was grateful to God. When there is a famine in the land, the Holy Ghost can assist you in being able to demonstrate an attitude filled with gratitude, peace, and joy.
Elijah trusted God to meet all his needs and, as a result, goodness, mercy, signs, wonders, and miracles followed. Elijah had faith that prevailed. What about you? You can lose—or you can win. You can prevail—or you can fail. The choice is yours."
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
All about salvation
Who will be saved?
There is no universal salvation, some will be saved and others lost. The Bible says that the day to separate one from the other will come for sure. This is the day to separate grain from the chaff, the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats. Each person will be classified into one or the other group. The Holy Bible says that in many places. Therefore, I do not accept the thesis of universal salvation. The question is: Are you between the saved or the lost ones?
To emphasize the importance of this issue, I must refer to the parable of the wheat and the tares and the parable of the fishing. We do not have to find our own interpretation of these parables, the Lord explained them to us clearly Himself. Wheat - says Jesus - symbolizes the children of God, and the tares - the children of Satan. The servants wanted to root out the tares and to leave the wheat , but Jesus said: "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."
(Matt. 13: 30).
How long will they grow together? Until the harvest. When will be the harvest? When the Lord says it is time for that. That means, while we are on this earth there will be wheat and tares, children of God and children of Satan. If we all were to be saved, the weeds would have to be turned into the wheat. But the Bible says the tares are tares, they are not intended to be saved, but will be collected in bundles and burned.
The same lesson is in the parable about fishing. The fisherman catches the good and bad fish. In the sea there are also bad fish.The sea is the Kingdom, the visible church - and it has also unbelievers ( or fake believers) in it who are like bad fish in a net. The separation does not take place earlier than at the end of the ages( whenever the Lord decides). Then the good will be separated from the bad. Not everyone will be saved.
"Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who commit iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear! (Matt. 13: 41-43).
"Angels shall come forth, and separate the wicked from the righteous" (Matt. 13: 49).
"And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world [...]. Then He`shall say to those on his left hand, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels [...].
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(Matthew 25: 32-34, 41, 46).
Our Lord says that the angels will separate the sinful from the righteous, The sheep will be set on his right and the goats on the left. To ones He will say, "Come, ye blessed ones " to the others He will says : "Depart from me, ye cursed ones ." Thus, if there is a separation, not everyone will be saved. The question is are you between the saved or the lost ones?
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
(Matthew 7: 13 - 14). So many are on the broad road and not too many on the narrow.
"But, how God of love - you would say - may take so many for destruction?!
Let me ask you a question: Do you remember from the Bible when God allowed for so many to go to destruction? Yes, there was such a time. It was the time of the flood. Only eight people were saved, and all the others were killed. So many were lost in the waves of the flood.Their salvation was in the ark God told Noah to build but only Noah's family hid in there.
If God had already done so, is it difficult to accept that the judgement will happen again? Do you remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? How many people survived? Only three. There were only three righteous people God led out of the city before He destroyed it. All the others were killed. If God judged the wicked ones for the second time, He will surely carry on His judgement for the third time. Unfortunately the vast majority is rejecting the only savior Jesus Christ and so they will be lost.
Why today so many are walking on that wide road that leads to destruction? The vast majority have no idea at all about the Gospel ...
Most people do not have Jesus Christ in their lives. And which group do you belong to?
Many of those who expect to be saved- relying on their own righteousness, not on the God - will be lost
This is the saddest fact, but some of those who confidently expect that they will be in heaven, they will be not there.
Those who deceived themselves, were not looking for the truth but were holding on to Satan's lies regarding their salvation. It is a faith that is rejecting God's grace, relying on your own righteousness, faith without Christ the Savior, when the doors of mercy are closed.
"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then I tell them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness "(Matthew 7: 21-23).
Make sure you are building on the one foundation that is Jesus Christ.
Do you let yourself be deceived by false teachings that are not rooted in God's word. You might have been listening to the Gospel all your life but never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You might have been raised in a Christian home, attending Bible classes and were active member of the church but never really received Jesus as your Savior. There is no salvation without Jesus.
There is no universal salvation, some will be saved and others lost. The Bible says that the day to separate one from the other will come for sure. This is the day to separate grain from the chaff, the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats. Each person will be classified into one or the other group. The Holy Bible says that in many places. Therefore, I do not accept the thesis of universal salvation. The question is: Are you between the saved or the lost ones?
To emphasize the importance of this issue, I must refer to the parable of the wheat and the tares and the parable of the fishing. We do not have to find our own interpretation of these parables, the Lord explained them to us clearly Himself. Wheat - says Jesus - symbolizes the children of God, and the tares - the children of Satan. The servants wanted to root out the tares and to leave the wheat , but Jesus said: "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."
(Matt. 13: 30).
How long will they grow together? Until the harvest. When will be the harvest? When the Lord says it is time for that. That means, while we are on this earth there will be wheat and tares, children of God and children of Satan. If we all were to be saved, the weeds would have to be turned into the wheat. But the Bible says the tares are tares, they are not intended to be saved, but will be collected in bundles and burned.
The same lesson is in the parable about fishing. The fisherman catches the good and bad fish. In the sea there are also bad fish.The sea is the Kingdom, the visible church - and it has also unbelievers ( or fake believers) in it who are like bad fish in a net. The separation does not take place earlier than at the end of the ages( whenever the Lord decides). Then the good will be separated from the bad. Not everyone will be saved.
"Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who commit iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear! (Matt. 13: 41-43).
"Angels shall come forth, and separate the wicked from the righteous" (Matt. 13: 49).
"And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world [...]. Then He`shall say to those on his left hand, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels [...].
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(Matthew 25: 32-34, 41, 46).
Our Lord says that the angels will separate the sinful from the righteous, The sheep will be set on his right and the goats on the left. To ones He will say, "Come, ye blessed ones " to the others He will says : "Depart from me, ye cursed ones ." Thus, if there is a separation, not everyone will be saved. The question is are you between the saved or the lost ones?
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
(Matthew 7: 13 - 14). So many are on the broad road and not too many on the narrow.
"But, how God of love - you would say - may take so many for destruction?!
Let me ask you a question: Do you remember from the Bible when God allowed for so many to go to destruction? Yes, there was such a time. It was the time of the flood. Only eight people were saved, and all the others were killed. So many were lost in the waves of the flood.Their salvation was in the ark God told Noah to build but only Noah's family hid in there.
If God had already done so, is it difficult to accept that the judgement will happen again? Do you remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? How many people survived? Only three. There were only three righteous people God led out of the city before He destroyed it. All the others were killed. If God judged the wicked ones for the second time, He will surely carry on His judgement for the third time. Unfortunately the vast majority is rejecting the only savior Jesus Christ and so they will be lost.
Why today so many are walking on that wide road that leads to destruction? The vast majority have no idea at all about the Gospel ...
Most people do not have Jesus Christ in their lives. And which group do you belong to?
Many of those who expect to be saved- relying on their own righteousness, not on the God - will be lost
This is the saddest fact, but some of those who confidently expect that they will be in heaven, they will be not there.
Those who deceived themselves, were not looking for the truth but were holding on to Satan's lies regarding their salvation. It is a faith that is rejecting God's grace, relying on your own righteousness, faith without Christ the Savior, when the doors of mercy are closed.
"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then I tell them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness "(Matthew 7: 21-23).
Make sure you are building on the one foundation that is Jesus Christ.
Do you let yourself be deceived by false teachings that are not rooted in God's word. You might have been listening to the Gospel all your life but never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You might have been raised in a Christian home, attending Bible classes and were active member of the church but never really received Jesus as your Savior. There is no salvation without Jesus.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Christmas night
"Dear Jesus,
It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.
These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.
The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?
It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.
These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.
The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?
Your
world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark,
right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The
Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To
see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark
with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty.
Dark with violence.
Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.
Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.
This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.
Hopefully,
Your Children"
2012 Max Lucado
Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.
Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.
This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.
Hopefully,
Your Children"
2012 Max Lucado
Sometimes we wonder where is God when all the bad things happen.Then let us think what happened to Jesus when He came? Was He welcomed into everybody's life because He came from God? No, instead of He was killed. We would say, oh, but I wasn't there, I didn't kill Him, but is He in your life now or you keep Him away? The only peace and safety that you can have is in Jesus." Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14;27
Saturday, October 6, 2012
" I was found by those who did not seek Me"
"I was found by those who did not seek Me"
This time I thought it would be good to write down my testimony. How did I came to know the Lord?
It all started about 18 years ago. All my high school I was mainly interested in sport and science that was my favorite thing to do, jogging, javelin throwing and all that fun that had to do with light athletics. At that time no interest for God, besides knowing that some God exists but I wasn't really thinking about Him. So I did athletics in my free time and I decided I will be PE teacher. Physics seemed to hard to study but doing sport all your life seemed fun. But when it came to applying to the college in that specific area of sport- I wasn't accepted because I did not do to well in swimming and gymnastics. I remember I got C in that while there were people who got A in all the parts of the exam. I had to find somebody to blame for that...I wondered why God wouldn't let me do something I really liked. I wasn't happy at all at that time I thought I would have to wait one more year to apply again to that school, but meanwhile a friend told me about a new German college to which exams were in September.Then a thought came to me; let's study German for a year - to 'kill' the waiting time-and then I will go back to my sport!
And my journey started. On the first day at the new college we were all waiting to take the German exam.
You would see the nervous students reading their notes and a girl next to me reading the Bible...! Well, I was reading my notes all stressed up, while that girl completely relaxed reading her book...I asked her
'Does it help?' Then I heard all the lecture about Jesus. I though I had never met in my life a person that religious! All her story didn't seem to be interesting to me- I even thought she was really weird- crazy religious! Then she shared with me two Bible verses, I have never heard before.
They completely disturbed my peace!
"Not everyone who says to Me;Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven but he who does the will of my Father in heaven." Matthew 7;21
First of all I realized I might be one of those people since I had no clue whether I was doing the will of the Father in heaven or not.
I heard the right words to notice that a Christian is not about only attending a church once a while.
It is about doing God's will which is believing in the One He sent ( Jesus) and trusting His words. But because God seemed so unknown to me at that time I thought that living for Him was good when you are old but not as a student who has completely different things on mind ..'How do you know when you will die?' I heard the question. Then it will be too late. I imagined myself when God is recalling that day when I could hear His words from the Bible and I was rejecting them, I was rejecting Him and the life!
Then we read the following verse;"He who rejects Me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him,the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." John 12;48
I realized the words were telling the truth and if God says something it must be true.
How shocking it was for me to hear all these words, that I had to change my life, that Christian is a follower of Christ. It didn't seem easy 'jumping' into ' following Christ' right away.
I didn't want to. I had some other dreams and thinking too much about God didn't seem too comfortable. I thought God was too distant like in church, with lots of pictures, statues, you pray but they never speak to you. Because I imagined God like that, I didn't have interest in thinking about Him
What was left it was struggling with the thoughts 'I have to do God's will to be saved'
'Is reading the Bible for 15 minutes a day quite enough"? I wandered. I was struggling like that for half of the year, those 2 Bible verses were following me everywhere.... my mind couldn't get rid of them. The only 'relief ' was giving lessons to the kids when I had to focus on teaching the language, but as soon as the lesson was over, the words from the Bible came back and the question' Have you made up your mind?"
This became a really heavy burden on my heart; how much is it enough to be a Christian? What is His will every day? How can I be sure I am saved? How much of reading the Bible is enough to be called a Christian? Then I spontaneously prayed to God simply saying that I was tired of that burden that I didn't know what His will was but I wanted to do it and that and that I wanted Him to be my Lord!
That was very unusual because after that simple prayer at home I started to have peace in my heart that I haven't had for a long time. Such a relief as if somebody took of a big load of something from my heart. It seemed to me like Somebody there above heard me!
I started testing myself, even saying that I was not interested in reading ' boring Bible' didn't take away my peace. Then I realized I actually have an interest to read it. As I read that day I came across these words; John 14;27 " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Wow, that's exactly as if I was reading about myself; I just experienced that peace! I knew the Bible is true, the words are telling the truth! God is real!
I felt like being born again, seeing everything in a new light, God didn't seem distant and unknown any more. My heart wasn't accusing me .Each time I read the Bible it was confirming everything what I experienced. Jesus said;" You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they that testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." John 5;39-40
So it was the same with me, reading the Bible without coming to God didn't mean anything, I thought that just by reading I would be a real believer but that wasn't giving me any peace until I prayed. I decided to come to God like the above verse says. That is when God responded and I knew I was saved. My favorite verse became John 5;24 " Most assuredly I say to you , he who hears my word and and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life." We have forgiveness of sin in Jesus, that's why by trusting Him we can have peace in our heart.
Now it is hard to imagine living without God. "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10;10 That is what it means to live with God and have Him as your Lord. Second you have promise that you have eternal life. " I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." John 11;25
The Bible is full of so many great promises but if we don't have any access to them or we decide to ignore them,we choose to live a hopeless life. As it is said;" Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
I finished my German college, I didn't care too much about coming back to sport, my interests changed and I went to the Bible school in Hungary for 2 years. I remember my friends saying' I would find no job if I didn't finish my German degree( because I went to the Bible school) and then after I finished my Bible school - the job 'called me' offering the job as a teacher in one of the private language schools. So meanwhile I also finished my last 2 years of German to get my final degree. My worries weren't needed, God was in control;
" Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all the things shall be added unto you." I 'experience' it all the time.
This time I thought it would be good to write down my testimony. How did I came to know the Lord?
It all started about 18 years ago. All my high school I was mainly interested in sport and science that was my favorite thing to do, jogging, javelin throwing and all that fun that had to do with light athletics. At that time no interest for God, besides knowing that some God exists but I wasn't really thinking about Him. So I did athletics in my free time and I decided I will be PE teacher. Physics seemed to hard to study but doing sport all your life seemed fun. But when it came to applying to the college in that specific area of sport- I wasn't accepted because I did not do to well in swimming and gymnastics. I remember I got C in that while there were people who got A in all the parts of the exam. I had to find somebody to blame for that...I wondered why God wouldn't let me do something I really liked. I wasn't happy at all at that time I thought I would have to wait one more year to apply again to that school, but meanwhile a friend told me about a new German college to which exams were in September.Then a thought came to me; let's study German for a year - to 'kill' the waiting time-and then I will go back to my sport!
And my journey started. On the first day at the new college we were all waiting to take the German exam.
You would see the nervous students reading their notes and a girl next to me reading the Bible...! Well, I was reading my notes all stressed up, while that girl completely relaxed reading her book...I asked her
'Does it help?' Then I heard all the lecture about Jesus. I though I had never met in my life a person that religious! All her story didn't seem to be interesting to me- I even thought she was really weird- crazy religious! Then she shared with me two Bible verses, I have never heard before.
They completely disturbed my peace!
"Not everyone who says to Me;Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven but he who does the will of my Father in heaven." Matthew 7;21
First of all I realized I might be one of those people since I had no clue whether I was doing the will of the Father in heaven or not.
I heard the right words to notice that a Christian is not about only attending a church once a while.
It is about doing God's will which is believing in the One He sent ( Jesus) and trusting His words. But because God seemed so unknown to me at that time I thought that living for Him was good when you are old but not as a student who has completely different things on mind ..'How do you know when you will die?' I heard the question. Then it will be too late. I imagined myself when God is recalling that day when I could hear His words from the Bible and I was rejecting them, I was rejecting Him and the life!
Then we read the following verse;"He who rejects Me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him,the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." John 12;48
I realized the words were telling the truth and if God says something it must be true.
How shocking it was for me to hear all these words, that I had to change my life, that Christian is a follower of Christ. It didn't seem easy 'jumping' into ' following Christ' right away.
I didn't want to. I had some other dreams and thinking too much about God didn't seem too comfortable. I thought God was too distant like in church, with lots of pictures, statues, you pray but they never speak to you. Because I imagined God like that, I didn't have interest in thinking about Him
What was left it was struggling with the thoughts 'I have to do God's will to be saved'
'Is reading the Bible for 15 minutes a day quite enough"? I wandered. I was struggling like that for half of the year, those 2 Bible verses were following me everywhere.... my mind couldn't get rid of them. The only 'relief ' was giving lessons to the kids when I had to focus on teaching the language, but as soon as the lesson was over, the words from the Bible came back and the question' Have you made up your mind?"
This became a really heavy burden on my heart; how much is it enough to be a Christian? What is His will every day? How can I be sure I am saved? How much of reading the Bible is enough to be called a Christian? Then I spontaneously prayed to God simply saying that I was tired of that burden that I didn't know what His will was but I wanted to do it and that and that I wanted Him to be my Lord!
That was very unusual because after that simple prayer at home I started to have peace in my heart that I haven't had for a long time. Such a relief as if somebody took of a big load of something from my heart. It seemed to me like Somebody there above heard me!
I started testing myself, even saying that I was not interested in reading ' boring Bible' didn't take away my peace. Then I realized I actually have an interest to read it. As I read that day I came across these words; John 14;27 " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Wow, that's exactly as if I was reading about myself; I just experienced that peace! I knew the Bible is true, the words are telling the truth! God is real!
I felt like being born again, seeing everything in a new light, God didn't seem distant and unknown any more. My heart wasn't accusing me .Each time I read the Bible it was confirming everything what I experienced. Jesus said;" You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they that testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." John 5;39-40
So it was the same with me, reading the Bible without coming to God didn't mean anything, I thought that just by reading I would be a real believer but that wasn't giving me any peace until I prayed. I decided to come to God like the above verse says. That is when God responded and I knew I was saved. My favorite verse became John 5;24 " Most assuredly I say to you , he who hears my word and and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life." We have forgiveness of sin in Jesus, that's why by trusting Him we can have peace in our heart.
Now it is hard to imagine living without God. "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10;10 That is what it means to live with God and have Him as your Lord. Second you have promise that you have eternal life. " I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." John 11;25
The Bible is full of so many great promises but if we don't have any access to them or we decide to ignore them,we choose to live a hopeless life. As it is said;" Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
I finished my German college, I didn't care too much about coming back to sport, my interests changed and I went to the Bible school in Hungary for 2 years. I remember my friends saying' I would find no job if I didn't finish my German degree( because I went to the Bible school) and then after I finished my Bible school - the job 'called me' offering the job as a teacher in one of the private language schools. So meanwhile I also finished my last 2 years of German to get my final degree. My worries weren't needed, God was in control;
" Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all the things shall be added unto you." I 'experience' it all the time.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Christ- the One in charge
- “Christ- the One in charge”
As` we study the Bible we read that Jesus Christ is the subject of this book from Genesis 3;15 to Revelation 22;21
This Jesus of Nazareth has been the object of more speculation than any other person in the history of man. The name of Jesus Christ springs spontaneously from the lips of all kind of people, from the priest to the any upset person that is using His name to curse. “Even when Jesus is rejected as an object of faith, he is chosen as an object of derision.”
Why it is like that?
The battle is truly spiritual – it is about discovering or suppressing His true identity. The battle with high stakes for mankind. Finding His true identity allows us to come to Him and trust Him and acknowledge Him as our Lord, which results in being saved from God’s judgement. Having His false identity -will keep us away from Him and His word and from trusting Him It will keep us away from receiving His forgiveness and the truth that we can be saved. ” Most assuredly I say to you , he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement , but has passed from death into life.”
It is a great promise but by many Jesus is still under appreciated. A man that died on the cross and that is the end of the story. No power no meaning for your life. But He is much more than this. We will find out in this study- what the Bible says He is and what does it mean to know His true identity. How much do we know Him and realize all the greatness? Are you able to see Him for whom he is? Let your knowledge about Jesus Christ not limit itself only to His earthly life. We should also be aware of His glorious exaltation by God and the authority over all things that Father gave Him.
Let’s have a quick Bible’s overlook;
Jesus Christ as the One in charge over everything;
“Jesus came and spoke to them; All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 28;18
The Bible says that Father put Jesus in charge over everything. That means all what the Father would be doing, Jesus is in charge doing.
He gave Him authority as a judge;
John 5;22 ” For the Father judges no one but committed all judgement to the Son.” v.27 “ And has given Him authority to execute judgement also because He is the Son of Man.”
The only mediator to God, the way of communication with God; ultimate representative of God;
Hebrews 1;1-2a “God spoke at various times and in various ways to the fathers by the prophets, has in the last days spoken to us by His Son.”
People wish they would see God, but it is not about seeing how He looks like, the same way it is not enough to know somebody by seeing only his/her picture. God wants us to know His character, His heart and nature, and that nature was manifested all in His Son. God’s heart and will was manifested in his Son’s life in everything that He said and did. He was saying and doing what God himself would be saying or doing, that way ( when one of his disciples said; ‘show us the Father’) Jesus could say; ‘ Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father.” John 14;9
He could also say the following;
” The Father who dwells in Me does His works” John 14;10
” All that the Father has is mine” John 12;45
” Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself , but what He sees the Father doing, for whatever He does, the Son also does in likewise.” John 5;19
He has the authority to be honored as the Father; John 5;23
” That all should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father.”
The One who has the power to raise the dead ones; John 5; 21
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.”
v.28 ” (…) for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice.”
John 6.44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6;47″ Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, has everlasting life.”
The only way to God: John 6;45
“It is written in the prophets ‘ And they shall all be taught by God’ . Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”
John 14;6 ” I am the way, the true and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The One with the authority to forgive sin; Luke 5;24
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, He said to the man who was paralyzed ; ‘ I say to you , arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
The One as the image of the invisible God; Colossians 1;15
Hebrews 1;3a ” The Son is reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being and He sustains all things by his powerful word.”
Exalted above all name;
Philippians 2;9 “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.”
Authority to be worshiped ” That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Heir of all things, all things created through Him and for Him;
(..) whom He has appointed as heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” Hebrews 1;2
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him.” Colossians1;16
Jesus wanted people to find His true identity by coming to God. He wasn’t yelling out; Do you know who I am? I am a Son of God! This was not the way to know Him. To truly know Him always depended on coming to God, so that God Himself would reveal Jesus to us.
One time Jesus asked His disciples; “And who do believe I am?” and Peter said ” You are the Son of the living God.” Not only was it a correct answer but Jesus also said that it is the Father in heaven who revealed it to Peter.”
And who is Jesus for you?
And if you think that people can use His name as a curse and keep rejecting Him and get away with it; the Bible has the answer to that.
John 12;48 ” He who rejects Me, and does nor receive my words, has that which judges him, the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”
You can choose to serve the great Lord and have everlasting life in Him. The battle is spiritual, you can win it- by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior! He doesn’t have to be an unknown historical hero but your real mighty Lord.
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