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Monthly Archives: November 2013

Grace + Faith = 0 Debt Due

05 Nov

Grace + Faith = 0 Debt Due

Romans 5:1-2    Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Justified in it’s simplest meaning would be get out of jail pass; a paid ransom due to a Holy God. Your sin debt has been paid by Jesus Christ. This debt is due to all of mankind due to the imputed sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Christ shed blood for you paid your eternal debt. Our faith in that understanding of Grace frees us from the bondage of sin eternally. Think of the Holy Court that God will hold on Judgement Day; when we all, whether we believe in him or not, will stand before him and give an account of our lives. We will either stand guilty and pay for our sins eternally in Hell, or we bow forgiven by our faith in the understanding of the grace and justification of our sins by Christ dying to pay that sin debt due that Judgement Day. Like it or not, believe it or not, we all will meet together on that day and the truth shall be revealed. Did you understand Grace in your life, or did you feel in any way your earned your Salvation? If you feel that you earned it by going to church, being a good person, or any list of good works to earn God’s favor, Christ died in vain, and you will pay eternally for not understanding Grace.

When you come to understand what these scriptures say, the Gospel message that Paul is speaking of here, you gain that peace and hope that the world does not comprehend. The Holy Spirit living inside of you grows your faith and opens the truths of God to you in time cultivated in God’s Word and prayer. Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. The more you seek God the greater your faith, your peace, and the hope that lies within you grows. You begin to have peace in an out of control world, where by the world standards peace is not found. The world teaches self, the Word teaches selflessness. This going against the grain of the world is what gives you the peace that it cannot steal away. Paul speaks of what the world will throw at us , and how it strengthens us when we are strong in our faith. Romans 5:3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. In that growing relationship with your eternal Father, you will possess a hope that others see, that he uses to draw them to himself. They will not understand how you are the way you are, but when they ask, you can share Him with them.

 
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Posted by on November 5, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Our grain of sand

04 Nov

Our grain of sand

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (NIV)

OK, confession here; I have been accused of “thinking things to death.” In my service business world the preparation of big jobs is critical to the execution and profitability of them. The better job I do planning, typically the better they go from start to finish. On the repair side of things as a service tech, anyone can be a parts changer, but it takes a inquisitive nature to dig deeper to find the root of whatever caused something to break. I spend a whole bunch of time racking my brain on both ends of the business. I can’t help but wonder if I was one of those “why” kiddo’s growing up? Do you want to know more? Do you understand that God wired you that way? God wired the desire for eternity into your hearts when he created you. It is by His design, that you have that tug for Him. It is by that design that you have that pursuit towards more than just this life here. Even in the pursuits that have gone astray, down false religions and heresies that have led people away from Jesus Christ, how can anyone believe there is not more to life than just our short time here?

Solomon was writing in Ecclesiastes about all the work or toil that face us for our time here. He wrote of the “vanity of vanities” for those that spend all their energies in what will truly pass away. Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Solomon starts his book with what almost seems the closing line there; a life without God is a lost life. He was a person who had been given by God all the pleasures and pursuits that one could possibly want from life. Wisdom, riches, endless possessions and pursuits. But as he wrote this book near the end of his life, he had come to realize a life without God was meaningless. God had wired him with that draw towards eternity also; yet for so many years he lived his life in the temporal pleasure of the day.

There is no way we will ever grasp but a grain of sand in understanding God’s Sovereignty. His control of all that is placed before us is not something we can fathom. It is when we come to cherish that small glimpse found in our grain of sand, that we see and feel the evidences of Him around us. We are naturally bent towards that feeling inside of us for eternity; naturally drawn to that pursuit of desiring more of Him each and every day unto eternity. God has given us his Word to reveal himself to us. Paul in 1 Corinthians puts it like this: 13:12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now. (NLT) Spending daily time in His Word will continue to reveal more and more of the proofs of him to you, until he calls you home and you meet him in all his glory.

 
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Posted by on November 4, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Live what you believe

03 Nov

This is a link to my sermon today.

I do write a manuscript for them, that is where God has gifted me in writing, and I could never remember all that he lays on my heart from notes.

 

Nov 3 Sermon

 
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Posted by on November 3, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

But this is heavy God

02 Nov

This is a re-blog from a year ago today. I have been going back some, seeing where I was a year ago. This is still so pertinent today, I wanted to re-post this. The media talked us into this hole, and they are desperately trying to talk us out of it. I don’t believe the recovery is quite as great as they say, and is about to get worse with healthcare. Place your hope in the eternal, and the weight of today is not so burdensome.

But this is heavy God

02 Nov

But this is heavy God

Hebrews 10:32-37   But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 37 “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.

I don’t even know how to pen all the pain I see these days. Those around me that are struggling financially seems to be a common thread; the pains of an economy that is so far from where it peaked only a few short years ago. These pains have infiltrated families, churches, careers, and to be honest most of our lives. The leadership of our country is failing to give us hope and simply spending money so grotesquely that it is further devaluing the dollar and increasing debt. Our world as we know it is collapsing around us, and very few of us have escaped the reality of it. Pain has an underlying tone in the smiles of cover. We all want everything to be ok; but it is not.

The author of Hebrews is speaking to how once we were saved, the trials of life came to steer us away. Satan’s sons prosper when all of God’s children struggle. All of these struggles are allowed and designed for strength and endurance. We would never by choice take these tough roads of life that deepen our faith, for we would take the high road of simplicity and ease, and rest shallowly there. God wants more; wants to bring you more to the likeness of His Son; wants to show you the weight that He bared for you from deep within; knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. These tough times build us like weights we carry strengthen us. The heavier the weight or burden, the stronger or faith becomes.

I truly feel there is an urgency in the air for those who do not know Christ; or worse yet those who rest in false religion. The reality of our world is that it is so far from God; and Satan is peaking before his eternal fall. Satan has planted so many false teachings in today’s society, and so many have been led astray by the struggles of life. They have went someplace to ease their pain; some religion that preaches only joy and not conviction of sin. The author of Hebrews was warning the Jews to not fall back into the trap of the false security of Judaism; to hold fast to their faith in God’s grace through Christ; and the rewards of that endurance. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. No matter how heavy the burdens get, through the pain of it you are gaining strength. We may only see and feel the present of the pain, but God sees the strength and the end, eternal result of it.

 
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Posted by on November 2, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

No baby carrots in a jar

01 Nov

No baby carrots in a jar

Hebrews 6:9-12   9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things–things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

The writer of Hebrews had just pointed to the fact of the needed maturity in our faith. He had pointed to the need of a faith and hope that grows in Christ. He had pointed for the need to mature as adults in our faith, not to rest on the “spiritual milk” as infants and toddlers do, but to feed on solid foods and grow up.5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. We must return to these truths often, they are a bedrock of our faith. We must grasp grace, repentance, and forgiveness found only in Christ, but that is not where our faith stops. It must mature to begin to understand the spiritual things that revolve around us every day that we do not see. There is an entire other world in the unseen that affects the seen and felt every single day. This understanding comes with time cultivated in God’s Word and prayer every, single, day. This discernment is only granted by Him with maturity. Toddlers cannot handle this level of faith; it would create fear and likely fleeing. It is only in the mature that this is granted. With it comes much greater faith, hope, and love; but with it comes greater responsibility also.

The closer you draw to God, the more he reveals himself to you. The more He reveals himself to you, the greater your awe of him. The greater your awe of Him, the more you realize how much you need him. This is the cycle that He desires; that you seek Him out of a heart that has grown intimate with him. Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. This is how you grow in your faith; you seek God every day with every thing you have got. He will reward those that seek him! Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. When He begins to open more truths of his Word to you, you begin to want to know more. An expectancy comes with it; hope grows in it; faith grows in it; you mature with it; He becomes glorified through it all. Amen.

 
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Posted by on November 1, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 
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