Salvation Conversation

God is love you say? I totally agree with you! If we live a sinful lifestyle, God is love, most definitely. I can't, however, tell you that God is pleased with how you behave or carry yourself in public and in secret. He hates, yes He HATES it.

God loves righteousness and he hates iniquity, because He is HOLY! 

1Corinthians 13:6 "Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth" 

If I love that which is good then I must hate that which is evil, to have a pure love, yes?

Does He love the sinner, yes. So much so that He sent His only begotten Son to die for your sins and make a way of salvation for you. [John 3:16 - 21] 

That's a lot of love for a father to give the only child he has, much more with God who sees all our sin and disobedience every single day.

If I love babies, I must hate abortion.

If I take joy in marriage, then I must hate fornication, adultery and homosexuality.

If I love to see a hard working person earn their fair wages, then I must hate that which gains through dishonest means.

So now that He extends the only way to salvation, through Jesus Christ His Son, what will you do with His love.

Will you surrender and submit to His will and receive mercy or would you rather to pay for it yourself, pretending to love Him with words and end in destruction? [Matthew 7:13-27; 15:7-9]

You know that deep down in the heart you love Jesus, you say? [John 15:10; Exodus 20:1-17]

Fascinating...

Did you know that your heart has the amazing ability not only deceive you but justify your actions? [Jeremiah 17:9, 10]
The worse thing you can believe is that you are okay when you really aren't.
If you tell yourself that you can inherit what God has in store for the righteous, and you aren't righteous yourself you have a false hope in something you don't deserve, because you're trying to get in some other way. [Psalm 50:16-23; John 10:1]

But if you just come to Him, He will be a merciful Father to you. He will forgive your transgressions and remember them no more. [Isaiah 1:16-18; 55:1 - 11]

DO NOT try another method, don't pray to anyone else. Jesus alone is more than enough for you.
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If anyone says that to become a Christian is easy, it is not. It is not, it has never been and it will cost you EVERYTHING.

We don't go to God on our terms... oh no, we go to God on His terms, his way, according to His Word. The Bible (I trust the KJV more, since other versions seem to be a derivative of it, and I did some research).

We are not going to know God from reading a book about somebody, who knew somebody, who knew God, not from magazines or booklets, or best sellers. It is to just read the Bible. And if you may feel that you cannot understand the Bible without some help from other religious literature that profess that its interpretation is truth, read the scriptures and see for yourself.

Jeremiah 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

If you are given some sort of justification why you do some things, and reject others, consider this; there are many scriptures that warn against doing that.

Matthew 5:17-20

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

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A cathedral in Lubeck, Germany has these words inscribed on its walls:

You call Me master and obey Me not.
You call Me light and see Me not.
You call Me the way and walk Me not.
You call Me the life and live Me not.
You call Me wise and follow Me not.
You call Me fair and love Me not.
You call Me rich and ask Me not.
You call Me eternal and see Me not.

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Go through the scriptures. They will make you wise unto salvation.

Repent; turn from your sins.
Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and serve Him. He already is Lord.
Be baptized in His name.
Learn about Him and learn how to love him and how to worship Him.
Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you, and you will learn to be like Him and if you continue walking with Him then He that began a good work in you will finish it.

Righteousness is an Acquired Taste

Today I read this verse and it was today I actually realized what it meant. I read it before and I guess I never noticed. This is why the Bible, the Word of God can never get old.

In this parable Jesus was comparing old wine verse new wine. Or rather making an implication of the old life of sin and worldliness verses the new life in Christ and leaning towards righteousness. The word I want to point out is straightway, another word we can use is immediately. 

Notice he says that no man having drunk old wine straightway desires the new one, but rather he say, the old one is better. I'll start by saying that righteousness is an acquired taste, after all no man was born righteous (Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:), meaning that the life of sin that we would have before coming to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and accepting is one we preferred and were comfortable with. 

Becoming one who is righteous is a process, a growing process... you start somewhere. But you must persist... like I said, its an acquired taste... and once the taste is acquired, you should start to hate the old life.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

This statement speaks to loving your enemies... quite contrary to mankind's heart which is inherently evil... Anyway I was saying the problem with people isn't that we don't love righteousness, the problem is, we don't hate sin... its true. We love good happening to us and we feel good when we do something good, but think about this, do we hate sin? Lets think about it and I don't mean some sin, I mean all of them... No justification, but confession!

Righteousness is an acquired taste... a process, it take renewal of the heart and mind...

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Additional Verses: 1John 2:15; Ephesians 5:17; 1Thessalonians 4:3;

Chastisement

Do you ever get that feeling, while watching a fellow Christian with the wrong habit, to give them correction to let them grow more Christ-like but tend to draw back from it because he or she may take offence to it.
You probably have it in your head that they'll end up say something like: "Why are you judging me?" or
"You know it was just a joke, lighten up."

I was conversing online with a friend of mine earlier today. I've known her for a few years now and we talk from time to time. Today she shared with me something about a bad habit she had, something I had noticed when we first met. I'm glad to say that she now realizes that it was wrong of her and has made it up in her heart to repent of it.

But it got me thinking of something...
Are we willing correct those who need correcting regardless of what their justification? (I speak of those who are in the faith). Do we shy away from being an offence to others for the sake of friendliness?
An even more interesting question is, when was the last time you received correction from someone more mature in the faith and how did you take to it?

Receiving Correction

Scripture points to two types of person when it comes to correction:

Proverbs 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

The wise and foolish are quite contrary, one to another and the book of Proverbs are really shows what they are.

For a foolish person, receiving correction is a problem since more than not, they are "wise in their own eyes" and "it's fine... don't worry about it".
The person correcting us isn't trying to embarrass us or humiliate us. Their first priority is to build us up spiritually. They see something wrong and they want to help. Now God will send correction anyway he sees fit, whether by brethren, through His Word, your God-given conscience (keep it sharp) or maybe even in a circumstance.
Nevertheless, it is for our own good.

Hebrews 12:5 -11 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

I'll give an example of myself. While in my 4th year of University and acquiring for skills in animation, I started to brag to one of my classmates about what I could do. My Christian friend, Garwin, came over to me afterwards while I was standing by myself and told me what I did was wrong, and I shouldn't be trying to exalt myself like that. How did I take it? I told him "Thank you", because I understood what he wanted for me.
It's like what most parents will probably do for their rebellious teenagers, but as teens (for those of us who are here) we've see it another way. It's strange too not only when they tell us not to do what we want to, but they usually end up being right in the long run.

In all honesty, correction is good for us to receive. It shows that God is caring for us, and it is better to receive it willingly.

Giving Correction

Giving correction isn't something for a person who thinks they are better of when they aren't:

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

It's really good when we can care enough to correct someone, however sometimes we may get angry for what our brethren may have done and say it in such a way that rather than them being more encouraged to continue in the Lord or even to do the right thing, they get offended and feel degraded.

Listen, none of us are perfect but the aim is to strive to perfection.
There is something my wife and I discuss sometimes and it's about how to talk to people.

"You can be right in what you say, but wrong in how you say it," she'd say sometimes, and I agree.

We have to consider for a moment, how would we want to the situation to be handled with us? Are we so "over-righteous" (holier than thou attitude) that we cannot care for them. It's possible to be like a Pharisee in how we reason with people.

Ecclesiastes 7:16  Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? 

Paul spoke about how he would have come to the brethren in Corinth and basically asked them "Which would you prefer, A or B, A or B?"

1 Corinthians 4:18-21
18  Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
19  But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
20  For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
21  What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

So let's really consider how we give and receive correction from our brethren okay, and remember, we don't belittle the sin but we pull out brethren out of it with love.

Jude 1:20-2520  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.22  And of some have compassion, making a difference:23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

 See also: James 5:20, 1 Peter 4:8

Bless God and God bless.

Encouragement

I just want to encourage you today, that regardless of the circumstances you are going through, whether you are a Christian or not, yet... that if you lean on the Lord Jesus Christ, he will carry you through and you know, sometimes we go through things we don't expect we can survive and we come through it, and it makes us more refined and stronger. Its in these things we ought to give the Lord thanks for...

Note this verse:

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he [it is] that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Yesterday I heard a very encouraging comment by one Pastor Brown, "Obstacles are seen by those who lose sight of their goal!" I don't know where he got it from but it was encouraging!

I say, we take the obstacles and turn them into stepping stones!

God bless you and if you are not saved, God loves you, what will be your response? Will you respond to His love?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17) 

Remember one thing also... Loving God is not a mere thought or word of mouth, but attitude towards Him and His Son, His teachings and relationship to others... I'll never have all the answers but, this I will do, try my hardest to follow God.

Continue to strive a share my fellow brothers and sisters!

Live or Die

I was reading Ezekiel 18 today and I wrote a little of what I got from it. I hope you'll read it and refer to the verses in there.

In this chapter of Ezekiel God reproves Israel about their unequal judgement. One of the main points that came out for me was the issue of repentance and turning from one's sins. Verse 4 speaks about God's ownership of all souls, (see Genesis 2:7), and then has a correlation with the first part of Romans 6:23 which even speaks about the judgement of God, and reward of the righteous and the wicked. (see Revelation 22:11-12).

He then defines what is just of man to do in verses 5-9, and says that they which do these things shall sure live. But the righteous man has a child which does not do justly and walk in God's statutes and judgements as their parents did, as expounded in verses 10-13, then that child shall die and his/her own blood shall be on himself/herself because they had committed sin in the sight of God. Alternately in verses 14-17, if the child has an unrighteous parent, and sees the sins of the parent and does not follow in the sins of the parent but rather does righteously in helping the poor and living for God, he shall live.

The parent bears their own sin and so does the child their own sin. I guess you could say, "every man for himself" for in these cases they knew what was right and did not do it.

The concept it seems according to the following verses, Israel questions why the child doesn't bear the sins of the parent and goes as far as to say that God's judgement is unfair because when the wicked changes his way and becomes righteous all his sins are forgotten and he shall live, but if the inverse happens where the righteous in all his years of righteousness, becomes wicked in the end,his righteousness is not remembered. (see Ezekiel 18:20-24)

The righteousness of one's mother or father or family and friends cannot save us? It is not that the reputation of a godly friends or family that can save us. Each individual must have faith in Christ and live for Him, the problem is that we put of Christianity as the bible puts it for a "cultural Christianity", meaning we just grow up in it, having fellowship with brethren and family in Christ but never having a true intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and we as humans have the very outstanding ability to justify ourselves and our actions so that we don't seem to bad, saying hings like, "they had it coming", "I couldn't do any better", "that's just how di ting set", scripture says that "the heart is deceitful..." But we always have the choice, to sin or not to sin, to live or to die. Not only does God show us that their is life and death, as a Father loves His children He say, choose life.

God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. (see Ezekiel 18:23)

Here is the Love of God!

Something is coming

Brethren, there is something coming. As the world turns, more and more Christians are being killed and persecuted on a daily basis by not only the world in general, but also Muslims. I have been watching several videos about ethnic population studies and the Muslim religion is rising and persecuting and in some cases, keeping it silent, calling it "ethnic cleansing," according to this little article by Rob Miller dated April 4, 2012 - http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/silent_scream_the_sudan_ethnically_cleanses_its_christians.html#ixzz1r7bJxOgq

Please read.

A few weeks ago I was having a discussion with my pastor about world events, we eventually reached the "Mark of the Beast - 666" topic, we spoke for a bit bouncing ideas of what it could be. I left eventually, thinking what could it be, for my Christian brethren out there and even my non-Christian friends, the time fast approacheth, we may not know when, but I can tell its close, you will have to choose between mortal life and eternal death.

Deuteronomy 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 

Not only is life and death before us, but God tells us to choose life. Christ says in,

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

Choose Christ, and don't just believe in the mental sense of the word, but LIVE for and by Him! If we are going to serve Christ, it must be acceptable. ACCEPTABLE...

A problem we as humans have is procrastination and unbelief. When there was a worldwide prediction that the world would end on May 21, 2011, thousands of people lined up to be baptized at the last minute. My thoughts are, how many were genuine? How many are still there now?

We live our lives as though we have all the time in the world to enjoy the lusts and fornications, the riches, the sin.

And because we feel as though we'll live till old age, we simply wait until there is nothing left to give God, then we come to Him. That seems like disrespect to me... (Praise God for the ones who God calls even in old age that come genuinely!) But while we are young, why do we procrastinate? We could die tomorrow or even a few weeks down the line. I can speak like this because I was like that early. Thank the Lord God Almighty, for calling me out. You think God can't change you, think again!

Don't take salvation for granted, don't take Life, for granted.

Hebrew 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 

God makes salvation simple for us, and it was not cheap. NOT CHEAP AT ALL!

I want you to imagine this, a father in the convenience store of a gas station, leaves his son in the car while he make a purchase, suddenly the windows of the store shatter as the gas station erupts in flames, the father tries his hardest to run to the car which is a pillar of flames but the people in the store stop him (to save him), not without fighting him to the ground while he cries out for his son. This father never cared for his own safety, but for his son. Consider that amount of love between a father and son, and consider how much greater it is for God and His Son... Much greater...

Now consider this story. A single Christian father James, his Christian son Joshua and the Gregory a kid from juvenile detention who resentfully went along, who is unsaved go fishing on the sea, a storm comes out of nowhere, the boat capsizes and all things are lost, James is the only one who can swim, he can't carry both boys, Gregory is unconscious, he tearfully looks at both boys, he loves them both, Joshua whispers to his father, "Its okay." The father cries, he knows his son is saved, but it still hurts to know he'd die.

Hours later, Gregory gets up in a fright, screaming, "What happened? Where's Josh?" He looks at James, who is crying. "Where's Josh?" he asks again. James looks at him and shakes his head. "He said it was ok!"

Gregory, gives his life to the Lord, years later and serves Him whole heartedly, James treats Gregory as a son.

This isn't a true story.

Imagine now if Gregory later forgot and lived as a sinner all his days, imagine now how angry James would be for losing His son, reminiscing how horrible his death was, choking on water, torn apart by creatures of the sea and abandoned, imagine how resentful he would be to Gregory.

Although Christ was raised from the dead, and though He ascended to His Father and though He intercedes on our behalf. This doesn't change the fact that God did not have to do it, but He did. That is love. Remember that and know that God loved you enough to do that.

Don't take salvation for granted, don't take Life, for granted. 

Hebrew 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 

God makes salvation simple for us, and it was not cheap. NOT CHEAP AT ALL!

Back to the thoughts at hand. Look at this video:

I was looking also at what the significance of 666 means, I am well aware that many say it is a chip, I'm no way say I know what the answer is. So I was looking into what the significance of 666 is to the religion of Islam... many results say it is a holy number in the religion on Islam, I'm not sure this is true, but if it is. The mark in the right hand may be by force and the mark in the forehead may be a conversion to Islam.

Who knows. We will see eventually.

The most important thing right now, is your soul. Will you enter in the strait and narrow gate of life or will you be cast into the lake of fire?

I want you to enter. Live for Jesus. As the scripture says,

Revelations 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 

Love not the world.

James 4:1 -10

This chapter of James 4 speaks a lot of about the battles and struggles we face as Christians.

Verses 1 - 5 seems to speak on the quarrels and evil motives that believers face within themselves.

We quarrel because the source of it starts from our evil desires, whether it's the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh or the pride of life (1 John 2:15 - 17).

It plainly states in verse 4:

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
What should this mean for the true Christian?
Well if we love the ways of world, or have little grievances to how things are going in the world :
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.)

and claim to love the LORD then, we are enemies of God.

Are we grieved because if sin? Are we grieved when men accuse us of hating or judging, when we uphold biblical truth and principles?

Some may think it's okay to sin because they can just be forgiven because God is merciful. That is taking the grace of God in vain. It would be likened to Saul (if you have read about how he disobeyed God in two things and was rejected of God because of His disobedience) in 1 Samuel 15.

There is so much in the media that can turn one's heart from God, from desiring holiness and closeness to God. It gives us enjoyment in the things that displease God. Is there anything in the media that can please God? There isn't much.

But there is a solution. Our hearts by nature are wicked, even after we have been saved. There is still some level of resistance to the will of God. Flesh desires fleshly things (Romans 8). But if we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfil the things of the flesh.
God gives grace to the humble, to resist sin and the devil. Grace isn't just some arbitrary thing that we can just claim on a whim. It is a working force in the life of the believer. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness.

Who are the humble? Those who submit to the will of God. It is not just submitting to what man says (although if it brings God glory, let it be so), but rather, if it comes to obeying God's commandments then pleasing man and self, will have to take the back seat.

In verse 7 and 8, it says to submit to God, to resist the devil AND to draw nearer to God. We can't resist the devil if we do not draw near to God.

We need the presence of God to know what is right in His sight. As we come close to Him, we recognize of sins and we repent of them. Repentance isn't just saying sorry but it is a lifetime practice of recognizing sin, confessing it as sin, turning away from them and a growing in holiness.

We learn His will but studying His words, and meditating upon them.

Verse 9 -10 shows that being a Christian doesn't always call for laughs and a bed of roses. There will be times where as we recognize our sinful state before a holy God, we will be broken before Him. Seeing the sin around us will grieve us too. Seeing it in our communities and schools and families... Something like Ezekiel 9.
God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

God bless in the name of Jesus Christ.