Archive for the ‘ Jesus ’ Category
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1-2 ESV
Christians ought not habitually sin. However, Christ’s atoning sacrifice has covered all of our unintentional, ignorant, and momentary sins, so we are still forgiven from the outset.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Matthew 28:19, ESV
“What is my calling?”
Every person has three objectives within the same one major calling in life, and one objective is to lead others to Christ and help them grow in holiness. It is not just your pastor’s job. It is everyone.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 ESV
We have an Advocate who understands everything we go through and everything we are, and He desires to help us with every need.
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31 ESV
It feels like Jesus is taking His sweet time returning and our world is growing worse and harder to live in.
But if we trust that His timing is good, and we remember that He has promised He is returning, we will find Him strengthening us through the Holy Spirit.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
Titus 2:11-12, ESV
In a western society, it is incredibly easy to give in to our passions and follow the world’s example.
That means it is hard to live rightly.
Praise God that He sent His Son to show us grace, and they sent the Spirit to strengthen us!
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me
Galatians 2:20, ESV
We need to give up our rights to anything just as He gave up His rights as God to give us life.
Stop demanding and expecting Him and others to do what we think we deserve. Start giving all of you to love others for His glory.
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2, ESV
Do not be confused. Jesus was not happy to die, but He was willing to endure anything for what was on the other side: eternal life with His forgiven adopted brothers and sisters, to the glory of the Father through the Holy Spirit who draws us in guides us to that perfection of faith.
As he was blessing them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven.
Luke 24:51, GNT
Imagine seeing your friend, who you now know is also your God risen from the dead, leaving you again.
But this time you have a mission He has blessed.
And you know He is coming back to be with us.
Forever.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
John 5:24 ESV
When John later said “There is no fear in love” (1 John 4:18), he was reminding us that faith in Christ means we no longer need fear punishment and harsh judgment. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ literally saves us.
Today is my 18th Re-Birthday! [For more details, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Yep. 18 years ago today I succumbed to Jesus’ bear hug of forgiveness and grace. My faith is now legally an adult in most of the world.
Do I feel accomplished?
Honestly, I will always know there is more to do until the day I no longer need to number my days (Psalm 90:12), for The Wisdom of God made flesh has been made fully known to His Creation.
Rather, I am beginning to feel the pressure of time. I was a teenager when entering the Christian fold, so I am only in my mid-30s. However, the Lord has been teaching me to number my days (ask those who know me best! There are stories!), so I can see “missed opportunities” and periods of disobedience in my past. I see faces of people I could have been “That person” to.
Yet, these should not be seen as regrets … at least of I truly believe my sovereign Lord truly is sovereign. Rather, these are moments to glean from and push forward.
I think Paul put it best.
. . . and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Philippians 3:9-16, ESV
Therefore, I finish as I have in the past:
. . . by quoting Jude (3):
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Let us celebrate our common salvation and share this faith with our fallen world!
a simple man of God 