Posts Tagged ‘ Gospel ’
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7, ESV
Wisdom is learning from others.
True wisdom is learning that God has a perfect standard that no one can meet, but He made a way through His Son, and we take this knowledge and turn to Him.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
1 Peter 5:6, ESV
As the saying goes, He is God, and you are not.
But, amazingly, God lowered Himself to our level to become a man, to bring about our forgiveness and reconciliation, that we may be made like Him.
Submit to His will and His way, and He will lift us up.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9, ESV
God chose us.
His main calling for us?
Matthew 28:18-20. (Look it up!)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 ESV
As the bumper sticker states, “No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know Peace.”
Contrary to popular belief, Jesus is the only way to eternal life.
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.
for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
1 Peter 1:24, ESV
We are destined to die.
But the next verse reminds us that the Word of God lasts forever, and it is this Word that saves us to eternal life.
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8, NKJV
Do not forget that the King will answer, “as you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me” (Matthew 25:40).
Sharing the gospel is bringing the body of Christ together.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
Psalm 51:1-2, ESV
Mercy: Not getting what we deserve.
Grace: Getting what we do not deserve.
We did not deserve forgiveness, but praise God He sacrificed His Son to give us just that!
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 3:18 ESV
Our world feels it is unloving and judgmental to say we are condemned in sin and that only Christ can save us.
However, it is the truth revealed by God. It is not judgmental to say. In fact, it is one of the most loving things we can do.
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 