Monday 7/1 ~ Take the time

The scripture for today, July 1 (7/1), is Leviticus 7:1f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy. The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be sprinkled against the altar on all sides.”

Romans 3:23 says the wages of sin is death. The earnings are paid by Satan, the author of death.  God told everyone to appease Satan by killing substitute perfect animals during the Old Testament era. The earnings for your sins were collected by these perfect animals over and over in the Old Testament. But one day Jesus nailed the Old Law to the cross (Colossians 2:14), and with his one sacrifice made it so that no more bloody deaths of substitute animals were necessary (Hebrews 8-9).

In a sense, Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, laid down on the altar of the world where his blood flowed from all sides of the cross to all sides of the earth. Why would anyone want to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and nullify that horror Jesus went through in our place?

Jesus collected your wages from Satan for your sins to save you from facing both body and soul death. You can never, ever thank him enough.  But, instead of temple ceremonies, he asked you to commemorate his death with the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion each week.  Do you?  On Sundays, the day he came back to life, do you care? Take time to remember his death. He took time to die in your place.

 

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Saturday 6/29 ~ Invincible Faith

The scripture for today, June 29 (6/29), is John 6:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

00-LUKE-KINDLE Cover-Thumbnail“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent.’ “

Yes, it is true that the gift of salvation is just that ~ a gift, a free gift. That’s because God was the only one powerful enough to overcome Satan.  Satan wanted God’s death as a ransom in order to free you from your bondage to him. God gave Satan what he wanted, then tricked Satan and came back to life. You could have never freed yourself.

And it is true that you cannot be good enough to earn salvation from Satan because you don’t know how to be sinless, and heaven can only be occupied by the perfectly sinless. Satan is always lurking in the shadows to lure you back. It only takes one sin to be a sinner.

But at the same time, James 2:18 says “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” In other words, there are things you need to do to obtain salvation. You have to believe there is a gift for you somewhere, walk over to it, reach out, and grasp it.

Believing is a work because you have to find and spend time listening to or reading the Word before you can believe. And Jesus himself said believing (faith) is a work.

How do you go about obtaining faith? By believing what other people tell you to believe? Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing/reading the Word of God ~ the Bible. It is going directly to God’s Words to find out for yourself. It takes a little bit of work to read through it. But then, you can know that what you believe is really what God said.

What a marvelous, delightful, magnificent thing it is to find out what this invisible God did for you and to bask in the glory of such knowledge through invincible faith.

 

00-LUKE-KINDLE Cover-ThumbnailLUKE: SLAVE AND PHYSICIAN started out his life being a slave and believer in may gods. All physicians in the first century were slaves. Then, one day, he met Paul, learned about the one God who would free his soul from slavery to Satan. Then, his master, Theopholis, who had learned to love him, gave him his physical freedom.  After that, Luke was unstoppable. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://amzn.to/323txxV

 

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Friday 6/14 ~ The gratitude day

The scripture for today, June 14 (6/14), is Numbers 6:14 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“There he is to present his offerings to the Lord…a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering…. “

A lot of people don’t understand what Jesus dying on a cross has to do with going to heaven. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death.” ~ both physical and soul death. It is Satan who pays us our wages. In Old Testament times, God intervened and arranged for people to kill a perfect animal in their place whenever they sinned to satisfy Satan’s bloodthirst.  But it was only a temporary fix because it is impossible for us to be sinless ~ without defect.

Finally, God the Word came to earth as a human, and John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God (John 1:29). Jesus was perfect and without defect; that is, he never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). Then he took the wages of sin from Satan and died as the perfect Lamb of God in our place ~ both physically (separation from people on earth) and spiritually (separation from God the Father). After Satan released his hold on mankind, Jesus even went a step further and miraculously came back to life!

Then God said, “If you’ll believe and imitate Jesus, I will consider your debt paid in full and consider you perfect too (Romans 6). Then I’ll bring you back to life in heaven.” How amazing!

And, by the way, since he came back to life on Sunday, that’s what makes Sunday so special. It’s an I’m-sorry-you-had-to-die-for-my-sins Day. It’s the “Do-this-in-remembrance-of-me” Lord’s Supper Day.  It’s the Gratitude Day.

 

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Wednesday 6/5 ~ “I just want to keep you safe.”

The scripture for today, June 5 (6/5), is Deuteronomy 6:5 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Mefiboset-KINDLE Thumbnail“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Jesus said this is the greatest of all the commandments (Mark 12:29). He didn’t say that any of the Ten Commandments were. He chose one of the over 600 commandments God gave to Moses in the Old Testament. It might have been lost in the crowd, but Jesus called it out and gave it special attention.

Although we no longer keep the Old Testament Law of Moses, we do have the New Testament Law of Jesus. There aren’t as many commandments, but there are some. Sometimes Jesus’ law repeats something in the Old Law such as the one above. But it was his choice what to carry over, not ours.

Some people don’t even know they’re obeying any of the Laws of Moses. That’s easy to solve. All you have to do is read that Law and see you if we recognize anything you’re doing. It is full of hundreds of rituals and commands how to worship the way God wanted.

On the other hand, do you love the Lord your God enough to keep all of the commandments of Jesus or do you say the church is too modern now and Jesus’ commands are old fashioned.? Or perhaps do you say Jesus had no commands ~ he just wants me to love him?  We do not tell our parents, “I love you, but you have no right to command me to do anything.” We do not tell our government, “I’m going to drive on any side of the road I want because I’m not going to obey any of your commands”?

Be not like the clay telling the potter what to do (Isaiah 64:8). Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commands” (John 14:15). Commands do not mean someone is trying to hold you down; commands means, “I love you and want to keep you safe from Satan.” Give it a try. Life just might get a little better.

 

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Monday 6/3 ~ Do you say no to what God says yes to?

The scripture for today, June 3 (6/3), is Romans 6:3f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Joseph-Cover-Thumbnail“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life….because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

Oh! Baptism does all that? Some people say no. God says yes. Some people hate this topic because their church leaders have rejected it as unimportant and even call people who quote such verses in God’s Word as dangerous.  Why?

Look at the list in that verse that baptism does for us.  In baptism, we obtain a new life ~ are born again. And in baptism, we are freed from sin ~ forgiven. Look at it this way: Just as Jesus died carrying our sins on himself, we die to our sinful nature ~ the part of us that sins and doesn’t care. Then just as Jesus was buried in his tomb, we are buried in our watery tomb. And just as Jesus came up out of his tomb the Savior, we come up out of our tomb the saved ~ with a “new life” and “freed from sin.”

Everything works together beautifully ~ hearing, believing, confessing, dying to sin, being baptized. What an honor and privilege we have been given to imitate what he did for us! 1st Peter 3:21 says it is an answer of a good conscience toward God.

Just as the crucifixion was a physical thing to obtain a spiritual outcome, baptism is a physical thing to obtain a spiritual outcome.  How beautiful. How amazing.

 

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JOSEPH: THE OTHER FATHER had the greatest challenge in the history of the world ~ to raise God’s child in a violent world. A year before Jesus died, he visited his hometown of Nazareth. The people there said, “ISN’T this the son of the carpenter?” not “WASN’T”. Read the story of Joseph and all he may have gone through to keep Jesus protected until he was grown. To BUY NOW, click a book title or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2HTIcE6

 

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Friday 5/31 ~ When perfection finally came

The scripture for today, May 31 (5/31), is Deuteronomy 5:31 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Cover-Medium“But you [Moses] may stay here [on the mountain] with me [God] so that I may give you all the commands, decrees, and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”

Many people believe that the “Law of Moses” consisted only of the Ten Commandments. But there was much more. It took Moses 40 days to write them all down. How many? Over 600 “commands, decrees and laws.”

Some people today want to dip back into the Law of Moses to get showy types of worship ~ candles, incense, stoning for adultery, instruments of music, choirs, animal sacrifices, separate priesthood, special clothing for priests, and tithing to pay for it all. Jesus nailed the old law to the cross (Colossians 2:14) and created a much simpler New Testament/Covenant!

Other people want to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  Why? So they can revert to animal sacrifices and thus nullify the sacrifice Jesus made of himself?  James said that, if we keep part of the Law, we are obligated to keep it all (James 2:10).

By calling this covenant [testament] ‘new’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear’ “ (Hebrews 8:13). Not part of it. All of it. Hebrews goes on to say that the Holy of Holies is now in heaven, the curtain in the temple is now Jesus, etc.  Rebuilding the temple would mean going backward from grace to legalism.

Thank God we do not have to keep all those 600+ commandments in the Law of Moses. They were controlling and tedious, and some were impossible to keep. Why would God give a law impossible to keep? To help us understand that it is impossible for us to be perfect. Finally, when we understood that, he was ready to send his Son to earth to be perfect for us.

 

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Wednesday 5/22 ~ Find Peace

The scripture for today, May 22 (5/22), is Galatians 5:22f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Was Jesus God-COVER-kindle-thumbnail“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

There are some people in the world who call people who practice these traits “losers.”  They distrust people who love everyone, are kind to everyone and are always happy.  “People like that are not for real.”  They believe you have to stick up for yourself and get ahead of the pack or the world will trample you and pass you by.

They are a lot like drivers out on a highway who think they have to pass every car. Once they do, there is usually a brief period when they are ahead of all the others. But soon they catch up with another pack of cars and begin all over again to pass every one, to get ahead of the pack. And so, it happens over and over endlessly. They never relax, for they are never ahead of the others for very long.

Today, relax a little. Exercise patience and self-control.  There is no law against slowing down. And in the process find gentleness and find peace.

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Tuesday 5/21 ~ The Unimaginable Plan

The scripture for today, May 21 (5/21), is 2nd Corinthians 5:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

A lot of people do not understand what Jesus’ death has to do with going to heaven. The key is in Romans 3:23 that says “The wages of sin is death.” In Genesis, 2:17, God told Adam and Eve the moment they disobey him, they will die. When Adam and Eve sinned, immediately their souls died, and the bodies gradually died. That was the wages they collected for sinning.

It’s been happening to everyone since then. Why is God so strict?  He is trying to protect us from Satan. He is like a parent shouting, “Don’t go out into the street!”  So, during Old Testament times, God told people to kill an animal to placate Satan temporarily.  Apparently, it did but not forever.

 Hebrews says the blood of animals cannot truly take away (take the substitute punishment for) sins; they are remembered again every year (Hebrews 10:3-4).

Finally, John the Baptist announced Jesus was “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). This is what Satan really wanted. He had not yet put mankind in hell with him.  He was holding mankind for ransom.  He wanted God to die before he would release mankind from his hold. For 33 years, God’s Word took human form in Jesus and became one of us. Then he died in our place. In so doing, he collected our wages forever.

Jesus did two things impossible for us to do: Live a perfect life without sin, and come back to life after he died ~ both physically and spiritually. Why? So we could do two more things impossible for humans to do on our own: Release ourselves from Satan’s captivity and escape to heaven where we would be permanently safe.

But we have to believe this happened. As long as we do not believe it, even though Satan has opened the gate to release our captives, we must walk through that gate and through the gate of heaven.

It is not about being good enough. No one can do enough good works Satan has no choice to release us and God has no choice but to let us into his home, heaven. It only takes one sin to be a sinner.  God cannot exist with sin.

God begs us to come to him and follow him out of danger and into the safety of his heaven. It is not automatic. If we follow Jesus, God sees us as sinless. Jesus was perfect for us. What a plan ~ the things Jesus had to go through to free us.   What unimaginable love. 

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Thursday 5/9 ~ Freedom is not free

The scripture for today, May 9 (5/9), is Matthew 5:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”

Jesus, the only begotten Son of God (Christians are adopted sons) was a peacemaker. He came to earth to help us make peace with God. After all, “all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It only takes one sin to be a sinner. And God cannot dwell with sin. What was the solution?

Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. These wages we earn are from Satan because Satan is the originator of death. In Old Testament times, God told people to kill a perfect animal in their place to pacify Satan who was holding mankind hostage. So, people kept having to do it. The death Satan really wanted was the death of God. He would not release mankind until God paid the terrible ransom price ~ his death.  So, when the time was right, Jesus came to earth and lived that perfect life that is impossible for us to live as the perfect Lamb of God. Then he allowed himself to take our punishment for our (not his) sins and collect the death wage in our place.  

His was the final sacrifice. Our freedom was not free. Jesus had paid the ransom to Satan to set us free. (Then, of course, God tricked him and that body Jesus was in came back to life.) But freedom is not automatic. Satan gets us back unless we believe Jesus did that and follow him. Now we are no longer slaves of Satan. We are adopted and become children of God.

Jesus was a peacemaker between God and man. You, too, can be a peacemaker. You can help people be at peace with themselves. You can help them be at peace with each other. And you can help them be at peace with God. Thereby, you can share in what God’s begotten Son was.

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Wednesday, 5/1 ~ Declared perfect

The scripture for today, May 1 (5/1), is Romans 5:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Titus-Cover-Lg Thumb“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Of course, if we do not have faith in Jesus, we will not obey any of his commands. He said in John 15:14, “You are my friends IF you do what I command.”

How do we become his friends?  By obeying all his commands. But we have all sinned and fallen short God’s perfection (Romans 3:23) and the wages we earn from Satan with our sins is body and soul death (Romans 6:23).

That makes it impossible for us to live in heaven. Only the just ~ the perfect ~ can enter heaven. Otherwise, heaven wouldn’t be heaven. But how do we become perfect when the fact remains that almost daily we sin by actions, attitudes, and good things we leave undone?

Every time we sin, we come in the clutches of Satan, the originator of both body and soul death.  He holds us hostage. So, God came to us in flesh, paid our fine, our bail, and bought us out of the death prison of Satan. He got us out and declared us not guilty ~ perfect. But, it does us no good unless we believe he did that for us. 

What amazing God we have. We can scarcely comprehend it. It stretches our mind, our heart, our soul. Yes, it is a beautiful thing what God did for us so we can have peace with him. That was his part. Our part is to believe it, accept it, and actively follow it.

That, too, is beautiful.

TImage result for "Buy the book" button redITUS: THE ARISTOCRAT was born of privilege. His father was the city magistrate and Titus became a lawyer.  He searched until able to declare his clients not guilty. But his father forever declared Titus guilty for causing Titus’ mother’s death. He carried this with him until he learned about Jesus, the one who would forgive.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2vtKu5N

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