Scripture for Sunday, March 9 (3/9

The scripture for today, April 9, is 1st John 4:9f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

We human do not have the will to live perfect lives. We give in to sins of attitude, action, and inaction. We can never get it right. Romans 6:23 says the wages we earn by sinning is death. In the Old Testament era, God let people kill an animal in their place whenever they sinned, but it had to be done over and over. Then God put a stop to that by sending his Son to us for awhile with a body, so his Son’s body could be killed (collecting our wages) in our place.

Finally, God invited mankind to “live through him” ~ that is, become Christ-ians. How do we become alive through Jesus? Of course, we know about believing Jesus was the Son of God and repenting of our sins. Also, Romans 6:4 says when we are baptized, we begin to live a new life, we are born again.

But it does not stop there. We must try the best we can to live as Jesus lived, speak as Jesus spoke, love as Jesus loved. We are not saved by good works because we are still sinners, but we do demonstrate our love of God by good works (James 2). With Jesus living in us, we are his mouth, his hands, his feet. It is then that we offer our own bodies as daily sacrifices (Romans 12:1).

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#love, #SonOfGod, #Sin, #WagesOfSin, #death, #sacrifice, #BornAgain, #Baptism, #Romans6, #EternalLife, #hell, #heaven, #GoodWorks, #Bodies

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Scripture for Saturday, April 8 (4/8)

The scripture for today, April 8, is 2nd Timothy 4:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day ~ and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

The Apostle Paul was about in his late sixties at this writing. He’d been converted probably in his thirties. He’d spent the past nearly forty years telling people how to escape hell, tolerating persecution, sometimes hunger, seldom staying in a city longer than a year, always on the go, never satisfied with the number of people he had reached with the News. Now he was in a dungeon.

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Oh, that we all could say this at the end of our life.

 

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#death, #reward, #crown, #persistence, #persecution, #threats, #souls, #hunger, #traveling, #reachingout, #preaching, #teaching, #baptising, #EndOfLife, #heaven, #hell, #saved

Scripture for Saturday, April 1 (4/1) & Update on Threatened Brother

Update on our brother in the Middle East whose life has been threatened:  He is in hiding, but decided not to flee to the mountains. If/when caught, he will stand and defend his faith.  In the meantime, he has sent his wife and children away and notified his oldest son to contact me if he is imprisoned or killed. Keep praying mightily for your brother. 

Note what the scripture is for today.  I wrote it ten years ago.


0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-MediumThe scripture for today, April 1, is Ephesians 4:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Jesus sometimes offended people. His apostles sometimes offended people. Specifically, the Apostle Paul sometimes offended people, and as he wrote he told people how to get to heaven God’s way instead of man’s way (which is impossible anyway).

But did it stop the Christians from telling people about the way to escape hell and go to heaven? Never. They loved people so much, they were willing to take insults and persecution and imprisonment and even death in the hopes that their persistent love would eventually lead to people becoming Christians and being saved from eternal hell. They knew their calling as Christians.

How about us today? Do we live a life worthy of our calling as Christians by standing up for Jesus and reaching out to the lost, regardless of the cost? Or do we cower and use the excuse, “Once people see my godly life, they will ask me how to be saved”?  How many times do the lost really do that?

Let us stand tall as brave soldiers of the Lord. Let us march into enemy territory and do everything we can to snatch the lost out of the jaws of Satan.

No matter what they do to us.

 

#martyrdom, #faith, #preaching, #teaching, #SavingSouls, #SpreadingTheWord, #PowerOfGospel, #cost, #CountingCost, #persecution, #prisoner, #DefendingChrist, #JawsOfSatan, #heaven, #hell

Scripture for Wednesday, March 8 (3/8)

The scripture for today, March 8, s Philippians 3:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.”

Wow! Paul, who wrote this, considered everything he had previously owned and every position he had ever held as rubbish ~ garbage ~ compared with belonging to his Lord.

Paul apparently came from a well-to-do family since he was born in today’s Turkey but went to school in Jerusalem. He also apparently held a position in the Jewish ruling body, the Sanhedrin, since he could vote on whether to execute someone. So, he probably owned a lot of things and had an honored position. The King James Version of the Bible says he considered it all as dung ~ manure.

Where are your priorities? What do you spend most of your time on? The things you just have to own, physical pleasures you just have to indulge in, the power you just have to have? All to enhance the little inch of your life on earth? Or the deep and unconquerable love of Christ Jesus your Lord who will enhance your eternity?

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Scripture for Tuesday, March 7 (3/7)

The Scripture for today, March 7, is Titus 3:7 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

REV-Cover-Kindle“So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

Being “just” means being correct, being law abiding, being perfect. No one is. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

But God wants you to live in his home so much that he was willing to overlook your sins and pretend that you are correct, law abiding, perfect ~ just. When you follow God and obey the few commands he has for you in the New Testament, in his eyes you become just.

Not only just, but God has put you in his last will and testament, what we call the New Testament. It contains his guidelines and what you will inherit. It is explained in large part in Revelation ~ God’s heaven. And what an inheritance!

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Scripture for Thursday, March 2 (3/2)

The scripture for today, March 2, is 2nd Corinthians 3:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 4-FOLK HERO-COVER“You yourselves are our letter written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.”

As important as it is to read the Bible for yourself and determine for yourself what you will follow, it is equally important to put those things into practice. James 2:19 says that even demons believe, but they are still demons and still bound for hell. It takes more than faith. There are things to do.

Are you a letter from God to people around you? Or do you have a double standard, acting one way around worshipers and another way around non-worshipers? People read our hearts by our words and actions. What do people read in your heart?

Do you absolutely and completely believe people will go to hell without Jesus? Do you absolutely and completely believe people have to rise above demons who believe but who are still going to hell? Do you absolutely and completely believe you could be the only one in your family’s and friends’ lives who cares enough for their soul that you will actually say something ~ put your heart letter into words?

Do you love them more than yourself? Do you love them enough?

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#Love, #Heart, #Speak, #Letter, #Lost, #Heaven, #Hell, #Hypocrite, #Enough

Scripture for Saturday, February 25 (2/25)

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-The scripture for today, February 25, is Revelation 2:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Only hold on to what you have until I come.”

Several years ago my 91-year-old mother left this life. Some say that at the moment of death, one’s life flashes before their eyes. In the case of my mother, at the moment of her death, her life flashed before my eyes. I suddenly imagined her as a baby in her mother’s (my grandmother’s) lap. Then she was a toddler playing in their yard. Then I saw her in school, then as a young bride to my father, then at home with her husband and children gathered around her. Then I saw her as launching a career after we were grown, then retiring, then eventually going into the nursing home.

And when that brief moment of envisioning her whole life was gone, I said, “You made it, Mother! You made it! You never faltered. Through all those years of ups and downs, you never wavered in your faith in Jesus Christ. You stuck it out. And now you’re home!”

May we all live our life in such a way that, despite our ups and downs, we never wander from Jesus. We stick with him through every storm, every flood, every blast of tragedy, every tumbling of dreams. Let us hold on to what we have until the day we leave this temporary life and enter our true eternal life.

#Endurance, #End, #HoldOn, #WholeLife, #Life, #Dedication, #Wavering, #Falling, #Reward, #Heaven, #Hell

Scripture for Friday, February 24 (24)

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-CoverThe scripture for today, February 24, is 1st Peter 2:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Many people do not understand what Jesus dying on the cross has to do with us going to heaven. Here it is. God is perfect, so cannot dwell with imperfection. God is complete love and goodness, so cannot dwell with hatred and bad.

Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. So, all through the Old Testament era, whenever we sinned, God allowed us to kill/sacrifice a perfect animal in our place. This, however, was a temporary fix.

Eventually, God sent his own Son to come to earth and live in a human body and be tempted in every way that we are (see Hebrews 4:15). Jesus resisted all temptations and lived his entire life sinless. He was perfect. Then as the perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29), Jesus was the final sacrifice. He died in our place. He took the punishment for our sins. On the cross, he temporarily died spiritually (forsaken by God) and physically (blood was shed).

Then God basically told the world, “I will consider you perfect too; all you have to do is believe in and follow my Son.” It is explained further in Romans 6:3-4. Just as Jesus died bearing our sins, 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 the watery tomb of baptism. And finally, just as Jesus rose up out of his tomb the Savior, we rise up out of our watery tomb the saved ~ born again to a new life.

Indeed, by Jesus’ wounds we can be healed. We fall at his feet and say, “I am a sinner and so unworthy. Thank you.”

#Crucifixion, #Death, #WagesOfSin, #Sin, #Satan, #SavedFromHell, #Punishment, #Wounds, #Healing #Hell

Scripture for Sunday, February 12 (2/12)

The scripture for today, February 12, is 2nd Timothy 2:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us.”

God loves us but never forces us to love him. He has given us a beautiful world to live in full of excitement and challenges and comforts. He has given us family and friends. He has given us his Son to take our punishment for our sins so we can live with him in his home ~ heaven. He is constantly calling to us, “I love you!”

But being the Gentleman that he is, he never forces himself on us. Instead, he lets us lead the way so to speak. If we don’t want to listen to God’s words, God doesn’t want to listen to our words. If we don’t want to spend extra time on God, God doesn’t want to spend extra time on us. If we don’t want anything to do with God in this life, he will not want anything to do with us in the next life.

He never forces us. But oh, how he weeps when we walk away from him.

#God, #love, #avoiding, #calling, #hearing,#heeding, #inviting, #garden, #sacrifice, #heaven, #hell

Scripture for Sunday, February 5 (2/5)

The scripture for today, February 5, is Ephesians 2:5 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions ~ it is by grace you have been saved.”

Every time we sin, our spirit ~ our soul ~ dies a little more. Every time we steal, cheat, torture, murder. We say we don’t do such things. Well, how about every time we stretch the truth (lie), go over the speed limit (disobey the laws of the land), close our eyes to someone we know is in need (selfishness), lose our temper, indulge in coarse talk, call someone names, refuse to forgive?

It is true that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and our wages every time we sin is death (Romans 6:23). We certainly do not deserve to live with a sinless God. Nor can we. But by his grace, he made a way possible to consider us sinless.

In Old Testament times, people killed a perfect animal to die in their place, but it was only a temporary fix. Then God sent his perfect Son who never sinned ~ the Lamb of God ~ to lie down on the altar of the world at the cross. There he died spiritually and physically in our place for the things we in the world did wrong, all while the world raged at him.

Yes, while we were still dead in our sins, Jesus died for us. He can also make us spiritually alive. If we will actively seek him.

By the way, today is Sunday, the day appointed to take the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion to remember the horror Jesus went through in your place. What will you be doing today?

#sin, #sinlessness, #sacrifice, #substitute, #heaven, #hell, #wages, #earnings, #soul, #altar, #LambOfGod