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We Can Be Transformed Today

For August 23, 2020
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NKJV). He captures our necessity for transformation to gain access to the Kingdom of God, insisting our transformation is necessary. He also assures our transformation is both accessible and simple, only requiring our faith in Him,

  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17 NKJV).

Faith is the means to receive God’s forgiveness and righteous, which is consistent with two Old Testament Scriptures:

      • And [Abraham] believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith (Genesis 15:6 NLT).
      • Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4 NKJV).

We must experience a dynamic, spiritual transformation inside us before we can see the Kingdom of God.  The good news is that God can change us through the Born Again experience.

We confess our sin before God, (turn from its continual practice), and we place our faith in the redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ to make us righteous before God. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, we become “new creatures” in Christ.

Now, loving and pleasing God is our new all-consuming, lifelong objective. No longer do we seek the things of the world. They have become dead to us, and we are no longer subject to them. Our new aim is to emulate our Lord and live for Him to the best of our ability for the rest of our lives as illustrated below.

The Old Life (Dead)

The New Life (Alive)
    •   Proud and selfish
    • Humble and selfless
    •  Aggressive and villainous
    • Assertive and virtuous
    •  Practice deceit and duplicity
    • Practice sincerity and truth
    •  Seek to victimize others through   hypocrisy, betrayal, and lies
    • Seek to interact with God, others, and us with genuineness, and faithfulness

We live out our identity and purpose as Children of God as the Holy Spirit enables the “who we are when no one is watching” to interact with God, others, and ourselves safely and appropriately—doing no harm.

We are “proof” of God’s marvelous plan of redemption, authenticating how Jesus Christ can live and reign the hearts of fallen humanity as Savior and Lord.  Human lives change drastically in the presence of the Living Christ, as they become Christ-centered and Spirit-controlled. Won’t you give Him your heart today?

What a Wonderful Savior?

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Jesus Christ: The Son of Man and Son of God!

For August 16, 2020
In their futile attempt to disprove that Jesus Christ was both God and man, naysayers argue we cannot rely on what Jesus Christ did and still does for fallen humanity to redeem us. In short, we need more than Jesus Christ to earn God’s favor.

My reply is, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12 AKJV).

I trust the Lord and His leadership because He did not say He was one of many ways to God. Instead, He insisted that He was the only way to God,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 AKJV).

Jesus Christ could make these bold assertions because He was the Son of God (God) and the Son of Man (human). He stated Abraham rejoiced to see His day and said, “before Abraham was, I AM.” He was the Seed of the Woman promised to Abraham, through whom the entire human race would greatly benefit (Genesis 3:15; 12:1–3).

Yet He was God’s Suffering Servant, who paid the price for our sins so that we can be forgiven and redeemed before God, as Isaiah foretells, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to His own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6 AKJV). As the Good Shepherd, His vicarious death imparts new, abundant life to His precious sheep just as He promised,

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 AKJV).

Our Lord’s simple mission and message was distinct from anything the world had seen or heard before,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (John 3:3, Matthew 22:37-40 AKJV).

Peter expounded on these new and radical ideals when He answered the naysayers of his day, “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 AKJV).

Thus, in the final analysis, absolute safekeeping is ours through Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose for our Justification (Romans 4:25). By our faith in Him alone, we can understand and acknowledge Him as more than just a person who suffered a tragic death on a cross because we also know Him as our:

Advocate, Alpha and Omega, Bread of Life, Bridegroom, Christ, Deliverer, Faithful and True, Friend, Good Shepherd, Great God, Great Physician, High Priest, Immanuel, Intercessor, King of Glory, King of Kings, Lamb of God, Light of the World, Lion of Judah, Lord, Lover of Our Soul, Mighty God, Mediator, Messiah, Prince of Peace, Redeemer, Resurrection and Life, Righteous Judge, Rock and Fortress, Savior, True Prophet, The Truth, The Way, and The Word of God.

Having fulfilled His redemptive work as the Son of Man and Son of God, Jesus Christ is the only way we today can have our sins forgiven and have fellowship with God forever. Won’t you trust in Him today?

What a Wonderful Savior!

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Try God’s Love Today!

For August 9, 2020
When asked which two are the greatest of all the commandments God wants us to follow, our Lord Jesus Christ replies,

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.1

Isn’t it amazing how so many of us Christians claim to love the Lord and our brothers and sisters. Yet, we actually keep a close track of the times when people offend us. We bear grudges against them—when our love should dictate we overlook the offense and forgive the offender.

Often, we are guilty of “rating” faults or offenses on a “sliding scale” as though one is more egregious than another. However, we cannot make any such distinction since all of us have sinned; we all are deficient of God’s righteous standards as Romans 3:23 tells us.

Imposing an arbitrary “rating scale” on others is outrageously hypocritical when we have unresolved “blind spots” as Jesus teaches,

And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, “Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,” when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.2

All of us are frail and fallible human beings with our own set of flaws in the form of hatred, bigotry, prejudice, envy, jealously, ill-will, pride, and selfishness. Thus, our “sliding scales” have to be discarded.

Jesus died to redeem us from our sinfulness, and He graciously gives us His Holy Spirit to make us righteous before God on the inside, and on the outside.

Once aliens, God has now reconciled us to Him when He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light as 1 Peter 2:9 teaches. He supplies us with unlimited power to love God and others when we trust in Him to save us. Only then can we forgive others to the extent that He’s forgiven us—at Calvary’s Cross.

Using His life’s example as our model, we can form and nurture meaningful relationships with all others that can improve our collective social conditions. We can also advance the causes of others and treat people with the respect and dignity they deserve.

We are created in God’s image; we are equals. So it is incumbent upon us to love others by interacting peacefully with them, without bigotry and prejudicial lawlessness (regardless of our class or gender or social/political ideology), just as 1 John 4:20 (NIV) teaches,

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

It is sad to witness heightening racial and social hostility in the US when  civility, acceptance, and understanding are needed so desperately.

As a natural-born US citizen, when I ponder my personal history and that of my foreparents, there were unfortunate historical events, which yet evoke rage within many of my people today.

Although some rage may appear to be justified, ours is not a perfect world. Exploitation and victimization happen everywhere to everyone indiscriminately. Therefore, there is much work to be done—within all races.

In other words, one particular race did not “corner the market” on victimizing or being victimized. Other races have either imposed or faced discrimination, injustice, and hostility in this country as well.

I am grateful to the Lord to live in a country where we can freely worship, express our opinions without censorship, elect our representation, and travel anywhere indiscriminately. Each of us also benefit from a capitalistic system that supplies us with goods and services that enhance our standard of living to improve our overall quality of life.

Yet, social and political attacks increase against our leaders and elected officials when the Bible teaches in Romans 13 that we are to obey the laws of the land by submitting to and praying for them, regardless of political affiliation.

Moreover, the heightening of personal attacks against others (we want to “pay back” for hurts we’ve perceived or experienced) using social media is wrong. God holds us accountable for our social media malevolence (whether done maliciously or in jest). Besides, we would not want someone to degrade or humiliate us even if they felt it was justified.

We should never keep a record of past wrongs as if we were some self-appointed vigilante. If we all did this, there would be no one left unscathed since we are equal debtors in the sight of God. The Lord Jesus rightly says in John 8:7 (NIV), “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”

Love restrains us from practicing the sin of harboring grudges, and expressing ill will toward people. Instead, the “Jesus Christ in us” allows us to give them a “clean slate” and treat them as if they have never wronged us just as the Lord tells us in His Model Prayer (my emphasis),

And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us…If you forgive those who sin against you, your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.3

Our Christian lifestyle should apply to all areas of our daily, human interaction as we filter everything we think, say, and do through a Bible-based perspective.

In other words, we are people of the Bible who abide by its principles. Although we may listen to secular experts, the Word of God is the lamp for our feet that lights our path every day as Psalm 119:105 teaches.

Won’t you give God’s love the opportunity to change you and people around you for the better…today?

What a Wonderful Savior!

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Thank God For The Seven-Thousand Today!

For August 2, 2020
There is a tremendous faith lesson to be learned from the Old Testament prophet, Elijah at Mount Horeb (Siani), which followed his victory at Mount Carmel over King Ahab’s eight-hundred and fifty idolatrous, false prophets, which was also accompanied by an abundance of rain that ended a severe drought.

Yet, this Man of God fled for his life—hundreds of miles away from Queen Jezebel—who threatened to kill him to avenge the death of her disgraced, false prophets. Elijah would recount how he felt alone in his zeal for the Lord, and that everyone had rejected God, destroyed His altars, and are killing His prophets.

After his forty-day and forty-night pilgrimage, he arrived at Horeb where he faced a severe wind, a jarring earthquake, and a raging fire. Then, He heard a “still small voice” and recognized it was the Lord at work. Immediately, he covered his face with his mantle cloak and stood at the opening of the cave and awaited further instructions.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?” God asks. Then Elijah expresses his concerns,

I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.1

We do not have the four-hundred and fifty prophets for Baal along with four hundred prophets for Asherah to seduce us today. Instead, political power and influence, honor and prestige, pride and selfishness, personal possessions and self-absorbing toys, greed and covetousness, personal and professional success, and physical pleasure/hedonistic pursuits—which will not follow us beyond the grave—have replaced them to distract us from turning to the Lord as our God…and relying on Him for our everything.

However, during Elijah’s encounter, the Lord reminds Elijah (and us) of His precious remnant by asserting He has reserved seven thousand in Israel who have remained true by not participating in rampant idolatry so prevalent at the time.2. In other words, the Lord was not calling Elijah’s attention to a specific number. He was teaching a very important lesson, He will always preserve His remnant…anywhere at anytime.

Fast forward about nine-hundred years, our Lord Jesus tells us that the way of life He provides is so “straight and narrow” that only a few will find it.3 In addition, during His Intercessory Prayer, He foretells how His followers live “in the world,” yet they will never become “of the world”4 These valuable life principles remain true for us today.

Typically, God’s remnant does not garner the fame, fortune, or accolades of the masses, even though there may be famous and influential people among them, as 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NIV) attests,

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

We do not seek notoriety since our spiritual eyes are on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the source and consummation of our faith in God, and His Spirit actively works within us.

Thus, from the moment we meet Christ onward, ours is a life-long race where His penetrating words ring true for us each day,

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23 (NLT).

God commands us to be holy, just as He is holy, and Jesus calls us to be perfect as God is perfect. He is the Vine, and as His branches, we yield His morally and spiritually pleasant fruit consistently—as His remnant.5

Although only Jesus was perfect, yet we can make every effort to refrain from habitual sin and let our lights shine before the world. Then we can glorify God and be a blessing to others just as the Lord teaches in Matthew 5:16.

Oh, how I long for a time when noble character with principled behavior is deemed as innate Christian characteristics for all of those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Why not start today?

What a Wonderful Savior!

 

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Give Thanks To The Lord For He Is Good, And His Mercy Endures Forever Today!

For July 29, 2020
In the beginning, as God was completing His Creation of Heaven and the earth, He created man and woman and placed them in the Garden of Eden. Only a loving, omniscient, omnipotent God could combine blood, bone, tissue, and flesh with His Spirit to create such special creatures as human beings.

Eternal bliss was ours with one caveat; do not eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When our ancestors ate the fruit, spiritual and physical death happened as God warned. Our physical death occurred over time, but our spiritual death was immediate, and it contaminated the entire world with sin.

Our eternal fellowship with God was lost forever leaving us with a sinful spiritual condition that causes us to think, speak, and act in sinful ways. By sin I mean, “A lack of conformity to the moral law of God, either in act, disposition, or state.”1 Through the transgressions of our ancestors, sin became our inheritance.

As a result, we are inclined to practice sin instead of seeking after godly things, by nature. In other words, it is because of our fallen nature that we think, speak, and act—often without provocation—in ways detrimental to others and us consistently.

This fallen nature also alienates us from God since He never fell from perfection. He remains holy, righteous, and just. His holiness requires our perfection; His righteousness demands our obedience to His moral law, and His justice, which is demonstrated in His wrath, addresses our disobedience (with judgement in this life and eternal separation in Hell in the next). Concerning our wretched moral and spiritual condition, one author notes,

[Fallen humanity] will make no effort to remove his moral corruption, for he does not desire its removal. He is satisfied with the state of his heart, and lives according to its inclinations. He is the voluntary slave to sin, and is therefore pleased with the slavery. 2

To many, the fallen nature, sin, and moral depravity are all irrelevant and outdated concepts that cannot inform or instruct the twenty-first-century, sophisticated mind. To the “modern mind,” God’s intervention is unnecessary. Moreover, when asked about the need for salvation, they reply, “Why? Me, a sinner? That’s impossible! I have the ‘right’ name, and the ‘right’ connections. Besides, I have all the ‘right’ things the world can offer—I don’t need God!”

Thus, it has been said rightly that the distance between Heaven and Hell is approximately twelve to eighteen inches (or the distance between the head and the heart). So in order to clearly communicate a fundamental, essential spiritual truth, the Lord Jesus Christ appeals to the human heart by relating a most wonderful story about God, our loving Father; Himself as the One and only Son of God, and the world, or all humanity,

The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. John 3:14-17 (NLT)

The good news is the Lord can change our fallen nature from vile and sinful to pure and holy, through the Born Again experience (Regeneration) as one theologian writes, “Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy. It is God turning the soul to Himself.”3 And as the Bible teaches,

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:1-10 (NLT)

Our need for a spiritual transformation is analogous to a computer that is contaminated by a virus. Although it can still function, it cannot at its optimum level. However, once the virus is removed, the hard drive is reformatted with new software installed; the machine can function at an optimum level according to its original design.

Like this computer illustration, sin contaminated us, and we need spiritual reformatting. Here, we must acknowledge our “contamination” by confessing our sin before God. Then we turn from the continual practice of sinful behavior through repentance. We place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who installs the spirit-directed software, which enables us to function according to our original design—at full capacity!

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, we are “new creatures.” Now, loving and pleasing God is our new all-consuming, lifelong objective. No longer do we seek the things of the world. They have become dead to us, and we are no longer subject to them. Our new aim is to emulate our Lord as we live for Him to the best of our ability for the rest of our lives.

Once proud and selfish, we are now humble and selfless; once aggressive and villainous, now we are assertive and virtuous. In place of deceit, we now practice sincerity. Once we sought to victimize others through hypocrisy, betrayal, and lies. Now we interact with God, others, and ourselves with authenticity, faithfulness, and truth at all levels. Our spiritual transformation is all-encompassing as the Holy Spirit, who now dwells within us, enables us to perform the perfect will of God on the outside.

As one author writes, “The disposition of God to impart happiness to His creatures is called His goodness.”4 We can be eternally grateful, because His mercy as reflected in His love, forgiveness, benevolence, and reconciliation through Christ is far more than we deserve and could never be earned. Won’t you trust in His goodness and mercy today?

What a Wonderful Savior!

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