Category Archives: accepting Christ

Feb 6 2012

A Grace Suitable for Sinners Like Me

Certainty and confidence should never become permanent fixtures in our lives. Yes, there are times of ebullient fortitude when everything just clicks, and we seem to be pretty victorious believers. But I assure you, this is only a temporary state. It isn’t the normal Christian life. And yet, we strive to make this consistency our Christian life.

Gloomy thoughts will often prevail; our fears and doubts become complete seasons of time. There will be doubts and frustration.  I start to lose my passion for Christ, it just trickles away. And since nature abhors a vacuum, other desires and interests move in. I slide into something quite compromised, and what I previously condemned.

It is at these times we must absorb the truth.  It is not your hold on Christ that saves you, rather it is His hold on you that is significant. It’s not how tight we hold on to our Father’s hand, but His grasp on yours. He has soaked up all our sin, and become guilty of it all. He has drawn it all away. He blots it all up with His white heart.

The mercy of God will insist on Him holding you close. Because of His profound love for you He becomes overprotective of you. Let none question, you are His own. Anyone who touches you, touches “the apple of His eye.”

“I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, One who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted for me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.”

J.I. Packer

Are you broken? Flawed, and stumbling? Do you think that you are a poor example of a believer? I tell you, His love is not contingent on your outward behavior. It is a Greek word, it is an “agape” love. Narrowly defined as a “unconditional love,” not related to what you deserve, earn, or warrant. It is a love given without an expectation of a corresponding love in return. This is love, and it travels with grace.

“The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. Some have been the chief of sinners and some have come at the very last of their days but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them trusting to the same support. It will bear me over as it has for them.”   

Charles Spurgeon

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Jan 19 2012

Preparing Yourself for Water Baptism

We are to follow the example of Jesus Christ

Those who accepted his message were baptized. (Acts 2:41)  

 Repent and be baptized. (Acts 2:38) 

 Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God. (Col. 2:12)  

One of the most significant and vital decisions we will make is to follow Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism.  This is just mere obedience to the Lord’s command to be baptized.  It is a public pronouncement or declaration to the physically seen world and to the invisibly unseen world of the Spirit.  It takes faith to be authentically ready for baptism.  You will be taking a stand.

“Baptism was to put a line of demarcation between your past sins when you are buried with Him by Baptism–you are burying your past sins–eradicating them–putting a line in the sand saying that old man is dead and he is no longer alive any more and I rise up to walk in the newness of life.”

T.D. Jakes

I would strongly suggest that you attend to the process listed below.  You will find there is a big difference to truly being baptized, and just getting wet!

A word to “older” believers: There may come a time when you feel that you would want to be baptized again.  I believe that this is not only allowable, but commendable.  You may have not had a good understanding of the baptismal process, but now it makes sense.  I would encourage you to follow your hearts. 

The Interrogative Process

I.  A series of questions is then asked, to which the reply is always “I renounce them”:

  1. Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
  2. Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
  3. Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?

II.  The second half of the query is asked, to which the reply is always “I do”:  

  1. Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?
  2. Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?
  3. Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?

“Indeed, baptism is a vow, a sacred vow of the believer to follow Christ. Just as a wedding celebrates the fusion of two hearts, baptism celebrates the union of sinner with Savior.”

Max Lucado

III.  The Apostles Creed can and maybe should be recited:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
who was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
and on the third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of the Father.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,  (not to be confused with Catholicism)
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

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Jan 9 2012

The Parable of the Good Mormon

25 Then an expert on the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to get life forever?”

 26 Jesus said, ”What is written in the law? What do you read there?”

 27 The man answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.” Also, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

 28 Jesus said to him, ”Your answer is right. Do this and you will live.”

 29 But the man, wanting to show the importance of his question, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 30 Jesus answered, ”As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, some robbers attacked him. They tore off his clothes, beat him, and left him lying there, almost dead. 31 It happened that a priest was going down that road. When he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. 32 Next, a Levite came there, and after he went over and looked at the man, he walked by on the other side of the road. 33 Then a Samaritan traveling down the road came to where the hurt man was. When he saw the man, he felt very sorry for him.34The Samaritan went to him, poured olive oil and wine on his wounds, and bandaged them. Then he put the hurt man on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he cared for him. 35The next day, the Samaritan brought out two coins, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of this man. If you spend more money on him, I will pay it back to you when I come again.’ “

 36 Then Jesus said, ”Which one of these three men do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers?”

 37 The expert on the law answered, “The one who showed him mercy.”

   Jesus said to him, ”Then go and do what he did.”

I would like to suggest to you, that the Orthodox Jews looked at Samaritans, the same way as we look at Mormons. I think there is a parallel. And I think that we could stand for an adjustment.

I very much want to be a voice of reason, but also firmly based in what is true. I quite simply don’t believe Mormons are Christians.  My personal history with Mormonism has not been good. Back in May of 1982, I ventured in the Temple grounds at Salt Lake City. I was quite “stoned”, and I didn’t have on a shirt, and I was smoking a cigarette. My tattoos certainly didn’t create a lot of good will either.

Quite suddenly, two men in suits appeared. I have no idea where they came from. But they briskly escorted me out to the gate. I was told not to return. But outside the Temple grounds I met Christian believers, who were stationed outside to hand out tracts. I talked with them, and took all the reading material they had.

Within this particular parable, the deep heart of our Lord is strong. As He spoke, He dismantled issues split from its foes. There simply isn’t room to carry our personal issues. He takes us apart, but in a good way. We are brought into a special friendship with God.

The Samaritan also has been brought into the presence of God. He does not volitionally do so. We who follow, we must enter into His presence. But the Samaritan must press further in. All that he does, is factored in.  Samaritan love does have definite boundaries. But it does have humanitarian awareness. There is a profound sense, in a kindness that is true and kind. I heard someone once say, “If I had to choose only one, I’d rather be kind than right.”  I have to agree.

When we examine closely all that really matters, we clearly must take a definite stand against evil. In this case we find less a stand against what is wrong, and we step up to what is right. The Mormons approach us with a righteousness that is really quite evil. And as believers we do absorb it, but not with out a certain rationale.

The Good Mormon pushes us way beyond what we consider reasonable. He performs a great goodness, as he rescues this beat-up man.  I don’t know why, but I’m quite taken by this particular by the Mormon’s efforts. But when I come to the Lord Jesus, I want it to be certain. I have no intention of  letting it vacillate. I do trust in Jesus, and I must learn things from strange places.

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Jan 1 2012

Welcome Home, Dear One

1 In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

14 The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory—the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father—and he was full of grace and truth.

John 1:1, 14, NCV

So very much, swings on an understanding of these two verses. When we can grab on these, and make them our own, we make the transition into a nuclear power. In our bright darkness of faith, John could be saying, “I trust you Father, whatever you decide for me will be true. You are concrete, and you are true.”

We talk about the beginning, and suddenly we encounter someone called the Word. He has always been here. We process that “the word is God.” This can swirl us around, until we concretely decide that the Word is indeed God. This decision is quite solid, and quite true. Many will never get this fixed in their minds.

In Vs. 14, we are struck by this idea that the Truth is now human. He has become real in His humanness. If we decide to hit Him with a stick, rather hard, God will bleed in front of us. He is human flesh. It staggers us to think that God is so vulnerable.

There is coming on us a true day. We will be brought into this, in a deep moment of time. We are the rascals, the deniers, the evil, and the misfits. But upon our arrival, there will be a light in the window, for us. There will be a sign put up, that says, “Welcome Home.”

And that dear one, will make complete sense in the light of “Amazing Grace.”

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Dec 25 2011

The Tree is Speaking

***

There is so much I would like to share with you.  Christmas Day is here (finally), and we celebrate that God has reached out to us through His Son.  Jesus is fully and completely like us, and yet He is fully God.  It was arranged for this Son to grow up and then die in place of us.  The image was that of the Jewish festival of a lamb dying to pay for the sins of a family.

I could say much on this, but if you will commit to finding out about this yourself,  God will give you as much as you can handle.  I would suggest starting with the Gospel of John.  Don’t let others decide for you.  Find out for yourself, after all eternity is a long time.  The decisions you make are vast and significant.

Please, contact me if you think that might help.  No religious goofiness, but a sounding board as you sort things out.  Joy, and the joy of forgiveness are very close to you. I’m at flash99603@hotmail.com.

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Dec 19 2011

Embedded Truth: Time to Decide

When God becomes a man, truth can be embedded in our hearts

“The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation.” –J.I.Packer

“The mystery of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding” –Martin Luther

There is no question about it at all, the incarnation drives us to a point of decision. We all stand as individuals at the manger, and we leave either knowing we have gazed into the face of God; or we see nothing but a baby.

The Gospel expects nothing, and demands everything. We move through life, taking our lumps, figuring it out as we go along. As Adam’s sons and daughters we live a charmed, and albeit, a frustrated life. We are each given a spark. Some labor to fan it into flame, others grab a bucket of water.

What will you do with this God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth? Does the fact that God became flesh, funneling himself into a baby, grip you at a fundamental level? Does it really matter? Can you live with yourself if you step away from his cradle, without giving him your heart?

The Bible tell us that the squalling infant Jesus came and developed into a man. That “man-god” went on to teach, preach and heal at astounding pace. In three years of ministry, he lit up his world. Everywhere he went, he was always the eye of a hurricane.

The Bible teacher John MacArthur posits this for us.

“If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.” 

We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!

Make a decision, and then keep making it.

So what are you going to do? Will you decide to follow him into his light and love? I feel compelled to ask you, do you know what is real? This Christmas we are celebrating the birth of God into the child, Jesus. We must do something with him. This is a real decision point we all must make. Not to decide is a decision.

My friend, Pastor Adrian Rogers has a web site. Please go to it, a link has been provided below.  We can be sure of heaven and eternal life.

 

You can know Jesus definitively. Let me know of your decision to accept Christ and I will pray for you, and will send you things that will help.

Dr. Rogers site: http://www.lwf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=dis_YouCanBeSure  

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