Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Our Identity in Christ - 2

First:          we are uniquely crafted by God.   We are His design,
Second:      we are particularly chosen by God,  known by him before He 
                   even laid the foundations of the earth.
Thirdly:      we are loved by God, loved as His own children.
Fourthly:    we are born again to a living hope:    

How:  God  sent his "Only begotten, beloved son" to pay for our sins by his death.  Praise the LORD he rose again but that didn't make the death any less  painful because what killed him was that He had to bear all the sins of the world in order for his death to cover them.  It was our sins on Christ that killed Him.

Fifthly:       we are declared Righteous by Christ's death.


Romans 5:1   Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have  peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:9   Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God


Jesus Christ is our Righteousness  (I usually write that +R)
                               +R Imputed  -  Justification
                               +R Imparted - Sanctification

We are truly beloved by our Father God.   How I praise Him and worship Him and delight in Him.







These 
are 
NOT 
my 
own 
personal 
thoughts 
but 

series 
of 
messages 
being 
currently
preached 
in 
our 
church 
about 
our 
Uniqueness 
in 
Christ.   




Actually, I  only  posted  two verses but I urge you, if you read this, to  go and read Romans chapter 5 and rejoice your heart in Him.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Our Identity in Christ, #1

Who do you think you are?  



Our identity is found:

Not on World
Not on our Self-image
Not on our gifts
Not on our social or      financial position


                

         Psalm 139 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!



We are uniquely crafted by God - His design, and we are fully known by God.

He is a God of awesome creativity

God not only loves me, but he LIKES me.

Ephesians 1:4    Even as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.









Thursday, August 8, 2019

God's plans completed



Satan has feared the people of the Jewish nation as a people blessed by God and understood and that through them he would be destroyed.   He has sought to destroy them first.

In the times of the Pharaoh in Egypt he thought making them slaves would kill them off, they would be too tired to procreate.   When that didn't work he incited the Pharaoh to not allow any boys to live, only girls, hoping to kill off the promised seed that way.  In all their hardships in Egypt there were those who held onto God as seen in the midwives.  So a people suffering didn't turn against the LORD God Almighty.

Altogether, the people of the Jewish nation have been very blessed in intelligence and ability, perhaps beyond all other nations.   This has been hated by Satan who though he didn't succeed in destroying God's purpose for them, hates them because they were God's chosen instrument to bring his only Son into the world.

God's plans to date have been completed and I believe his final purpose will stand.  Praise you LORD God Almighty

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

1 John 1:5-7

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 


Romans 13: 12


12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.


2 Corinthians 4:6

 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

John 1:

 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Psalms 36:

For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light do we see light.



First - the nature of light is to reveal itself.


We do not turn the light on in our lives.  But as we turn to Him we see His light, and it shines in our hearts.

The only things we know about God is what the LORD reveals to us.  He lets us know that He is there. Without God acting first, we have NO light.


LORD God Almighty, help me to walk in YOUR light, and know you - the LORD in whom there is NO SHADOW of turning.  As clearly stated in: 

James 1:17 (KJV)


17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, 
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Thank you for your great gift of light, and life, and sonship, bought at the price of your Son's life,, to give us forgiveness of our sins.  And as son's to walk in your light.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

LIfe in Christ Jesus, our Savior.

I have given some thought regarding atheists. 

I think all who  have rejected God have done so because they don't want a God to tell them what to do.   That seems to be nub of it.    They truly want to do all things "my way".

In God's working in our lives He in Old Testament  gave 10 commandments, that He set in place to give mankind the best life possible if they followed.  This was, in New Testament was jelled down to 2 commandments.
      1.  Thou shalt love the LORD thy
           God with ALL thy heart, soul, 
           strength  and mind,
      2.  And Thou shalt love thy
               neighbor as thyself.   
           ( treat them according to how
             you would like to be treated )

Many places in scripture  God has promised his hand of protection when we serve Him. Not free of pain, suffering or hard times but His hand on us and with us.



Yes we are all sinners but in fact, we are empowered  with choices.  God didn't say they would be easy choices,  but they were such that we can chose to do them.   


We are NOT slaves unable to chose how we live. We have, from the beginning been free to chose our actions.  We do need however, the Lord's help to guide,  keep and enable us  to do what is righteous.

Those famous atheists who say there is NO God do so knowing full well there is a God, but wanting/hoping/trying to wipe God out of the world by claiming He is NOT.  They don't want anyone telling them what they can or cannot do. They have the belief they have the right to do whatever they wish - and NO ONE can deny them that right.   Of course, the bottom line is, in the end death can and will stop all mankind everywhere.  We all have a limit to how long we will live.


However, God has also said there would be a final judgment  for ALL mankind.  God has the last word.   
All will face judgment but we have been promised eternity with Him if 
we accept his Son to be our Savior 
and LORD.  In that contract is the trust and belief that in fact Jesus 
was the Son of God who died, and 
who ROSE UP from death to give us life in and through Christ, if we 
turn to Him and ask Him to come 
into our lives.   Not to live our lives according to our will and desires 
but in love for what HE did for us, 
to serve Him and walk in obedience 
to His instructions.  His instructions, that if lived by will give us the BEST life here on earth.  



So we live our lives out of faith and love for the great gift the LORD 
God Almighty has given us, the death and resurrection of his son, to pay for our sins. And we have the hope in salvation to spend eternity in the presence of God our heavenly Father.






Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The Mighty Salvation of Mankind through Death of Christ. Part 2



Christ's death on the cross was for my Sin. But the far greater glory is that Sin could not hold Christ dead. Death can only hold anyone with sin. So, after being heaped up and covered over with all the sins of the world, death hung on, but came to the final payment for the final sin and fell off of Christ, and Christ, the sinless sacrifice arose and lives and reigns with His Father for eternity.

Adam's sin found in all mankind – rebellion against God

God imputed onto Christ, His sinless son, all the sins committed by man.

Because of Christ's obedience to the Father, His Righteousness is imputed to me through my faith in Him. God's work in me is to impart Justification unto me not because I am sinless, but because of the Atonement bought through blood of Christ.

Sin doesn't just go poof but has to be atoned for and that is only found in the 2nd Adam, Jesus Christ, who is sinless. In Christ's blood God is able to cover/erase our sin, making us righteous, pardoned, a new creature in Christ, born again.

I can be Justified, declared Righteous, FREE through Jesus Christ



The Mighty Salvation of Mankind through Death of Christ. Part 1



Isaiah 53: 4-10

Jesus Christ submitted himself to the sufferings and death upon the cross to reconcile us to God
 2:13-15. Col 1:20

To all insults, harassment, being wronged – all and more given for us. To reconcile us to God. It means to receive divine pardon for our sins, and also to receive peace with God.

Peace with God as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:20 is brought back into harmony and friendship with God, but that peace had to be bought and paid for by the 2nd man Adam, who without sin, had to die for our sin. The perfect Son of God suffered death for us. For ME. For all the MEs of the world.

This peace is only possible for us in one way – to come to the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man, and receive divine pardon from our sins. Romans 5:1; 6:23; 8:6 John 14:27; Isaiah 9:6

We have 2 levels of peace: found within our faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour – asking him to rule and reign within us.

  1. Our peace with God – the war is over
  2. His, God's peace within us – only possible because of the cross

Romans 5:1-2 (ESV)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God

Praise the LORD for His gift given to us


Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Our creator God knows how we best work for live's enjoyment.


Yesterday I saw a post by I believe an MK in France. Not my friend and unknown to me. I wanted to answer but needed to think and now cannot find it. This may not be seen by her. But her two most asked questions Non believing Christians when she spoke to them about Christ were something to this effect
  1. How can God demand our praise and adoration. He seems to be a super narcissist and
  2. God is mean. He throws those who don't submit to his demands into hell.

If one creates a great thing that can only work properly if all the specifications for that creation were followed, would that not be something that creator would like to be praised for. i.e. an Airplane. I have a true story of someone who got distracted while working on a small plane engine and failed to properly tighten a screw in the engine ( I believe was the problem) That plane went out and crashed
killing I believe it was 5 passengers.

That engine failed because of not following the specifications to make the plane fly properly. Did the creator of that plane throw those passengers to death? No, They died because the plane was not properly maintenance.

God doesn't throw us into hell. We go to hell because by not being in connection with Him, we cannot function correctly and “hell” is the result.

God doesn't insist we adore him. He tells us he loves our praise. I personally have NEVER met anyone who didn't want to be praised for some accomplishment they have achieved. They don't demand it but the praise certainly gives them joy. Our praise, and love and obedience to God's specifications on how we, his creation will best flourish is part of his joy. And He has a right to be honored for the amazing creations He has made, in us and for us.

I love Him and Praise him daily that even though I have failed He still have made a way for me to be HIS child. It is not a demand, it is an honor and joy and great reward.


Tuesday, February 19, 2019

God's love - Our Love through God's love


1 John 4:7-21     All notes in () are additions from me, not in the Scripture.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we
might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if (as) God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; (but) if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (*God is seen by other if he abides in us)
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God
 abides in him, and he in God.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
(*God is love whom we can abide in by loving. This love shows that we can know God abides in us)
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 
( * His love abiding in us perfects us, giving us confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, is given to us to be in this world)
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 
 (*the Love of God is made manifest in our love for one another.)
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.


Monday, February 18, 2019

How to choose a partner for life - a very limited snapshot


I've been thinking of things important in a life time partner choice. Things I had been taught but when my heart got entangled chose to ignore. Praise the LORD he over ruled but sometimes we deliberately chose to go ahead anyway, because of our emotional / sexual response to someone. IT will not work out for our good – ever.

Someone suggested putting taking these characteristics and applying them to the 'beloved one'. I Cor 13: 4 1. Love is patient and 2. kind; 3. does not envy or 4. boast; 5. not arrogant or 6. rude.
7. does not insist on its own way; 8. is not irritable or 9. resentful; 10. does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

None of us are perfect in these. Some come to pass naturally by our nature. Some learned by our commitment to the LORD. But all that come to us is a result of God's commitment to us and his guiding of us, if we will allow him.

So some of the things that caused me to come to love my husband.

  1. He treated his mom with love.
  2. He LOVED interacting with children and they all loved him back.
  3. He loved the LORD and that included being in the house of the LORD when there were meetings. We did some of our dating in fact going to hear special speakers.

This have all continued and been a mainstay of our home. But I believe the real strength of our marriage together has been His commitment to the LORD. We didn't have a perfect understanding of each other and I have found it is harder to see ones own shortcomings. ARG! We had hard times, and times of repentance for things we sinned in against the other one, but the mainstay of the LORD was and is central to the LORD Jesus Christ in our lives.  

Friday, February 15, 2019

Praise God for our suffering



Romans 5, 1-5
..since we have been justified by faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith[ into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.



Love the sequence:
rejoice in our sufferings
because suffering produces endurance
endurance – character,
character – hope
And Hope does NOT put us to shame.
Because of God's love
poured into our hearts 
through the funnel of
indwelling Holy Spirit.