After feeling the Nola Gay’s nose jerk upward with the release of A-Bomb Little Boy, pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr. increased the speed to outdistance the turbulence sure to climb aloft with the explosion. Without success, for with the speed of sound, upwards flew the wind, seizing the giant plane in its clutches and shaking it like a toy. It would have surprised none aboard if the ship suffered partial or fatal failure.
Their experience illustrates the spiritual lesson Jesus taught in John 6:39-40. Nothing exists in life capable of shaking us loose from God’s grace in Christ. It’s often true, as the Psalmist complained, “Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long” 129:1-4. However, by trusting God the believer experienced victory over his adversities. That ancient wisdom stresses two truth. One, the defeats and sorrows in life are real. Disappointments rage and death bereaves. We can’t escape life’s turbulence JUST by being saved. Promise of that exists only in faux Christianity. Two, Christ’s real faith foresaw tribulation, John 16:33, conjoined with the peace his Presence provides. There will always be—ALWAYS—challenges to confront our faith in God. But, loved ones, there will always be—ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS—better reasons to trust God than to fear life’s adversities. Life has no power over us we do not give it. Give it NONE! For the Lord who removes our sin by his blood empowers us by the Holy Spirit’s presence to overcome life. Take heart Christians, Jesus has overcome all we face—and MORE. Fear nothing we face in life. Fear only the failure of not holding so tightly to Jesus we lose our grip. Even when we feel we MAY lose it, pray in faith that Christ won’t lose his on us!
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Theodor Herzl’s writings appealed broadly to European Jews. A devoted Zionist, he repeatedly called for, and demanded, a homeland in Palestine. Promised Uganda, Africa, if they would accept it, his devotees rejected the very idea. Palestine alone would satisfy their expectation—the land God gave Abraham and promised to his descendants. In 1948 it became a reality. The Light of Days, 22
Heaven has the same attraction for Bible Christians. We accept Paul’s sentiments in Philippians 3:20-21 as our continual hope. We live now in a fallen body, with a renewed spirit, forgiven by Christ. Even in our fallen bodies and minds, however, we won’t look to an earthy commonwealth for our life-values. Every time we hear Gospel music, or listen to a Gospel message, the Holy Spirit reminds us of our true home with a reverberating longing: “I’m not home yet but I soon will be”. As an elderly preacher said when told, “I see you’re still among the living.” “No,” he replied, “I’m still among the dying, but one day soon I’ll be among the living.” Until Then…that great day, when Jesus returns, or calls us home, we’ll willingly serve him as we eagerly await our first, long look at his resplendent Glory. Then…THEN…we’ll know, we’re home at last! When friends importuned 16-18 year old Mustafa Kemal—Ataturk—on his ambitions, he replied, “I am going to be somebody.” Biography, 18. A Christian simply says, “I am somebody” by association with SOMEONE who gives me worth, identity and purpose.
While SO MANY PEOPLE seek meaning in their careers, Christians fulfill their purpose by serving others in Christ’s name. We have no identity crisis afflicting so many: “Who am I? What am I supposed to do with my life? How should I act in this or that situation?” Believing in Jesus reduces all that nonsense by the simple expedient of living in his will, under his tutelage, for the express purpose of SERVING him. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . God has invited the world of people into his Presence by giving his Son to die for sinners John 3:16. Everyone can enter Heaven, then, if they accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Preachers may be reluctant to preach that condition, but God recognizes no other way. They may be afraid to preach God’s truth in Ephesians 2:10 to Christians. But sinners saved from spiritual death by accepting Christ MUST rise to the spiritual discipleship forgiveness of sin grants. Thank God for the privilege of strongly preaching God’s STRONG Word. Thank God we don’t equivocate when warning sinners of their fate outside Christ; and when we boldly declare the new life incumbent on every church member. After surviving the Titanic’s disaster and rescue by the Carpathia in the cold North Atlantic, the man sent his mother a one-word telegram below his name: SAVED!
The Judge in St. Louis, Missouri, banished the guilty verdict of Lamar Johnson and ordered him freed. He had spent nearly 30 years trying to prove his innocence of a murder conviction. San Diego U-T, 2/18/23. At least two spiritual lessons can be gleaned from this story. One is negative. If we’re judged guilty at God’s Great White Throne, Revelation 20:11-15, WE ARE GUILTY. God will never accuse us of sin we didn’t commit. And will never forget any we have. The “books” opened to our page reveal ALL we had done that we shouldn’t have. One is positive. If forgiven at that Judgment, only what God imputes to us is seen: FREED, FORGIVEN, JUSTIFIED, SAVED! Whatever word appears on our release from condemnation! Faith in Christ as Savior and Lord, fortified by the good works that God planned for us to do, Ephesians 2:10, IMPUTES righteousness to us; DECLARES us righteous. Christians will protest that we’re sinners, not righteous, all too often have been lax in our discipleship, having failed Jesus much more than succeeding as his servants. All true before God and acknowledged by us, but GOD nevertheless DECLARES us FREE from any penalty by his magnificent GRACE Jesus Christ’s MERIT allows us. He doesn’t merely excuse us, using us despite our shortcomings; his Grace so thoroughly changes us that it Transforms us into bodies LIKE his—so when God looks at us, he sees little Christ’s—and loves each as his own adopted child. Christian generosity offers a result of conversion to Christ, not the reason we should be baptized into Christ. That reason has nothing to do with what Christians do for others. It has everything to do with God’s Love in Christ seeking, finding and restoring sinners to the Father in Heaven.
Consider how ruthlessly honest the apostle Paul stated our misery before Christ. We were:
And more references could be cited. Only if we admit we’re sinners, and want to be forgiven, do we receive forgiveness. Any less a response to God’s holiness exempts us from forgiveness and destines us to punishment. While many in Paul’s day knew they needed forgiveness, many more now consider themselves immune to sin instead of corrupted by it. Nevertheless, the Christian life is ALL ABOUT what God did for us then, and continues to do for us now. As unforgiven sinners we can never fellowship with God. But at our worst, no help in sight, God reached out to us in Christ, forgiving us if we trusted his sacrifice. When we stress that reality, all service rendered by us seems “the least we can do.” Jesus insists we become a different person, with the same personality our genes dictate. using whatever gifts the Holy Spirit bestowed. A quiet person need not become loud. A boisterous person need only watch that his trumpet keeps friends, not makes enemies. If we’re studious, STUDY. If we love people, MINGLE. Since we have a purpose, EMBODY it. Since we have a message, SHARE it. Our spiritual enfranchisement, then, empowers a discipleship that:
Is our service being equal to our privilege? Fini NOTE: what was 2 parts is now 3.
A U Tube Old Pictures showed an English beggar running alongside a slow-moving carriage:
It’s possible to have the ability to help a person, but ignore it by:
As the Master’s Parable of the Good Samaritan proved, Luke 10:25-37, even religious people can make excuses why they don’t help others. A Levite, in charge of the sacred temple vessels, and a priest, in charge of sacred offerings on the altar, both glanced and moved aside to ignore a wounded man. But for every uncaring Christian, God has scores and hundreds anxious to help, able to help AND, HELPING. IDES and Samaritan’s Purse are but two of other organizations ministering in time of crisis, disaster and sickness. However, Christian generosity in time of need isn’t the reason unbelievers should accept Christ. End Part II Jesus met a man “covered with leprosy” Luke 5:12-16. Because Jesus had in equilibrium both POWER and COMPASSION to act, he touched the diseased flesh and his Deity removed the disease.
A priest in St. Patrick’s Cathedral met a man who had suffered 16 surgeries in 6 years in a leprosarium seeking to rebuild his body. His release nevertheless found him such an unwelcome addition to any family gathering that he used it as an excuse to become homeless. That priest befriended the man and invited him to dinner in a restaurant. There, because the man couldn’t, the priest unobtrusively cut the man’s meat for him. When installed as Bishop of Rochester, New York priest, now Bishop Fulton Sheen, reserved a seat for the man at the ceremony. He stopped to greet the man on his recessional. That man found in Sheen a Christian who did all he could to help a man be comfortable within the condition disease and surgery imposed. Sheen couldn’t eliminate the leprosy, because he couldn’t. Jesus did eliminate it, wherever he confronted it, because HE COULD. That’s the difference between being a vessel of clay holding God’s Treasure and God’s Son embodying the Treasure. Nor would the Bishop DO NOTHING because he couldn’t help every man disfigured by disease. He did what he could for one man he encountered. Sometimes our humanity, coupled with a person’s condition, limit ALL we would do if we could. Like Bishop Sheen, the most we can is to help the person find in God the courage to live productively despite his infirmity. That empowerment offers no small benefit. Sometimes we find ourselves wasting energy wishing we DID have something we DON’T; or wishing we DIDN’T that we DO. What ancestry bequeaths us through genetics can imprison us inside the someone we’d rather not be. In accepting it, however, and getting on with life, despite it, we find ourselves at peace with God, his presence guarding our life, his grace sufficient in our need. As a result, by being found in Christ, whom to know is to have eternal life, John 17:3, we forget our limitations, our weaknesses, and our own lives also. He increases as we decrease, and that decrease is our glory. For in him we delight in our weaknesses since his strength makes us strong II Corinthians 12:10. End Part I The angelic host proclaimed God's peace from Christ's birth:
Jesus boldly taught the discriminating nature of his Gospel:
SOLE Factors that distinguish Christianity from other world religions:
The inevitable result for Christians:
We must be evangelistic, fulfilling our ROLE as Christ's witnesses: opening conversations; taking the initiative to confront the unsaved of every kind, skeptic, ego-driven, worldly, humanist. If they give an opening, we enter it. If they don't, we create one, accepting rejection with equanimity. We don't like being at odds with our friends, but...we'll:
And this will be our appeal, whatever words used:
God beckons:
To summarize Christianity as the Final Revelation of God to humanity, consider that Jesus saw himself as:
With such a pedigree, and this only a smattering of much more, we understand why Biblical Christianity has universal impact. It's a Faith of leaven:
A FAITH of a mustard seed:
And a FAITH of universal and eternal significance:
Like our Founder, Christians:
"...and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" Matthew 28:20c. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" Hebrews 13:8. The Lord who never changes also never leaves, ignores or abandons his people. He maintains his sovereignty over history—and of his church—until the END I Corinthians 15:24-28. These promises are "things to tie to".
I remember a preacher at Lincoln Bible Institute using that title for his sermon—which promised much. Then he said next to nothing. I even remember Brother Hargrove later fulminating against the guy who boasted of coming delights and dribbled nonsense. While I'm at it, this story. Brother Mills said he was once asked by a student if "catchy titles" were helpful. And Brother Mills replied, "it depends on what you want to catch." Enough of that. Now this. Jesus Christ differs from the United States. Our country used to be known as a promise-keeper: "as long as it takes." Now we're known as a conditional helper: "as long as it doesn't cost too much or take too long." That's the subject of Part I. When Jesus commanded the disciples to preach everywhere, Matthew 28:18-20, repeating it to the soon-to-be-Spirit-baptized apostles, Acts 1:4, 8, he meant two things. They had but one commission: to preach him everywhere they went. And he would never fail to be their empowering source through the Holy Spirit:
He perseveringly empowered the message he put in jars of clay SO THAT those jars never need fear the task left them without power to lift the load. This is a challenge to preachers to get into God's word, into prayer before God's throne and into their messages before God's people with God's Power. Fini |
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