"The Promise"

“The Promise”

 

“You will conceive and give birth to a Son, and you are to call Him Jesus.   He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.”         Luke 1:31-33

The Lord made a promise to David, a sure promise that He will not take back.  He promised, “I will make one of your descendants rule as king after you.  If your sons keep my agreement and the rules that I teach them, then their sons after them will rule on your throne forever and ever.”        Psalm 132:11-12

 

One ordinary day, long ago, an angel appeared to a very godly young lady, named Mary, with a very SPECIAL message from God.  The angel told Mary that she would conceive, and give birth to a SON, but this Son would be SPECIAL and they were to give Him the name, JESUS.  Jesus was a PROMISE to King David, His ANCESTOR.  The angel went on to say that Jesus would be GREAT and would be known as the Son of the Most High.  God would give Him the throne of King David, and Jesus would reign over Jacob’s descendants, the Jews, FOREVER, and His Kingdom would be ETERNAL.

 

The Lord God made a PROMISE to King David in a covenant, which is known as the Davidic Covenant, that if David’s descendants would keep God’s covenant and the rules, which God would teach them, then their sons after them would rule on David’s throne FOREVER and EVER. The ONLY ONE, who was capable to fulfill this PROMISE was the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Not only, was Jesus the PROMISE to King David, but to MANKIND as well.  The PROMISE God has given to us is through the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE of Jesus, where He SUFFERED and DIED a HORRIBLE DEATH, but He CONQUERED DEATH and AROSE from the grave a VICTOR, a CONQUERING KING, the PROMISE of REDEMPTION to a LOST and DYING world.  Have you ACCEPTED God’s PROMISE, the Lord Jesus Christ, as your KING, your SALVATION? 

 

If you have NOT, then you are DOOMED to spend an ETERNITY in Hell, with ALL of its HORRORS, with NO WAY of ESCAPE.  However, God is giving you the opportunity NOW, to TURN AWAY FROM your sinful lifestyle, to TURN TO Him with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING your sins to Him, and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION, and receive His PROMISE of an ETERNITY in Heaven with ALL of its glories.  Do this NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!

"PEACE"

“PEACE”

 

“Give glory to God in Heaven, and on earth let there be peace among the people who please God.”         Luke 2:14

All this is from God.  Through Christ, God made peace between us and Himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with Him.   God was in Christ, making peace between the world and Himself.  In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins.   And He gave us this message of peace.        2 Corinthians 5:18-19

 

PEACE:  Harmony, serenity, the absence of conflict.  

 

One dark, starry night on a hillside near Bethlehem, shepherds were watching over their sheep, they were visited by a very large group of angels from Heaven, and they began praising God and saying:   “Give glory to God in Heaven, and on earth let there be PEACE among the people who please God.”   The angels delivered a VERY IMPORTANT message to the shepherds.  “Let there be PEACE among the people who PLEASE God.”   You see they knew that the WORD needed to be proclaimed, that the PRINCE of PEACE, JESUS, had come to bring PEACE to those who PLEASE God.  It was a message of RECONCILIATION between God and mankind.   And I guess you could say that the shepherds got the ball rolling.  In verse seventeen, it says:  “When they had seen Him, they told what the angels had said about this child.  EVERYONE was amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”  These lowly shepherds were the first human AMBASSADORS of Christ, spreading the GOOD NEWS that the PRINCE of PEACE had been born.

 

Jesus Christ, the PRINCE of PEACE, came to earth as a tiny, newborn babe.  He came to LIVE, MINISTER, DIE, to be BURIED, and RESURRECTED in order for mankind to have PEACE with God, the act of RECONCILIATION.  And for those who have been RECONCILED and have received PEACE with God, we become His AMBASSADORS of CHRIST, and have been commissioned to GO TELL EVERYONE about the PEACE they can have with God, through their ACCEPTANCE of JESUS CHRIST, the PRINCE of PEACE.  The PEACE of NOT being held GUILTY of our sins and having an ETERNITY in Heaven, with Father God and ALL of His Children.   Do you possess that PEACE that is offered to you from the PRINCE of PEACE? 

 

If you do NOT have that PEACE nor have you ACCEPTED the PRINCE of PEACE, then you are headed for an ETERNITY in HELL, the place of UNENDING torment, torture, pain, heartache, despair, and NO PEACE at all.  However, God in His ABUNDANT MERCY and AMAZING GRACE, is offering you His PEACE, and wants to be RECONCILED with you, NOW.  In order to have His PEACE and RECONCILIATION, you MUST TURN AWAY FROM your sinful lifestyle, and TURN TO God with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING your sins to Him, and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION, and the PRINCE of PEACE, and receive His PEACE.  Do it NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!

 

 

"JOY!"

“JOY!”

 

The Angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all people.  Today your Savior was born in the town of David.  He is Christ, the Lord.”       Luke 2:10-11

You have not seen Christ, but still you love Him.  You cannot see Him now, but you believe in Him.  So you are filled with a joy that cannot be explained, a joy full of glory.       1 Peter 1:8

 

JOY and HAPPINESS are really two different feelings.  Happiness occurs when POSITIVE circumstances are happening around you.  When negative circumstances happen, you are NOT happy.  JOY, on the other hand, is a PERMANENT feeling in the heart.  Spiritually speaking, it is an INNER PEACE that comes from God and is ALWAYS in the HEART of a TRUE BELIEVER, regardless of their outward circumstances. 

 

That starry, dark night on a lonely hillside, where some shepherds were watching over their flocks of sheep, a STARTLING thing happened, the sky lit up like a torch, and suddenly the Angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord was shining all around them, and they were VERY much AFRAID.  The Angel told them to NOT be AFRAID, “I am bringing you GOOD NEWS that will be a GREAT JOY to ALL the people.  Today your SAVIOR was born in the town of David.  He is Christ, the Lord.” 

 

The birth of Jesus is the GOOD NEWS for ALL people, He is our SAVIOR and LORD, He is the ONLY one who can SAVE us from our sins and an ETERNITY in Hell with all of its horrors.  He is our REDEEMER, KING of kings, and LORD of lords, He is the JOY of our SALVATION.  Because of His BIRTH, LIFE, DEATH, and RESURRECTION, we can have GREAT JOY in our HEART if we belong to Him. 

 

Even though we have NOT seen Him we still LOVE Him.   To me, this is possible through the work of the HOLY SPIRIT, which comes into the HEART of the TRUE BELIEVER at the moment of conversion.  The Spirit teaches us and leads us to a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God and His Son, Jesus.  Part of that RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God and Jesus is LOVE, we LOVE Him, because He FIRST LOVED us.  Another aspect of the RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God and Jesus, is BELIEVING, even though we CANNOT see Him NOW, we STILL BELIEVE in Him.   And because of the LOVE and BELIEVING we are filled with a JOY that mere words fail to explain.  It is a GREAT JOY that is FULL of GLORY.  A JOY that is FOREVER EMBEDDED in the HEARTS of the TRUE BELIEVERS.  Do YOU possess this JOY?   If NOT, you can.  God is giving you the opportunity NOW to RECEIVE this GREAT JOY, by TURNING AWAY FROM your sinful lifestyle, and TURNING TO Him with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING your sins to Him, and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION and start experiencing JOY UNSPEAKABLE and FULL of GLORY.  Do it NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!

 

 

"The PERFECT Gift"

“The PERFECT Gift”

 

But the gift is not like the trespass.  For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!        Romans 5:15

 

Many people are probably through with their shopping for that PERFECT GIFT for those people who are SPECIAL to them.  Those whom they LOVE, and those who are part of their family.  I still have a couple of GIFTS that I need to get.  Every year, it seems to get harder to figure out what to buy for those, to whom, we want to give that PERFECT GIFT.

 

God, our Heavenly Father, who is the Creator of ALL things, and ALL people, didn’t have that problem, when mankind became cursed, by the actions of ONE man, Adam, and SIN entered the HEART of EVERYONE who has ever been born, God in His INFINITE WISDOM and AMAZING GRACE, knew the PERFECT GIFT that was NEEDED for the Crown of His Creation, MANKIND, whom He LOVES with that SPECIAL LOVE, that comes ONLY through Him.  A LOVE so AMAZING, so STRONG, so PURE, so TRUE.  A LOVE that knows NO BOUNDARIES and has NO LIMITATIONS.  A LOVE that caused Him to GIVE His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, Jesus, to GIVE His own life, so that mankind might have LIFE and have it MORE ABUNDANTLY, The PERFECT GIFT, God’s SON, for the REDEMPTION of MANKINDS’S SOUL.

 

This PERFECT GIFT brought with it many different purposes.  It provides FORGIVENESS for those who come to God, with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, it provides RIGHTEOUSNESS for our soul, we are made RIGHT with God, not with our own RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is like FILTHY RAGS to God, but it is the RIGHTEOUSNESS of Jesus that is ACCEPTABLE to God and gives us a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with Him.  It provides mankind with ETERNAL LIFE in HEAVEN with ALL the GLORIES of Heaven, and it KEEPS us from an ETERNAL LIFE in HELL, the place of UNENDING torment, torture, pain, agony, heartache, and despair.

 

It is a GIFT that will NEVER decay, rust, rot, wear-out, or diminish in ANY way, shape or form.  It is ETERNAL, a FOREVER, PERFECT GIFT.  Have you RECEIVED this PERFECT GIFT?  If NOT, God wants to give it to you, NOW.  If you will TURN AWAY from your sinful lifestyle, and TURN TO Him with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING, your sins to Him and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you before God, then ACCEPT His PERFECT GIFT of SALVATION and receive His PERFECT GIFT that was selected ESPECIALLY with you in mind, because when Christ was on the cross, YOU were on His mind.   Do this NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!

"The Aroma of Christ"

“The Aroma of Christ”

 

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.   To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.   And who is equal to such a task?         2 Corinthians 2: 15, 16

 

When we are planning to go off somewhere, one of the things most of us do is to want to have a PLEASING FRAGRANCE about us.  So we spray or dab a little bit of FRAGRANCE on us.  To some the FRAGRANCE is PLEASING and to others, it may NOT have a PLEASING AROMA about it.

 

Our offering to God is the PLEASING AROMA of Christ, the TRUE BELIEVER is that PLEASING AROMA.  We are the PLEASING AROMA among those who are being saved and those who are being lost.    To those who are PERISHING, this PLEASING AROMA brings the STENCH of DEATH. Many will REJECT Christ and spend an ETERNITY in Hell, which is a SPIRITUAL DEATH.  Those who are being saved are attracted to the Savior for the SALVATION of their souls, through the PLEASING AROMA of CHRIST, the WITNESS of the TRUE BELIEVER.  They will receive ETERNAL LIFE in Heaven.

Who is equal to the task?  Only God can give ETERNAL LIFE, and He has accomplished it by using Jesus Christ, and His PLEASING AROMA.   Are you the AROMA of CHRIST?  Have you given your HEART and LIFE to God?  If your answer is “NO”, then you are LOST and PERISHING and headed for a SPIRITUAL DEATH and an ETERNITY in HELL, unless you TURN AWAY FROM your sinful lifestyle, and TURN TO God, with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING your sins to Him, and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION, and ETERNAL LIFE in Heaven, and become the PLEASING AROMA of CHRIST.  Do it NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!

 

"Just a FOOT-WASHING"

“Just a FOOT-WASHING”

 

“Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean.  And you are clean, though not every one of you.”         John 13:10

 

In the biblical days, people walked everywhere on dirt roads and dusty streets.  They wore sandals and therefore their feet needed a DAILY WASHING.   When they went to visit and partake in fellowship with someone, their host would provide a “foot washing” for their poor, tired, hot, dirty feet.  Even though ALL of their body was bathed before they arrived, their feet had gotten DIRTY and NEEDED a fresh CLEANSING, before the fellowship began. 

 

Jesus, the PERFECT HOST, proceeded to wash His disciples’ feet, because they had become dusty and dirty from their journey.  When He came to Peter, Peter refused to let his Master do such a thing to him, so Jesus, in essence, told Peter, even if you are bathed and CLEAN, your feet have become DIRTY and needs to be CLEANSED from the dirt that is on them.  Then He says that NOT EVERYONE is TOTALLY CLEAN. 

 

For ALL TRUE BELIEVERS, our HEARTS are like our FEET, they tend to get DIRTY from the DAILY SIN that we partake of, and in order to partake in FELLOWSHIP with Christ, we must first have our HEARTS CLEANSED, even though we have been FULLY WASHED by the CLEANSING BLOOD of Jesus Christ.

 

 In our daily life, we get our HEARTS defiled with the sins of envy, hatred, jealousy, gossiping, slandering, lust, etc., and then we want to have FELLOWSHIP with  Christ, and we can’t because we have a DIRTY heart, which MUST, FIRST be CLEANSED, then we can commune with our RIGHTEOUS REDEEMER.  Some BELIEVERS are like the Apostle Peter, who told Jesus, “not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”  They think they need another WHOLE BATH, when all they need is a “FOOT-WASHING.

 

In order to do that, we must ALL, BELIEVER and NON-BELIEVER, come to God with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, ready to have their heart CLEANSED from its sins, and we MUST CONFESS our sins to Him, asking Him for His FORGIVENESS.  The NON-BELIEVER NEEDS to BELIEVE that Jesus died for them and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for them, before God, and ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION, which results in a COMPLETE CLEANSING, then they ONLY NEED to have a DAILY CLEANSING of their HEART, in order to partake in DAILY FELLOWSHIP with Jesus.  Come to Him NOW, while you still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!

 

 

"Instrument of Unrighteousness or Instrument of Righteousness?"

“Instrument of Unrighteousness or Instrument of Righteousness?”

 

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.           Romans 6:12-14

 

When the Holy Spirit of God brings us to Christ for the SALVATION of our soul, and we ACCEPT Him as our SAVIOR and LORD, we become DEAD to sin, because we have been crucified with Christ.  And we then become ALIVE with Him because we are brought into a NEWNESS of LIFE.  We have TURNED AWAY FROM our OLD, SINFUL LIFESTYLE and have TURNED TO a NEW LIFE in Christ.   Therefore, we are DEAD to SIN and ALIVE to God in Jesus Christ.

 

So we should NOT let SIN reign in our mortal body, but we SHOULD be OBEDIENT to God’s will, and STOP presenting the members of our body to sin, to be used as INSTRUMENTS of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. 

 

Instead we SHOULD present ourselves to God as those ALIVE from the DEAD, and our BODIES SHOULD be INSTRUMENTS of RIGHTEOUSNESS to the HOLY, RIGHTEOUS GOD of this Universe.   SIN will not MASTER over us, because we are NOT under the law, but we are under GOD’S AMAZING GRACE.  We are to be OBEDIENT to God’s laws, but the LAW cannot SAVE us, ONLY GOD’S GRACE is ABLE to SAVE mankind from their sins.  Have you experienced God’s AMAZING GRACE?  Are you an INSTRUMENT of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS or RIGHTEOUSNESS?

 

You can EXPERIENCE God’s AMAZING GRACE by TURNING AWAY FROM your SINFUL LIFESTYLE, and TURNING TO God, with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART, CONFESSING your sins to Him and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION, and if you do this you will become DEAD to your SINS and ALIVE in Christ Jesus, and will become an INSTRUMENT of RIGHTEOUSNESS.  So do it NOW, while you still can, and ESCAPE the HORRORS of Hell for ALL ETERNITY.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!