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GOD LOVES YOU!
JESUS CHRIST
So who is this Jesus, besides being the most controversial person in the world? To answer this question we really don't have too many options. Jesus claimed to be God, so if He is not God, he is either a liar or a delusional person, and in that case, who cares what he said or did? We definitely cannot call Him only a good man, only a moral reformer, only a teacher or just a prophet. We have to think about this truth. Jesus is either God or a liar.
Someone could say, "But Jesus never claimed to be God, just a Son of God." So let us take a closer look at the truth--Jesus is God:
1. Jesus Uses God's Name--I AM
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to to, before Abraham was born, "I am."
(John 8:58)
In the following verse, John 8:59, we see that the Jews picked up stones to throw at Him. Why? They knew that with this statement Jesus was claiming to be God--"I AM." The Pharisees studied the Scripture and they knew when God spoke to Moses, and Moses asked God what is His name, God answered, "I AM" (Exodus 3:13-15).
In using the name "I AM" Jesus claimed to be God.
2. Jesus Forgave Sins
Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven."
(Matthew 9:2)
No wonder the scribes accused Jesus of blasphemy. They knew exactly what Jesus was claiming: "I am God." According to the Scripture, no one can forgive sins but God.
In forgiving sins, Jesus claimed to be God.
3. Jesus Identified Himself With God
I and the Father are one.
(John 10:30)
Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, "Show us the Father?"
(John 14:9)
With the words: "We are One," and "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," Jesus claimed to be God.
4. Jesus Received Worship
According to the words of Jesus, we should worship the Lord our God, and serve Him only Matthew 4:10). Would Jesus receive worship if He were not God? And Jesus did receive worship, as we see in the following verses:
His disciples worshipped Jesus after He calm the sea and stopped the wind (Matthew 14:33)
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary worshipped Jesus (Matthew 28:9)
After His resurrection the disciples saw Jesus and worshipped Him (Matthew 28:17)
The man whose sight Jesus restored worshipped Him (John 9:38)
In receiving worship, Jesus claimed to be God.
Do you believe in the Jesus Christ of the Scriptures? He is the only One who can save you. Any other "Jesus" is a figment of your or someone else's imagination and you are still an unbeliever destined for wrath.
If you haven't received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there is a remedy. Repent--turn from unbelief and start believing. The following prayer is a prayer of salvation for anyone who is ready to receive Jesus, and also for those who are not sure about where they stand with Jesus. The prayer is just a guideline.
Lord Jesus, I want the life you are offering me, I want you to be my Lord and Savior.
I believe that you died for my sins on the cross and that you rose from the dead.
I thank you for it. I am willing to walk by faith in You from now on.
TRUTH
Why is it of such importance to be set free by truth? The reason is that if we don't know the truth, we are bound in error. To see the truth, especially these days, when the truth is covered with so many errors, is not easy. Unless we are truth seekers, we will not see the truth. So many erroneous teachings are already established and perpetrated. I believe that Satan always surrounds truth with confusion and tries to pass the truth as a big lie. We should never put people on a pedestal. Everything that comes to our mind has to be sifted through the Word of God, through the message of grace. Beloved, read the Bible to get to know God, your Father, and His will for you.
The greatest opposition to truth and freedom we have in Christ will be religious people. It was the religious, moral, Scripture-reading citizens of Jerusalem who crucified Jesus. Those who are converted in their minds, but not in their hearts, are the biggest treat to the truth.
GRACE
God is a God of All Grace
To define God's grace is not easy, for God's grace is awesome! The true meaning of grace has to be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Grace is God, His love for us, His mercy toward us, His perfect plan for salvation, and so much more. We see all these truths in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). We have received grace through Him. We have not deserved it, nor could we in any way earn it. Grace is a gift of God. It is by grace we have been saved through faith, and it is grace that sustains us now. We, the Christians, have fixed our hope completely on God's grace, and we continue to thrive and grow in it each and every day.
Once we start basking in God's love that He has generously lavished upon us, once we realize that God is right and He really does know what He is talking about, we develop grateful and thankful hearts, and a loving relationship with God. We focus on the eternal, and look forward eternity in the presence of God.
Beloved, think big! Think eternity. It will affect your life right here and right now!
CROSS
According to the words of Jesus, the Cross was His goal and His purpose (John 12:27), the culmination of His earthly ministry, followed by His resurrection and ascension. His goal. Imagine that! What an awesome God we have, and how great is His love for us!
The Cross is the dividing line in the history of humanity. The death of Jesus Christ ushered in the New Testament--a covenant between God and men.
Jesus was the final sacrifice for sins. On the cross the sins of the entire world were judged. The verdict was guilty (for all have sinned); the punishment was death (the wages of sin is death), and the punishment was executed. Jesus--the Perfect Sacrifice died to take away the sin of the world.
Sin, the whole issue of sin, was settled right at that appointed time in history--on the cross. We have to grasp the full meaning of the words, "Jesus took away the sin of the world."
IT IS FINISHED!
I believe that all Christians understand that Jesus died for our sins, but that is just a part of salvation's message. We are not saved only by the death of Jesus; we are saved by His life.
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
through the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
(Romans 5:10)
The invitation of Jesus is: COME TO ME FOR LIFE!
RESURRECTION
HE HAS RISEN!
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in Me shall live even if he dies,
and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.
Do you believe this?
(John 11:25, 26)
Victory! The mission of Jesus Christ here on earth was accomplished. Sins were forgiven--taken away--and His life was restored. Death was defeated. What a joy!
It is for the joy, in anticipation of this moment, that Jesus endured the Cross. He had to go through this terrible ordeal in order for us to be saved, for man's problem is not just that he is a sinner in need of forgiveness, but he is dead and in need of life.
Before I became a Christian. I didn't see myself dead (in spiritual sense), even though I knew I was missing something. I just couldn't put my finger on it. After I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I realized that something had happened. I had passed from death to life, from darkness to light, from the domain of Satan into the kingdom of God.
In Christ Jesus we are new creatures, the "old" is dead. As we start fixing our eyes on Jesus and set our minds on the things above, the things of this world will lose their grip on us. It is a process; it takes time. The world stands in total opposition to the kingdom of God. We bring the worldly ways into the kingdom of God, and then we wonder what happened and why "it" doesn't work. True Christianity is not observation of do's and don'ts in the set of religious rituals. It is Jesus who lives in us and who wants to live His life through us. That is why we are called the body of Christ.
HELL
There is a place called hell. Contrary to wide belief, it is not a place where people are being tormented by Satan and his demons. It is here, on earth, where satanic forces are tormenting humanity. In hell, Satan and his demons are not going to torment anyone; they will be in torment themselves. Beloved, read the Bible, and think everything through.
The word "hell" has been misused for so long that it has lost its "punch"; it has lost its terror. Hell is a real place. Hell is a place without love. It is a place of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord. Hell has been prepared for Satan and his demons; it is for ungodly people as well, for those who are not "clothed" with Jesus--the unbelievers.
In reality, all of us from our birth are heading for hell, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are born with a sinful nature--physically alive, but spiritually dead--without the Holy Spirit, and in need of salvation.
The only thing that will keep anyone from heaven and keep him or her on the path to hell is unbelief in Jesus and His accomplished work on the cross and His resurrection.
Now is the time to repent, now is the time to turn from unbelief in Jesus and to believe in Him.
WISDOM
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
(1 Corinthians 1:24)
Right from the beginning I would like to separate the wisdom of God from our human wisdom--the wisdom of this world--which the Scriptures also call fleshly wisdom. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God according to His word. A strong statement, isn't it? We must believe it and act upon it! Beloved, we don't go to the world to learn and gain wisdom, when in Christ Jesus we have received the wisdom of God. God's wisdom is higher and purer than anything we can come up with apart from God.
The wisdom of God is so different from the wisdom of this world. We have to keep in mind that the ruler of this world is Satan. The importance of applying the wisdom of God is evident throughout the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, whole chapters in the book of Proverbs describe and personify wisdom. There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against the Lord.
God is telling us that only His wisdom is able to settle any situation, and only His wisdom can decide anything justly. Brother and sister, let us rely on God and His wisdom. Why settle for anything else? Thank you Jesus!
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