Being like Jesus…..

 

Pressing Toward the Goal  Philippians 2

12 Not that I have already attained,[c] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have [d]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Good Morning. Yesterday we found that the Apostle Paul strived for being successful in attaining the resurrection of the dead and that glorified body. Not that Paul already attained or successfully achieved that status but Paul strived to do the best he could to be Christlike in his life. Paul sought to know Jesus in such a way that he understood the power that raised Jesus from the dead. This power that raised Jesus from the dead is the life-giving Holy Spirit that you and I as believers in Christ possess. Are we being influenced by Him daily? Living in obedience to God may require us to forget some of the things that we have done in the past and put them behind us and reach forth for those things which are ahead. Have we called out to God to guide us in that quest to be more Christlike? A great promise on that subject is found in Jeremiah 33:3  ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.” These things for the Christian are knowing Jesus as Savior, God answering prayer, the reality of knowing you are going to heaven, healing us of diseases etc. Also in 1Corinthians 2: 9 But as it is written:“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. So we see that our human senses can not perceive the things of God however God wants us after we are saved (the Christian) to know these things and He reveals them to us through the Holy Spirit, these are the deeper things of God plus many more and they are believed only through Jesus and the Holy Spirit! Lastly, Galatians 6 tells us: And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

 

God bless, Terry Aug 31, 2020

Knowing Jesus.

Philippians 2

 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 

 

Good Morning. How important are worldly accomplishments to you as compared to knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Paul the Apostle answers that question here in our text as he counted all his religious accomplishments in life as rubbish compared to the surpassing knowledge of Jesus! Although necessary do we put the things we accomplish and the accolades we receive in life above knowing Jesus and living for Him first? Is the attitude of our hearts and the realization that our good deeds and good works can never make us righteous in the eyes of our Heavenly Father? Do we realize the imputed righteousness that comes by faith in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ? Paul sought to know Him (Jesus) and the power of Jesus’ resurrection and the fellowship that he had as he suffered for the sake of Jesus! Is to know Jesus at the top of our goals? Do we seek to be led by the power that raised Jesus from the dead aka the Holy Spirit? Do we understand the deeper fellowship we have with Jesus during times of suffering? Are we becoming like Jesus when He lovingly gave His life for a world of sinners? I will not attempt to answer those questions because I know that I have a lot of growing in Christ ahead of me for me to be able to say that I consistently do all those things or seek those things! But one Day we as Christians will know Him and be like Him for we will see Him as He is! (1John 3:2) More on this tomorrow.                                            God bless you all this Lord’s day, Terry  August 30, 2020

Be strong in the grace of our Lord.

2 Timothy 2   2 You, therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 You therefore must endure[a]hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

 

Good Morning. Being strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus is to be obedient to Him and understanding what the will of the Lord is and praying without ceasing to Him. Here we see in verse 2 that Christians who are mature in the Lord should be willing to teach others passing down the gospel of Jesus and His word to the next generation. Being strong in the Lord’s grace means to be able to endure the hardships of this life and remain true to Him even in adverse conditions! A good soldier doesn’t let the affairs of this life affect his ability to do soldiering, he must keep focused on the mission likewise for the Christian he must keep focused on Jesus. (Hebrews 12:2) To be obedient to our calling is to be pleasing to the Captain of our souls which is Christ! “I AM READY TO REPORT FOR DUTY,” signed________(your name)

God Bless, Terry  Aug 29, 2020

IF My people……

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon  2Chronicles 7

12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 

Good Morning. After Solomon had finished building a house for the Lord and dedicated it to the Lord, the Lord came to Solomon and spoke to him and gave a solemn promise to the children of God. God had given Solomon the desires of his heart and Solomon prospered. In verse 13 we see the sovereignty of God in that He can control the rain and control pestilence and He can control even the locusts! A thought comes to mind here; is He able to control the events in my life? In mathematics, we learned that what you do to one side of an equation will proportionally affect the other side of the equation.  Our Lord is telling us here IF My people shall humble themselves and pray and seek His face and then turn from their sinful ways (that is one side of the promise) then He will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land! Our land (USA) needs healing and only God can heal the scars of political hatred and division and other things that divide us! We as Christians need to pray harder, seek God with more zeal, and turn from sin and ask Jesus to forgive us and turn back to God, and then maybe we can be a unified nation again loving, respecting, and caring for one another!

God bless, Terry  Aug 28, 2020    

 

PS. Today’s date being 8-28 reminds me of Romans 8:28, “ALL things work together for good to those who love the Lord…….!”

Glory in THIS….

Jeremiah 9

23 Thus says the Lord:

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, [j]

judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these, I delight,” says the Lord.

 

Good Morning. In our world today we seem to give honor and glory to those who have means and are rich or famous or powerful! Here in the word of God, it is plainly telling us that the rich man shouldn’t glory in his riches, nor should the wise (worldly) man glory in his wisdom and even the mighty man should not glory in his might but let him who glories glory in the Lord! Glory in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ knows me and I know Him, glory in the fact that He brings loving-kindness to one’s heart, glory in the fact that He exercises righteousness and judgment in the earth! All the riches we own and all the fame we employ, all the authority we have will all be gone the moment our eyes are closed in death, so as Jesus puts it like this “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) So today while a person has breath they should take this opportunity to come to know the Lord Jesus and be saved! How will they know unless we tell them?

God bless, Terry  Aug 27, 2020, 

Where is YOUR citizenship?

Philippians 3

18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

 

Good Morning. Have you ever suspected some who walk among you as being a fake? How can you tell if they are fake or not? Most of those who call themselves Christians and are not will have a self-centered lifestyle and motives. They need to be noticed and place value on earthly things and not Godly Jesus centered things! They love themselves and things more than God and others, they walk as enemies of the cross, their ultimate place of citizenship is the Lake of Fire unless they repent and come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior! What about the ones who serve Jesus Christ and love Him and people and are saved and know the truth? Here in our text we see they/we have a special place of citizenship and that is in heaven where we will see Jesus face to face and be like Him! (1John 3:2) For us to physically be there a transformation must take place and we who trust Jesus will receive a glorified body fit for life in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ will transform these lowly bodies and make them glorified body like His and we will forever be with Him and be joint-heirs(Romans 8:17) of all the splendor of heaven! What a Day that will be!   God bless, Terry   Aug 26, 2020    

Plain and simple.

The Certainty of God’s Witness  1John 5

9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of [c]God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has [d]life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, [e]and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

 

Good Morning. A witness is one who has personal knowledge of something or one who attests to a fact. Here in our text, we see that the witness of God is greater than the witness of a man. God cannot lie, man can! In verse ten we see that one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. How can that be? God sends everyone who believes and trusts Jesus as Lord and Savior the witness of the Holy Spirit upon conversion (1Corinthians 6:19) and this witness guides one to the truth of God’s word and interprets that truth to his heart! The testimony of the Witness is that God has given to the Christian eternal life and this eternal life is in His Son Jesus. He who has the Son has life! Furthermore, the one who believes in Jesus can KNOW they have eternal life! Many people have difficulty believing that one can know they have eternal life but the bible makes it very clear in our text that the one who believes in Jesus can know that they have eternal and are going to heaven. What can be more important than that!

God bless, Terry Aug 25 2020

Beginning to end , Jesus!

Thankfulness and Prayer  Philippians 1

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 

Good Morning. The Apostle Paul shows his love and caring for the church at Philippi as he proclaims, “I thank God for every remembrance of you!” Paul cared for people and was thankful for the people he ministered to and he did not mind telling them and showing them. A pastor once made this true statement: “People don’t care how much you know until they see how much you care!” That certainly rings true as we share our faith with others. Paul’s prayers were with joy for the fellowship that he had with the church. Fellowship with other believers is certainly a way to show true discipleship. One of my first memory verses of scripture was verse 6: “being confident of this very thing, that He who begun a good work in you will complete it until the Day of Jesus Christ”! The One who saves us is the One who keeps us , 1Peter 1 puts it like this :”who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. So we conclude that when Jesus saves us God will keep us until we come home to Him! Those are some very assuring words that all believers can count on and be blessed by.          God Bless, Terry Aug 24, 2020

Do not boast of tomorrow!

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow  James 4

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [h]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Good Morning. How many of us will say this is what I will be doing tomorrow or this is where I am going next month without consulting the Lord? Here in our text the bible calls it sin if we boast about tomorrow unless we consult with God first. When we became saved through faith and belief in Jesus Christ , God became our Father and directed our lives. I believe even before we met Jesus God was protecting us for the day of salvation! Proverbs 16:9 puts it this way:A man’s heart plans his way,But the Lord directs his steps. So we see that our lives are in the hands of God and He is the One to direct our steps! Also we see the brevity of life in verse 14 , a vapor is certainly something that is visible but only for a short time and in comparison to eternity our lives are as brief as that vapor. In the Book of Ephesians we are told to “redeem the time, for the days are evil.” so we are to make good use of our days here in this world by asking God to guide and direct our lives and seek His wisdom from His word. Our attitude should be that ” If God wills, we shall live and do this or do that”! May God richly guide, direct and bless our lives as we seek Him.

God Bless, Terry Aug 23 2020

Love and obedience.

Love and Joy Perfected  John 15

9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Good Morning. Of all the commandments God gave us to live by LOVE is the most important! (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus in our passage shows we have this love if we keep our Lord’s commands. We will abide (remain or stay) in His LOVE if we keep His commands! Jesus remained in the Fathers love because He always kept His Fathers commandments.  Simply stated, if as we Christians do what Jesus commands us to do we will remain in His love. That love enables the Christian to love one another as Jesus says and being obedient to these things will give us the JOY that Jesus has and that JOY will remain in us.          Love and obedience= JOY          God Bless, Terry Aug 22, 2020