tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12213936068234482572024-03-17T23:03:54.600-04:00The Jesus FollowersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586279467298876024noreply@blogger.comBlogger599125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-16775928807507004592024-03-17T08:00:00.128-04:002024-03-17T08:00:00.304-04:00 The Mediocre Preacher [JesusFollowers]<p>The history of the world is full of testimony to prove how much depends upon pastors being industrious; not an eminent orator has lived that isn’t an example of it. Yet, in contradiction to this, the almost universal feeling appears to be that industry can affect nothing, that eminence is the result of accident, and that everyone must be content to remain just what he may happen to be. That's wrong.</p><p>Thus multitudes who come forward as teachers and guides, allow themselves to be satisfied with the most indifferent attainments and a miserable mediocrity, without so much as inquiring how they might rise higher, much less making any attempt to rise. For any other art they would have served an apprenticeship, and would be ashamed to practice it in public before they had learned it. If anyone would sing, he attends a master, and is drilled in the very elementary principles, and only after the most laborious process dares to exercise his voice in public. </p><p>This he does, though he has scarcely anything to learn but the mechanical execution of what lies in sensible forms before his eyes. But the extemporaneous speaker, who is to invent as well as to speak, to carry on an operation of the mind as well as to produce sound, enters upon the work without preparatory discipline, and then wonders why he fails! If he were learning to play on the flute for public exhibition, what hours and days would he spend in giving practice to his fingers, and attaining the power of the sweetest and most impressive execution! </p><p>If he were devoting himself to the church organ, what months and years would he labor, so he might be master of its keys, and be able to draw out, at will, all its various combinations of harmonious sound, and its full richness and delicacy of expression! And yet he will believe that the grandest, the most various, the most expressive of all instruments, which the infinite Creator has fashioned by the union of an intellectual soul with the powers of speech, may be played upon without study or practice; he comes to it a mere uninstructed tyro, and thinks to manage all its stops, and command the whole compass of its varied and comprehensive power. He finds himself a bungler in the attempt, is mortified at his failure, and settles it in his mind forever that the attempt is vain.</p><p>Success in every art, whatever may be the natural talent, is always the reward of work and pain. But the instances are many, of men of the finest natural genius, whose beginning has promised much, but who have degenerated wretchedly as time advanced, because, like some who received talents from the King and did nothing with them but bury them, they received their gift of voice, and made no effort to improve them.</p><p>That there have never been other men of equal endowments with Demosthenes and Cicero, none would venture to suppose; but who have so devoted themselves to their art, or become equal in excellence? If those great men had been content, like others, to continue as they began, and had never made their persevering efforts for improvement, what would their countries have benefited from their genius, or the world have known of their fame? They would have been lost in the undistinguished crowd that sunk to oblivion around them. Of how many more will the same remark prove true! What encouragement is thus given to the industrious! With such encouragement, how inexcusable is the negligence which suffers the most interesting and important truths to seem heavy and dull, and fall ineffectual to the ground, through mere sluggishness in their delivery! </p><p>How unworthy of one who performs the high function of a religious instructor upon whom depend, in a great measure, the religious knowledge, and devotional sentiment, and final character, of many fellow-beings to imagine that he can worthily discharge this great concern by occasionally talking for an hour, he knows not how, and in a manner which he has taken no pains to render correct, impressive, or attractive, and which, simply through the lack of that command over himself which study would give, is immediate , methodical, verbose, inaccurate, feeble, and trifling! </p><p>It has been said of the good preacher that "truths divine come from his tongue." Unfortunately, they come forth ruined and worthless from such a man as this. They lose that holy energy by which they are to convert the soul and purify man for heaven, and sink, in interest and efficacy, below the level of those principles which govern the ordinary affairs of this lower world.</p><p>(adapted from a sermon by Rev. Henry Ware, Jr. 1794-1831))</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-90619850431215908122024-03-10T08:00:00.032-04:002024-03-10T08:00:00.173-04:00Seeking After, And Doing, Righteousness [JesusFollowers]<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwceaZ8-FHpPAg0nVPhQoJiiDUKcio_VFuh3sDwP10MO1lyFTQc6XmoT60tNdPIQPXowfT6a7QG25A4oaF0C7mX4ylHPYC9fp3RvimK6-AIHBBt3IoGbY3svZv2cMnreDDva49sHaN4Lo/s600/JF_SeekingAndDoingRighteousnessCardale.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="600" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwceaZ8-FHpPAg0nVPhQoJiiDUKcio_VFuh3sDwP10MO1lyFTQc6XmoT60tNdPIQPXowfT6a7QG25A4oaF0C7mX4ylHPYC9fp3RvimK6-AIHBBt3IoGbY3svZv2cMnreDDva49sHaN4Lo/w400-h194/JF_SeekingAndDoingRighteousnessCardale.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p> <i><span style="font-family: arial;">"Then the Righteous will shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father." (Matt. 13:43)</span></i></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These words lead our thoughts to that awful and illustrious day when every person’s religious and moral character will be set in its true light, and made manifest to the world.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The eternal states of all the dead will be finally determined, and an open and visible distinction be made in favor of the righteous and the good, by the equitable and unerring sentence of that Supreme judge, Who knows the secrets of every breast, and will render to all according to how their Works have been.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #ffff38;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The practice of righteousness is the only sure proof that we are born of God, as vice is an unquestionable proof of a person's belonging to evil. (1 John ii. 29.)</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #ffff38;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Righteousness in the heart is the Love of what is right, a love of Truth and virtue or of whatever appears to be right both in sentiment and practice.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The principles that are lodged and cherish in the heart, whether good or bad, will always produce different effects.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So it may be said of the doctrines of Christianity, or the principles of religion, when sowing them in the heart.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In some, they are wholly stilted and suppressed, and in others they produce the fruits of righteousness, more or less, according to the moral State and complexion of the mind.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The righteous and the wicked, good and bad men, of every degree, now pass under the denomination of Christians.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-color: #ffff38;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Much depends on the discarding or banishing from our hearts whatever may prove a hindrance or obstruction, two are receiving and embracing the truth.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of this kind are all groundless prejudices, all evil or artificial suggestions, all malice and wickedness, all pride, obstinacy, and self-conceit. All who indulge in passions and bad examples are instruments of evil.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These, and other such things, have a pernicious influence. They tend to deprave and harden the heart, and prevent the doctrines of True religion for making any deep and lasting impressions.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If we would receive the doctrines and precepts of Christianity, to profit by them, we must root out, and discard those irregular affections towards the world which always obstruct a holy life, or tend, at best, to make people hypocrites in religion. </span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the concealed wickedness of some, and the secret piety and virtue of others, may be one principal reason of a future judgment that, however people may pass at present, Justice may be done to all at last.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Righteousness is a sincere and prevailing compliance of the whole soul with what we apprehend or perceive, upon an impartial enquiry, to be the mind and will of God, whether in things to be believed or done, abstracted from any undue regard to the opinions, sentiments, and practices of humanity.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where these principles rule and govern the heart, they cannot fail to recommend us to God, and to all the wise, sober, and considerate part of humanity.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">A sincere desire of righteousness is righteousness, as it argues a right state of mind and is always productive of suitable dispositions and endeavors.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">By "righteous," we are not to understand it as an exact and sinless conformity to the law of God, or even such as made selling virtue, and are eminently good. But it is their upright and sincere, such as those who desire and endeavor to do the will of God, so far as they are acquainted with it, or can arrive to the knowledge and understanding of it.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 56); font-family: arial;">As it is part of a man to think freely, so it always argues a nobleness and greatness of spirit to be true to the dictates of reason, and to all its wise and good resolutions. </span></b></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">Next to our seeking and receiving the truth in love, it should be our great care not to hold the truth in unrighteousness. If we are in the truth, we should walk in the truth, or live in act agreeably to it, and always remember that he that does righteousness is righteous, and that he does not do righteousness is not of God. ( 1 John 3:7-10.)</span></b></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 56); font-family: arial;">Religion is, in substance, our imitation of God in His moral perfections of goodness, Righteousness, and Truth.</span></b></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And this is that in which our present and future happiness consists. We are happy the same way as God Himself is happy.</span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">Righteousness always supposes a principle of true piety, and inward reverence and regard to the Deity, a thorough subjection of the soul to the Father of our spirits, and an unreserved obedience to those eternal laws of Truth and Righteousness which are founded in the unalterable Reason, fitness, and relation of things.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fcff01; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: rgb(252, 255, 1); font-family: arial;">Our righteousness, as human beings, is our conformity to the law of Reason, or to the law of our creation, which is the law of God. </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">This constitute that religion which is the perfection of humanity, and it is what every person's reason tells them that they should aspire after.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">Since Christianity is the perfection of all religion, tending more than any other to the refinement and perfection of the moral life, we all now enjoy the light and benefit of divine revelation.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">Our righteousness as Christians is a hearty and unfeigned compliance with the declarations of the Gospel, or with that more pure and perfect institution of religion which God has given us - our Master, Jesus.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">Since this is that unalterable and perfect rule which God has now given us whereby to regulate our hearts and lives, it will be, for us, the final test of everyone's religious character and conduct.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: arial;">(Abridged and adapted from “The Distinctive Character And Honour Of The Righteous Man Considered,” by Rev. Paul Cardale, 1761)</span></i></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-9081658914052152692024-03-03T08:00:00.001-05:002024-03-03T08:00:00.369-05:00Is Our Faith Built On A Rock, Or Sand? #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisALQNEJlzx8DASGxljtXpkebu9G0BaXOa5qUWB0s1-lFrKv6pM7jQ2VDP4lC2CIYvf6CzMyid50DLQLV8gkpyZwAFHiwa39HZt7t9pZoItEDvLFuVINnxyLeEVvJlUUvd9g5JSTFB9bCyfUxBxyJ4vTHsrqNl4s4_jOpUesV97Rr6hjLMkHHHW3re/s1200/rock-house-pan-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1200" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisALQNEJlzx8DASGxljtXpkebu9G0BaXOa5qUWB0s1-lFrKv6pM7jQ2VDP4lC2CIYvf6CzMyid50DLQLV8gkpyZwAFHiwa39HZt7t9pZoItEDvLFuVINnxyLeEVvJlUUvd9g5JSTFB9bCyfUxBxyJ4vTHsrqNl4s4_jOpUesV97Rr6hjLMkHHHW3re/w400-h208/rock-house-pan-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p>Could a familiar parable of Jesus actually be teaching the opposite of what most pastors teach us about our Good Works and Eternal Life?</p><p>Jesus taught his disciples, and all others who came to hear him, using simple stories – parables – that, despite being simple and relatable, also tended to shock those who heard them.</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">To read the parable of the house built on the rock with new eyes and fresh ears may be shocking to many Christians who are used to hearing a rather watered-down interpretation. </span></p><p>Viewing this parable in its clear form is uncomfortable to hear, and perhaps that’s why it and its messages is avoided or touched on so lightly by today’s pastors.</p><p>Jesus says: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27/ESV)</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Faith on the Rock means that good works – DOING what Jesus tells us to do in his teachings – actually matters,</span> and are required for entry into the Kingdom. This flies in the face of much teaching from today’s Pastors, but Jesus’ words are clear, and can mean nothing else.</p><p>The parable cannot simply mean “right belief” or the mere assent to man-made doctrines or creeds. Jesus elsewhere condemns "vain words/empty phrases" (Matt. 5:7) and in a verse just previous to this story, we are told by Jesus that not all those who simply shout, "Lord, Lord" but do not follow his commands, will enter into the Kingdom. But only “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)</p><p>And just so that he was clear – and that by “the Kingdom” we would understand that he was referring also to Eternal Life – Jesus elsewhere answered the question, “what must I do to obtain eternal life,” with clarity: Obey God’s commandments. (Mark 10:17-19; Matt. 19:16-17; Luke 18:19-21)</p><p>Mere belief in a set of theological statements or accepting stories ABOUT Jesus is not all that God asks of us.</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">And in truth, Jesus taught that our Eternal Life begins HERE, with the earthly establishment of God’s Kingdom. (Matt. 6:10) </span>Our final destination with God, however, is judged by God alone, and it is according to our Works alone, though we do not get to judge our own fitness for Heaven. (Psalm 62:12; James 4:12; Matt. 7:1; 16:27)</p><p>Jesus himself in this parable says we must “DO” the will of God, our Father, by obeying Jesus’ commands, or we will not be fit for God’s Kingdom. Jesus tells us he did ALL things our Father and his Father, God, told him to do; and he assures us that we, too, may do all that he did. Therefore, he is our perfect example and model in all things.</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">We, today, cannot avoid or explain away this or any other message our Master tells us, even if it makes us uncomfortable or challenges us to do Good Works and serve others, just as Jesus did.</span></p><p>If we claim we love Jesus, but choose NOT to hear AND DO what he says, we've built our lives on shifting sands, not the Rock of his words. (1 John 2:4) <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">We don’t honor him at all if we don’t seek to do as he modeled for us with his life and teachings.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-21569576788791249242024-02-25T08:00:00.007-05:002024-02-25T08:00:00.175-05:00#Jesus Calls Us To Active Service! #JesusFollowers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1uyRB2dh_17bnMJUBXQA3dEwj1-IGGrl2qu0ACZU3BdLR4uDryraXVns3jWj7SOG3Q7duMBwI-kNaycKXUzYb5cJ783gNvPtKZyGhEiB-oeI43mUUs1-VX3r-XA2WV7cTmr-8FURSRo/s1600/JF_JesusCallsUsPleaseGod.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1uyRB2dh_17bnMJUBXQA3dEwj1-IGGrl2qu0ACZU3BdLR4uDryraXVns3jWj7SOG3Q7duMBwI-kNaycKXUzYb5cJ783gNvPtKZyGhEiB-oeI43mUUs1-VX3r-XA2WV7cTmr-8FURSRo/s1600/JF_JesusCallsUsPleaseGod.png" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">From the first day of Jesus’ ministry to his last, he preached that we must make serving others the core of our religion.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Jesus constantly preached that we should help the poor, the hungry, the homeless, and the hurting.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Jesus calls those who follow him to a life of struggle and service, not a life of easy words and empty phrases. He challenges us to be better than we are now, not remain as we were before we met him.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: yellow; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span>A faith that fails to challenge us to bold, radical service isn't worth having.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> Inherent in Jesus' parables is the duty - not just casual, optional advice, but the duty - to go above and beyond in our service of others.</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">"If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." (Matt. 5:41)</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: yellow; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span>We must, if we love Jesus, serve others first, and do so with a perfect self-sacrifice, as modeled by Jesus himself. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">(Matt. 20:28; John 13:15)</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve.” His ministry “ransomed” us from ignorance of our sinful actions. (Mark 10:45) Jesus gives us the example of complete sacrifice and service that leads to our salvation.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: yellow; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And Jesus calls us to do just as he has done, because it pleases God, our Father and Creator.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">“For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. ... If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:15, 17)</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Knowing, but not doing, the Will of God is not enough. (Luke 6:46-47)</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21) It is not enough to have his commands, but ignore them. The teachings of Jesus are active, and are meant to be acted upon.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">By Jesus' example, we learn to be humble servants of God, and by his example, we are saved from our previous ignorance of our sins. When we are “saved” from this ignorance, we can go to God in prayer and be forgiven for our past ignorance and sins.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Once saved from our ignorance of sin, Jesus calls us to both love to please God, and to put others first in God's name.<span style="background-color: yellow;"> Jesus teaches us that we should humbly perform Good Works and holy service. </span><span style="background-color: yellow;">Our Good Works and acts of service enlighten the world, and show God’s love to others.</span></div></span><span style="background-color: yellow; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">It is only our righteous acts that make us righteous before God. And it is God alone Who determines whether we are truly worthy of eternal life by the performance of our acts.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Jesus calls us to serve and lose ourselves in the service of others. The early disciples of Jesus left ALL - friends, family, material goods, homes, jobs - to follow Jesus (Luke 18:28.)</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: yellow; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span>Jesus calls us to a life of Good Works in humility and compassion.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> (Matt. 5:16; 6:5) Service to others leads to spiritual completeness. (Matt. 5:48)</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">“I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me" (Matt. 25:36.)</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The world must not be viewed as a dreary waiting room for death. It's our first home, a place for joyful service, spiritual growth and a celebration of God's gifts.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: yellow; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span>If we do not follow his words, we are not following Jesus. If we do not obey his calling, we are not worthy of his name.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> Jesus is meant to be followed, not just admired.</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">“If you love me, keep my commands,” he says (John 14:15) But If we claim to know and love him, but reject his teachings, we are liars, unfit for his name. (1 John 2:4)</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Let us show our love to Jesus by obedience to his teachings, and let us by this, show that we are worthy of bearing his name.</div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-52794928944108467352024-02-18T08:00:00.011-05:002024-02-18T08:00:00.134-05:00Fighting a "wide gate" religion in churches<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31ErzhJOMoNriJZQz9OXaeBnHKe1JrUvIvZdrW1rRPAJC_zC6kryEDJ6h7nAvZokL4BmofwmcFhtDJf2whyKOsu4lSZNIrFvZ3LpC1T6azc_fF1CHImYaOY1DEnW33v9tnnPzxOwOjvCqrLdyLhWBFkyaBTLQW03MwaZ4i1eLZGAWYg5g6T64QEytkuE/s851/FBCOVER_NarrowGateStrivetoEnter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="851" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31ErzhJOMoNriJZQz9OXaeBnHKe1JrUvIvZdrW1rRPAJC_zC6kryEDJ6h7nAvZokL4BmofwmcFhtDJf2whyKOsu4lSZNIrFvZ3LpC1T6azc_fF1CHImYaOY1DEnW33v9tnnPzxOwOjvCqrLdyLhWBFkyaBTLQW03MwaZ4i1eLZGAWYg5g6T64QEytkuE/w400-h148/FBCOVER_NarrowGateStrivetoEnter.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />Jesus, the man chosen by God, is our example that we are challenged to actively follow with our deeds to become like, not a risen, distant and mystical "Christ figure."<p></p><p>One is human like us, the other is a Magically born, inhuman DemiGod created by men, who isn't at all someone we can become like.</p><p>Jesus says we can become morally perfect like God. The Hebrew Bible said we can be Holy like God is. So who's right, man's theologians, or God's chosen Prophets?</p><p>All of us initially fail once we start, that's a truism that is often thrown up as a huge failure of our Natures, but it's not.</p><p>The temptation to choose a "wide gate" and easy religion is difficult for many to resist, but not for those who followv the words of Jesus as a guide to both life and eternity.</p><p>If we simply decide we can "claim" his righteousness as our own (denying his requirement of us to do Good Works) and "claim" to be instantly "saved" by our mere words of adoration of this Christ - a belief "on him" without following him daily as our God-annointed Master - we deceive ourselves and demean God and Jesus, His chosen one.</p><p>But millions do this. Why? Because Jesus isn't their only Master - he's not their final arbiter of Truth, including what Salvation is, and how it is obtained. In truth, Jesus himself says God our Father is our final judge. And our eternal destination is determined by our deeds, tempered by God's vast mercy. </p><p>If we doubt it, we doubt Jesus, and it's him we are second guessing. They are changing it into "Another Gospel."</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-49311136870359809712024-02-18T08:00:00.002-05:002024-02-18T08:00:00.133-05:00The Prodigal Son and God's Merciful Justice #JesusFollowers #parables<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9F4VOto0pV2NjdPqBQ5B7szHMIH0-cnrV98an2T5eLicMyD5HWQW2eoNd3VvWu3ng_6mtUkK0LURLy_AZL4O4dahBpjZGs6XHW96Th2wmmt31LQ2c-JeSvi8K-T1Fb9gqG7Z0tiGYkp0/s1600/Rembrandt_Return_of_the_Prodigal_Son.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9F4VOto0pV2NjdPqBQ5B7szHMIH0-cnrV98an2T5eLicMyD5HWQW2eoNd3VvWu3ng_6mtUkK0LURLy_AZL4O4dahBpjZGs6XHW96Th2wmmt31LQ2c-JeSvi8K-T1Fb9gqG7Z0tiGYkp0/s1600/Rembrandt_Return_of_the_Prodigal_Son.jpg" width="254" /></a> </p><p>In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus teaches us that we are to rejoice and be accepting of those among us who return after wronging us. The parable also teaches us that God is ready and waiting for those who return to the path of righteousness. <br /><br />In the parable, a son asks for his inheritance early and goes away, only to squander it on lustful living. He exhausts his money and returns to his father's house, seeking a job as a servant. But the father, even before he reaches his gate, runs out to greet him, and immediately forgiving him, prepares a feast for him.<br /><br />In this way, <span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus teaches us to endlessly and without hesitation forgive others, in the same way God forgives those who return to him in repentance.</span> When asked how many times we must forgive others, Jesus said "70 times 7 times."<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Our repentance for our sins - just as the boy who return to his father - satisfies any Justice God requires for transgressing his moral Law</span>, because God is not a monster, but a loving Parent who wants us to live in peace with Him and with our fellow human beings.<br /><br />Mercy is given by God to those who ask for forgiveness and accept it. That's the contract; that's the "price" to be paid, just as the price the Prodigal Son paid was returning to his father in humility.<br /><br />The first and most solemn declaration of God to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7) is that of "God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering - forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin." David constantly prays for the pardon of sin, for God's "mercy's sake," (Psalms 44:26) and finds forgiveness for his sins upon repentance, living thereafter with "clean hands" before God (2 Samuel 22:21.) In the story of Jonah, that God is shown to be merciful to Nineveh if only they repented from their sins (Jonah 4:1.)<br /><br />But the way that Forgiveness, Justice and Mercy are understood by many Christians would force us to radically re-tell the parable, because, like Jonah, some Christians are very angry that God so easily forgives.<br /><br />Seeking inspiration not from Jesus' teachings, but from angry medieval lawyers and kings, they have created, and spread, a doctrine of God's Justice that is the enemy of God's Mercy. It is a doctrine in which God CANNOT simply forgive without a blood sacrifice - someone MUST pay the "price" for a sin.<br /><span style="background-color: yellow;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: yellow;">But God's mercy is NOT the enemy of God's forgiveness. Both exist in equal measure in the heart of our loving God, Who is eager to forgive us upon our repentance alone.</span><br /><br />In their telling of the story, it must be re-written, so that the Prodigal Son's vengeful father would stop the boy at his gates and then demand that his eldest son be slaughtered in order to satisfy the sins of the youngest who sinned against his father. Only then, when the elder son's blood was spilled, would the payment be accepted.<br /><br />This may have been a perfectly reasonable way to achieve justice in the ancient world, <u style="background-color: yellow;">but if we put our belief solely in Jesus' teachings, and not in other mens'</u>, we know that this is not how God shows Mercy OR Justice. While we may decide that some people do not deserve God's mercy, and must first "pay a price" for falling short of His high standards, <span style="background-color: yellow;">God does not condemn based on our whims or theories about who is "in" and who is "out" of his loving embrace, either now or eternally.⁰</span><br /><br />"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," God tells Moses. "And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (Exodus 33:19)<br /><br />In the parable, even when the son "was yet a great way off," the father ran to meet him, and "fell upon his neck and kissed him" (Luke 15:20.) When Jesus calls us to forgive others as God has forgiven us, does that mean we have a duty to exact a blood payment from those whom WE wish to forgive? The opposite is true. <span style="background-color: yellow;">We must forgive 70x7 times, joyfully and without hesitation.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">God cannot be held to our human standards of how Justice and Mercy should work. And we should be extremely grateful for that.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-4326756965888825362024-02-11T08:00:00.014-05:002024-02-11T08:00:00.135-05:00What Is Love? #JesusFollowers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMN0LxlIuZufSeoarrr1K3e0v0sa8dXpbKKHE5ZfBXk7JsM24NIPAf8vu4iDe3csLfrXa1IKpLeib-SJn4sWgOmKT0mtyAUmdOUT0pnZvG5AhHdeZYOzz7BEuMdYv6Lhl3UCHsZQDvZDQnh6FSVFyBqzxhiLIbRSrjqBqN3kVUOvQwSFEpDQ8WNNZiGw/s599/FB_IMG_1674313845519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="599" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMN0LxlIuZufSeoarrr1K3e0v0sa8dXpbKKHE5ZfBXk7JsM24NIPAf8vu4iDe3csLfrXa1IKpLeib-SJn4sWgOmKT0mtyAUmdOUT0pnZvG5AhHdeZYOzz7BEuMdYv6Lhl3UCHsZQDvZDQnh6FSVFyBqzxhiLIbRSrjqBqN3kVUOvQwSFEpDQ8WNNZiGw/w400-h184/FB_IMG_1674313845519.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>"Love" is one of those words in the English language that can leave us easily confused.</p><p>As we prepare to celebrate Valentine's Day Tuesday, let's examine the various ways in which this word is being used in contemporary society, and how Jesus used the word.</p><p>Love can mean a strong attachment to pancakes or pickles, a deep emotional attachment to another person like a spouse, parent or neighbor, it can express a deep “fan” relationship with a movie franchise like Star Wars, or it can mean lust for a drug, a person, an object, or a stranger.</p><p>This imprecise definition didn’t exist in the oldest manuscripts of the words of our Master, Jesus, which were preserved in Greek. </p><p>Love most often was conveyed in the Gospel books with a word, agape [agapaō] which means a pure, all-consuming love. </p><p>It’s this word that is used when Jesus calls us to, "Love Yahweh, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." And, "Love your neighbor as yourself."</p><p>It was not limited to our friends, or to those who love us, because it’s agape that is used when Jesus says “Love your enemies.” (Matt. 5:43)</p><p>The Fourth Gospel records, “For God so loved the world,” using that same word, agape, showing that God has deep, abiding and unlimited love for us. God chose and sent out Jesus as our special example to us, so that we might not live in darkness, but in light</p><p>But it’s not just God than can show this love, however. We are called by Jesus to “Love one another; JUST as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)</p><p>The fact that we are to love “JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU” is a powerful calling to us. We are told by Jesus that we may indeed love just as he loved; act just as he acted; serve just as he served. Our love is to have no bounds, just as Jesus’ love had no bounds.</p><p>This is all important to understand, given the many misconceptions about “love” – even among those who attend the churches of Christendom today – and even among those who do not.</p><p>"Love" having so many meanings, many today believe the love we are called to show is the shallow love we have for food, movies and other things with which we have a strong emotional attachment.</p><p>It would be a serious mistake, however, to assume that ALL we must do is express a light, shallow Love towards God and towards others. "Love is All You Need" is the name of an awesome Beatles song about emotional attachment between two lovers, not the imperative that Jesus calls us to embrace.</p><p>The Power of Love, the kind of Love that God shows us through His son, Jesus, is the kind of Love that is deep, unattached to emotions. It’s not an erotic love, or a shallow love, or a "love" that has no meaning or caring behind it, but it is instead the deepest and most pure Love there is. </p><p>This kind of Love must be the cornerstone of our faith. Love of God and love of our neighbors is what Jesus calls us to actively show in our daily lives.</p><p>The faith that Jesus teaches challenges us to love God so much that we love others just as God does, and show it by doing Good Works in the service of others.</p><p>And we are called to love and obey God and serve others, using Jesus' perfect example as our guide, and then we are to accept that GOD ALONE is our judge, and our God is a God of mercy, if we ask for it.</p><p>"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me." (John 14:21)</p><p>"If you keep my commandments," says Jesus, "you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." (John 15:10)</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-79402045973691725002024-02-04T18:42:00.000-05:002024-02-04T18:42:40.262-05:00Be Blameless, Upright Says The Psalms [JesusFollowers]<p>Be Blameless, Upright Says The Psalms [JesusFollowers Weekly Message]:</p><p>PSALM 37:37 "Mark the perfectly blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for those who seek peace."</p><p>In this psalm, as indeed in many passages of scripture, we find a variety of contrasted characters, interspersed with much serious observation on the different circumstances that await them in the future world. As we generally form the best judgment from comparison , this is a method frequently adopted in the sacred text.</p><p>The good and the bad are exemplified and described . To each is the mirror held up in turn, that every man may discover his own form and features, and learn to distinguish what manner of person they are. By such means we see more distinctly what is good and what is evil; which actions to studiously pursue, and which to strongly avoid. </p><p>We perceive more clearly that sin is odious and disgraceful, as goodness is amiable and engaging; engaging, that impiety is full of misery and danger, that to walk in the way of sinners is to expose ourselves to the displeasure of omnipotence, to an infinity of anguish and remorse. </p><p>On the other hand, if we choose the better, God, Himself will be our portion, and the lot of our inheritance. The tranquillity of an unruffled spirit will support us in all the trials and troubles of life; and when called to leave the world , we shall sink into eternal rest " Mark the perfect human being, and behold the upright , for the end of that one is peace. "</p><p>The word Perfect may at first sight appear strange when applied to a human character ; but it is certainly not improper if rightly understood. To be perfect absolutely and without exception or limitation, is indeed no attribute of humanity, nor can belong to any but those who dwell in light, to which no mortal can approach. But to every creature belongs a perfection proper to itself.</p><p>There is a perfection in excellence , in capacity , and in usefulness, according to itsrespective rank in the scale of being, which may be applied to every race of creatures upon earth. </p><p>There is therefore, of course, a moral , or to speak more properly, a Christian perfection, which everyone who wishes it may attain, and to which it is his duty to aspire . And this consists in the cultivation of the Christian attitude in the imitation of Jesus; in such a way that is acceptable to God, and will have a constant tendency to prepare us for the happiness of the life to come, as well as good and useful citizens of the Kingdom here and now. </p><p>The first thing I shall notice in this character of a perfect human is the principle of integrity, that upright conscientious Spirit which is essential to the Christian a ttitude, and without which there can be no religion. </p><p>I must here remind you how often this is mentioned in scripture with marks of particular approbation . In describing one of the first and most exemplary characters of ancient times, it is said that he was " perfect and upright ," the very description in the text ; a man who “ feared God and eschewed evil. " </p><p>Then we may observe, that according to this representation of things, it is impossible for a human to fear God and to depart from evil, except he be at the same time a sincere and upright character. These must go together.</p><p>The tree must be good if we look for excellence in the fruit. practice must partake the quality of the principle.</p><p>Adapted from a sermon PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF SUNDERLAND, Sunday, November the 9th, 1800. BY JOHN HAMPSON , M. A.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-11452256587919353882024-01-28T08:00:00.011-05:002024-01-28T08:00:00.448-05:00What We Really Need #Jesus Followers <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgwRZmATJAGK5QMOlT6w6x9HPb5EVP7F03kcf9RrF2eccAPPaBR9pXRitRcBqO-N06hG3fKGbZwjcFHn8p0mo-HsiZo5xqubWRdxtTYO3YeYVXopWXAAB8Lpc059N_eff9N9NdWf1ZEgeX7q6pDAaJeU8qCTv6Va5L7sjpfOHTVlOnXHkj729Q8xUI7s/s589/JF_YourLifeDoesNotConsistPossessions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="589" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgwRZmATJAGK5QMOlT6w6x9HPb5EVP7F03kcf9RrF2eccAPPaBR9pXRitRcBqO-N06hG3fKGbZwjcFHn8p0mo-HsiZo5xqubWRdxtTYO3YeYVXopWXAAB8Lpc059N_eff9N9NdWf1ZEgeX7q6pDAaJeU8qCTv6Va5L7sjpfOHTVlOnXHkj729Q8xUI7s/w400-h264/JF_YourLifeDoesNotConsistPossessions.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><br /> "Take what belongs to you and go." - </i><i>Matt. 20:14; "Your Father knows what you need befre you ask him." Matt. 6:8</i><div><p></p><p>There is a large number of things in the world which we can get by on very well without. There is also a large number of things which we covet because we think they're necessary to our happiness, but which we really do not need. Lastly, there are a few things, but only a few, which we must have in order to make our lives what God intended they should be.</p><p>A large part of our discontent comes from not having what we ourselves think we ought to have, but what God evidently regards as unnecessary to our development. This difference of opinion between us and the Almighty is the fruitful source of much human misery. We demand that He shall agree with us, whereas it is clearly our duty to agree with Him. Our ignorance is the standard by which we measure His.</p><p>Yet if one of our children took the same attitude toward us, it would nearly break our hearts. Instead of accepting what comes and making the best of it, we constantly pray that God will do what we want to have done, and because the prayer is not answered we not only grow spiritually cold, but open the door to a great many doubts, which literally freeze the nobler part of our natures.</p><p>If a trainee should come into our warehouse or manufacturing plant and ask us to conduct our business on the basis of his inexperience rather than on that of our hard-earned knowledge, the difference between us and God is that we should indignantly eject him, whereas God pities us for doing precisely the same thing. </p><p>The forbearance of the Almighty with our wilfulness and conceit, His everlasting patience with us under such circumstances, is one of the most wonderful facts of the universe, and one of the most thrilling and startling.</p><p>Human life may be reverently compared to an opera. God is the author of the music, and He gives each person a part to take. Religion is simply the drill-master, who constantly enjoins upon us the necessity of strictly following the score, and constantly insists that we cannot make changes in the score without injuring the unity of the production. Of course I do not refer to the formulas of religion, but to its essence. </p><p>The formulas are simply certain men's opinions of religion, or possibly their prejudices, while its essence is contained in the statement that the author of the opera knows better how it should be rendered than you do.</p><p>But suppose each singer should insist on singing in accordance with his own interpretation, and suppose further that you had the impression that these various and discordant interpretations represented the author and not the personal peculiarities of the singers, what a strange piece of music it would all be, and what a queer idea of the author the listener would have! </p><p>Well, that is precisely what we are doing all the time in matters of religion, and that is why we make of it such a jumble and jangle. Sing the music as it was written, and it is exquisitely beautiful and uplifting; but let it be sung as each individual thinks it ought to be sung, and the discord becomes deafening and disheartening.</p><p>Our real wants are very few, though we are apt to think they are very many. We can be happy - this is true of at least nine tenths of the world - with what we have if we know how to make the most of it and the best of it. It takes but little to make the soul content if we do not try to make our avarice and our envy contented also. </p><p>When we begin to count the things we ought to have, we begin to be miserable, but when we begin to be thankful for the things we really possess, we begin to be happy. You do not need wealth, nor yet fame, nor a palace, nor a park. </p><p>If you have a shelter and have made that shelter a home, if you have dear ones whose love is trustful and confiding, whose lives are woven into yours by threads of steel, pray what more is there to ask for? </p><p>If you are not happy here, then, you can hardly expect to be happy in heaven, for heaven has only love to offer, thru heavenly treasures we have built up on the earth, not Earthly treasures, which we cannot take with us there. (Matt. 619-20.) </p><p>(<i>Adapted from a sermon by Rev. George Hughes Hepworth (1833-1902), in the 1894 book, "Herald Sermons") </i></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-3193338665334669032024-01-21T08:00:00.012-05:002024-01-21T08:00:00.270-05:00"And I Will Give You Rest" #JesusFollowers<p><i style="font-family: inherit;"></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj-oUNTeoEIEMHWHPA2fFSkKmmMjtItnfgLFxc_0DL2T2UDavlKiDUcAA6A9sIRG0rP5lT-0tVPq2lj3k-2BR8ybQuPQ7nDIC3Kgg5JR3OJSeJLsQFyUnN_U9cF4EuhneRsikY88CfAZxFIXeKCMQEiUOMjhzpKgXuOVNnLBJVouZl82XBlaJrKbPsOg/s315/FB_IMG_1699471742335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="315" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj-oUNTeoEIEMHWHPA2fFSkKmmMjtItnfgLFxc_0DL2T2UDavlKiDUcAA6A9sIRG0rP5lT-0tVPq2lj3k-2BR8ybQuPQ7nDIC3Kgg5JR3OJSeJLsQFyUnN_U9cF4EuhneRsikY88CfAZxFIXeKCMQEiUOMjhzpKgXuOVNnLBJVouZl82XBlaJrKbPsOg/w400-h392/FB_IMG_1699471742335.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></div><p></p><p><i style="font-family: inherit;"><b>“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)</b></i></p><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div>To come unto Jesus is to believe in his Divinely appointed mission and Authority; to believe in his promises, and to make use of such assistance as his religion offers. </div><div><br /></div><div>By giving rest is meant, either deliverance from the sorrows which before afflicted us, or the aid of such encouragements and motives to bear them, that the pain and weight which before distressed might be lightened, and ease of mind take place of former disturbance; and that it is our object, to show what these encouragements and motives are, and what is the nature of the relief which his religion may be expected to give.</div><div><br /></div><div>The burdens under which we labor, from which the Gospel may be expected to relieve, are chiefly those of a moral nature, arising from a consciousness of guilt, and fear of the Divine displeasure; from a sense of the dominion and power of sin, the prevalence of temptation, and the strength of evil habits; or from a sense of the weakness of already-formed resolutions, and the too frequent defects in our duty.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some persons who are yet awakened to a sense of sin are still oppressed with the weighty burden of moral uneasiness and distress from the dominion and power of sin, the prevalence of temptations, and the strength of their vicious habits.</div><div><br /></div><div>When the eyes are opened to a conviction of guilt, and liableness to the righteous judgments of God, Conscience then begins to be uneasy at the view of the present tyranny and absolute possession which sin retains over it. It then begins to feel the truth of our Savior's words (John 8:34) “Whosoever commits sin " (that is, habitually) the same is the servant, or slave, of sin." </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="-evernote-highlight: true; background-color: #fffaa5;">We know that God has declared that He will reject all who continue to sin, and though we are taught to hope that He will forgive sins that are past, it is only on our sincere repentance; and no repentance can be admitted as sincere, which is not followed by newness of life.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>As, then, we cherish any hopes of the mercy, acceptance, and favor of God, we must necessarily see all the reason in the world to be uneasy at the continuance of the power and dominion of sin in ourselves; because it puts an effectual bar in the way of all our hopes, both of the pardon of sins past, and of the final acceptance of God. </div><div><br /></div><div>Let us then enquire what means Jesus has provided to deliver those from the dominion and power of sin, who come unto him, by a steady faith in his Divine Mission, and an attitude to submit to his authority and government.</div><div><br /></div><div>First, His holy laws give us a clear and full view both of sin and duty; they leave us at no uncertainty concerning either the one or the other. They represent sin in all its odiousness and deformity, and duty in all its genuine beauty and loveliness.</div><div><br /></div><div>And it must be obvious how great a help it is towards a right conduct, to have a clear knowledge of what is right and wrong - and that it is a happy step towards a recovery from what is evil, to have a knowledge of what is evil, and conviction of the happiness of what is good.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="-evernote-highlight: true; background-color: #fffaa5;">Jesus did not fail to give us light and instruction. So let not us fail ourselves by not making use of his assistance to turn from away from darkness and towards God.</span> Let's fortify ourselves with all those holy doctrines and precepts which are particularly levelled against those sins which most easily afflict us.</div><div><br /></div><div>The religion of Jesus furnishes us with many ways to assist us to overcome the dominion and power of sin. The chief cause of the prevalence of temptation, and the support of the dominion of sin, is the neglect of cultivating the habit of reflection, and patient serious consideration. We are not lacking sufficient light to inform us of moral evil, or of motives to dissuade us from the commission of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Gospel furnishes us with both in great abundance. Jesus has offered to us every instruction and every motive calculated to produce the most desirable effects. There lacks nothing but our own attention and sincere belief.</div><div><br /></div><div>He assures us that God has now established His own Kingdom among us, and calls us to be subjects of it; that the goal of this Kingdom is to make us a holy people.</div><div><br /></div><div>That though He has promised the pardon of sin to the penitent, yet this by no means encourages us to continue in sin, but that, on the contrary, the mercy of God is of no use unless it leads us to repentance and a new life.</div><div><span style="-evernote-highlight: true; background-color: #fffaa5;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-evernote-highlight: true; background-color: #fffaa5;">Let us, therefore, come to Jesus by a diligent inquiry into his precepts: let us cultivate a teachable attitude; and with it, diligently search his will.</span></div><div><span style="-evernote-highlight: true; background-color: #fffaa5;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-evernote-highlight: true; background-color: #fffaa5;">Let his word be the subject of our frequent enquiry, and let it dwell in us by frequent recollection and meditation. Let us by this means get his laws written, not only on the leaves of our Bibles, but on our memories, and the tables of our hearts; that we may always have them at hand on every emergency, to be able to confront every temptation with an appropriate command of Jesus.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><i>(Adapted from the collected sermons of Rev. William Turner, Jr., 1839)</i></div></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-50935922711303738662024-01-14T08:00:00.028-05:002024-01-14T08:00:00.317-05:00Evidence of The Truth of Jesus's Gospel [#JesusFollowers]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kub2jCv0l4Ea024uyfC4AP02U9XaXwJwrpIXLgXTppiAnFWZSZzZKy9d9sQ_WWUB3NhuJm47heUTOiLdCyPfPEMAxRVxPeJzgEuoLUzUF0tFa6AZsVnpDIMiZ2aATPywgkPI47tSqhcCn6rmlF5cg32Rqd3_dq5zW041UNgawx-Nq71WBosSy1E0a4k/s676/Undergroundrailr00lcstil_0712_Furness.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="482" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kub2jCv0l4Ea024uyfC4AP02U9XaXwJwrpIXLgXTppiAnFWZSZzZKy9d9sQ_WWUB3NhuJm47heUTOiLdCyPfPEMAxRVxPeJzgEuoLUzUF0tFa6AZsVnpDIMiZ2aATPywgkPI47tSqhcCn6rmlF5cg32Rqd3_dq5zW041UNgawx-Nq71WBosSy1E0a4k/w143-h200/Undergroundrailr00lcstil_0712_Furness.jpg" width="143" /></a></div><p>The study for many years of the internal evidence of the truth of the Gospels has resulted in a conclusion as to their truth, which my aim now is to set before you to the best of my ability. </p><p>I confidently trust that it will be accepted by you all, however skeptical you may be, as to the truth in regard to the contents and origin of the four Gospels. This most satisfactory conclusion is simply this:</p><p>The Religion for which Jesus lived and suffered death was, in all respects, perfectly natural, as natural as the rising of the sun. </p><p>What he is recorded in the Gospels to have said is in close conformity to the laws of Nature. His works were extraordinary natural facts. He declared they were done by God. And as explicitly he said that they were wrought as God always works, by a law of Nature, by the highest law of Nature, the law of the Supremacy of mind over matter, of Spirit over the flesh.</p><p>Humans are naturally possessed of reason and conscience, enabling us to know the right from the wrong, to hate the one, and to love the other. He is possessed also of instinctive sympathies, which bind men to mutual help by the ties of kindred, of family, and of a common nature.</p><p>Thus are we provided with the instruments and opportunities for that Humane Spirit: the Spirit of Love, for which Jesus lived and died, the Holy Spirit of God, the Divine Force, present in us as in everything that exists.</p><p>But in this world, we are in our infancy. In the earliest times, although the highest and best in us was only feebly developed, he saw, indeed, that there were invisible Powers over all. </p><p>The manifold evils of life, physical, moral, intellectual; earthquakes, inundations, evils terrible in their consequences, sweeping away thousands of creatures, appalled him, and his startled imagination saw in these convulsions of Nature and in the devastation of the mystery of death, the power of unseen gods, expressing their wrath and cruelty, just as men do. Thus what was named religion was polytheistic and anthropomorphic.</p><p>Amidst the teeming mysteries of Being, one thing, however, is discernible. Throughout the Universe there is apparent a purpose, or tendency, out of good to evolve a better, even the worst working to the same end, slowly, indeed, but in the Supreme Power's own good time. </p><p>Accordingly, it has come to be thought that man has descended (or rather ascended) from well-nigh the lowest forms of being-from the ascidian and the ape. In the primitive, prehistoric ages, reason and conscience being very feebly developed in them, men became the victims of an inflamed imagination.</p><p>And they saw in the terrible mysteries of suffering and death, the agency of a multitude of invisible Powers, wreaking upon man their wrath and vengeance. Thus he created gods after his own likeness.</p><p>Among the ancient nations the Hebrews believed in only one Supreme God, the Sovereign Power over all. Prophets and seers among them caught flashes of great truths of the duties of man. In their Scriptures a sense of justice and humanity appears.</p><p>At last, two thousand years ago, there appeared the Man of Nazareth. The religion of his country had then become a thing of childish rites and traditions, passing over Justice and the Love of God. </p><p>It was insisted that eating with unwashed hands, or with people of other nations, was sinful in the sight of God. It taught that it was a more sacred duty to give money for the support of the temple worship and of the priests than to honor and support one's aged parents.</p><p>Jesus had penetrated to the heart of the old Hebrew faith, and had found in it the two great Commandments, enjoining the supreme love of the Highest and Best, and the love of one's neighbor as of oneself.</p><p>He was thus enabled to distinguish what he conceived to be the essential soul of the religion of his country, not by any miraculous illumination from Heaven, but by his native, original insight into the human soul. </p><p>Human beings are variously gifted, in greater or less degree. Jesus was thus endowed by God with an extraordinary religious genius, so to speak. He saw the Spirit of God in every human being the undying Life of the Creator, distinguishing humanity from every other created being of which we have any knowledge.</p><p>-Adapted from, "A Washington Address," (1895) by Rev. William Henry Furness (1802-1896)</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-12112188960671882792024-01-07T08:00:00.001-05:002024-01-07T08:00:00.243-05:00A Faith That Works #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU70x9CpWFSmhYmgwg5U_gkMtmS-lmgsNEJ0f9rX_OOX6GOt3Bf9DqMH8phwR-phz-SzBp9LxMiKhH-w3Mms-WXw6h4px14pnBjKfgzE4yw3THLrpr3_LmRBlepLKa3X_6mjsshyphenhyphenR222g/s1600/JF_OurTeacherChallengesSeekDo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU70x9CpWFSmhYmgwg5U_gkMtmS-lmgsNEJ0f9rX_OOX6GOt3Bf9DqMH8phwR-phz-SzBp9LxMiKhH-w3Mms-WXw6h4px14pnBjKfgzE4yw3THLrpr3_LmRBlepLKa3X_6mjsshyphenhyphenR222g/s1600/JF_OurTeacherChallengesSeekDo.png" width="320" /></a></p><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Without action, nothing is achieved. </span>Jesus told a parable in which a king left a group of servants in charge of some money. The ones who invested and used it were praised upon his return. Those who did nothing and hid the money were scolded.<br /><br />The same is true with our Faith in God, Whom Jesus reveals to us through his teachings, life and death. <span style="background-color: yellow;">We are saved from sin in this life, and eternally, only by the teachings and example of Jesus.</span><br /><br />A Faith that rests in smug complacency and pride fails. A Faith that puts our talents to work and tests us makes us spiritually stronger.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus calls us to run, to achieve, to do, to act, to work, to become better, to seek out truth, to be righteous, to be humble, to worship and praise our God, and to love others.</span><br /><br />And our works have eternal consequences, as well as being of great benefit to others around us right now.<br /><br />This is a world desperately in need of a deep, loving faith that can work righteousness in the heart as well as in the mind. It needs a Kingdom of Godly men and women who actively feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, bind up the broken-hearted and tend to the ill. This is the very mission Jesus tells us he was sent to proclaim by his, and our, Creator.<br /><br />Mere platitudes and a religion based upon “instant salvation,” which leaves our neighbors unloved, unserved, and falsely assured of eternity, cheats both them and us out of experiencing the Kingdom that Jesus announced as his mission.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus taught clearly that we are saved eternally by God according to our works </span>(though not by others' opinions of our works, nor by our high opinion of our own works, nor by how loudly we perform our works.)<br /><br />God alone judges our Works, but it's clear from Jesus' teachings that mere good intentions alone do not save us, nor do they bring about God's Kingdom on earth.<br /><br />There is no other teaching claiming the name ‘Christianity” that leads to salvation other than the words of Jesus, our Master. <span style="background-color: yellow;">All we need to know about God’s Will for us was revealed in the words and example of Jesus, the one God adopted, chose and commissioned to preach to us.</span><br /><br />So, when we encounter what is claimed to be the Gospel, if it fails to challenge us to pursue Good Works, we know that it's a false and easy Faith we've encountered – a wide and false gate, rather than the Gospel preached from the very mouth of Jesus.<br /><br />That's because Jesus clearly calls us to an active Faith - a Faith that Works. It's a challenge worth accepting and worth LIVING. It leads to a spiritually complete life and to eternal life.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus is a teacher who challenges us, his students, to become spiritually complete by actively seeking and doing Righteousness.</span><br /><br />“For I have given you an example,” says our Master, “that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:15)<br /><br />Jesus preached in order to challenge us to seek spiritual completeness, and calls us today to be examples in his name. And he, as a human being, demonstrated that we can follow him in all things.<br /><br />To imagine Jesus teaches anything less is to make him and his teachings into something small, and his Faith into something light, unimportant, and easy to obtain.<br /><br />We must not degrade Jesus' teachings and the Faith that he proclaimed to the world in this way. <span style="background-color: yellow;">And we should not settle for a Faith that doesn't Work Righteousness in this world, which desperately needs it.</span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-28853600708798640112023-12-31T08:00:00.005-05:002023-12-31T08:00:00.145-05:00The Proper Humanity of Jesus #JesusFollowers<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">We’re invited by Jesus Christ to imitate God; to strive to become, “perfect even as our Father who is in heaven is perfect,” (Matt. 5:48) who “is kind to the unthankful and the evil,” (Luke 6:35.) But it’s obvious that this imitation can’t apply to the natural attributes of God: the self-existence, eternity, power, and presence which belong to God and God alone.</span></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgGqyODygZE27JG78uVZ_svjirOeS2OcLnFiHdIctP47i8SKhl69VX0nwkmYXld1_wH5iJ7A3Fk3ibZi8tSENImvN9E7z3R8XOVwvt17P4qyJUsLsl4I1KeAHOiu_w1i6O8ZVqNBLhs4/s1600/jesuspainting.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgGqyODygZE27JG78uVZ_svjirOeS2OcLnFiHdIctP47i8SKhl69VX0nwkmYXld1_wH5iJ7A3Fk3ibZi8tSENImvN9E7z3R8XOVwvt17P4qyJUsLsl4I1KeAHOiu_w1i6O8ZVqNBLhs4/s320/jesuspainting.jpg" width="242" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">And our imitation even of His moral perfections is, admittedly, so feeble and faint in the very best of humanity that had Scripture not enjoined the duty, we’d neither have noticed nor dared to aspire to such ideals.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet, we need the stimulus of an example more approachable by our sympathies and level to our nature. We need to see in what sense, and to what extent, Humanity may be like God. We need one specimen exhibited to us of human nature actually made perfect, bearing the brightest transcript possible of all the imitable perfections of our Father in Heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And this need is supplied by the history of Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But not if he was in person Divine and Human at once. If his example is both Divine and Human we could neither confidently distinguish which is imitable, nor sufficiently discriminate how much is beyond our reach. Nor, if he was an angel, or any being except a man. The virtues of angels are not imitable by us in the way we require.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus is not in nature an angel, but of the seed of Abraham (and indeed, of Adam.) “Wherefore it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.” (Heb. 2:16-17.) His example is itself human duty exhibited in human life – duty fulfilled with matchless fidelity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But we’re trained to look upon Jesus as we might upon a visitor from another planet – a creature of a superior order of being, the splendor of whose angelic character we must admire with a distant and detached feeling of wonder. It’s not only a theological, but a practical, mistake that makes the character of Jesus an object of distant reverential wonder, rather than one for direct emulation, or his example a matter of vague contemplation and admiring sentimentality, rather than direct practical imitation. This should not be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That Jesus should be a perfect example for all men, throughout all time, to look up to and obey, it was necessary for the validity of his example that he should be really and properly human.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When we speak of the imitableness of Jesus’ character, and rest this assertion on the belief that he was a man “tempted in all points as we are,” we aren’t forgetting he was a Prophet, mightier in word and deed than any God had ever sent before.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The example of Jesus is entirely human, and strictly imitable in every respect. That sublime character was strictly of natural growth, under supernatural influences.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">The Prophet's amazing commission from God acted upon Jesus, the Man, to produce a pattern so far advanced above all men to furnish all the world, for all ages, a Standard of human Excellence.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Those who profess a religious horror at the doctrine of Christ's Humanity, don’t know of its full worth. The Character and Example of our Savior, viewed as strictly and properly human, and therefore properly imitable by men, have in them a storehouse of virtuous influences, which, when transferred into our own characters, renders him his highest glory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The great religious advantage of this “peculiar doctrine” of proper humanity, is that it allows our Master to be what he’s not in any other system: a true Example for Humanity. An example of perfected human nature, to guide our conduct here, and to animate our faith as to what we may become hereafter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-family: inherit;">Christ's virtues, however exalted, are properly imitated; his perfect example is designed to be our guide. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-family: inherit;">He will "hold us by the hand,” will help, guide, and support us, not with an angel's touch (for he helps not angels - and will perform upon us no miracle, and not operate upon us like a magic charm) but will help us as the wisest and holiest of the sons of Adam may help his less experienced brethren.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He will counsel, admonish, reprove and encourage, as one tried and perfected, helping the yet imperfect struggling with their trials and temptations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">His example ought to help us in our duties and our difficulties, to regulate the state of our minds, and suggest the principles of our conduct. Only then do we make the proper application of this great spiritual truth, that Jesus exhibited a perfect model of human duty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br />- Adapted from “Christ Imitable; The Religious Value of Christ’s Proper Humanity” by Rev. Edward Higginson (1807-1880)</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-24400305915954225842023-12-24T08:00:00.005-05:002023-12-24T08:00:00.132-05:00Let Us "Welcome" The Adult #Jesus Too! #JesusFollowers <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR8ZeEHzxkV29fbBqQ1Eo6DdBr0kCtOK3nVEpSMjmA9ayqwJJdeP0EwbzESl4aRkNT6Oynh3Q7xlmnPsRZWbXq1V1v-OdotFERZLH2LW3AyfJbYRHOAmEzGwuQMM2ybr3OJNcO9sp93no/s280/JF_DontCelebrateJesusBirth_chrsty.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="280" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR8ZeEHzxkV29fbBqQ1Eo6DdBr0kCtOK3nVEpSMjmA9ayqwJJdeP0EwbzESl4aRkNT6Oynh3Q7xlmnPsRZWbXq1V1v-OdotFERZLH2LW3AyfJbYRHOAmEzGwuQMM2ybr3OJNcO9sp93no/w400-h307/JF_DontCelebrateJesusBirth_chrsty.png" width="400" /></a></p><p>Tomorrow, on Christmas Day, we "welcome" Jesus into the world along with Christendom. This is a Jesus we already know, a man fully grown and with whom we are more than acquainted.</p><p dir="ltr">This isn't a baby we must perpetually welcome into our homes. In the rest of the Gospels, we are confronted instead with the adult Jesus.</p><p dir="ltr">Meeting this adult Jesus is difficult for many, and even frightens them to meet him as an adult and not a helpless, unassuming child, a God-man who need only be worshiped, not a master we are compelled to obey.</p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The adult Jesus scared the religious elites of his day because of what he asked, just as he scares the religious elites of today.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><b>Jesus is an adult whom we must each decide whether to ignore, or to serve as our Master and exemplar, as God intended us to do.</b></span></p><p dir="ltr">If we claim his name, and wish to be identified with it, we must not assume that admiring a baby in a manger is what God wishes. </p><p dir="ltr">We must not delude ourselves that admiration - or even worship - is alone sufficient. We cannot ignore the adult Jesus, or prefer the baby instead of the adult.</p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The adult Jesus is hidden away by the religious elites. He scares them, as he did 2,000 years ago.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">A fully human Jesus, fully grown, with a clearly understood, fully formed mission and a challenging religion of Good Works, scares them EVEN MORE! But that is exactly what he taught.</span></p><p dir="ltr">So this adult Jesus isn't celebrated at Christmas. At all. And he rarely, if ever, makes an appearance the rest of the year, either.</p><p dir="ltr">So, just who is this Jesus?</p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Jesus, the adult, was of course born a baby, but he was born fully a human, of human parents, just as we were born. (He was recognized as such in the Gospels by his neighbors, by the Disciples, and by his parents.)</span></p><p dir="ltr">He grew in the knowledge of God and gained wisdom; he pleased God in all he did. When he became an adult, he was chosen at his baptism and anointed by God to be our Master, our Teacher, our Template and the Example of how a human being should live for the glory of God and most beneficially for our fellow human beings.</p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">This Jesus is not the one created for us by Priests whom we must simply admire and worship from afar; unable to obey, unable to follow because he is so different, so distant, so alien.</span></p><p dir="ltr">We may instead celebrate this Jesus - a man called and chosen by God - whom we can fully love as our elder brother, and the one whom we can actively follow as our example in all things. We may become more like God because one of us has done it already, setting the example towards which we may strive.</p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Let us remember the birth, but also the adult life, of THIS Jesus, a Jesus worth celebrating on Christmas Day, and every day.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-38245113240145929882023-12-17T08:00:00.017-05:002023-12-17T08:00:00.287-05:00The Attainment And Use Of Gospel Knowledge #Jesus Followers<p><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6dJIwSCMm3sDhpACZka7lT2Z6lkEhcTzBJUEUSishU7taifQCEbzOxbCUPBBrpqHBBmDBHZgqw99L8_pxn8W43vEENpM4t-q9k7wU1xeb-KBzmJ2BA21SklWJFpKYia9dMuqEHl7-Zo036eizmzGtAhGFs59wDZ4HzOY1y2QHxcfJQtHTtji0VROfig/s1243/20230725_164117.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="1243" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6dJIwSCMm3sDhpACZka7lT2Z6lkEhcTzBJUEUSishU7taifQCEbzOxbCUPBBrpqHBBmDBHZgqw99L8_pxn8W43vEENpM4t-q9k7wU1xeb-KBzmJ2BA21SklWJFpKYia9dMuqEHl7-Zo036eizmzGtAhGFs59wDZ4HzOY1y2QHxcfJQtHTtji0VROfig/w400-h321/20230725_164117.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The Gospel of Jesus was certainly a plain doctrine at first, and in general readily and easily understood by those who heard it.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">No one can doubt this who reads the accounts how and to whom it was preached by Jesus. Indeed, it is hard to believe that in a revelation of His will, intended for all humanity, the Almighty Being would fail to find a spokesman to speak clearly on His behalf, so that He would be understood by all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Not that everything is so obvious and upon the surface, to offer itself to us without any thought or labor. It is not the way of the Almighty to easily bestow anything that is good or excellent upon his creatures.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nor can we understand the Scriptures without taking the necessary pains, attending to the phrases and customs of the times in which our Master preached.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But by this exertion of ourselves, along with a sincere desire to become pious, wise, and good, we cannot fail to succeed. And we shall be let into all the Truth that is needful for our fulfilment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">It is a bad symptom in any person to see them lazily acquiesce to the surface principles of their faith without examining them, whether well or ill founded, and making their religion a series of thoughtless assents to forms, traditions, and doctrines to which they have been accustomed, without any serious application to the practice of piety and virtue.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">There is more hope for persons living in open vice coming to their right mind and being awakened to see their errors and be reformed, than those people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">There were men of this character from among the Jews and of the heathen world, who were satisfied with themselves that everything taught to them in their youth was right and true, and nothing further needed to be learned. They rejected without inquiry the teachings of Jesus, and to their utmost, they opposed his teachings.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">And thus, all spiritual improvement for them was at an end.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Religion, divine truth, the way to please God, is not the objective of life to such persons. What was instilled into them when they were young was to ill-serve them throughout life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">They were always to remain children. But the Gospel exhorts us to a diligent and careful search after truth, and to grow in knowledge and all wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Not, indeed, to employ ourselves on barren useless speculations, merely to gratify our curiosity; but on such points that relate to a holy life and practice, and are of the utmost consequence to our true happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">We are to seek out: What directions God has given for our conduct, by whom it is that He has revealed himself to us, and what assistances He has taught us to look for in the way of our duty. Finally, we seek after what motives and promises God has laid before us to encourage us in it in all circumstances, to strengthen us against dangerous temptations, to calm and moderate our affections, to give comfort under the unavoidable ills and calamities of life, and carry us safely hereafter to some better state.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the knowledge to which Jesus invites us in his Gospel, in which we are to make advances, and surely, we would find much more knowledge to attain, if our lives were greatly extended.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">A review of our own errors and recovery from them contributes a method to endear the truth to us, and to confirm us in it. In this way, our wise and good Creator give us a method to produce the greatest good out of the errors and mistakes into which we have fallen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">And although we may at times be involved in darkness and perplexity, and our progress will not always be as rapid and continual as we could wish; yet by an honest, persevering diligence we shall get further into the daylight, and see our way clearer before us. We shall discern greater tokens of divine wisdom in the words of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And then we shall find fresh motives and encouragements to our duty, and be more and more animated in our task to overcome the world, and every obstacle that would divert us from the love of God and the obedience we owe to Him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">(Adapted from the sermons of Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, 1810)</span></i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-5792164258445765032023-12-10T08:00:00.014-05:002023-12-10T08:00:00.265-05:00We are Saved by Following the Example of Jesus! #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_9M5C6lE3AJ8y24ixPqly6zeLQsuNU_x4SFV7wumO99xgRSchsLpbe-mVIQbbFisqThpiUsqKBSfhXAYUaTaVjx-uLuKrUof0RuvZI3lqaQfg6G6TnKP5qx7Qw1Ufu09VsKNjtaOKb0/s1600/JF_LoveIstheLaw.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_9M5C6lE3AJ8y24ixPqly6zeLQsuNU_x4SFV7wumO99xgRSchsLpbe-mVIQbbFisqThpiUsqKBSfhXAYUaTaVjx-uLuKrUof0RuvZI3lqaQfg6G6TnKP5qx7Qw1Ufu09VsKNjtaOKb0/s320/JF_LoveIstheLaw.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus' idea of salvation centers in his idea of God.</span> His most characteristic description of God is as the bountiful Giver. With a liberal hand God pours out His blessings upon all people.<br /><br />His love is large and generous. He is ready and eager to bestow His gifts. This impulse to give and to bless springs from God's boundless, universal love.<br /><br />Jesus' favorite expression for this aspect of God's character is the term “Father.” As the Father, He loves and blesses all people - even His disobedient and sinful children. He yearns for the lost son and waits and watches for his return; He continues to love those who are indifferent, or even hostile, to His will, and sends His Son to seek and to save them.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Salvation means a life corresponding to this character of God.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> J</span>esus expressed it by the phrase "becoming sons of the Father" (Matt. 5:45.) Sonship in the Jewish mode of thought denotes moral kinship and likeness.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus presented a view of God designed to move the heart to penitence for sin and to gratitude and obedience. He set the highest value on small deeds, if done from love or compassion.</span><br /><br />Jesus illustrates in detail the elements which constitute this true righteousness or salvation. They are: humility, meekness, aspiration after goodness, mercifulness, purity, and peacemaking. These qualities constitute that real righteousness which is the passport into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 5:3-9, 20.)<br /><br />The man who fulfilled Jesus' law of neighbor love was he, social outcast though he was, who ministered to the poor sufferer at the roadside (Luke 10:36, 37.)<br /><br />The first and great commandment, which summarizes the whole import of the law and the prophets, is the law of love. In comparison with the requirements of this law, all sacrifices and other religious ceremonies are of little consequence.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Love is the law because it is the principle of God's own moral perfection.</span> God’s requirements are grounded in His nature.<br /><br />The life of love is the Godlike life, the life of sonship; it makes us members of the Kingdom of Heaven; it IS salvation.<br /><br />This teaching of Jesus does not minimize the requirements of holiness. If the statement of it appears to do so, this is due to the fact that Jesus does not separate righteousness from love, as later thought has done. To him these are never contrasting and rival terms.<br /><br />What, then, must a person do in order to be saved? They must repent of sins and forsake them. The first word in Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom was, "Repent" (Mk. 1:15). But <span style="background-color: yellow;">not only must we repent; we must turn (Mt. 18:3) — turn away from the old life, and in humility and self-surrender take up the life of obedience to God.</span> Our Master’s descriptions of the conditions of salvation are not abstract and formal, but concrete and realistic.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">It lay within the power of the erring son to forsake his evil life and escape his sinfulness by returning to his Father with a penitent and obedient heart.</span><br /><br />When one recalls the complicated theological discussions of Salvation, the teaching of Jesus on the subject does seem, in comparison, very simple.<br /><br />That’s because popular theological terminology for the subject is derived more from the language of others than from Jesus himself. Jesus did not analyze the process of attaining salvation, nor define its various steps and stages. He simply pictured the Father's house as standing open, and the Father's heart as ready and waiting to receive the wandering, lost son.<br /><br />Jesus calls sinners to repent. He demands moral purity, humility, charitableness, and kindred virtues, and does not hesitate to require "good works" in one who wishes to glorify the Father in Heaven (Matt. 5:16.) In one place he declares that only one who does the will of God can enter His Kingdom, and elsewhere he prescribes the law of service as the law of that Kingdom.<br /><br />When we further observe that he conceives his own mission as a mission to serve humanity, <span style="background-color: yellow;">we realize one of his saving works was to induce us, by example and influence, to live the Godlike life of self-giving, in which our true greatness and glory are found.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus saw his teaching and example as saving in their effect upon us.</span> He sought by these to strengthen in us the desires and efforts for a better life - the life of sonship to God.<br /><br />The life of Jesus, with its various expressions of itself in word and act, was a powerful saving agency in his time, and still remains so. <span style="background-color: yellow;">The teaching of Jesus gives us no warrant to speak flippantly, as is commonly done, of his "mere" example.</span><br /><br />Theology rarely takes time to mention the saving power of the personal influence of Jesus.<br /><br />But<span style="background-color: yellow;"> let us not minimize by silence or by qualifying words what Jesus placed in the very forefront of his message to humanity:</span> the declaration that the door of God's Kingdom stood open before them that they might enter then and there if they would, and that he had come to show them the way.<br /><br />Jesus says: I am the world's light; by me you can know the Father, God's Kingdom is in your midst - by such words as these Jesus announced a present salvation, available at this moment, and himself as the guide to its realization.<br /><br /><i>Adapted from “The Christian Doctrine of Salvation” (1917) by George Barker Stevens</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-47221501772439769122023-12-03T08:00:00.004-05:002023-12-03T11:18:55.252-05:00Using Our God-Given Salt, Sharing The Light #JesusFollowers <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1a5PG9wW0SSX4wn32E5bgrLPhjQqnAMtoOPA2AwzQYfnTYEM2Xiio1ErvXNpjnk6w4vRskDVPdPKlgYMBiG6s78XBCrGP8yHLoBjRMCjSN2wM_yerixBFUPhFITzjTO8zCeidM9tHvOHZi2M8YDUqHttYq2NodiU6IX8_DHuAP6iNxOppCRaSP9DH/s851/FBCOVER_SaltandLight.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="851" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1a5PG9wW0SSX4wn32E5bgrLPhjQqnAMtoOPA2AwzQYfnTYEM2Xiio1ErvXNpjnk6w4vRskDVPdPKlgYMBiG6s78XBCrGP8yHLoBjRMCjSN2wM_yerixBFUPhFITzjTO8zCeidM9tHvOHZi2M8YDUqHttYq2NodiU6IX8_DHuAP6iNxOppCRaSP9DH/w400-h148/FBCOVER_SaltandLight.PNG" width="400" /></a></p><p><i>Jesus said: "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world.... let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:13-16) (ESV)</i></p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">We are called by Jesus to be salt and light – salting the earth with goodness and enlightening it with righteous deeds But if our salt has become tasteless, what then?</span></p><p>What if we act without righteousness, or are so infrequent in our Good Deeds, that having they become pointless? Worse, what if we simply ignore Jesus’ call, because we have come to believe that this salt and light are unnecessary, never to be used at all in our lives?</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Jesus spoke to challenge us and calls us today to be examples in his name. As God’s chosen Prophet and Spokesman, Jesus authoritatively calls us to take up his challenge and to follow his example.</span></p><p>We are called to show by our ACTS that we are heeding his call, and are taking up his challenge – not in a prideful way, but in a way that is pleasing to God, our Creator.</p><p>Coming in the middle of Jesus’ powerful Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew, this is a clear and unambiguous call for us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world – letting our light shine before others.</p><p>It’s vital to understand that Jesus believes we are capable of doing Good Works for others in his name. In fact, he says we MUST seek to do these Good Works, if we claim to be his followers and wish to still call him “Master.” Some have denied this is necessary, but to deny what Jesus clearly says makes his call meaningless, and the salt worthless.</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">We have been given the gifts of salt – among them, the gifts of Jesus’ holy example and our God-given ability to choose righteousness over wickedness. But if we allow those gifts to become stale, either by throwing them on the ground to be trampled or pretend that we lack the ability to use them to do Good, then we've failed.</span></p><p>We've been given gifts of light – among them, Jesus’ teachings and our God-given ability of reason and knowledge. But is we convince ourselves that using them to serve others is unnecessary, or convince ourselves that Good Works are merely OPTIONAL things we do if we feel like it – then we make the Good and Beneficial Message (Gospel) of Jesus into a mockery.</p><p>Clearly, Jesus calls us to do good and great things to glorify God, our Heavenly Father, and as a fully human man himself, he has shown us that we, as human beings, are fully able to do great things on behalf of others. Let there, then, be no excuse to hide our gifts!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-72952776681683255102023-11-26T08:00:00.014-05:002024-02-19T06:42:33.703-05:00What Do We Owe God, And Others? #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4aZs_An_E1vVrBIHX9RXNwMgl-BKvckpuWM7uf0LT4yivfTsjdu-fpu7nrO6Ac8v0UgmWn3FXn7ScM33IlfQGvPvSiAxoo3DdN0vMLQz6ULzJ3yLkN8FEe0O3fOBVWbRftAKaEm1NP6I/s1600/JF_YourLifeDoesNotConsistPossessions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="589" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4aZs_An_E1vVrBIHX9RXNwMgl-BKvckpuWM7uf0LT4yivfTsjdu-fpu7nrO6Ac8v0UgmWn3FXn7ScM33IlfQGvPvSiAxoo3DdN0vMLQz6ULzJ3yLkN8FEe0O3fOBVWbRftAKaEm1NP6I/s400/JF_YourLifeDoesNotConsistPossessions.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><br />What do we owe to God? What do we owe to others? Many today might answer that we owe God and others nothing. Instead, they might say, we owe it to ourselves to focus on building up ourselves, alone.<br /><br />This message is reinforced in almost every aspect of the society we live in. Advertising tells us that we owe it to ourselves to Grant our every desire, without hesitation.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">We are told that we <b>deserve </b>every luxury and every Indulgence we can think of. It's very easy to fall into this trap, to believe that by gratifying ourselves that we will somehow be happy. </span><br /><br />Even some preachers teach that we owe it to ourselves to be rich - and that God endorses our quest for riches. They even say that our main religious goal in life is a Self-centered goal to "get saved," and save our souls for the next life. Once that's accomplished (and it's done quickly and easily, they claim - with just one prayer!) we may continue to focus on getting rich, and they tell us that we have no other obligations, to either God or other people.<br /><br />And many church leaders rarely speak of OUR duties, but speak of, and sing about, holding GOD to HIS promises to us, which seems backwards. <br /><br />But as we have seen again and again, people who have lived in luxury beyond our wildest dreams have the same feelings of unhappiness, of being unfulfilled, of feeling alone and unloved we all have.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">It's almost a stereotype and a truism that money and fame does not really bring happiness. And yet some still believe it, and chase that false hope.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">If we follow Jesus, however, then the question of what we owe God and what we owe others is a simple one to answer. We owe everything to God and we owe complete and total service to others in the name of Jesus, whom we serve.</span><br /><br />When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said that we are to love our God with all our hearts all our minds all our strength and all our understanding, and our neighbor as ourselves. (Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:37)<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Some say this is just a simplistic and easy summary of all the laws of God. And while it is a summary, for sure, it is not simplistic, but an incredible, powerful challenge that Jesus calls us to take up daily.</span><br /><br />Because <b>if we owe everything tGod, our creator, we will live our lives full of gratitude to him for this creation and for our lives in it. If we owe everything to others, we will serve them and love them and cherish them. We will do everything to comfort them to ensure they have what they need to survive and thrive in this world.</b><br /><br />When we understand that our lives here are meant to build up an Earthly kingdom of God, one that reflects the spiritual Perfection of our Creator, we will do all we can to alleviate others'<div> suffering, comfort those in pain, and fill the needs of </div><div><br /></div><div>those who lack basic necessities. (Matt. 6:10)<br /><br />This leaves little room for simply piling up riches. <span style="background-color: yellow;">In fact, Jesus repeatedly calls on us to reject riches for riches' sake, saying (perhaps most clearly) that it's easier for a rich man to go through the eye of needle than to enter into the Kingdom. (Mark 10:25) </span><br /><br />Perhaps not as well known, but just as important, is his warning that we ought to,<span style="background-color: #fcff01;"> "be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." (Luke 12:15)</span><br /><br />This is the selfless vision and the mission Jesus was sent out to preach. Jesus calls us to individually reach out to those among us and serve them. We literally owe it to others to do so. <br /><br />We as Jesus followers are called to deny ourselves, not focus on gratifying ourselves - to put others first, even ahead of our own enrichment. Jesus calls us to pick up the cross of service, the cross of love, the cross of self-sacrifice and love of our neighbor.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus actually warns AGAINST seeking to save oneself. To do so means we will actually lose ourselves. (Matt. 10:38-39) Jesus seemed to know that we lose our souls when we focus inward, not outward.</span><br /><br />And he specifically says that simple praise, crying out or reflexively using repetitive phrases or long prayers will not impress God, and will not save us, either. Only by doing what he commands us to do leads directly to Godliness, and pleases God. (Matt. 6:7; 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">We should seek to live in a way that lets God's spirit flow through us in the same way in which it flowed through Jesus, our Master. </span><br /><br />When we do this, we are obeying our Master, whom God sent to us as an example and our teacher. We are then telling God that we are living lives of gratitude and service, just as his chosen son, Jesus, called us to do.<br /><br />As his followers, we ought to do no less.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-63832435920623444552023-11-19T08:00:00.087-05:002023-11-19T08:00:00.134-05:00The Glory of Jesus [Jesus Followers]<p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Christ Jesus’s mission was to save sinners, by engaging them to turn from the evil of their ways, and to subject their characters and actions to the law of love</span> so, from hence, it will follow, that the only way in which he is, or can be glorified- by us, as our Savior, is, to let his Gospel have its due effect, and the purposes of his ministry be answered upon us and then we shall be the glory of Jesus. </p><p>It is not the giving our assent to collection of speculative propositions nor strong confidence that Jesus will save us, nor the being united to a society called by his name (Christian) nor the constant attendance upon a set of ceremonial observances; nor the being noisy and troublesome for him, thereby disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighborhood in which we live, nor the drinking toasts to the Church's prosperity.</p><p>Though by the way,the term, Church, in modern language, generally signifies the Clergy, the authority and rights of the Church being no other than the authority and rights of the Clergy nor the afflicting and grieving our fellow-creatures, upon Jesus's account, either because they are not Christians at all, or because they do not come up to our standard of Christianity.</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">It is not these, nor the zeal and resentment that frequently spring from them, which Jesus is glorified by. Some of these ministers are a shame and reproach to the Christian name, but: none of them minister to his praise.</span></p><p>Some of them reflect back great dishonor upon God and Jesus, with regard to their moral character, none of them add to their praise, byshowing them to be either wise or good. </p><p>The true way to glorify Jesus is to reflect seriously upon those important truths, which he hhas proclaimed to the world, and to let those truths have their proper influence upon our minds and lives; by changing us from disagreeable and hurtful, to agreeable and useful members of society, and then we shall add much glory to Jesus, our Master. </p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">For as he undertook to save sinners in this way .so when his end is thus answered, then it is, that Jesus is glorified by us, </span></p><p>Would we, then, answer the character of true Christians, and would we bring much glory to Jesus, our Master and Savior to let us reform our tempers and actions. Let us correct every disorderly, selfish, brutal, and inhuman appetite and passion and bring every thought into captivity to Christ's law of love. </p><p>Let us put on such temper and behavior, as will render us a blessing to all around us by removing every uneasiness and every impediment to their happiness, and by contributing all we can to their comfort and felicity.</p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">In a word, Let Jesus's Gospel have its due effect upon us, by making us good men, and then he will receive much glory from us we shall be The glory of Jesus, reflected upon the world.</span></p><p>Thus,. having gone through the several points which naturally offered themselves to be considered, from the words of the text; shall only make some short remarks from the whole, and so conclude. </p><p>First, observe that <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">though salvation is clearly described and evidently set forth by Jesus himself in his Gospel, yet nothing has been more generally mistaken. </span>Christians have chosen any, yes, every other easy way to salvation, than the way which Jesus has shown and recommended to them. </p><p><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">They would rather that Christ Jesus would save them, by acting mystically in them, or by doing good for them, or in any other way, than by his putting it upon themselves, to work out their own salvation. </span></p><p>But, alas, none of those easy ways can possibly do it. For as their sin and folly, which is the ground of divine displeasure, is the product of their own will and agency, so nothing but repentance and reformation, which is the product of their own will and agency, also, can be the ground and reason of God's mercy; and lovingkindness to them.</p><p><i>Adapted from a tract, "The Glory of Christ," by Thomas Chubb, 1754.</i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-17609238200210738822023-11-12T08:00:00.001-05:002023-11-12T08:00:00.150-05:00The Simple Gospel Of Jesus Doesn't Vilify Reason #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ0lJxpnIFt-5NbOQvwbGpst5zZ8HuRVPzPS3HSXLc2NZYeMhbKKldhSPNI6KuHrxEuma3g7h0MIRUvyhq61duvG5xXvggFCcOoS_JdHMPCN2QcikpSvsZwIqHhHq7PTbzVQ06JNkVIVk/s1600/JF_ThoseWhoDegradeHumanReason_Hurlbut_gnuol.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="424" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ0lJxpnIFt-5NbOQvwbGpst5zZ8HuRVPzPS3HSXLc2NZYeMhbKKldhSPNI6KuHrxEuma3g7h0MIRUvyhq61duvG5xXvggFCcOoS_JdHMPCN2QcikpSvsZwIqHhHq7PTbzVQ06JNkVIVk/s320/JF_ThoseWhoDegradeHumanReason_Hurlbut_gnuol.png" width="320" /></a></p><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: yellow;">God has never enjoined on human beings the duty of believing without evidence.</span> He has never addressed us other than as rational beings, capable of discerning between truth and falsehood, and expected to do so on our own responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Revelation came not to supersede reason, or to set aside its deductions; but to enlighten its course, to expand its views, to enlarge its field of action, to dispel the earth-born mists that obscured its vision, to give it broader and more solid premises, on which to build its conclusions, and to prep its wings for a higher flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: yellow;">It never calls for the subjection of reason - the 'prostration' of the understanding, to its dictates.</span> On the contrary, it is itself subjected to the decision of reason; and must abide the test. It must be received or rejected according to the dictates of our sober judgment on the evidence presented. And as with the evidence on which it rests, so with the doctrines it contains.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These too, are subjected to the test of reason. We believe them just in so far as we understand them; and no farther. <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">The provinces of faith and reason are not distinct, the one beginning where the other ends. They cover the same ground.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems to us a mere identical proposition to state that <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">what is not understood, cannot be believed</span>. In this case no object is presented to the mind for it to receive or reject. What is not understood is to me no revelation. If a man say that he believes what he does not pretend either to explain or comprehend, he deceives himself. His faith is merely verbal and illusory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Doubtless there may be many truths both in nature and in scripture, of which we are ignorant. But to us, so long as we remain ignorant of them, they are nothing - they are to us as though they did not exist. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">We pretend not to comprehend the nature and perfections of the Divine Being</span>, for example; but in so far as they are displayed, they are perfectly plain and intelligible - 'he that runs may read them.' And what is not displayed is no concern of ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My eye cannot penetrate the deep infinitude of the space that surrounds me; but within the verge of my own horizon I can see clearly, and move freely. <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">Let it not be said that we exalt reason at the expense of revelation. We do but assign to each its appropriate sphere.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reason, we must admit, was weak and inefficient by itself. And why? It lacked authority to still the clamor of the passions, that disturbed its operations. It lacked facts to render its conclusions certain.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Above all, it wanted sanctions to bind them on the conscience. <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">All this revelation has supplied; and thus, it has completed the system of God's dispensations to humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: yellow;">Those who vilify and degrade human reason</span>; representing it as corrupt and debased; cautioning us continually against trusting to its guidance, and making it the test of a docile and humble spirit, and urging us to embrace doctrines from which reason recoils; <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">do justice neither to reason, nor to scripture; neither to human beings, nor our Maker.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><i>(Adapted from “Presumptive Arguments in Favor of Unitarianism" Jan. 1834, by Rev. Martin Luther Hurlbut)</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-47769709531801747202023-11-05T08:00:00.012-05:002023-11-05T08:00:00.154-05:00The Simplicity Of #Jesus' True Religion #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQzjOMGV5Bh5mtN2wvcG_CJRYZ77ZDyQQQ5L_1XR1ve4zIdB93SR3b1hsHHK2u183goDnpR0aTLT1bgxCSjJl3XkTgyBPcTUVVlwNyi3YkzoCRVE40d-dKWtEVQb6ntn8t3kJEAmTxZE/s1600/BNR_sermononmount.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQzjOMGV5Bh5mtN2wvcG_CJRYZ77ZDyQQQ5L_1XR1ve4zIdB93SR3b1hsHHK2u183goDnpR0aTLT1bgxCSjJl3XkTgyBPcTUVVlwNyi3YkzoCRVE40d-dKWtEVQb6ntn8t3kJEAmTxZE/s320/BNR_sermononmount.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><span style="background-color: yellow;">The Sermon on the Mount is practical and simple, uninvolved in any abstruse, remote, or novel conceptions. It expresses no ideas that amaze and stupefy, or call for careful consideration on account of their novelty. </span><br /><br />It is a solemn, searching declaration of the universal religion of humanity: God is holy, wise, good; blessed are you if you are pure, meek, hungering for righteousness, and living from the heart pure, useful, holy lives. This is all the doctrine there is in it; not a word about the nature of the Godhead, the fall of man, the need of the atonement, the deity of Christ, the necessity of baptism and the saving sacrament of the communion.<br /><br />And, indeed, the four Gospels are all simplicity itself, so far as they give us Christ's own words. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus spoke the language and the truth and the religion of a simple, artless, deep-centered representative of universal humanity — true always, everywhere, and for all.</span> There is nothing to add, nothing to abate, nothing to excuse or to explain away in his teachings.<br /><br />Because they give voice to what humanity knows to be deep and holy, they hold the allegiance of those in the twenty-first, as they will those of the thirty-first century. We cannot conceive of anything about our faith that is not already in the teachings, spirit, and example of Jesus.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">Jesus has taught and illustrated our faith in ways a child can understand. </span>But it is so plain that it looks severe; so simple that it looks cold and hard, like a marble statue. Its simplicity leaves us no loopholes of escape from its commandments. It cannot be, says the weaver of subtleties, that Jesus really expected us to be what he was and make his character our example. It cannot be that he really expected us to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves!<br /><br />This is very simple, but it is so exacting and so hard! It is easier to believe a much more complex and inexplicable creed than to practice this very simple one. <div><br /></div><div>And so, not because it was unintelligible, but because it was too intelligible — not because it was uncertain, but because it was too plain — the subtlety of the Church and of the Christian world has upholstered and stuffed and cushioned and draped the simplicity of religion, until it has been made as great a mystery as an Egyptian mummy in its endless wrappings.<br /><br />How much easier it is for the soul, reluctant for duty and self-sacrifice, to spend its time in high speculation about the nature of the Godhead than in plain obedience to an imperative voice of God enjoining us to shun evil and do right!<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">How much lighter work it is to bow when Jesus' name occurs in the creed, and to give him all the honors and worship of a God, than to keep his moral teachings and put on his meek and loving attitude! </span><br /><br />The simplicity of Jesus as it reveals itself in the Sermon on the Mount is often compared disparagingly with the voluminous faith of the Nicene Creed. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Call that simplicity the Christian religion, which really adds nothing to the old Jewish and the older natural religion of love to God and love to man, except the example and spirit of Jesus! </span><br /><br />What, then, becomes of the Fall, and the Curse, and the Atonement, and the Sacraments, and the Trinity, and the Deity of Christ, and all the rest of the dogmatic paraphernalia of religion? They become invisible, like candles in the presence of the sun; they fall, like tents rich with hangings when the sky clears and spreads its own tabernacle around us.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">It is the keeping of these great commandments that discloses their richness and fullness. They are simple and few. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">But live by them, and you will find that all the bodies of divinity in the world could not contain their lessons, or describe the glorious richness of their contents. </span>If we are to have substitutes for holy living, nothing can be more effectual than hard metaphysical dogmas, or disputes about modes of worship.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">To promote and exact real morality and true piety we can conceive nothing so well fitted as the simplicity of Jesus</span> – the plain, unequivocal, uninvolved requirement of love to God, tested by love to men and active usefulness in life.<br /><br />Do not allow yourselves to fall under the dominion of these sounding subtleties, these dark dogmas, these involved metaphysical puzzles that pass for religion and Christianity. They will unsettle your common sense, and befog your conscience.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">It is not the unknown we can profit by, but the known. It is not the obscure, but the plain, that should have our attention.</span><br /><br />It takes no learning, no scholarship, no formal logic, no fine-spun reasoning, to know God so far as we need to know Him, as a moral governor and Father of spirits; to know Jesus as a holy, gentle, and wise Master and guide of character; to know our duty well enough to live chastely, truthfully, honestly, with mercy and sympathy.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">And this is all we need to know to fulfill all the obligations and to reach all the blessings of religion.</span><br /><br />The common sense view of religion, as of life, is the true view. Eccentric or exceptional views are usually erroneous. Trust your capacity to know God and to understand Jesus by directing a plain common-sense intelligence towards them.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: yellow;">You have no more faith than you practice, no more religion than you live out, and no Savior unless he is found in you. This is simple, plain truth. Allow no spirit of subtlety to hide or deform it.</span><br /><br /><i>(Adapted from a sermon by Rev. Henry W. Bellows, 1886)</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-18429488799743184272023-10-29T08:00:00.019-04:002023-10-29T08:00:00.151-04:00The Scary, un-Reformed “Reformation” Sunday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: left;">Want to know what's REALLY scary this Halloween? This Sunday is also celebrated as Reformation Day in so-called "Reformed" Churches across the world.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Why scary? Why "so-called?" Because the Reformation of the 16th Century failed to go far enough to pull Christianity out of Ancient and Dark Age pagan thinking about God, and millions still believe in SCARY-wrong doctrines. And these doctrines negatively affect how hundreds of millions respond to the Gospel – amd fail to hear the real Gospel as Jesus preached it, because of the failure of these “reformers.”</div><br />Sadly, almost 100% of Christians are unaware they are even infected with these theological diseases.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbuUaiLEZh0sMcSAzcTSfYaBshyphenhyphenA9eefrmxToh7YNGUe2P0rjTvxuphwWvndhPJWOhySxG9z5-WA00Vp2HKDtHfrEqKPzEpW_epTbSqgUngwCe3rtOtyAh-wqbzufOoT8S6fQ8SDWuQs/s1600/luther.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbuUaiLEZh0sMcSAzcTSfYaBshyphenhyphenA9eefrmxToh7YNGUe2P0rjTvxuphwWvndhPJWOhySxG9z5-WA00Vp2HKDtHfrEqKPzEpW_epTbSqgUngwCe3rtOtyAh-wqbzufOoT8S6fQ8SDWuQs/s200/luther.gif" width="193" /></a>Like the scary belief by "Reformer" Martin Luther that one can "sin boldly!" because we can be secure in a one-time-only salvation event without the requirement of obedience to secure that Salvation - a scary-unbiblical lesson, one that modern evangelicals learned so well, they think Jesus taught it. Close, but they're only 1550 years off, and the author is Luther, not Jesus!<br /><br />The Reformers also failed to go back far enough and cure "Saint" Augustine's SCARY-wicked, and horrifyingly false belief that God's commands can only be obeyed IF He gives us the ability to do so in advance ("Give [me] what you command, then [you can] command whatever you want.") Scary-unbiblical, that is, because if we have a duty to obey, and will be judged according to our ACTS, we must be free to act by a just God, Whom otherwise would be at fault for us NOT obeying.<br /><br />And, good news! The Scriptures say that human beings are FREE and morally able to obey God, which contradicts another of Augustine’s Vampire-like doctrines (which cannot be killed, and was later re-VAMPED and given new strength by the demon-like, murdering Theocrat John Calvin) in which he states that man CANNOT do any Good, because flesh is evil, while spirit is always good. Leaving aside the fact that flesh can be used for good OR evil, and that we can have very damaged spirits - the Augustine-created Original Sin doctrine pretends we are Zombies (from birth!) who are unable to do good, and ALWAYS are compelled to do evil, despite our Master Jesus’ commands and clear trust in us that we CAN to do good - and should do so, continually.<br /><br />We can't really blame Augustine, since he was carrying over his beliefs from Manichaeism, his former religion, which taught that there were two Gods, one good and one evil, and flesh (and sex) was totally evil. Then again, maybe that’s actually CAUSE to blame him, and mightily, for bringing paganism into Christianity.<br /><br />And millions of “Protestants” today, thanks to the so-called Reformer Calvin, now believe in SCARY Calvinist doctrines like the theories that God has damned some souls to a scary eternal hell - BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN BORN, and that they cannot do anything to prevent such a fate, which is pre-determined, unattached to their actions! This makes a mockery of Jesus' call for ALL to Repent, Believe and obey his words and serve God with Works of Righteousness. (Dare I mention the other scary belief by ANOTHER person who often contradicted the Savior, by claiming such Good Works are "filthy rags" in the eyes of God, misusing King David’s beautiful poetry of the Psalms? No, not now, but that Antichrist's misperception needs urgent Reformation, one day, too.)<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal">And we shall leave for another time the numerous other doctrines, created by wicked and misled men, such as the abomination of Tri-Theism of the Catholic Trinity the “Reformers” refused to dump, the human sacrifice and commercial transaction atonement of Jesus on the Cross, the “instant salvation demand” of Easy-Believism, and the horribly scary, Anti-Christ of the Prosperity Gospel.</div><br />So let us hope those who attend Reformation Sunday services this weekend in their not-yet-dePaganized “churches” do so knowing that their Reformation is incomplete. To say the least, Christendom needs to repent quickly of these spooky, innovative, man-made doctrines.<br /><br />The clear message of Jesus, warped and de-formed by a millennium and a half by outrageous man-made Councils and Papal misrule, was left grossly un-reformed and even more deformed by these horribly flawed “Reformers,” who ought not to be celebrated.<br /><br />So, let the Reformation begin anew and finally be completed, back to the PURE, clear and plain teachings of Christ Jesus, the man whom God anointed as His spokesman and prophet: That we must repent of our sinful shortcomings, turn back to God, serving God and our fellow human beings fully and completely, seeking God’s help to live as Jesus lived, yearning to achieve the goals he set for us, that we might live fully and act righteously in this life, building up God’s Kingdom on this earth and building up treasure in Heaven so we might reside with God there forever. Amen.<br /><br /><br />Scripture and other Citations:<br />“Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.” (Letter 99, Paragraph 13, from Martin Luther's Saemmtliche Schriften) <a href="http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/letsinsbe.txt">http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/letsinsbe.txt</a><br /><br />"For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, SO THAT YOU CAN DO IT.” Deut. 30:11-14 (my emphasis)<br /><br />“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Deut. 30:19<br /><br />“And if it seem evil unto you to serve GOD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve GOD.” Joshua 24:15<br /><br />“GOD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.’” Gen. 4:6-7<br /><br />“And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.” Deut. 11:32<br /><br />“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” Prov. 1:10<br /><br />“Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways” Prov. 3:31<br /><br />“No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.” Prov. 12:3+<br /><br />“God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice. If you choose, you can keep the commandments; and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. Set before you are fire and water; to whatever you choose, stretch out your hand. Before everyone are life and death, whichever they choose will be given them.” Sirach 15:15-17 (also in the 1611 KJV. Luther dropped this book from the Bible, for obvious reasons.)<br /><br />“But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.” John 3:21<br /><br />“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36<br /><br />“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15<br /><br />“Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” John 14:24<br /><br />“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” James 3:13 (Luther sought to drop this book from the NT, for obvious reasons, but was stopped by others from doing so.)<br /><br />“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:2-3Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-19568992818017702772023-10-22T08:00:00.002-04:002023-10-22T08:00:00.205-04:00Are We "Fast-Forwarding" Through The Tough Parts Of The Gospel? #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipns-GxXtbLERmeNATdH-Jhg9f7E5hZsTtvmXtrBjob79EwNuFZdRa4IWTKreaLKmSJ2r7kgqKkzGUyqrX71oPX3BV6sUpiyIOg5eb0Mhy6uVYgzIUJDB9-Riu8qtEgq7ZFJqJU8xPBGI/s1600/remote+control.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="588" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipns-GxXtbLERmeNATdH-Jhg9f7E5hZsTtvmXtrBjob79EwNuFZdRa4IWTKreaLKmSJ2r7kgqKkzGUyqrX71oPX3BV6sUpiyIOg5eb0Mhy6uVYgzIUJDB9-Riu8qtEgq7ZFJqJU8xPBGI/s400/remote+control.png" width="400" /></a></p><br />The Parable of the Wise Builder begins with Matt. 7:24: "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock."<br /><br />But let us stop right there. We are often so quick to reach the end that we fail to see the beginning. Like scanning through ads when we record TV shows, we simply scan through the "unimportant" parts to get to the interesting parts of the story, like dramatic rain beating down on the two houses, and one house sliding into the sand with a great crash.<br /><br />But let's slow down a bit. Jesus in this parable has already given us some great lessons in this first sentence. He says all who hear his words, and DOES them are wise.<br /><br />This tells us first that we may actually hear his words. This seems obvious, but to many in Christendom, his words are not that important, or are at best something that we can treat casually and overlook. <div><br /></div><div>Some claim that his words were meant to set up an impossible ideal - something that "convicts us" of being sinners by birth, rather than sinners by action, and therefore, we cannot *really* do what he asks.<br /><br />But this of course cannot be found coming from the mouth of Jesus, who in direct opposition to this idea says that his words will not pass away (Mark 13:31; Matt. 24:35) And in numerous places, he makes clear that those who follow him are to obey his words.<br /><br />To hear and obey, therefore, are things only free people can do. And human beings have the free will to hear the message that God sent through His Prophet and spokesman, Jesus, and to respond to it. Then, with the help of God's spirit and the example of Jesus' life, we are able to grow toward that Perfect Ideal.<br /><div><br /></div>At the beginning of this parable, we learn that those who do hear and obey are "wise." There are numerous examples of wise and righteous men in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus says he came not to call the Righteous to repentance, but Sinners. Both categories of people exist in our world, as they did in his.<br /><br />So, we must not ever claim that we're genetically unable to obey and perform Righteous Works for God in the name of Jesus. To do so is to "fast forward" through the difficult work of following Jesus' words.<br /><br />With this parable, as with many others, Jesus sets before us an ideal of God's Righteousness and tells us "Follow me" (Mark 2:14) and "Obey my teaching" (John 14:23.) God chose and sent Jesus as our perfect ideal, and tells us to follow Jesus - in whom He was "pleased" (Matt. 3:17.)<br /><br />We are to put his words INTO PRACTICE (Matt. 7:26) so that we do not end up in the shifting sand of man-made beliefs that tell us that obedience to God is an impossible ideal.<br /><br />This is the challenge of the Good and Beneficial Message ("Gospel") - that we take up the challenge and follow Jesus, doing whatever he said we should do. And in doing so, we build our houses on Rock by ACTING ON his words and putting them into practice (Matt. 7:26) so that we do not end up mired in the shifting sand of a man-made, dangerous belief that obedience to God is an impossible ideal, and can easily be ignored.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-51024564655354928442023-10-15T08:00:00.031-04:002023-10-15T08:00:00.155-04:00Why "I'm Only Human" Can't Be An Excuse For Sinning #JesusFollowers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Tt04zAcZDsjnAMXQlH3GkrNQLjfxBCiGdTwNBaw0NObXebelRAmOUgzuqzbLymo2SYkwMiQn_9xYGwxmjSk1dHGV7T2vZ15OfdPn971bicY3JH_xr-tQzcOgR7hV7BQ1N9I1dvDNIuB2vfZ1xyniBFy9N7H4ZtxL7-_Bna6NIzjyfXM7_PSE1je1VRI/s1080/20230528_181138.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="1080" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Tt04zAcZDsjnAMXQlH3GkrNQLjfxBCiGdTwNBaw0NObXebelRAmOUgzuqzbLymo2SYkwMiQn_9xYGwxmjSk1dHGV7T2vZ15OfdPn971bicY3JH_xr-tQzcOgR7hV7BQ1N9I1dvDNIuB2vfZ1xyniBFy9N7H4ZtxL7-_Bna6NIzjyfXM7_PSE1je1VRI/w400-h264/20230528_181138.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>How many times have we heard, after someone makes a mistake, or acts sinfully, “Well, he (or she) was ONLY HUMAN, after all”? Perhaps many times. It's a common saying. But do we ever wonder why this is used as an excuse for the sinful action? Is there something IN US that MAKES us sin against our will?</p>There are a lot of clever excuses we can use to avoid doing what's right – or even actively do what is wrong. We can say others around us “forced” us to do these things – and peer pressure can indeed be a strong factor.<br /><br />We can say we couldn't avoid doing them – and if we put ourselves in situations in which sin is happening a lot, that can certainly influence us to go along with others, but it's still not a good excuse.<br /><br />And we can also say that we were born so flawed that we CANNOT do anything BUT sin and rebel against God – that we are “only human.” This last excuse is perhaps the greatest lie to ever infect Christendom - and the vast majority of Christians today believe it totally.<br /><br />If it’s true, just BEING among those pressuring us means that we will cave in to sin every time. And if we are around evil and sinful behavior, that would mean we'd do evil EVERY time.<br /><br />But that’s not true. We CAN resist, and can work to keep ourselves away from temptation. We know this because Jesus and the Bible teaches us that we can, and must, do so, to please God.<br /><br />It's important to know exactly what "sin" is in the Bible. John said he wrote a letter so that people "will not sin" (1 John 2:1.) That's not to say that we are going to immediately stop all sinning once we are exposed to the teachings of Jesus, but early Christians clearly expected new converts to make all effort to put behind them the sins they previously did routinely. This was true of stealing, lusting, cheating others, lying, and more.<br /><br />But if what's being called "sin" is something inherited from our birth, we have a problem believing this, because in the Bible, sin is an act, not a thing.<br /><br />If it is a compulsion from birth, one that cannot be avoided, we would have an excellent excuse for sinning all the time. We cannot be guilty if we're being compelled to sin, unavoidably, in that way.<br /><br />It's only if we proplrly view sin as a CHOICE which we can avoid, that we begin to view it as the Biblical writers, and Jesus, viewed it. And then, we can confront and defeat it.<br /><br />We've been taught some theological falsehoods from the pulpit. The fact is, the Biblical first man's "original sin" doesn't attach to us.<br /><br />Turns out, God told Adam's son that sin is a choice, which he can and must avoid (Gen. 4:7-8.) That he chose falsely means he earned punishment, just as God warned.<br /><br />But only an individual’s ACTS of sin are punishable, and we are not liable for the sins of anyone else (Ezek. 18:19-24.) If we are sinful by nature, and yet we sin, we are NOT guilty, according to God. <div><br /></div><div>Only by our wrong choice, are we liable.<br /><br />We must trust God when He told Cain - and by extension, us - that we NEED NOT SIN, and instead, must work to not sin any longer, instead, asking for God's forgiveness, which is granted freely upon repenting of our past behavior.<br /><br />We are assured that God has given all people the ability to stop sinning (Deut. 30:11-14; 19) and that we have Jesus as our example that a human being need not sin, and in fact CAN obey and please God.<br /><br />Jesus’ example is a model upon which we can shape our actions. We must trust Jesus when he said we must seek Godliness and that we could become Godly and complete – not by ourselves, without God or without God’s chosen example guiding us, but with God's ongoing help and with the example of Jesus always before us, leading the way.<br /><br />We are called to commit our lives to obedience to God's chosen Spokesman, Jesus, the Anointed Prophet of God, and submit to humbly walk with him, relying, as he taught, on God's forgiveness, and growing into the Righteous Perfection that God knows we are capable of achieving.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221393606823448257.post-67139037430420624072023-10-08T08:00:00.001-04:002023-10-08T08:00:00.162-04:00Jesus' Gospel Frees Us To Do Good More Perfectly! #JesusFollowers<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWCd45vl6LVHBn3DMUauIPCMxqvAotb7UoDTgHKJM8C2wNv_qxv9b7PR86kuKVQ8w50N344IKpG7AvpOK1obwexNST72sMQyQnkcxWtEDNxCDfKJBsGADLjuUJ2gNBRX79S3fdYi3Dboc/s813/handsin.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="813" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWCd45vl6LVHBn3DMUauIPCMxqvAotb7UoDTgHKJM8C2wNv_qxv9b7PR86kuKVQ8w50N344IKpG7AvpOK1obwexNST72sMQyQnkcxWtEDNxCDfKJBsGADLjuUJ2gNBRX79S3fdYi3Dboc/w400-h216/handsin.png" width="400" /></a></p><div><br /></div><div>We are born with the Natural, God-given ability to do Good. But it is only when we encounter and follow Jesus, the man who perfectly demonstrates for us what is Good in the eyes of God, that we can know and fully understand the perfect Good we are called to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus taught that when we follow him, we are free, indeed (John 8:38). This freedom is not a call to pursue lawlessness, and does not mean that we may be released from any future accountability to God, Who remains our Father and Creator, as well as our Judge (Ps. 96:10; Prov. 24:12; Matt. 7:2; 12:36; 16:27). Instead, the opposite is true. Learning at the feet of our Master, we quickly learn that we are called to an even greater obedience.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus calls out to us to hear his teachings, to understand his life as one we should emulate, and seek out others who will follow his example, also. This, and no other message, is properly called The Gospel.</div><div><br /></div><div>In this Gospel, Jesus plainly teaches that if we claim to love him, we will do all that he taught us (John 14:21; 15:10) and that we will teach others to do the same. (Matt. 28:20)</div><div><br /></div><div>When we come to know and understand the Gospel of Jesus, we are "free, indeed" - not freed from the duty to do Good, because this is the core of his teaching - but freed from an ignorance and imperfect knowledge of God's holiness, and freed to do Good more completely, the way God intends.</div><div><br /></div><div>And what is this perfect Way Jesus beckons us to follow? It is to love God, our Creator, in gratitude with all of the strength our souls can muster, and to love our fellow human beings with every fiber of our own Being. (Matt. 22:37)</div><div><br /></div><div>The Gospel of Jesus is a call to love more fully; a love that completes and perfects us, because when we take up his Gospel's challenge, we deny all selfishness to totally seek God's path of Righteousness. (Matt. 16:24-25)</div><div><br /></div><div>This is what Jesus meant when he called for us to be perfect, saying for us to, "be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48.) </div><div><br /></div><div>This perfection does not refer to some form of physical beauty, or even flawlessly performing our daily tasks. This is shown clearly when he calls for us to forgive as God forgives, and love as God loves (Matt. 6:14-15)</div><div><br /></div><div>The Gospel presented by Jesus, therefore, recognizes the God-given abilities of all human beings to do great Good. And the life Jesus led in perfect obedience to God (Matt. 12:36; John 8:29) gives us a template of how we, also may perfect ourselves by pursuing this perfect Way.</div><div><br /></div><div>We begin the process of becoming morally perfect servants of God and our fellow Human beings by first recognizing and repenting of our past imperfection, and then dedicating ourselves to seeking to follow his teachings.</div><div><br /></div><div>These teachings of Jesus alone guide us directly to the holiness God knows we are capable of demonstrating in our own lives, just as Jesus perfectly demonstrated them in his.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is in this sense that we can fully understand the otherwise difficult teaching that it is only through Jesus that we may reach our heavenly Father. (John 14:6)</div><div><br /></div><div>In our ignorance of what is perfectly Good, we cannot have knowledge of the path God sets out for us. Jesus, by revealing to us through his life and teachings and even in his death, shows us clearly the perfect path of active obedience and self-denial we are called to follow.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus and the message he left for us continues to guide us towards the Light of God's Righteousness. We are, he taught, to become lights to the world, just as he was the light of the world (Matt. 5:14; John 8:12)</div><div><br /></div><div>Obtaining the knowledge of this message, and acting upon it, shows us God's Righteous Light, and allows us to share it with others by our deeds. God's spirit is an ever-present help to us on this journey towards holiness.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let us become more like Jesus daily as we deny ourselves, serve others, and seek to follow his path of Righteousness, becoming the Light in the world that Jesus calls us to become.</div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0