I started this morning listening to God speak in 1 Kings 19 and 20, and I am still coming to terms with the reality that God’s ways are not my ways.  I don’t mean that this is a new idea or the first time I’ve heard this Word, but this morning it is new again… it challenges me and by faith I am believing.  See, I look at what is before me and around me and I see as you do…with eyes, natural eyes that see the temporal and not the eternal.  But it is by faith and the sight-giving power of the Cross that I am reminded of something much bigger than the temporary works that I place so much importance on.

By no mistake or pursuit of my own, I heard my Savior remind me of this foundation upon which my hope rests…

This is perfect righteousness

“This is perfect righteousness, to hear nothing, to know nothing, to do nothing of the law of works; but only to know and believe that Jesus Christ is now gone to the Father, and sitteth at his right hand, not as a judge, but is made unto you of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.”

Edward Fisher, The Marrow of Modern Divinity (Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2009), 132

I immediately thought of the wonderful hymn, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus and from  there worshipped my Precious Savior and King as I remember that His Perfect Righteousness, not any work in any form of my own, is the security and standing I have before God my Father.

The bloody reality of the Cross is always a confrontation to me.  I am responsible for the murder of the Son of God.  My sin.  Have mercy O God.

Deuteronomy 28:2 (NIV) ~ All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God. 

All these blessing will come upon you and accompany you when you obey the LORD your God. Such a simple verse to understand yet, the outworking of this verse for many people seems a difficult price to pay. In a nutshell, obedience brings the blessings. 

What are “all these blessings”? Well, let us take a little look and see from Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26:  God’s blessing inside the city, God’s blessing in the country, God’s blessing on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks; God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl; God’s blessing in your coming in, God’s blessing in your going out.  He will grant you peace, and five of you will chase a hundred and one hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. God will look on you with favour, God will keep His covenant and you will walk with your head held high. God will grant you abundant prosperity; you will always be on top, for it is God’s will for you to be the head and not the tail. 

Just imagine all these blessings are waiting to not only come upon you, but also accompany you, all the days of your life, if you would simply obey His covenant. His covenant blessings are conditional, when you do your part and walk in obedience to God, God will honour His part and allow all these blessings to come upon you. 

My friend, oh, for grace to trust Him more. Lord, as we obey and walk in your truth may all these blessings come upon us. Lord, open the floodgates of heaven and let your blessings pour down upon us, so that all these blessing can wash over every area of our lives. Grant us Your favour and let all these blessings come upon us, and accompany us, all the days of our lives for now and ever more, thank you Lord. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew

By: Tim Keller

What is Christianity?

Some say it is a philosophy, others that it is an ethical stance, while still others claim it is really an experience. None of these really gets at the heart of the matter, however. Each of those things is something a Christian has, but not one of them serves as a definition of what a Christian is. Christianity has at its core a transaction between a person and God. A person who becomes a Christian moves from knowing about God distantly to knowing Him directly and intimately. “Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” —John 17:3. Christianity is knowing God.

Why Do I Need to Know God?
Our desire for personal knowledge of God is strong, but we usually fail to recognize the desire for what it is. When we first fall in love, when we first marry, when we finally break into our chosen field, when we at last get that weekend house—these breakthroughs arouse in us an anticipation of something which, as it turns out, never occurs. We eventually discover that our desire for that precious something is a longing that no lover or career or achievement, even the best possible ones, can ever satisfy. The satisfaction fades away even as we close our fingers around our goal. Nothing ever delivers the joy it seemed to promise. Many of us avoid the yawning emptiness through busyness or denial, but, at best, there is only a postponement. “Nothing tastes,” said Marie Antoinette. There are several ways people respond to this:

1. To blame the things themselves—to find fault with everyone and everything around them. Some people believe that a better spouse, a better career, a better boss or salary would finally yield the elusive joy. Many of the world’s most successful people are like this: bored, discontented, running from new thing to new thing, often changing counselors, mates, partners, settings.
2. To blame themselves—to try harder to live up to self-imposed standards. Many people feel they have made poor choices or failed to measure up to challenges and to achieve the things that would give them joy and satisfaction. Such people are wracked with self-doubts and tend to burn themselves out. They think, “If only I could reach my goals, then this emptiness would be gone.” But it is not so.

The Christian says, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not mean that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.
— C. S. Lewis

1. To blame the universe itself—to give up seeking fulfillment at all. These are the people who says, “Yes, when young you are idealistic, but at my age I have stopped howling after the moon.” They become cynical and decide to repress that part of themselves that once wanted fulfillment and joy. But they become hard, and they can feel themselves losing their humanity, compassion and joy.
2. To blame and recognize their separation from God—to establish a personal relationship with Him.

How Can I Know God?
In order to form a personal relationship with God, we must know three things:

1. 1. Who We Are
   We are God’s creation. God created us and built us for a relationship with Him. We belong to Him and owe Him gratitude for every breath, every moment, everything. Since humans were built to live for Him (to worship), we will always try to worship something. If not God, we will choose some other object of ultimate devotion to give life meaning.We are sinners. We have all chosen (and reaffirm daily) to reject God and to make our own joy and happiness our highest priority. We do not want to worship God and surrender our self-mastery, yet we are built to worship; so we cling to idols, centering our lives on things which promise to give us meaning: success, relationships, influence, love, comfort, etc.We are in spiritual bondage. To live for anything else but God leads to breakdown and decay. When a fish leaves the water, that which he was built for, he is not free, but dead. Worshipping other things besides God leads to a loss of meaning. If we achieve these things, they cannot deliver satisfaction, because they were never meant to be “gods.” They were never meant to replace God. Worshipping other things besides God also leads to self-image problems. We end up defining ourselves in terms of our achievement in these things. We must have them or all is lost, so they drive us to work too hard or fill us with terror if they are jeopardized.
2. Who God Is
   God is love and justice. His active concern is for our joy and well-being. Most people love those who love them, yet God loves and seeks the good even of people who are His enemies. But because God is good and loving, He cannot tolerate evil. The opposite of love is not anger but indifference. “The more you love your son, the more you hate in him, the liar, the drunkard, the traitor.” (E.H. Gifford) To imagine God’s situation, picture a judge who is also a father, who sits at the trial of his very guilty son. A judge knows that he cannot let his son go, for without justice no society can survive. How much less can a loving God merely ignore or suspend justice for us who are loved, yet guilty of rebellion against His loving authority?Jesus Christ is God. Jesus is God Himself come to earth. He first lived a perfect life, loving God with all His heart, soul and mind, fulfilling all human obligation to God. He lived the life you owed—a perfect record. Then, instead of receiving His deserved reward (eternal life), Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for our sins, taking the punishment and death you owed.
   When we believe in Him:
   1. Our sins are paid for by His death, and
   2. His perfect life record is transferred to our account.So God accepts and regards us as if we had done all Christ has done.
3. What You Must Do

You must repent. There first must be an admission that you have been living as your own master, worshipping the wrong things, violating God’s loving laws. “Repentance” means you ask forgiveness and turn from that stance with a willingness to live for and center on Him.

You must believe. Faith is transferring your trust from your own efforts to the efforts of Christ. You were relying on other things to make you acceptable, but now you consciously begin relying on what Jesus did for your acceptance with God. All you need is nothing. If you think, “God owes me something for all my efforts,” you are still on the outside.

Pray after this fashion: “I see that I am more flawed and sinful than I ever dared believe, but that I am even more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I turn from my old life of living for myself. I have nothing in my record to merit Your approval, but I now rest in what Jesus did and ask to be accepted into God’s family for His sake.” When you make this transaction, two things happen at once: 1) your accounts are cleared, your sins are wiped out permanently, you are adopted legally into God’s family, and 2) the Holy Spirit enters your heart and begins to change you into the character of Jesus.

You must follow through. Tell a Christian friend about your commitment. Get yourself training in the basic Christian disciplines of prayer, worship, Bible study and fellowship with other Christians. Consider reading: Go for It, by John Guest, or The Fight, by John White. Both are good books for developing a new Christian life.

Why Should I Seek to Know God?

On the one hand, you may feel very much that you “need” God. Even though you may recognize that you have needs only God can meet, you must not try to use Him to achieve your own ends. It is not possible to bargain with God. (“I’ll do this if You will do that.”) That is not Christianity at all, but a form of magic or paganism in which you appease the cranky deity to get a favor. Are you getting into Christianity to serve God or to get God to serve you? Those are two opposite motives, and they result in two different religions. You must come to God because 1) you owe it to Him to give Him your life (because He is your Creator), and 2) you are deeply grateful to Him for sacrificing His Son (because He is your Redeemer).

On the other hand, you may feel no need at all or interest in knowing God. This does not mean you should stay uncommitted. If you were created by God, then you owe Him your life, whether you feel like it or not. You are obligated to seek Him and ask Him to soften your heart and enlighten yours eyes. If you say, “I have no faith,” that is no excuse either. You need only doubt your doubts. No one can doubt everything at once—you must believe in something to doubt something else. For example, do you believe you are competent to run your own life? Where is the evidence for that? Why doubt everything but your doubts about God and your faith in yourself? Is that fair? You owe it to God to seek Him. Do so.

What If I Am Not Ready to Proceed?
Make a list of issues that you perceive to be barriers to your crossing the line into faith. Here is a possible set of headings:

Content issues: Do you understand the basics of the Christian message—sin, Jesus as God, sacrifice, faith?

Coherence issues: Are there intellectual problems you have with Christianity? Objections to the Christian faith which you cannot resolve in your mind?

Cost issues: Do you perceive a move into full Christian faith will cost you something dear? What fears do you have about commitment?

Now talk to some Christian friend until they are resolved.

Consider reading:
Hope Has It’s Reasons, by Rebecca Pippert (Harper and Row)
Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis (MacMillan)
Basic Christianity, by John Stott (IVP).

—Adapted from Timothy Keller, 1991

Hebrews 3:1 (NIV) ~ Fix your thoughts on Jesus.

Five times in Scriptures the word “fix” is used by God to give us direction. God gives us a clear direction to keep our focus fixed upon His will; for us to permanently maintain our focus, our centre of attention, firmly on God.  

1. Deuteronomy 11:18 (NIV),”Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds.”   

Here, we are admonishes to keep our hearts and minds, our intellect and the very fibre of our being, always feasting on the word of God, constantly meditating on His word and doing His will.    

2.  Proverbs 4:24-31 (NIV), “Fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

This verse cautions us to keep our direction on the right path, to follow only His ways, to not be side-tracked by distractions, but to stay on the firm path of the King’s highway.  

3.   2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV), “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

This is a reminder to keep looking through the eyes of faith to God, and the things of heaven. For the things of this world will pass, but the eternal things of God will never fade or pass away. Keep you focus in the centre of His will.  

4.  Hebrews 3:1 (NIV), “Fix your thoughts on Jesus.”

Your thoughts can be the hardest battleground to fight for. Nevertheless, when you keep your thoughts fixed on Jesus, He will guard your heart and mind and keep you pure. When we fix our thoughts on Jesus, we do not dwell on the negative things of this world, but rather the positive attributes of the Kingdom of God.  

5. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV), “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.”

There is no one more beautiful than Jesus to fix your eyes upon. Let us fix our eyes on His ultimate sacrifice on the cross of Calvary for our sins. Fix our eyes upon His glorious resurrection; fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Lover of our souls. Fix our eyes upon Jesus to be saved, healed, delivered and set free. Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus in our time of need. Fix your eyes on Jesus at all times. 

My friend, as the Bible says in five different occasions, each with a practical and life-changing meaning, “Let us fix” our hearts, our minds, our gaze, our thoughts and our eyes constantly upon God’s word, the things of His kingdom, His direction, things that are eternal in heaven, but most of all, let us fix our eyes on Jesus and never take them off Him. 

Michael Frye once wrote these wonderful words all about Jesus being the centre, with our eyes, thoughts, hearts and minds fixed upon Jesus. 

Jesus, be the centre, be my source, be my light, Jesus,
Jesus, be the centre, be my hope, be my song, Jesus,
Be the fire in my heart, be the wind in these sails
Be the reason that I live, Jesus, Jesus.

God bless you my friend, Matthew

William Barclay speaks sagely on the weakness of human argumentation to produce faith in his commentary on John 1:46:

“Not very many people have ever been argued into Christianity. Often our arguments do more harm than good. The only way to convince a man of the supremacy of Christ is to confront him with Christ. On the whole it is true to say that it is not argumentative and philosophical preaching and teaching which have won men for Christ; it is the presentation of the story of the cross…The best argument is to say to people: ‘Come and see!’”

Since Adam’s fall we have come to picture God not as a loving Father inviting us to trust him, but an exacting sovereign who must be appeased. When we start from that vantage point we miss God’s purpose on the cross. For his plan was not to satisfy some need in himself at his Son’s expense, but rather to satisfy a need in us at his own expense.

But I am deeply bothered by the thought that in some way God was able to separate himself at the cross. The popular understanding of the cross seems to be that God the Father executed wrath on God the Son while standing at some discrete distance.

Such thinking not only denies the essence of God’s nature but then distorts what happened at the cross. Paul wrote that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ…” God was no distant observer, but a participant. He didn’t send Jesus to do what he would not do; but God himself acted through Jesus to bring about our redemption.

Some have taken Jesus’ cry that his Father had forsaken him to mean that at the darkest moment, the Father had to turn his back on the Son. God cannot bear to look on sin, they argue, so that when our sins were laid on him, God had to turn his face away from his Son.

God has never run from sinful humanity. He didn’t hide from Adam and Even in the Garden. They hid from him as he sought them out. It is not God who cannot bear to look on sin, but that we in our sin can’t bear to look on God. He’s not the one who hides. We are. God is powerful enough to look on sin and be untainted by it. He has always done so. He did so at the cross.

– Wayne Jacobsen in “He Loves Me”
Buy it HERE.

Esther 8:14 (NIV) ~ the couriers, riding the royal horses, raced out, spurred on by the king’s command. 

Oh, how this verse captures my imagination. It stirs me up with a fire within my bones to make haste with the message of the gospel. These horses were no ordinary horses, but royal ones bred as champions, the finest, and the best you would ever find. These riders were trusted with a message of deliverance, a promise from the King, which brought great rejoicing for whom it was intended. The Darby Translation of the Bible brings this verse alive with these words: “The couriers mounted on coursers and horses of blood went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment.”

Horses of a royal bloodline bred for the King’s purposes. Those who rode on them were chosen for their integrity, chosen for their loyalty to the King. They were those who, at a moment’s notice would, with great haste, obey the King’s command.  Here we have those chosen by the King to be couriers of his message, fired on by the King’s command to bring the good news. 

Time is pressing within our land, people need the good news. Quick! Let us mount the King’s horses and be couriers of His message to His people who are longing to have hope and longing to be given good news so they may rejoice, for their King is mighty to save! 

Listen, can you hear? Look! Can you see how with haste come the King’s trusted couriers into every hamlet, every village, every town and every city to declare the good news from the King? Full of zeal and with a smile, so delighted to share with one and all this message, “Today is the day of Salvation, trust in the words of the King and be saved! Believe in His promise and live!” When the people received the good news and believed in the promise from the King, they celebrated with great joy. 

My friend, God speed our calling as we, with great haste, climb upon the King’s horses and ride with a purpose, driven with love, fired up by the King’s commands to bring His message of good news to the people. Let us therefore ride the lengthen and breadth of our land with the urgent message from our King to one and all, declaring in His authority, “Today is the day of Salvation, trust in the words of the King and be saved! Believe in His promise and live!” When you received the good news from the King and believe in his promise, you will celebrate with great joy, for your King is strong to deliver and mighty to save. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

Song of Solomon 2:8 (NIV) ~ Listen! My lover! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. 

Here he comes to my aid, no mountain, no hill, no valley, no obstacle, will stand between God coming to me when I call upon His name. Here he comes bounding over the hills coming to my rescue. Whenever I call His name, He is right there by my side. Look my soul, look, my Jesus is coming to me, and the Lover of my soul comes to me. 

Nicolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson wrote the words to this beautiful song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” It contained these lyrics:

If you need me, call me, no matter where you are, no matter how far,

Just call my name, I’ll be there in a hurry, you don’t have to worry,

Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough,

To keep me from getting to you.  

Swift like a gazelle, bounding so gracefully, does my Jesus come to me. The Lover of my soul spoke to me saying, “My darling, my beautiful one” (Song of Solomon 2:13). For someone to call you His beautiful one, His darling, the one whom he loves and laid His life upon the altar of sacrifice to save you, shows His pure and amazing love for you.

My friend, when you pray, the Lover of your soul, Jesus Christ, comes to you with the answer to your prayers. 

Christ is the answer to my every need, Christ is the answer, He is my friend indeed;

Problems of life, my spirit, may assail, with Christ My Saviour I shall never fail,

For Christ is the answer to my need.  

Oh, what a beautiful verse to encourage your heart with today, from our text in Song of Solomon 2:8 (NIV), “Listen! My lover! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.” No sooner are the words of prayer off your lips, then look! Here he comes, my Saviour, My Messiah, the Lover of your soul, Jesus Christ, with the answer to your prayer! 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

The problem with being thankful is not so much one of manners as it is of alertness to the facts, that is, simply having open eyes to what is true. And it is true that you and I deserve nothing good. No, more than that, we deserve everything bad – an eternity in hell.

- Jim Elliff

Let this day be centered on Christ. It is because of Him that we can be thankful and enjoy that which we do not deserve. Thanks be to God!

Happy Thanksgiving! May it be fruitful and have eternal value for you.

Philippians 2:20 (Amplified Bible) ~ For I have no one like him no one of so kindred a spirit, who will be so genuinely interested in your welfare and devoted to your interests. 

What a beautiful description of two people working together with one purpose for the things of the kingdom of God. The word “kindred” means someone having similar qualities; related by blood. Wow, now that is something to think about; having a kindred spirit, brought together with a different spirit, one of unity with the same interests, related by blood. We are all washed in the same blood, that precious blood of Jesus Christ, having the same goal, with the same vision, with spirit of unity in the Lord. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:7 to 9 (NIV), “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour, for we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 

Here is something else to consider, the world uses a term to describe a close relationship between two people and they call it “soul mates.”  However, there is something stronger than a soul mate, for the term in itself has limitations, it only scratches the surface of true relationships and it only touches souls. But to have a spiritual relationship with someone and find a wife or husband who shares the same interests, who has the same goals, who wants to glorify God with their relationship is called being of “kindred spirit”; touching way past just the soul, for the soul is but temporary, while the things of the spirit are eternal. To be of a kindred spirit and having a passion to walk hand in hand, step-by-step, in unity before the Lord in serving Him together in the things of the Kingdom, is to have a kindred spirit, related by the blood of Jesus. Being born of the same seed is of far greater worth than to simply be a soul mate.    

My friend, oh, what it would be like to have someone of a kindred spirit to run the race with in Christ Jesus. The Bible says in Psalm 133:1 (KJV), “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” As we dwell together as kindred spirits, wanting to work together for the glory of God, then it is there the Lord commands the blessing. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

Early christmas presents from me to me.

UO

They shall be awaiting my sweet lovin’ on the other side of the globe.

x

If I had a christmas wish, I wish to raid the UO online store.

Or world peace.

HAHAHA OKAY ZOMG the first choice sounds materialistic, and the second choice sounds bimbotic. Whoops.

x

Realistically if I had only one christmas wish? (and I couldn’t wish for more wishes)

I could wish that YJ and I were in the same country, or that I’d get my dream job and not worry about life after graduation, or that friendships could always stay as they are and not change.

Or teleportation. That is a good one.

But if I had to choose one,

I wish I could make as many differences as I could for God, because I know there is no greater joy than seeing His will done on Earth.

I know it might sound kinda noble and pretentious, and if the situation were presented to me, who knows what I would choose in that moment? I might even wish for one times Ryan Gosling or one times Edison Chen. But I’d like to believe (or at least hope) that when I am faced with a situation, I will be able to choose the right thing

x

Ame is back!

Welcome home.

And its Jackie & Jarvis’ birthday today!

Thank you for everything. And I mean, everything.

Luke 14:10 (KJV) Friend, go up higher to a better place. 

Go up higher to a better place,

Go up higher to a new place of blessings,

Go up higher to a new place of victory,

Go up higher to a new place of abundance,

Go up higher to a new place of glory,

Go up higher to new realms of faith,

Go up higher to soar to new heights,

Go up higher to be closer to Jesus. 

Listen to the words from the one who calls you his friend, ‘go up higher to a better place.’ His invitation for you is to move on up to a better place. There are realms of great faith, victory, and glory, of power, fire and passion in the Holy Spirit yet to be discovered, listen to His invitation to you today for our text in Luke 14:10 (KJV) Friend, go up higher a better place. 

His desire is to bless you and lift you up to better places than you have ever known before. His desire is for you to soar like the Eagle, with wind of the Holy Spirit beneath your wings lifting you higher, higher, and higher to a better place than where you are just now. 

My friend, oh may we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us today from Luke 14:10 (KJV) Friend, go up higher to a better place. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

I think I’m ready to begin reading for the public, and charging for my readings, but I’m not sure.  So I decided to ask the cards.

Question: Am I ready to read for the public and charge for my readings?

I drew 3 cards for my answer.

Anchor + Cross + Clouds

Well, I guess the message is pretty clear that I’m ready yet.  Anchor represents my confidence, and Cross represents my faith, and Clouds shows that both are uncertain.  I don’t have enough confidence and faith in myself yet, so I’m not ready.

Next I asked the card if I will ever be ready to read professionally, and here’s what I got:

Whips + Lily + Clouds

Ugh!  Clouds again!  That means my answer is ‘doubtful.’  Whips + Lily represents active experience, and Clouds shows that my experience is shaky.  I’ll take that to mean I need more practice reading for friends and family in order to acquire the necessary active experience before I’ll be ready to go pro.

That’s not what I was hoping to see, but it’s good advice and it makes sense.

Or, Put the turkey down…this is way more important.

I know you’re saved, I know you go to church, I know you give…but are you a living walking testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ? What have you done for the Kingdom today?

No one holds out a hand to another unless it’s some kind of holiday. Serving the hungry and homeless for Thanksgiving is a nice thing to do but all you’re doing is filling their gut, not their quiver.

When will people just take a minute and take a hard look at others around them? Am I the only one that sees dead people walking?

Mark 16:15 says, ‘And he (Jesus) said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’

How will they hear without a preacher? There are people in the outer reaches of this planet Earth that need the Gospel. Jesus said we are to go into ALL THE WORLD; every corner, every mountain, every valley, every prison, every shelter, everywhere.

It is our responsibility to take this Message of the Cross across the globe and across town. How will they hear without a preacher?

 Mark 16:16 says, ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.’

And what Jesus said to the Disciples was confirmed by the Apostle Paul through the Holy Spirit:

Romans 10:14, ‘How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

To preach is to proclaim or to make known to those the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Your pulpit is closer than you think.

Romans 10:15 says, ‘…How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!’

Life is precious, but be mindful of Eternity. It is forever….for everyone.

Def: Whosoever, pron.

 WHOSOEVER, pron. [who, so, and ever.] Any one; any person whatever. (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

 Whosoever, (pron.) Whatsoever person; any person whatever that; whoever. (Online Plain Text English Dictionary)

 Whosoever, Whatsoever person; any person whatever that; whoever. (Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary; 1913)

“WHOSOEVER” was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (websters-online-dictionary.org)

John 3:15-16, (v.15) “That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have Eternal Life. (v.16) For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, what whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life.” -KJV-

Revelation 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” –KJV-

 Who is ‘whosoever’? YOU are whosoever.

 Read the Book and LIVE!

Revelation 3:8 (KJV) ~ I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.  

I have been told many times, by several people, that when God closes one door He another opens. There can be doors of opportunities; doors that lead you from one place to another. It is interesting to note that God shut the door of the Ark in the time of Noah until it was the right time for the door of the Ark to be opened. Even if Noah had tried to open the door of the Ark it would not have happened until it was the right time to do so. If we are truly obedient to the Lord, if we are, in one sense, safe within the Ark of His will, then whatever door He shuts let us have the wisdom to submit to His will until He opens a new a door. God shuts a door for a reason, and He opens one at the right time. 

The Apostle Paul spoke about an open door in 2 Corinthians 2:12 (The Message), “When I arrived in Troas to proclaim the Message of the Messiah, I found the place wide open.”  God had opened the door, and all he had to do was walk through it. Also, the same term is used in Colossians 4:3 (NIV), “…and pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message”; an open door to walk through into a new area of fresh blessings, new beginnings, and of new opportunities to be an effective witness for the Lord. 

We can come before one door after another in our journey of faith, and life can be one door after another. The Bible says in Hosea 2:15 (KJV), “And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope.” In other words, He will open a door of hope in your valley of despair.   

His door is one which leads to a new beginning, a fresh start. For example, we come to Jesus Christ who is God’s front door of Salvation.  He is the Gate which we walk through and find Life. At Calvary God hung that door, with Jesus Christ on the lintel of a wooden cross, and used the nails as hinges. It is now up to each and every one of us to enter in through and by God’s front door of Salvation. It is the place we go to if we want to cross from death to life. Just as there is only one door to our heart, so there is only one door to the heart of God and that is where we find Jesus Christ. If we knock on the door of His heart, it will be opened unto us. It is there we enter in and are saved. It is there we find fresh (heavenly) pasture, through Jesus Christ, God’s front door.  

My friend, we can push and shove with all our might against a door hoping it will open for us, but if we are fully trusting in the Lord and we will allow Him to open the doors which need to be opened and close those which are not the right ones for us, we will find peace. For our text for today says in Revelation 3:8 (KJV), “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” Let us, this day, trust God to open the right doors for us, albeit with the right employment opportunity, or an opportunity to spread the gospel and engage in the work of the ministry. Let us walk through every open door God has for us, knowing that His protection, provision, peace and power will be with us with every step we take. Let us fully trust Him, for it truly is God who opens the right door for us at the right time. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

Colossians 3:9 to 10 (NIV) ~ Since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 

Can you picture this verse coming alive before you? Can you imagine that you have been out rolling around in the muck, you are covered in dirt, and then you take off all your filthy rages and put on new white garments that are clean and spotless? The Bible says in Ephesians 4:22 to 24 (NIV), “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

Not once, but twice in the Scripture, this descriptive phase is used, “Put on the new self,” the new Christ-centred attitudes and characteristics. Cast away your old rags and clothe yourself in and with Christ Jesus.  When you come to Christ Jesus you are a new creation, for the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 

My friend, God is calling you to take off the old and put on the new, to exchange your filthy rages for royal robes you don’t deserve, but by His grace, mercy and love He wants to give them to you. So take off your old self and put on the new in Jesus, and be made new in every area of your life as you clothe yourself in Christ Jesus. 

In the words of an old gospel song:

The windows of heaven are open; the blessings are falling tonight,
There’s joy, joy, joy in my heart, for Jesus made everything right
I gave Him my old tattered garment; He gave me a robe of pure white
I’m feasting on manna from heaven, and that’s why I’m happy tonight. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

This hymn we played at church tonight really struck me.  I’m in awe of the juxtaposition of our total sinful guilt and our total redemption through Christ’s merit.

I’m also inspired that this hymn was written only fifteen years ago.  I had feared that we forgot how to write eloquent, deep, theologically complex songs a century or more ago.

Words and Music © 1995 Stuart Townend

William Farley from Outrageous Mercy

The cross demonstrates the permanent, immutable nature of God’s law. To save us, Jesus did not go around the law. He did not remove it. Rather, he fulfilled it. Taht is because the law is the eternal standard by which we will all be judged, and God is passionate about it. Every jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled, promised Jesus (Matt. 5:17-20). The cross says, “There will be no lawbreakers in heaven.” The cross says, “God is fervent about his law.”

Verses such as “Now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law” (Rom. 7:6) have convinced many that law does not apply to Christians, that in some mysterious way it is no longer relevant or important. In one sense they are right. The law no longer enslaves Christians. We could not keep the law, so Jesus kept it for us. God has released all who put their trust in God’s Son from the burden of being perfect law keepers. But the cross reminds us that we will never be released from the law as the standard for judgment.

Jesus did two things on our behalf to fulfill the law. First, he lived a perfect life. He obeyed every jot and tittle of the law so that he could impute that obedience to to unworthy lawbreakers who put their faith in him. Second, on the cross he bore the punishment that lawbreakers deserve. Jesus glorified his Father’s passion for his law by both fulfilling it and atoning for its abuse.

(HT: Todd Pruitt)

Maximise this video, turn up the sound, and brace yourself for some old fashioned gospel preaching from Al Martin.

This is not coming to a seeker-sensitive church near you!

(HT: Reformation Theology)