This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
1 Timothy 2:3-6 NASB
“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; John 17:9
Notice Jesus didn’t say he was asking on behalf of the entire world, but on their behalf, meaning Christians. When you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are set apart from the world. The question is , which one are you? Are you a Christian or an Anti-Christ? There is no in-between, you have either accepted Jesus as your Lord or Master or you denied him
The other day I heard someone saying “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?” Often people like to use God as their personal genie. They deny his righteousness and embrace there sin, yet the want all of God’s blessings and protection. Sin is separation from God, when you refuse to repent your sins and continue to practice them, God can’t be near you
Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, Isaiah 29:3
People pretend to honor God with their words but their hearts are not clean. Religion can’t save your soul, only the blood of Jesus Christ can. You must repent of your sins, follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior, allow the Holy Spirit to work through you to become a new creature. Otherwise your religion is worthless!
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 NASB
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Our Lord Jesus gives us many things, three of these things are faith, hope, and love. These three gifts can be anchors when we are caught in the storm. There are many things that people can take away from you, but they cant take your faith, hope and love when your rooted into the word of God
Faith- complete trust or confidence in someone or something
Do you have faith? Can you truly trust someone with your heart? God demonstrated to us that we can have complete faith and trust in him, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8) Even though we were still sinners God not only forgave us but sent his only begotten Son to give us eternal life (John 3:16)
Hope- a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain something to happen
Do you have any hope? When we put our hope in God, it’s not an empty hope but an expected hope because God never breaks his promises (Numbers 23:19) When God makes a covenant its forever, because God does not change (Malachi 3:6)
(Agape) Love- selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love
When we think of love, we don’t normally think as deeply as sacrificial. But this is the love God demonstrated us from the cross. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16) How could our Creator show us deeper love than this?
So be strong in The Lord knowing that you have the faith, hope, and love of your Heavenly Father that no one can take away from you in Jesus Name Amen
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; John 16:8
Did you ever feel guilty when you sinned? Everyone knows right from wrong even if they never read the Bible, this is because The Holy Spirit is convicting us of our sins and wants us all to repent and come back to God.
If you look at societies around the world, despite there religion or beliefs , most people know right from wrong. For example most societies know murder is wrong, or theft is wrong. These are beliefs that typically don’t have to be taught for someone to already know. God has sent us The Holy Spirit, to convict us of our sins, so we will know when to repent and to lead us on the right path
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them Romans 2:14-15
Paul teaches us , even though Gentiles didn’t know The Law (Bible) they still instinctively did the right or wrong thing. Even though they didn’t know the Law, there conscience would convict or defend them. God has giving us a conscience to try and lead us to the path of righteousness
When you repent and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your body becomes a Temple of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in you, and guide you in Jesus Name Amen!
‘Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? Job 4:17
As we continue to work through the book of Job, we see Job is in a very bad state of mind right now. He is under attack by Satan losing his family, possessions, and even his health. Job gets to a point where he says “Why didn’t I just die at birth (Job 3:11) Job is really as low as you can get, I’m sure there are many of us who can relate. There probably has been times when we struggled to find the meaning of life.
But then God answered Job “”Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh bristled up. (Job 4:15) Job felt the presence of God with him face to face. Job probably feeling like God had abandoned him, soon realized that God is with him. Then God asked Job “Can mankind be just before God?”
Many people were telling Job his was being punished for his sins, but Job insisted that he was still righteous with God. Although Job was correct, he wasn’t being punished for sins, God wanted him to understand that “We are all sinners and could never be justified by ourselves before our Heavenly Father.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23
However by the blood of Jesus Christ, we can be made pure to stand before God. Because of what Christ did for us on the cross, our sins can be washed white as snow. Without the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we would never be able to stand before our Maker. Even though we were still sinners Christ died for us in Jesus Name Amen!
therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. Genesis 3:23
On Sunday I was teaching my kids a lesson about “The First Sin”, during the part of the story when Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden, my 8 year old asked me “How do they get back in the garden?” Of course my quick answer is Jesus Christ, however this simple question really made me ponder.
When you really examine our journey of faith as Christians, our real goal is “to get back into paradise”, get back into our home, the way God intended it to be. In the beginning life was perfect, humans were made with perfection, no death, no aging, no disease, no worries. Life was simple, God provided the harvest as we lived in peace with the world.
But then Sin changed everything, the wages of sin is our death. Because of our disobedience we got kicked out of paradise! We gave up everything to feed our flesh. Instead of living in peace and obedience, we waged war with our Heavenly Father and became lawless.
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:15
However even in our greatest downfall, God already had a redemption plan. Jesus Christ was set to come to free us from the bondage’s of our sin and death.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. Revelation 21:1
Through Jesus Christ, we will one day be able to go back into Paradise! A new Heaven and Earth where there will be no more pain, sorrow, or death (Revelation 21:4). Keep pressing on towards the prize in Jesus Name Amen!
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2
Your faith is like a tree, the word of God is like a seed, when you accept Gods word for truth and learn and grow from it, you grow stronger in your faith.
Jesus said we would know false prophets “By their fruits” (Matthew 7:16) if we don’t produce “Good fruit” then eventually God will cut us off (John 15:2), so what is Good Fruit? Lets look at the Fruits of The Holy Spirit
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galations 5:22-23)
If your actions don’t match those qualities of the ones above, then your actions are not from God but from the flesh. Its important we remain lead by The Holy Spirit and not by our own flesh.
Second God says “We will be pruned so we can bear more fruit “ (John 15:2) Some might wonder as a Christian, why would God allow you to suffer? Sometimes our pain and suffering is to prepare us and grow us “Good Fruit”
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (James 1:2-3)
Don’t be misled by the fake “American” “Prosperity” Gospel, for anyone who loves this world and things of it, God is not in them (1 John 2:15) As a Christian there will be trials and tribulation, but know in the end we have the ultimate victory by the Blood of Christ in Jesus Name Amen!
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” Job 2:9
Job was under serious attack by Satan, he took his family, he took his wealth, and he even attacked Jobs health. It got to a point where Jobs wife told him to just “Curse God and Die”.
But Job never cursed God or blamed him for his pain and suffering. He understood that the evil in this world doesn’t come from God. (James 1:13) People often wonder why God hates sin so much, well its because it never originated from him. All sin and evil comes from Lucifer (Satan). And all sin leads to destruction instead of life, this is why God is so repulsed by it.
But we all have probably come to a point in our life, where we want to “Curse God’. When things are going bad, most people have a natural tendency to blame God. This is how Jobs wife felt, she felt that God had cursed Job and he should just curse God
However Job understood that our Heavenly Father is not capable of performing these acts. We are in a continual “Spiritual Warfare” against Satan. The evil one wants to steal your soul while Jesus wants to save it. Regardless of what your are going through, remember that Jesus has already overcome sin and death at the cross!
Thank God for the victory we have by the blood of Jesus Christ Amen!
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; John 14:16
Probably there is no one more misunderstood than the Holy Spirit. Even though Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the only unforgivable sin of the Bible (Mark 3:29) Many people, including Christians, often neglect or don’t even mention The Holy Spirit. So who is The Holy Spirit? And what is his purpose?
Jesus said after he ascended into Heaven he would send us The Holy Spirit, to be our Helper, our Advocate, and Comforter. This prophecy was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) when the Holy Spirit was delivered and revealed the truth to people of many nationalities and languages.
God has said that he would never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6) You might ask how is this possible? This is possible by The Holy Spirit. Jesus said the he would be with us forever! Our bodies are the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16) and the Holy Spirit dwells in us to lead and comfort us. We can never truly understand the scriptures without divine guidance of The Holy Spirit
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
Think about it the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living inside you! You are not alone or weak, you are empowered by The Holy Spirit in Jesus Name Amen!
