What is Grace?

I listened to a fabulous message the other day by John Bevere. You can listen to it, too, here.

He included a great analogy that has really stuck with me.

Imagine a tribe that lives in the bush, in Africa. They live far from all amenities. They have to travel far for water. They have to travel really, really far for medical supplies. They have to go out and hunt their food and then carry the heavy load back to the village. They have no connection to the outside world--no radios, no TV, no Internet. They have no A/C in their huts. And on and on and on.

We decide to grace them, to show them favor, to give them a great gift. We buy them a Land Rover. We bring it over and explain many of its benefits. We show them the A/C, heater, DVD player, Satellite Radio--really awesome things, that will benefit their lives. They are in awe and ask how they can pay for this. No, no, no, this is a FREE gift. We are giving it to them and expect no payment.

We leave and then come back to visit in 10 years. We find that the Land Rover is still sitting in the same spot! We find the odometer reads 0 miles! Why haven't they used it? Why haven't they taken advantage of the benefit of using it for transporting water, medical supplies, food, and more? Why haven't they used it to make their lives better?

Because we FAILED to explain to them the PRIMARY function of the Land Rover--transportation! We explained other good benefits, but not the primary benefit. They wrote songs about how great this gift was, they wrote books about it being a free gift that they didn't earn, they preached sermons about how it covered them when they climbed in to get out of the rain. But they WASTED our gift!

Is Jesus going to come back and see that we have wasted His gift of grace? We write songs about how amazing His grace is--and it is. We write books about how it's a free gift that we could never possibly earn--and it is. We preach sermons about how it covers all our sin--and it does. BUT, we are not teaching people the primary purpose and that is...

Empowerment!

Grace empowers us to overcome sin, overcome our weaknesses, overcome the world, overcome the devil, to be all that God has planned for us to be!

There is much more to the message and I encourage you to listen to it. The different references that were used were Eph. 3:9-10 Msg, Rom. 5:18 Msg, Gen. 1:27 Msg, II Cor. 12:9 TEV & NLT, II Pet. 1:2-3, John 1:16, I John 4:17, I John 2:6 NLT, II Cor. 7:1 TEV, Heb. 12:14, Heb. 12:28, II Cor. 6:1 TEV, John 20:21, Acts 4:33, Acts 6:8 NLT, Luke 2:40, John 14:12, Rom. 5:17 TEV, Dan. 6:3 NASB, Dan. 1:20. Look all of these up and see what the Holy Spirit wants to teach you. All unmarked references are NKJV.

Parable of the Talents pt. 2

This is part two of two posts on the Parable of the Talents. You can read the first part here.

I asked some questions last time, and here I will lay out what I believe the answers are. But remember, do your own study, come to your own conclusions.

Who is the lord? God.

Who are the servants? Christians. Not all believe this. I have heard it preached that the foolish servant was not a believer. I don't agree because in verse 14 you see the lord called his own servants. This reminds me of Romans 8:28. These are the called. These are the lord's servants, the unsaved are not serving God. And God is not lord of the unsaved.

What is a talent? A talent was a measure of weight used back in Bible times. This was a weight of gold or silver given to these servants. This is why I have always heard this passage taught in the context of financial stewardship, but I believe this has a broader application. I believe that the word talent means just that--a talent or a gift. There are many, many passages that refer to gifts God has given us. Some that come to my mind are Romans 12:6, I Corinthians 7:7, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 3:7, Ephesians 6:7-8, I Timothy 4:14, II Timothy 1:6, I Peter 4:10, Proverbs 18:16. God has given you a gift, or gifts. What have you done with them?

What does this parable mean? This parable illustrates the Bema Seat of Christ. The Bema Seat in Roman times was the seat of judgment. Jesus was brought before the Bema Seat to see Pilate (Matthew 27 & John 19), and Paul was brought before the Bema Seat to see Gallio, in Achaia, and Festus, in Caesarea. We will all stand before the Judgment (Bema) Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10 & II Corinthians 5:10). I believe this is what I Corinthians 3:9-15 is referring to. Our works will be judged, but our spirit's will not. That was done when Christ hung on the cross. All sin was judged when He took the penalty. This is about rewards.


What is the outer darkness? I have always heard this referred to as hell. Some will teach that the servant that buried the talent wasn't really saved and is sent to hell. Others will teach that all were saved, but the servant that buried his talent lost his salvation, and thus was sent to hell. But I present a third option to you.

Outer darkness in Greek is exoteros skotos and it means simply the darkness outside. Charles Stanley, Kenneth Wuest, Erwin Lutzer, Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, and Warren Wiersbe all agree this is not hell. Thayer's Greek/English Lexicon says that the outer darkness is "the darkness outside the limits of the lighted palace." Kenneth Wuest in his Expanded Translation of the Greek New Testament said, "The outer darkness is the darkness that is outside of the King's banqueting house." That is very interesting to me, in light of what I presented about the Parable of the Virgins and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. You can read about that in this post.

What does weeping and gnashing of teeth mean? This phrase has always sounded so strange to me. Obviously the weeping part is simple--it is weeping. And gnashing of teeth means profound regret.

So, is the outer darkness a place apart from God's light and joy, where we will weep and feel profound regret? IF...we do not steward the gifts and talents that God has given us? Remember that Revelation 21:4 says that God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. Why are they crying?

Whatever it is, it is not a place of punishment. Remember Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus." Are you in Christ? If so, you have nothing to fear. All sin was judged at the cross. If you have accepted the work that Christ did on your behalf, God has forgiven you of your sin, and therefore you cannot be punished.

Work

My husband pointed this out to me the other day. In reference to II Thessalonians 3:10, "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." We always think of this in context of labor and that is the context in which it was written, but perhaps it could also apply to our study of God's Word. Jesus said He is the Bread of Life (John 6) and He is the Word made flesh (John 1), so we are to eat His Word (see Ezekiel 3 & Revelation 10). But it takes work (diligence - see II Peter 1:5-11 & Hebrews 11:6) to get the food to eat. It takes study to dig out the truths of God and digest them. I'm not saying they are so hidden and obscure, but it takes more than a surface, cursory read to reveal them and get the nourishment from them.

This leads me to something a friend said the other day. She was pointing out that we each need to get revelation for ourselves. We can't rely on our pastor's revelation (although that is helpful, I'm not discounting that), or our friend's, but the truth of God's Word has to come alive to each and every one of us, in order to be effective in our lives. She compared it to eating someone else's food, after they had already eaten it--you don't get any nourishment from it, they already did! That is gross, but really good. Think about the baby bird sitting there with it's mouth open wide, waiting for the mommy bird to chew up the worm and spit it into it's mouth. Many of us go to church that way, saying, "feed me, feed me, chew on it for me, half digest it, and then give it to me." Sermons at church should be a springboard for your own study, NOT your sole nourishment. If so, you are eating someone else's food. They got the full nourishment from it, you are getting a by-product.

Homeschooling has taught me this well, the person doing the research is the person doing the learning. Many times we homeschool moms do a lot of research to teach our kids a lesson and we learn a lot, but the kids don't really. I have learned that it is much better to lead my kids through research, so that they themselves are the ones learning. This is the same with us and church. The pastor is doing the study, getting the revelation, and then passing it on to us. It is easily forgotten if we do not apply it, use it, study it further.

It's time to get to work.

Say the Same Thing

Hebrews 4:14-16

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Mixture of KJV & NKJV)

I want to focus on the word profession, in this passage. In the Greek, it is the word homologia, which comes from homologeo. It literally means same word (logeo is word, homo is same). It means to say the same thing.

You see, Jesus is our High Priest, that means He is our intercessor. An intercessor is someone that is a mediator. A mediator is a go-between. Jesus is between us and God. He is interceding on our behalf, to God the Father. Just like the priests of the Old Testament, would go to God on behalf of the people. The difference, now, in the New Covenant, is that we are actually in Christ, He is in us, we have a union with Him, and so we are able to go boldly before the throne, too. But He is there, praying for you. He is telling the Father what He has done on your behalf.

We need to hold fast our profession. We need to say the same thing about ourselves that Jesus is saying about us. What is Jesus saying about us? Well, John 1 tells us that Jesus is the Word made flesh, so the Word of God is the Word of Jesus. Pick a scripture, any scripture, He is saying that about you.

When we contradict what the Word says about us, we are contradicting Jesus, our High

Priest. It's like being in a courtroom as the defendant. Jesus is our defense attorney. God the Father is the judge. Satan is the accuser. Satan tries to accuse us of all sorts of things, he tries to accuse us of sin. Jesus says, "I have given them My righteousness." When we say anything different, we are disagreeing with our attorney. In our world, we know that is unwise. We need to use that wisdom in the spiritual world, as well. Get in agreement with your attorney. Find out what He is saying to the judge. Start saying those same things about yourself. That is the only way we can get the help we need, the mercy and grace mentioned in the latter part of the passage.

Here are some good references:

II Corinthians 5:17 - I have been created a new creature in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away, behold, all things are new.

Romans 3:22 - I have the righteousness of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:11 - The Holy Spirit dwells in me, and He gives life to my mortal body, just as He raised Christ from the dead.

I Peter 2:24 - By Jesus' stripes, I was healed.

Ephesians 4:24 - My spirit has been recreated in true righteousness and holiness.

Romans 12:2 - I will not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but I will let God transform me (my soul/mind) into a new person, by changing the way I think. Then I will learn to know what God wants me to do. (taken from NLT)

Ephesians 2:8-10 - It is by grace that I have been saved, through faith, and that is not of myself; it is a gift of God, it is not by anything I have done, so that I cannot boast. I am God's workmanship, His special creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has already prepared for me.

Philippians 1:6 - I am confident of this, that God has begun a good work in me and will not stop working on me until Christ returns, then it will be complete (this is referring to your soul, it's called sanctification).

Philippians 4:11-13 - In whatever state I am in, I have learned to be content; I know how to live humbly and I know how to live in prosperity. I can do all things (everything God has called me to) through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:6-7 - I will be anxious for nothing, I will make my requests known to God, and His peace, that is so great I cannot even understand it, will guard my heart and mind through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19 - My God supplies all my needs, according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus (this speaks not only to material needs, but help to avoid temptation, our need of redemption, healing, and more).

Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Romans 8:1 - I cannot be condemned because I am in Christ, He was condemned and paid the penalty for me.

I Corinthians 3:16 - My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, His Spirit dwells in me.

Romans 8:31 - God is on my side, no one can be against me.

Romans 8:28 - I know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:37 - I am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me.

Romans 8:38-39 - Nothing can separate me from the love of God.

And there are so many more. These are coming to me almost faster than I can type them. That is what happens when you fill your heart with God's Word. His Holy Spirit will bring it back to your mind, when you need it most. So dig in and start filling your heart and mind. Find more of God's promises and add them to this list. Write these out, print them out. Post them where you will see them most, on the refrigerator, on the bathroom mirror, etc. Start to say these things about yourself, because that is what Jesus is saying about you, right now, up in heaven, before the throne of God!

License to Sin

This is a continuation of my post of The Consequences of Sin, which was part five in a series.

In the last post, I made a list of what I believe to be the consequences of sin. Those include 1) repercussions from this world, 2) opening up the door to the devil in your life, 3) strengthening your sinful nature (your flesh), and 4) tarnishing your soul. This last one is what I will explain more fully today. What I do not believe are the consequences of sin are 1) that God stops loving us, 2) God punishes us, 3) God is unable to bless or protect us, and 4) we lose our salvation.

This is where it would seem that I am giving you license to sin, since there is no fear of losing salvation or God's love. But, that is simply not the case. I also ended my last post with Romans 6:23a, "For the wages of sin is death." Does that verse contradict what I have presented?

I think the problem most of us have, is that we do not look at ourselves as a three-part person. We are spirit beings, we have souls, and we live in a body. This information is vital in understanding how salvation works, and how sin affects us. (I Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12)

When you are saved (when you admit your sin and need for a Savior, accept Jesus as your Lord, believing that He died on a cross to pay for your sin, and rose from the grave three days later--see Romans 10:9-10), it is your spirit that gets recreated, in the likeness of Christ. It is made new, made perfect (II Corinthians 5:17). It is also sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30). Your spirit now has been made righteous because of Jesus. God sees you as a spirit and sees you as righteous, in your spirit. He loved you before you were saved, and He will always love you, nothing can separate you from His love (Romans 5:8, Jeremiah 31:3, Romans 8:38-39). Knowing of this awesome love casts out all fear of torment and punishment (I John 4:18). Experiencing this love also enables us to love others (I John 4:11).

When we are saved, we do not, however, get a new soul. Our soul is not made clean and new and perfect, but we can begin a process that makes it so (Philippians 1:6). This takes effort on our part, but as with everything in God's system, our part is so small, God's part is big (Philippians 2:12-13). Remember the post I did about Lazarus? If you haven't read it, you can click here. This is what the story of Lazarus illustrates for us. At salvation we are made alive, in our spirit, but we are still bound up with the graveclothes (sinful desires in our soul). We can be free of those if we want, but it takes a cleansing of the soul. We can also look at the story of the Israelites in slavery, in Egypt (Exodus). They were set free from slavery, but then wandered in the desert for 40 years. Being in Egypt is being dead in your sins. Crossing the Red Sea is salvation, but you can choose whether to wander in the dry desert or cross over into the Promised Land. The Promised Land is not heaven, as some suggest, but it is the victorious, abundant, Christian life. It cannot be heaven, because there are battles to be fought. We will have battles in the Christian walk, but God is on our side, so who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) But notice that God never sent any of them back to Egypt, because of their behavior and a lot of them had horrible behavior.

The Bible says in Philippians 1:6 that God begins a good work in us and will not complete it until the day Jesus returns. This good work is cleansing our soul. None of us has a perfect soul, none will until Jesus returns.

One of the evidences that you are saved is that you should want to become clean. You should not be content to live in your sins. (I John 3:3) It may seem impossible to break free, but if you are saved, you will feel a guilt over that sin and want a way to stop. You see there is a war between your spirit that wants to obey God and your soul that still wants to obey the sinful desires (I Peter 2:11, Romans 7:22-23). Remember the illustration I shared from Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris a couple weeks ago. You can read it here. We must realize that once we are saved we are no longer chained to our flesh (our sinful desires), we have a choice not to obey. But the more we feed our flesh the stronger it gets. Likewise the more we starve the flesh, the weaker it becomes.

So, you see, one of the consequences of sin is that it tarnishes our soul. Our soul doesn't become clean overnight, at salvation. Cleansing it is a process and it takes a lifetime. How clean it gets does depend, in part, on us. Remember Moses at the Red Sea. God told him to raise his staff up. Moses obeyed and God parted the water, so that the Israelites could cross on dry land. Our part is always small in comparison to the work that God does. God will change us from the inside out. He starts with our spirit and does a miraculous work, recreating it instantly, and then perfects our soul, over the course of our lifetime. We then get a perfect, new body when Jesus returns, completing our salvation. (I Corinthians 15:50-58)

So how do we cleanse our soul?

Wash it in the water of God's Word. Ephesians 5:24 tells us that God's Word is like water that washes us. John 17:17 tells us that God's Word is truth and it will sanctify (cleanse, make holy) us (that has to be our soul, since our spirit is recreated perfect at the new birth). The Word will transform your mind (soul) (Romans 12:2), so that you won't want to sin anymore.

The best place to start is to study how much God loves you. When you get a full revelation of His love for you, your fears will be cast out (I John 4:18). You will be able to love others and will feel so grateful, you will want to do anything God asks of you. (I John 3:16, 4:7-12, 18, 5:3)

Now, what about Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death..."?

There are two ways I interpret this verse.

1) The wages of sin, under the Old Testament law, is death. But Jesus paid that penalty for us. We no longer have to pay that penalty.

2) There are different types of death. Living in sin, after salvation, won't cause spiritual death (which is eternal separation from God), but will bring death to the soul and body. Our soul is the area where our emotions, feelings, and will are. The dirtier the soul, the more depression, anxiety, fearfulness, worry, lack of peace and joy you will have. This will manifest in your body through sickness, pain, and fatigue. Plus, like I mentioned before, the more you feed that desire to sin, the stronger that desire will be. You are supposed to count your flesh as dead. Why would you feed a dead man?

So, by no means am I preaching liberty to sin (just like Paul in Romans 6:1-3). You have a choice. You can live an abundant, joy-filled, peaceful life, here on earth, or you can life a horrible, depressed, hell-on-earth life. God loves you just the same. He wants you to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). He sent His Son to die for all your sins--past, present, and future. They have been paid for. He sent His Holy Spirit to empower you to overcome your temptations and sin. You cannot do it in your own willpower. Put your trust in your Heavenly Father, He will show you the way of escape. (I Corinthians 10:13)

I want you to truly be free of sin, but I want you to know the truth. I will not use fear to motivate you, fear of punishment, fear of wrath, fear of losing God's love, fear of losing salvation. God does not use fear. (II Timothy 1:7) He gave us His truth, in order to set us free. (John 17:17, 8:32)You may say it doesn't matter, but our motives for our actions matter very much. That is a post for a later date. Until then...study to show yourself approved, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. (II Timothy 2:15) Check out the things I have presented here and decide for yourself.

Socialism in the Bible?

I was reading in Daniel 11 today.  It is clearly giving details of Antiochus Epiphanes (Syrian king who defiled the Jewish temple in 166BC, by placing an idol inside, leading to the Maccabean revolt), but more broadly it is describing the antichrist, or coming world leader.

I thought verse 24 was very interesting.  It says, "he will enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers; he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil and riches..."

Does this sound like socialism to you?  Does it sound like the redistribution of wealth we've been hearing about?

I know a lot of Christians are getting really upset about the current path our government is taking, but truthfully, folks, it's been on this path for a VERY long time.

Don't get caught up in the fear and worry that the media would like to feed us.  Find out what your Bible says about government.

If we are truly living in the end times, we are going to start seeing a lot of things we don't like.  But we can rest in the fact that God told us ahead of time it would be like this.  I will rest in the fact that my God will supply all the money I need to pay any tax my government imposes upon me (Philippians 4:19).  I will rest in the fact that He has given His angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways (Psalm 91).  I will rest in the fact that no evil will befall me, nor shall any plague come near my dwelling (Psalm 91).  What promises are you resting on?

If you don't make a regular habit of it, NOW is the time to start a consistent time of study in God's Word.  This is the only way you can have peace in these times we are entering.

Read II Timothy 3, I Thessalonians 4 & 5, Romans 13, I Peter 2:13-17, & I Timothy 2:1-3

See also this great article about the fall of capitalism.

Why Am I Here?

Do you ever get that feeling?  Do you know what your purpose is?  Unfortunately, most people don't have a sense of purpose and without it, we flounder through life.  You will find true joy when you find your purpose.

You will remember that I did a study with my son on what the Bible says about who we are, this spring.  After we finished that study we jumped into a study of what the Bible says about WHY we are here, why we were created.  This is what I came up with.

Why Am I Here?

First we realize that it's not all about us!

::We were created for God's glory.

Isaiah 43:7, I Corinthians 10:31, I Corinthians 6:20, Proverbs 16:4

::To love God

Mark 12:28-30

::For God's pleasure

Psalm 149:4, Psalm 147:11

::To worship God

John 4:23, Psalm 105:4, Psalm 113:3, Psalm 34:1

::To understand and know God

Jeremiah 9:24

Now, God wants to work in us and through us...

::To make us like Christ

Romans 8:29, Ephesians 4:22-24, Romans 13:14, I John 3:2, II Peter 3:14 (NIV), Hebrews 4:11

::To develop character in us

Romans 5:3-4, II Peter 1:5-8, Colossians 3:12-17, Galatians 5:22-23

BUT, we must never forget that it is God developing that character in us and changing us into the image of His Son!

Philippians 2:13

Why is character so important?

So we can fulfill the next part of purpose...

::To be the light of the world

John 8:12, Matthew 5:14-16, Ephesians 5:8-10

::To love one another

John 13:34-35, I John 4:7, I Corinthians 13

::To serve one another

Mark 10:35-45

::To bear good fruit

Genesis 1:28, John 15:16. Galatians 5:22-23

::To spread the gospel

Mark 16:15

::To do good works

Ephesians 2:10

::To do a job in the Body of Christ

I Corinthians 3:5-15, Romans 12:6, I Corinthians 12

Now, you may have noticed that the first portion  of this list related to God and the second portion is in relation to others.  We cannot love others and minister to others until we understand God's love for us and let him start to change us from the inside out.

Now, in relation to this earth...

::We are to have dominion over the earth (this is partially realized now and fully realized in the age to come)

Genesis 1:26

And finally, in the future...

::To rule and reign with Christ as kings and priests.

Revelation 5:10 & II Timothy 2:12

Now, equally important as our purpose is, is also what NOT to do.  We are NOT to seek after man's approval, our motives are just as important, sometimes more so, than our actions.  God looks at the heart.  

II Corinthians 10:12, 17-18

As I stated in our study of who we are, you can find more in the Bible to add to this list, but this is what I chose to study with my children.  Start a study to find out what your purpose is.  Need some help?  Check out The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren.

This article is also a follow-up of my challenge, to write down a list of my beliefs.  This list answers some of those questions.

Who Are You?

Last month I issued a challenge, you can read more here.  Part of that challenge was to write down what you believe about yourself.  What does the Bible say about you?

I did some study and came up with these 15 things.  I know there are more to be found, but 15 was a nice number to cover with my son.  I think we studied these over a 3 or 4 week period.  I used this opportunity to cover who we are, but also where we came from, a catechism of sorts.  I wanted to include some fundamentals of doctrine in this list.  I also wanted to start from scratch with this list.  I made a list of things I believed, but only kept the ones that I could find scriptural basis for.

Who Am I?

I was created by God, in His image.

Genesis 1:26-31

I am a spirit, I have a soul, and I live in a body.

Genesis 2:7, Job 32:8

I was born a sinner.

Romans 3:23

I have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

Ephesians 2:1-13

I am a new creation.

II Corinthians 5:17

I am more than a conqueror.

Romans 8:37

I am a child of God.

Romans 8:14-16

I am a joint heir with Christ.

Romans 8:17

I am seated together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:6

I am dead to sin and alive in Christ.

Colossians 3:1-17, Romans 5:12-21, Romans 6, Galatians 2:20

I am an overcomer.

I John 5:4-5

I am an alien (you could also say stranger or foreigner) of this earth.  (My son is partial to aliens, so he chose to use the word alien in this list.)

Psalm 119:19, Philippians 3:20

I am an ambassador for Christ.

II Corinthians 5:20, Ephesians 6:20

I am part of the Body of Christ.

I Corinthians 12:12-31, Ephesians 1:22-23

I am a person with unique God-given gifts and talents.

Matthew 25:14-30, Ephesians 4:7-8, I Peter 4:10, I Timothy 4:14, II Timothy 1:18

This started as a way to teach my son some fundamentals, and I took for granted these beliefs that I held, but I cannot tell you how good this study has been for me.  I believe that seeds have been planted in both my children (9 & 3) through this study, but I have experienced revelation, breakthrough, and victory in my life as a result.  I went from comprehending to apprehending these truths.  See Ephesians 3:18, the verb comprehend, in the Greek, is also translated apprehend, meaning to lay hold of so as to make one's own.  These truths became my own.  It is when the truth of God's Word comes alive to you that it's power works in your life!

Next, we will study why we are here on this earth.

If you would like to read some of what I believe about God, see my earlier articles here, here, and here.

Verse For Today

I Peter 2:2-3

(Amplified)

Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation, since you have [already] tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord.

Why does it say completed salvation?  You see, this is a process.  First you are justified, then sanctified, then glorified.  Read more here.

John 17:17 tells us that we are sanctified by God's Word, so then shouldn't we be craving more of God's Word all the time?  I don't know about you, but I could use some more sanctification!  None of us will be fully sanctified until Christ returns.  (Phil. 1:6)

Why?

We are finishing up our reading of the Book of John at dinnertime.  Tonight we read about Mary coming to the tomb and finding it empty.  

It is very important, to me, that my children know why they believe what they believe.  The more they know why, the better they will be able to defend their faith.  (I Peter 3:15)  So tonight I asked my son, "Why did Jesus have to die?"

Jesus was not a martyr that died because He was arrested and then miraculously rose from the dead.  He willingly gave up His life, but why?  The obvious answer is to save the world.  But why did He have to die to save the world?  I think this is something many of us take for granted, but can you answer why, and know why you believe it?

I would like to hear your thoughts.

Character of God

Update 1/27/09 - I know this is turning into a long post.  It might be best to break it down into days, rather than reading it all at once.  I have highlighted all the day breaks.

This week I decided we should study the fact that God is gracious to balance our study of God's wrath last week.  To read our other studies about God's character, click here.

I had my son write two definitions of grace in his notebook - unmerited favor & the ability to do something you wouldn't be able to do.

I read two verses on day 1 -
Jonah 4:2b I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
I wanted to emphasize with this verse that God is SLOW to anger, to balance our discussion from last week.

Then I discussed that we are saved by grace, it was unmerited, meaning undeserved.  There is NO way we could be good enough to save ourselves (all have sinned--Rom. 3:23).

Eph. 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace...

Then I realized that if we were talking about grace, we HAD to bring in the subject of faith!  (Eph. 2:8).   If we were saved by grace ALONE, then everyone in the world would be saved.  It is God's will that everyone be saved. (II Peter 3:9)  But we have to use our faith and this is an important thing to realize.

I used to say for years that I am where I am in life because of the grace of God, but that was only partially correct--I am where I am because of my FAITH in the grace of God! It's not that I am special that He would choose to use me and not some others around me, it is my faith working TOGETHER with His grace.

I heard the other day on my Chuck Missler Galatians commentary that faith and obedience are synonymous (operationally) in the New Testament. I typed that into my notes on that day, but then it came alive to me as I started this study of grace with my son.

On day 2 we read the story of Rahab in Joshua 2 and 6.   She was saved, by grace, from destruction.  But notice that it was her faith working together with grace. She showed faith in God Almighty and asked the spies to spare her life. (Josh. 2:9-13)  She is living in a pagan, idol-worshipping world, but see in verse 11 that she says when she heard of the God of Israel that she knew He was God in heaven and on earth (not just a great god, like a pagan person would say).  This shows her faith.  They then gave her instructions--but she had to take action (obey)! (2:17-20)  It was up to her, if she hung the scarlet cord out her window, her and her family would be saved, if not, they died.  So we see that she found favor (grace), used her faith and obeyed.

On day 3 we read the first 2 chapters of Ruth. Not much to discuss until the next day.

On day 4 we read the last 2 chapter of Ruth.  Ruth was saved by grace, but notice in Ruth 3, verses 3 and 4, Naomi gives Ruth instructions.   In verse 5, what does Ruth say? "I will DO all that you have asked me to do."  She obeyed.  First she had faith in Naomi's words and THEN she obeyed, a thing of action.  So just like Rahab, Ruth found favor with Boaz (grace), had faith in Naomi's words and acted on that faith with obedience.

Salvation is a gift from God, but we have to accept it by faith, we have to OPEN that gift.  I explained it to my son like this--If I wrapped up a cool Lego set and gave it to him, he would never experience the joy of that gift unless he opened it.  Likewise, if I wrap up a nice, big umbrella, raincoat, and galoshes and gave them to him, he wouldn't experience the protection from the rain UNLESS he opens the gift.   JOY and PROTECTION are just two of the many things we get to experience when we OPEN the gift of salvation.

On a side note - I noticed as we were reading this morning in Ruth 3, that Naomi asks Ruth if she could seek security for her.  This means to find her a husband.  But in the margin of my Bible, it says that the word security here literally means rest.  This is what we experience when we accept Christ, rest AND we as the church are called the Bride of Christ.   Interesting! (Read Hebrew 3 & 4)

I have had my son add these two examples, Rahab and Ruth to his notebook page and also copy Ephesians 1:7 into it, as well.

Update 1/23/09 -

Today is day 5 and I couldn't think of any more examples to read, so I thought I would just read a passage, Ephesians 2:1-10, and have a discussion.  I started asking my son questions about grace and I could tell he needed a bit more explanation, so I found myself using the example of the life of Paul.  So, we turned to read that story instead.  

I wanted to emphasize that we are saved by grace, it is undeserved, but also the work that we do for God is because of His grace.  The story of Paul illustrates this really well.

We first read about Paul in the end of Acts 7, then see some of his character in the beginning of Acts 8, and then read of his conversion in Acts 9.

The story of Paul is a good story to read if you are feeling unworthy.  If God could save Paul, He can save any of us!  Paul was killing and arresting and persecuting Christians.  If anyone deserved God's wrath, it was Paul.  But God gives everyone a chance (just like Ninevah, we'll probably read that story after this one).

So picking up in verse 3 of Acts 9, we see that Saul (Paul) was on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians when he saw an incredible light.  From this light he heard a voice.  The voice said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"  And Saul asks, "Who are you?"  The voice answers, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."  (I'm paraphrasing, please read the entire story in Acts 9.)

This is God's grace.  He could very well have let Saul keep on his destructive path, he certainly didn't deserve God's favor.

What is Saul's response?

"Lord, what do you want me to do?"  Ah ha!  This shows Saul's faith.  Remember that faith has to work together with God's grace.  Saul could have ignored the voice, he could have walked away, he could have said, "this is ludicrous!"  But he didn't, he shows us with his statement that he believes the voice to be, in fact, that of Jesus.  We also see that he wants to know what TO DO.  This is very important.  Faith without obedience is dead.  (James 2:17)

Jesus gives him instructions--go into the city and you will be told what to do.  (Remember the instruction that Rahab and Ruth were given?  What has Jesus instructed you to do?)

Paul has a choice, as we all do.  He could have run back home to Jerusalem, but he didn't.  He went into Damascus and he was saved.  He was saved by grace, AFTER he showed that he had faith by his obedience!

We will read more of Paul's story on Monday.  He tells us in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by God's grace, but also in Ephesians 3:8 that the work that we do is only by God's grace, as well.  Paul should not have been able to preach to anyone, since everyone knew of his past, but by the grace of God (AND Paul's faith working with it), he was able.  Hence, the dual definition I have taught my son--unmerited favor AND the ability to do things we wouldn't be able to do.

Update 1/27/09 - 

On Monday, day 6 of this study, we read from Acts 9:26-30 and Acts 11:25.  We see that Paul tries to preach, but everyone is afraid of him, they don't trust him because of who he used to be.  He goes away for a time and we pick up in verse 25 of chapter 11 and see that BY GOD'S GRACE, he is able to start a preaching ministry.  He tells us himself in Ephesians 3:8 that his preaching is BY GOD'S GRACE.

Today is Tuesday, day 7, and I can tell that my son is having a hard time wrapping his brain around the definition of grace.  If you recall from day 1, I taught him the definition of unmerited favor.  I decided to look up favor in the dictionary.  One of the definitions was help or aid.  This was a better word to use for my son.  So I had him write in his notebook that, "grace = favor = help", and, "unmerited = undeserved", and underneath that, "grace is the undeserved help of God."  I think this helped it click in his brain.  We cannot save ourselves, we need God's help.  Paul couldn't preach to anyone without God's help.

I started reading the story of Ninevah in the book of Jonah today.  We will conclude it tomorrow.  I also had my son copy Ephesians 2:8 into his notebook.

Update 1/29/09 - 

Yesterday, Wednesday, was day 8 on this study.  We read the last two chapters of Jonah.  We see that Jonah went to Ninevah and simply said that in 40 days the city would be destroyed.  (Jonah 3:4)  He didn't even mention the word repent!  Verse 5 tells us that the people believed.  Did they go around telling everyone they believed?  Did they shout to God that they believed?  Let's read on.  We see that they took action--they fasted and mourned (wearing sackcloth).  News got to the king and he declared that everyone should repent!  In verse 9 we see that the king has hope that, if they repent, God will relent from His wrath.  And He did.  God is giving everyone a chance.  He gave Jonah a chance, (even after he disobeyed!)  He gave Ninevah a chance, and He's giving you a chance!  The verse that we read in Nahum a couple weeks ago about how God hates sin and will one day pour out his wrath is now put in context.  This was 150 years AFTER Jonah had preached in Ninevah.  Nahum was a prophet that was sent to Ninevah to preach to a city that had heard the truth and had now REJECTED it!  That is important to understand.

Today is day 9 and we started out by reading II Peter 3, I wanted to highlight verse 18, but sometimes it's good to get some background and context.  Wow!  This was a good chapter!  The basic summary is that we should live holy and pure lives, looking forward to the return of Christ (that could happen as a thief in the night--at any moment).  I especially like verse 9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.", and verse 18, "but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." This verse is why I picked this passage.  We are saved by grace, but we also need to grow in grace.

I asked my son, "How do we grow in grace?"

He said, "Accept Jesus into your heart."  (He's 9.)

I said, "That is the new birth, your spirit is born again.  Do physical babies grow after they are born?"  (This got a laugh.  The answer was, "Of course!")  I continue, "So how does your spirit man grow up?"

My son thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with an answer.

I explain, "The same way you are saved--by grace, through faith."

Remember that grace works together with faith.  And how do we SHOW our faith?  Through obedience.  We turned to James 2:14-26.  This passage contains an excellent concrete example that children can understand.  The example of a friend that has no food, absolutely nothing to eat.  If you go to them and say, "God loves you!  Have a nice day!", it doesn't do them a BIT of good!!!  You need to DO something for them--bless them with some food, show them God's love with a gift!  It is your actions WITH your words that will mean something to them.  It is the same with God, we cannot simply say we have faith in Him, we must DO something--obey His Word!  Afterall, God showed you His love for you by His actions--He SENT His only Son to DIE on a cross to pay for YOUR sins and to take your sickness and sorrow!  God wants more than lip service.  It's more than simply saying you believe, EVEN the demons believe (James 2:19).

So we see that we are saved by grace, but we ALSO live everyday by grace.  We are only able to grow spiritually by His grace and do the work (Eph. 2:10) He has called us to, by His grace.  This is a day-by-day thing, using your faith and obeying.

Now it is very important to remember that we are NOT saved by works (Eph. 2:8).  Don't fall into the trap of doing good works to get on God's good side.  If you do, you won't have peace.  It is when you have received instruction from the Lord and His Word and are obeying out of faith, that He gives His grace, and remember one of the definitions means help.  It is easy to do, because He is helping you.  Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  (Matt. 11:30)

Remember that Rahab, Ruth, and Paul all received instruction.  We must go to the Word to receive our instructions (II Tim. 3:16).  This makes for a nice segue into a study of specific instructions in God's Word.  I think we will spend the next few weeks on that.  I will have to do some research.

Tomorrow we will read the story of Abraham offering Isaac (spurred by James 2:21) to finish this topic.

Note to parents:  After reading this, I feel that there may be a few of you that don't feel capable of teaching your children these things from God's Word.  I want to encourage you to just start reading to them from the Bible.  You could start in Genesis and pick out the numerous Bible stories or go to the New Testament and read to them from the gospels about the life of Jesus.

There is something that happens when you start reading out loud and teaching your children.  Light bulbs will start to go off in your head, puzzle pieces will start to connect.  I have noticed a difference in my daily reading (One Year Bible Schedule) and my reading to my children.  Too often with my daily reading, when I was on a particular schedule, I was reading to check that day off my list.  I wasn't retaining much, or stopping to understand what I was reading.  Don't get me wrong, it was beneficial to me (I wrote about that here), but there is SO much MORE I get out of reading to my children.  I am thinking more about what I'm reading and stopping to explain it to them, which in turn helps me to understand it even more.

This topic is a prime example.  All these things I taught my kids in this two-week study, literally came to me as I was teaching them.  The dots were connecting in my head as we went through this and sometimes more thoughts would come to me through the day that I could teach the following days.

So don't hesitate, start sowing seeds of God's Word into your children now!  (Deut. 6:6-7)

Galatians

I was studying Galatians 5 yesterday and listening to a commentary by Dr. Chuck Missler. He mentioned something that I had not heard before.

Basically, the power to overcome our flesh with its desires and passions has ALREADY been given to us.  And I guess that makes sense.  Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ...", it does NOT say, "I am being crucified with Christ."   Your sinful nature was ALREADY crucified, you have been given a new nature.   Just as we WERE healed by Jesus' stripes (I Peter 2:24).  These are past tense things, all you have to do now is lay hold of them by faith and walk (obey/action) in them.

So rather than crying out ot God to help you with strongholds, temptations, and fleshly desires, realize that He has ALREADY done it!  Confess that you are a NEW creature, old things HAVE passed away, behold all things are NEW! (II Cor. 5:17)  Confess that you HAVE BEEN crucified with Christ and it is no longer you who live, but Christ that lives in you! (Gal. 2:20)  Confess that you WALK in the Spirit (this is a moment-by-moment thing) and you do NOT fulfill the lust of the flesh! (Gal. 5:16)   It is already done, it is settled.  If we don't continually lay hold of this truth we fall into the trap of legalism and we will try to secure victory by our own efforts.  This always fails.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Rom. 10:17)  The more you read the Word and hear the Word, the stronger your faith grows AND remember--faith without works is dead, so be a doer of the Word as well as a hearer! (James 1:22)  WALK in the Spirit and you will see the fruit of the Spirit! (Gal. 5:22-23)  Rest in the fact that your old, sinful nature HAS ALREADY BEEN crucified and no longer keeps you in chains!

Prophecy

Update below 12/24/08

As an advent activity last year I decided to cover prophecy scriptures about Jesus, and their fulfillments, with my kids.  You can read about that here.  It didn't seem to have the impact that I was looking for so I wasn't going to do it again this Christmas, but have changed my mind.  I will tell you why.

A little while back (can't remember what we were reading), my son had a lightbulb go off in his head during Bible reading.  He said, "you mean the Bible not only tells us things that happened, but things that are going to happen, too?!?"  I thought I had explained that last Christmas with the prophecy scriptures.  Oh well, now that he understands this he thinks it's really cool.

I also got to thinking about the method I used last year.  I printed out the scriptures on red and green paper and cut them out with fancy scrapbook scissors and each day that we read them, I let the kids tape them on the fridge in a long string.  We alternated the red and green papers.  Well, since I was the one that did all the work, I was the one that learned!  None of the information stuck in my son's head.

So this year I am reading to him, but having him do a little notebooking.  I had him title his page, "Prophecy" and he is making a list.  We have one through nine so far (we do these on week days).  I have him write the basic synopsis of the prophecy (I usually help him think of it) and the scripture reference and then I ask him if it has been fulfilled or not.  This gets him to thinking of the fulfillment and usually he'll tell me what the story is for the fulfillment, sometimes I'll read the fulfillment, as well.

Now since I decided to do this again this year, I just pulled up my references from last year and figured I would go down the list.  But what most often happens when I open up the Bible, is I get led other places (I'm also more knowledgeable than I was last year).  So our list this year will vary a bit from last year (I got most of the references last year from a book, can't remember the title).  I will list them as we do them, in case we veer off our course again.

Here is what we have so far - 

virgin birth - Isaiah 7:14

despised and rejected - Isaiah 53:2-3

stone of stumbling - Isaiah 8:14-15

born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2 (At this point I decided to try to keep them in chronological order)

out of Egypt - Hosea 11:1 (This one was neat because I could show my son that many verses have more than one meaning.  This one refers back to Israel's exodus from Egypt, but also forward to Christ.)

betrayed - Psalm 41:9 (Again, this one refers to Ahithophel betraying David, but also Judas betraying Jesus.)

suffering - Psalm 22

beaten and killed - Isaiah 53:4-9

no bone to be broken - Psalm 34:20 & John 19:31-36

as a lamb without spot - Exodus 12:5, John 1:29-41, I Peter 1:19 and we talked about Matthew 4

rises from the dead - Psalm 16:10 & John 20:1-18

bring salvation to the whole world - Isaiah 49:6

returning one day - Acts 1:11  (This is where I'm glad I didn't list all the verses at the beginning because this verse didn't come to me until I opened up my Bible to read--I was going to read from I Thessalonians.)

fights enemies - Isaiah 63:1-6

reign on the throne of David forever - Luke 1:32-33

Well, this is our completed list.  I am much happier this year with the retention and interest level of my son.  This makes me want to do a similar study of the verses that give detail about the family of the Messiah, starting in Genesis 3:15 (some call this the scarlet thread).  I think that for now we will get back to our character study of God.