The Twelve Disciples: Were they management potential?

MEMO

TO: JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH, WOODCRAFTER CARPENTER SHOP, NAZARETH

FROM: JORDAN MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS, JERUSALEM

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the 12 men you have picked for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.

We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely yours, 
Jordan Management Consultants

[From: “Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time” by Greg Ogden – printed in SoJo Mail for 30 October 2003.] 

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Getting our head around the fact that God’s ways and thoughts are truly not the ways of man or of this world. 

Jesus instructed His disciples to come to Him and learn of Him, and we are told in the Bible that the wisdom of this world is far different from the wisdom of God, and so by the spirit we are to operate with the mind of Christ. 

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Breaking through the obstacles and resistance of life… 

Success in life for the Christian means reaching  your destiny and fulfilling God’s purpose in your life. 

Jesus said that he came that we may have life and that we may have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Are we not all intuitively looking for that Abundant Life, something to give our life meaning and purpose, to rock our world and give us a sense of completeness and fullness? 

Who better to determine how to give us that sense a completeness and purpose, than the One who authored and gave us our life to begin with?

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible:

Psalm 139:13-18

Living Bible (TLB)

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. 15 You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! 16 You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!

17-18 How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me.<span data-fn="#fen-TLB-14038a" class="footnote" data-link="[a]” style=”box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;”>[a] And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!

God has created each of us with a god-sized void inside of us, that can only be filled with Himself! 

So if we’re going to learn to be successful at life, the way God wants us to be, the way he has intended for us to be, then we’re going to have to learn to cooperate with Him, and put on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11). 

God’s ways are not ours, and if we’re going to comply with the plan God has predestined for us, then we’re going to have to learn His ways and forsake our own. 

This is true in every part of our life and particularly in spiritual warfare. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 

5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 

6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Come join the Adventure! 

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Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior

—

Ps 150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! 

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Break Through the Wall

By Kenneth Copeland

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. – Philippians 4:13

You’re running the race set before you, moving full speed ahead with God’s blessing overtaking you at every step.

Then suddenly, wham! You hit the wall. It may be a wall of sickness or financial trouble, of spiritual failure or family problems. But, regardless of the form it takes, the effect of “the wall” is always the same. It stops you cold.

The question is, once you hit a wall like that, what will you do?

You’ll be tempted to quit, to turn back in defeat. But don’t do it. Because God will enable you to break through that wall and keep right on going.

I’m not going to tell you it’s easy. The truth is, it’s tough. But you have to push on through the tough times if you’re ever going to have a breakthrough.

Ask any athlete. He’ll tell you that! Because if he’s a winner, he’s been there. He’s pushed his body to what seems to be the maximum. His side has hurt. His lungs have ached. He’s had cramps in his legs and thighs. And just when he felt like he couldn’t go on, he’s heard some coach yell, “Come on! Move it!”

Athletes call that “hitting the wall.” It’s a time when the body says, “That’s it. That’s all I can do. I can’t go any further. I can’t go any faster. I quit.”

But the seasoned athlete knows that “the wall” isn’t the end. It’s a signal that he’s on the verge of a breakthrough. If he’ll toughen up and push himself a little more, he’ll get a second wind. Suddenly, he’ll go faster than before. He’ll reach a level of excellence he couldn’t have reached any other way.

When you feel the worst, when failure is breathing down your neck, press into the Word as never before. 

You may meditate on a particular scripture for days and even weeks sometimes, trying to get a revelation of it, seemingly without success.

Then suddenly, like the dawn of the morning, light will come pouring in. You’ll see the way to break through. 

All you have to do is punch one little hole in that wall of problems, dig one tiny hole in it with your faith and with the Word of God.

Then keep tearing away at that hole. Don’t quit! And, before long, the forces of God will come bursting through, demolishing every obstacle in their path!

Once that happens you’ll never be the same again. You’ll be hooked. It will only take one breakthrough like that to make a never-dying, never-quitting champion out of you.

Please note in the above graph the consistent devaluation of buying power in the United States, ever since the Federal Reserve came into existence, in 1913…

What you see happening today has been by design; and the truth is, this pending economic crisis, which we are experiencing, is the result of the biggest ponzi scheme ever perpetrated on any people in the history of the world.

It is an effort by the power elite, the international bankster families of the world, to bring about the collapse of the Western Central Banking systems, a system which they own and control, in order to introduce their solution to this problem that they have caused, and that is a fascist controlled “New World Order” and a one world monetary system.

What follows is a secular voice, that is one voice among many today, that are warning us of an impending correction and implosion of our entire credit based economic system.

Please keep in mind that our entire economy and monetary system, under this unconstitutional and de facto U.S. Corporation, is fiat based – meaning it has no intrinsic value whatsoever.

In fact the US dollar today has on its face the label “Federal Reserve Note,” meaning that it is not money at all, but it is an instrument of debt.

Whereas pursuant to our organic US Constitution, the ONLY legal tender that is allowed in America is either gold or silver.

Article I, Section 10 of the U. S. Constitution explicitly forbids the states from issuing “bills of credit” (promissory notes) or making anything but gold and silver coin legal “tender.”

God’s word also warns us that we are not to owe any man anything, except a debt of love (Rom 13:8); and yet in violation of these commands, the United States, over the last hundred years, has gone from being the chief creditor nation of the world, to become the chief debtor nation of the world.

Mind you all of this started when the Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913, and our nation’s Banking and monetary system was put into the hands of private International Bankers.

The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind – Who Owns The Federal Reserve? Hidden Secrets of Money

Now here’s a secular voice saying the same thing:

New Law Cracks Down on Right to Use Cash: Recently, the U.S. government passed a law that restricts your access to cash. But not for the reason you think.

According to newly found evidence, it’s much, much worse. Watch the video in the link below to find out more.

http://pro.bonnerandpartners.com/BBLFALLDWN49/PBBLS424?

I want to make one thing very clear, and that owed to these unstable times that we are living in, all of which have been warned about in the Bible, that would precede the second coming of our Lord, that the ONLY “Ark of Safety” is Jesus Christ!

And this “Ark” is now boarding.

Come join the Adventure!

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Christ
Son of
God
Saviour

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RIP Prince…

I read somewhere that he was a believer and I hope that’s true, because surely he is in a better place now.

If you haven’t already done so, don’t put this decision off any longer, for one thing is true for ALL of us, and that is no one knows the day or hour of their departure from this life.

2 Peter 1:1-11
The Message (MSG)

Make your calling and election sure

1-2 I, Simon Peter, am a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. I write this to you whose experience with God is as life-changing as ours, all due to our God’s straight dealing and the intervention of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master.

Don’t Put It Off
3-4 Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

5-9 So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

10-11 So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Video link
Prince on Today Show, for Brian Gumble’s farewell in 1997…: 

http://www.today.com/video/see-prince-appear-on-today-in-disguise-for-bryant-gumbel-s-last-day-670939715672

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Where Have All The Good Samaritans Gone?

What has happened to the concept of people helping people? Have we gone so far down the scale of human kindness that the concept of the ‘good Samaritan’ no longer exists? 

According to our actions, it appears that we may have.

VIDEO LINK
Parable of the Good Samaritan

1 John 4:20

If anyone says, I love God, and hates a brother or sister, he is a liar, because the person who doesn’t love a brother or sister who can be seen can’t love God, who can’t be seen.

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Thursday, March 10

The Winning Walk
THE JERICHO ROAD

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. 

I’ve been on that road, and I can tell you that it is downhill all the way. The distance between Jerusalem and Jericho is 17 miles… and the drop in elevation is 3900 feet. 

It was (and is) an easy walk downhill, but a dangerous road. Robbers would hide in the rocky crags. No one traveled it alone if they could help it. 

But this man did. Also the Jericho Road was the route from worship (at the temple in Jerusalem) to the world. Jericho was a place of trade, of commerce…of daily existence.

You may have never traveled to the Holy Land, but I can tell you this: the Jericho Road runs right through your life. 

You go to Jerusalem-church-and then you go home to Jericho. For some it may even be close to a 17 mile drive. 

But in that 17 miles (or whatever the distance is) you and I can become as blind as the priest and as hardened as the Levite. 

We can go past people who are hurting and never look twice. We can close our eyes to the pain and suffering and lost-ness and heartache of our world while we hum our favorite hymn. 

And many times, we do just that because the Jericho road can break your heart. It can tug at your heart until you feel compassion…and then what? 

It might require that we love our neighbor. You see, a right relationship with Jesus Christ should overflow to those around us, especially on the Jericho Road.

Memory Verse

LUKE 10:33
But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion. 
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Come join the Adventure!

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As it was in the days of Noah…

Jesus warned us that when He comes again, to take His church home, that the condition of the world would be like it was in the days of Noah (see Matthew 24:37-41). 

This passage, which is frequently cited by Biblical scholars, tells us that this will be one of several prophetic indicators to alert us to the Second Coming of our Lord.

This is what Peter said our world would be like in the last days:

2 Peter 3:2-10
New Living Translation (NLT)

2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.

3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.

6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.

7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.

9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake.

He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

Peter had just told us in the previous chapter (2 Pet 2:5), that God did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, “a preacher of righteousness,” with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

So we are told here that “Noah was a preacher of righteousness,” indicating that he was a preacher who warned the people of his day of God’s coming judgment.

We can also assume from this verse that since Noah was a preacher of righteousness, that he was proclaiming God’s truth in some form to the people of his day; and given his godly character, we can assume Noah preached about the approaching flood and the need for them to repent.

Furthermore, offering the world such a warning would be in keeping with God’s character, since God typically gives opportunity for repentance prior to His judgments.

If Noah did warn the world, the world obviously chose to ignore that warnings, because the Bible teaches that the world was taken by surprise (as a thief in the night) when the flood came; and we know from the record of scriptures that of the entire world population, of that time, only eight souls we’re saved, of Noah’s immediate family.

The fact that the world was caught off guard by the flood does not prove that Noah never preached concerning the coming judgment. It only tells us that the world paid no attention to his warnings.

Obviously we can see that this is the same situation that we see all around us today, among our friends, our neighbors, co-workers and family, who also have a blasé attitude about all of this, and do not take it seriously.

Whereas Jesus said that “no man can know the day nor the hour of His return (Mat 24:36), He did admonish His disciples that they were responsible to know the prophetic times and seasons, for He said that the generation that would see all of these things come to pass, as outlined in the Bible – the first being the rebirth of the nation of Israel – that that generation would not pass away before He returned.

Matthew 24:33-34

32 Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.

33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

34 Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

When I saw this video, this interview with this Jewish rabbi, I was literally blown away!

Torah Codes Shocking Evidence About Obama & Asteroid for 2015 2016

And then right after that, I received a link to this video, that I found equally amazing:

Asteroids, Meteors, Nibiru/Planet X & End of America 2015-2016 ? SHOCKING info:

One thing is for sure, truly we are living in the last days, just before our Lord returns to set up His kingdom in the earth.

Time is short and there should be a sense of urgency for everyone who has not yet obeyed the Gospel message, because when this happens, you don’t want to be caught on the outside.

Don’t continue to put off until tomorrow, what you should have done yesterday, because tomorrow is guaranteed to know man!

Today is your time to come and join this Grand Adventure!

God has a purpose and a calling on every individual…

If you are alive today, then that alone is the evidence that God has a reason for your being here.

However here’s the deal, if we aren’t willing to count the cost, in order that we may become a disciple (follower)
of Christ (Luke 14:28), to pursue after God, with all of our heart mind and strength (Deut 4:29, Deut 6:5, Jer 29:13, Luke 10:27); after having first obeyed the Gospel’s message, to have our sins forgiven and be born-again, then as per Jesus’ own words, nothing else will matter, because we will never even be able to see God, let alone achieve our destiny (John 3:3, 10:9, 14:6, Acts 4:12).

As born-again Christians, we must make it our mission and goal in lIfe to learn of God, by our total immersion in both God’s Word and Spirit.

We are now to become intimately acquainted with the person of the Holy Spirit, whom the Bible says is now our “Comforter.

The Greek word translated “Comforter” or “Counselor” – as found in John 14:16, 26; 15:26 and 16:7 – is parakletos or paraclete – meaning  the Holy Spirit is our lifelong Guide and Director from now on.

It is the Holy Spirit who gives us illumination and understanding in God’s Word and helps us to apply that Word to our lives, that we may gain wisdom, counsel and direction for our lives (John 16:13).

It is also through the Holy Spirit that we receive power from on high, that enables us to go out into the world and do the job that God is calling us to do (Acts 1:8).

All of this however requires that we have a teachable spirit and that we are willing to submit to God’s directions and instructions, as found in His Word (which is our “Operations Manual” for life and ministry); but should we choose rather to exercise our free will and go another way, in a different direction, apart from God, then He will find someone else to take our place; and we will have no connection with Him in eternity.

God has given to each of us the free will to choose, to say yes or no to Him; and so the choice as to whether we will ever fulfill our destiny and purpose in life is entirely ours.

In the following video, Daniel Kolenda and Reinhard Bonnke deliver a powerful and sobering message about the call of God upon our lives.

God’s purposes will come to pass one way or another. If we won’t do what God has called us to do, then He will find someone else who will do it, and do it with joy.

There isn’t a manufacture on the earth who ever created something, be it a product, a machine or anything else for that matter, and then afterwards tried to decide how to use it or what it’s for.

The beginning of every product is first cast as a vision or dream in the mine of its creator;

And before any drawings or engineering blueprints are drawn up, in the mind of its creator there is already a vision or dream, and a purpose for that product’s existence – be it a problem that needs to be solved, or some sort of remedy or a solution in order to meet a need.

As our Creator, God is no different.

Psalm 139:13-17
New Living Translation (NLT)

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!

Romans 8:29

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

1 John 2:6

He who says he abides in Him (Jesus) ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Ephesians 1:11

In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will.

Come join the adventure while you still can!

God says to Joshua,

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Every day of our life we ALL are having to make decisions that will affect our future.

From the Hebrew biblical point of view, as they view the Scriptures, those decisions will either be leading us towards the light or towards the darkness; meaning they will lead us either closer to God, or away from Him.

It’s our choice which direction we go; either we follow our flesh, or we allow God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to rule in our life.

The Book of Joshua 
by Max Lucado

Introduction
May I describe a few battles?

Let’s say that you have a problem with a person—a rotten person.

A scoundrel who has taken advantage of your kindness.

Because of him you have less money, more headaches, and a bitter heart.

Let’s also say that you’ve got the goods on this guy. Caught him. Aha! Red-handed.

You can turn him in. Make a spectacle. Get even and get out.

Give him what he deserves.  But something won’t let you.

A verse from your past tethers your heart. “Vengeance is Mine,” says the Lord. “I will repay.”

Within you the battle rages. Let vengeance be mine, Lord, you pray.

Just once. Let me get even. But the Word won’t let you. And with time, you drop your fists to your side and just trust.

Here’s another battle.  Let’s say you have a problem with money.

Every month you just barely make it. Each paycheck is spent before it’s cashed.

If just one month you could get a break. Just some cushion. That’s all you need.

Poof, your prayer is answered. Unexpected bonus. An extra month’s salary.

Finally, some breathing room. First, pay off the credit card, next repay my sister, then get the bumper fixed and . . . uh-oh—my giving.

“Surely God doesn’t want me to give 10 percent of the bonus? I mean, I give every month. . . . Surely, He’ll understand if I use this for something else. . . . ”

But the words challenge faintly yet firmly, “Honor the Lord . . . with the firstfruits of all your increase.”

Within you the battle rages. One side says, “Believe.” The other, “Be real.”

Finally, a truce is called and a white flag is waved and a check is written and placed in the plate.

But even as you give, you confess, “Doesn’t make sense, but because you say so . . .”

Let’s go one more. This time let’s really stretch it. Let’s say you are a general. A general in the Israeli army.

Moses is dead, the Jordan has been crossed, the mantle passed, and you are wearing it.

God has promised that you will take Jericho. But as you look at the city, you have to wonder . . . the walls are high.

The people are armed. The challenge is great.  But God has a plan.

You can’t wait to hear it. “Surely, He’ll give us more soldiers, stronger weapons, mightier swords.

His plan must include this and more.”  So you sit and listen as God explains.

As He talks you are stunned, “What? Walk around the city seven times, blow some trumpets, and . . . . Wait a minute, God, this doesn’t make sense.”

The Book of Joshua is a book of battles. A book for soldiers. A book for people who would dare to win God’s way.

What applied then, applies today. It is the faithful who conquer. Those who follow the strategy win, those who don’t—don’t.
—

Certainly God’s ways are not our ways!

To follow God requires our absolute trust, that we willingly hang the total of our individual lives and our life’s circumstances upon His trustworthiness and reliability.

It also requires our absolute obedience and that we trust Him with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding.

It requires that we let go and let God in every situation we face in life!

Come join the Adventure!
 

Jesus is inviting you to come follow Him… 

What does it mean to be a Christian?

This is where it starts for all of us:

Psalms 100:3
JPS Tanakh 1917

Know ye that the LORD He is God; It is He that hath made us, and we are His, His people, and the flock of His pasture.

Everything comes from God

Colossians 1:16

For in Jesus all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.

1 Corinthians 8:6

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.

Who is Jesus the Christ (Messiah– Anointed One)?

The original plans, purposes and designs began with God the Father.

It was Yeshua (a.k.a. Jesus, whose name means Saviour), whom the Bible calls the “Living Word” (John 1:1,14) and the “Light of the World” (John 8:12), who is also the second person of the Godhead, who goes out and implements ALL that God the Father desires (Col 1:16), and it is the Holy Spirit, who is the Power Source, that makes it happen and then holds it all together (Gen 1:1–2; Job 26:13).

Everything the Father desires happens  through Jesus

He is the Aleph and Tav, the beginning and end of all creation.

Romans 11:36

For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

So what does it mean that Jesus “saves?”

He presented Himself, in our stead, as a propitious sacrifice, on Calvary’s cross, to provide a covering and forgiveness for our sins, that we may be reconciled back into God’s family.

Jesus humbled Himself to become a part of His own creation, then He voluntarily out of His love for the sons and daughters of Adam, presented Himself for this sacrificial death; and He did so when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to help ourselves.

And the truth is, even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway.

We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice.

But God put his love on the line for us by offering His only begotten Son in sacrificial death, while we were of no use whatsoever to Him.

So why did He do this, you ask?

John 3:16-18

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotton Son of God.”

Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, by this consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of our being at odds with God in any way.

If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of His Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of His resurrection life! (Romans 5: 6-10)

What’s behind all this, and where is it going?

God knew what He was doing from the very beginning, when He purposed from the outset to shape the lives of ALL those who would, through faith, accept and love Jesus; who would also be willing to be conformed to God’s purposes, to be shaped and molded into the image of His Son (Rom 8:29).

Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, the source of our creation, stands first, at the head of the line of all people everywhere; of all those He restored, who also have received Him, by faith, and have made Him Lord over their lives.

Through Jesus, whom the Bible calls the “last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45), we can now see the original intent and purpose which God the Father had for all of our lives, that we ALL should be can conformed into the image of His Son (Rom 8:29).

God then, through Jesus, fulfill His original purpose, in creating Adam, and He made the decision of what His children should be like, and then He followed it up by calling His children by name (Isa 43:1, Rom 10:3).

After He called them by name, He set them on a solid basis with Himself; and then, after getting them established, He stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. (Mat 28:20, Rom 8: 29-30, Php 1:6)

How do you not love a God like this, who has given so much for us?

Don’t you understand that it is because God is the Source of ALL creation that He gets to make the rules?

People often will get offended, when Christians proclaim the Gospel message.

They call us narrowminded because we say “Jesus is the ONLY way!”

We’re just the messenger’s folks, don’t shoot us, the message did not originate with us.

Access into heaven does not come by the will of man, for the Bible says, “For by grace you are saved and that not of yourself it is a gift of God (Eph 2:8-9).

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no man may can come unto the Father, except through Me!”

In John 10:9 He said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

What God is trying to tell us here is that our access into heaven is not multiple-choice.

As men and women of God’s creation, we don’t call the shots and we don’t make the rules; God does not bend to our wishes, but we must learn to bend to His.

Being a Christian is all about our learning to follow Jesus by faith, and our learning to walk as He walked (1 John 2:6).

Come join the Adventure!