Is Christ in you?

 Is Christ in you?

In John’s gospel we read,

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 

"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 

"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:20-26.

Is Christ in you?

Here are some questions to think about before you answer that question.

1. Do you love as Jesus loved, unconditionally? Family friend and foe alike? Whether you agree with their faith, or lifestyle?

2. Do you refrain from judging others as Jesus told us in Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged."?

3.Does your life exhibit the fruit of the spirit as described by the apostle Paul who said, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22,23.

Please think about it.

Uncertain times

 Uncertain times?

The apostle Paul wrote.

"And we know all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28.

We live in uncertain times. The Covid-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented grief the world over. Many around the world are looking to the political drama going on in the United States, the regional conflicts around the world, and asking what does it all mean.

Some are even saying we are on the verge of the second coming of Christ.

Frankly I don’t know why all these problems are occurring. I especially don’t know if we are on the verge of Christs return.

What I do no is what the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 is true,

"And we know all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28.

Thus my questions to you the reader is;

Do you truly from your heart, love God?

And;

Are you doing what God has called you to do?

Please think about it.

On a Donkey

On a Donkey
John’s Gospel records what happened to Jesus on what we call Palm Sunday. The Sunday prior to his resurrection.
“The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.  
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!’” 
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”  
Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, 
“Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.” John 12:12-16.
The entrance into Jerusalem by Jesus fulfilled the Prophecy of Zachariah9:9. However it would not be until after the resurrection of Jesus that his disciples would realize the significance of this entrance.
Very often today Christians fail to see the significance of Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem.
Look at what he is riding. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, a beast of burden. Not the horse of a conquering king.
Jesus will one day return to earth as a conquering king but that has not happened yet. Thus we as believers in Christ Jesus must see the significance of Him riding a donkey.
Jesus did not enter Jerusalem to over throw the established political order or to conquer the nations of the earth by force.
Jesus entered Jerusalem with the express purposes of showing the Love of God the Father.  By taking the sins of mankind upon himself.  By suffering and dying on the cross.
Jesus when he entered Jerusalem that day he knew he would be fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah who wrote,

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities; 

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, 

and by his wounds we are healed.” 

                                                Isaiah 53:5.

Napoleon the late emperor of France said of Jesus,
“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.”Napoleon Bonaparte.
I as a firm believer in Christ Jesus believe Christians should never attack people we disagree with either physically or verbally. Jesus never did.
As believers in Christ Jesus we should be showing the Love of God to our neighbour, our family and even our enemy. Only by doing this will we win the world for Christ.
Please think about it.

Speak and Act

Speak and Act

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,  
because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!” 
              James 2:12,13.
Christian, do you speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom?
It’s easy to point out the sins of the world. I hear some televangelist and preachers in the media doing it all the time. They present the good news of Christ as a lot of do’s and don’t’s. This turns people away.
We as Christians are called to present the gospel in a positive manner. In such a way as people will understand their need for salvation.
If we want to see how this is done right all we have to do is look at Paul’s speech to the Athenians. The book of Acts recording,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”  
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.  
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  
At that, Paul left the Council.  
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”
                                                                                Acts 17:17-34
Note at the beginning the author of Acts Luke mentions,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”
Paul reasoned with people, he didn’t argue or preach hell fire and brimstone. He didn’t point out their sins. He reasoned with them and presented the gospel in a logical respectful manner.
When he was asked to speak in the Areopagus he was also respectful. He started at a point they understood the temple to the unknown god.
The Greeks of Paul’s day were to say the least careful. They wanted to make sure they didn’t upset any god. They knew they were fallible. Thus the temple to an unknown god.
This temple to an unknown God however gave Paul a starting point to introduce them to the one true God.
This is how we should be today. We should be respectful to the beliefs of our audience we must meet them where they are. We must reason with them and present our beliefs giving them the option to accept or reject what we say.
We cannot win souls for Christ pointing out the sins of the world. We must always present the Love of God in a positive respectful manner.
Please think about it.

The answer to Radicals

The Answer to Radicals
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
Matthew 11:28-30

I look at the news and see young people especially heading off to join radical Islamic groups such as ISIS and I ask myself why.
The answer seems to me strait forward. The Western democracies appear to offer them nothing.
While the latest electronic gadget, fine automobile, jewellery, brand name clothing may appeal to the majority of people in the west. It does not to the minority that are slipping away to join the radical groups.
Our western society with all its rights and freedoms while to my mind the best possible way of life is not for those who have become radicalized.
Back in the 1958  John B. Harrington published a book entitled "Essentials in Christian Faith" it could have been written yesterday.
  It opens with this quote from Paul Gallico in Esquire Magazine in 1948:
"A writer in a popular magazine has written the following words; 'We are all, if you will pardon the expression, Headed for Hell in a handbarrow. If, ever the people of the world stood in need of a spiritual revival, it is now. We are beginning to poison the face of the earth with our miserable presence. The brakes are off. The cart of the world is sliding down the way greased with hatred, ambition, lies, self-seeking and avarice toward the pit.’"
  Harrington notes that Gallico makes no pretense of being "a religious man" noting that  "...for him it is precisely religion in its organized forms which has in part caused the situation he deplores. He is careful to state that it is not "religion" for which he is looking. For in his opinion, religion throughout the history of our culture has advanced its control over human beings by the investment of bigotry and persecution. 
Yet, out of despair over the current human situation he says; ‘The voice for which my heavy spirit is yearning must reach us all... For if it is not heard, we are lost. Something beyond our material enrichment and lust for power and position, some rewards founded on good will, selflessness, and the innate dignity of the human spirit...honour, humility, decency courage."
Another Paul writing to a member of the first century church wrote the following,
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" 
                                                                                                         2 Timothy 3:1-4
If Paul Gallico is right and I believe he is, mankind is considerably nearer the bottom of that slope than he was in 1948. Moreover at the bottom of that slope is a very deep lake filled with brimstone.
I think those who are becoming radicalized agree, be it subconsciously or consciously with Paul Gallico. Our very materialistic western society despite all it’s rights and freedoms is lacking in many ways.
Man is more than a physical being. Man has a soul, that materialism as much as it may try cannot fill.
There is nothing wrong with the latest gadget, the nice car, brand name clothing but unfortunately they have become demigods in our society. A society that is turning away from the one true God.
For me as a Christian I feel our society has failed and all the best secular programs as good as they may be will not succeed in reaching those who are truly looking for meaning in life.
At the same time I see a failing by the church to reach such people.
Living in North America I see a lot of people claiming to be Christians in the media that are speaking out not only against Islam they are speaking out against anything that is not in their eyes Christian.
That is not the job of the church. The apostle Paul didn’t walk into Athens and speak against the god’s and goddesses. He preached the good news of Jesus Christ and won souls.
That is what all followers of Christ should be doing.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 
                                                                                         1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
If we as Christians stick to the message of God loves you and wants to have a personal relationship with you.
If we preach that message to the youth of our day in a way that is appealing to them, the message of Christ, we will win their souls for Christ and turn them away from the radicals of the world.
The message of the Gospel of Christ is as relevant today as it was when Jesus walked the earth. It can and will change live if we present it in the right way.
They key is reaching out in love. Extending a hand. Telling them that if they are dissatisfied with the secular society around them there is another alternative that the Gospel of Peace. The love of Jesus Christ and the Love of the one true God.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                  Matthew 11:28-30.
This is what all mankind is looking for be they those who are looking to radical Islam or simply the man and woman on the street.
This is what we as Christians should be presenting.
Think about it.