God Incarnate

  God incarnate.

The writer of Hebrews states,

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  Hebrews 1:1,2.

Here we have a key belief of Christians. Jesus is the Son of God. He is appointed as heir of all things, and through Him the universe was made. Jesus is God incarnate.

C. S. Lewis stated,

    "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

Thus the question becomes; who do you think Jesus is?

Please think about it.

 Where is your treasure?

Jesus said,

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  Matthew 6:19,20

Jesus told this parable,

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 

And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 

"Then he said, ‘This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  

And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' 

"But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." Luke 12:15-21.

Now there is nothing wrong with being rich and enjoying your wealth. The problem comes if your wealth and pleasure draws you away from God. 

The apostle Paul wrote,

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:10

Many years ago my pastors wife was fond of saying, 

“We have only one life. It will soon be past only what’s done for Christ will last.”

So where is your treasure.

Please think about it.

Rest

 Rest

The Psalmist writes,

“I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”Psalm 16:2.

As I look back on the six plus decades of my life, I can honestly say the best decision I have ever made in my life is to follow Jesus.

I have been through many triumphs, and sadly many tragedies, in my life and through it all God has been there for me. Had He not been there for me, my life may have been much shorter. And I know others who can say the same thing.

It all comes down to what I learned as a new Christian. The pastor I had at the time pointed me to the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew chapter six that reads,

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:33,34.

And to the word of Jesus in Matthew chapter eleven that reads,

“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 have found over the years that no matter how good or how bad the situation is, God is there for me. As He is for anyone who sincerely calls on Him.

Please think about it. 

Maybe

Maybe
The Psalmist writes,

“The LORD lives! 

Praise be to my Rock! 

Exalted be God my Saviour!” 

                                           Psalm 18:46.

C. S. Lewis said,
"Atheist express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist" C. S. Lewis.
This has always fascinated me. Atheist are among the most vocal critics of God. Atheist nations ban the worship of God. Yet they say God does not exist. It doesn’t make sense especially when it comes to Christianity.
Christianity at its heart is Love. Love for God, your neighbour and even your enemy. How can that hurt anyone?
From my perspective as a believer in God the fact Atheist nations and Atheist in general, at least at a subconscious level, believe that there just might be a God.
Perhaps as someone has said,
“Maybe the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman.” Author Unknown.
Perhaps they just don’t want to admit what they believe is wrong.
Please think about it.

Accept or Reject

Accept or Reject
The Psalmist writes,

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 

Let Israel say: "His love endures forever." 

Let the house of Aaron say: "His love endures forever." 

Let those who fear the LORD say: "His love endures forever."

                                                                                                Psalm 118:1-4.

Gods love endures forever. His call to all humanity is,
“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.
Jesus tells us,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17.
That being said God also gave each individual freedom to do as they wish. They can accept that God loves them or they can reject Gods love.
Thus the choice is yours. Will you accept the Love of God or reject it?
Please think about it. 

Mercy

Mercy
James the half brother of Jesus said,
"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.
Sadly many within the church, especially the evangelical church forget this portion of scripture. They instead judge showing little mercy to those around them especially toward those of different faiths and lifestyles.
Harper Lee in her book To Kill a Mockingbird said,
"Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of another...” Harper Lee.
She was right. Many people have been turned away from the church by those claiming to be followers of Christians.
If you claim to be a follower of Christ Jesus. A Christian. Are you or the church congregation you attend responsible for turning people away from Christ?
Would the congregation you attend look down on a gay couple holding hands as they enter church? Would they even be welcome?
Would you or members of your congregation be willing to sit down and talk about your faith with those of a different faith?
Would you and your congregation be willing to listen to those of a different faith tell you about their faith?
I strongly feel that in order to win people for Christ we must be willing to open a dialogue between ourselves and others.
No one irrespective of their beliefs or lifestyle should ever be turned away from our churches.
No one irrespective of their beliefs or lifestyle should ever be denied service by any Christian owned business?
The way I see it no one should ever be denied being shown the Love of God in Christ Jesus. And the only way a non-believer can be shown the love of Christ is if we interact with them as equals.
Failure by anyone calling themselves Christians to show the love of Christ to anyone is to question if they are truly Christians.
Please think about it.

No right to judge

No right to judge
The Psalmist writes,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16
What this portion of scripture tells me is that God knows you intimately. God knows you right down to the DNA level. He knows exactly why you are the way you are. That is why only He can judge you. That is why Jesus tells us,
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  Matthew 7:1
We as mere mortals cannot judge another person especially when it comes to where they will spend eternity, simply because we do not know why a person is as the way they are.
That being said Jesus warned.
“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1,2.
The apostle Paul said,
"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.
As Christians. As believers in Christ Jesus we have no right to judge those outside the church. Even when we judge those inside the church it should only be to tell whether or not they are presenting the gospel of Christ correctly.
Where an individual spends eternity is entirely up to God.
Tony Campolo the American Evangelist said,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.” Tony Campolo
Do you?
Please think about it.

Became flesh

Became flesh
The apostle John writes,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ” John 1:1-4,14.
Here the apostle John who knew Jesus personally refers to Jesus as “The Word”. He tells us that,
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
Which means John at least believes that Jesus is God the creator of the world. This was the belief of all of the apostles of Christ. It is the belief of all those who truly believe in Christ Jesus to this day.
Now either this is a fallacy or it is the truth. That however is up to you to decide. Was John and the other disciples mistaken? Or were they correct in their beliefs.
Please take some time to read the New Testament and make an educated decision for yourself.
Please think about it.

Saved

Saved
The apostle Paul wrote,
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” Titus 3:4,5
To the Ephesians Paul wrote,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9.
C. S. Lewis wrote,
"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us."  C.S. Lewis.
From a Christian stand point we cannot live lives good enough to get to heaven. That being said, God understood this and sent Jesus Christ to save us. 
The apostle Paul wrote,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."  Romans 3:23,24.
Paul stating,
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,  for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Romans 10:9-13.
Thus my question to you the reader; do you believe this?
Please think about it.

Praise be to God

Praise be to God
The apostle Peter wrote,
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  1Peter 1:3-5.
This is something anyone who truly believes in Christ Jesus can be thankful for. God through Jesus Christ has given us a “new birth” “a living hope” an “inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade”
No matter what the world may do to us. As believers in Christ Jesus we have the assurance of life everlasting with God when our life on this earth is over.
Do you have this assurance?
Please think about it.

Believe it or not

Believe it or not
The apostle Paul said,
“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.” Acts 17:30,31.
Here is a simple to the point statement the apostle Paul made to non-believing philosophers and other learned people in Athens. It is a statement that you either believe or you do not.
God will one day judge the world. The question is how will He judge you. Jesus speaking of himself said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. John 3:16-18.
Are you among those who believe in Christ Jesus or are you willing to take your chance that what the New Testament says about Jesus are not true?
Please think about it.

Are You?

Are You?
The apostle Peter writes,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" 1 Peter 2:9.
Here the apostle Peter makes it clear that we as believers in Christ Jesus are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, belonging to God. Who’s purpose is to declare the praises of God.
Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.
This is the duty of everyone who believes in Jesus. To make disciples. It’s cut and dry. To teach those new disciples all the scriptures tell us about Jesus.
 There are no gray areas about what Christians are to do. We are to present the gospel of Christ to anyone who will listen to us.
If you consider yourself a Christian, a believer in Christ Jesus are you truly declaring the praises of God to those around you?
Please think about it.