Thoughts on Christ and His Word

"The watchmen opens the gate for him ( Christ) and  the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." John 10:3 To Christ I am not just another sheep in a crowd of sheep. He calls me and leads me by my name. He knows me individually and wants a relationship with me personally. Amen and glory to god.

But by the grace of God I am what I am 1 Corinthians 15:10. God created me with the exact skill set brain power and personality that he wanted in order fulfill his purpose for my life. As long as I am submitting all my personality traits abilities skills and gifts to his will I am free to be who God made me to be.

The good things in my life, that is the fruitfulness that God has allowed me to have in my ministry, family life, and  economic life, all comes from God. In Hosea 14:8 God de declares "your fruitfulness comes from me".  God reminds us that while we put in faithful labor, He turns it into good fruit. We need to remember this principle lest we take glory to ourselves when the fruitfulness is great or we become depressed when the fruit is poor. Let's be faithful in serving our God and let him worry about the fruit (1 Cor. 3:6-8).

  In the light of the turbulent times we are living in, I want to encourage all you to greater faith in God’s Word through the prophet Ezekiel (from Babylon):  But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home . I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. Ezekiel 36:8-10   Israel did return from Babylon, but years later was scattered again by the Romans. Israel returned to their land once more, and I believe they will not be scattered again. In 1948, when Israel became a state, there were approximately 630,000 Jews living in Israel. Now there are over seven million Jews living there. God has multiplied them. And their land is full of fruit (Israel is the 7 th largest exporter of tropical fruit - $533 mil. worth). God’s Word is tru...

Jesus is the ultimate leader. He was constantly correcting and rebuking his disciples. He could do this and get away with it because he also was constantly showing them love and full expertise of the Scriptures. It also didn't hurt that he was constantly doing miracles that amazed them. John Maxwell in his book Leadership Gold writes: "The burdens of leadership are great. One of them is to be unpopular when necessary...George Will says, 'leadership is among other things the ability to inflict pain and get away with it...short-term pain for long-term gain.'" To be a good leader, you must correct and even rebuke those you lead to maintain discipline in the organization, church or even family. But you must precede that with love and care so that they will receive it from you with the right attitude.

In the last chapter of the Old Testament, through the prophet Malachi,   God gives us a promise that should cause us to have great hope of great joy at the 2nd coming: Mal 4:2 - But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Especially for older believers, the thought of leaping like calves should  bring us great joy. Our bodies will be completely healed so there will be no aches and pain in jumping or any other activity. In these glorified bodies we will feel like a young kid again, running from place to place just because we can. May the Lord Jesus come back soon. 

  British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery said, "Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence". By this definition, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine is one heck of a leader. He has rallied his people to fight against overwhelming odds and has rallied the world to support their cause. In great part, people have responded to him because of one great character trait - COURAGE. Instead of fleeing the capital city of Kyiv, he stayed put and from there has encouraged his army, his people, and the world to rally against the Big Bad Russians. Real leaders put their people and their cause first, above their own  self-interest.

Before God uses a person and fulfills the purpose for their life he will always bring testing. Testing matures the person and also also proves that they're ready for the task. This was the case for Joseph. They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character .  Psalms 105:18‭-‬19 NLT Joseph was tested by God and then raised up and fulfilled the purpose of his life. If God us going to use you on mighty ways,  expect mighty trials. 

What is the role of a leader? We get a picture of what God expects of His leaders in how the Bible describes David's role: In times past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel; and the Lord your God said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall be prince over My people Israel.’ ” 1 Chronicles 11:2 NASB1995 God gave David two responsibilities as leader. 1. To shepherd the people. In Hebrew the literal term is to "feed my people". A good leader cares for his people, physically, emotionally and spiritually. David 2nd responsibility was to be their Prince or govern them. A good leader cannot be afraid to lead his people, especially in the ways of God. 

So what do you do when you want to do some ministry for God but he prevents you from doing it? This was Paul's problem. At one point he wanted to go in to a place called Bithynia. But he was prevented by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:17). But who would preach the gospel to the people of Bithynia? That was God's problem. In 1st Peter 1:1, Peter addresses his letter to several cities including Bithynia. It was clear that there were Christians and churches in Bithynia but that Paul had nothing to do with them. Who started those churches in Bithynia? No one knows. There is no historical record that Peter went there. And we know Paul was prevented from going there. So who started these churches? Obviously God raised up other men and women in order to start churches in Bithynia and they preached the gospel there. Who were these unknown people? They are unknown but to God. Just because God doesn't allow us to do a ministry does not mean that it won't get done. So when we find...

Moses told the people of Israel: “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently..." Deut. 4:9 NASB  Each of us is responsible for guarding our own soul from things that contaminate it and move us away from God. We cannot expect parents, pastors, nor anyone else to do this for us. We are solely responsible for guarding our hearts, mind and soul.  Many years later Solomon reminded us of the same thing:   "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23 NIV

 What is the "Fear of the Lord"? In Deut. 10:11-17 we read: "Go," the LORD said to me, "and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them." 12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to f ear the LORD your God, t o walk in all his ways , to love him , to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul , 13 and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? 14 To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Y et the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome , who shows no partiality and a...

Everywhere in scripture God is moving us to do his will and motivates us by pointing to his love, power, and presence.  When the Israelites saw the power of God as they crossed the red sea and then saw the Egyptian army drown they proclaimed:   In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. Exodus 15:13 Promising his love, power and presence to Joshua he commanded Joshua: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 God always motivates His people to act while promising His Love, Presence and Power. 

 God has a time for everything.  Although He lives outside of time, in this world He created, He has a time for everything according to His purposes. In speaking about the destruction of Babylon God said: "That country has many rivers and rich treasures, but i ts time is up , and its thread of life is cut." Jeremiah 51:13 GNTD God has a time-frame for our life that we will not surpass.  We get to choose to cooperate with God and his will for our life or not.  But we don't get to violate the time he decreed for us.  Let us use our time wisely fulfilling God's purpose for us so that we may be rewarded richly in Heaven where our time will never run out.

Henry Blackaby shares great insight into the reason God moved the Israelites into the Promise Land the way He did: "God’s primary concern was not giving His people land; it was developing a relationship. On Mount Sinai, God said, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself” (Ex. 19:4). The promised land was simply the means God used to establish a unique relationship of trust and obedience with His people". Many times God leads us to great things but only by taking us through a route of trials and tribulations.  The faith and character we learn through these is what God uses to make us more like Christ.

Why would the wrath of God be upon unbelievers especially in sending them to hell?   When we put our faith in Christ we immediately become identified with him. The blood of Christ is applied to us and cleanses us from all sin. We immediately become children of God just as Jesus is the Son of God. We get baptised into the body of Christ and therefore we are of Christ. We are identified with Christ and our identity is in Christ.  When a person rejects Christ they are identified with Adam in his sin who rejected God when it came to the forbidden fruit. But they also identify with all those who called for Jesus' crucifixion as he was being crucified. They are identified with the Roman soldiers who physically crucified Christ. But they are also identify with the religious Jews who called demanded the crucifixion of Christ. And so just as those who called for and crucified Christ will receive the wrath of God, so too all who have rejected Christ will receive the wrath of God at...

The key to a healthy spiritual and emotional life is healthy, wholesome thinking. Peter wrote: "Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking."  2 Peter 3:1 So we are encouraged to engage in "wholesome thinking".  But what is the basis of wholesome thinking?  Peter tells us: "I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles." 2 Peter 3:2 So the foundation of healthy and wholesome thinking is meditating on the words of the O.T. prophets, the words of Jesus,  and the words of the apostles. In other words think Biblically.  When the foundation of our thoughts and belief systems are rooted in the Word of God, we will think more clearly and feel a whole lot better about the future. God's thoughts are the basis for Truth and Hope. 

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart." Hebrews 3:8  This verse from psalms 95 is repeated 3 times in Hebrews, twice in chapter 3 and once in chapter 4. Throughout chapter 3 and 4 God puts the responsibility of faith and and a soft receptive heart on man.  Obviously the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and the Father draws our hearts to him. But at the end of the day man must choose to have a soft heart and believe the gospel.  

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 Timothy 4:1  20 years ago someone would jokingly say "I feel like a woman trapped in a man's body" and everyone would laugh.  Now they aren't kidding.  Not only do they feel like a woman, they can feel like whatever they want and expect everyone else to accept their "feelings" or "gender identity". This ideology has its roots in radical feminism and its end-goal is to eradicate the traditional concepts of male and female.  To make genitals irrelevant since one can decide one's own identity apart from biology.  Therefore, at its core it is a person recreating or re-imagining themselves - thus they put themselves in the position of God. That is why gender ideology is evil.  It replaces God with self, it replaces facts (male and female) with fiction, and allows people to live in a make-believe world.  And on top of th...

Election by Association.   Israel is God's chosen people because they came from Abraham.  God chose Abraham as His vehicle to bring forth the Messiah.  He chose Israel as His people because of their association with Abraham, though many of them were evil. The Church (believers) are God's Elect, His chosen people because of our association with Christ.  God knew from the foundation of the world who would respond to Christ in faith and chose all those in Christ by faith to be his chosen people.