top of the morning to y'all....so, my beautiful wife was preparing her small group study on the first part of the Book of Revelation.. powerful stuff. Got me to thinking... we know God is love and cares for us, wants to bless us, wants the very best for us. Thats awesome, BUT... God is also just and that is the thing that upsets people and scares people the most. he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross as a payment for all of our sins. The Bible says that ALL have fallen short of the glory of God. No matter what we do, it can never be good enough for God. So, Jesus came and sacrificed His blood as payment for our wrong doings. So, all we have to do is except Jesus as our personal Lord and savior and the debt is paid for sins. God, the judge sees that our sins are paid for and we have access to paradise for eternity in heaven. I think that is a good deal..
Well, what if you don't except Jesus as your Lord and savior. well.. God the judge will.. yup.. judge you. In Revelation, it says that all who believe in Jesus as their savior as their savior will ascend Heaven and be with Him. That is for living and dead. He has prepared a place for us. But Revelation also speaks about what happens to those who do not believe in Jesus as the savior.. and that will be eternity in the lake of fire. You either follow Jesus or Satan. Those are the choices folks.. Jesus says if you are not for me, then you are against me.. so, if you are not for Jesus, then you are against Him and for Satan.. Once you realize this, hopefully the choice is simple. Lets see, the Jesus side is being completely forgiven for your sins, Jesus having paid for them, having a relationship with God thru Jesus and the power or the Holy Spirit, being blessed in this world and then eternity in Paradise with Jesus and God and all the believers or the Satan side which is to continue living in sin here on earth, with no payment for your sins, so you feel guilty, deep down you do, not having that love, peace, comfort that comes from God and Jesus, then at the end.. the lake of fire.. hmmmm, Heaven or lake of fire, Love and peace or guilt and being afraid.. I will take Jesus , how about you.
I know it seems like doom and gloom, but I love my family and friends and I want them to have all the wonderful things that comes from excepting Jesus. I want to see you all in heaven. And I have heard every excuse in the book.
I believe in Jesus, but I hate church
- well, the Bible says that we should gather together with other believers. If you don't like your church, find a new one, get connected. These are the brothers and sisters that will help you on your walk with the Lord. We cannot do it alone. We all stumble and fall and sin every day. We need other Christians to help us, encourage us, counsel us.. get to church..
Jesus is make believe
- Nope, sorry. Many historical texts make note of the man Jesus. He was a real person.
I believe Jesus was a great teacher, but he is not the Son of God so he didn't pay for my sins
- I could talk for days on this one, but lets talk quickly about it.. Well, since we have stated above that Jesus was a real person, we can say 2 things about His teachings. Either He was who He said He was, the Son of God or He was a complete lunatic. So, lets look at each side. Jesus as lunatic and a liar. He went around healing people, teaching about God in heaven and God's good works and blessings, bringing harmony and peace and showing love. Does not sound like a madman to me. Was He lying when He said He was the Son of God. Well, look at the cruxifiction. These events are well documented. He was arrested because He was said to be a liar and said He was the Son of God. He was beaten to almost death, then was nailed to a tree and suffered a slow painful death. On the cross, it is documented that when He spoke, He spoke to God to forgive us for making Him go to the cross. Even to the very end of His life, he stayed true to what he said that He was the Son of God. How far would you take a lie? Do people die for what they believe in or to keep covering up a lie? So, the otehr side is we belive that Jesus is who He said He was, the Son of God.. We have the Bible that we can read the whole story, 4 different accounts, The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This is also where faith comes in. Believing in Jesus requires faith. We never met Jesus, we never heard him teach or speak. We are relying on written texts and FAITH!!!! Faith grows as well by the Holy Spirit inside you when you except the truth of Jesus. They call it a leap of faith.. its true. You need to go against what the world says and believe. So, you can read the proof, you can read the Bible, but faith is the key. Have faith. If you believe in Jesus, look what you can gain. Jesus died on that cross for our sins and then rose on the Third Day, that first Easter, so that we can conquer the grave and death will have no hold on us, we will live forever with Jesus. We need to have faith in those events. Pray to God to show you. He will open your eyes.
I am good enough. I just try to live my life the best I can, being nice to people and blah blah...
- This one is good. You are good enough. By whose standards.. by God's standards or by your own. Did you not sin today, yesterday. Did you talk about others behind their backs, did you gossip, did you lustfully look at another person, did you lie, did you steal, did you get drunk, did you swear, did you.. well, you get the point. we all sin, we all continue to sin. we are not perfect so that is why we need Jesus. Not an option, we NEED Him. You are not good enough. Until we except Jesus, we are separated from God, far off, like the sheep who wandered off. With Jesus we get called home, the lost sheep who is now safely back with the others, protected and cared for. We need to all realize this. We are not good enough for God, that is why blood was shed for us. A sacrifice of blood was needed to bring us back to favor with God. So, get over yourselves. We all fall short. Me, you, your pastor, neighbors, friends, family.. no one is perfect but Jesus.
and so on...
Part of being a Christian is to share the good news, the good news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is He came to die for all of us, every single one of us so that we could have total forgiveness of sins and have a relationship with God and have eternal life with Him in Heaven. So, i have now told you the good news. I cannot force you to believe, i can not make you do anything. Now it is between you and God. If you want this, just ask God, tell God. His Holy Spirit will enter into your heart and start to live inside to help you and guide you. A new morning.. This could be the day of new beginnings. weigh your options and really think and pray about it. No one will know when Jesus will return. Jesus says that in the Bible, no one will know the hour or minute of my return. Could be today, tomorrow... no time to lose...
God bless you all
In Him
Tony
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