Thirsting For Sin

Sin is sin.

No matter how we dress it up. Sin is still sin.

The response to sin in our lives is to humble ourselves before God and repent. Not make excuses.

Sin creates deception in our lives – we deceive ourselves that we’re okay and that sometimes we’re even in the right…. But sin is sin.

It seperates us from God.

In the following passage read how Saul thought he was doing the right thing. He didn’t even realize that he had sinned until Samuel confronted him… even then he had excuses instead of repentance. His sin lost him the kingdom and approval of God.

1 Samuel 15:13-35 Samuel finally caught up with Saul, and Saul told him, “I hope the LORD will bless you! I have done what the LORD told me.” ¹⁴“Then why,” Samuel asked, “do I hear sheep and cattle?” ¹⁵“The army took them from the Amalekites,” Saul explained. “They kept the best sheep and cattle, so they could sacrifice them to the LORD your God. But we destroyed everything else.” ¹⁶“Stop!” Samuel said. “Let me tell you what the LORD told me last night.” “All right,” Saul answered. ¹⁷Samuel continued, “You may not think you’re very important, but the LORD chose you to be king, and you are in charge of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸When the LORD sent you on this mission, he told you to wipe out those worthless Amalekites. ¹⁹Why didn’t you listen to the LORD? Why did you keep the animals and make him angry?” ²⁰“But I did listen to the LORD!” Saul answered. “He sent me on a mission, and I went. I captured King Agag and destroyed his nation. ²¹All the animals were going to be destroyed anyway. That’s why the army brought the best sheep and cattle to Gilgal as sacrifices to the LORD your God.” ²²“Tell me,” Samuel said. “Does the LORD really want sacrifices and offerings? No! He doesn’t want your sacrifices. He wants you to obey him. ²³Rebelling against God or disobeying him because you are proud is just as bad as worshiping idols or asking them for advice. You refused to do what God told you, so God has decided that you can’t be king.” ²⁴“I have sinned,” Saul admitted. “I disobeyed both you and the LORD. I was afraid of the army, and I listened to them instead. ²⁵Please forgive me and come back with me so I can worship the LORD.” ²⁶“No!” Samuel replied, “You disobeyed the LORD, and I won’t go back with you. Now the LORD has said that you can’t be king of Israel any longer.” ²⁷As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the edge of Samuel’s robe. It tore! ²⁸Samuel said, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and he will give it to someone who is better than you. ²⁹Besides, the eternal God of Israel isn’t a human being. He doesn’t tell lies or change his mind.” ³⁰Saul said, “I did sin, but please honor me in front of the leaders of the army and the people of Israel. Come back with me, so I can worship the LORD your God.”     ³¹Samuel followed Saul back, and Saul worshiped the LORD. ³²Then Samuel shouted, “Bring me King Agag of Amalek!” Agag came in chains, and he was saying to himself, “Surely they won’t kill me now.” ³³But Samuel said, “Agag, you have snatched children from their mothers’ arms and killed them. Now your mother will be without children.” Then Samuel chopped Agag to pieces at the place of worship in Gilgal. ³⁴Samuel went home to Ramah, and Saul returned to his home in Gibeah. ³⁵Even though Samuel felt sad about Saul, Samuel never saw him again. The LORD was sorry he had made Saul the king of Israel.

Job 15:16 says “We are so terribly evil that we thirst for sin.”

That is so accurate, sad, scary… we thirst for sin when we should be thirsting for the living waters of God.

1 John 1:6-9 says “If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth. But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away. If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts. But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.”

As christians we should hate sin and live our life trying to please God, denying the pull of our flesh to sin.  i am so glad that Jesus died on the cross to redeem us and set us free, to save us and forgive us.  For myself when i draw close to Jesus i run further from sin and sin holds less attraction.  When i read the Word it keeps me from sin – it stirs my heart totwards God and towards wanting to live a righteous life outwardly in response to the righteousness i have been gifted inwardly.  lets not excuse sin or play it down.  it is because of my sin that Jesus was punished and executed on the cross.

Who God Is

MESSAGE on topic WHO IS GOD – for  Sunday 8^th November 09 young adults service:

Encounter with God

-         we are hungry for encounter!

-         Encounter is possible!

-         From the very beginning God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve and at the end of this world as we know it we again will worship Him face to face.

-         As Christians its not about coming to church or being a nice person its about knowing God and making Him known, its about encountering Him and walking with Him, about hearing His voice and being in relationship.

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 27:4

ONE THING do I seek, one thing do I ask, one thing do I make a priority, one thing do I live for – to dwell in the house of God, to see Him, to seek Him, to know Him, to encounter Him.

The privilege of living in our days is that we can encounter God – Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  As Christians we have access to the very Holy of Holies – the place where God dwelled.  In the OT only the most high priest could go in there and even then it was on special days and after rituals and cleansings.  He used to have a rope tied around his foot so that if he DIED in there they could drag him out…. Serious!   If we are born again children of God – real Christians – then there is no barrier between God and us, the separation is gone, the veil was torn from top to bottom by God, at the death of Jesus Christ signifying that we now may enter and encounter Him!

I’d like you to turn to Exodus 3 and we’ll read about an encounter Moses had with God, his first encounter really and how that changed his life and shows us how we too can know God.

I’d like to encourage you to read along with me as I read from Exodus 3, I know we have different versions, but if you can multi task and listen and read at the same time, go for it, because each version has different flavours and levels and will speak to us differently…

Exodus 3….

One day, Moses was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and Moses decided to lead them across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain. ²There an angel of the LORD appeared to him from a burning bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not burning up. ³” This is strange!” he said to himself. ” I’ll go over and see why the bush isn’t burning up.” ⁴When the LORD saw Moses coming near the bush, he called him by name, and Moses answered, ” Here I am.”

⁵God replied, ” Don’t come any closer. Take off your sandals–the ground where you are standing is holy. ⁶I am the God who was worshiped by your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Moses was afraid to look at God, and so he hid his face.

Lets hit pause here for a bit….

So this is the first encounter Moses has with God.

To give you a back story, Moses was born in a time of great persecution for the Hebrew people.  They had settled in Egypt in the time of famine, in a way rescued by Joseph who was PM at the time.  Go have a read in the last chapters of Genesis to read his amazing story.  As a people group they grew in strength and numbers and intimidated the Egyptians who then enslaved them and persecuted them.  At the time of Moses birth the Pharaoh made a decision to wipe out a generation of children – all male children born were to be killed at birth.  Coincidence?  Nope.  Moses’ mother hid him for three months and then set him in a basket, setting him adrift on the Nile, trusting God to care for her son…. Who was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised as a prince and leader in the palace.  He then discovered his true heritage and got himself in trouble and so he fled Egypt and met Zipporah and married her… becoming a shepherd in the Midian Desert.

So on this day, he’s out having an ordinary day.   He is in the wop wops, minding his own business, an ordinary life, and ordinary job.

And he sees a bush, burning but not burning.

And so he goes to investigate.

And God speaks.  And Moses freaks.

And he hides his face, afraid.

You see, we don’t approach God on our own terms.  He isn’t impressed with our qualifications and our good qualities and our girl scout badges.

He is HOLY.  HOLY.   Almighty.  Powerful.  The creator of the universe.  He breathed the stars out.

BREATHER:  caleb asked me does God breathe….?

I remember when I became a Christian – I got saved in 1993, in a shearing shed near Blenheim.  I was 16.   That afternoon we were told to go and pray and seek God.  To encounter Him.  I had only just discovered He was real – when at a youth group housegroup type meeting someone had prayed and God had opened my eyes and gone “hello!”   I sat under a big tree, cried and made a lot of snot and totally acknowledged that I was not good enough to get to heaven on my own merits – that God was holy and I was not.  I was afraid and wanted to hide my face – but I wanted to know this very real God who might have made a way even more.

God has made a way.

Faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay for our sins and wrongdoings, who makes us new and clean and transforms us from sinners into family.  Jesus is the only way to heaven, the only way to God.  There is no other way.

God is real.  He has made a way.  You cant make up your own way.

If you want to encounter God, seek Him, repent, ask for forgiveness, have faith in Jesus, ask Him to wash you and make you new, live holy, pray and walk with Him every day.

Lets read on in Exodus 3:

And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ⁸ So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. ⁹ Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² So He said, “I will certainly be with you.

How many of us respond to the call of God like Moses?  WHO AM I?

When God called Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1 he said the exact same thing WHO AM I?  I am too young.

When God called Abraham and told him he was going to be father of nations Abraham said the samish thing WHO AM I?  I am too old.

Who am I?  That’s not really the question.

God’s answer, to all 3 of the who am I’s above… I AM GOD I AM WITH YOU.

Who knows that God plus one equals a majority.  Equals you can do it.  Equals success.  Equals it will work.

God dares us – sometimes He dares us the most impossible things – but with Him, all things are possible.   God + 1 is all you need!

When God calls He qualifies, He empowers, He equips.

God dares and He enables!

Don’t look at who you are but at the GOD who is calling you.

Don’t be intimidated by the task ahead but have faith in Almighty God!

God’s promise is I AM WITH YOU!

BREATHER/ILLUSTRATION:  The Ultimate Gift production – my greatest fear – singing in public….

God said to Moses:

I am the eternal God. So tell them that the LORD, whose name is ” I Am,” has sent you. This is my name forever, and it is the name that people must use from now on. ¹⁶Call together the leaders of Israel and tell them that the God who was worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to you.

I love this passage.  I love how God reveals His name to Moses.

I AM WHO I AM.

I AM WHO I WILL BE.

I AM.

Oooh such power and significance and gloriousness in that!

God is who He will be.

He is who He is.

And we can expect Him to be who He says and who He is.

We can expect Him to act how He says and how He is.

We can TRUST Him to be who He reveals Himself to be.

Lets break down those omnis….

1. God is omnipotent .  He’s got the power to do whatever He wants. Revelation 19.6 Ephesians 1:11 Isaiah 14:24-27

2. God is omniscient (knows everything). Psalm 147.5. 1 John 3.20

3. God is omnipresent. (Psalm 139.7-12; Jeremiah 23.24) He fills heaven and earth and there is no place where He is not there, watching. Not only that, but as Creator God also stands outside the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1.1) He is not, as the doctrine of Pantheism says, simply “everything that is”.

4. God is eternal, before all things (Colossians 1.17), and without end (Psalm 102.27) (Psalm 90:1-2)

5. God never changes. (Malachi 3.6; Hebrews 13.8)

I AM.  I AM WHO I AM.  The holy glorious eternal wise mighty creative one… the one who breathed out the stars, who created and designed the zebra, totara tree, the kumera, the komodo dragon, the flying fish, mt everest, volcanoes, glaciers, oceans… who knows the path of lightening, who sees all and knows all, who knows the number of hairs on your head…

The I AM.

I AM is the special name of God.  It is a great revelation.

When you get a clear understanding of who God is you draw nearer in faith.  You take Him at His Word.  You know His promises.  You know His heart.

You know something else awesome…  The holy eternal glorious creator of the universe I AM is the one who made the way for us, little old me and you, to come near to Himself.

The creator of the universe DESIRES encounter with us.

So much so that Jesus Christ, who IS GOD the I AM – read John 8:58 and John 18:5 – died on the cross to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that all we would be brought back to God.  We used to be far from God. Our thoughts made us His enemies, and we did evil things. But His Son became a human and died. So God made peace with us, and now He lets us stand in His presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.  Colossians 1:19-22

God is a God of encounter.  Of redemption.  Of relationship.

He is close and personal, not far off and indifferent.

Find out for yourself how good and glorious God is.  Get an accurate understanding of His heart – read your Bible.

God has opened the way – He tore the veil – He made us family – for one reason and one reason only – so we will know Him.  In this life and for all eternity.

If you are hungry to encounter God – JUST DO IT!

The Bible promises that if you draw near to God, He will draw near to you.

Tonight we’re going to have some worship.  Worship is a time to encounter God.   And it can happen not just here at church.  I had just become a Christian and someone gave me a tape and I put it on and the presence of God flooded my bedroom to tangibly.  I encountered God.  I still encounter God when I make that time and worship Him.

Tonight we’re going to worship God, we’re going to encounter God.

You may never have encountered God before.  This might be your first time here at church.  You might be just trying to figure out who God is and if He is even real and if He is what the next step is.

Tonight you can meet Him and come before Him.  Tonight you can know His love and grace and be made new and forgiven.

Don’t try and do it your way – Jesus has made the one and only way to God and you cant get to Him any other route.

If you are not a Christian and want to, then my challenge to you is when the worship starts to come right up the front here, so that we can come and pray with you and help you to encounter our awesome God.

Most of you here are Christians though.  You may be relating to what Moses said though, Who am I God?  Why have you called me?  I’m just me.

Tonight God wants to remind you that HE is God and that He is with you and that when He calls he equips and empowers and He wants you to encounter Him afresh and be inspired and refreshed.

You may not know what God has called you to do and be.  If you want to hear from God about what He is calling you to do then I want you also to come right up the front here so we know you want prayer.

Tonight’s worship is a time to encounter God.  Seek Him.  Don’t be passive.  Moses saw the burning bush and He went to see what was going on.  He walked over to the bush. He moved and did something.  He didn’t passively sit on the sideline waiting for the bush to get up and walk over to him.  He didn’t passively sit there doing nothing.  You got to seek!   You got to connect!  You got to draw near!

This is your time to encounter God.  Don’t worry about what the person beside you is doing or not doing.  He loves YOU.  Jesus died on the cross for YOU.  God wants YOU to know Him.

Tonight if you want to respond, if you want prayer, if you want to encounter God, then come right up the frontish here meet with God.

Lets stand and pray:

Foo Fighting and The Blood of Jesus

Anyone into the Foo Fighters?

I haven’t been a follower in the past – if it comes on the radio or tv then yip okay it is in the listenable category, but not like others that make me go “yeah I really like this…”

But their latest video caught my eye… mostly because it illustrated something I had been musing about for a while. For those regular readers of my blog you may know that I – t his sounds weird – love the blood of Jesus… this resonates from old hymns that my youth group that I got saved in sung… such as “the Power in the Blood” and “Nothing But The Blood” which really get inside me and make me so grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus and for “what it did…”

I love verses like:

Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul until death.”

Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace,

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who were once afar off are made near by the blood of Christ.

Colossians 1:20 And through Him having made peace through the blood of His cross, it pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself through Him, whether the things on earth or the things in Heaven.

Hebrews 9:12 nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered once for all into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus,

1Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot;

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Revelation 1:5 …Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the First-born from the dead and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood

so watch the video – it isnt so much the lyrics of the song but the visual image when the wall of red behind the band wash away the riot gear clad guys… its big, its aggressive, its violent, its bloody, it washes…  and this is how i see the blood of Jesus washing my sin away…  i dont know, it just clicks with me…. it speaks my language….

This is the Message

You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. Colossians 1:19-23 MSG

This is the message.  That Jesus came and lived and died to redeem us and make us acceptable to God, to bring us back into the family, forgiven and beloved.

This is the message.  That He gave His life, and now we live our lives in response to His gift and His love.  That we have a constant faith, and a life that outworks our inward belief and trust in God and His salvation.

This is the message.  There is one way to God, and that way is Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

This is the message.  Without Jesus and His sacrifice and without faith in Him we are lost and seperated and guilty and rejected for eternity.

This is the message.  There is hope because of Jesus.  There is life because of Jesus.  There is love because of Jesus.  There is family because of Jesus.

You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things.  But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.  But you must stay deeply rooted and firm in your faith. You must not give up the hope you received when you heard the good news. It was preached to everyone on earth, and I myself have become a servant of this message. Colossians 1:19-23

 

 

The Lamb of God

Imagine with me.  It is a hot dusty day in a hot dusty land.  The wind rises, blowing hair into the eyes of a young man.  All around him are the noises and smells of the market and temple.  The air is filled with the bleating of sheep, the lowing of oxen and the shouting of people.  Each step he takes he is bustled and pushed by those around him.  They all are heading to the same destination.  The temple.

The young man presents his lamb to the levite priest before him.

The priest examines the lamb thoroughly.  He opens his mouth.  Checks the lambs hooves.  Runs his hands up and down each leg.  He checks for flaws, defects.

The priest nods solemnly.  Relief floods the young man’s heart.   His offering was perfect.  Acceptable.  A weight lifts off his shoulders.  He is forgiven.

Did you notice?

Did you  see?

The priest didn’t look the young man up and down.  He didn’t glance his shoes, look in his eyes, or ask for a record of how he spent his time in the last week.  There is no third degree or scrutiny of the mans heart and character.  The young man did not have to be perfect or acceptable to be forgiven.

The sacrifice needed to be perfect and acceptable.  The sacrifice needed to be blemish free.

The Bible says “you must bring to the Lord as the penalty for your sin a female from the flock, either a sheep or a goat. This is a sin offering with which the priest will purify you from your sin, making you right with the Lord.” Leviticus 5:6

The Old Testament sacrificial code is a shadow and a foreshadowing.  It shows us how we are forgiven.  It shows us how we become acceptable with God.

Just as the young man had his sin covered by the blood of the acceptable lamb so too we come before God covered and made acceptable by an offering.  The offering of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

1 Peter 1:1-19   And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

And just as the priest didn’t examine the young man to see if he was blemish free God doesn’t look at us, he only looks at the Lamb of God who takes away our sins.  The blood of Jesus, the Lamb, covers us and makes us acceptable.
Did you see that?

Did you feel that?

We don’t need to be perfect to come to God.  The perfect sacrifice was given in Jesus.  When we first come to God (pre-Christian) we are totally blemished and defective because of sin.  The Bible says we are dead to God.  We are made acceptable by trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus.  This is what faith is.

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” Romans 5:1

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. Ephesians 3:12

Our life as Christians and right standing with God continues to depend upon this sacrifice.  It is not by our own effort or goodness that we can know God.  We can never measure up or become unblemished by working for it.   When God looks at us He sees the righteous record of His Son.  We are right now acceptable to God.

“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” Ephesians 1:7

We are instructed and encouraged to walk out our faith by living lives that are pleasing to God but this is a process that takes a lifetime.  As we “clean our lives up” though we don’t need to feel far away from God or not good enough to know Him. .  If we are a Christian there is no limitation or separation between God and us. Jesus gave His life so that we can know God and be called a child of God. We can know God.

This should give us freedom and joy and gratitude and a sense of awe – the WOW response. Let’s live like this. Let’s live in this freedom and forgiveness.   Lets live responding to the grace of God.

The sacrifice has been paid.  We are forgiven.

Talking About Jesus

tonight at our housegroup we’re talking about Jesus.

i’m excited.

Jesus.  my Saviour.  the Lord of Lords.  Creator Creative Son of God.  Redeemer.

In the beginning was the one

who is called the Word.

The Word was with God

and was truly God.

From the very beginning

the Word was with God.

And with this Word,

God created all things.

Nothing was made

without the Word.

Everything that was created

received its life from him,

and his life gave light

to everyone.

The light keeps shining

in the dark,

and darkness has never

put it out.

John 1:1-5

The Word became

a human being

and lived here with us.

We saw his true glory,

the glory of the only Son

of the Father.

From him all the kindness

and all the truth of God

have come down to us.

John 1:14

This is my passage to start with.  I’ve asked each person in housegroup to come with a passage about Jesus they love – and though we’ll only get to read and share and talk about a few, it will be great.  we have a few new christians and a non christian, or a interested in becoming a christian, and so this is a way to head back to the basics and the importants with still having levels and joys and challenges for those who have been christians a long season.  I am beginning with John 1.  in the beginning, was Jesus.  Jesus isnt just a man, not just an ordinary man.  He is divine!  God.  The I AM.  Creator God.  who then became human and dwelled with us as a human.  Wow.

Christ is exactly like God,

who cannot be seen.

He is the first-born Son,

superior to all creation.

Everything was created by him,

everything in heaven

and on earth,

everything seen and unseen,

including all forces

and powers,

and all rulers

and authorities.

All things were created

by God’s Son,

and everything was made

for him.

God’s Son was before all else,

and by him everything

is held together.

He is the head of his body,

which is the church.

He is the very beginning,

the first to be raised

from death,

so that he would be

above all others.

God himself was pleased

to live fully in his Son.

And God was pleased

for him to make peace

by sacrificing his blood

on the cross,

so that all beings in heaven

and on earth

would be brought back to God.

You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things.

But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:15-22

Christ sacrificed his life’s blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Ephesians 1:7

Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well. God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything. Ephesians 1:21-22

Jesus.  The One who died to set us free from sin and who makes us alive and through His sacrifice made peace for us with God.

Jesus.  The One who radically loved those He met with in the flesh, and radically loves all of us who were to come, and demosntrated that love all the time, in every conversation, in every touch, in every miracle and healing, in every prayer, in every salvation.

Jesus.  The One who reveals to us what God is really like.

Jesus.  The One who rescued me.

Jesus.  The One who suffered and died and paid all the penalty for my sin and rebellion.  The One who with His body and blood and life gave all for my redemption and salvation.  Who was broken and bled and bashed for my sins so that I would be born again and made righteous.  The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of teh world.

Jesus.  The Way, The Truth and the Life.  The Only way to God and eternity with God.

Jesus.  The One I worship and surrender my life to, the One I love and give my life to in response to His love and sacrifice.

Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 1:6-11

The Penalty Is Paid!

God’s people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins. God has punished them already in the person of Christ, Christ, their substitute, has endured the full penalty for all their guilt, and neither the justice nor the love of God can ever exact again that which Christ has paid. Punishment can never happen to a child of God in the judicial sense”

C H Spurgeon

oh i love this!

i love this about God!

i love this about grace!

this is my reality!  i am innocent and free from sin and free from the penalty and punishment for sin because Jesus paid it all for me and redeemed me and set me free and now i am holy, innocent, new, clean and acceptable to God!

But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:22

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin, Isaiah 53:10 NKJV

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, Isaiah 53:10 NIV

But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, Isaiah 53:10 NASB

Jesus was the sacrifice and sin offering that takes away the sins of the world, the lamb of God that pays the price and brings forgiveness.

Jesus paid the price for MY sin when he died on the cross.

He paid the price for YOUR sin.

For our sin.

Those that have faith in Jesus, who are born again, who are washed clean by his sacrifice, who have exchanged our guilt for his righteousness – need not fear the judgement of God.  when we pass from this life into the next through death we will find ourselves opening our eyes, to see God, and hear him say “welcome, you belong here with me.”  beuatiful, amazing, wonderous.  we belong forever with God because we are now his children by faith in Jesus Christ who gave his life to make this so.

The Point

The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled… It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven. Bono from Is Bono A Christian

Lost

“Lost people matter to God,

and so they must matter to us.”

— Keith Wright

The Emperor Is Naked!

“Paul tells you that you desire to be clothed, but it is necessary that you be stripped before you can put on Christ. Allow Him to strip your self-love of every covering so that you might receive the white robe washed in the blood of the Lamb. You need only His purity.” Francis Fenelon (100 days in the secret place by gene edwards)

i read a post that totally challenged me the other day – such a good thing.  it again made me feel naked.  again a good thing.

you see living in the western world makes us feel rich and together and clothed and empowered and righteous – and our hearts become fat and complacent.  we need to have hearts open to God, sensitive to his voice, desiring his ways… living according to his plan.  so often the reverse is true.

the post prayed this incredible prayer, of which i have pinched a snipit… go and read the whole lot, be prepared to have your heart moved as mine was…

God, I’m the one in need of a Savior
I’m the narcissist wanting to save,
I’m hungriest of all and don’t even know it
and there are deserts in this home
and malnutrition in this community
and poverty of the worst soul-kind in this nation and
this is a developing country and
now that I have seen, I am responsible,
make me, make me.

from Ugly Prayer @ Holy Experience

isaiah tells us that our own righteousness is as dirty rags (isaiah 64:6) (used tampons is a really graphic way of putting it…) and in the light of fashion and clothing it is a good picture. our righteousness, our good works, our best trys and efforts are ugly dirty ragged clothing, instead of the beautiful white robes of christ that he gives us by grace and by faith and such.

remember, the things we count of as worth probably count as nothing to God.  his passion is love and souls and salvation and grace.

we want to wear His clothes, but we want to retain our own fashion sense too… despite what it really is…. we want to hold onto our lifestyle choices… our pride… our unforgiveness… our efforts… our ideologies… our intereptations of the bible… our way of dealing with people… our bias’… our comfort sins… our plans…

its an Emperors new clothes syndrome really – we think our clothes are glorious and stunning, whereas God sees clearly.

we need to be humble and allow God to change and transform us. our works and efforts dont impress God… our humility and faith and surrendering “does”.

isaiah 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.” Revelation 3:17-19