A Christian for real?

 

Becoming a Christian

The experience of conversion varies from person to person. But the two basic truths involved are important. The Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul preached "repentance toward God and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ".

All of humanity are born with the problem of sin – the inclination to go our own way without God. This may vary from simple selfishness to rebellious evil. Many are told that they are in themselves good and that they just need Jesus to go through life with them. Well, God has a different conclusion. From His perspective, we are all Adam's children – lost. More than that, God sees our independence and self directed ways as sin. Things that are often obscure to us, like pride, hypocrisy and devotion to other things are like idolatry to God.

When we remember that we were made for God, then it is appropriate that Jesus said "Repent". Repent means to recognize that we have sinned, failed to give God the honour due to Him, then to turn from our own way to Him with true heart surrender – "Yes Lord  you are right, I have been wrong".

For those who seek the Lord, there is a very definite solution to the problem of our disconnection from God. Repentance is good, but not enough. Faith in Jesus Christ, is God's universal solution. Keeping the law and commandments will not work. Doing one's best is insufficient. The only way to forgiveness and acceptance with God is by His way. His way is by Faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Faith means to believe that God the Father sent His  Son into the world as Jesus. Faith understands the need to be saved by someone greater than ourselves and looks to the perfect person, Jesus Christ. Faith is to trust HIM to reconnect us with God.

The Jews and the Romans did not understand the events of crucifixion of Jesus . The Lord Jesus explained it many times.  He said He was as the Good Shepherd, giving His life for the sheep. Again, He was paying the ransom price to set guilty sinners free.

He said, after He rose to life again, that now through faith in Him, forgiveness of sins is freely available.

 

Faith in Him is to trust Him and His sacrifice, to make us right with God.

Faith also believes that He who died, rose again and is now seated in the place of highest honour at God's right hand.

 

This repentance of self and sin may seem crushing. But this faith in such a wonderful person enables us to be so much better than our best selves. To be 'in Christ' gives eternal security and everlasting blessedness. Gods' actions for us , in us , lead to the abundant life of being in the safe keeping of the great shepherd who said "My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me. I give unto the eternal life and they shall never perish"  John 10

 

God by the Holy Spirit interacts with each person individually but the principles of conversion remain the same – repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

I trust that my readers are definitely connected to God, not hoping for heaven by some other way. Feel good gospel is no gospel. Religious observance will not do. Good living will not measure up.

I  encourage all to take the Bible and read through the letter of the Romans, there discovering the Gospel from God's vantage point.

The Word of God

 

It was our recent privilege to distribute Bibles to many enthusiastic children in the schools in our area. We pray that many children will find peace with God through searching the Holy Scriptures.

The Bible is more than a book of words, more than historical records about Israel and more than wisdom from human experiences. It is clearly a record of God reaching out to humans. God has been interested in individuals and much of the Old Testament is about God’s interactions with the Israelites.

When Jesus came, the emphasis in the New Testament was on personal connection with God. The book of the Acts initially focused on The Lord  calling Jewish people to turn back to God through the risen Messiah. The  book also records the Lord God reaching out to the Gentile people outside of the Jewish religion. Paul wrote many parts of the New Testament, explaining the blessing God gives to  the peoples of every nation. The treatise called Romans, is particularly significant in explaining how God chooses to reconcile people that are most unworthy. God has planned that by the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, guilty people can be forgiven and given a new life by the Holy Spirit. This good news makes disconnected people of all nations part of the family of God. By faith in Jesus the Lord, all believers are forever connected with the wonderful love of God.

I quote the purpose of God’s kindness:

So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will make you happy and full of peace as you believe in Him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15:13

My prayer for those reading those Bibles and for all reading this article is the same.

If you do not have a Bible please email  johnmckee@internode.on.net

Going God's way

 

Living by the power of the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 5:15

So be careful how you live, not as fools, but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don't be drunk with wine. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Then you will sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making music to the Lord in your hearts.

And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

johnmckee@internode.on.net

Church or Christian

 

Playing church or living as a Christian

History reveals so many people, whose Christianity is little more than going to church! In the Old Testament, gathering for festivals was normal. When the Lord Jesus came, the relationship with God as Father became much more important.  He said that prayer done in secret was better. Worship was to change from time and place to worship in spirit and in truth – anywhere anytime. (John 4) Discipleship, He taught, was not about attending services or meetings, rather the 24/7 commitment to the LORD Jesus Himself – Himself, His teaching, His directives. (take up the cross and follow Him- Mark 8)

Paul understood the need for Christians to support each other. Yet he did not see meetings or church services as an end in themselves. He along with John and Peter, saw love for others as the outworking of understanding the teaching of the Lord Jesus. Love that was practical in giving and care. Love that was forgiving. Love that went beyond ourselves to seek and to save the lost.

Some stress the corporate idea of church. Revelation 1—3  presents the Lord Jesus as the head over the churches, and that churches are people whose hearts must be tuned to HIMSELF in first love (priority love).

How good it is to be counted into the Church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven!  It is a very big family, a big flock for whom Christ died. In love to Him, let us love one another and spread His name as He said – to all the world.

Really saved?

 

I was recently asked to speak on the topic –"Are you really saved?"

1^st question – saved from what? In Bible terms it means to be saved from sin. Forgiven by God, freedom from bad habits and saved from Hell.

2^nd question – can we be sure? Yes, as sure as the promises of God!

I found a good answer in the Bible section called 1 John. This was written after Jesus had returned to heaven. The purpose of the writing is stated:

"That you may know that you have eternal life"  1 John 5:13

Read on as I summarise the apostle's teaching.

Chapter 1: Jesus Christ was a real person, and to really know Him is to have eternal life.

Some people claim to walk in the light but continue with secret sins – living a lie – they are not saved. For those who step into the light, theirs sins are cleansed away by the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son.

Other people claim to have no sin. This contradicts God's conclusion – "All have sinned" (Romans 3.23)

God understood the damage and destiny of sinners, so He provided the solution. The Lord Jesus Christ who never sinned, became the propitiation, that is, the mercy-seat where God so holy could be reconciled to mankind, so unholy.

Anyone who comes to God through Him, will change from sinful behaviour to live like Jesus lived. This means to love instead of hate.

God's desire for believers is presented – forgiven, to know Him, to overcome evil, to know the Father, to know the Son, to be strong, with God's word abiding in them so as to overcome the evil one. – read 2:12-14.

Next John deals with our environment. The world we live in and the responses inside us tend to distract us from the Lord God. If a person is preoccupied with these things (good or bad), then the love of 'the Father is not in him'. The Lord Jesus made it clear that love for God must be first.

The writing changes to the person of Jesus. By the Holy Spirit we can know that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah promised in the Old Testament). He is the Son of God. (Son, not child). To deny this, John writes, is to be a liar!

Chapter three is about God's kind of love. God's plan is for all believers to be His children, to be like Jesus, to live pure lives, to live in love.

The warning is clear:

"Whoever makes a practice of sin is of the devil"

"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer."

LOVE is then explained:

Love is much more real in action than in words.

Love is understood best by the action of the Lord Jesus – He laid down His life for unworthy ones like us.

Love is commanded as the motive of a Christian life.

"Anyone who does not love, does not know God"  4:8

Chapter four identifies Jesus to be a real man. The Gnostics had all sorts of antichrist ideas. The Spirit of truth is that Jesus was a real man, and the Son of God at the same time. To deny this is to make God a liar. God spoke from heaven when Jesus was baptised – "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased". (Matthew 3.17). God has given eternal life and this life is in His Son.

The Apostle John concludes his writings in chapter 5:18

1  A person born of God does not keep on sinning.

2  The world is directed by the evil one.

3   We know the Son of God has come.

4   The believer is IN Him, IN His Son Jesus Christ.

5  He is the true God and eternal life.

The final warning – "Dear children, keep away from anything that .might take God's place in your hearts."

Well we should respond:

"We love HIM because He first loved us"

Now read through 1 John for yourself and check if you are saved!

Jesus - risen from the dead

 

The words of Jesus Christ, after He rose from the dead:

The words of the Lord Jesus we must accept or reject.

Luke 24:25  Jesus said "wasn't it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering His time of glory"

This statement makes the Old Testament part of the Bible so important. Previously I asked you to read Isaiah 53. Let me add to that Psalm 22, Zechariah 12:10. The Lord Jesus insisted that the sufferings were predicted, necessary and sufficient.

Luke 24:39  Jesus appears to the perplexed and frightened followers saying:

"Look at My hands, look at My feet, you can see that its really Me. Touch Me and make sure that I am not a ghost."

Sure He was acting with super spiritual power, but He insisted that He was the same person that they had know before and the same person that was  crucified on a Roman execution stake.

Luke 24:44 The Lord again reminds the disciples of the importance of His former predictions, and the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Luke 24: 46-49  These words of the Lord Jesus turn the events of the past into the purposes of the future. Please read them carefully:

"that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, that repentance  and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all Nations"

This forgiveness, needed by all humanity, is not now in law keeping or prayer or good deeds, but rather forgiveness for all who turn to God , believing in Jesus Christ the Lord.

Luke 24:49  Now He says something that only God can say:

"I will send the Holy Spirit, just as My Father promised."

Only God can put the Holy Spirit on a person, or in a person. And that is just what happened after Jesus returned to heaven. Acts chapter 2 records the special event that changed frightened fishermen into bold witnesses of Jesus Christ as Lord. They were so certain that they had see the Lord Jesus alive from the dead, that they were willing to die for it. And die for it they did.

This section gives the answer to the original question – was His death a mistake or a deliberate sacrifice – it was a deliberate sacrifice to enable repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His Name.

An event to change the world

 Risen from the Dead

Luke chapter 24 is a pivotal chapter in the Bible. I ask you to read it carefully three times. First, as an historical document.  Second, as a record of the words of Jesus Christ. Third, as the foundational teaching for Christian doctrine.

Questions we must consider:

1 Is the Bible accurate in stating that Jesus died and rose again?

2 Did Luke get the facts right, that  the man they ate with actually had the scars of crucifixion?

3   Is the record true that Jesus went , as a living man, up into heaven?

I will explain more next time.