The One Who Sins Will Die!! What??

As unexciting as it may be, I've been reading almost completely out of the Old Testament for the past few months.  You can't beat the Gospel in the New Testament but I love going back to the stories that I learned in Sunday School as a little boy.  Most of them came from the Old Testament.  Many scriptures are jumping out at me as I read but the ones that are really resonating with me seem to be those of redemption and forgiveness.  

Today, I was eating lunch and reading Ezekiel, when I got to chapter 18 the heading said "The One Who Sins Will Die".  

Now I don't know about you but that got my attention...real quick!  It's funny how the editors of the different Bible editions know exactly how to catch someone's attention.  It's funny because that really isn't the important message, it isn't what Ezekiel 18 is about at all.  Yes, Ezekiel 18 spends a good deal of time focusing on a sinner.  But it also focuses on the righteous and, more importantly to me, the the repentant sinner.

For some reason lately, I've really had repentance and forgiveness on my mind when I've been reading the Bible.  Partly, I'm sure, because of Prison Ministry.  So anytime I get to read a verse that backs up what I believe, I think it's awesome.  Maybe I'm the only person that the devil still tells during those tired times that "you aren't saved".  Or "none of this would have happened if you were really saved".  Of course I know better but that still doesn't mean that the devil doesn't come at me with that crap.  Ez. 18:21 (NIV) says;

 "But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die".


That verse really excites me.  When I read it I just said to myself "that's me".  I was a wicked person but I turned away from all the sins that I committed and I keep the decrees of the lord.  I do what is right and just.  I have repented.  That's me!

Is it you?  Are you the new man in Ez. 18:21 or are you the man depicted in Ez. 18:24in which God says;

"But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live?  None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered.  Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die".

The great thing about God is that he always makes provisions.  If you happen to be the person described in Ez. 18:24 (righteous turned wicked), God sent His son Jesus to die for your sins.  Simply turn from sin and do good and seek forgiveness from Christ and you will be the person described in Ez. 18:21.  As for me, I've been wishy-washy like the Ez. 18:24 man in the past but my commitment to God is to never be like that again.  Our walk with Christ and our eternal fate is much to important to ever turn back on God.

If you live for Christ today then tomorrow, you won't regret what you did yesterday.
God loves you and I do too!

It's never too late

A few weeks ago, pastor Brad used Jeremiah 18:1-4 in a message series that he preached.  Since then, that scripture has been echoing in my mind.  The NLT version reads like this:

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

Verse 4 is what resonates with me.  God specifically was telling Jeremiah that Israel had not turned out as he intended, so like a potter does clay, he was going to crush Israel and start over.  This verse makes me think about my personal life and testimony.  I can see myself on the Potter's wheel and things are spinning and He is molding me as planned.  But then a flaw comes out of the clay that messes up the pot.  As long as I am willing to accept being crushed, the Potter takes me back to a form he can work with and starts again.

Sometimes, the Potter has to completely crush me because the flaw is so big that I just have to go back to the beginning.  Sometimes, he just has to use a tool to dig out an imperfection.  This may leave a scar but that will become part of my testimony.

Obviously, I use this verse when I do prison ministry because everyone knows that a felon needs to start over.  But how about us?  How willing are we to let God crush us into a lump of clay so he can start over with us?  Too often, I'm afraid, we tell God "not yet, let me finish here and then you can have me".  Or just as bad, we see other flawed jars and we tell God that our flaw isn't so bad, especially compared to our neighbor.

Probably the saddest situation is the person that thinks that their flaws are too bad for God to want to fix.  Or maybe they think they aren't important enough for God to fix.  I know this sounds crazy but after talking to the people that I have over the years, you should never be surprised how someone may think or feel.  I have met so many people that just didn't feel worthy to be saved or "fixed".  There are so many hurting people that don't realize that what they have done just doesn't matter to God.  All He cares about is whether you are a willing vessel that is willing to let Him mold you.  Are you?

God loves people, period!  He may hate sin but he loves people.  He loves drunks, drug addicts, child molesters, adulterers, homosexuals, murderers, and liars...to name a few.  He will forgive sins and THEN put you on the Potter's wheel for him to mold.  God is ready to forgive sins and accept you as you are, we just have to be willing vessels.

God loves you and I do too!

I HATE....

The old man, ugh!  I hate him.  I try to never think about him….EVER!!!  Why?  The old man was so displeasing to God.  The old man would act like he tried to please God so that others could see but in reality, he was a fake and a liar.  Sin was OK to him.  The old man was not me, I hate the old man. 

Yes, the old man dies every day (1 Cor15:31) but that doesn’t mean that I truly have to face him.  He dies everyday because Christ Jesus lives in me.  Not only does Jesus live in me, His spirit flows through me.  This makes sin the farthest thing from my mind.  When faced with sin, I’m not faced with the old man.  No, rather I’m presented an opportunity to “…resist the devil and he’ll flee from me” (James 4:7).  Any temptation of sin does not make me think about the old man nor my old life.  It simply reminds me how I’ve been redeemed, forgiven, and Jesus is my strength. 

But every now and then, I mean once in a blue moon, something or someone reminds me of that old man and his sinful ways.  It makes me sick to think about how I didn’t care to displease God.  I hate sin!  I hate EVERY part of that old man and old life before I was reconciled to God.  I thank God for his forgiveness and for his divine protection.  We learn from our mistakes so that we NEVER repeat them so I guess it is good to sometimes remember who we used to be so that we can always HATE that person and hate the sin. 

I know what I’ve said sounds harsh but we must remember that God hates sin too.  If we commit just one sin we have earned hell’s fire.  That is why it was necessary for Jesus to die for our sins…His death is our eternal sacrifice for sin.  Each and every time that we sin, we are killing Jesus all over again so that we can accept his forgiveness.

If your old-man hasn’t died to Christ, today can be your day of salvation.

I love you and god does too!

Kicked out of the Gym

The Bible says to confess your faults to one another (James 5:16)....so here goes.

I could turn this into such a long story but the short story is that I got threw out of a high school gym on Tuesday night after my daughter's basketball game for talking to referees. Yes, you read it right and I'm not exaggerating I was talking to the referees, not yelling and certainly not cursing or threatening. Specifically, I asked them several times "did you know you were going to take the game away from the girls before the game or did you decide it at half time"? Well, I suppose if you have a guilty conscience, this doesn't sit well so one of the referees tossed me. Don't worry, I went willingly and without a fuss. I actually knew what I was doing and had a feeling that these ref's would toss me. Such is life.

Now what does this have to do with a Christian blog? Well, not much. What does it have to do with a Godly man's life? Quite a bit. I'm actually having an internal struggle because each time I think of one reason why I was wrong, I think of a reason why I was right. I didn't turn the other cheak but at the same time I let a lot of things go without losing my cool. I feel bad because I didn't forgive them immediately for doing my daughter wrong but at the same time, they didn't repent and ask me for forgiveness. I didn't act in love toward the referee's but I did act out of love by defending my daughter. So which is it? Was I right or wrong?

I'd love to hear some of your opinions. Want to know mine? Well, let's just say that I'm not looking their names up to apologize any time soon :)

I know this is out of the norm for me but this is what's going on. I encourage you to handle yourself the way God would want you to.

God loves you and I do too!

Living with the effects of sin

Romans 8:1 says that there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ because we are set free by God (paraphrased).  I don't know about you but I've done things that even though I knew I had been forgiven, I still felt condemnation sometimes.  There are a couple of things that I want to touch on briefly that I hope will help someone.

First, if you don't want the condemnation, you can't stop at Rom 8:1.  You have to get to Romans 8:5 that says "...but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."  As you grow in Christ, you have to realize that you no longer have any rights or ownership of property.  When you mature in Christ, you know that everything we have belongs to Him and you no longer have personal rights because you are a slave to Him.  To grow into that realization you must have your mind not only on God (the Spirit in v.5) but you will also have your mind fixed on what He wants.  When we do this, the condemnation must go away because God has forgiven us, so we don't have the right to feel condemned by sin even though He has forgiven us for it.

Second, let's face it, once you have committed a sin it doesn't go away.  I can be forgiven for murder till the cows come home but that won't bring back the person that I killed.  I know that is an extreme example but the same holds true for all sin.  Sin has an effect.  Whether it is lying, stealing, murder, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, or jealousy, there is always a scar left behind by sin.  David said my sin is against you and you alone (Psalm 51:4), so why is it that someone else felt the pain of my sin?  That's what I mean when I say that sin has an effect.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though we are forgiven of our sins as soon as we ask for forgiveness and repent (turn away from), we still must live down the effects of my sin.

If I steal from my boss, God will forgive me but I will probably still get fired.  If I shoplift from Wal-Mart God will forgive me but I will still go to jail for shoplifting.  If I lie to my friend God will forgive me but it will be a while before my friend trusts me.  Where the devil tries to steal our joy and victory is when he tries to convince us that this act of living down the effect of our sin is condemnation.  If he can do that then he can then begin deceiving you that either A) the bible was wrong, there is condemnation in Christ or B) you really aren't forgiven.

Now comes the hard part; the people that feel the effects of our sin the most (or the one's we have hurt), tend to remind us about our sin even after they have forgiven us.  Ouch!  It can really be hard when other people are effected by our sin because people are the best tools that the devil has to steal our victory and create strongholds.  For that matter, let an old-fashioned church find out about your sin.  You'll never get away from the looks of contempt, you'll never forget your sin.  People are cruel and they forget that they have been forgiven and, like you, they aren't perfect either.

I know I could talk for days about this topic but I shouldn't so I'm gonna sum it up like this; if you have been forgiven you are not condemned.  Others will remind you of your sin but don't let that steal your victory.  Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.  Help others get past your sin by proving to them that you are worthy of their forgiveness by being Godly.

Let me know if you have an opinion on this or if you would like me to go deeper.

God loves you and I do too!

Why the challenge?

When we stop and examine most challenging situations that we are in I think we will find that most are self induced. What I mean is that most of the time we get ourselves into the spot we are in or worse, we have given the devil the tools and ammunition to come against us. I know for me, the worst battles that I have had weren't because God has lowered the hedge and allowed Satan to test me (see Job), it was because my sin gave the devil a stronghold.

The only way to conquer the devil when this happens is only through repentance and just as important, accepting God's forgiveness. Then, when the devil reminds us of our past, we must remind him that a) we are forgiven and b) remind him of his future. Do not allow the devil to steal the victory that your God has given you.

I love you and God does too.....John