Abundant Life

John 10:10 says "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly". The word abundantly here comes from the Greek word, perissos. In the Strong's concordance this word means superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above. So Jesus in this verse is telling us that He came to give us and overflowing life.

As we give our self to God He has promised to return all plus more. He owns every thing and in this verse He promises to give back to us. I guess you could say it is like loaning some one something and they return it much better than when they got it. God in this case is giving His all to us as we give our all to him.

The first part of the verse describes what Satan does. He comes as a thief, to rob and kill. To bring us to total destruction. He came to steal our souls, to rob us of God's blessing. He wants to destroy our bodies through sickness and accidents. What a contrast to our loving, giving Saviour.

Christ came to Earth to defend life. He also calls us to do everything that we can to improve the lives of those around us. He wants us to preach the word not only with words but action. We are to help to relieve poverty, disease, hunger, injustice and ignorance. Jesus came to defeat death, but He also came to deliver abundant life.

This is a Covenant between God and us. From the beginning of time God has wanted us to have an abundant and prosperous life. God made everything and said that is was GOOD. He gave this beautiful planet to us. We were suppose to live here and have dominion over all of it. Man was suppose to live in that abundance. When we fell God still wanted man to live that way. To return man to this abundance God sent His Son to bring us again what we had lost.

We can have this abundance. To do so we must give our all to God. Not just our money, but our all. We must turn our lives over to Him, our talents, skills, our all. We must trust Him to deliver what He has promised. If you are sick, know that it is not from God but all illness is from the devil, and God can and will heal. He will get that job you need for you. If you are not living in his fullness examine your life and ask am I giving my all to God. If not I pray you will, He awaits with everything He has for you. He wants to give to you. Jesus said so, so it is true.

Genesis 3:15

In Genesis 3:15 we find the first place that The Messiah is foretold. Even as God was kicking Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden he was promising a redeemer. He was Telling Eve that the redeemer would come from her seed.

All of the troubles that were to come, between the serpent (devil) and man, were told. We see these troubles through out the Old Testament. The wickedness of the people before Noah that cause the Lord to destroy all living things except those in the ark. Even after the flood man again turned against God. We have such short memories.

The Gospel has it first proclamation here. We today know that the seed of Eve was Jesus and that he fulfilled all that was foretold in Genesis. As the serpent was striking at the heal of Jesus he crushed the serpents head. All of what Jesus would do is told here in a miniature form. All of the power we had turned over to Satan was given back to us through Jesus. Jesus Died as the serpent struck, but death had no hold. Jesus was alive and He dealt the devil a crushing blow. There is a song I heard a few years ago that was a fight between Jesus and the devil. As Jesus falls the count is not from 1 to 10 but, 10 to 1, as Jesus raises, at the count of 1, He delivers the final blow.

Because of all Jesus did on the Cross we have no fear of death. Death has no power on us. We will rise just as our Lord did. We will be with Him that defeated the serpent of old. Glory to God. He gave us the way to salvation as a gift. Christ paid the price for us. Praise God.

Time with God

I read on another blog that the blogger was having trouble reading through the Bible. I do not remember at this time who wrote it. I can understand this as I also had the same trouble the first couple of times I read through it. One of the problems is that we don't understand why some of the things are there. After a couple of times through, things that I didn't understand started to stick. There is a reason for tells us who was the father of who, or how the tabernacle was built. There is nothing in the Bible that does not have a purpose.

One of the ways to make sure you read all the way through is to set a time to read daily and and amount of time you must spend doing so. If you make this a promise to God and ask Him for understand He will open your mind to the wonders in the Bible. Each time I read through the Bible He reveals more, even in those chapters that seem to be drab or boring. After reading take the time to mediate on what you have read, listen to what God is saying. Be still and learn.

I also set aside time to read other Christian books. They can help your growth in the Lord. Many outstanding preachers have written books that are good teaching tools for your walk with the Lord. I set aside at least 30 minutes a day for reading this type of books, and again listening to God for what he wants me to learn.

It also helps to have a time of prayer before and after reading. Before we should be asking for His guidance and for Him to open our minds to His word. Ask Him to clear your mind of distractions. Distractions can cause us to lose interest and not to understand what we are reading. This is a favorite trick of the enemy. But this is a time you set aside for God and our enemy will not like it.

After you have read think God for the time you have spent with Him. It should be a time of joy, so let Him know you enjoy the time with Him. This also makes our enemy mad, he wants our time and will be upset at giving time to God. He will again try to stop your reading. Persist and the attacks will lessen and you will grow in the knowledge of God.

An Abomination Against God

Yesterday in California there was a court ruling that said that homosexuals can marry. Leviticus 18:22 "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination."Lev. 20:13 "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death". The Bible strictly prohibits any homosexual activity. In Lev 18:25 we are told what will happen when the land is defiled. "for the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it,and the land will vomit out its inhabitants". This is a warning to us. The land will vomit us out. Many scholars believe that the Bible leaves out the U.S. in the final days. If the land vomits us out for the immoral things, we allow,then they are right.

The apostle Paul calls homosexuality "shameful" and the result of being given up by God to "vile passions" Romans 1:24-27. In 1 Cor6:9,10 we are told that the homosexual or sodomites will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul shows that homosexuality is the final rebellion against God. Romans 1:18-32 tells us what is happening, it is as true today as when Paul wrote Romans. In verse 32 he says "those that practice such things are deserving of death, not only the same but also approve of those who practice them." If we allow this ruling to stand we are approving of those practices.

The Bible makes it clear that homosexuality is a sign that a society is in the last stages of decay. In everything around us we can see this decay. We as the Body of Christ must stand together and fight against this decay. If we do not what type of future does our children and grandchildren have. We need to let our political leaders know that we will not support any erosion of our moral fiber. The life of this country depends on it.

True Worship

Matthew 15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"

In Matthew 15:7-9 we find Jesus quoting Isaiah to the scribes and Pharisees. He is accusing the Pharisees with setting aside God's Word by their traditions. He tells them that their hearts are not right and that their worship is with their lips only.

True worship requires us to worship with both our heart and our lips, they must be aligned, in agreement. The words we use in worship must pass from our heart to our lips to be true worship. We must have a true love for God to do this. True worship must not be a ritual, but must be deeply felt. All other is just human traditions, and according to Jesus hypocritical.

We are called to genuine worship and praise, not as pretenders or performers. Let us speak what The Holy Spirit has laid on our heart, let them be without hypocrisy. To truly receive all that The Lord has for us we must worship Him in both spirit and truth. We must not worry about what others think, worship is between you and God. Remember He wants a personnel relationship with you, not just words from a book. He wants our love, not false actions.

Are You a Messenger

In Roman 10:14 Paul ask "and how are they to hear without a preacher". This is a message to all of us. The Greek word used here means, one who heralds, proclaims, or publishes. This does not mean that we must all go into public ministry. We all have a ministry, to share on salvation. This maybe at home, work, school, anywhere that you meet people. The reason we are left here after salvation is to spread the Gospel. This past Sunday our pastor said that when he tells some about Christ, he gets a blessing from God. We are suppose to give away a part of the things The Holy Spirit gives us. In so doing He give more.

Paul says in Romans 1:14 "I am a debtor", in Eph 2:1 man is dead, needing life. The only way to pay this debt and become alive is through salvation through Christ Jesus. All of us have lost love ones, praying for them may not be all you are suppose to do, are you the one that God is sending to tell them about the Master? Are you the herald, the one to announce the coming King?

We all are to evangelize our own circle. We are given a gift of eternal life, and we need to share this wonderful gift. There will blessing that follow and you will have the joy of knowing a loved one has come home.

My thoughts on 1 Peter 1:18 and 19

Knowing that you were not redeemed by corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Peter1:18,19 NKJ.

In the ancient days slaves could be redeemed, or set free, by paying a ransom. This was the type of gold or silver that Peter was talking. To people in his time they would have understood this. But we are not redeemed from our sins by this things. Even gold and silver will become useless, to man, how much less to God who could make all He wanted, or that we need. These verses lets us know that our dealing with God is not a money economy, but a life and death one.

Verse 19 tells us that we are redeemed by The PRECIOUS BLOOD of Christ. The word redeemed in this case means bought back. The Redeemer has paid the ransom to reclaim something that was previously His. Since God created us, we were His, until man sinned. The Blood of Jesus is the price that out Lord paid for us. God The Father offered His Son as the ransom, as our substitutionary sacrifice, and then accepts it back when, and if, we offer it back. Christ's Blood was the only thing that was worthy to pay the price, and it is the only thing that was imperishable in Gods eyes.

If you think about what this means of our value to God and the value of salvation. We were created in Gods image to reign on Earth. We were to have dominance over the Earth. This is shown in one way by Adam being given the job of naming all the animals. God wants us to again have a relationship with Him that does not have sin in the way. Only The Blood of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, was able to pay the price for fallen man. We could only pay with things of the flesh. If we accept this ransom and return it to God, we can achieve the highest human potential and have abundant life, through The New Birth. Remember Jesus said that you must be born again. You must be redeemed by His blood, for His blood is the only thing worthy. Through Christ blood, we as believers, are forgiven and reckoned to be righteous and renewed in God's image.