OUR SALVATION IS A DONE DEAL!

TO THE UTTERMOST

Salvation is a done deal, but there are people who have the fear of losing it. What makes them think it is possible? Is it because they fear their sinful nature could win out in the end? Right from the cross, didn’t Jesus say, “It is finished” (John 19:30 NIV)? He did, and that means He had accomplished the purpose for which He came. And what was that purpose? “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV). Ours is a full salvation, because it is a done deal! 

We know from the Scriptures that when Jesus died, we died with Him, and when He rose from the dead, we rose with Him as well, and now guess where we are? “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6 NIV).  How can we who are already seated with Christ in the heavenly realms lose our salvation? If you have been saved by placing your faith in Jesus, your salvation, my friend, is a done deal!

If someone who claims to be a Christian never makes it to heaven, the reason will not be that they lost their salvation, but because they never were a Christian, and so never had the Spirit of God to direct them. The Holy Spirit lives in us, the children of God, and helps us to not live in sin. For this reason, the Scripture tells us, anyone who continually lives in sin was never really born again (see 1 John 3:6). Being in Christ means our old way of life is behind us; we have become a new creation (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

There are people who have been deceived by the enemy to think they can have it both ways—1) live any way they want in this world, and 2) at the same time, be a Christian who would be accepted into heaven. I’m sorry; it does not work like that. The Scripture says: “The Lord knows those who are his, and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn from wickedness”’ (2 Timothy 2:19 NLT). One cannot say, “Jesus is Lord,” and then live under the leadership of the devil. Saying “Jesus is Lord” also means accepting the lordship of Jesus and therefore obeying Him: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2 NIV).    

We have to understand that we still have a sinful nature that desires what is contrary to godly behavior: ‘Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:16-18). The solution to this dilemma is to live by the Spirit; following the dictates of the Spirit. But how do we do that? We need to be strong in the Lord, by putting on the complete armor of God, 24/7, because we are in an ongoing battle with the devil and spiritual forces (see Ephesians 6: 11-18).

The Scriptures list the acts of the sinful nature as: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” It goes on to say, “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

Do you claim to be a Christian, and yet are caught in any of these behaviors as a way of life? If so, it is an indication that you are not living according to the Spirit, and you will not get into heaven, because nothing impure will ever enter it (see Revelation 21:27). If you are reading this, it means you still have time to get it right and remedy the situation. If you’ve thought you were already a child of God, it won’t hurt to start all over. Repent and ask God for forgiveness. The Holy Spirit will come and dwell in your heart and make you a brand new person, giving you the desire to live a life that pleases God.

Living day by day according to His Word, and not according to the dictates of the devil, will be proof that you are a child of God: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:18, 20). The fruit of the Spirit that Christians need to exhibit is listed in Galatians 5:22-23. I encourage you to read and meditate on it; study it and pray that God will enable you to bear that kind of fruit for His glory. Remember, salvation is a done deal!  

Unless otherwise stated, all references are from the New International Version (NIV).

END TIME SIGNS: Is Bill Gates' 666 Patent the MARK of the BEAST? Are the...

I always appreciate Pastor Cioccolanti's insights. He will make you think.  Take the time to watch this until the very end.  Thought-provoking.  

WE ARE IN A TIME OUT

What is time out? Time out is the time children are asked to spend in their rooms, on the stairs or in a particular location in the house alone, because of bad behavior. My generation, in the culture I grew up in, did not use time out. Misbehavior received verbal scolding and or corporal punishment. The West is quite good at putting misbehaving kids in time out. I’m not quite sure what they accomplish with that, and if the end result is what they set out to achieve. I think their hope though is that the child would mend his or her ways, because of the loss of play and fun time.  

Focus on the Family says, “As a general rule, time outs aren’t meant to function as a method of punishment. Instead, they’re a way of allowing the child’s reasoning powers to catch up with his emotions. The main idea is to communicate, teach, and encourage reflection.”

“Exactly what happens when you give a misbehaving child a ‘time out’? You simply pull him out of the action and tell him to cool his heels for a while in a quiet, isolated setting. In this way, you force him to stop, take a deep breath, and think about what he’s been doing. You give him a chance to spend some time trying to understand the reasons behind the household rules.”

Having said all that, what do Christians think about the current healthcare crisis with COVID-19? There are a number of views on the topic: Some think God is punishing the world, others think He is warning us, or the end is near. What do you think? I want to look at it from the following viewpoint: God wants us, His children, to step back, reassess our lives, and make the needed changes to better our relationship with Him and with each other. He has granted us the opportunity and time in the form of a lock-down and quarantine. Now let’s go to the Scripture to see how best we can do this.

Jesus spent time with His Father quite often, because He loved and respected the Father, and would go to any length to please Him. His death demonstrated that. We need to fall in love with God all over again, to a point where we’ll want to be constantly in His presence. How are we achieving this type of closeness with the Father? With the extra time that was suddenly dropped in our laps, are we still rushing through Bible reading and prayer, treating them as chores, or activities to check off a list?

We are in time out for a reason, “Then if my people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT). I believe seeking His face is not a quickie: it’s SEEKING! It takes time and a broken heart; we are in time out to seek His face!

When Daniel learned from reading the Scriptures (Jeremiah 25:8-11) that Jerusalem was supposed to lie desolate for seventy years, and it had been almost that long since they went into captivity, he went into voluntary time out. “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting … I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed … But we have sinned and done wrong… This is true of all of us … We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name” (Dan 9:3-19 NLT). I believe this is how we should seek the Lord—repent, confess (individual, family, and national sins), and plead for healing!

When God graciously answers our prayers, may we not fall back into our old ways of haphazard living and service; may we seek to do His will in His way, and look forward to His return with great expectancy! Let’s use this time out wisely and productively to get to where we need to be in our relationship with Him and with each other! 

THE PARTY IS CRASHED!!

In the beginning, God created man, in His own image;

God maintained the relationship with man through fellowship in the Garden.

“Should God have fellowship with man?”  “I don’t think so.” The devil might have said.

So he devised a plan, to destroy the fellowship between God and man.

Through his scheme, man disobeyed God.

The devil was most likely ecstatic; he had succeeded, and probably beamed with pride. 

But God might have said, “Not so fast Satan, it’s not over until it’s over.     

God is grieved of course, but in order to satisfy His justice, sin must be atoned for.

So God became Man, in the Person of His Son Jesus, and dwelt among men, and lived a sinless life.

Through his Son Jesus, He showed man how to have restored fellowship; it’s through faith in His Son Jesus.

The devil incited the people against Jesus; they crucified Him, He died and was buried.

Again the devil might have thought to himself, “Finally, I have done it!  Man will never be saved.”

“Not so fast Satan, remember, it’s not over until it’s over.”

When Jesus died, the devil, I believe was overjoyed, and threw a party, and

Guess who was probably at the party?

The devil and his demons of course!

They must have slapped each other on the back and congratulated each other, and said something like:

“We did it, we did it! The tomb is tightly sealed, what good is a dead Savior?” An angel must have responded:

‘Not so fast, not so fast Satan, it’s not over until it’s over.”

On the third day, as the party was probably still going on, there was a big earthquake!

All back-slapping and celebration, I'm sure stopped, abruptly, and Satan asked: “What’s going on?” 

Before anyone could answer, I'm sure he saw the stone at the mouth of the tomb rolled away, and

Jesus walked out with angels ministering to Him!      

O, NOoooooo, the devil might have whispered to himself, “JESUS IS ALIVE, MY ENEMY IS ALIVE!!!”  

“This wasn’t supposed to happen; man will find his way back to God through faith in Jesus!”

“What can I do differently?” The angel most likely responded: "Nothing at all, Satan, nothing at all!

"From now on Satan, understand that God is the Victor; you are the loser! Jesus has become the mediator between God and man!”

Jesus has paid for man’s sins; God’s wrath is forever satisfied!

Happy Easter! Jesus is risen indeed!

YOUR REAL ESTATE IS READY –DOCUMENT NEEDS YOUR SIGNATURE

Have you ever gone through a real estate transaction? I have, and from what I remember, there’s a lot of paperwork involved, including a credit check. The loan company has to make sure you qualify for a loan. Qualifying involves the company finding out if you have a job, how much you make, how much debt you have, if you pay your bills on time, and on and on. All the information you provide has to be verified; after that, you get a response saying, 1) “Congratulations, you can have the loan,” or 2) “No, you don’t qualify.” The feedback could lead to a happy time or a discouraging one. What has been your experience, and how did you deal with it?

I know how you can acquire a piece of real estate at the most beautiful location that does not require all that hassle and uncertainty. In fact, it is paid for, the paperwork is solely in your name, the title is not transferable, and no one can ever foreclose on you. Like I said, it is paid for; you can never be evicted! All you need to do to be able to move into this piece of property of yours, no questions asked, is sign a document of acceptance. 

Would you be interested in this property? It’s not being forced on you; as grand as it is, you still have the option to turn it down. But why would you do that? Oh, I should also tell you, once you get into this gated city, you’ll be free from all diseases, pain, tears, heartaches, and death. At this point, you should be wondering, “Where’s the document with the dotted line? I’m ready to sign.”

It’s a good thing you are wondering, because I’m eager to tell you. That gated city is heaven, God’s dwelling place. Jesus, through the shedding of His blood, paid the price on behalf of all those who would like to go there. Jesus’ credit is impeccable with the Father; with His blood He took care of the details. He once told His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3 NIV).   

How do you sign on the dotted line? The Bible says we are all sinners and that the payment for sin is death, but God’s gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ (see Romans 3:23 & 6:23). This means being sinners disqualifies us from going to heaven, unless we repent of our sins and accept the fact that Jesus has died in our place (see Romans 10:9-10). Are you ready to sign on the dotted line to claim your place in heaven? Then pray to God, asking Him for forgiveness, and ask Jesus to come into your heart and make you a child of God. That’s the signature that changes everything.

Remember how I said the title is not transferable, and that you’ll never be evicted? Well here’s that promise: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV). he word “whoever” is singular (everybody on their own), and “eternal life” is an indication that your stay in heaven will be forever; the same promise is made in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Now with this explanation, please don’t hesitate to accept the offer of salvation and new life in Christ Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Time is running out; you have to make this decision while you’re alive. If you miss this opportunity, you will not get another chance. Decide today and have the assurance of going to be with Jesus someday: forever!

Please share; feel free to leave a comment. Thank you.

GOD LOVES YOU

In order to appreciate another person’s love for you, it is important to know who the person is, and what value they bring to your life. If they bring no value to your life, their love really will make no difference, one way or the other. Therefore, in order to appreciate God’s love for you, you’ll need to know who He is, why He loves you, and how that love can impact your life. So who is God?

God is the holy Creator of the universe, including both the visible and the unseen things. He has ultimate power and wisdom. He owns everything and everybody (see Psalm 24:1), and has the right to do with each person as He chooses. He created man in His own image, so humans have the character of God, and just like God, we are eternal beings, as well as emotional beings. Being emotional, we have the ability to love, hate, forgive, create, and admire beauty.

When God created man (Adam and Eve), He enjoyed a relationship with them; He visited and talked with them often (see Genesis 3:8), until that relationship was tainted and interrupted by sin, the result of Satan’s doing and man’s disobedience. Sin ruined the relationship, not only in the present, but also for the future--eternally, because God is holy and cannot co-exist with sin, in this world or the next. Out of love for us, and the desire to resume an ongoing relationship with us, God put into motion the plans He had from the beginning of time to restore the relationship. The only solution to the problem was for sin to be punished.

Did God punish sin? Yes! How did He do it? He became Man in the person of His Son Jesus, in order to take on the punishment for the sin of mankind; the only way back to God. What this means is, God the Creator, left His holy dwelling place in heaven with all the pump and worship of angels, to live among sinful men on earth. God the giver of life died, willingly. By His death, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, thereby restoring the relationship between God and man. This is the demonstration of God’s love for you and me.

Do you know of any kings, leaders, masters, or lords willing to trade places with their servants or subjects. How many of these dignitaries will want to serve a one day jail sentence for any criminal in their jurisdictions, let alone die for one? Without interviewing any of them, I can accurately answer this question. None of them! The point is they all enjoy the honor, respect, and power that come with their positions. They’ll not consider giving all that up for anybody—whether it is for a friend or foe, but Jesus did! The Scripture tells us, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him” (1 John 4:9 NLT).

If God set His glory and majesty aside, became human, suffered, and died, when He didn’t have to, we should equate it to love. He did all this out of love for us; it should mean something to us. He knows what our lives would be like without His death. In order for His love to mean anything to our lives, we need to respond to His love and the salvation He’s offering by His death. We are not automatically saved by His death; we have to ask to be saved, because of the onetime death He died in our place. We’ll be doing ourselves a disservice if we turn our backs on Him. The Bible says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:13-14 NLT).

That’s as good as it’s going to get. There’s no other way to get into a personal relationship with God without accepting Jesus’ death as your own. No amount of arguments you pose about salvation through Jesus, will change anything; He is God and the buck stops with Him. His Word says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NLT); “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NLT).

God loves you! Before you were born, He had plans in place to redeem you from the sin nature you inherited from your fore-parents, Adam and Eve. How are you going to respond to this demonstration of love? Please embrace that love. Call on Jesus today, repent of your sins, and ask for forgiveness. He will forgive you and start the work of transformation in your life that will begin to restore the loss of His image in you.

Being aware of God’s love does amazing things in one’s life. You can approach Him anytime, anywhere, in any situation with confidence. After all He is your Father, and has promised never to leave you or forsake you, and to give good gifts to those who ask Him (see Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 7:9-11). I encourage you to fall in love with Him today!

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS! THANK YOU.

WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE SHOULD WE BE?

Every Christian should participate in the discussion about our Lord’s return. It is that important! The apostle Peter described in his letters how things will be when the Lord returns. Based on the information he provided, he asked this very important question: “What kind of people ought you to be?” 

So let’s see what the Day of the Lord (the Lord’s Return) is going to look like. That day will come like a thief (when we least expect). And on that day, “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Pet 3:10 NIV). 

Peter’s question then is, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be” (2 Peter 3:11 NIV)? He then gives the answer: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat” (2Peter 3:11-12 NIV). 

So we need to:

·        Be Watchful – “If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” (Luke 12:39-40 NIV).

·        Live Holy Lives – be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with God. (See 2 Peter 3:11, 14)

·        Speed UP His Coming with Evangelism – “And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14 NIV; also 2 Peter 3:11-12).

·        Know the Word of God, be on your guard, and do not be deceived by imposters and false teachers. (See 2 Peter 3:17).

• Store up our Treasures in Heaven, where there will be no fire, moth, rust, stealing, or any kind of destruction. Our focus will most likely be where we’ve stored our treasures. (See Matthew 6:20).

 So what kind of people ought we to be until His return?  We need to be living expectantly and watchfully, keeping on the whole armor of God, and evangelizing with zeal and excitement.  Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus come!