The Death and Life of a Believer

The Death and Life of a Believer What is meant by you died with Christ and you were made alive with Christ - What does the Inspired Word teach about the Spirit-born believer's identification with Christ's death and identification with His life? It is first of all important that we establish Who the Jesus of Scripture is! He is the Second Person of the Godhead, and is God come into the stream human history - "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form When the fullness of time had come (that is, at God's precise timing), God sent forth His Son, born of woman (He entered into the stream of human history), born under the (Torah) Law, to redeem those who were under the Law (that is, under the condemnation and the guilt of breaking it), so that we (those who have anchored real-faith in Jesus Christ) might receive adoption as (God's legal) sons" (Colossians 2:9 NIV; Galatians 4:4 ESV). Kenneth Wuest's Expanded Translation of the Greek reads - "In Him there is continuously and permanently at home all the fullness of absolute deity in bodily fashion When there came the fullness of the time, God sent off His Son, woman-born, made subject to (the Torah) Law, in order that He might deliver those under Law to the end that we might be placed as adult sons."1 Jesus is God come to us in bodily form to redeem us from the hold that sin and death have over us. The Inspired Scriptures unequivocally declare that God warned Adam that by sin - "you will surely die (literally, 'dying you shall die') For the wages of sin is death" (Genesis 2:16 NIV; Romans 6:23a). Because of an act of disobedience the penalty of death passed to all human beings, and its appetite continues on generation after generation - "Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned" (Romans 5:12 ESV). God has put into the stream of human history two holy and righteous things that align with His holy and righteous nature to direct Mankind back to God and the things of God: The Torah Law: The first holy and righteous thing God placed in the stream of human history was the Torah Law, the first five books of the Inspired Scripture containing 613 positive and negative commandments. The Torah is like a school teacher showing us that we cannot measure up to its righteous and holy standard even with our very best works of merit - "The (Torah) Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out" (Romans 7:12, 18b ESV). The Torah Law though it was a standard of God's righteousness and holiness stood against us by pointing our inequality to its commandments: "For all have sinned (Gk: pantes gar hemarton, from 'hamartano' meaning 'to miss the mark', a panoramic view of Mankind that is doing nothing but breaking God's commandments) and fall short (Gk: kai husterountai, from 'hustereo' present tense, literally, 'and at the present time are short falling', like an archer who constantly falls short of the intended target which is) the glory of God (the target, which we all keep falling short of is the righteousness and holiness of God)" (Romans 3:23). W. M. Conybeare's translation reads - "For all have sinned and none have attained the glorious likeness of God."2 Our behavior continually expresses an attribute of self-centeredness, self-gratification and self-preservation. Mankind, though religious in many respects, has little, if any, regard for God unless we need His help because of our circumstances, or we think we can manipulate Him in some manner to get something we want - "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6a NIV). Yet the Inspired Texts are clear -- God will not commune with those whose nature is incompatible with His nature - "Without holiness no one will see the Lord All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away (into an eternity without God)" (Hebrews 12:14b NIV; Isaiah 64:6 NIV). What makes matters worse, as human beings we have a bent in our nature that strives to pronounce our personal unrighteousness and unholiness as OK! When we step back, so to speak, and analyze our own unholy thoughts and unrighteous outward expressions the bent within our nature gives personal approval to these deviations from God's righteousness and holiness. This approval of personal wrong as right, and acceptance of our deviations as good, is where a personal act of rebellion against God takes place - "A stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Psalm 78:8 NKJV; Romans 1:21-22 ESV). Our personal deviations from God's holy and righteous Law gives expression to the sphere of separation from Him in which we live day in and day out. Jesus Christ: Secondly, God sent into the stream of human history something else that was holy and righteous only this time it was not an abstract standard, but The Torah Law come alive in flesh and blood - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Gk: kai theos en ho logos, literally, 'and God was the Word') And the Word (the very righteousness and holiness the Torah Law was an abstract form of) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we (the Lord's apostles) have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth For the (Torah) Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ No one has ever seen God; the only God (referencing Jesus the Messiah-Savior), Who is at the Father's side; He has made Him known (Gk: ekeinos exegesato, from 'ek' meaning 'out' and 'hegeomai' meaning 'to lead forward' or 'declare thoroughly'; literally, Jesus 'has lead out from behind the curtain what God is, declaring Him thoroughly')" (John 1:1, 14, 17-18 ESV). Kenneth Wuest's Expanded Translation of the Greek reads - "In the beginning the Word was existing. And the Word was in fellowship with God the Father. And the Word was as to His essence absolute deity And the Word, entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent [His physical body] among us. And we gazed with attentive and careful regard and spiritual perception at His glory, a glory such as that of a uniquely-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth Absolute deity in its essence no one has ever yet seen. God uniquely-begotten, He Who is in the bosom of the Father, that One fully explained deity."3 So God the Father sent from the vaults of eternity One Who stepped out of the pages of the Torah, so to speak, One Who is righteousness and holiness in bodily form -- Jesus the Messiah-Savior. On a certain day as He was instructing the crowds Jesus said - "Do not think that I came to destroy the (Torah) Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot (the smallest Hebrew letter) or one tittle (the tiniest accent mark on a Hebrew alphabetic letter) will by no means pass from the Law till all is fulfilled (in and through Me)" (Matthew 5:17-18 NKJV). On the dusty roads of the land of Israel walked the visible righteousness and holiness of God in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus Mission: Thankfully for us in our helpless state of wayward personal approval, which holds us captive in a sphere of sin, guilt and death, an attribute of the Triune God came shining through into our spiritual darkness - God's infinite love! It was Divine love that brought to the stage of human history The Solution we needed - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in Him (Gk: hiva pas ho pisteuon eis autov, literally, 'that everyone who places an active-obedient reliance in Him') should not perish (in their unrighteousness and unholiness) but have eternal life" (John 3:16 ESV). Jesus mission was to provide a complete all-sufficient solution to a sinner's state of sin, guilt and death by satisfying the justice of God in the sinner's behalf. Therefore because of His great love for us Jesus voluntarily entered the stream of human history - "Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, 'Sacrifices and offerings You (referencing God the Father) have not desired, but a (physical) body have You prepared for Me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings (which could never satisfy the justice of God) You have taken no pleasure.' Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book (the Old Covenant Scripture)'" (Hebrews 10:5-7 ESV). God the Son's mission to provide a complete-sufficient solution for Mankind's state of sin and death was saturated in the love of God for us! You died with Christ: What is meant by - you died with Christ? Jesus Christ voluntarily positioned Himself between the judgment of God, which was going to fall on you, so that it would fall on Him instead - "For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18 ESV). The point of Jesus death on the cross in your place is just this: Through real-effectual faith in Jesus redemptive work on the cross you became identified with His death, so that in essence, you died with Him - "I have been crucified with Christ (Gk: Christo sunestauromai, a compound word, 'sun' meaning 'together with' and 'stauroo' meaning 'to crucify'; literally, 'I have been co-crucified with Christ')" (Galatians 2:20a ESV). According to the New Covenant, Jesus' blood, which was proof of His life poured out in your behalf, is the sufficient atonement that satisfies the justice of God. As a result of your identification with the death of Christ for your sins, here is God the Father's promise to you and to every Spirit-birthed believer whose faith rests in Christ - "'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.' Where there is forgiveness (in and through Jesus Christ), there is no longer any offering for sin (because the penalty for your personal sins has been paid in full, and your record of sins has been wiped clean; expunged)" (Hebrews 10:18 ESV). You have been co-crucified with Christ - you died with Christ -- through real-effectual faith. Thereby the justice of God has been satisfied changing your relationship from Judge and sinner to Heavenly Father and Spirit-born child! You were made alive with Christ: What is meant by - you were made alive with Christ? It isn't enough to have died with Christ, there must be new life regenerated within the one whose faith now rests in Jesus redemptive work! And that is exactly what the Holy Spirit did for you, and for all sinners whose faith takes a strong-effectual grip on Jesus' redemptive work -- "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were (spiritually) dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Gk: sunezoopoiesen to Christo: sunezoopoiosen is a compound word - 'sun' meaning 'together with' and 'zoopoieo' meaning 'to make alive' or 'to quicken'; literally, the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit 'has quickened us to life with Christ')-by grace you have been saved (from the wrath and judgment of God)" (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV). Kenneth Wuest's Expanded Translation of the Greek reads - "But God, being wealthy in the sphere of mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, and we, being dead with respect to our trespasses, made us alive together with the Christ; by grace have you been saved completely in past time with the present result that you are in a state of salvation which persists through present time."4 The Apostle Paul put these two tremendous truths together - you died with Christ and you were made alive with Christ - when he wrote - "I have been (co-)crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me (not a life of partnership, but a life of all-encompassing yieldedness to the Lord). So that the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith (Gk: en pistei, literally, 'by a fixed-undivided confidence and an unshakeable-secure hope') in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20 ESV). We have seen in this study that what we continuously keep falling short of is -- the glory of God, His righteousness and His holiness, and that God will not commune with any creature human or angelic which is not compatible with these two qualities. We also saw that righteousness and holiness were qualities we could not generate within ourselves. Consequently, because of this dire state of affairs God our Heavenly Father has also taken care of this short falling for us in and through His Royal Son! When we came to Jesus in real faith God wiped away all of our sinful indebtedness, and in its place He credited to our personal accounts the righteousness of His Son, giving us a righteousness of the same quality as God's own. Jesus' righteousness - "will be counted (or credited) to us who believe (Gk: tois pisteuousin, literally, 'the ones having an active-obedient reliance') in Him Who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (that is, God the Father has declared us righteous in His Son)" (Romans 4:24-25 ESV). In summary, the very wonderment of our salvation is that God takes away our sins through our faithing identification with the death of His Son, regenerates eternal life in us through the power of the Holy Spirit, and graciously gives to us the very qualities of righteousness and holiness we lacked. So that Jesus Christ is the complete all-sufficient Solution in every aspect of our short falling before God - "It is because of God the Father that you are in Christ Jesus, the One Who has become for us wisdom from God! (Wisdom in what way?) Because Jesus is our righteousness -- He is our holiness -- and He is our all sufficient redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). Jesus Christ is our all-sufficient Solution both now and throughout all the ages to come - unending! The sphere of freedom and life: Our identification with Jesus Christ by real faith has taken us out of the dreadful-terrifying sphere of sin, guilt and death, and placed us into the magnificent-eternal sphere of freedom and eternal life in Jesus Christ. We have not entered into a void of nothingness, but into a glorious life where we have the freedom to know God, to understand His Spirit-inspired Word of Truth, and to mature in the things of God -- a freedom we did not have in the sphere of bondage and death. It is a freedom to overcome the power of sin -- a freedom where praise and worship before God is according to the beauty of what He is -- a freedom to serve God and minister to each other as the New Covenant priesthood of every believer exercising spiritual gifts -- and a freedom energized by the Spirit of God to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to a spiritually dead and spiritually blind world in which we once walked. Our identification with Jesus Christ brings to us the beautiful-splendor of God's unmerited favor - "For if we have been united with (Gk: sumphutoi gegonamen, from 'sumphuo' meaning 'planted together' or 'to be permanently united with'; literally, if, and we have, 'become permanently united with') Christ in a death like His (which erased our sinful indebtedness by satisfying the justice of God), we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His (that is, a new quality of life energized within us by the Spirit of God). We know that our old self (that was controlled by sin) was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from (the reigning power of) sin For the death Christ died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives (as the resurrected Man) He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin (you died with Christ) and are alive to God in Christ Jesus (because you share His resurrected life!)" (Romans 6:5-7, 10-11 ESV). The freedom you have from the power of sin, guilt and death, has set you alive unto God in Jesus Christ, so that you rejoice in the fact that - "You have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3 ESV). And you have the absolute-unshakeable hope that - "When Christ Who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory" (Colossians 3:4 ESV). So you can say each day during your journey of faith - "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Because) whether you live, you live to the Lord, and if you die, you die to the Lord. So then, whether you live or whether you die, you are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living" (Philippians 1:21; Romans 14:8-9 ESV - pronoun changes mine). In Jesus Christ you have been set free into the wondrous-glorious things of God, therefore - "Since you have been raised with Christ (to new life), seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (the Father). Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth (which is ripe for God's judgment) put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Colossians 3:1-2 ESV; Ephesians 24b NIV). Always remember - "For freedom Christ has set us free (into the glorious sphere of life with God) For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom (from the sphere of sin and death) as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole (Torah) Law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (Therefore) be an imitator of God (Who first loved you), as a beloved child. And walk in love, as Christ loved you and gave Himself up for you, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (in your behalf!)" (Ephesians 5:1-2 pronoun changes mine). And finally as Spirit-birthed children of God - "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all (godly) wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do (in the sphere of freedom you have been placed in), whether in word or deed, do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:16-17 ESV).

What Gives Completeness to the Christian Character?

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9). What can help us fix the meaning of this seventh Beatitude, perhaps as much as anything else, is the link that exists between this beatitude and the one that immediately follows. In our previous articles, we have called attention to the fact that the Beatitudes are obviously grouped together in pairs. Poverty of spirit is always accompanied by mourning, as is meekness or lowliness by hungering and thirsting after the righteousness of God. Mercifulness toward men is united to purity of heart towards God, and peacemaking is coupled with being persecuted for righteousness sake. Thus verses 10-12 supply us with the key to verse 9. By approaching the seventh Beatitude from each of the three separate viewpoints mentioned above, we arrive at the same conclusion. First, let us consider the marked contrast between the tasks that God assigned to His people under the Old Covenant and New Covenant respectively. After the giving of the Law, Israel was commanded to take up the sword and to conquer the land of Canaan, destroying the enemies of Jehovah. The risen Christ has given different orders to His Church. Throughout this Gospel dispensation, we are to go into all nations as heralds of the cross, seeking the reconciliation of those who by nature are at enmity with our Master. Second, this grace of peacemaking supplements the six graces mentioned in the previous verses. Perhaps the fact that this is the seventh Beatitude indicates that it was our Lord's intent to teach that it is this attribute that gives completeness or wholeness to Christian character. We must certainly conclude that it is an unspeakable privilege to be sent forth as ambassadors of peace. Furthermore, those who fancy themselves to be Christians, yet have no interest in the salvation of fellow sinners, are self-deceived. They possess a defective Christianity, and have no right to expect to share in the blessed inheritance of the children of God. Third, there is a definite link between this matter of our being peacemakers and the persecution to which our Master alludes in verses 10-12. By mentioning these two aspects of Christian character and experience side by side in His discourse, Christ is teaching that the opposition encountered by His disciples in the path of duty is the result of their faithfulness in the service to which they have been called. Thus we may be certain that the peacemaking of our text refers primarily to our being instruments in God's hands for the purpose of reconciling to Him those who are actively engaged in warfare against Him (cf. John 15:17-27).

Christian Living Maturity

Towards the end of James Chapter One, he talks about deceit. In order to become mature, we need to accept a want to grow-up, we must learn how to pass the tests of God, and we must learn how to handle temptation. Lets face it, there is a lot of temptation in this world. It seems that every time we turn around, there is something there to tempt us. Satan has a good arsenal of weapons to use against us in our walk with God. The more we experience God, the easier it is to deal with Satan's weapons. We seem to develop problems from everywhere. God wants us to be mature, so why is it not so easy? We have Satan there to try and change our minds about our walk with God, we also have another enemy, ourselves! Yes, ourselves because we are constantly in danger of Self-Deception. This is a question we should ask ourselves, are we really walking the Christian walk properly? Are we believing to only say we believe, but do not express it in actions? Are we believing we are religious when we are really not? It is a mark of maturity when we confront ourselves and honestly accept our needs. We are in-mature when we guess we are rich in spiritually and have no need to grow. Gods word is the Truth, we should be living our lives by this word of truth. There are 3 responsibilities of Gods word that need full filled if we are to have an honest walk with God and men. First, we must receive the news; second we must practice what we hear; and third we must share the word with others. A big problem we experience is not receiving the Word of God in the right way. Many of us learn the word, but do not understand it. We take on some bible studies with hopes to understand what God tells us. This fails as well. Since we may not understand what we hear, we can not practice what we hear. When we that happens, we become bored with the situation and thus our spiritual life starts to decay. We should prepare our hearts to receive Gods Holy Scripture. His fruit can not be planted if there are weeds in our hearts. In last weeks sermon, our Pastor was saying that we should prepare ourselves for the upcoming service. This would require prayer and preparing our hearts to receive Gods Word. We plan the music each week and there are times we do not pray about the service regarding the music selection. It shows. Music does not fit the message, mistakes are made, and for us being up front, it just does not sound right. When we practice during the week and pray over the music to be played, then it all goes well. We need to share the word. Did you know that religion means the outward practice or the service to God. It has nothing to do with churches or special days. We apply Gods Word and share it with other through speech and service. How we talk reveals what our heart is saying. When our heart is right with God, our speech will also be right with others. We can also discover the needs of others and are able to minister to them. God is wonderful. He sure devised a unique system of life for us. When you really get into this and analyze what other clergy men say about the Bible and how God talks to us, you can discover the flow of events that make our life the way it is.

Sex, Sin and Salvation

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" This they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." The Scribes and the Pharisees - the leading religious men in the community - brought before Jesus a woman who, we are told, had been caught in the very act of adultery, and they asked Jesus what they should do with her.Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" And Jesus, we know, dealt tenderly with the woman, and turned the tables once again on His accusers, saying, Let him who is without sin amongst you cast the first stone. And the accusers left, and Jesus and the woman were left alone, and Jesus said, is no one left to condemn you? I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more! And I have never met anyone who does not love this passage, and I have never heard anyone suggest that Jesus did the wrong thing with this woman - that He should have been harsher with her - and yet at the same time I have never heard anyone ever suggest that we should be following Jesus example here in terms of the way we deal with people who break the law! Now I appreciate, of course, that this is not a parable with a hidden message in it or any sort of story that is supposed to have a straightforward moral to it. Even so, the behavior of Jesus here has implications, surely, for the way in which we pass judgment (or perhaps refuse to pass judgment) on people who have broken the law. Personally, I love this story, as I think we all do, and I think we all feel an immediate sympathy for the woman in this story. There she is - being dragged around roughly by this group of self-righteous men - bruised and disheveled no doubt. And we sense her humiliation. And we sense her isolation in this ordeal. And we wonder where her lover is. And we wonder whether she had in fact been set up (by a cruel and domineering husband perhaps). We identify with this woman in her pain and in her vulnerability, just as we then rest with her in the healing balm of Jesus words, I don't condemn you either! And yet of course we do not know the full story. Indeed, this woman may have been far more conniving and depraved than we generally imagine. And I find myself wondering whether Jesus would have reacted in exactly the same way had it been the man who had been dragged before Him? And I wonder whether Jesus would have had the same attitude had the sentence been a prison term rather than stoning. And would Jesus have said the same thing if the crime had not been adultery but pedophilia (for example). Would Jesus have said,I don't condemn you either mate. Go, and don't fiddle with children any more please. There comes a point where mercy starts to look like weakness, and where the gracious offer of forgiveness starts to look more like a license to engage in abuse and depravity. I have a friend who I mentioned in a sermon a couple of weeks ago who is still seeking justice in the case of the murder of his daughter. An unlicensed driver came flying through a red light and practically destroyed the car and the body of this poor young girl, and part of the ongoing pain for the family - for the father and mother and surviving sisters and brother - has been that the courts just don't seem to want to punish the person responsible! I listened to a letter from the dead girls younger sister being read out on a radio show this week, and in it she asked pleadingly when the courts were going to take this sort of crime seriously. For if the courts are reluctant to mete out serious punishment for the reckless behavior of unlicensed drivers it can only indicate that our community does not take such crimes, and the tragic deaths that they cause, seriously. And where do we find Jesus in all that pain? ... You see, its a lot easier in cases like this to be Islamic or a Jew, because in the case of Judaism and Islam its all a matter of law! Whether its the law of the Torah or the law of the Koran, the beauty about being a good Jew or a good Muslim is that its all a straightforward matter of knowing what the rules are and following them. Every situation in life has a law, and the law is as applicable to the individual as it is to the community as a whole. Every law has an appropriate punishment set for those who fail to keep it, and so if you break the law you can expect to endure the punishment, and the punishment for adultery was very straightforward - stoning. You stone both lovers if you can catch them or, in the case where you only apprehend one of the offenders, you stone that one now and you keep a few rocks in your pockets for later in case you find the other one. Its rough justice for sure, but surely it is better than no justice at all! Of course, if it were all so straightforward, it does raise the question of why the religious leaders ever brought the woman to Jesus in the first place. If the crime and punishment were all so straightforward, why did they ask Jesus for His opinion as to what they should do? I think the answer to that lies in the fact that the local Jewish authorities had lost their right to carry out capital punishment on persons they deemed worthy of execution. Presumably this is the same reason why when, later on, they wanted to kill Jesus, they had to involve Pilate, the Roman governor. They had lost the right to put people to death by their own authority. The question therefore of whether or not they should stone the woman was therefore a question of whether they should by abiding by the law of God or by the law of the land. We are told, of course, that the whole point of this encounter was that this woman's accusers were trying to trick Jesus, and indeed it seems that the trick was almost identical to the one where they asked Jesus about whether or not they should pay taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22). You will remember on that occasion that they thought they had Jesus trapped because if he said that they should pay taxes that he would be seen as a traitor to His own people, but if He told them not to pay taxes He would have been guilty of insurrection before the Romans! Likewise here if he tells them that they should not stone the woman then He seems to be disregarding the law of God, but if He tells them that they should stone her He is over-ruling the decision made by Rome. When seen in this light, it becomes obvious that sympathy for the woman was not expected to play any part in this encounter. This was a legal issue. They were trying to ensnare Jesus in a legal dilemma whereby they were forcing Him to choose between the law of God and the law of men. I don't think anyone was expecting Him to put aside all law and choose the woman! Knowing Jesus quick mind, might we not have expected Him at this point to answer His questioners in a similar way to the way He did to the taxation question? 'Whose picture is seen on the front of the law court? Caesar's? Then render unto Caesar the cases that fall under the jurisdiction of Caesar and you stick to the moral/spiritual laws that are the more obviously personal religious issues anyway!' Its interesting, isn't it, that Jesus just doesn't start playing those mind games with these religious leaders at all, presumably because in this case a woman's life is at stake. He doesn't give them a witty or clever answer. He doesn't respond with, let me tell you a story as He does in so many other places. Indeed He doesn't seem to want to engage with these men at all at first. We're told that He spends most of His time in this encounter looking at the ground and doodling in the dust! He only makes the one statement, let him amongst you who has no sin cast the first stone. This is a beautiful story, I feel, and yet I appreciate that it raises a lot of difficult questions: * What sort of model is this that Jesus leaves us? * Is it really appropriate to ask our judges that they be free from sin before they pass judgment on anybody else? * Does I don't condemn you either really have any place in a system of government * Is Jesus really concerned about justice at all? There are lots of questions raised by this encounter, and I dont pretend to have the answers. There is though one thing that comes through loud and clear in this story and is entirely unambiguous and it is this: that Jesus is one who forgives.I don't condemn you, says Jesus. I don't condemn you either Why not? Because the woman wasn't as bad as everybody made out? No! No doubt she was full of problems but I don't condemn you either! Was it because there were lots of mitigating circumstances, such that this woman couldn't really be blamed because she was stuck in a bad marriage with a violent and domineering husband perhaps? Maybe that was the case and maybe not. Either way,I don't condemn you either! Was it because it was her male partner who was really to blame - the guy who got away, the guy who seduced her in the first place? Maybe and maybe not, but I get the feeling that He who would not condemn the woman would have said to her partner too, if He had met him, I don't condemn you either. Jesus forgives. It is His very nature to forgive! What we do with that on a legal and political level I do not know, but this I know: that Jesus forgives. You know, one of the interesting things I discovered in my research on this passage is that it seems to have been a relatively late addition to the Gospel of John! It seems that some of the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel did not have this story included in them, and yet the scholars seem unanimous in recognizing that this was in itself a very ancient story from the life of Jesus. The only obvious explanation for this was that early church, as it emerged from being a sect within Judaism and struggled with the whole abandonment of the rule of law in the Christian life, found this story from the life of Jesus to be just a little too uncomfortable to deal with at first. It took time before they were able to fully embrace this Jesus! For it is an uncomfortable story. It is easier, in so many ways, to deal with a God who relates to us only through rules and laws and regulations. And yet those of us who know the depth of our own human frailty and sinfulness recognize that this, in the end, is the only God we will ever be able to deal with. I don't condemn, I don't condemn, I don't condemn you either.

The Early Christian Community in Context

The light of Christ was the beginning of Christianity, but the history of the Christian Church began with the resurrection of Jesus and a time forty days later with the first sermon given by Peter. His sermon and the whole-hearted commitment of the disciples at Pentecost illustrate the power of Jesus' death and the gifts that Jesus Christ gave to them for humanity's sake. The Christian community in the first several centuries survived as a sect within the Roman empire, until early in the 4th century and Emperor Constantine will the Christian community be altered into a Christian empire.
The early Christian community functioned as a sect, much like Judaism during the time of Jesus. Sects and counter-cultures generally defy the broader world, they are moralizing and a sect is exclusivistic. The Christian community in the first three centuries is defined by these characteristics.
Early Christianity denied many of the tenants of the pagan Roman world. The Romans viewed Christians as atheists because Christians denied traditional and imperial worship. Christian monotheism clashed with the culture's polytheism. An implication of Christian religiosity was pacifism, since Christians were members of the Kingdom and dwelled on earth temporarily they did not take part in warfare. Christians, as well, were slandered by some Romans for participating in incestuous behavior and practicing cannibalism. It was written that members of the Christian community were involved in incest during their evening meals, a skewed version of Christians being literally brothers and sisters. They were labeled as cannibals because of their Eucharistic beliefs. Romans also viewed Christians as ignorant and foolish for their missionary work to the poor and those of low status in society.
The Christian community was exclusivistic and moralistic. A Christian had to be baptized to enter the faith, they had to agree to enter the community and put himself or herself under the jurisdiction of the Church. The Sacrament of Initiation, originally combined baptism, Eucharist and confirmation, was a long and intensive process. The function of baptism was purification, conversion and to renew the human through the power of the Spirit. In preparation for baptism, one's sins needed to be repented, full observation of the commandments and, one had to receive and proclaim the good news of Christ.
Once an individual made the conversion to Christ, they could participate in the Eucharist. This celebration was in essence a simple ritual meal shared in community to remember and give thanks for the death and resurrection of Christ. Generally, Christians gathered in someone's house and they celebrated mass together. The oldest Christian church building dates to 250AD, within several decades numerous churches had been established.
Along with sacrament of initiation, penance was vitally important. Jesus gave the Church via the disciples the power to remit sins and thus exclude sinners. Before Eucharist, an individual needed to confess their sins to God through a priest. A component with receiving forgiveness was a corresponding commitment to work towards ending the sinful practices in his or her life. Christian beliefs demanded rigorous adherence, and commitment to live "in Christ Jesus."
If the individual entered the jurisdiction of the Church then there was a variety of Christian beliefs that could fulfill their covenant. This allowed the Church to be theologically diverse and exclusivistic. Christianity's theological diversity and character fundamentally changed in the 4th century because of Emperor Constantine.
Beginning in 64AD after the Great Fire of Rome, which was blamed on the Christians by Emperor Nero (emperor 54-68AD), Christians endured times of sporadic persecutions. The persecutions occurred due in part because of Christians' lack of conformity with the government. The Roman Empire was tolerant but if Christianity and another entity came into conflict, the former took the brunt of the government's abuse. Do in part to civil wars, the attacks from the barbarians, population declines and other factors, the Roman Empire increased their attacks on the Christians as a way to unify the country and reduce some internal friction. Emperor Gallienus (sole emperor 260-268AD), however signed an edict of tolerance in the 3rd century which ushered in a time of peace for Christians. This helped to recruit converts to the faith, but individuals were not dissuaded from becoming Christian during the periods of persecutions. As state-led persecutions were occurring the number of Christians and those willing to become martyrs for the Church increased. Emperor Diocletian (emperor 284-305AD) ordered the last persecution of Christians and the most serious persecutions occurred in the early 4th century. Because of internal and external threats, he also divided the empire into quadrants and installed a ruler in each, which lead directly to several warring factions attempting to gain power.
Constantine inherited one third of the Western Roman Empire in 306AD, by 324AD he was the sole ruler of entire Empire. He converted to Christianity, if albeit for political reasons, in 313AD after a dream and a vision which led him to defeat Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, using a sign denoting Christ on his army's weaponry. Because of this political change Christianity became absorbed in the world; there was a systematic breakdown between the church and society. Christianity radically changed from a sect to an institution.
The Church from this point forward became an institutional bureaucratic political entity. There was a new toleration of Christians by the government, which evolved into Christianity becoming the official religion of the state in 380AD by proclamation of Emperor Theodosius (emperor 379-395AD). The government actively supported the Church and expected substantive reciprocal support. The state funded the construction of church buildings and religious sites, Church symbols were placed on coinage and religious leaders became important political figures. The Church supported and participated in the state's military actions. There was an effort, especially after 380AD, to curtail some Pagan religious practices that had found a sanctuary in the rural countryside. The Empire supported by Christian leaders, or Christians with the support of the state, led efforts to either convert the pagans to Christianity or suppress the minority religions. The evangelization missions in the countryside took aggressive action, for instance overturning statues of Pagan deities, cutting down sacred groves and setting fire to Pagan temples. However, Christians did not entirely reject the Pagan world.
Given that the Pagan worldview permeated society, Christians actively worked to incorporate the known way of life into a Christian context. Where Pagan temples were destroyed Christian churches were erected, festivals for Pagan deities were baptized and made into Christian holy days. On the level of popular culture, ordinary people received a new religion, Christianity, but they did not have to radically change their lives; Christianity had become one with society.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5775338

Jesus love you

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate. "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'" (Luke 15) Those who have been following my antics this week - my brief appearances on various TV news programs and my statements that have appeared in The Australian as well as some local newspapers, all focusing on my support for our local Islamic cleric, Sheikh Mansour - will not be surprised to hear that I have had my share, this week, of abusive phone calls and nasty emails. You idiot!,What do you think you are doing?, Have you got any idea of who and what you are dealing with?, Why don't we deport you back to Iran?, etc., etc. The basic message is always that I have disgraced myself by associating with this guy, and its never clear whether that's because he's believed to be a terrorist or simply because he is Muslim or even just because they see him as an Arab (which, ironically, he technically is not). Either way, I confess that I found it rather comforting when I read the Gospel reading for this week and was reminded of the fact that the biggest criticism Jesus used to face was for the company He chose to keep. And just as my most vocal critic this week was a retired clergy-person, so I note that it was the religious leaders of Jesus day that made the most fuss about His poor taste in friends. They shook their heads and grumbled, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them! And I've always believed that it is the second part of that statement that generated the most offence - not so much that He welcomed sinners, but that He ate with them! For almost anybody can give you a warm welcome. Think about it: who are the most warm and welcoming people you deal with on a day-to-day basis? I think the answer has to be spruikers. Is that the right term? I m not thinking so much of the guys who stand outside the strip joints in Kings Cross, trying to encourage you to come in (and believe me - wearing a clergy collar does not discourage them from trying). I m thinking of those extremely warm and welcoming characters who greet you as you go through a shopping mall, generally because they want to give you a new credit card or perhaps sign you up for a monthly contribution to some great cause. And these people are generally savvy-looking well-dressed men or perky young girls who smile at you and grab you and look you in the eye and say, I'd really like to talk to you for a few minutes. Would that be ok? And suckers like me blush and say, What you really want to talk to me? Shucks!, and then we realise that they're just trying to sell us something. And for a lot of people their experience of church is like that too. The place is warm and welcoming and full of happy, smiley faces, but in the end we're just trying to sell you something - our own particular religious package (for which we ultimately expect our 10% too!). Kierkegaard used to say that the church and the theatre were very similar, except that in the theatre there would be a sign on the door telling you exactly how much it was going to cost you to get in. Kierkegaard said that he could never find a church that will be that honest with him! At any rate, there is a big difference between welcoming people and eating with them. For when you eat with someone you come on to the same level with them. You do something characteristically human with them, and so you have to drop the pitch, and relate more as equal human beings. Very pertinently, many of you will appreciate that the real break-through that we made in building a bridge of friendship to the Islamic community in this area came not when we formally dialogued or debated together, but rather when we sat down and shared a meal together! That was when fears and preconceptions started to give way to relationships of trust and mutual respect - when we sat and ate together. As I say, eating together is a very human activity, and its possibly the next best thing after boxing and wrestling someone, in terms of it being a great way of getting to know them. And Jesus used to eat with these people. He didn't just welcome them in, sit them in the corner and preach to them. He sat down and ate with them, and drank with them, and laughed with them, to the point where He was evidently giving the synagogue (and religious people in general) a bad name. Dirty people, greedy people, people whose breath reeked of alcohol, people whose morality and social standing were highly questionable, people who you wouldn't trust around your children, people who you do not want to let in to your house when they come knocking at the front door. And why couldn't Jesus have just done His bit by scooping them out a bowl full of gruel at the soup kitchen and then removing Himself to a safe spot from where He could preach at these people and tell them to REPENT! But He doesn't do that. He gets down with these people and he eats with them, and He drinks with them, and he laughs with them, and He dialogues with them, and the religious people ask WHY because they cannot make sense of Him! And so Jesus tells them a story - in fact He tells them three stories about three very strange parties: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' (Luke 15:4-6) What man amongst you, having a hundred sheep, would not behave like that if he lost one sheep? Now I know we tend to treat this as a rhetorical question, but I tend to think its a very good question. What man amongst you would behave like that with his sheep? I think the obvious answer is that not a single one of us would behave like that - walking up hill and down dale searching, while simultaneously leaving 99% of our flock open and exposed - all for the sake of one sheep. No one in their right mind would behave like that, surely, let alone hold a party for the sheep when they find it! My kids went to a Butterscotch's birthday party yesterday. Yes, it was a birthday party for a dog! I won't tell you my initial reaction when I first realised we'd turned up at a dog party but, on reflection, the concept has a solid Biblical precedent! "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'(Luke 15:8-9) What woman amongst you wouldn't behave like that? Well in my experience the only women that behave like that are crazy old women who have dozens of cats living with them and are no longer able to manage their own hygiene properly! Well-balanced people do not get that obsessed - spending night and day turning their house upside-down in order to locate one small coin that they have dropped, let alone organising a party once they find it - a party that is surely going to cost more than one silver coin to host! Or what father of you, having two sons, if one son takes his inheritance and runs, wouldn't wait at the gate, night and day, hoping that he'll return home? OK, I m paraphrasing, but I think you know the story as well as I do. And of course the strength of this story is that it starts to make the other two stories seem a little more comprehensible, as it seems now that we've been talking about a relationship between a parent and a child the whole time, and we parents know full well how crazy and obsessive we can be when it comes to our own children! What sort of crazy father would behave like that?, Jesus asks. OK. I hear you, Jesus! I respect the crazy father. I am there with the crazy father! I know what its like to go crazy with worry over your children, and I understand that there is nothing that they can do - no insult so brazen, no action so hurtful and no sin so terrible that you still don't love them to death and just yearn for the day when they will turn back from the pigsty and head home! And, as I say, the strength of the third story that culminates in the third party is that it starts to make the other stories look sensible. The shepherd, the woman and the father - they are each obsessive in their love, they are each extravagant in their giving, and their passion makes them do some crazy things, and yet the joy of the prodigal coming home would make sense of the whole passage ... except for one thing - the fact that Jesus not only welcomed sinners but ate with them! For if the story hadn't started that way, with the criticism of the religious people about the company Jesus kept, we might have been forgiven for assuming that Jesus had been partying with former addicts, former prostitutes, one-time tax-collectors and once-upon-a-time sinners. But if that were the case, the religious establishment would never have had a problem! If Jesus had only been spruiking people into the synagogue and then preaching to them; holding an altar call and praying, teaching and (ultimately) partying with those who responded - those who changed their lives, gave up the drink, amended their ways, left their jobs with the taxation office and/or sex industry and got respectable jobs in a bank - the Pharisees would not have had a problem with Jesus! The problem was that Jesus didn't just welcome these people. He ate with them and drank with them! And He didn't just eat and drink with these prodigals when they returned home. He ate and drank with them when they were still very much sinners! And whether Jesus did this in the hope that by showing them love and grace they might find their way home to their Heavenly Father, or whether Jesus considered their eating and drinking with Him to constitute a home-coming of sorts in itself, it remains the fact that Jesus did not party with them after they got their act together. He partied first! He partied anyway! And I'd like to believe that He partied hard! And so the shepherd seems a little crazy, getting so worked up over his one lost sheep, and the woman seems even more crazy, totally obsessed by her one missing coin. and the father is, of course, totally irrational in his refusal to give up hope for his prodigal son, and yet it is Jesus who is the most crazy of all, passionately reaching out in love to everybody - disregarding his own safety and reputation, eating, drinking, welcoming and partying with lost sheep, prodigal sons, wayward daughters, people with reputations and people without reputations, persons who had overcome their addictions and persons who had not, the sick and the well, the rich and the poor, the repentant and the unrepentant. He welcomed them all, and he ate with them! And we who would follow Him must both welcome and eat with them too.

How Weak and Struggling Believers Become Overcomers

One of the young men said, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who plays skillfully, a valiant man, a man of war, prudent in speech and eloquent, an attractive person; and the Lord is with him. 1 Samuel 16:18 Today we will study the next virtue of David. As described by Saul's servant, not only was he skillful for harp playing but a valiant man (brave, bold and courageous). But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them. (1 Sam. 17: 34-36) David could have played the fool when the bear and the lion came; nobody would note one lamb missing, besides, the sheep were not his anyways however, every time a hostile animal showed up to devour the sheep, fearless David risked his life. Goliath the giant looked similar to bear; and he affirmed to Saul that God, who saved him from the bear, would also protect him from the monster size philistine. Now, most of Israel was scared of Goliath. The Scriptures point that thousands of soldiers were literally trembling. How is it that David could advance towards something that all the others feared? I believe David possessed the creative and conquering faith of God, a fruit of his relationship with the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens (Heb.11: 33-34). In the Bible, the people that made the difference were filled with faith. Not an academic faith that comes from mental agreement; rather, a supernatural faith that comes from the heart the result of gazing on the Author and Finisher of our faith Jesus. This faith believes the impossible, speaks the things that are not as though they were, and make us rise and conquer the giants of life. Take a moment now to identify your giant. What is it? Who is it? Where is it? You have two options: either retreat in fear or advance in faith. Doing nothing counts as retreat (if your giant is real it will not magically go away). Maybe you have been afraid of confrontation. Perhaps you believe things will never change I m here to remind you: You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Phil. 4:13). You can face and conquer your giants; even if you are weak, even if you think is too late, or consider yourself a coward. Know this: the One who lives within you is ultra powerful, and with Him all things are possible! Hebrews declares out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, put differently, you can use battles and giants to develop strength and become a brave kingdom warrior. Look to your problems once again, and dare to believe as David did.

The Work of Ministry

 Living the Christian life can be like trying to break a rock. We keep doing our best even though nothing much happens. Sometimes we get discouraged bearing the same burden, resisting the same temptation, as we go through life, but when we see the work we do for God and mankind as a ministry, we can every resistance by continuing.

 

Ephesians 4: 11-12 "and He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelist, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry... "
Isn't it wonderful to know that God's word has an answer to every questions that may arise. God's word brings to an end every dispute that may arise as a result of inaccurate understanding of Scriptures. God's word has the final say.

There are believers who only chose what to believe and what not to believe. If God's Word makes sense to them they believe the word, if the Word doesn't make sense to them they won't believe.
But for how long will you continue to follow God that way? That's not how we ought to relate to the Word. Any passage of the scripture you seems not to understand, you ask the Holy Spirit to shed more light on it. You don't interpret scriptures by the way you feel, you don't interpret scriptures from your sense or head knowledge. It can only be interpreted through the help of the Holy Spirit.

There are believers out there who still think that working in the house of God is meant for a particular set of persons. They are waiting for God to appear to them in an audible voice saying "my son, my son, you are to work in my house", anything short of that, they are not ready to make a move. Well, if you are waiting for that, you might never see that happen. Do you know why? God has Himself given to His Church ministry gifts (apostles, pastors, teachers, prophets, and evangelists) to equip you to work in His house.

As a believer you are meant to be doing something for God in your place of worship. God didn't call you into that family for you to remain idle. It's funny to know that there are Christians who are a part of a Church assembly for several years but they are never a part of any department or unit. As a believer you are meant to be doing something for God in your place of worship.

 

For anyone to recognize and function effectively in his/her ministry, he/she must first understand that God equips His children for the sole purpose of using them to work for Him. As a result, we all must see the importance of every single soul as God sees it. We must also know who we are in the plan of God to save the whole world, recognize how we have been using our personalities and our individual gifts in the past for the edification of God's kingdom.

Surely, better things will gradually prevail if believers in Christ will yield themselves unreservedly for God to work through them. Our faith in love as the greatest power in the world should prepare us for a life in communion with God through the use of our spiritual gifts (ministry gifts) as can be evidenced in prayer, a life of unselfish service among our fellow-men, etc.

Living a Christian life

Living a Christian life on your own is impossible because victorious Christian living can only be achieved through the resources that God can provide.
If we think that living as a Christian can be obtained just by believing in Jesus Christ and asking Him into our lives we are sadly mistaken. No matter how hard an individual may try they will come up short every time.
We live in a world of sin in sinful bodies with a sinful nature. God knows we cannot do it on our own and that is why he has given us the resources to accomplish this Spiritual act.

Yes, Jesus Christ is The Way to eternal life but is also the beginning of living a Christian life the way God intends us to live but there are other resources that God wants us to be aware of.
God is spiritual therefore we must become spiritual in our Christian walk and the elements to consider of this spirituality will include gaining wisdom from God, asking for provision from God, living in friendship with God, drawing near to God and being lifted up by God. It is all from God; it is all attained by reliance on God.
The best way to begin our journey in understanding God as well as living a Christian life is by studying His Word (The Holy Bible).

The foundation of this effective life is Jesus Christ; the inspiration is the Holy Spirit. Apart from Jesus and the Holy Spirit the best life cannot be attained.
The building blocks of the effective Christian life are:
Diligence
Faith
Moral Goodness
True Knowledge
Self-Control
Perseverance
Godliness
Brotherly Kindness
Love
These nine essential qualities are intertwined and work together to produce your best life in Jesus Christ.

Moral excellence is an attitude precipitated by faith in God. When you place your full trust in God then regardless of whether you have the knowhow you will want to live a life pleasing to God; you will want to live a holy and righteous life that brings honor to God.

Marriage and Christianity

The Jesus you know about is the Jesus that you can know personally, that you can have a relationship with. Our Lord Jesus is as present to us today as He was 2,000 years ago or even more present. Jesus still heals His people. When He ascended into heaven, shortly after He sent the Holy Spirit with a whole pack of gifts. These gifts can be ours and the Lord can use us but also the Holy Spirit brings us fruit. In prayer we can feel a deep sense of remorse, we can feel our deeply we have hurt Our Lord. How much time do we waste in our lives not serving the Lord? Do we put ourselves and our wants over the needs of our family? When you start to pray and read Scripture and read Catholic literature and go to Mass more, everything else just seems to no longer fit. Then, you can start to feel more isolated as you no longer fit in with the things of the world. Accepting Christ can make things difficult not only with our friends but even in our families, in our marriages. In marriage, we need to show love for our spouses and work on our marriages rather than spending lots of time in prayer. God can accomplish things a lot quicker if we just got out of the way. We need to stop preaching to our spouses and start serving them instead. When we do this, God can love others through us. God's love flowing in and through us to our spouse has the power to do all things. This is what the sacrament of matrimony is all about. A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Those of us called to married life have a vocation with two missions: interior and exterior. The interior mission is about our sanctification; our marriage is our path to sanctity that our Lord has chosen for us and that path is to be lived with another individual. We are to both serve each other in bringing each other to the fullness of life in Christ Jesus. The greatest gift we can give to our spouse is to lead them into union with God by being a conduit of God's love to them. Our exterior mission is to be a sign to the world of the love of God. A Catholic marriage is meant to be the salt of the earth. When we serve each other in our marriages, we hope to be able to give our spouse the gift of eternal life by leading them to Christ in our lives and in our marriage.

Simple Lesson from the Bible that Can Help You Get Married

There seems to be many Christian singles books on the shelves these days, on how to pick a mate, how to love a mate and how to keep a mate. But before you can be picked, loved or kept, you have to be found or find somebody. Following what people did in the Bible may help you on your way... Community Counts... When a man or woman reached an appropriate age in the Bible, their love ticket was basically written for them. Abraham found a wife for his son, Isaac. Naomi helped her widowed daughter-in-law Ruth find her man Boaz and Mordecai helped his cousin, Esther marry a king. Unlike our modern culture, in biblical times people had families, communities and a social structure to help them get married. Nowadays, it's rare to have that kind of help. If somebody wants to get married, many times we're told: "You're on your own, baby!" But just like people seek mentoring; coaching and support when they want to focus on careers and academics, having people around that share your vision for marriage can be crucial. You need their faith and maybe even their prodding and planning along the path to your wedding day. It might be they "know somebody" that might be a good mate for you, or it could be that they can be faithful in prayer for you. Whatever the case, according to the Bible, we are not meant to take the journey to matrimony alone. So how do you develop your community? You can start by building up the courage to (gasp) tell those around you that want to get married. After that, you wait and see what happens. If they support you, they are part of your community. If they give a negative response like, "Hey, Jesus will be your boyfriend" or a neutral one like "Just wait on the Lord," take a clue from the early disciples: dust off your feet and move on. You are looking to get married and you can't let platitudes stop you. Follow in the tracks of Naomi when she told Ruth: "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you?" Ruth 3:1. We need people in our lives like that. We need a community that has the vision for us to get married. Be brave, pray and search until you find one. You have the green light from God... Adam and God in the Garden of Eden had a love thing going on. No sin, no separation, just man and God in a natural state. That's about as close to God as you can get! But despite Adam kickin' it with God on a regular basis, God said Adam still needed something... a woman. God even had a name for the predicament Adam was in - God called it "not good" (Genesis 2:18) The Bible says marriage is a reflection of God and his church and that marriage should be honored by all. Why wouldn't you want to make good on something that God speaks so highly of? Christian singles frequently get stuck by phases like, "You just need to be content" and "Wait on the Lord" but being content and waiting on the Lord does not mean don't do anything. When you look at love in the Bible, people took action and worked on the premise that it was not good for man to be alone. Marriage was the norm and expected of most everyone. Even Paul's stipulations on singles in the book of Corinthians were made duringa period of "present distress." We are not in that "present distress" any more. God's word still stands, if we want to listen. If it was not good for Adam to be alone, it is not good for us. Renewing your mind for men... There are women I know who want to get married, but their actions and words speak otherwise. They complain about men, they make fun of men; they stereotype men and wonder out loud where all the "real men" are. I know these women because I used to be one. That was until I had an "aha" moment. God came down in a cloud from heaven one day (just kidding) and said to me, "Karen, when men don't think you like them, they stay away from you." Now, I am not talking about that one guy who you don't like but who likes you. I am talking about men in general. Our culture can ridicule traditional masculinity and femininity. That's why I implore all single, Christian women... learn about men. If you hear over and over in the media and in conversations with your sister friends that men are wrong, it will be hard to find a Mr. Right. Let's take a new look at men. We all know men and women are different and relate to each other in different ways. I would encourage you to find out how this plays out in everyday life. Renew your mind on men. Read books. Go to workshops. If you have had bad situations with men, pray and seek help. Don't let a bad experience with a man in the past; destroy a good experience with a man in the future. You want to marry a friend - not an adversary! I love the scripture in Titus 2:2 where it says the older women need to teach the younger women to love their husbands. This was yet another "aha" moment for me.... love can be taught! Make the investment and learn how to love men. Find someone who is doing the same for women and you have a winning combination. The Bible says we will reap what we sow, those in the Bible were intentional about taking steps towards marriage and they... got married. They believed God, took him at his word and took action. Let's follow suit and be intentional as we try to become a reflection of God and his church by striving towards marriage.

Developing an Effective Mission Statement for your Church Startup

As the leader of a church startup, many pastors or ministers find that during their church startup and growth phases, many responsibilities automatically fall upon their shoulders. There are many different topics to discuss such as where to hold church meetings, what type of church outreach programs to launch, selecting board members, acquiring funding, etc. During these beginning phases, it is crucial to lead your congregation with purpose and vision. As your congregations begin to grow and define the church purpose, there are some helpful steps that should be considered. Including your congregation can be both beneficial and impending on the final decision for a mission statement. If you have a congregation of more than thirty people, the use of a selection committee should be considered. If you choose to build a committee, make sure that all demographics of your church congregation are represented. Once you have selected the committee of people that are going to assist in the process of creating a mission statement, present the committee with four key questions. The first question to consider is, Why does the church exist? By defining why you exist you will aid the committee in clarifying the vision and organizational purpose. A common example would be a church that exists to build and edify families. Defining your existence and purpose will help your church startup to attract the demographic that you are ultimately trying to reach. The second key question to put into consideration is, What are we to be as a church? This helps to define the who we are and what we are aspects of your church mission statement. What specific beliefs will the church adopt and which denominational creed or faith beliefs govern the congregation? These also help in guiding the process to creating a mission statement for the church. Once you have defined why you exist and what you are to be, the next key question to consider is,What are we to do as a church? What goals and church outreach programs are you being called to complete? Which passions exist among the congregation that can be turned into goals that are accomplishable? Will you have a global mindset or will you focus on the mission field within your own backyard? What specific goals will the church continue to have over the years, regardless how large the membership continues to grow? Now that you have defined what you are going to do, start to consider, How are we to do it? and How will church outreach programs exist? These types of questions, while difficult in manner, will help your purpose to be measurable. Its important to be able to measure and gauge the success of how you are going to do it for future church outreach programs. Once you have answered all of these questions you should go back and summarize all of your findings into one or two complete sentences. In the end you want your mission statement to be: 1. Biblical 2. Specific 3. Transferable 4. Measurable Gather your selection committee and ask them if the mission statement fits the above four criteria. If you are unable to answer yes to all of those questions, go back to the drawing board and revise the statement. Don't lose hope; once you have an effective mission statement you will be able to use that to communicate your mission clearly and effectively.