Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those
who earnestly seek him.
Observation
Faith is being certain of what we hope for, sure of what we do not
see. Faith tells us that God created the universe. Faith gave Abel a
better sacrifice and lifted Enoch to heaven.
Noah built an ark by faith, and Abraham followed God to a foreign
country by faith. By faith Abraham fathered a nation.
Application
Faith is central to our relationship with God.
We must first of all believe that He exists. This is not an
intellectual exercise that says there must be a God. No, true faith
is a deep trust- I believe that the God of the Bible is real and that
He is the one true God.
Faith is an issue of trust or commitment. I commit my whole life into
the simple fact that God is here and He controls my living and my
dying.
Secondly, faith is built on the belief that He rewards those who seek
Him.
We are saved by faith in Christ. That faith tells me that God is good
and that He is passionately committed to me. I trust that when I
stand before Him, the blood of Christ will protect me from His holy
wrath. My sins have been washed away by the blood- they were scarlet
but now I am like the snow.
Because I know that He loves me, I can approach boldly the throne of
grace. I can come into His presence and ask for the things that I
need and the concerns of my heart.
God is good, and I know that He will never disappoint me.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for the gift of faith. It is by faith that I am saved
and by faith I am delivered, healed, renewed and redeemed. Thank you
Lord for your great grace. Amen.
“Though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.
Though they are as red as crimson, I will make them like wool.”
Observation
Isaiah promises judgement on the people of Israel. He calls them
“Sodom” and “Gomorrah.” They revel in their sin and then
bring sacrifices, but the Lord will reject their offerings because
they are just religious ceremonies.
The Lord hates their prayers and offerings because of their sins. He
wants true repentance and will wash their sins clean.
Application
The Lord is always seeking reconciliation with us. He wants us to
turn away from our sins and receive His blessing.
This is not about outward religious acts but about the heart. Being
baptised, going to church, or saying the Sinner’s Prayer will not
make a person right with God.
Turning away from our sin and towards Jesus will activate God’s
cleansing flow of forgiveness into our spirit.
It has to be sincere, from the heart. Going through a ritual of any
sort will not impress God. He looks at the heart not the outward
appearance.
So what must I do to be saved?
1. Recognise sin. Confess not just wrong doing, but also the
orientation towards sin and self-centredness.
2. Repent. Repentance means more than saying “sorry” to God. It
means to recognise that something I thought was acceptable is
actually repellent.
3. Ask God for forgiveness.
4. Receive the power of the Holy Spirit to live God’s way not my
own way.
Having made the decision to follow Jesus I must obey Him and let Him
rule every part of my life.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I receive you as my Lord. I am sorry for all that I do
that displeases you. Please help me to live for you every day of my
life. Amen.
Climate “science” is a joke these days, long being hijacked by extremist activists and lavish Government funding.
You may have heard of the European heatwave recently smashing temperature records in Germany and other places.
As usual the truth is less scary. Last year is was an ice cream truck parked right next to a weather station in England. This year it is a poorly located weather station, admitted by the DWD, the German Weather Bureau, to be badly sited, but still used by the DWD to hype up the climate scare!
A nearby resident did some research and found that the temperatures there were typically nearly 3 degrees warmer than other stations.
Gillette, the world’s biggest purveyor of men’s shaving accessories, decided that it needed to jump on the “progressive” (i.e. crazy leftist) bandwagon.
First it thought it would be cool to insult its customer base (i.e. mainly men) by accusing them of being accessories to bullying and domestic violence by letting it go on right under their noses and being afraid to confront their mates.
Not content with insulting their customers, they turned up the dial to complete revulsion with an ad featuring a transgender person learning to shave his/her face.
I’m not sure whether these ads were confined to the USA or whether they made their way to Australia. Where I live the TV ads are mainly local companies, agricultural products and junk food, so I don’t know what city people endure.
I do know that people all over decided to dump Gillette and buy products by other companies, such as this one.
So the big reason to revisit this is Gillette recently revealed their financial results for the last year.
A LOSS of $8 billion.
They put it down to people shaving less frequently,but that has been a fashion trend for several years now, which a normal commercial entity would work around.
$8 billion (US Dollars, that is)
That is $1 for every person on the planet.
Yet another confirmation of the saying: “Go woke, go broke.”
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 1:6. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians 1:6
“.. to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
God’s grace is praiseworthy.
We can praise God’s grace because it is part of His personality or nature. This grace has redeemed us and set us free from sin and death. This grace grants us eternal life, vanquishing the power of sin and raising a whole race of humanity to be sons and daughter of God.
We were once far off but God’s grace has overcome the chasm that separated us from Him. It is grace that adopts us into the divine family granting us an inheritance fay beyond our wildest dreams.
God’s grace is glorious.
Glory is one of those terms that is hard to pin down.
Sports teams and individuals are said to win glory when they achieve a great victory. The sporting prowess or athleticism causes spectators to stand in awe of their ability.
Glory can be won on a battle field when the extreme stresses of being under fire or in other imminent danger bring out super-human courage or gallantry. If the favoured side wins the victory then that helps, but it isn’t necessary to be the victor. We can be awed at the ability of people to sacrifice themselves to save others or to be seemingly oblivious of bombs and bullets.
The glory of a monarch may be seen in ceremonial occasions where wealth, grand institutions and traditions captivate the dreams and aspirations of a culture.
In all of these cases, glory is seen in the awe that human endeavours inspire in the hearts of other people.
God’s glory is of a different magnitude. The glorious grace of God is glorious regardless of our response. God’s grace is glorious even if nobody accepts it. His glory flows from His nature.
We are right to be awed by God’s grace. Our awe is not necessary for it to be considered to be glorious.
God’s grace is freely bestowed.
He pours it out on us freely. Grace would not be grace if it came at a price. God’s grace is free of cost, but He bestows it liberally, overwhelmingly, pressed down and running over.
God’s grace is like a mighty waterfall such as Niagara or Victoria Falls. Enormous quantities of water flow over these falls every second. You can’t see where the water comes from. You can’t imagine how much water is contained there.
God’s grace is like that. It is as liberal as the greatest waterfall. It is bestowed whether we receive it or not. God is not moved by our reaction; He will overflow us with grace regardless.
So the sun shines on the just and the unjust alike, and the rain waters the fields of the godly farmer as much as the ungodly farmer. To the atheist raging against Him or the artist who mocks Him, God gives air to breathe, food to eat and water to drink.
This unstoppable river of praiseworthy and glorious grace is poured out in us “in the Beloved.”
It is Christ who releases and bestows this grace into us. The sacrifice on the cross releases grace to the world. Because Christ is beloved by the Father, God is pleased to pour this liberal overflowing stream of grace to the planet.
Although the grace is bestowed to us “in the Beloved”, we don’t have to be in the Beloved to receive it. Jesus’ death is available to every person, but only some will receive the promise of eternity. He died for all so that some will receive life.
He doesn’t stop loving or bestowing grace on those who reject Him. He is determined to love even if we don’t recognise His love. His grace is greater than our rejection of it.
The grace that is bestowed on everyone will eventually stop for those who are not “in the Beloved.” Judgement awaits those who refuse His grace. The waterfall will turn off, the flow dry up, and those who reject Him will be asked “Why?”
Often we think of grace as pertaining to salvation. But it has a far wider application than that. It speaks of all blessings that God gives to people.
John Wimber used to speak of “gracelets,” the little blessings or signs of God’s presence and love which encourage us to keep on going, to persevere through trials, or just to give us joy in a surprising experience. It might be a dream or a vision, an unexpected gift, a rainbow, a rush of faith to trust Him.
Grace can also relate to supernatural ability to serve God’s purposes. This might be in the form of the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12. In fac the word of gift in Greek is derived from the word for grace. It might also be the ability to fulfil a spiritual commitment that would normally be impossible for us, yet we find though constant prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit that we find a grace for this task.
Key points from this verse:
God’s grace is worthy of our praise
God’s grace is glorious and inspires awe in our heart
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all
kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of
his possessions.”
Observation
A man in the crowd asks Jesus to tell his brother to share his
inheritance with him. Jesus uses this opportunity to talk about
greed.
He tells the story of a man whose land produces a bumper crop. He
starts to plan how to store it all up and prepare for retirement. But
God says tonight he will die and all will be lost to him.
Application
People invest their time and energy into gathering more and more
possessions. There is often a tendency in many places to judge people
by their monetary wealth.
People are more than their possessions.
Sometimes we naively think that a better paying job or a lottery win
will fix out problems. But really this is generally not true.
In pursuing wealth it is easy to take risks that lead us into bondage
of ever increasing debt. A thriving business may fall apart suddenly
because its owner borrows too much to grow too quickly, and the
slightest down turn in the economy pulls it all down. Home owners
borrow too much and cannot make the repayments.
Possessions do not define us. Our relationships do.
Our relationship with God is the most important thing. We were
created for friendship with our creator. Anyone who tries to live
without God lives a broken life.
Our relationship with family is also important. Those closest to us
should build us up and encourage us, strengthening us for the daily
battles of life. In the same way, we need to give ourselves to our
families.
The relationships that many people miss in our self-centred lives are
those with community- our neighbours and our christian brothers and
sisters. Everyone is looking to belong in a community, but many do
not realise it.
Prayer
Thank you, Father, for showing me that possessions are far less
important than my relationship with you and with the people around
me. Help me to build closer ties with you and with my family and
friends. Amen.
Think of the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
Observation
We have been raised to new life in Christ, so we should set our minds
on things of heaven and not be consumed by worldly thoughts. We have
died to this life and been raised to eternity in Christ.
We must put to death all the sinful and fleshly desires within us-
immorality, impurity, greed, idolatry and so on.
We need to put on our new nature and be renewed as we learn to be
like Christ.
Application
One of the biggest problems we have as christians is allowing God to
transform us. Sin seems to cling to us despite our good intentions.
The problem is that we still live in the world and our thoughts are
dominated by the world’s ways of thinking rather than by God’s
ways.
We must see that our destiny is in heaven with Christ, and
everything in our lives needs to be seen in that perspective.
The people of the world do not know God. All they see is this life.
All their energy and thought go into the concerns of this world. They
worry about work, possessions, sex, family and so on.
For we who are born again, our focus must always be on serving
Christ. Our work is for His glory not ours. Our family is to serve
Him not to live for its own purposes.
Thinking of heavenly things does not mean abandoning our
responsibilities to live on a mystical plane unconcerned with earthly
things.
We are to put Jesus first in everything and see the things that we do
in the light of serving and worshipping Him.
When we look to God and live for Him, He deals with all the other
things in our life, including sinful attitudes and wrong priorities.
We do not have to change the way we live, just where we place our
affections. God will look after the rest.
Prayer
Lord please help me to seek you in every part of my life. I trust you
to redirect my life and to change my thinking. Amen.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 1:5. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians 1:5
“He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.”
God’s adoption of us, His plan of salvation had nothing to do with chance. It was not in any sense a “Plan B” or a backup in case things went wrong. God knew from before creation that Adam and Eve, and all humanity with them, would sin and need salvation.
Paul says that God “destined us” “according to the purpose of his will”. This was all planned and accounted for- sin, suffering, death, sacrifices, Temple, Jesus, redemption, eternity.
When people, cultures and demons fight against God, raging with all their puny power, God already has that in hand. He has foreseen it and factored it all into His plan.
God has destined us. We are like pots in the hands of a potter. He determines the use that He has for us. Some of us are destined to what the world deems to be success, whole others are destined to a success seen only in eternity.
He has destined us to be sons, or into sonship. This is God’s great plan- to raise a family of sons and daughters tied to Him through the new birth. When we are born again, it is to a spiritual life. We come alive in ours spirits, and the spirit of sonship is born in us. This is the Holy Spirit who enables us to call God “Abba Father.”
Sonship is about three things:
– Relationship. We are called (or destined) to live in humble relationship with the Father. God does not want mere servants or slaves who obey Him from duty or fear. He wants sons who love Him.
– Family. Those who are in God’s family, the elect, all have one Father. Therefore we are related to one another and must love and respect one another.. Those who fail to love the brethren show they are nor truly sons of God.
– Inheritance. To be a son means that we have an inheritance. In Romans 8:17, Paul says that we are heirs of the Father and co-heirs with Christ. Everything that is the Father’s He willingly gives with us, if not in this life then in the life to come.
This sonship is our destiny. We were made for this! This is not our achievement, but the gift of the Father to us in Christ.
This is something we must always bear in mind. Everything we have, every blessing that we enjoy, every privilege that comes from being in God’s family, comes only as a gift from the Father. It comes to us through the death and resurrection of the Son, Jesus Christ,
We don’t deserve this favour. We aren’t clever enough to work this out for ourselves. It is all gift, purchased for us through the sacrifice of Christ.
God is not a remote being, playing us like pawns on some cosmic chessboard. He loves us. When He acts in our lives, it is love that motivates Him.
He loves us with a passionate intensity that holds nothing back. He has given us His Son; will He not give us all things?
In that sense the earlier analogy of a potter moulding his pots is inadequate. Nobody loves a pot. A father loves his children and wants the best for them. The moulding of our lives is done in love for us so that in Christ we may reach our highest destiny.
He loved us when He planned us. He loved us when we were conceived and then born. He loves us as we mature and grow in sonship to Him.
He grieves over sin and its destruction of life and distraction from destiny. Sin smashes the relationship between son and Father. It damages the image of God in those whom it hurts. It ensnare us and keeps us from our true calling as sons and daughters of the King.
For this reason, God will destroy sin and judge all who refuse to repent. He will cast out those who refuse His invitation to Sonship. This is all in love (agape)- love for us and love for His creation.
God does nothing in the absence of love. God is love. Even judgement is done in love. Those who love sin more than they love God will be judged to be beyond God’s love and therefore beyond God’s kingdom.
God is making a family “according to the purpose of His will.” He wants a family of sons and daughters who recognise His love and respond to it, even in the context of a sinful and broken world which both reflect and hides His love.
The purpose of our life is to discover the love of God. Why am I here? To love God and to enjoy His fellowship.
His will is that we should love Him. To make sure that our love is genuine and not forced or coerced, He gave us the freedom to will and to do what we like. Human will is the precondition for human love. To love like God loves, we must have the capacity to not love. God’s love for us gives us the capability of rejection of His love, that is, sin.
The purpose of God’s will is to bring into being a family of sons and daughters who freely love Him in the same way that He has first loved us.
Key points from this verse:
God destined us to be His sons and daughters.
Sonship is about relationship, family and inheritance
sonship is destiny but not compulsory We can choose to reject His plan for us
