Passion Week

Here is the link for Passion Week study leading up to Easter.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/he_is_risen/index.cfm

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My Sin (talking myself through it)

Beatitude #4 Matthew 5:6

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?  This is a pretty simple litmus test for whether you are saved from your sins or not.

If you thirst for righteousness you are like a sponge that just can’t soak up enough scripture.  The more you read the more excited you get about the truth of the Trinity and rejoice over the salvation for those who would trust in Christ.

Do you trust in being good enough to go to heaven?  Here Jesus speaks of those who HUNGER for righteousness.  Remember again to go back and read Beatitude #1  as He continues to build an image of the person who will be saved from their sins.  Romans 3 says there is NONE righteous.  Only Christ can be our righteousness.  So we must HUNGER and THIRST for Christ and we will be satisfied.

CHRIST Crucified for sinners, buried for believers, who rose for the repentant and applies righteousness to them who hunger and thirst for Him who ascended to the Father.

Pray to Him if you feel lacking.  It is the Holy Spirit who takes us the unworthy and unfaithful and causes us to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Ephesians 2:8-10

An Amazing Crescendo! (From Romans 8)

Beatitudes-Matthew Chapter 5

Beatitude #3 Matthew 5:5

"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Your version may say blessed are the meek.  The more I go through this chapter the more these all run together.  I used to see them as Christ talking about several “groups” of people.  Really these seem to be characteristics of a believer. 

Here we see “gentle” or “meek”.  The idea here is the opposite of out of control.  Meek doesn’t mean weak or a pushover.  It means self-disciplined relying on God.

So the one who is spiritually bankrupt, sorrowful over their sin and under control trusting in God will inherit the earth.

“inherit the earth” Jesus takes from Psalm 37:11 where the calamity of the wicked and the heritage of the righteous are contrasted

By the way if you are working on self-control.  I would recommend lots of prayer.  It’s the Holy Spirit who works these changes in us.

The Beatitudes-Matthew 5

Beatitude #2 Matthew 5:4

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

This sounds odd doesn’t it?  Happy are those who mourn?

I think as we break down these “Beatitudes” it’s important we don’t separate them.  Remember in the first "Beatitude” Jesus spoke of being utterly, spiritually bankrupt with no self-sufficiency.  That leaves us in a broken state.  A broken state that would cause us to mourn.

This mourning is a mourning over our sin.  A mourning and brokenness that leads to a turning away from sin and a turning towards Christ without any regret.

The comfort is the comfort of forgiveness in Christ whose death we rest in.  We have to rest in that death alone because we have nothing else to lean on.  We are broken sinners in need of forgiveness.

In case you don’t think you are in need of forgiveness let me give you a little exercise:

100-1= ????

You see God’s requirement is PERFECTION.  That is why the ONE sin of Adam and Eve was such a HUGE deal.  How many sins have you sinned?  If you only sin 3 sins a day, that’s over 1,000 sins per year!  Multiply your age by 1,000 and now imagine the day you will stand before a HOLY Judge.

THAT is why CHRIST is everything!  God doesn’t overlook sin.  The Bible says He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Christ took all that punishment and paid your sin debt in full.

He was 100% perfect and without sin.

We are….well NOT.

We have nothing to add to a perfect death that was a complete payment for utterly sinful mankind.

Rest in Christ alone and remember not to separate these “Beatitudes”, but let them flow together.

The Beatitudes -Matthew 5

Beatitude #1 Matthew 5:3

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Blessed just means happy.  Happy are the poor in spirit.

“Poor in Spirit” is the first beatitude we must examine. 

Poor here means “reduced to begging, destitute of wealth, position or honor.  Lowly, helpless, poor and needy”

(http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4434&t=NASB)

Are you a spiritual beggar at Christ’s feet with no position or honor to cling to?  No merit of your own to lean on? No amount of religious works to lean on… are you DESTITUTE?  Then be happy!  Only the broken man or woman with NOTHING left to lean on can inherit the kingdom of heaven.  Why?  Because having any merit of your own is to say Christ’s work on the Cross was not full and complete payment for your sins.  You must trust in Christ’s death alone.

Tidbits from Tozer

I’m reading one of my favorite books again A.W. Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy

Here’s a few tidbits I like:

“Natural man is a sinner because and only because he challenges God’s selfhood in relation to his own.”

Here’s one SO applicable today:

“The Christian has to do with God and man, but it’s focal point is God, not man.”

“May you be ground up between the millstones of hope and fear!”

"Until we have seen ourselves as God see us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us as long as they do not get so far out of hand as to threaten our comfortable way of life. We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing"

Is the path to Heaven Wide or Narrow?

My sister Beth and I were recently talking and I was telling her if I was still Catholic I would definitely be a Vatican I guy. Vatican II contradicts the teachings of Vatican I. Vatican II and MANY Protestant churches alike teach a "Wider Mercy" theology.

So is the path to Heaven wide or narrow according to scripture?

Well let's let the scriptures speak on it. Here's a video from Dr John MacArthur on the topic.

Motives and Intentions

Driving to work this morning I was thinking there are two pretty important elements to life to consider.

Motives and Intent

First motives. What are your motives behind the things you do? Are your motives good or bad? Like G.I. Joe used to tell me on Saturday mornings "Now you know and knowing is half the battle." What's G.I. Joe have to do with this? I simply mean, examine your motives. How often do we even think about WHY we do what we do? Once you see if the pattern of your motives are good or bad, you begin to develop a new insight to the condition of your heart. Are you good or bad? (Roman's 3:10) Do your best to operate with good motives.

Second intent. This is more for the people around you. Do you work to show your intentions to the people your are working or living with? Showing your intent is a revealing of your personal motive in the matter. When we don't do that we end up with "miscommunication". People may assume you have wrong motives and make a leap to also assume your intent.

If you operate from pure motives you can be fully transparent to others and gladly reveal your intentions in matters. This will help smooth out some of the bumps in life.

(By the way my motive is simply to share what I am learning in life with the intent of tossing something out there that may be useful to others)

:-) Have a great day!

The Christian Tom Cruise's of the World

Yesterday I was talking about how manic and crazy Cruise is. If you missed his strange ramblings, (Click HERE) for the YouTube video.

OK, you know the saying "When you point a finger, three are pointing back."

As I considered that, I knew right away that some Christians in the circles I run in are very similar to Tom Cruise... I have sounded Tom Cruise crazy before. (Let me explain)

In the video above, Tom is very passionate. His ferver is almost disturbing. Kind of scary!

Christian's can sometimes be so passionate about their message their behavior is somewhat disturbing to the innocent bystander who is suddenly "Bible Blasted"

Another thing Tom does is use special Scientology lingo. Jargon like "SP's" and "KSW" I have NO CLUE what he is talking about without the information in the side bar of the video.

Christians do the same thing! We use big words that people have no clue what we are talking about. Special terms are fine if you are in a setting where people understand and commonly use the terms. If you are sharing with an average person, use words and terms anyone can understand.

Finally, I noticed Tom talking about how he has the answers and the world needs to hear the message he has to share. Oh, please Tom! Share your almighty secrets with us!!!!

Wait! Christians talk the same way! I considered how arrogant he sounded and I understand why people think WE sound arrogant. We claim to see while we call the listener blind. We claim to have understanding while saying people are blind, dead, deaf and dumb.

OH, how much we think of ourselves! I understand why people see us that way!

If you talked to me 9 years ago I would have said "When sharing your faith, please... I don't really want to hear about your personal faith and what God has done in your life or a church's teachings or the doctrines of men or councils."

Filled with love, be a friend and share "The Bible says..."

What the BIBLE says has changed my life!

Don't worry, the BIBLE is authoritative and doesn't need you. Sorry to say it that way.

God is sovereign and doesn't need YOU and ME!

So why do we share? Because we are commanded to. Because we can't help ourselves!

My concern is are you sharing Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins through the sharing of Scripture? Or are you sharing the Gospel according to you?

Know your Bible, cling to your Bible and share the Bible.

Who are we that God should save us from our sins?! Be humble and thankful and share with love and gratitude not pride and arrogance. Talk up to people as if they are above you not talk down to people as if they are below you.

The Holy Spirit will do His work. You just be humble and faithful to Christ and His Word.

(I say these things to myself. If they are any benefit to you I am glad.)

Leave any thoughts or comments. I want to work through this for myself and not miss anything. Feel free to question me or challenge me. I have no high horse to come down from.