THOUGHTS FROM THE 21 DAYS, DAY 16

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In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.

Beloved, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old one, which you have had from the beginning. This commandment is the message you have heard. 8Then again, I am also writing to you a new commandment, which is true in Him and also in you. For the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining.

9If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

MEDITATIONAL THOUGHT: The commandment to love one another is both old (from the beginning) and new (embodied in Christ).

MY THOUGHTS: St. Augustine of Hippo said, The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.”

Here in John 2 we see that love and restoration has been God’s point all along. From the Old Testament to and through the New Testament love is thread that runs and hems everything together. Restoration of a whole is the point. There can be no salvation without love and there can be no salvation without restoration.

Hate is a separator and so it has no place in the body of Christ because it has no place in God where people are concerned. The only thing God hates is sin itself because it has the potential to separate God from the ones He loves.

THOUGHTS FROM THE 21 DAYS, DAY 15

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 1 JOHN 2:3-6

MEDITATIONAL THOUGHT:Holiness is an unmistakable byproduct of God’s grace in your life.

MY THOUGHTS: Holiness comes from salvation not vice versa. I am shocked by how much I have changed over the course of my life. I am equally shocked by how much more I see needs to be changed as I move forward into the future. When I was a young Christian man I thought I truly knew myself . I truly thought I knew what in me needed changing. The longer I have lived in Christ the more I have seen of myself that God would change. Life experience and Life with Jesus has shown me things in my deepest heart that needed changing. Many of these things I wasn’t even aware were a part of me way back when I was a young man. They were there, but they were hidden… asleep until life circumstances brought them to the surface.

Yet here is something else I have learned. Jesus is still the remedy for all my sin of thought, word, and deed. His mercies are new every morning!

THOUGHTS FROM THE 21 DAYS, DAY 14

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 1 JOHN 2:3-6

MEDITATIONAL THOUGHT:Whoever claims to abide in Christ must walk as Jesus did, following His example.

MY THOUGHTS:

Whenever I hear the word “abide” I think back to John chapter 15:7 “If ye abide  in me, and my words abide  in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

Verse 6 uses the word “abide”. Here in our translation it is translation as “live” but the Greek work “meno” is the same word used in John 15.

Here is John is answering the question that everyone who reads John 15:7 asks …”How do I abide in Christ?”

He who wants to abide must live like Jesus lived, literally “walk like Jesus walked.”

Jesus walked at the direction of His Father. He was always about His Father’s business. He was always watching to see what His Father was doing and joining Him in that work. We must do the same.

WHAT DO YOU SEE GOD DOING AROUND YOU? WHAT IS THE FATHER’S BUSINESS YOU SEE BEFORE YOU RIGHT NOW?

THOUGHTS FROM THE 21 DAYS DAY 13

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 1 JOHN 2:3-6

MEDITATIONAL THOUGHT:

. Keeping God’s commands is the evidence that you truly know Him, not just an intellectual acknowledgment.

MY THOUGHTS:

Here we come to the juxtaposition of thoughts. Salvation is not about the works we do…but knowing Him does depend on the works we do and eternal life is knowing God…therefore salvation is about the works we do? How does that work?

Well Scripture is clear, our salvation does not depend on our good works. You cannot earn salvation. It is a free gift from Jesus to you…but you must receive it…and when you do the gift itself will automatically begin to change what you do and how you do life.

No one who truly knows Jesus stays exactly as they are, because truly knowing Jesus changes a person at the root of their existence. It’s not the change that saves us. It is salvation that changes us.

THOUGHTS FROM THE 21 DAYS DAY 12

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 JOHN 2:1,2

MEDITATIONAL THOUGHT:

Strive for obedience, but rest in the grace that covers your shortcomings through Christ’s work.

MY THOUGHTS:

I have spoken with many people who have created for themselves lists of the changes which are necessary to get into Heaven. The list generally looks something like this:

IN ORDER TO GET INTO HEAVEN, I NEED TO STOP….

AND IN ORDER TO GET INTO HEAVEN,I NEED TO START…

With almost everyone the need to stop list comes first and then the need to start. There are several problems with the list. First, we need to realize we can’t do a negative so as long as we are focused on the stopping of something without replacing it with something else we never actually get to the I need to start list. The lists need to be inverted. When we start doing the things God wants us to do they take up the space and time for doing the things we aren’t supposed to do.

BUT

The real heart of the issue with these statements and therefore the real problem is with the word “I”. The idea that by starting or stopping anything “I” can get myself into Heaven or earn it goes right back to the works righteousness model of Christianity which is not the true core of Christianity at all. My getting into Heaven is not based on anything I do or don’t do. Getting a soul into Heaven is based on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The only thing needed to get to Heaven is confession of your sin to Jesus and repentance from that sin and that is a heart condition not based in the works we do but in the belief we hold.

Our repentance causes us to begin to strive or move towards righteousness and holiness…BUT… it is the Holy Spirit at work within us that gives us success in that striving not our own effort…AND.. that work of building success is progressive.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS MATTER, BECAUSE THESE WORDS HERE ONLY BEGIN TO EXPLAIN IT.

THOUGHTS FROM THE 21 DAYS DAY 11

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 JOHN 2:1,2

MEDITATIONAL THOUGHT:

. Christ is the atoning sacrifice (propitiation) for your sins, making a way for you to be right with God.

MY THOUGHTS: That word….Proptiaition…“Propitiation is the biblical concept of appeasing God’s righteous wrath against sin through a sacrifice, thereby reconciling a holy God to sinners. It means satisfying divine justice, with Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross serving as the ultimate, voluntary sacrifice that turns away judgment and provides mercy. ” (courtesy of got questions .org)

So many times I have gotten the question “Why didn’t God make more than one way to Heaven? Why can’t we get there by the path of our choosing?”

To my mind, that’s the wrong question. The real question should be “Why did God make a way to get to Heaven at all? Why didn’t He just write us off and start over?”

To my mind, another good question would be, “Why did God choose to make the one way involve the death of His Son?”

I don’t know that either of those questions have an answer this side of Glory, but they are better questions to ask at least.

If there is anything to say to these two questions I think it ties back to our intrinsic worth. The fact that God would make any way to reconnect to Him through the offer of eternal life, the fact that God would make the one way cost Himself so much speaks to our intrinsic worth. So much of this world degrades and denigrates our human value. That’s the power of sin. The work of the cross of Jesus flies in the face of all devaluing of human life. If anything his death in our place raises our personal worth exponentially. Evidently Jesus thought the act of sacrificing Himself so that we could live a worthy trade.