God is so much more wonderful than anyone you have ever known.
God loves Mother Theresa but he does not bow to her goodness. She lived every day of her life in need of His mercy and forgiveness and so do we.
When you were born, your life was a gift from God.
- We owe everything to Him.
- He created us.
- God is the only source of life.
- All life comes from Him alone.
But our experience of life is not so wonderful. We know we are moving through this world on a one way journey towards death.
Big business makes billions of dollars from botox, hair dye and viagra. We know our vitality is fading with every passing year. The biggest selling drugs in some western countries are statins, which promise to make a very small reduction in your risk of dying of a heart attack.
God’s original plan for us was ever increasing life, quite the opposite to what we know in this faded world.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
- And God blessed them.
- And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion ... over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:27-28 (ESV)
Our Creator is the living God, the eternally creative life giver.
- He made the first man and woman to rule over all living creatures, to multiply life without sickness, without aging, without death.
- God made this world full of life and peace and He plans to restore everything that has been ruined.
We see little glimpses of this in the Bible.
Abraham was childless and already past retirement age when God promised to make him the father of many nations.
- When he was about 100 years old and long since retired from married pleasure, God restored his virility. His wife Sarah, who was over 90, produced a son. After Sarah died, Abraham had another family with his concubine Keturah.
That is history but God also promised a wonderful future which we have not yet seen.
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6 (ESV)
Our thinking is so conditioned by the limitations of aging and death, that 21st century secular people see this as mere mythology.
- Academic liberal theology trains preachers to see the Bible as a collection of fables.
- But why should it not be true, actually, really, literally true?
The heart and soul of Christian faith is the supernatural life, death and resurrection of the Son of God.
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
- But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
- And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 (ESV)
Take away this faith and Christian civilization becomes a decaying empty shell. We see this decay on the TV news every night.
Faith is everything, so what is FAITH?
Faith is trusting, trusting in money, trusting in the economy, trusting in your job or your abilities or trusting in God.
- What you trust in determines what you think and how you live.
- The things you trust in will fill your thoughts.
- You become what you think about most of the time.
Jesus said:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
- For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
The things you treasure most will stir your emotions and fill your thoughts.
- What is the foundation of your life?
What is a Christian?
- If you read the story of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you will not find the word CHRISTIAN.
Jesus talked about entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is such a radical thing, that no one can get in unless he or she is born again.
- This completely confused the Jewish leader, Nicodemus.
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” John 3:4 (ESV)
Jesus had to explain.
- Jesus was on a mission. Part of that mission was to teach that Jews as well as Gentiles needed to be converted and to undergo a spiritual rebirth in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
So many people in Christian churches still don’t understand this.
- Some people teach a baby is born again in infant baptism.
But Jesus said:
...."Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3 (NASB)
- A baby cannot repent or be converted.
- Jesus always demanded personal belief, trust and commitment.
- God will never send any small child to hell but there comes a time when every boy or girl reaches the age of accountability.
Infant baptism does not automatically guarantee faith. Joseph Stalin trained to become a priest, so he must have been baptised.
- Jesus did not call people to be passive believers waiting to die and go to heaven.
For Jesus, faith was a powerful personal connection with His Heavenly Father.
He wants you and me to have nothing less than this.
"Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9 (NASB)
Jesus lived His entire live on earth saturated with the love of His Father and filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
- He wants nothing less for you and me.
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,
- "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
- But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39 (NASB)
Jesus never spoke of believing and passively expecting to go to heaven.
- He called people to FOLLOW HIM, to learn from Him, to obey Him, to become like HIM, to live in friendship with God just has HE did.
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying,
"I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." John 8:12 (NASB)
- What does it mean to FOLLOW JESUS?
- God is calling you to TRUST Him like Jesus did,
- to KNOW Him like Jesus did,
God is calling you to be full of love for others as Jesus was.
- God is calling you to hear His voice as Jesus did,
- to do what He shows you to do, just like Jesus did.
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. John 14:10 (NLT)
You and I are far from measuring up to this amazing example but we can grow up into Christ.
Like children who admire their father, we can decide to grow up and be like Him.
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.
- Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT)
Dear God, show me how I can love others now!
- Even as I write these words, I pray this prayer for myself and God brings to my mind a woman who was once a student in my English class.
- She is a believer who needs help because God is prompting me to pray for her NOW.
Will you pray with me and ask God to show you what to do NOW?
He will answer.
