Paradise for You

 Researchers in England, Canada and the United States have studied the effect of gardens and trees on people.

In England, it was found that people with more access to gardens, trees and parks were healthier.
In Toronto, Canada, researchers discovered that people living in neighbourhoods with more trees were also measurably healthier.

In Chicago, a high-rise complex was built in 1963 to provide better housing for poor people. Unfortunately, this high-rise complex became a ghetto for poor black people. Drug dealing, violence and all kinds of social problems prevailed.

Researchers investigated the effect of the view from these apartments. Tenants who could see trees and green spaces from their windows were able to concentrate better, were measurably more positive and in a better mood.

Another study investigated the recovery of patients after surgery. Patients in a hospital made better progress when they could see green nature from their windows.

God let the first humans live in a beautiful garden.
They then mistrusted God and rejected His love through disobedience.

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Gen 3:23–24 NIV

The consequences of sin are still terrible, but God has not abandoned us.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

What will eternal life be like?

Those who belong to Jesus have a wonderful hope.

When Jesus took the punishment for our injustice upon himself on the cross, two evil criminals died with him. One of these criminals recognised Jesus as the Saviour.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Lk 23:39–43 NIV

The word paradise means ’garden.’

God wants you to Experience the Holy Spirit

Perhaps you are striving to live uprightly and correctly and to make God's truth known. This is good, but the people around you will only recognise God's truth if they see and feel God's grace and love in you.

You can live virtuously and speak of God's grace and love, but if you don't experience and enjoy God's love, others will only hear religious talk.

Some may respect your virtue, but it will not awaken a longing for God's love in their hearts.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Jn 7:37–39 NIV

You can only pass on what you have received. If you have only received beliefs, you can only pass on beliefs.

Unfortunately, there are many in some churches who are satisfied with beliefs, but people in the world are not interested in beliefs at all. Many hunger and thirst for a reality that they can experience.

God did not send his eternal, infinitely loved Son into the world just to establish a religion. Do you want to experience God like the Lord's first disciples? Why not?

We already find models for our faith in the Old Testament.

Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden.

Then we see Enoch.

Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.
Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Gen 5:23–24 NIV

This man was certainly a hero of faith in a Bible story, but what does this have to do with us, ordinary Christians?

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Jn 7:38–39 NIV

This is how Jesus describes his intention for ordinary Christians, for us. How can this be anything other than an overwhelming blessing? If we don't experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit as a dramatic visitation, something has gone tragically wrong.

But for many Christians, being filled with the Holy Spirit is just a dry doctrine. That can't be!

Then we see Abraham.

To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. Acts 7:2 NIV

Abraham knew no doctrines. He experienced a visitation of God's glory. When he believed and obeyed God, the world changed for ever.

We must not throw away the doctrines in the Bible and seek only experiences.

But so many cling tightly to commandments and Bible texts and are afraid of visitations from God himself. This is a tragic mistake.

If you want to cling to biblical commandments, then you should take this Bible verse seriously.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, Eph 5:18 NIV

Many Christians think this means they should never have a glass of wine, and they don't drink, but they ignore the second part.

Drunkenness is a dramatic experience that has negative after-effects, but when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, it should also be a dramatic experience, but with heavenly effects.

God wants to overwhelm you with all kinds of blessings because He loves you immensely and to bless those around you through your life.

A Hearing Heart, Listening to God

 King Solomon was humble in the beginning and wanted to please God. He asked God for wisdom so that he could rule justly.

But we need to look at the text more closely. What is the nature of this wisdom that Solomon received from God?

So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people? 1 Kings 3:9 AMP

What is a hearing heart?

First of all, we need to listen to our own hearts when we have a conflict of conscience. We all have these conflicts. Sadly, Adam and Eve ignored their conscience.

But it is not enough to obey our conscience. Our conscience can be shaped by our upbringing, our culture and our religion.

Our conscience can be too liberal or too strict.

There are Christians who think sex before marriage is normal. I can't understand why they don't feel painful remorse.

On the other hand, there are women who have had a very strict religious upbringing. They have been taught to regard sexual feelings as sinful. When they are engaged and kiss their boyfriend, they feel strong remorse. Even after marriage, they do not enjoy sex.
 
If you have a listening heart, your heart will be open to God's Word. You will learn from the Bible that sex before marriage is forbidden.

You will also learn that sex with your spouse should be delightfully pleasant.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine, Song of Songs 1:2 NRSV

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. Jn 10:27 NRSV

There are laws in the Bible that are meant to sensitise our consciences. But there are also teachings designed to free us from a guilty or legalistic conscience.

Only through divine wisdom will your conscience be cleansed and sanctified, but also freed from legalism.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1 NRSV

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 5:1 NRSV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1 NRSV

God's Way Out of the Chaos

Without God in our life, we are ruled by our faulty human nature. God is all around us, controlling every atom and every molecule, but we are blind and deaf to the reality of our almighty loving creator.

We are like a ship at sea without reliable maps or compass, navigating by guesswork.
We have made such a mess of this planet. If we were not so bad, we would not need police or armies.

We have brought the planet to the brink of ruin with pollution and climate change. Political disputes are making it impossible to repair the damage.

But if God is really in control, why does he allow us to mess everything up?
When God created the first man and woman, he authorised them to rule the planet. 

 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Gen 1:27–28 NRSV

The man and woman were supposed to rule the world under the loving guidance of God, but when they mistrusted and disobeyed God, they embarked on a disastrous course of stubborn independence.

We know the popular song, “I did it my way.” It never worked without God. Some people have achieved great things this way, but in the end we all die, and what happens after that?

God loves you and he wants you to live with him for ever in his heavenly home.

The prospects for this planet without God are looking worse and worse every year, but God still loves every man, woman and child.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Jn 3:16–17 NRSV

If you give up your independence and put your life in God’s hands, Jesus will be your guide and your loving friend.

Hiding from God

 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Gen 3:8 NIV

Adam and Eve had believed the enemy's lies and betrayed God. They were ashamed and afraid of God, but they still believed in God.

We are all in the same position, whether we believe in God or not. We hide and look at God as if from a distance. We can be so far removed from God that we deny God completely. We can become atheists, witches or Nazis, but Adam and Eve were not that far away.

Eve ate the forbidden fruit first, but Adam was no better. He was by her side and said nothing.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Gen 3:6 NIV

If your husband or wife makes a terrible decision and you go along with it in silence, you are equally guilty. A husband should restrain his wife from sin and a wife should restrain her husband from sin.

Adam and Eve immediately recognised their guilt and were ashamed.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Gen 3:7 NIV

Shame is a direct consequence of sin and sinful human nature. We no longer see our sexual nature as innocent and beautiful.

Many religious people believe that a celibate life is better and holier than a Christian marriage. Some theologians have invented the idea that sexual procreation only came after the fall of man, that sex was somehow God's plan B and was only meant to produce children.

Such absurd theological ideas are just symptoms of the shame that resulted from the Fall. These theological traditions are just fig leaves that do not help us find reconciliation with God.

When God walked around in the garden, He of course knew what Adam and Eve had done. Nevertheless, He came to restore the broken loving fellowship with the first couple.

• No matter where you hide, God still loves you.

• Are you hiding in your job, or in your busy domestic routine?

• Are you hiding in drugs or alcohol or occultism?

Are you perhaps hiding in religious traditions or theological studies?

No matter where you have chosen to seek refuge, God is seeking you out. He already knows where you are and He is looking for you right where you are.

He understands your heart and your wayward ways, but he does not want to punish you. He is looking for your trust so that you can have heart-to-heart companionship with him.

God knows that we are intimidated by his greatness, his holiness and his omnipotence.
He knows that we are afraid of his judgement.

That is why he has made himself small. He sent his eternal, almighty Son to earth as a human being in order to live and suffer with us as a human being.

Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our unfaithfulness upon himself.

On the cross we see God's broken heart, not only because we have gone wrong, but because he had lost loving fellowship with us, and also because you and I had lost this fellowship with him.

God wants this tender friendship with us as his children back. It is the longing of his heart to have our fellowship back and to give us the blessing of his friendship.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

God Created Men and Women Equal

 The Pharisees asked Jesus why Moses allowed a man to put away his wife. For the pious Jews, the law was the perfect standard, but for Jesus the law was not perfect.

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. Mt 19:8 NIV

For Jesus, something was even higher than the law.

    For Jesus, the law was holy, but for him there was a higher principle, God's order in creation before sin entered the world.

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
and said,
(Genesis 2:24) ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? Mt 19:4–5 NIV

We are familiar with these words, but we do not know how totally radical this statement really is.
In the biblical stories we read only once that a man left his parents, married a woman and stayed with the woman.

That was Jacob, who found his wife with his uncle but then she returned with him to his family. Also with Abraham and later with the Jews under the law, the woman had to leave her family and then she belonged to her husband's family.

Even the law given by God did not restore God's original order.
What was God's order for man and woman before the Fall?

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen 1:26–27 NIV

In the beginning, God showed his authority as Creator. Spiritual authority is creative.
God created both man and woman in his image. Both express God's nature and character, the man no more than the woman.

God gave man and woman the quality of fertility, the ability to transmit life, people who would also have God's nature.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Gen 1:28 NIV

God gave the man and the woman authority over the earth. He did not give the man authority over the woman and he did not give the woman authority over the man.

God's guiding principle from the beginning was partnership.

Some say God gave men authority over women in Genesis 3.16.

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen 3:16 NIV

Was painful childbirth part of God’s plan in creation? Of course not. It was the bitter fruit of sin. So too the domination of men over women was the tragic result of sin. Jesus died on the cross to free us from the curses of sin, including male domination.

God Loves Lonely People

 True discipleship can be lonely.

Jesus was rejected by his neighbours in Nazareth and his natural brothers did not believe in him before his resurrection.

Joseph was prophetically gifted, but his brothers sold him to human traffickers. 

After his conversion, Paul was a faithful preacher. He was constantly persecuted.

There are faithful disciples even today who are misunderstood and rejected by their families or churches

There are Christians who have a burning heart to save lost souls. They pray for people on the street. They witness miraculous healings and conversions, but in some places and in some churches they are looked down upon because they are seen as wild fanatics.

If you act exactly like Jesus and the first apostles, many Christians will criticise and reject you.

Consistent discipleship is like a coin with two sides. On one side you will see misunderstanding, rejection and sometimes loneliness. But on the other side you will find new friendships and deep fellowship with God and others.

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. Mk 10:28–30 NIV

Paul was constantly persecuted, but he had close friendships with Luke, Timothy, Epaphras and other faithful Christians.

It is better to have a couple of real friends than just superficial fellowship in your family and church.

God is love. God is kind.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
At the very beginning, God declares that friendship is positive and necessary. Gen 2:18 NIV

Many misunderstand this verse. Eve was to be a help to Adam, but the Hebrew word in no way implies subordination.

The Hebrew word EHSER appears in 21 verses. Twice Eve is referred to, but in 19 verses THE HELPER is God Himself.

Many single women have experienced a close friendship with God. God cared for them like a husband or father.

There are also many lonely people who are not alone because of discipleship and persecution.

In the Bible, Jesus not only healed despised women, lepers and demonised men, but freed them from their shame and isolation.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb 13:8 NIV

Jesus loves you. He understands your loneliness. He wants to help you. He has never changed.

Freedom from Real and False Guilt

 Psychologists warn us about the toxic effects of guilt. But many preachers condemn psychologists because they want to explain away feelings of guilt as neuroses, instead of recognising our guilt in God's eyes.

In reality, all people are guilty because we disrespect God and treat our fellow human beings unjustly.
 
When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they immediately became guilty because they disobeyed God.

But their feelings of guilt were also partly neurotic and false. They were ashamed to be naked, even though it was not a sin to be naked together as man and wife.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Ge 2:15–17 NRSV

Then Eve was deceived by the devil's lies.

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die;

for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Ge 3:4–5 NRSV

That was a lie. Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, and immediately they became unable to properly discern good from evil, because it was not a sin to be naked.

We still see this confusion. There are women in Africa who walk around with bare breasts without feeling guilty, and there are women in the Middle East who feel guilty if they don't wear a headscarf.

Jesus died on the cross to free us from our sin and guilt.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Is 53:6 NRSV

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 Jn 1:8–9 NRSV

But many Christians confess their sins and still remain burdened by feelings of guilt. They still feel guilty, even though God promises that their sins are forgiven.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Ro 8:1 NRSV

They are plagued by shame, unworthiness and self-loathing.

A woman sins or is raped and has an unwanted child. The child always feels unwanted and rejected. Children like this often feel responsible for their mother's suffering

The child feels guilty about his or her own existence. If the child then really does sin, there is never any forgiveness in his own eyes.

It is well known that women who have been abused or raped are often rejected and judged by others. They then feel guilty, even though they were actually victims.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they broke off their close relationship with God. Without a loving relationship with God, they could not clearly distinguish between good and evil.

Are you burdened by guilt and shame? Jesus wants to invite you to come to him so that he can forgive you completely and heal your deeply wounded soul.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NRSV

WHY IS THE WORLD A TERRIBLE MESS?

Everywhere we look, we see animals hunting and killing animals, animals and plants dying of disease and dehydration, plagues and famines killing men, women and children.

Did God create the world like this? NO.

Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind ... And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:24-25 (NLT)

The Bible gives us a little glimpse of the animal world as God planned it.

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. Isaiah 11:6 (NLT) 

• God put Adam and Eve in charge of a world of animals at peace. There was no killing and no death, not even among animals.

• Adam and Eve were appointed to be the governors of a planet full of peace and life but when they chose to believe in evil, death entered the world, just as God had warned them.

...but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:17 (NIV) 

The devil appeared to Eve as a snake. Did Satan possess a natural created snake or did Satan make himself to appear as a snake? We don’t know.

God is not responsible for the suffering and death around us. 

• We have all followed the example of Adam and Eve by believing the lies of darkness and mistrusting God. 

• We have cursed the earth by our wilful blindness. 

But God had an amazing plan to restore all things. 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)

It was man who brought death into the world and messed up God’s creation but God was not taken by surprise. He saw it all coming because the future is an open book to His all seeing eye.

Even before Adam and Eve went astray, God planned that He Himself would come to earth as a man. 

• What a man destroyed, a man would restore, the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the promised Messiah of Israel.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

• For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 (NIV)

How can you receive the restored eternal life that Jesus offers?

How did Adam and Eve lose eternal life?

• Eve believed the lies of the devil and lost her immortality and glory.

• You and I can believe the truth of Jesus and God will restore to you what Adam and Eve lost. 

But Eve did not just believe a lie; she acted on it.You must believe the truth of Jesus and act on it. 

• Ask Jesus to forgive your sins and commit your life to trusting and obeying Him. He is the one who created you and truly loves you.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. Romans 8:18-19 (NIV)

• When you decide to stop believing the lies of darkness and live by the truth of God, you become a son or daughter of the Most High God, the Heavenly Father. 

• Suffering does not disappear but one day you and I will live in God’s perfectly restored heavenly new creation.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, 

• in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Romans 8:20-21 (NIV)

GOD IS INTENSELY INTERESTED IN YOU

God wants nothing but the best for each person, and that includes you. 

• God made you for His purposes, and His purpose is always good.

...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (NIV) 

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good...Genesis 1:31 (NIV) 

But Adam and Eve messed up God's plan by listening to lies and choosing the wrong way. 

You and I followed the wrong way and messed up a lot of God's plans but that did not change God's heart towards us because...

... if a person isn't loving and kind, it shows that he doesn't know God—for GOD IS LOVE. 1 John 4:8 (TLB) 

When we are not loving and kind, it does not change the character of God or the heart of God towards us.

• God is love and he made you because He loved you.

• He loved you before the creation of the world. 

• He loved you when you were conceived and when you were born,

• and He loves you now.

But what if you were conceived in the back seat of a car after your parents had too much to drink?

• That does not change the love of God for you.

What if your parents brought you up in witchcraft, and you were demon possessed as a small child?

• That doesn't change God's love for you. He doesn't blame you for what was done to you.

One of the most amazing characters in the Bible was a man with a terrible past. 

• We don't know his name but when he first met Jesus, he was running around naked and cutting himself with stones. He was possessed by hundreds of devils, but he still had a human soul. 

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 

He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" Mark 5:6-7 (NIV)

He was so confused, that he could not distinguish his own thoughts from the thoughts of the demons who controlled him, but he responded to Jesus with faith when the demons left him.

For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" 

Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." Mark 5:8-9 (NIV) 

After Jesus drove out the demons with a word of power, the man was restored to sanity and begged to be allowed to stay with Jesus.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Mark 5:18 (NIV) 

But Jesus did an astonishing thing.

Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Mark 5:19 (NIV) 

But the man did far more than tell his family.

So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them. Mark 5:20 (NLT) 

After Jesus healed a totally insane and demon possessed man, He immediately commissioned him to go and tell his story to a whole region. 

• He became the evangelist for ten towns.

Before this man began to preach, the people asked Jesus to leave them.

• When Jesus returned later, great crowds followed Him and many people came to faith in the Son of God.

It may be that you have also been rejected and bullied. You may have been tormented by illness, depression or even demonised by involvement in witchcraft, drugs or sexual abuse.

Whatever your story might be, you are important in God’s eyes. He wants to give you a future and a hope.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) 

NO ONE IS ORDINARY

There is no such thing as an ordinary Christian or an ordinary person. 

In the beginning God created Adam and Eve to be like Himself, special representatives of God on earth, immortal spiritual beings created to be like God Himself, created in the image and likeness of God.

How can a perfect and glorious immortal spiritual being be ordinary? 

We know that Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and they lost their immortal glory. Every man and woman since then has been born full of faults and defects.

Imagine an artistic masterpiece, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Suppose it is lost, damaged by fire, torn and covered with dirt. 

It might start to look ordinary. But it is not ordinary. 

Supposing an artistic genius were to find the damaged art work. He gets to work and cleans it, repairs the canvass and fully restores the masterpiece.

• It is clearly not ordinary and it never was ordinary.

You and I are the damaged art works of the greatest of all creative masters, God.

You and I were so badly damaged, that we were fit only for destruction. But Jesus died on the cross and opened the way for you and me to be restored.

Jn 3:16 (NKJV)  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

When you allow God to change your heart and you place your entire life in the loving hands of Jesus, something extraordinary happens.

2Co 5:17 (NKJV)  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

If you are a new creation of God, you cannot be ordinary. 

• Who would dare say an original masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci was an ordinary painting?

If you have been guilty of thinking you are just an ordinary Christian, it is time to repent! Change your mind. 

• Open your heart and let God show you who He is and who You really are.

You are enormously precious and wonderful because you are created in the image of God who is glorious beyond human imagination. 

I don’t want you to become proud. You did not make yourself but you were created by God.

You are special but so is every other believer special. And the people around you who have not yet believed are also special beyond measure, even though they are badly damaged because they were also created in the image of God.

We need to change our thinking and the way we speak about ourselves and about other people.

James 3:9-11 (NIV)  With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.

• Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 

Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 

God does not like everything about you and me BUT he is working to restore us day by day. 

He is not happy about everything in our lives but He loves His children and that is what we are if we belong to Jesus by trusting Him.

If you belong to Jesus through faith, God not only loves you but He likes what He has done in your life. He likes the real you inside. You are special and God created you with a special purpose in mind. No one else on earth is quite like you. 

God does not despise or hate people. 

• He even sees bad people as His lost children. 

• He longs to restore them and bring them home. 

If you seek to know the heart of God and you search with all your heart, He will show you His heart and He will show you how He sees you. 

• He will show you wonderful things that will transform your life. 
• God will change you into a world changer.