So which Jesus do you serve ( Reposting)

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

 The call to imitate God is a call to separate ourselves from the world though we may be in but not of it  (Ephesians 4:17-19) and how we have been made new (Ephesians 4:20-24) and then gave us specific ways to do that (Ephesians4:25-32).

Our call is to live with the same love that Christ has demonstrated.  Jesus laying down his life for us, was first of all an expression of his love for his Father. Jesus did it, not only because of his love for us, but because first of all he loved the Father and this was the Father’s will. This ‘life of love’ is not to be something we do to make ourselves feel good or appear good, it is to come out of and be an expression of our love for God Himself.  When John says, “We love because he first loved us,” (1 John 4:19). The first thing we need to do in the Christian life is become utterly convinced of God’s love.

On Sunday they raise their hands to heaven and declare that it is Jesus that they serve.

Then why do we look so much like the world?

Did you know that the wheat and the tare, the world can't tell which is which and quite frankly neither can I. So I pose the question again, which Jesus do you serve?

My Savior bleed and suffered and died and rose again for a sinner like me. My Savior, was a friend to friendless, He remembers the forgotten ones among us, Which Jesus do you follow?

 Which Jesus do you serve?

Is it this picture of the American dream that you chase after? Is the prince of this world who you serve or did you miss that part when you decided you want fortune and power?

If Jesus was here would you walk right by him or cross over to the other side of the street? 

Would you even recognize him or have time to speak to him?

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a white complexion Michael Angelo version of Jesus ,is that the Jesus you serve? My Savior was battered and bruised for my sins, did you miss that part? Sometimes I ponder do we really understand what the price he paid for us?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they understand and they know My Savior. So which Jesus do we serve. is it the one whom we pray to bless us with great wealth? Or the Jesus who said

blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness?

 So who do you serve? The one whose promises are like shifting sand?

Marine says it God , then country and the marine Corp, what comes first for you?

My Jesus would he be accepted in your churches today? All bloody and bruised with no shoes on his feet, would we want him sitting next to us?  He was not rich he didn't have a pillow to lay his head upon. Today my Jesus would look like a homeless man or perhaps we would see him as mentally insane.

He spent His time with criminals and those that are considered the least among us. Did you know he had a heart for the poor, so which place would  He come to eat Sabbath meal at your house or among those that were forgotten by society?

Its time we decide which Jesus do we serve but I'm not sure we understand what that means to be like Christ,

Jesus said to live like HIM, love like HIM but then does that mean we must be willing to die for HIM as he died for you and I???

Can we be Imitators of Christ? Can we live like our Savior?  Which one do you want to be ? I turned on the TV set today and heard a man preaching Jesus wants to make you rich and that he never intended for us to be poor.  Is that the Jesus your seeking??? Heard a pastor say that his Jesus says that we should never be sad. Yet my Jesus wept when heard his good friend was dead. So which Jesus do you serve?  I know that I want to be more like my Savior and less like me.  I want to be an imitator of my Savior what about you????

    

Grace is simply God's unmerited favor to us

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

Grace is simply God's unmerited favor to us

What is Grace? (Christian theology) the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God; "God's grace is manifested in the salvation of sinners"; "there but for the grace of God go I"  So while we were yet his enemies, he sent his only begotten son down from glory to die for sinners like you and I. So that we would not have to pay a price that we could not bare and his love for us was so great that he could not bare to lose us. So by grace he redeemed us.

Grace is God working in us the will and the desire to do the things that are right and perfect in his site.

Grace is receiving from God what we do not deserve, freely.

Unmerited favor meaning we did nothing to earn it nor could we. Otherwise Mose's could have paid the debt or David but they could not only Christ was able to do that.

Now tell me is there anyone pray tell in your life that could use a little grace from you?  Maybe your spouse?  Maybe its your children? Maybe a co-workers? Maybe its your neighbor?  If God could will it to you as part of your inheritance surely you can spare some for another?

Ephesians 5:1-2

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." (Ephesians 5:1-2)


 Imitating Christ requires us to walk as Jesus walked.  Imitating Christ cannot be achieved without  a deep understanding  about the truths of the Word. We must follow through with with the directions given by the Word and our deeds must reflect Christ in all that we do. IF not then we are simply religious, meaning that the ideology of men have become greater than the commandments of God. 


When you stand in front of the mirror, tell what do you see?
Is it Christ that you see? Or just another religious mind or legalist?
Do you rise up to fall down on your knees before your Father seeking his perfect will to be done.  Tell me are you about your Father's business or are you about your business?
What is your goal for your life?  Is it to hear these words "Well done my true and faithful servant"?

“…Why do you also transgress the commandment of GOD by your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3) 

“I am a non-religious Bible believer. I am a Bible literalist, meaning I believe in the Bible, the whole Bible, just as it is written.  Did you know that technically speaking, the Bible doesn’t really teach a religion?”  

Some folks still prod me, wanting an answer that they can identify with, and then I say, “I am a Protestant Christian with Messianic beliefs.  Or as some people call it Messianic-Christian, meaning I hold more to the Hebrew customs of Yeshua that predate Roman Christianity. I try to explain, technically speaking, Messianic and Christianity are redundant terms, but it has come to mean people who were Sunday keeping Christians are abandoning some of their traditional Roman Christians habits they grew up with and are now adopting some Hebrew beliefs from the first Jerusalem Messianic church (the Jerusalem followers of Yeshua). 

When you study Judaism and Roman Christianity, and reflect back on it, one can see many similarities.  Some Messianic Jews will say if you take all the paganism out of Christianity there would be nothing left.  Well the Roman Christians did a pretty good job of copying the Jewish religious infrastructure.  Both claim apostolic power, Jews have Moses, Roman Christians have Peter, to change YHWH’s and Yahshua’s words – but neither can prove it through scripture.  They both have men in black exercising power over the people - rabbis / father-priests.  The pomp and ceremony of high priests reflects in the Jewish High Priest / Pope.  They both have a religious police force to enforce their religious laws - Sanhedrin / Vatican.  Both teach more of man’s religious law and very little of GOD’s Words in literal scripture.  I could go on and on, but I think you see the picture, and if you think about it the Muslims have much the same problems.  The religious curmudgeon in me asks: Explain it to me one more time why I should join up – and do it slowly.

I am interested in learning, and there is a lot I learned from the Messianic-Jews but their religious problems are not my problems.  It is the same for the Christian Sabbath Keepers, Holy Name keepers, Holy Day keepers etc., there is much I have enjoyed learning from them, and there is much that I disagree with. For example their endless criticism of the Sunday keeping Christians. For the words say any day that we set aside in holly worship to the Lord he would be pleased. Simply because our heavenly Father wants to spend time with you and I

Try Jesus

The great deceiver  wants you and I to believe that God is evil and is punishing you and that he is always ready to throw his holy wrath down upon you.  God does not hate you he hates sin because it places a wall between Himself and you. He wants like any parent to be as close to you as possible.




"Oh taste and see that the Lord is good, Blessed is the man who trust in Him"! (Psalms 34:8)

We must, as Scripture admonishes, taste and see that the Lord is good. Unless you have a relationship with God, you won't  know how good He is, what do you have to lose by trusting in the Lord.. After all you don't have any issues with  porn or have a drinking problem, your wife and you never fight and your kids are perfect. Since your life is that good then I could see why you have no need for God. But my life is not that good even my issues have issues, so I need God to be who he says he is, cause without that I'm lost and I have no hope outside of Jesus Christ.

What it means to be Christian

Franklin Graham ask a question that I felt is one each of us should be asking.

Franklin start off by telling us about a  cab ride he had. " I was in a cab when I asked the driver about his faith. He replied that he was a Christian, and I asked him how he became one. I’ll never forget his reply: “Oh, I was born a Christian.” But those who belong to Christ know that it’s impossible to be born a Christian because we start out with a sin-infected nature, lost and separated from God.

People often use the term “Christian” as simply a category for describing someone’s cultural, religious, or family heritage. Other people believe that a person is a Christian because he or she attends church or was raised in a godly home. For still others, the term “Christian” is no more than a box to check off on an application or survey form.

So what is a Christian? Jesus said that His true followers are those who have been “born again” by the Spirit of God. When a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus came to talk with Jesus one night, he declared that God was with Jesus because of all the miraculous signs Jesus performed. Jesus had this penetrating response: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. … Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:3, 6).

The phrase “born again” in Scripture literally means “to be born from above”—a spiritual rebirth. A Christian is a man, woman, or child who has experienced a spiritual new birth through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. That new birth is a gift of God, through Jesus Christ, given by the grace He freely offers to all.

Some believe you can be born into a faith. For example, a child born to Muslim parents is considered a Muslim by many people. A son or daughter born to a Jewish mother is typically considered to be a  Jew, and someone born into a Christian family is often assumed to be a Christian. No one, however, is ever automatically a Christian by birth. To be a Christian, you must make a conscious choice to turn from your sins—that’s repentance—and by faith believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who loved us, paid the price of our sins on Calvary’s cross, shed His blood and died, was buried, and was raised to life on the third day.

The Word  says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). The Bible also says that “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). The moment we do so, the Holy Spirit makes us alive in Christ, imparting the gift of eternal life, and making us entirely new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

How do we tell if it’s real in our lives? The Bible says, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands, … the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3–4).

A Christian, then, is a person who is born again by the Spirit of God as he or she wholeheartedly trusts in Jesus Christ and seeks to follow Him in obedience. There is no other way to the Father, no other way to be a Christian, than through personal faith in the Son of God. “I am the way and the truth and the life,” Jesus said. “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Hundreds of young people became Christians at each of our Rock the River evangelistic events in three major Canadian cities in August. As they heard the Gospel, the Holy Spirit convicted them of sin, and they repented. They turned in faith to Jesus Christ, were born again, and received new, resurrection life.

Please remember to pray for me as I preach the Gospel in Osaka, Japan, this month and in Eastern Europe later in the fall. Satan wants to take as many people to Hell with him as he can, but God wants all to repent and turn from their sin so they can enjoy eternity in Heaven with Him. The Bible says that God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

 Your faithful intercessory prayers make you a shareholder in the great work of evangelism and discipleship. This is all we do, because becoming a follower of Christ through the new birth is the most important step a person can make in this life, and for the life hereafter.

I’m sure there is someone you know—maybe a loved one or close friend—who has not experienced the new birth in Jesus Christ. I encourage you to continue in your prayer for that person and to ask the Lord for fresh opportunities to talk about what it means to be Christian. You might even share this letter with someone who needs to know."

After hearing about Bishop Eddie Long being accused of "inappropriate behavior"I felt the question needs to be posed by each of us to each of us as to what is a Christian?  If Christ came back what would he find you doing?  Would he find you in the jail ministering to the lost?  Would he find you at the hospital caring for the sick? Would he find you among the elderly caring and loving on them. Would he find you among the homeless and the fatherless?

Fancy cars, big houses, attractive women, jewelry and mega churches is that what being a Christian is all about? If you truly want to know what a follower of Christ entails, pick up your cross and follow him. For the road is rough but the path is straight and  the reward is eternal life. For there will be no more tears no more pain in the place Christ wants to lead us too.

What must I do to be saved

" And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸ But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
  Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 
And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
  So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:27-31)

This was Paul's answer to the trembling jailer's question: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (v. 30). To our modern sophisticated ears, such terms as being "saved" may sound strange and out dated, but there is no more accurate term than this to describe the miracle that happens when a person becomes a redeemed by he blood of the lamb and is "born again."

Before being saved, he is under God's condemnation because of sin, destined for hell; but when he believes on the Messiah (the Christ), he is "saved from wrath through him" (Romans 5:9). Not only is he saved from eternal wrath, he is saved to eternal life. Christ is "able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

This great salvation is not achieved by good works of any kind or number, "for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5).

Although being saved is God's gift to man, its cost was infinite to Christ. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Romans 5:10).

The price of our salvation was the shed blood of Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and the greatest of all sins--the one for which there is no forgiveness--is that of rejecting Him. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). He is our great redeemer our Savior, and only He can save, he did what no man could have or will ever be able to do! He paid the kinsmen redeemers debt in full.   Thank you !!!! Thank you for loving us so much. Thank you for the price you paid for a sinner like me.

The Way of man

"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." (Jeremiah 10:23)

A nineteenth-century poet boasted: "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." The twentieth-century Humanist Manifesto proclaims: "No deity will save us; we must save ourselves." A popular song proudly asserts: "I did it my way!"

The fact is, however, that humanism has failed. Whether exercised at the level of government paternalism or individual self-sufficiency, the notion that any man or group of men can make decisions and go their own ways with no regard to the will of their Creator is arrogant foolishness. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12).

God does have a will for both men and nations. "In times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. . . . And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 14:16) (Acts 17:30). It would make a tremendous impact for world peace and national happiness if only our national and world leaders would formulate their policies in accordance with the revealed will of God, through His Word.

But this ideal may never be approached until Christ Himself returns. In the meantime, He has promised guidance in each individual life when that life is truly yielded to His will. No man can really "direct his steps," as our text points out, but "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and . . . none of his steps shall slide" (Psalm 37:23, 31).

God's will is always in accordance with His Word, of course, for He cannot contradict Himself. We can therefore confidently act on His promise: "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:6).

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

The verb "to be," in its various forms and tenses, enjoys wide usage throughout Scripture. Verses employing it, as it relates to us, contain many of the greatest and most precious truths. Consider the following sampling:

Past tense: "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God". "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). "You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled" (Colossians 1:21).

Present tense: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven" (Romans 4:7). "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Peter 1:5). "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10). "Beloved, now are we the sons of God" (1 John 3:2). "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him" (Colossians 2:9-10). Note also our text verse.

Future tense: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). "And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. . . . and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 22:3-5).

In Everything Give Thanks

         
  In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16)

  Have you giving thanks to God today? You should.

  Sometimes  life doesn't go our way there is no excuse. The Word of God clearly says that God's will for you is to be thankful -- always.

The Word of God does NOT teach that we're to thank God for evil, because God is not responsible for evil. No, God is not guilty of any wrongdoing.

What the Word does teach, is that we should always be thankful   even when evil happens. Being thankful is part of an attitude of faith, and faith will overcome evil. Look at Job  he said naked did I come into this world and naked shall I leave, everything I have is GOd's anyway. There is a man who had a right if any man to feel upset with what was happening to him. The Hebrew bible tells that Job was an upright man, this is how God himself identified Job, yet Job had struggles would be to put it lightly he lost it all and even his wife turned her back on this man.



God doesn't do bad things to people. He's not the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That's the devil, and people motivated by selfishness and demonic influence. So you have the devil "to thank" for the bad things in life.

Yet, during the bad things in life, we are to continue thanking God, no matter how we feel. This helps us keep our eyes on God and keep things in perspective.

No matter how dark and hopeless the situation may look give thanks. This is God's will for you.