May 19, 2019
Evening Service

When we listen to the gentle call from our Savior to come and be healed from our sins, our best course of action is to answer the call and ask for repentance. This simple decision is a life changing and chain breaking event for us to be born again into the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. In an instant, we have the power of God our Father through Jesus to fight battles we were unable to comprehend being able to do before. This comes from the portion of the Holy Spirit our God imparts to us as a believer in Jesus as the Son of God that came to Earth to die in our place for our sins and become the lamb or God slain for the sinners. This is such a great gift from our Father; it is hard to comprehend a love so deep and so pure. The easiest way to understand this love is to know that we owed a debt we could not pay and Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe. Why did we owe this debt? Because the wages of sin is death!

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

And why did Jesus not owe this same debt? Because Jesus was the Son of God sent to us from Heaven to be our Redeemer and He lived His life on Earth without sin in all that He endured. He was tempted as we are, he was subjected to ridicule and mocking as we are, he was punished unjustly as we sometimes are, people tried to trick Him and twist His words, people betrayed Him, they sought after Him to end His life without reason. Through all these trials in His life, he did not sin but asked God to forgive them for having done these things. Even on the cross, he asked His Father to forgive them because they didn’t know what they were doing.

Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots. 

Jesus lived His life on this Earth for the purpose of showing us through His living example of how to live our lives without sin. Also, to give us very valuable life lessons of how to treat one another in everyday situations. The parables told by Jesus are messages with knowledge from on High contained within them that tell of the mystery of the kingdom of God. When the disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables, this is what he said to them.

Luke 8:10 And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

Mark 4:11 And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 

There are so many great life lessons are in these parables, and the teachings Jesus gave in His daily walk on Earth, inspire us to always show love in all things we do. It is said that the whole of the commandments of God can be summed up in two of them and if we do these two, the others are also obeyed.

Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 

Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus led the life that we are to model as Christians to have a life that is pleasing to the Lord. God Himself said as Jesus came up from the waters of baptism by John the Baptist and the Spirit of the Lord descended upon Him.

Matthew 3:17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

So this tells us very plainly in common easy to understand language that God approves of the life of Jesus and thus we are to imitate all that Jesus did in His life. And if we imitate this life and believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Son of God that died for our sins and rose again to reign in Heaven with our Father until the Day of Judgment, what can we expect?

Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. 

Matthew 6:30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

Matthew 6:31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 

Matthew 6:32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

1John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 

So with these scriptures, we can be assured of a Peace from God that is beyond human understanding. We can rest from worrying about our needs being taken care of from placing God first on our list of priorities, and all the rest will be added unto us. He will provide us with a Hope through His Holy Spirit that will sustain us daily until His return or our limited days on the Earth are done. The Spirit living in us will give us great courage because our Lord Jesus has overcome the world and He is greater than he who is in the world. The Lord tells us that we never truly die when we are believers in Jesus as the Son of God and the Redeemer of mankind. Jesus was speaking to Martha about this when her brother Lazarus died.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 

John 11:26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 

In the following verse, Martha confirmed that she did believe Jesus was the Son of God who has come into the world. Shortly after this, although Lazarus had been dead for four days, Jesus went to his tomb and had the stone rolled away and commanded him, “Lazarus, come forth!”

John 11:44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go." 

Jesus performed this miracle to show that He was the resurrection and the Life. As He looked to Heaven, He thanked His Father for hearing Him. He said that He knew that the Father always hears Him, but he said it in the presence of the people who were there, so they would believe that He was from God who sent Him.

This is how the Spirit of the Lord Jesus has changed my life. I was once a sinner lost to the world and without a hope of a life eternal. Jesus made Himself known to me by my confession of my sins to Him and repenting from my old ways and behaviors and asking Him to forgive me through His blood that was shed on the cross at Calvary. His resurrection from the grave to live at the right hand of our Father in Heaven is the ultimate hope for me to endure all things in this world knowing I have a better home waiting for me when I am in His steadfast Hope! Once my commitment to Jesus was sealed, He in turn sealed me as one of His children. With this seal comes a whole wealth of happiness knowing I am a child of God our Father. His Spirit is my guide to living a life that is not of evil doings but of goodness and kindness according to His Spirit in me and according to His good purpose.

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Mark 13:13 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 

Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 

These are just some of the wonderful promises from our Lord and Savior. He does tell us many times that what we endure in this world will be worth any trials and tribulations we must go through, but He does tell us it will not be without these trials. The Lord has the power to deliver us from anything we may come up against, and this list is endless with relationships, jobs, friends, substances, situations, and all that life can throw at us and with as much force also. But he will hold us firmly in His grip and He will not fail us, men/women will fail us because we are merely human. Our Lord is our God and is divine above all others; he has the sustaining power to carry us to the end of time as we know it and forever more into eternity.

Lord, please help us to seek your comfort and redeeming blood to cover our sins and be granted forgiveness and a promise of a life beyond imagination!