Post by Les Brewer on Jul 30, 2012 16:00:22 GMT
John Wolf
Calvary's Cross Ministries
Preaching Christ Crucified
From the Pastor's desk.....
Good morning all!I pray that you are blessed of the Lord and that today finds you in the peace,mercy and good grace of our Lord and Savior,Jesus Christ.
...
"Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith;who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,despising the shame,and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
"Looking unto Jesus".So much can be said and preached from just this one statement,it boggles even a simple minded person like myself.Oh,I don't mind calling myself simple minded or even being called simple minded by others.I like keeping things as simple as possible,including the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ.The gospel of Salvation really is simple,God intended for it to be that way,so that anyone can receive it."For whosoever calls on the name of the Lord,shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). "For God so loved the world,that He gave His only begotten Son,that whosoever believes in Him should not perish,but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).The truth of the gospel is very simple;we are sinners and are lost,we need a savior,because we can not save ourselves,God gave His Son to be our savior,if we choose Him we will be saved.That's about as simple as it gets.Learning all that that means comes later,as we learn to walk with the Lord on a day to day basis.
"....The Author and Finisher of our faith;....." This statement also speaks volumes concerning who Jesus Christ really is.To be the author of something,say for instance,a book! This means that if you are the author of the book,it was conceived first in your mind,and then put to paper.The same can be said of the plan of redemption carried out by our Lord.He is the Divine Author of our salvation.The plan of redeeming mankind from the bondage of sin and rebellion,was conceived in the mind of the Godhead in eternity past.Even before the world was created,the Godhead had already formulated the plan of redemption through faith in God's Only Begotten Son (I Peter 1:20).The God of heaven created a plan to rescue fallen man from the clutches of a cruel task master named Satan.God knew before He even created anything that man would fall into sin.Then why did He create man,if he knew ahead of time that this would happen? The Bible says that God created all things good and perfect.This includes creating a being called Lucifer,who was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15).God created mankind and angels with one quality about them that only a truly loving God could do.The ability to choose,better known as free will.Lucifer chose to disobey God and therefore fell from God's grace,one third of the angels in heaven threw in their lot with Lucifer in the rebellion,and he became known after this as Satan.
Mankind was also created with free will,the ability to choose right from wrong.If God had wanted robots,I believe that is what He would have created,but rather,He created man after the image of God,and in His likeness.But gave him the right to choose.Everything that we do in life is a choice,including whether or not we want to serve God.Of course along with our choices comes the penalty or the reward of our choices.This is the only way that God can be fair to all concerned.Man's choice to disobey God lead to the fall of the human race into sin,thereby incurring the death penalty.We are separated from God because of sin,even though we are alive physically,we are dead spiritually until we come back to God through His Son Jesus Christ (Gen.2:17;Eph.2:1).
Enter:Jesus Christ,the Finisher of our faith! In tomorrows post we will look into what it means for Jesus to be the Finisher of our faith.I pray that you stay tuned to these posts.There is much to be seen in what Christ has done for us through His sacrifice..............Until then,may God richly bless you is my prayer,J.W.
Calvary's Cross Ministries
Preaching Christ Crucified
From the Pastor's desk.....
Good morning all!I pray that you are blessed of the Lord and that today finds you in the peace,mercy and good grace of our Lord and Savior,Jesus Christ.
...
"Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith;who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,despising the shame,and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
"Looking unto Jesus".So much can be said and preached from just this one statement,it boggles even a simple minded person like myself.Oh,I don't mind calling myself simple minded or even being called simple minded by others.I like keeping things as simple as possible,including the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ.The gospel of Salvation really is simple,God intended for it to be that way,so that anyone can receive it."For whosoever calls on the name of the Lord,shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). "For God so loved the world,that He gave His only begotten Son,that whosoever believes in Him should not perish,but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).The truth of the gospel is very simple;we are sinners and are lost,we need a savior,because we can not save ourselves,God gave His Son to be our savior,if we choose Him we will be saved.That's about as simple as it gets.Learning all that that means comes later,as we learn to walk with the Lord on a day to day basis.
"....The Author and Finisher of our faith;....." This statement also speaks volumes concerning who Jesus Christ really is.To be the author of something,say for instance,a book! This means that if you are the author of the book,it was conceived first in your mind,and then put to paper.The same can be said of the plan of redemption carried out by our Lord.He is the Divine Author of our salvation.The plan of redeeming mankind from the bondage of sin and rebellion,was conceived in the mind of the Godhead in eternity past.Even before the world was created,the Godhead had already formulated the plan of redemption through faith in God's Only Begotten Son (I Peter 1:20).The God of heaven created a plan to rescue fallen man from the clutches of a cruel task master named Satan.God knew before He even created anything that man would fall into sin.Then why did He create man,if he knew ahead of time that this would happen? The Bible says that God created all things good and perfect.This includes creating a being called Lucifer,who was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15).God created mankind and angels with one quality about them that only a truly loving God could do.The ability to choose,better known as free will.Lucifer chose to disobey God and therefore fell from God's grace,one third of the angels in heaven threw in their lot with Lucifer in the rebellion,and he became known after this as Satan.
Mankind was also created with free will,the ability to choose right from wrong.If God had wanted robots,I believe that is what He would have created,but rather,He created man after the image of God,and in His likeness.But gave him the right to choose.Everything that we do in life is a choice,including whether or not we want to serve God.Of course along with our choices comes the penalty or the reward of our choices.This is the only way that God can be fair to all concerned.Man's choice to disobey God lead to the fall of the human race into sin,thereby incurring the death penalty.We are separated from God because of sin,even though we are alive physically,we are dead spiritually until we come back to God through His Son Jesus Christ (Gen.2:17;Eph.2:1).
Enter:Jesus Christ,the Finisher of our faith! In tomorrows post we will look into what it means for Jesus to be the Finisher of our faith.I pray that you stay tuned to these posts.There is much to be seen in what Christ has done for us through His sacrifice..............Until then,may God richly bless you is my prayer,J.W.
