The Benefit's Package
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As I spend time each week preparing what I am going to stand up here and speak I find that most of the time I focus on certain areas of the Bible.
The Apologetics of the Word. (Discipline of defending a position.)
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
There is a logical, reasonable, moral, factual reason we should believe what the Bible teaches us.
Our Responsibilities as Followers of Christ
The book of James is like an instruction manual on how to follow Christ.
Jesus’ two commandments.
Love God
Love others
I believe that if we ever lose sight of that or fail to look at the world around us without filtering it through those two lenses, we will fail in being a light to the world.
Jesus promises that the world will hate us
“You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
but the fact is that many “Christians” are hated, not because they proclaim the only way to heaven is through Jesus, but because we say one thing and then act a different way.
As Christians we have to be ever on guard of our own heart. To make sure that we (as the branch) stay connected to the vine.
Many of you know my connection to the song come thou fount, but the lyrics hold true.
Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal if for thyne courts above.
If we are not vigilant in our walk with Christ, instead of lighting the path for people toward God through Jesus, we will blind them and drive them away from God.
The Cost of Following Christ
There is a measurable price to pay of following Christ.
I never want to be confused with the Prosperity Gospel Preachers, who according to are “men of depraved mind and deprived of the the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
:23-
There is a price to be paid to following Christ and I will not shy away from it. I will not be part of a bait and switch by failing to tell someone the truth in what following Christ may cost them.
That said:
There is a pretty awesome benefit’s package we receive for following Christ.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him
also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:1-
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We know this. I have never met a single person that when asked to reflect on the things they have done in their life won’t admit that they have made mistakes.
And for those without Christ, their hope is to make up for it before they die.
It takes 100% perfection to get into Heaven, and God doesn’t grade on a curve.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2_OOaP763k
There is power in forgiveness. If this is the power of us forgiving one another, the power of God’s forgiveness is infinitely greater.
We take on His Righteousness
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians
Peace with God
Peace with God
It was promised at the birth of Christ.
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Luke
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
That does not mean that there wont be trouble. We don’t have peace because God removes our troubles, we have peace in spite of them.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phi
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
My wife’s testimony about her conversion as a child.
The Phone Ringing. As a young married couple we owed money we didn’t have. The phone would ring. No caller ID. No answering machine.
Peace when the bills were paid.
Our Purpose in Life
Our Purpose in Life
Mark Twain: The two most important days in you life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
It is only through Christ that we find our purpose.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Promise of His Inheritance
Promise of His Inheritance
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Ephesians 1:
The prodigal Son :Spending money freely and recklessly ; wastefully extravagant.
As a child of God through Christ you always, no matter how bad you’ve messed up, to reconcile with the father.
As a child, you have an inheritance.
and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
The Holy Spirit
says “having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance’
Eternal Life
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Heaven
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
As we close. What do you want?
Forgiveness / Peace / Purpose / Promise
