I feel like creating an earthquake today with this blog. So here goes. WE can talk God's love and Grace all we want to but until we are confronted with some really, and I mean serious propositions concerning that love and grace our doubts are elevated to controversial proportions.
Do we,you, all of believe that the blood of Jesus Christ covers ALL sin? Do we believe that in Jesus ALL of humanity, that includes you and your worst enemy and worst sinner, were adopted and included in the life of God from before the world began?
Do you grade sins as certain ones as easily forgivable, others and a little hareder to forgive, and yet others really hard to forgive and still others as basically UNFORGIVEABLE?
Do you really want to play God? Have you been creating God in your own image, or have you created God in your own image complete with judgemantalism, respect of persons, and a brand of your own righteousness?
Hypothetical situation for you to evaluate. Two sisters. One is a prostitute and loves her "work". The other is a Protestant Preacher who loves her work as well. Which of the two stands "more" accepted in the sight of God? Which one is more saved than the other? Which one pleases God the most? Why would either one need to please God in the first place? Which one is "more" righteous in God's eyes?
Of course we could use numerous examples of sinners and situations, but this one will suffice.
Do we belive that ALL sins were forgiven in Christ at the Cross? ( answers the above illustration right here). And, were not all humans declared "righteous in His sight from before the foundation of the world in Jesus?" (Eph. 1:3-14). Do we believe that in Jesus Christ ALL humans are declared RIGHTEOUS and are part of the Bride of Christ by His declaration? (Romans 3:21).
I think your get the point. All humans. Murders, rapists, child abusers, adulterers, lusters, gamblers, wife beaters, ANY and ALL sinners stand clean in the eyes of Jesus because He has made them so from the foundation of the world when He was slain. ( Rev. 13:8). Do you like this? Maybe not. But it is the love and Grace of God in action. This IS the Gospel. The Good News for everyone. We just need to share this Good News with others so that they will KNOW they belong to the Father and begin to live like it.
The two ladies I mentioned above both stand EQUAL before the Triune God. Both are loved, saved, redeemed, reconciled, justifed, and are seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. ( Eph. 2:6). Do they know it? Maybe not. They need to and that is sharing the Gospel with the both of them. Both are loved uncondidionally By the Father in Heaven and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Deal with it.
Paul
www.newlifewcg.org
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
BELONGING TO THE TRIUNE GOD
Traditional Western Christianity would tell us that in order to belong to God one must accept Jesus and believe then behave "religiously" and then one would be able to be accepted by God and BELONG to Him. But, can you see how this violates everything God has done in Jesus for the completion of His plan for man? Let's see.
Triune God determined 'way back' to create man in His image. ( Gen.1:26-27). Also, to choose man/woman to be His children inside His existence and in His life BEFORE the foundation or Creation of the world. ( Eph.1:3-14 ). Then God blessed mankind with every heavenly blessing possible IN Jesus and declared man righteous and blameless in HIS sight at that time. ( Eph.1). Man has always belonged to the loving Father in Heaven. YOU have always belonged to the Father in Heaven. He has always loved you and wanted you to be with Him forever. Jesus simply ratified your belonging to the father by making payment for you to insure your belongingness to the Father.
Now do you see a problem with what I wrote in the first paragraph above? It isn't that we CAN belong to the Father IF we do this or that, accept Jesus or behave, the Truth is that we have ALWAYS BELONGED to the Father in heaven. The Gospel message is simply that , that you, we, all belong to the Father and Jesus has made the plan successful for everyone who ever lived. Done so by His life, death, resurrection and ascension to the Father carrying all of us humans with Him. ( Eph.2:6).
So, the correct order of the three "B's", if you will, is Belong, Believe, Behave.
YOU belong to God. Believe you belong to God. Behave like you belong to God. There is a vast difference in these two views. One is wrong and the other is right. See that?
The Good News , or the Gospel, is simply informing or educating individuals as to this truth. That they are loved by God, they belong to God, believe it, and behave like it. This is all a PROCLAMATION OF THE TRUTH. It is NOT a challenge or contest for humans to see IF they can make it happen. It has already happened in Jesus for the Father. It is an announcement. It is a proclamation. It is a done deal. And you are included in the wonderful plan of God from before the beginning of time. Now believe and behave. ( You already BELONG to God.)
God Bless all of you,
Pastor Paul Kurts
Madison, AL
Triune God determined 'way back' to create man in His image. ( Gen.1:26-27). Also, to choose man/woman to be His children inside His existence and in His life BEFORE the foundation or Creation of the world. ( Eph.1:3-14 ). Then God blessed mankind with every heavenly blessing possible IN Jesus and declared man righteous and blameless in HIS sight at that time. ( Eph.1). Man has always belonged to the loving Father in Heaven. YOU have always belonged to the Father in Heaven. He has always loved you and wanted you to be with Him forever. Jesus simply ratified your belonging to the father by making payment for you to insure your belongingness to the Father.
Now do you see a problem with what I wrote in the first paragraph above? It isn't that we CAN belong to the Father IF we do this or that, accept Jesus or behave, the Truth is that we have ALWAYS BELONGED to the Father in heaven. The Gospel message is simply that , that you, we, all belong to the Father and Jesus has made the plan successful for everyone who ever lived. Done so by His life, death, resurrection and ascension to the Father carrying all of us humans with Him. ( Eph.2:6).
So, the correct order of the three "B's", if you will, is Belong, Believe, Behave.
YOU belong to God. Believe you belong to God. Behave like you belong to God. There is a vast difference in these two views. One is wrong and the other is right. See that?
The Good News , or the Gospel, is simply informing or educating individuals as to this truth. That they are loved by God, they belong to God, believe it, and behave like it. This is all a PROCLAMATION OF THE TRUTH. It is NOT a challenge or contest for humans to see IF they can make it happen. It has already happened in Jesus for the Father. It is an announcement. It is a proclamation. It is a done deal. And you are included in the wonderful plan of God from before the beginning of time. Now believe and behave. ( You already BELONG to God.)
God Bless all of you,
Pastor Paul Kurts
Madison, AL
Saturday, April 17, 2010
THERE IS NO ROOM FOR SHAME OR GUILT !!!
Jesus came to this earth to FORGIVE sin. ALL Sin of fallen humanity. The Good News is that this means YOUR sins...ALL of them. Now here is what it would be like for you if you 100% believed this.
You would believe Jesus Forgave (past tense) all of your sins at the Cross by becoming The Sinner of your sins for you. II Cor.5:21. What this means is that on your part sins are not accounted to you they are accounted to the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. Some call this process the Great Exchange. That Jesus exchanges His righteousness for our unrighteousness and therefore the Father is able to look at us as sinless, Holy, blameless, pure, without spot or blemish and righteousness sharing in Jesus' own righteousness. We stand in this position before God the Father "in perpetuity". Permanently. Forever. Do you believe this? Probably not 100%. Now what that means is what follows.
By NOT seeing who we are in Jesus and believing what He has done to us, and for us, and in us, and through us we suffer from the darkened mind we inherited from father
Adam. We doubt, we of course sin, we are burdened with shame and guilt and we suffer needlessly. It simply boils down to our personal lack of faith.
So how does one increase this faith which we all lack in? Answer: By believing what we are told in scripture. God loves us. He wants to live with us forever. He gave His Son Jesus to make payment for the perfection of His plan to have ALL humanity come alive in Jesus and thereby live IN and WITH Him and Jesus and The Holy Spirit FOREVER. Triune God chose all of us before the world was even created and He chose us by NAME--this means YOU personally by name. You have always belonged to God. He blessed us in Jesus and proclaimed our life and salvation in Jesus BEFORE THE WORLD was created. ( Ephesians 1:1-14 ).
When we exercise guilt or shame over our sins we are NOT seeing the Magnitude of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world. Rev.13:8.
Can we believe what John tells us in I John 3:5, that in Jesus there is NO SIN?
God simply does not count our sins against us. He is not keeping a list and checking it twice. He forgives sins and forgets them before we ever commit them!!
The more we lift up Jesus and magnify His Name and His Work and His life as the head of the human race which He loves, the more faith we will see in our life and guilt and shame will become a thing of the past.
Thank you Jesus.
Paul Kurts
Madison, AL
You would believe Jesus Forgave (past tense) all of your sins at the Cross by becoming The Sinner of your sins for you. II Cor.5:21. What this means is that on your part sins are not accounted to you they are accounted to the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. Some call this process the Great Exchange. That Jesus exchanges His righteousness for our unrighteousness and therefore the Father is able to look at us as sinless, Holy, blameless, pure, without spot or blemish and righteousness sharing in Jesus' own righteousness. We stand in this position before God the Father "in perpetuity". Permanently. Forever. Do you believe this? Probably not 100%. Now what that means is what follows.
By NOT seeing who we are in Jesus and believing what He has done to us, and for us, and in us, and through us we suffer from the darkened mind we inherited from father
Adam. We doubt, we of course sin, we are burdened with shame and guilt and we suffer needlessly. It simply boils down to our personal lack of faith.
So how does one increase this faith which we all lack in? Answer: By believing what we are told in scripture. God loves us. He wants to live with us forever. He gave His Son Jesus to make payment for the perfection of His plan to have ALL humanity come alive in Jesus and thereby live IN and WITH Him and Jesus and The Holy Spirit FOREVER. Triune God chose all of us before the world was even created and He chose us by NAME--this means YOU personally by name. You have always belonged to God. He blessed us in Jesus and proclaimed our life and salvation in Jesus BEFORE THE WORLD was created. ( Ephesians 1:1-14 ).
When we exercise guilt or shame over our sins we are NOT seeing the Magnitude of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world. Rev.13:8.
Can we believe what John tells us in I John 3:5, that in Jesus there is NO SIN?
God simply does not count our sins against us. He is not keeping a list and checking it twice. He forgives sins and forgets them before we ever commit them!!
The more we lift up Jesus and magnify His Name and His Work and His life as the head of the human race which He loves, the more faith we will see in our life and guilt and shame will become a thing of the past.
Thank you Jesus.
Paul Kurts
Madison, AL
Thursday, April 8, 2010
GRACE IS "TOO BIG" FOR SOME !
Is Jesus going to save the world? If so, then how? Is Jesus' sacrificial and atoning work going to be applied to ALL human beings? And, if so, then when will it? Will it be applied and become effective when someone "repents" and "accepts" Jesus? Another question. Is Jesus trying to get the world saved now? One more question. Is Jesus trying to get saved Christians to STOP SINNING? That's a good one.
This whole world became LOST in and through the sin of Adam. All humanity received the death penalty in the sin of Adam and the fallenness we all have lived in since. All humans have had and still have a darkened mind influenced by the prince of darkness. Humanity has suffered under the sway of this power since the garden of Eden. Mankind simply was lost to the evil force and death was the result.
When Jesus came as the incarnate Son of God His work, His mission, His purpose was to 'reverse', if you will, what occurred in Adam. His mission was to bring LIFE to a DEAD humanity and heal the cosmos. He was not trying to "improve" man's position by getting man to become sinless for He knew man lived in the fallenness of Adam with a darkened mind.
Jesus came to SAVE what was LOST. He did. (Lk.19:10). Notice these scriptures which DECLARE this salvation as FACT. John 1:29,"...Behold Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world!" Luke 23:34 "...Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." Since Adam, this has been the case in EVERYTHING. Jesus was the 'propitiation' or payment, or sacrifice for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. (IJn.2:2). John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the WORLD.
Jesus is not just for Christians. God loves ALL of His children. The Whole World. God has made alive ALL humans since Adam in Jesus. ( ICor.15:22). All things have been reconciled in and through the blood of Christ. ( Col.1:20).
Jesus did not come to 'get man to stop sinning'. Jesus came to FORGIVE Sin. Sin had to be forgiven in order to effect the gift of God, which is eternal life. The wages of sin is DEATH. But the GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE. This is a truth for all of humanity. It is by God's sovereign will. It is given out of Love. God the Father and Jesus Christ LOVE all of us. There is no challenge to live with God forever. It is a done deal. We all belong to the Great Triune God. Believe it and live it. More next time.
Pastor Paul Kurts
Madison, Al
www.newlifewcg.org
This whole world became LOST in and through the sin of Adam. All humanity received the death penalty in the sin of Adam and the fallenness we all have lived in since. All humans have had and still have a darkened mind influenced by the prince of darkness. Humanity has suffered under the sway of this power since the garden of Eden. Mankind simply was lost to the evil force and death was the result.
When Jesus came as the incarnate Son of God His work, His mission, His purpose was to 'reverse', if you will, what occurred in Adam. His mission was to bring LIFE to a DEAD humanity and heal the cosmos. He was not trying to "improve" man's position by getting man to become sinless for He knew man lived in the fallenness of Adam with a darkened mind.
Jesus came to SAVE what was LOST. He did. (Lk.19:10). Notice these scriptures which DECLARE this salvation as FACT. John 1:29,"...Behold Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world!" Luke 23:34 "...Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." Since Adam, this has been the case in EVERYTHING. Jesus was the 'propitiation' or payment, or sacrifice for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. (IJn.2:2). John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the WORLD.
Jesus is not just for Christians. God loves ALL of His children. The Whole World. God has made alive ALL humans since Adam in Jesus. ( ICor.15:22). All things have been reconciled in and through the blood of Christ. ( Col.1:20).
Jesus did not come to 'get man to stop sinning'. Jesus came to FORGIVE Sin. Sin had to be forgiven in order to effect the gift of God, which is eternal life. The wages of sin is DEATH. But the GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE. This is a truth for all of humanity. It is by God's sovereign will. It is given out of Love. God the Father and Jesus Christ LOVE all of us. There is no challenge to live with God forever. It is a done deal. We all belong to the Great Triune God. Believe it and live it. More next time.
Pastor Paul Kurts
Madison, Al
www.newlifewcg.org
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