Sunday, July 8, 2012

Truth Signs


Acts 2:36-47 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”  Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

I’ve never been one who enjoys those big “baroque” sayings that have a flowery, but vague general meaning. When our little church posted signs with “Seek Truth”, “Belong”, and “Create Beauty”, it immediately came to mind: What “dreamer” came up with sayings without explaining “What that means exactly?” & “How” to do it? - Signs point to something more. These signs pointed to the Acts 2 church, as explained in Pastor’s sermon. It begins with the gospel of Salvation. “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” First admit that you are a sinner, turn from your sins, accept the free gift of God of redemption by atonement and give your life to Jesus the Savior. Then we can evaluate where we are and where we go in our Christian walk & journey in this life, saved in this perverse generation, working out that salvation with god who works in you, according to His purposes. But always remembering that salvation was free for us, but not for Jesus. We have a salvation that was not earned, not deserved, not bough, but given by grace alone through faith alone, and produces freedom from the bondage of sin and death to life and life eternal, so act out of your salvation. Don’t “do”, but “be” like Christ from your new regenerated heart.

Ephesians 2:8-10For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Actively pursuing what God has planned for you and your life, with good and positive works according to His good pleasure always; not acts out of self-serving existential humanistic perverse flesh desires of the world. Have a life pursuit to know God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) and His Truth more, knowing that you belong in the family & kingdom of God, and using your gifts to make Him known.  But knowing 1 Corinthians 2:14But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know  them, because they are spiritually discerned. As trying to describe fully the sun to a person blind from birth, or snow to someone who has never seen it snowing in person, Christianity is foreign to them, and impossible to explain without seeking out and personally experiencing an encounter with Jesus, walking with Him as who you are, not what you do; to truly know our faith in relationship, and as an individual & as a people of God in Christian community to be a part of what God is doing here and now.   

Philippians 2:12-16Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence —continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

As stars shine in the dark of night for all to see, the child of God needs to shine the light of Truth in this crooked and depraved generation, reflecting the love of Jesus to someone as Jesus loved us. Knowing the wages of sin and the eternal consequences of hell, why not snatch those who do not know the Lord out of this lost and dying world and into heaven now? God works and has good work for us to do in this world today, even if it costs us something. Souls are at stake and heaven is just ahead.
In Christ, Brian

3 comments:

child of God said...

Hi Brian,
Today my pastor talked on Philippians 3:1-11. He talked about legalism and how works for God with out the love of Jesus Christ is nothing but legalism. We cannot earn our way into heaven we need to love Jesus and have a relationship with Him.

Friday night my hubby and I took the youth group out to evangelize and hand out freezes to the people in the park. We went first to the bike and skate part, where all the teens were hanging out doing tricks. There were some hot sweaty kids who loved the freezes and were polite to listen a bit to the why we were out there but nobody seemed interested in Jesus. Then I saw a small group sitting down in the grass so I headed over and offered them some freezes and one of the young men was interested in talking. He was pretty drunk and I knew the group was having a joke on me. I left feeling a bit discouraged but not by much. :) I was more disappointed with myself for not having better communication skills.

It is the love for Jesus that drives me not the works. It was what my pastor was trying to communicate to us today. We pray, worship, feed the hungry, etc...but it is not the doing that should drive us but our love for Jesus Christ that should be our force inside.

The child of God needs to be madly in love with Jesus and seek a relationship with Him. When this happens then we are willing to go out of our comfort zone and share the Gospel. Then, our prayers, if we hold no sin, will be heard. Then our Father in heaven will be so happy with us. Love, it is all about loving Jesus.

Blessings brother,
<><

Alice said...

If I could find the way to do this, every minute. Jesus loved, God is love, it is said that love is the fulfillment of the law.

Brian Ray Todd said...

"that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" Child of God, that Philippians 3 passage is the fact that flys in the face of self-loving humanism. You and Ma bring up a great question: How much do we love the Lord God?" or even at the root ... "Do we have other gods?" I beleive that your evangelism time blesses everyone that the Holy Spirit intends to bless in advance (including you and your group), so never worry about the presentation or o the recepiant of the gospel word being given. It is the Spirit speaking to hearts through the seeds that you plant and water, not us, so rejoice in the Word of God being poured out, even when they seem to fall on hard ground. As you say, the love of Jesus drives us and our force inside. We are the child of God and rejoice always in what that means. Witnessing is tells others what that love of God means to those who have not heard the TRUTH, the WAY, and the LIFE.

Ma, I love your thinking. "If I could find a way", means that we constantly seek as a life long journey of love, which fullfills us. Your straight-forward little comment runs a hundred miles deep in meaning.

Thanks sisters for dropping by and writing.