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Tag: Bible

ONLY Scripture – Sola Scriptura

The HOLY BIBLE IS: The written word of God from scripture.

What Must I Do?
So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” – Acts 9:6 NKJV

Have you had a personal encounter with the Living God?

Saul, an enemy of Christ, religious zealot and persecutor of true followers of the Way (the Apostles and others) encountered the risen Christ. Saul was a stumbling block to those who would claim Jesus as our Lord and our God.

Saul of Tarsus’ encounter with the risen Christ is no less significant than an earlier encounter of Moses with God in the burning bush. This man, a leading disciple of the Temple is zealous for God; yet before this personal encounter Saul was galvanized against the risen Jesus, God Incarnate.

Saul comes to the unknown: as Moses approached the unknown and as we each approach God in faith; for God has drawn us into His Presence. We have come from our place of complete understanding onto the Holy ground of marvelous mystery.

God IS. Jesus IS.

Now what must I do?

Saul had asked the risen Jesus at this moment the obvious question: NOT just, ‘what are you?’, but, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

Saul had finally bowed down in humility to Jesus Christ, Son of God. Saul in worship finally bowed down in humility as we we all must at the moment we encounter Jesus as ‘our Lord.’

Acts: 9:4 ESV And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”

And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

“Who are you, Lord?”

Is that what you ask of Jesus now that you have met Him?

Lord, ‘kyrios’: This ‘relationship‘ between Jesus and a ‘Christian’ believer and follower is used over 100 times in the Acts of the Apostles. This relationship of Jesus as Lord is to show you, dear brother or dear sister in the Lord, and to show me Who Jesus IS and who we are to become in our relationship to Him as our Lord.

Outline of Biblical Usage
he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
the possessor and disposer of a thing
the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor
is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master
this title is given to: God, the Messiah

Before we bowed down to Christ as our Lord we were stumbling blocks to those who would believe, yet witnessed in us how Christ was NOT our Lord.

Do you, who believe in the resurrection of Christ Jesus now ask: “What must I do?”
- Jesus was: before He was born of Mary.
- Jesus was: before He was crucified on the Cross
- Jesus was: as He appeared in His broken flesh to the Apostles
- Jesus was: when you were born
- Jesus IS: in this very moment and place
- Jesus IS: when your flesh must die
- Jesus will BE: in the resurrection of souls for ALL time and eternity!
What must we do, Lord?

The answer of Christ is as individual and personal as our new relationship with Jesus as our Lord.

For Saul who would become known as Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, the answer was clear and specific:

Acts 9:6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

When we first encounter our risen “Lord,” we may also be blind. We will be told what to do.

IF Jesus is your Lord, take HIS hand and allow your new Lord to lead you into the city of faith.
April 23, 2014
After the Resurrection

John 21:14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

My purpose here is not to convince you of proof of the resurrection, but to convict you with the command of our our risen Lord.

Mark 16:15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned…”

We would do well to study all of the Gospel and what Christ Jesus, our Lord, has commanded His servants, those saved by the Blood of the Cross and sent into all the world as witness of God’s compassionate love for sinners like us.

Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Dr. Luke, historian recording his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles from the first hand testimonies of Peter and the Apostles probably records this with the most details:

Luke 24:

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”

37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Here is a lesson in Scripture from our risen Lord I would have liked to have heard.

Trust that Luke and the other scribes of the Gospel have accurately recorded much of this as part of what we have read from the life of Jesus Christ prior to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses of these things.

One witness betrayed, then hung himself. Condemned to Hell, Judas was not present for these commands.

One witness to the dark night of Jesus’ trial did not flee, but remained near enough to have denied Jesus as His lord three times. John is witness of Jesus forgiving Peter, before sending Peter to follow in His way to the Cross.

One witness had to place his hand in the wounds of the resurrected body of Jesus.

But we would not have been any less skeptical than Thomas, who was also later martyred for His witness of these things.

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

April 22, 2014
Is Your Faith Futile?

If in Christ we have hoped in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:19

Walk up to an unbeliever and tell them, ‘Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.’

What will they think? What will they say?

Will an unbeliever have hope in the resurrection? It is an issue that Paul addresses in writing to the church at Corinth.

We have just celebrated ‘Resurrection Sunday,’ which the world knows as Easter from ‘traditions;’ however Paul addressed the same questions one might ask you: questions like, ‘Is your faith futile?’

Isn’t your faith in the resurrection of a man from the dead (Jesus OR you or me…) rather useless and impractical?

In a word, NO. Paul’s missing question (for unbelievers) would be:

Do you believe in God?

(Remember that Paul is writing to the church. We believe in God. Right?

IF yes; then all things are possible with God. [Matthew 19:26, Mark 9:23, Mark 10:27]

The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Corinthians 15 (English Standard Version)

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

So IF you believe in God, AND IF you believe the Bible is God’s word; do you believe that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead?

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

STOP here for a moment. Do you believe in God? YES. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? NO.

(This is what some believe who claim God, but refuse to believe that God would send his only Son to the Cross as a living, human sacrifice for your sins and for mine.) Here is what unbelievers (and some with false claims as christians believe:

NO, God created man to live and die. Live for this day as God would wish.

NO judgment, NO hell, no accountability for sin beyond the grave… WE believe in a God of history, but not a God of the present (or of our future). We may believe in a Jesus of history, too. But our soul dies with our body. No resurrection.

Paul goes on about the gospel (Good News), as if it too were a lie.

15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

It always comes back to that issue of SIN, doesn’t it?

Does GOD require a sacrifice for sin? Shall a mere man suffer consequence for sin at the hand of God?

Is God just? OR is God merciful to all (with justice for none)?

IF there is NO resurrection and NO eternal life; THEN life has no more meaning than a measurement of a man’s time and death no more meaning than the end of a meaningless life.

18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Is there no difference in the soul of a Christian and the soul of one who will not believe God?

Do the dead lie in the ground with lifeless souls rotting with bones and flesh?

OR

Does the soul find rest? Does the soul find sleep? (While the seed of flesh and blood waits in the ground for the germination of new Life of the resurrection?

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

And now Paul refers to our sin, for which Christ paid the ransom of His Life on the Cross.

21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Yes, the Resurrection of Christ Jesus is Good News! He IS the Lord over life, as He IS the Lord over death. The Cross would not be necessary without sin; as the resurrection would not be possible without Christ.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

HE IS RISEN! Our faith in Christ Jesus as our Lord stands on the proof and evidence of Scripture. Our faith in the resurrection is not in vain; for we are not our flesh and bones, but living souls: born again in Christ Jesus our risen Lord!

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers (and beloved sisters in the Lord), be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

April 21, 2014