3 John Bible Sketch

Does Jesus love me?

 

How would I know?

 

Wait, what song am I singing?

Experiences of discovery, responsibility, celebration and challenge fill our entire lives from birth until the day we die. Time flies whether fun or frustrating. When have you noticed Jesus trying to get your attention? If you haven’t noticed yet, watch for it; most likely, He’ll try to connect. When you die, He wants you to join Him in heaven in His pure Truth.

Not everyone, yet some children grew up hearing and singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. We are weak but He is strong!”. During family devotions, church, Sunday school and vacation Bible school, some of these kids heard the Bible actually backs this up, “Yes, Jesus loves me!”. Excited about what they heard, about what Jesus did for us, they may have told friends who seemed confused or had questions like, “what happens after we die?”. Some people are always hoping someone brings up the topic they love to talk about. 

The simple Truth: God’s gifts of grace in Christ point to His True Love. Messing up, on our part, is what we believe occurred after the fall. Error happens when we corrupt the True Faith. Under the guise of so-called truth, it’s possible to imagine false things such as thinking it’s okay to

• make up a distorted version that twists and misses the fullness of Scripture
  
• take specific things in the Bible out of context
• pick-and-choose only bits and pieces of the Word while ignoring other parts
  
• support a selfish agenda, or that of others
  
• add human opinion to so-called faith which actually suppresses Truth
  
• add the false idea that there’s more needed on our part—as though the Grace-filled gifts of God-given Faith, Word and Christ alone aren’t enough for salvation
  

God is the only Way for us. Possibly by now, most people have heard of Jesus. They’ve noticed a Bible app, a friend’s integrity, a pastor, or a church. Some are curious to receive the Word, yet, for whatever reason, some choose to reject the Church, perhaps thinking only for now and considering, maybe later. Even for those who got the Truth and walked in it, it’s just as possible to believe for a while and fall away, as it is to reject Truth in the first place.

Moms and anyone who tenderly taught us about the faith, compassionately want nothing more than that their children remain and grow in the Truth; or, return to Truth which guarantees the place together with Jesus. Apart from Jesus, the eternal alternative is a fearful and horrible situation.

3 John 4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 4

True or False?

People in the faith regularly hear, are inspired to live by, and trust dependable Truth spoken for us with nothing new added and nothing taken away from it. The unchanging all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present Creator is generous to give faith for us. The faith receives Christ in gifts of perfect love, discernment, mercy, repentance, grace and peace. The moment we’re Baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the gift of saving faith believes Truth which is the very Word of God for us in the Bible. Entirely undeserved, received by no work of our own, the faith from the Holy Spirit is for all nations—every dependent child. By miraculous powerful adoption into our Creator’s family, the Almighty Father’s beloved children of all ages discover joy in the Truth. Strength to remain in Truth is fed by receiving Jesus at the Lord’s Table whenever and as often as possible. Our Savior’s blessings for the Church extend into unending life with Him. 

Ever since our original free will was lost at the fall, we began to naturally rebel against God. Struggling with pride is a place God never intended for us; yet, before creation, He had a plan to restore us with new liberty in the Gospel. Our Mediator Jesus keeps us in Truth. The Holy Spirit’s power within us repents, stands up for the faith, and resists being mislead. What’s against Christ is promoted by those who, rejecting Jesus, have chosen to have ears plugged to Truth and eyes blinded to Light.

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. 3 John 9-12

Evil, wicked nonsense, lies—set us up for separation from the Lord who hates these destructive ways leading to everlasting death. Satan’s deceit aims to pull the faith away. Using shifty schemes to erode Truth, he falsely declares grace as a license to sin. Satan promotes selfishness, slander, blaming, minimizing and denial of error. He wants these behaviors to distract and divide from the Truth. Evil spirits are out to lure, snag us into a confused frame of mind which, purposely, disregards the entire Bible as authoritative Truth. Caught without accountability to Truth, the breath of life is being suffocated. The state of disrespect deposits heaps of hot, heavy, unhealthy energy which drowns people in despair and destruction. Self-inflicted deprivation of the Holy Spirit’s nourishing Word for Life, lack of guidance, depletes minds to put others in danger as well. Twisted-truth rejects God’s presence for believers in the means of grace. Lies are always competing for our bodies and souls, trying to manipulate us in order to prevent or steal away the faith. Betrayal and hypocrisy stoop low, thriving on malicious hostility toward people who are actually walking in Truth. The loser Devil, who fell away from Truth into hell, strategically calls such darkness good. He plots to fool us into following him into trouble and eternal miserable suffering. 

Truth—is Good News for us. To willingly and lovingly save us, Jesus was born, suffered, died, resurrected from the dead and ascended to the Father. The Holy Spirit is always near and is for us. Truth is all about rescue, healing, strength, change, and hope in the Light. Our Helper has purpose for us. Our Savior is waiting in heaven for all who

• trust and humbly seek Him
• receive His discipline
  
• take refuge in Him
• receive His forgiveness 
• are stilled by Him
• receive His encouragement
  
• are stirred by Him
• receive His protection 
  
• sing about Him
  
• receive His patience 
• are sustained by Him
  

Is the Lord showing you something? Is Jesus putting a new song in your mouth?

I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, every one of them. 3 John 14-15

Pray

Dear Jesus, thank you for warning us that the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Patiently hold our hands as you discipline, lead and draw us near. Thank you for the Spirit helping us trust Your wondrous merciful Way through the gate home. When we ask for relief and comfort, You mercifully embrace us in our sadness, pain, and distress. Thank you for reminding us to take refuge in the shadow of your wings. You’re keeping Your children safe, so far. Guard and deliver us from evil. Redirect us away from everything false and haughty. You notice us when we’re walking away from Your Truth. You desire us to turn toward You. You are gentle with correction, always for our good. Thank you for supplying an eagerness to hear Truth. Give us a quiet strength to resist affirmation of every sin, our own and that of others. Remind us how short our time here is, so we may let go of stubbornness and get a heart of wisdom. Thank You for genuine teachers who help us absorb Your Word. Establish our work and capabilities to glorify Your Name. You open up opportunities to connect all people for whom You died. Under Your protection and guidance, let us show our joy and gratitude by doing good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the faith. Set our minds on the beauty and peace that is to come with You. Thank you, Jesus! Amen.

More

• Intro
  
• Radio
• 30 Minutes
• Sing it youth and sing it elder!
  

1 John Bible Sketches

Who’s in darkness?

 

Who’s in light?

How does darkness become light?

Who loves others perfectly? Nobody, but Jesus. The bright hope we have is, He and His Father sent the Holy Spirit to adopt us into the Church Family where we’re welcomed to hear about the power of God’s grace turning us from darkness to living in Light. God unconditionally loves us even though we haven’t loved Him back. Our Savior’s total-act-of-giving rescues us from the corruption of sin and its consequences. He didn’t have to do this and we didn’t deserve it. Christ’s birth, innocent human life, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension puts us in a right relationship with Our Father in Heaven. In the Light, we show our love for God by loving other people.

1 John 1:8

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

 

We cannot free ourselves from our sinful nature. 

Not owning up to our sinfulness is like calling God a liar, because His Word clearly states that we are sinners. Everyone in the world is self-centered to one degree or another. Complications show up when, rather than confessing Truth, asking for forgiveness, and praying for strength to trust Jesus alone, we 

• wrongly make excuses for selfishness
• unjustly blame another person for our own problem
• fake ignorance to all the ways we fall short of God’s standard of perfection
• are mislead by ideas of false doctrine
• disregard what He’s given us to know, even at the most basic level
• pick only what we like, not caring about the full context of God’s Word
• try to add our good work as a way to earn salvation, as though Christ’s work isn’t enough
  
• shirk responsibility to follow advice of true doctrine
  
• attempt to usurp authority
• devise our own schemes
• falsely claim our ideas are superior to the fullness of God’s Word
• manipulate others to agree with out-of-context twisted ideas, then criticize whoever objects to doing things my way

The Holy Spirit forgives and opens eyes of faith for us in the water of Baptism. 

Jesus, God’s Word and Grace for us brings Truth, repentance and forgiveness. 

Human nature would minimize, deny or ignore our own problems. People falling for worldly plots are focused on satisfying selfish desires at all costs. Anti-Christs in the world reject their accountability to Christ; they’re always trying to tell us God is not love and the Church is unnecessary. 

To avoid being sucked into lies, it’s essential to hear Truth over-and-over. The Spirit stirs us to listen and speak God’s Word, also, love and pray for enemies by the grace of God. By faith, we have genuine conversations about how situations in our lives connect to the Word of God. The Church is established to teach the faith and administer the Means of Grace. Thankfully, God is faithful to bless people who confess Truth the Bible teaches. Jesus finished the work necessary to take away guilt. He cleanses us from damaging words and deeds committed against us, too! By the faith given us, we long to be truthful about what sin is. Getting spiritual, mental, emotional and physical help we need is a step to take. Confident the work and suffering of is Christ for us, frees fear of the day of judgement. The faith keeps us from looking down at our own navel; instead, points us to recognize opportunities to love people with focus upward and forward to forever in eternity with our Lord.

1 John 1:8-9

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9

 

Grace and forgiveness is God’s answer for dealing with our messiness.

More than giving up His place in heaven to be born as a human to take the punishment on the cross, dying for the sins of the whole world, Jesus is currently interceding for us as our advocate with the Father. If we reject Jesus, we choose God’s merciless wrath. Christ is the singular necessary appeasement to Our Father’s disgust over imperfection. The Holy Spirit sustains the faith we must have to be rescued. Receiving God’s mercy shows we belong to Him and are open to the Holy Spirit working in our lives by fighting against sin.

Perfectly keeping God’s ways is done in Christ who is sufficient for our salvation. We’re free to acknowledge our desperate need for help to grow up and act like we should. Striving to live as though we really care about everything the Good Lord’s telling us, we want to do better. We do not want to make a practice of habitual sin. By the faith the Spirit provides, we learn to be thankful, praying for opportunities to promote the Gospel, and that the Holy Spirit will open hearts. We long to see the people we love in heaven, place them in the Lord’s loving care, and trust His promises. The Counselor guides everyone who desires help by effectively revealing the Word throughout the world. By grace—love, joy and peace flow from Christ through us.

1 John 2:2

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

Pride isn’t inline with our Creator’s design. 

Not receiving Christ’s help because of pride is the most dangerous sin. Pride works hard to distract people from the faith. There will be a time we will meet our maker, when no more healthy choices are available, no more opportunity to turn to Jesus in repentance. When we die, or on the Last Day, all people will bow and answer to whether they trust Jesus or not. Being proud, in various ways, is tied to falling for lies circulating among the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. When our pride isn’t repented in the faith, it reveals the fact that we’re fine with the idea that we think and act like we know better than God. Prayers said in this faithless state-of-mind are ineffective. God looks past the arrogant who depend on their good deeds to earn a place in heaven, as well as those who flippantly sin without regret. Faithlessness ruins His generous loving plan for us through Christ. There’s no in-between or half-way connection to salvation—we either trust Jesus or trust ourselves. Thankfully, it’s not our place to make a statement on where anyone else stands with God. In His patient timing, He’ll judge whether, or not, there’s saving faith in our hearts.

And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 1 John 3:23

1 John 4:4

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

God is love; the devil is overcome by the blood of Jesus.

Since we can’t see spiritual things on our own, the Righteous Light that’s already shining through Jesus, clarifies it for us. In our darkness (which everyone still has), we either come to know God as a dear Father, use His Word to show us sin, recognize it as a condition to humbly request mercy; or, we fear punishment—gladly indulge and celebrate sin, plus, affirm the way of lies. We wander from living in love when we hold pride of life, bitterness, resentment and grudges. The Lord desires we look to the cross of Christ. The faith has power to transform and bring us back again-and-again, every time we fail and repent. He doesn’t force it; if we refuse Him, that’s on us. 

Satan is a killer, a liar who’s always trying to bring eternal death by tempting, blinding and steering us away from Truth of Christ’s grace. Test what you hear and see in this world against the Truth of God’s Word. Don’t be surprised when people hate you for remaining in God’s grace. If the devil can get us to hate, he can motivate us do things which are against the compassion Christ is trying to work in us. When God’s Word is abiding in us and we repentantly stick with Him and the Church, Satan’s minions can’t trap us in the evil claws of perpetual sin, squash the faithful spirit given in Baptism, or steel the certain joy of Christ’s victory for us.

1 John 4:19

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

 

Love and certain hope of eternal life.

All who receive spiritual eyes of faith believe Jesus laid down His life for us. The Holy Spirit is at work reminding about gifts of the faith: Baptism in Christ and The Lord’s Supper. Those who are humbly living in Truth, seriously embrace the Word of God as an extraordinarily excellent way to be pointed toward caring about what Jesus did for us. God’s love empowers us to, gratefully, lovingly be generous with gentle respect toward others.  

Love is perfected in us when we turn, in love, toward others—ready to be hated by those who refuse the Gospel—praying the Holy Spirit would fill everyone with the faith which sees each person as one for whom Christ died. Constantly repenting and turning toward God for strength to do this, we back away from harmful thoughts, words and deeds. The faith helps us recognize and resist evil in this world. Refusal to make a practice of sinning is for our own good and the good of others. God answers each plea for mercy and gives all good things for us when we ask according to His will.

The Gospel doesn’t make us sinless—it lights the path securely grasped onto God who is love. The Spirit of Truth gives us repentant confidence in mercy. Free to take cover in His protective peace, we press forward to a day when all sadness, pain and sin is removed. Seeing Jesus face-to-face, we’ll take on His full glory. The faith excites us about loving each other now into everlasting life! Content being held by Christ’s scarred hands, we’re calmed, comforted by our Creator who is always caring about us. Energized with a purpose to smile, we breathe in grace and breathe out the Spirit of encouragement to others.

More

• 1 John
• Intro
• Radio
• 17 Studies
• 30 Minutes 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306
• Sing it!
  

Obadiah Bible Sketch

Judgement will be a day of accountability.

 

Because of sin, all people die. God determines every person’s eternal destiny.

 

Believers in Christ have God’s mercy. Apart from Christ, it will be a day of wrath. 

God warns us to not neglect His Word or cover up the reality of our sin. God didn’t create robots. He allows His people to make good and poor choices. We make both kinds. God patiently offers grace and spiritual maturity to all who seek Him. Grieved over spiritual rebellion and corruption, eventually, His wrath brings down destruction on the high and mighty—the prideful and the oppressor. To blame others, hide, justify, or minimize the seriousness of one’s own wrongdoing, is, by one’s own choice, to throw away God’s precious gift of forgiveness and to reject His redemption. In and of ourselves, we are hungry, empty, and aren’t able to be fruitful. Energy depleted, we become cold, angry, distracted, anxious, troubled and selfish. We can’t trust ourselves. We constantly need to be filled and nourished by the Word.

Who will deliver me?

Holy Baptism and the Word bring on a free gift of faith. With any gift, there are two choices: 

1. receive it [good]
   
2. reject it [bad]

God creates and perfects faith because He cares. Faith believes and depends on God’s mercy in the work of His Son Jesus who endured our shame. He died for us on the cross, bodily rose from the dead, ascended and lives with God the Father. His compassionate Spirit cleanses, defends, and empowers us to face and grow through difficulties of life. Faith in us prompts a desire to repent and helps us to walk in the Light with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Even when God’s people have a loss for words to pray, there is One who intercedes for us to rescue and deliver us from evil. Loyal to love and tirelessly lavish forgiveness and restoration, Christ’s redeeming work at the cross saves all who receive the faith to fear God. We trust Jesus the Savior who offers protection from God’s harsh judgement.

Obadiah 15, 17a

“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.… But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy,” Obadiah 15,17a

 “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. …but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ” Romans 3:19, 5:8-9

Learn more

Listen to a Bible study discussion about Obadiah.

Obadiah tells of God’s harsh judgment. Watch an illustrated overview.

Zion is the name of the church I attend. I hope you find a similar church in your area. There’s more behind the meaning of Zion in the Bible—not only a mountain, it generally refers to the people of God and another name for the Holy Christian Church of all believers in Christ.

Prayer of the Day

  “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love You and worthily magnify Your holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (211)” Treasury of Daily Prayer

1 Samuel Bible Sketch

Having great love for all people, God guards His faithful

Despite human evil, we can trust that God’s purpose is to oppose the proud and elevate the humble.

“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.” 1 Samuel 2:9 ESV Bible verse hand lettering sketch.

Arrogance is wickedly blinding. 

Pride and other sin left unchecked may cause

• false confidence in knowledge, good works, charity
• denial or ignorance of one’s own sinfulness
• grudge bearing
• blame-shifting
• unhealthy sense of entitlement
• insensitivity to everyone else’s thoughts, opinions, desires, and needs
• tendency to hurl rude insults
• distortion of truth
• misleading self and others
• tempting people
• refusal to forgive people who’ve genuinely apologized
• inability to receive forgiveness which others desire to offer
• mental, physical, emotional and spiritual harm to self and those near
• death

Scary, right? Can everyone identify guilt of something on this list, to a degree, perhaps if only in thought? Death is inevitable to even seemingly pious men and women.

The ungodly can take comfort in our Rock of Escape. God, to save us from His wrath, gave His Son to be crucified to atone for the sin of the world. In our sinful nature, we receive this by faith.

• God’s Word provides faith in our Savior who, for our redemption, perfectly—without one single sin of His own, but because of our sin—faced all kinds of temptations, pain, suffering, took an unfair penalty of death on the cross, was bodily raised on the third day, ascended to Our Father in heaven, and lives now in the hearts of all who believe this and are baptized. 
• The Holy Spirit works trust to believe we can take refuge in Christ’s victory over sin, death and betrayal and provides encouragement to live as people loved by God.
• Scripture shows us God’s good design for creation and how He wants us to live. The Word doesn’t make us able to live to the perfection of this design; yet, it provides necessary faith which humbles us to admit failures, wrong actions, thoughts, inadequacies and teaches us to do our very best to turn away from repeating these.
• Only Christ delivers us from death. No one one saves themselves or others from the entanglement of idols (putting self, other people, activities and things higher than love for God). Doubt weakens believers who constantly need to reach out for help through
  
  • prayer for strength and wisdom to trust and share the Gospel
  • worship and staying in the Word in a variety of ways
  • nourishment at the Lord’s Table (for now, during corona virus restrictions, we patiently wait and focus on our need to be saved by the body and blood of Christ)
  • safe environments to grow and preserve our faith in the company of caring, respectful Christians
• Brokenhearted, repentant people of faith
  • have certain hope in anticipation of glory to come in the next life
  • find joy in life, even in suffering because it prepares for the future
  • cling to the Lord who, in mercy, understands the needs of all people and provides all good things for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being
  • thankfully, seek to help and forgive others just as Christ helps and forgives them
  • are spared, protected and delivered from sin, evil, and death
  • have patient confidence that God is using for His good purposes, even what Satan intends for evil
  • worship God in light—His power of spirit and truth 

We all face (or will face) troubles in this life. Now, we live in a state of grace until the Last Day when life as we know it ends and each person will be in one of two final and eternal destinations:

1. the faithful have tears wiped away, gloriously at home with Jesus in heaven
2. unbelievers cut off in darkness with Satan, the father of lies, in hell

Check out these video, audio and art files

• Overview: 1 Samuel
• Running Scared? Trust the LORD
• Lord Save Me From My Friends

Pray in the Name of Jesus

Dear Lord, you know my need before I even ask. Guard me in Your forgiveness and keep me in faith. Amen.

Judges Bible Sketch

Seek Truth. Expose, fight, flee the mean, ugly, emotionally painful, physically harmful evil which stems from lies and temptations to sin.

Creation is impacted by the ugly effects of sin which surround us—corona virus pandemic, natural disaster, fear, broken relationships, doubt, guilt, sadness and more…

• Sin caused death
• What is sin?

People have or may become sick, sadly, many will die even though we wash hands, honor six-feet, use masks, develop treatments and vaccines to battle the corona virus COVOD-19.

Spiritually, we prepare for our earthly death because in the long-term big-picture, our story is not over then. Safe are people who are cleansed in Christ who took our punishment. In quarantine, midst this pandemic nontraditional Holy Week, let’s self-reflect on our lowest state. May we receive an overwhelming awareness of our own individual failures, weaknesses, need for our Creator’s provision for us—daily repent, take refuge in our Savior; then, last but not least, give thanks to Him in all circumstances!

“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:5 ESV Bible verse sketch—an artistic rendition: portrait of the state of humanity since the original fall into sin.

“The Lord provides for the tribe of Levi, and with that, the author proclaims with praise that that the Lord has kept all of His promises. We are not to become attached to the things of this world as though they have lasting value. The Lord provided the Levites with earthy cities that anticipated a better city, a heavenly one (Heb 11:16). Likewise, He promises that as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness through Christ, He will grant us what we need for this life (Mt 6:33). • Heavenly Father, release us from worries and undue attachment to earthly things, so we might find our true joy in You and the enduring city awaiting us through Christ. Amen.” Luther’s Study Bible, CPH (learn more)

Our spirit may be willing to put God and others first, yet in reality, we are too weak to make it happen. 

• Sins may be
  
  • unrealized
  • known
  • subtle
  • obvious
  • physical
  • mental
  • emotional
  • spiritual
• Sins are deeply damaging to
  
  • ourselves
  • those we love
  • people we don’t know
• No one is immune to
  
  • sinning
  • sins committed against them
  • the effects of all sin
• Sin is difficult to
  
  • own up to
  • confess
  • ask to be forgiven
  • turn from
  • expose
  • correct
  • prevent
  • forgive
  • forget

Arrogance and pride make us blind and deaf to

• to have compassion for others’
  
  • weaknesses
  • needs
  • innocence
  • voice
  • emotions
• our need to take responsibility for our faults, but rather
  
  • blame-shift
  • make excuses
• our need to forgive people, preferring to
  
  • hold grudge
  • stop communicating
  • stop listening
  • isolate self
• the seriousness of
  
  • our own flaws
  • our need for personal confession
• the fact that
  
  • redemption in Christ is necessary
  • earning our own redemption isn’t possible
• blessings available in
  
  • Bible study
  • mental health counsel
  • help for substance abuse
  • receiving forgiveness 

It is possible to blatantly reject God without sorrow.

We aren’t robots—we may resist God’s generous desire for all to be saved. Unbelief causes sin to fester into an infection which desensitizes conscience—turns the cold heart hard. Grace and hope abound until the Day of Judgment when those who are apart from Christ enter eternal separation from God (hell) because of their

• defiance of God’s Law and Gospel
• irresponsibility to change bad behavior
• frigid tendency to lie
• stony refusal to confess sin
• rigid resistance of the Holy Spirit

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Ephesians 5:11 ESV

Thankfully, God provides The Way to live forever!

God’s Word in the Bible for us to read or hear reveals His purpose of Christ suffering at the cross unto death, His descent to hell and bodily resurrection by which He successfully washed away the sin of the world and defeated all evil. By grace, our Creator supplies victory—eternal life for all who receive the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith which trusts Truth.

“It all rests on Christ…The babe whose birth we celebrate came to give us grace. And He wants us to be completely certain of it, because it rests totally on Him.” — Pastor Harrison (read the post here)

Healthy living is nurtured by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration for us contained in The Bible. In our struggle against temptations, we can rely on Christ’s Word and Spirit to

• discern truth from lies
• maintain, build, strengthen, grow faith
• identify our sin, confess it and do our best to stay clean (even though we cannot do this perfectly as Christ did)
• receive grace to move forward, forgiven
• constantly pray His Word
• give confidence to share the faith
• discover how to help each other
• lead us to do God’s will
• provide a way out of temptation so we can endure it
• put praise for Him in our mouths
• encourage brothers and sisters in Christ
• be free from false guilt as parents to communicate His anger over children’s disobedience
• encourage us to plant “seeds”and pray unbelievers will receive faith
• work faith to bring us to Christ

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.’” John 8: 42-47 ESV

Mercy and promises in Christ

• the Light in whom all will be judged when He returns on the Last Day for those living in Truth and the believers who have gone before them
• who sees each heart of repentant believers viewing all sin as repulsive, knowing their Savior bled and bore the horrible punishment they deserve
• who protects, defends and delivers us from evil all who take refuge in Him
• whose sacrifice is finished and made us right
• who forgives—declares not guilty all who repent and trust Him
• in whom believers are never separated
• with whom believers will enjoy an eternal paradise

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  Isaiah 41:10 ESV

Give God glory for GRACE—God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12 ESV

“It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” Luke 13:19 ESV

Dear Heavenly Father, refine and renew us. Help us let go of selfish grumbling, unhealthy controlling and manipulative manners. Forgive us for each and every sin Jesus took upon Himself in His suffering at the cross, paying the price to buy our salvation. Our faith trusts the certain hope that You will eventually destroy all evil and wipe away our tears. As the Holy Spirit trains us to live in Light and frees us to generously see others as You see them, having great value, fill us with your mighty power to care. Equip us with patience, kindness, and confidence to tell others about the relationship you want with everyone. Show us how we may serve You and others in Truth. Amen.

God is faithful to fulfill His promises. Don’t neglect the Holy Spirit’s nudging that would have you cling to Jesus. Peace ✝︎

If you’re using a phone, move down a bit and tap “view web version” to find a list of links for growth & enjoyment and other info that doesn’t show on the mobile version.