October 15, 2011 … Dead WITH Christ

Passage of the Day: Romans 6: 6 - 7 [see verses in bold/underlined] … 5 If we have been united with Him [Christ] like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

My Journal for Today: All good teachers know that redundancy is an effective teacher; and the Apostle Paul knew this as he drilled home an important point of Christian doctrine in today’s passage that he had made earlier in Romans, chapters 5 and 6. That point is the core doctrine that all believers in Christ’s victory over sin through His resurrection share in the victory He won over sin. And I will repeat this wondrous point as well. Christ shattered sin with His death on the cross and His resurrection; and those of us who truly believe this and have repented of our sin in faith, believing completely in Christ’s atonement at the moment of our conversion as Christians, now share in that victory (see Rom. 4: 25 and 1st Cor. 15: 54 – 57).

John MacArthur reminds his readers on this date in Strength for Today of the forceful pronouncement of this doctrine, which can also be found in the Book of Hebrews (e.g., see Hebrews 10: 10 – 14). And the Apostle Peter also hit hard with this point as well in 1st Peter 2: 24. And dear brothers or sisters in Christ, anytime God, the Holy Spirit, drives home a truth in this way, many times through multiple authors, we, who believe, ought to pay attention. However, sadly it pains me to see this truth ignored or overlooked by many whom I’m called to serve in ministry, where I deal with those mired in repetitive, habitual sin.

So many of these dear souls can’t seem to let go of their sin patterns, and they wallow in feelings identified by the Apostle Paul in Romans 7: 14 – 24, where he used himself to illustrate the humanity of sinfulness. But I believe that Paul did this, identifying his past struggles with sin, to help any believer to identify with such weakness; because he was laying a platform or foundation for the greatest victory treatise over sin in all of the New Testament … which is found in Romans 8.

I challenge you who read here to read and meditate on Romans 7: 14 – 24; and then read and internalize all of Romans 8. And when any Christian can believe and live in Romans 8, as opposed to Romans 7, he or she will be living the victory Christ has won for us by His death, resurrection, ascension, and re-glorification. Oh, my dear one, how I pray that we all can live in that victory.

My Prayer Today: With You, Lord, I live in victory! Amen

October 12, 2011 … Baptized Into Christ

Passage of the Day: Romans 6: 3 [see verse in bold/underline] … Rom. 6:1 - 3 … What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

My Journal for Today: Certainly, as Christians, the justification for our sins (past, present, and future), which comes at conversion by our faith in Christ as Lord/Savior, is a wondrous thing (see Romans, Chapters 3 – 5). However, equally wonderful, and enormously important to our sanctification and our lives as Christians in this world, is the reality that we have been joined in spiritual union with Christ.

In today’s passage/verse, the Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of water baptism to teach converted Christians, most Jewish at the time who would understand the symbolism of baptism, that at conversion we died and were reborn in our immersion spiritually with Christ. In Ephesians 2: 1 – 3 Paul also wrote of leaving Satan’s realm at conversion, dying to the former self and being raised again into life with Christ. In Galatians 3: 27, Paul uses another metaphor concerning our post-conversion life in Christ, saying that once baptized as believers, we put on Christ as a garment of righteousness. And in 1st Corinthians 6: 17, he uses yet another image – that of marriage – to show that we are joined with Christ in a covenant bond eternally (the New Covenant).

All of these word pictures, images of our union with Christ as believers, as well as the repetition of these theological concepts, should motivate us to internalize these truths as believers so that we can live our lives in a true covenant bond with Christ. As John MacArthur writes in today’s Strength for Today devotional, “What a blessed privilege and an awesome responsibility is ours (as Christians) to have our lives inextricably bound with the Son of God.” And it was to be ours by our faith in Christ’s gift of atonement on the cross at His resurrection. As Paul points out in Colossians 3: 3, our lives and sins are forever hidden with Jesus.

Now, as we are bonded with Christ forever, we have His power over sin in our lives; and I want to repeat that for emphasis – now with the indwelling Spirit of God in my heart forever, I have the very resurrection power of Christ over sin in my life, … the same power Who raised our Lord from the dead, … i.e., the power of God’s Spirit! And we must ask ourselves what we are doing with our lives to give Him our covenant best, becoming the bonded workmanship Paul describes in Ephesians 2: 10, yielding the good works which illuminate our bond with our Lord and glorify God, the Father. And when we see our lives in this eternal union with Christ, we will live it out accordingly, becoming more and more, each day, like the One with Whom we’ve been joined.

My Prayer Today: How wonderful it is to be in covenant with you, Lord! Amen

April 30, 2011 … The Resurrection’s Final Victory

Passage of the Day: 1st Corinthians 15: 54 – 55, 57 … When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." [from Isaiah 25: 8] 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" [from Hosea 13: 14] … 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

My Journal for Today: This is the last day in my April devotional series, taken from MacArthur’s Strength for Today, on the pertinence and power of the RESURRECTION of Christ in the life of the Christian.

It is true that many in this world run from their own mortality … from death; but in this “resurrection chapter” of his letter to the Church, the Apostle Paul, helps all Christians to be thankful that death no longer has any “sting” for the believer in and follower of The Christ. And Paul, using quotes from the Old Testament prophets, uses an apt word picture, taken from the OT Prophet Hosea, to help us see this truth about death.

When a bee stings someone, it leaves its stinger in its victim; and the bee dies. Well, death left its stinger in Jesus, Who took all the venom out of death on the cross, allowing His beloved Bride, the Church, to face physical death with the prospects and sweetness of eternal life before us – with no sting. We can also read this doctrine clearly and strongly taught in Romans 6: 9 …

SCRIPTURE: Rom. 6: 9 ... For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.

Death no longer had mastery over Christ as He rose in His resurrection; and it no longer has any sting over believers, as His victory in resurrection will allow us to be raised again to be with Him forever.

And so, it’s no wonder that Paul exhorts all Christians by his own expression of thankfulness in 1st Cor. 15: 57 to praise God for His redeeming work on the cross, which has taken all the sting out of death and provides us with eternal hope that we could never attain on our own. Can I sense a “HALLELUJAH!” from any believers who is reading this? If you were sitting here with me, you’d certainly get one from this old warrior.

And furthermore, in his devotional for this date, MacArthur cites Rev. 21: 4 with the resounding glory we will realize in heaven, where there will be no pain.

SCRIPTURE:Rev. 21: 4 He [Jesus] will wipe every tear from their eyes [the eyes of the faithful]. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

That is what Christ’s resurrection has done to prepare a place for me with Him for eternity … for any and all who believe on Him; and I can only pray that any who are reading this have joined me in believing the truth of Christ’s resurrection. And I also pray that you have received His saving grace by your faith in what He did on the cross and by being raised again to take away our sins.

Here’s to celebrating Christ’s final victory in the resurrection!!

My Prayer Today: O Lord, I pray that all who read here will find the joy of heaven, eternal in Your resurrection. Amen

April 28, 2011 … The Resurrection: Motive for Sanctification

Passage of the Day: 1st Corinthians 15: 33 - 34 … 33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

My Journal for Today: Perhaps as you grew up you heard your parents say, as I did, something like this: ” If you run with a bad crowd, you become a bad person.” In fact my parents were very vigilant to see that I ran with the “good guys,” so that I didn’t become one of the group of kids we used to call “the hoods,” who drove fast cars and did bad stuff. But I don’t think that my parents realized that their parental vigilance about my friends was a biblical principle.

But it certainly was; and it’s discussed in today’s passage. However, as we bring this up, the group identification principle of 1st Cor. 15: 33 doesn’t preclude any person from doing ungodly things on his/her own. Even though I was identified as one of “the good boys” growing up, I let my own mind wander into some pretty ungodly behavior as I moved farther and farther away from a relationship with Christ in my own world of habitual sexual sin. And truthfully, it is this latter relationship, in the context of today’s teaching, which becomes a powerful guideline of Christian discipleship.

If we, as individuals, have a deep/abiding personal relationship with Christ, believing in the truth of the Gospel, which we’ve been exploring this month, and we tie that with close association with other like-minded Christians, Paul’s exhortation today will likely produce a cohesive group of believers where Christ’s love and His power can work through the group more effectively and with more power. And that is how individual belief and collective discipleship can produce God’s power working in the lives of believers to use God’s grace to overcome their own deceitful hearts, and the forces of Satan in the world.

This month we’ve been looking at how Christ’s resurrection and the belief thereunto lead to salvation. But in today’s verse we see how that belief takes the next step, resurrection belief moving the church toward sanctification. We remember Christ’s admonition for individual disciples [from Luke 9: 23], … for believers to deny self, take up their crosses daily, and follow Him. Well, the application of individual believers, collectively following Christ in the fellowship of believers, allows the church to become the collective agent of Proverbs 13: 20 …

SCRIPTURE: Prov. 13:20 ... He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

We also know that “…as a man thinks in his heart, so is he [Prov. 23: 7 – NKJV];” … and this movement from Godly thought to Godly action works most effectively for God’s kingdom when thinking/believing individuals come together to think and believe AND ACT together. And Paul recognized what was going on in the hedonistic and godless culture where Christianity had been planted in Corinth; and he knew that it would be very difficult for these Corinthian believers to thrive in their discipleship and in Christlikeness if they were fragmented and separated. Hence, we read Paul’s admonition in today’s passage.

We, who believe in Christ’s resurrection and the power of the Gospel message, do need to come together as is exhorted by the Author of Hebrews …

SCRIPTURE: Heb. 10: 24 - 25 … And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Together, as believers in Christ’s resurrection, we in the church can do so much more for His gospel and His kingdom than we can as “lone ranger” Christians. In Battle Plan Ministry, where I’ve been called to lead, we advocate this “group-think” >>> “group action” principle in discipleship to promote freedom from sexual sin. Christian men (or women) standing together, well grounded in God’s word, and being accountable to one another is one of the most salient battle plans a group of Christians can have to help them all walk in a worthy manner (see Eph. 4: 1 - 2) and to do battle for Christ in the world (see Eph. 6: 13 – 18). I pray that you are in a battle cohort with other like-minded Christian soldiers, fighting together side-by-side and back-to-back against the forces of evil in the world, thinking together and growing together into Christlikeness. Always remember the instruction of Prov. 27: 17 that “iron sharpens iron!”

Everyday I thank God for the cohorts of accountability and strength which surround me, … at church, in Battle Plan Ministry, in my family, and in prayer to help keep me standing upright and walking with my Lord.

My Prayer Today: Help me to become like You, Lord, by working with other Christians. Amen

April 27, 2011 … The Resurrection: Motive for Service

Passage of the Day: 1st Corinthians 15: 32 … If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." [a quote from Isaiah 22: 13]

My Journal for Today: This month my devotions and journaling in this place have been dwelling in the meditations and study of 1st Corinthians 15, where I’ve been looking at the impact of Christ’s resurrection upon the hearts and lives of Christians. The Apostle Paul in this chapter has made it very clear that there would have been no way he would have been motivated to risk his life over and over for Christ if it were not for the hope of his own (i.e., Paul’s) resurrection, which had become a reality in the faith Paul had invested in the outcome of Christ’s resurrection.

What Paul went through to spread the Gospel message (please go back and read 2nd Cor. 11: 24 – 29) could only be explained by the motivation he had as a result of his encounter and relationship with Christ as well as Paul’s desire to share what Christ had done for him on the cross and the hope that anyone could have eternally by receiving the good news of the Gospel. Otherwise, reading of Paul’s life-changing testimony and his change from Christian killer to Christian zealot would not make any sense at all, would it?

And, my dear one, I really identify with this because prior to my encounter with God on the road to my job on April 13, 1983, which changed my outlook on life forever, I was also one of those “devil’s advocates,” somewhat like Paul, doing all I could to rip the faith from Christians. I may not have tried to kill them; but I certainly tried to do all I could back then to kill their faith. And now here I sit over a quarter of a century later, an ordained Minister of the Gospel, trying to give witness to how motivated I am everyday – like this morning – to spend quality time with my God and then to be a personal witness in my life to the life changing power of the resurrection.

Go back and read the “Hall of Faith” in Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews or the many stories of the Old Testament patriarchs of the faith, all of whom were driven by their faith and hope, either in the coming Messiah or the reality of the resurrection of Yeshua, The True Messiah, which became the driving force behind the Disciples who were enacting what was written in Acts 1: 8 and/or Matthew 28: 19 – 20, Christ’s commandments to spread the truth of His resurrection, i.e., the Gospel message.

It has often been said, in defense of the truth of the resurrection and of the Christian Gospel message, these disciples simply would not have died, the way they did as martyrs, for a lie; and that is also true for yours truly. I simply would not make myself a living sacrifice [see Rom. 12: 1], giving all of my life unto Christ, if my mind could not support my heart in the matter of the resurrection. I have looked at the facts; and they are replete to support the truth that Christ died for my sins; and God raised His Son, my Savior and Lord – The Messiah – from the dead to allow me to come to Him and one day be resurrected to live with God for eternity.

I pray that you have come, in faith, as well; but if it takes a hearty examination of the facts, you do it! Because the outcome will be as it was for a long list of brilliant men, who took up the challenge to examine the data, men who then were drawn to The Truth, Who is Jesus. If you, like C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, or Charles Colson, who were skeptics, but who were willing to look at the facts as they were, really look at all the evidence, you too will come, as have I, along with these former atheists, to the realization that Christ died for your sins and was raised from the dead so that YOU and me could accept Him in faith, to be filled with His resurrection power, and be with Him in eternity.

My Prayer Today: I will live for You, my Lord, because You died and were raised … for me! Amen

April 26, 2011 … The Resurrection: Motive for Salvation

Passage of the Day: 1st Corinthian 15: 29 … Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

My Journal for Today: The fact of Christ’s resurrection – and it is a fact! – and the hope that is connected thereunto, becomes a powerful witness that often opens hearts/minds to be able to really hear the reality of the gospel and receive Christ in faith as Lord and Savior.

It has been said that a funeral is one of the best venues to share the truth of the gospel, highlighting Christ’s resurrection, because unbelievers, who are present, become focused on the realized finality of death. A non-Christian at a funeral can see death right in front of their eyes; and hearing the gospel preached in that context can open hearts which have theretofore been blocked from grasping what Christ had done on the cross for these lost ones. And if one can recognize their own sinfulness and their own mortality … and if they can see the hope presented by Christ’s resurrection, the witness of Christ from the cross, or from believers who will join Jesus in death to live forever, this becomes a powerful hope that can defeat the image seen in the finality of physical death, giving hope through the reality of the resurrection and the truth of God’s grace in salvation.

John MacArthur in his devotional for this date in Strength for Today, having seen many come to salvation at the death of believing loved ones, gives testimony to the power of the resurrection in the context of physical death or the mortality of our human condition. That was my prayer for my “lost” sister at the memorial service for our Dad a few years ago. At that service I read portions of a letter written to me by Dad when he was 72 years old. He had come to a place where he could see the need for receiving God’s saving grace and praying to receive Christ as his Savior. At his funeral I told of our mother receiving Christ just six hours before she died. Both of them, late in their lives, came to realize that their hope for eternity could only rest in Jesus Christ, Who would bring them to their home in heaven. I’d like to be able to say that this witness influenced my sister to receive Christ; however, to this date I see no evidence of that.

Knowing that is a great comfort to me … that I will be with our parents in heaven. But at the same time, it is frustrating to see my sister still resisting this truth. So, as I write this, I still diligently pray that my sister can come to that place that our parents did before their physical deaths and be able to ask for the saving grace that is only offered by the resurrection of Christ. I also pray, as I write this, that any who read this, who have not done so, will recognize this grace and will receive Christ as your Savior and Lord.

If you’ve been resisting this, like I was as a non-believer almost three decades ago, it’s time to pray and confess. Pray and tell God that you are a sinner who needs a Savior; and ask Jesus to save you. Thank Him for dying for your sins; and ask Him to be the Lord of your life. Believing that and proclaiming it openly and honestly to another is all that it takes for you to spend eternity in heaven with the One Who was raised from the dead to bring you there. [see John 3: 16 and Romans 10: 9 – 13]

My Prayer Today: Your resurrection is our eternal hope, Lord! Amen

April 23, 2011 … A Special Testimony

Passage of the Day: 1st Corinthians 15: 3 - 8 … [see underlined verse in context] 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 … and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

My Journal for Today: Paul’s eye-witness testimony to seeing the risen Christ allows Paul to be set apart as unto the office of “Apostle.” Prior to today’s highlight verse 8, in the context of 1st Cor. 15: 3 – 7, Paul writes of many other eye-witnesses to Jesus after His resurrection and before He ascended into heaven. However, Paul’s testimony of post-resurrection contact with Jesus was/is unique. His witness of Christ’s bodily appearance was the only such post-ascension contact recorded in the NT; and the event totally and radically transformed the former Saul of Tarsus, yielding the Apostle Paul, who would become Christendom’s preeminent outreach missionary to the Gentiles of the first century. Paul’s experience was a metamorphosis of character and witness which most certainly confirms his claim to the office of Apostleship.

As one can read in biblical and historical accounts, Paul first gave witness in his testimony to his former sinful life as a persecutor of Christians. Next, we all can read of him being transformed from a selfish Christian-hater into a selfless purveyor of God’s love, … one who was willing to endure horrible agony in his witness and ministry for Christ (read about Paul’s trials in 2nd Cor. 11). And finally Paul was totally changed, from one who wanted Christians killed into one who zealously desired to see all non-believers, even Gentiles, come to salvation in Christ (see Rom. 1: 16).

And may I say as humbly as I can, I identify with Paul’s metamorphosis. I, too, had a “Damascus Road” experience in my life where God brought me down from my anti-Christian attitude. No, Christ didn’t appear bodily to me as He did for Paul. Hence, I certainly have no claim to the office of “Apostle.” However, God’s Spirit and His prevenient grace did bring me down from my lofty perch of pridefulness to a humble place where I could respond to the life-transforming power of His Spirit. And like Paul, I was changed from persecutor to promoter of the Gospel. I, too, found the truth and reality of Paul’s writing in Rom. 12: 1 – 2…

SCRIPTURE: Romans 12: 1-2 ... Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Paul’s life and witness, as does mine, provides strong evidence for the life-changing power of Christ’s resurrection. And I can only pray that any who read this have surrendered to His saving grace as well as having experienced the fruit of God’s Spirit through His sanctifying grace. Tomorrow, this year, is the day we celebrate the risen Lord, Easter. I pray it will be the true day for you to celebrate having God’s resurrection power changing your life as promised in Phil. 1: 6.

Celebrate with me the truth >>> HE IS RISEN … HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

My Prayer Today: I am one, Lord, who was changed by Your grace; and I praise Your Holy Name! Amen

2010 – September 2 – When Dead Bones Come to Life

Study from God’s Word… Ezekiel, Chapters 37 – 39 … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 37: 4 - 5 … NIV 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

My Journal for Today: What a bazaar picture described in today’s devotional text, … that famous passage about the dry bones coming to life which inspired that great Negro Spiritual, which you may have sung, somewhat jokingly, “the toe bone connected to de foot bone, … the foot bone connected to the ankle bone,” and so on. But though God’s sense of humor may seem to be on display here, I like Dr. LaGard Smith’s exclamation that in this word picture God, to Ezekiel, was being “dead serious.”

God wanted Ezekiel, His Prophet, to see in this miraculous display a picture of the nation, Israel, being raised from death to life; but for us, in Christ, the Lord has taken this picture one step further, by bringing our Redeemer, Jesus, back from the dead to be the Lamb of God Who was resurrected to bring any who believe on Him back from death (in sin) to life (in Christ). In both instances we see the power of God to bring life out of death; and as the old spiritual acclaims, “… hear de word of de Lord!”

God was trying to show Ezekiel a picture of hope that showed him, beyond even his imagination, how to believe that the God of Israel was very capable of having victory over death. I think about Jesus showing a select few His ability, as the God-man, to conquer death when he raised Lazarus from the grave. And He showed his inner Disciples His power – as the Son of God – to have power over creation when He walked on the water. Even Ezekiel, as God’s prophet, apparently needed this type of over-the-top, wildly bazaar, image to see that God would one day raise the defeated children of God from the death grip of their sinfulness back to life to live in the land God had promised to them.

But how do we apply all this imagery to our lives today? And Dr. Smith asks the very pertinent question at the end of his devotional for today: ”If God can bring even dry bones to life, is there anything about my spiritual deadness He cannot wholly transform?”

Really, my friends, … .how much do we really believe? You may have believed enough to be sealed for eternal life; but do you believe that God can transform you from deadness into a life transformed into Christ’s own image? Do you believe enough to KNOW that God is bringing you back to complete life in Himself so that you can join the army of God just as the picture of the dry bones coming back to life depicted God restoring the Israelites into His chosen army, walking in march step to God’s way for God’s glory?

My friend, I revel in the thought that God saw fit to breathe His life back into my dead bones; and I walk today with Him rather than in the deadness of my sin. And that happened because He saw fit to die and be reborn into life, showing me that my dry bones can walk again in life through Him. Will you join me in my prayer today, by seeing your life in Christ, which has resurrected your dry bones into a living soldier for His glory? And if so, say with me …

My Prayer for Today: Hallelujah, Lord, … HALLELUJAH!!! Amen