Welcome to the final Verbal Vitamin of the year 2009...Lesson 2 of 2.
Ask most anybody , Believers in Christ or not ... and they will admit to having a certain amount of regret in their life.
Not only regret , but alot of us walk around daily with guilt upon us ...the amount varies from person to person.
also ,everyone , Believers in Christ or not ... Will admit to the existence of sin.
Even the most Godless man will admit evil exists..
and also... good.
If you have heard anything about Jesus at all , then you have probably heard something like....
"God's only begotten son" "Savior" "He died for our sins so that we may live" etc...
The most basic knowledge associated with Jesus , is that he died for our sins....
"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. "
Acts 10:43
You see it on bumper stickers , T-shirts , Church signs ..."He died for us" or "His blood was shed for us"...
This message was so realisticly driven home in "The Passion of the Christ" , That some people left the theater and went straight to get saved ...
We are aware with what Jesus is connected to.. Whether you believe in him or not , You at least know his rep or have heard the "rumors"..
So....If you ask the basic believer what Jesus accomplished ,in a nutshell , he will more than likely say...
God sent his son here to die as a replacement for the sins of humanity.
SO with ONE ACT , the sins of humanity have been forgiven , correct?
This is what the general consenus is right?
Then tell me why we as a human race still battle guilt over sins on a daily basis?
Why do we still feel unworthy ? Undeserving ?
I have met a few people in my time who have told me that they have gone too far to come back to God.
They felt they had been beyond the acceptable level with the Lord and so they never got a relationship with God because they felt he wouldnt mess with these "Sinners" anyway...
We all know people like that... "Heaven wouldnt take me! "
Alot of these people are called "uncles" :)
There again , Let me remind you, Paul (A former Christian Murderer) wrote the majority of the New Testament.
It's never too late...
One night this really hit me , he opened my mind to something...
I started thinking , If God forgives me ... Why can't I forgive myself ?
Why do I still roam around with guilt/regret from my past?
So I started conversating with myself ...
You believe in God ? You Know I do ! Orite then , what did Jesus come to do ? Die for our sins ... Our sins are wiped clean right? God doesnt remember your past right ? Thats what it says ... SO if the one who is in Heaven forgives you and is not worried about what you did , then why are YOU still thinking about it daily? .... He says your sins are remembered no more ... Then why are YOU holding onto them ?
So this awakening got me thinking about things ...
The wheels started turning and this all made sense to me , it couldn't be disputed...
I started conversating again...
Can you go back and repair what happened or what you did ?
no....
Did you learn from your mistakes?
....yes
So when you run around here and say your a believer , but yet you still fight against regret and guilt , wouldnt that be a slap in the face of what Christ came here for ?
Yes sir , I guess it would....
Live-Learn-Evolve....Live NOW and not THEN and tell others of your mistakes in the hopes they can avoid some of the same traps you fell in...
The cycle of the life of the wise...
So these thoughts started changing me...Conversating with the spirit within me opened my eyes....Yet again.
What is done is done and there is absolutely nothing that can be done other than learn from what has been done so you do not repeat the same foolishness... when you do what it do....DIG?
One day my wife had the T.V. on and there was a Preacher named Joseph Prince preaching.
http://josephprince.org/
His style made logical sense and he was very humorous...Captivating as a speaker.
So I started watching him on the regular.
He basically preaches on the Grace of God and Faith and this has taught me more than I could've imagined or let me say , He has opened my eyes with his teaching and it has changed my life....
The other day , as he was preaching on Grace , I suddenly...Got it.
It all made sense to me...
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Acts 13:38-39
And by him all that believe are justified from all things....Think about that...Absorb it..
People attach rules and regulations that society deem acceptable , that humans deem to be law and this has become a great tool of the enemy because it keeps us in bondage.
It keeps us chained to our past or feeling unworthy of something better .
Because we as humans ....FAIL...In the eyes of fellow humans ..
And this is where the enemy gets us...
Your listening to that ? Your not a true believer...
I saw you drinking beer at Chilis ? Your not a true believer ...
Your watching that? Your not a true believer....
Your eating meat? Your not a true believer....
You dropped an F-bomb? Your not a true believer...
etc..etc...etc...etc...
I am not endorsing any of this , but at the same time it is my firm belief that these things are minuscule on God's Agenda...
And you might see me sipping an Ice cold Budweiser and eating a chicken fried steak...Afterwards , On the way home , I am probably gonna be listening to some metal..
Do these actions make me love my Lord any less or him love me any less ?
If you feel it will , Then you are distracted.
Is the man in the suit more acceptable to God than the man in T-shirt and Jeans?
Is the man who is on "prescription" pills found more favorable than the one on herb?
Is the woman with short hair less of a saint than the one with long?
It is my firm belief that the way we treat each other is of greater importance than our personal likes or habits...
Because truth be told ,
EVERY SINGLE INDIVIDUAL ON PLANET EARTH HAS SOMETHING THAT THEY DO IN THEIR PRIVATE LIVES ....
Everyone of us has a vice....And if you really wanna get dirty with it , The rich have the nastiest habits and dirtiest laundry , yet are the quickest to judge.
I no longer care how you view me ... Life is bigger than your perception of who I am supposed to be...
And I challenge the naysayers to show me where I have spoken falsely...
Everyone has a different view of what makes a true beliver in God....And everyone feels that there way is correct.
Same way we have views on what makes a real man or woman.
Some believe if you dont speak in tongues , you go to hell.
Some believe you handle snakes to prove your belief (BTW , That wasn't in the earliest text , Ya'll can quit that at anytime now)
Some believe you have to do or say certain things in order to be forgiven , they confess to another human being to be handed out a human punishment
to appease a Spiritual God who has already Forgiven you of all debt....Does that make sense?
WHEN YOU LIVE TO UPHOLD YOURSELF FOR THE APPROVAL OF MAN - YOU WILL ALWAYS FAIL.
WHEN YOU LIVE TO UPHOLD YOURSELF FOR THE APPROVAL OF MAN - YOU WILL ALWAYS FAIL.
WHEN YOU LIVE TO UPHOLD YOURSELF FOR THE APPROVAL OF MAN - YOU WILL ALWAYS FAIL.
Every church and every pastor and teacher and philospher and religion have a certain way they do things and a certain way of dealing with it's sinners.
They have there ways to condemn you ... But most of us dont need any help , we condemn ourselves just fine.
The Gospel is preached and Jesus is told to be the one who has forgiven all sins through his bloodshed , but no one takes that part seriously or grasps what that truly means.
We still run around trying to be pleasing in the eyes of mankind....to look like were pleasing to God.
"But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Matthew 22:34-40
QUIT BEING DISTRACTED AND EVOLVE !
WHEN YOU LIVE BY AND OBEY THE SPIRIT WITHIN - YOU WILL ALWAYS PROSPER.
WHEN YOU LIVE BY AND OBEY THE SPIRIT WITHIN - YOU WILL ALWAYS PROSPER.
WHEN YOU LIVE BY AND OBEY THE SPIRIT WITHIN - YOU WILL ALWAYS PROSPER.
Here is the good news for you believers...
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1-2
http://www.gotquestions.org/propitiation.html
When you break that down it is saying...
Look ya'll , You know right from wrong , The Holy spirit in you shows you this...Now , Try to listen to that spirit and do right...BUT , If you screw up and get ignorant for a minute , dont walk around in depression and feel like a worthless loser the rest of your days ,BECAUSE , Jesus has already got you covered.
This is why he came here....This is why he suffered...You yourself have read it...Now you just gotta believe it...Life is trial and error...This is why learning from the mistakes of others is spoken of so highly , it shows you are wise.
Joh 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Abundant Life? This is why he came?
Where is this abundant life he speaks of?
Most of us will never see it because were too distracted by laws and religion and wrapped up in guilt and shame and embarrasment and every other feeling the THIEF can use against us to keep us from living life , guilt free and happy He robs our Joy and destroys dreams and confidence.
He keeps us worried that everything were doing is so bad that we lose sight of the good we were promised.
What is keeping you from living an abundant life? Dont just say money , Break it all the way down and search your soul.
Clean out your skull...
After the fact that the price has been paid really sunk into me , I felt free ya'll.
I felt like a dark weight has been lifted off of my brain.
I have learned from my past , I have given my future to God and I trust him to guide me and I am now trying to live in the Present.
This is the point of this message...
If you believe in Christ , Step your game up...
Really comprehend what he did and accept the fact there is no act you can commit that will Make you worthy..
You have already been made worthy , accept it and free yourself.
Your good enough , your smart enough and dog gone it , people like you...so I've heard :)
Once you walk closer with your spirit , You will be able to see more clearly all the various ways the enemy works.
and when you can see his tactics , You can overcome them and move beyond your current level.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
I personally believe that if we are God's greatest creation he might like to see all of us living up to our full potential.
See us really do what we were created to do...
Cant the masses see were doing 20 on the autobahn of our minds ?
Lets push the pedal on our faith and mental and see how fast this baby goes!
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. "
Matthew 7:1-29
So I will leave you with this...God loves you and has a plan for you and he speaks to you daily... Open your inner ear and listen.
For further proof of his existence , Just look at the sky every morning and evening...
Look at the sun and the clouds and all the colors and think about how it all works and marvel at the genius and the mystery...
I stand in awe of it...
My Father in Law Martin says it's like a fresh painting every day...And it is.
This is bigger than us all and we are all here for something...just BELIEVE...
But without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Hebrews 11:6
Look inside of yourselves....Your not alone.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ I have blessed whoever has read my words...
I truly appreciate your time ...And I hope in some way I have touched your heart and your mind.
Thank you for reading.
I was trying to think on how to end this series ......and I have decided to go with a Reverse Soprano ending.
So when you get done reading... Take a deep breath and Close your eyes ... Exhale and see the light.
...and that is how we will end our groundbreaking drama...
PEACE
GOD BLESS
RESPECT
SCOTT JOHNSON
12/11/09
5:29 AM
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