He Leads Me

HE LEADS ME

 

This was the title of the devotional from ODB today Dec 30, 2014 based on (Ps 23) that prompted this article. The author Dave Egner told the story of an incident that happened in Istanbul Turkey in 2005, where 1 sheep jumped off a cliff to its death, followed by nearly 1500 others. Not knowing which way to go, these other sheep just mindlessly followed the other members of the flock. We humans are often referred to as sheep, for example read (Is53:6) "All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him (Jesus) the sins of us all". This fact just proves our need for a trustworthy Leader, and thank God He has given just such a Leader in Jesus Christ, once we by faith trust Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus calls us to follow Him as our "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), as the original 12 men He called to follow Him as His disciples.

 

When King David wrote the twenty-third Psalm, and started it with "The Lord in my shepherd", and he certainly knew the life of a shepherd having been one for several years when he was young. So we can safely claim Jesus as our own personal shepherd just as David did, providing we have made the choice of accepting Him as Lord and Savior. He calls all of us, but always leaves the choice up to us to accept or reject Him. We can certainly not claim Him as our Shepherd, if we have not received Him as Lord and Savior. I know people who think that because they faithfully attend Sunday school and church, and give money to support missions etc. that therefore they qualify to claim Jesus as their Shepherd. But according to scriptures like (John 3:1-8), or (2 Cor 5:17-21), unless they are "born again" spiritually, and are truly "in Christ", then Jesus is not their Shepherd. Our author closes his article with a poem by Sanders "Like sheep that sometimes wander from the flock in tangled paths of life to lose their way, I need my Shepherd's hand and watchful eye to keep me always, lest I go astray". I think this is good advice for most of us who claim to be followers of Jesus and part of "the Body of Christ" on earth today. How easy it seems to be to get off the path, and get tangled up in some wrong teaching, or questionable church doctrine. We all need the guidance of our Shepherd for sure; then our author closed with these words, "The Lamb who died to save us is the Shepherd who lives to guide us". Well spoken I believe, and I leave you with this truth!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                30/12/14

 

The Gift of His Presence

THE GIFT OF HIS PRESENCE

 

Joe Stowell posted an article on Our Daily Bread (ODB) on Dec 26, 2014 called "In The Neighborhood" that caught my attention. He told the story of a well known football player who had recently moved into their neighborhood, and of course everyone, especially the football fans, expected to get to know him personally. But they were very disappointed when it proved he was too busy to have any time to become involved in any local activities. As a direct contrast to this situation, consider the case of Jesus who not only moved into our neighborhood, but "His Presence" became available to anyone who believed in Him and accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Read (John 1:1-14), and focus on verse 14 for a few minutes in a modern translation like the NLT. I like the words they chose "So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son". I consider this to be the greatest miracle possible when God the Son left His place in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) and came down to earth to be "Incarnated" into a tiny baby in the womb of Mary of Nazareth, who happened to be the "virgin" that the OT prophet Isaiah mentioned in (Is 7:14). This miracle of the "Virgin Birth" was a "one time only" event that allowed Jesus to escape the inherited sin of our original parents Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-7) and be totally sinless, whereas all the rest of us are sinners because of Adam's sin plus our own sinful actions.

 

Just imagine; Jesus the sinless Son of God--the Lord of our universe, and the Creator of all things--chose to dwell among us! This is the Miracle that we celebrate every year at Christmas. Not only did He choose to live with us, but He promised an "Intimate Relationship" with all those who choose to accept Him as Lord and Savior. Then our heavenly Father "adopts" us into His Eternal family, and gives us the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever! See (2 Cor 5:17-21) for the details of what all this entails for those who put their faith and trust in Him, and what He accomplished for us on the cross as our

"Redeemer". Joe closed his article with "When you think of the Babe in the manger, remember how special it is that He not only moved into our "neighborhood", but that He did it so He could bless us with the intimate privileges of His residence within us". Oh how we need to thank God for His wonderful gift to us that we celebrate each year on Christ's birthday!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                   29/12/14                                                                                  

 

The Gift of His Presence

THE GIFT OF HIS PRESENCE

 

Joe Stowell posted an article on Our Daily Bread (ODB) on Dec 26, 2014 called "In The Neighborhood" that caught my attention. He told the story of a well known football player who had recently moved into their neighborhood, and of course everyone, especially the football fans, expected to get to know him personally. But they were very disappointed when it proved he was too busy to have any time to become involved in any local activities. As a direct contrast to this situation, consider the case of Jesus who not only moved into our neighborhood, but "His Presence" became available to anyone who believed in Him and accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Read (John 1:1-14), and focus on verse 14 for a few minutes in a modern translation like the NLT. I like the words they chose "So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son". I consider this to be the greatest miracle possible when God the Son left His place in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) and came down to earth to be "Incarnated" into a tiny baby in the womb of Mary of Nazareth, who happened to be the "virgin" that the OT prophet Isaiah mentioned in (Is 7:14). This miracle of the "Virgin Birth" was a "one time only" event that allowed Jesus to escape the inherited sin of our original parents Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-7) and be totally sinless, whereas all the rest of us are sinners because of Adam's sin plus our own sinful actions.

 

Just imagine; Jesus the sinless Son of God--the Lord of our universe, and the Creator of all things--chose to dwell among us! This is the Miracle that we celebrate every year at Christmas. Not only did He choose to live with us, but He promised an "Intimate Relationship" with all those who choose to accept Him as Lord and Savior. Then our heavenly Father "adopts" us into His Eternal family, and gives us the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever! See (2 Cor 5:17-21) for the details of what all this entails for those who put their faith and trust in Him, and what He accomplished for us on the cross as our

"Redeemer". Joe closed his article with "When you think of the Babe in the manger, remember how special it is that He not only moved into our "neighborhood", but that He did it so He could bless us with the intimate privileges of His residence within us". Oh how we need to thank God for His wonderful gift to us that we celebrate each year on Christ's birthday!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                       29/12/14                                                                                     

 

Remember The Wrapping

REMEMBER THE WRAPPING

 

I was impressed by the devotional message from Joe Stowell in the ODB today Dec 22, 2014. He called it "Remember The Wrapping", he was referring to what Jesus chose as His divine wrapping when He came to earth to be "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", (John 1:29). He and Father could have chosen a completely different introduction of God the Son to our world. They could have made it a celestial show of glory, but instead made it a humble birth in a lowly animal trough in a stable outside an inn in the village of Bethlehem. See (Phil 2:6-7) NLT for the details of the wrapping that was chosen for Jesus, when He took upon Himself the "likeness of a human being". Remember what God said in (Gen 1:26) "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us". And we know that Adam and Eve were the first specimens of the new species created in the image of God, as perfect human beings. And of course they were deceived by our enemy Satan into disobeying God and allowing sin and death to enter creation, and it became a "fallen world". (Rom 5:12-21).

 

Why is this "wrapping" that Jesus chose to come to earth in so important to us? Because Jesus humbled Himself and became a human like us He knows every sort of emotion that we might experience. He was unjustly accused, and abandoned and betrayed by friends, scripture tells us that "He was tempted in everyway like us, and yet without sin". Because He was the one and only "God/Man" who was 100% God yet was also 100% man, so His death on the cross was the only adequate payment to settle the debt we all owed because of the inherited sin of our original parents, plus all the other sins we have committed in our lifetime (Rom 6:23). As Paul states so clearly in (Rom 3:9-26), Jesus who knew no sin became sin for us humans, so we could take on His righteousness. (2 Cor  5:17-21). This is the main point of the "good news" of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is why it is so important to understand the miracle of Christmas that Jesus became one of us, in order that He could give His life as a sacrifice on the cross on Mount Calvary some 2000 years ago, (no one killed Jesus). He freely gave up His Spirit, so that we who are sinners can be saved by placing our faith and trust in the finished work of the cross. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord, Praise His wonderful Name!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                             22.12/14                                                                                        

A Branch From David's Line

A BRANCH FROM DAVID'S LINE

 

In chapter 11 of the prophesy of Isaiah, in the NLT version it starts out "Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot—yes a new branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord". This of course speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was also mentioned in (Is 9:2-7), where we find the familiar verse 6 "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end". And of course Isaiah was also the one who told about a virgin conceiving in (Is 7:14) "All right then, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel (which means God is with us)". NLT

 

Isaiah, in this chapter, not only talks about Jesus being a descendent of King David, but he also looks toward a yet future age that we refer to as the "Millennial Reign" of Christ, when He comes back to a renewed heaven and earth, and sets up His earthly reign from a natural rebuilt Jerusalem. Notice verse 9 in the NLT version, which reads "Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord". When we look around at the present condition of our world today, we can hardly believe that such a change will ever happen. But God's Word says it will happen, so as followers of Jesus today, we believe this will happen just as the Word says. But when we read (Rev 21:1-8) we see "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband". The rest of this chapter describes what we have understood to be heaven, where we go when we die. This New Jerusalem will be the eternal abode for all born again children of God, and it will be located just above the rebuilt city of Jerusalem, from which King Jesus will rein His "Eternal Kingdom". Some songs and poems about a place called "heaven", where Jesus has gone to build custom made mansions for His children, have been very misleading. We need to stick with God's Word, and believe every word, and not some doctrines that are based on some man's theories!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                12/12/14

 

called by name

CALLED BY NAME

 

How wonderful it is to be called by your personal name in a crowd of people I recently read of a school principle who determined to learn the names of the 600 students in her school. The year before she learned the names of 700 students in a different school she had been principal of that year. Just try to imagine what it would mean to a student to be recognized and addressed by their own name in a crowd of 600 students! In (Luke 19:1-10) Jesus was entering Jericho and a well know tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus, who was a short man, climbed up into a tree to be able to see Jesus as He passed by. When Jesus reached the spot where Zacchaeus was, He called him by name and said "Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today". After Zacchaeus had pledged to return 4 times as much as he had taken falsely from anyone for taxes. Then Jesus responded "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost".

 

Jesus knows us all by name, and calls us to follow Him like He did to His 12 disciples by the Sea of Galilee. Not only does He know us by name, but He knows the plan our Creator had in mind for us before we were born! The Apostle Paul addresses this issue in (Phil 3:10-16), he says he knows he has not yet arrived, but "I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling me. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, God will make it clear to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made". NLT

 

As committed followers of Jesus today, we are members of the Church that Jesus has been in the process of building, as He said He would do as recorded in (Matt 16:18). This true Church is sometimes referred as the "Body of Christ" on earth today. And our main job is to represent the Kingdom of God as "Ambassadors" (2 Col 5:20-21), when you are caused to think you are not important because no one knows your name, just remember Jesus knows your name, and we can know Him as Lord and Savior. That's the most important thing to know for sure!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                             06/12/14                                                                                 

FOR SALE--"As Is"

FOR SALE—"AS IS"

 

We often see an article for sale with this sign attached, whether it is a used car or an old house. It usually means the present owner does not want to spend the necessary cost of repairing the item. What it really means is for "the buyer beware", it will probably cost more to repair it than it's worth. Aren't you glad our Creator doesn't feel that way about us when He calls us to come to Himself through His Son Jesus? He receives us "As Is" in our sin and darkness, knowing that His Holy Spirit has the power to clean us up from whatever condition we may be in. All He needs from us is a decision to believe by faith what Jesus did for us on the cross, and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Then Father does the rest by adopting us into His family and gives us the gift of His Holy Spirit to abide with us forever. This is the "Good News" of the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and is available to anyone who chooses to receive it.

 

As believers in Jesus, and committed followers of Him as members of the "Body of Christ" we have the privilege of sharing this good news with everyone we meet. All we need is to know Jesus as Savior through the "New Birth" experience, and a desire to share Him with others. Jesus tells us clearly in (John 14:6) "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me". And the Apostle Paul explains in (2 Cor 5:17) "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old is gone, a new life has begun". NLT Then if we read verse 18-21 we are told that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, come back to God! For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Him". NLT

 

This is certainly good news, that God can take us "As Is", and make us into a completely new person by His marvelous grace. All by a simple choice on our part have you done that yet? and if not why not? God always leaves the choice up to us, so I would suggest you take Him at His Word!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                           01/12/14