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

 

 

 

 

 

True Love

TRUE LOVE

 

In the daily devotional in ODB today Oct. 31, 2014, the author Bill Crowder called it "What Love Is", and he used a line that caught my attention "Real love has a lot to do with sacrifice". This word "love" in our English language can be used in a number of different ways with completely different meanings. For example we might say "I love pizza", or "I love my dog or cat", or "I love my new car", or we can say "I love God". This one little word can be used for all these different examples, but we are limited to this one word. The Greek language that most of our NT scriptures were written in had several different words for "love", for example [Agape] and [Eros]. These two words in Greek were both translated into English as love, although their meaning is quite different. Agape is used in (1 John 4:7-8) where we read "God is Agape". Every time John uses love in these verses the Greek word was always Agape.

 

The best example of "Self sacrificing" love is what we see in (John 3:16-17) or in (Rom 5:8) where our Creator God loved us so much that He allowed His own Son Jesus to become "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"  (John 1:29). This is the type of love that we as followers of Jesus should be continually showing towards the other members of the "Body of Christ". If the world around us saw more of this type of "self sacrificing love" operating in our churches, I'm sure they would be more interested in knowing more about the Good News of the "Gospel of The Kingdom of God" that we are to represent! As part of the true Church that Jesus said He would build (Matt 16:18), we who are followers of Jesus and part of this true Church, often referred to as the "Body of Christ" have our work cut out for us.

 

How do you suppose we could improve our witness to the world around us, to show them more clearly the change of heart that happens to us when we are "born again" and become a child of our Father? I think we need to give this some serious thought, and do as Peter commands us in (1 Peter 3:15) in the NLT version "Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it". That doesn't sound too difficult does it? The main thing is to be showing sacrificial love to others in the Body of Christ that will cause others to notice, and ask you the question "why are you doing that"? Then tell them!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                                   31.10/14

The Ultimate Reunion

THE ULTIMATE REUNION

 

This topic was brought to my mind this morning by the devotional in ODB by Joe Stowell. He used (1 Thess 4:13-18) for his text, which is commonly referred to as "the rapture passage". Paul was addressing the question of what happens to those loved ones who had died "in the Lord", and if they would ever see them again? This is a clear explanation of what will happen at the return of Jesus to receive His "Church/Bride", and includes "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall ever be with the Lord". This will definitely not be "a secret quiet little affair" as some believe, but I expect will be quite "noisy"! And of course only Father God knows when this will occur (Matt 24:36), although many people have made predictions of when this rapture will happen, but they are all "false prophets" according to Jesus.

 

But we can be certain that it will happen in God's perfect time, until then Jesus will remain at His Father's side "until" certain things happen, See

(Ps 110:1) or (Acts 3:19-21) for details. This should end all of those theories that Jesus might return "at any moment", these are definitely not true and are impossible according to scripture. But this will be what Joe calls "The Ultimate Reunion" with family or friends who knew Jesus as Lord and Savior, and have already passed on. This is our glorious hope if we have obeyed the advice given by Paul to Titus in (Titus 3:1-8), which is part of the "Gospel of the Kingdom" that must be preached to all nations and tribes and tongues before the "end of this age" (Matt 24:14), which are the words of Jesus.

 

Most everyone has at least a few people who you know had a relationship with Jesus before they died, and are now enjoying His presence in heaven. This is the "Ultimate Reunion" you can look forward to if you have that same relationship with Jesus here and now in this life. If you are not sure where you stand with Jesus, I would suggest you read (John 14:6) and then (Eph 2:1-10) where Paul explains clearly how we can be sure of this relationship with God. This is how we can be sure of having this "ultimate reunion" with those who have gone on before us!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                                 27/09/14     

Whose Side Are You On

WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

In a recent article by Joe Stowell in ODB, he mentioned a quote by President Lincoln about whose side God was on in the US civil war. Lincoln replied, "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right". That is a very accurate quote, and represents an attitude towards God that we should all embrace. In the book of Joshua, he had a strange encounter with a stranger with a sword in his hand. (Joshua 5:13-15) NLT Joshua demanded "are you friend or foe?" To which he replied "neither one, I am the commander of the Lord's army". This would probably have been the Arch Angel Michael, who was in charge of a great number of warring angels, whose job was to protect God's people. Joshua fell on his face in reverence and said "I am at your command, what do you want me to do?" The commander of the Lord's army replied "take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy" and Joshua did as he was told.

 

This is probably the proper response to any command we read in God's Word, instead of our often attitude that we will do things "our way", and ignore His way. Read (Is 55:6-11) for a clear instruction from God as to how we should respond to the hearing of His Word. Actually this whole chapter is an excellent read, which in the NLT version is headed up "Invitation to the Lord's Salvation". It makes it very clear that His ways are far above our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. In (Ps 139:23-24) we read "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life". Then in (Ps 73:28) we read "But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do". NLT

 

"So let's ask ourselves: are we on the Lord's side? Being on His side means that we will reflect His love to the world around us in the way we interact with others. We will forgive, treat others justly, and seek peace. God's ways are always best". That's how Joe finishes his article, and then ends with this prayer "Father, teach us to search Your ways so that we may know how to be on Your side of the critical issues of life". He closes with this punch line "When you draw near to God, you are sure to be on His side".

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                               04/12/14

 

Second Best

SECOND BEST

 

No one likes to be "second best", but always want to be first, its part of our human nature. There is a story in the OT that deals with this matter, it is found in chapters 29 and 30 of the book of Genesis. It involves Jacob who had gone to find a wife among his relatives in a place called Haran, where he met the daughter of his uncle Laban, who invited him to stay with his family for a month. Laban had two daughters named Leah and Rachel, and Jacob loved Rachel who was the younger of the two. Jacob agreed to work 7 years for Laban in return for Rachel as his wife, but Laban tricked him into marrying Leah, because of some custom that demanded the first born child must be married first. Anyhow Jacob stayed and worked an additional 7 years for Rachel and had them both as his wife. Rachel proved to be barren while Leah bore him several sons. She named the first one Reuben meaning "See a Son", the second one she named Simeon, meaning "Heard", and the third she named Levi, meaning "attached". Clearly she had been trying to please Jacob by bearing him sons, but she seemed to change at this point and bore him a fourth son and named him Judah, meaning "Praise", and then she stopped bearing children. Her attempts at gaining Jacob's love never worked for her, which reminds me of some people's attempt by various religious "works" to please God, who already loves the whole world so much that He allowed His only begotten Son Jesus to die for our sins (John 3:16).

 

We can do nothing to deserve or gain His love because He is love according to (1 John 4:8), and the word John used here for "love" is the Greek word [Agape] which always means a God kind of love, because "God is Agape". Because God is Agape, therefore all of His creation including every person whether they know it or not is loved by Him, and Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord and Savior is the door or entrance into a relationship with Him. (John 14:6) Bob Mumford points out in his teaching in "The Agape Road" that the 7 fold DNA of God consisting of 1/ Compassion, 2/ Grace, 3/ Slow to anger,

4/ Mercy, 5/ Truth, 6/ Faithfulness, 7/ Forgiveness, so we can rest assured that there is no such thing as being "second best" in His Church, which is the "Body of Christ". As long as you have made the choice to "believe by faith", accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and Father has adopted you into His Forever Family, you are part of His Family for Eternity!! That is certainly why the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is called "Good News"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                             14/02/13

Secret Affairs

SECRET AFFAIRS (revised)

 

While recently reading again Jesus' "sermon on the mount", my attention was drawn to (Matt 5:27-30) where He addresses the topic of "adultery". He here compares the Old Covenant by first saying "You have heard it said----but I say to you----"then proceeds to list His interpretation of the topic at hand. In every case His words are stronger than the Old Covenant law. This made me think of the common practice of men viewing pornography today, which would be classed as "adultery", and I have read some statistics as high as 50-70 % of men in our churches regularly are involved. And under the OT the penalty for adultery was "death by stoning". And as I understand the penalty spelled out by Jesus, of losing an eye or a hand, is not a death sentence, it is still quite severe. It seems to me we would see a lot of men with one eye or one hand. How are we to deal with this present situation I wonder?  Thank God we live in the period of grace, when all sin can be forgiven because Jesus bore the sins of the whole world on the Cross of Calvary. Men need to be told that this is what God's Word demands, but because they are quite often Bible illiterates, because they don't read the Bible for themselves, or perhaps attend a church of some kind, that does not preach the pure gospel of the Kingdom of God, they simply don't know this.

But ignorance of the facts is no excuse, so unless these men are made aware of the truth of God's Word, they will all suffer the consequences.

 

Most people don't believe in a literal "hell", and we often hear expressions like "surely a Holy God wouldn't send a person to hell". And that is correct, God doesn't "send" anyone to hell, but because He is just and righteous, that is why He allowed His one and only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay the debt we all owed. (Rom 3:23) and (Rom 6:23), but He leaves the choice to us. The choice is simple, chose eternal life in Christ, or don't chose Him and suffer the consequences of a wrong choice. The Bible is very clear on this point, there are only two choices, the right choice is "heaven" with Jesus, and the wrong choice is "hell" with the devil and his fallen angels. Hell was a place created for them, but because of people making the wrong choice either because of ignorance or rebellion, a lot of "good" people will end up there. Just imagine if you can, how out of place a known "sinner" would feel in heaven surrounded by millions of redeemed sinners praising Jesus along with millions of God's holy angels! I expect that is why our merciful God provided a special place for these people.

 Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                               23/04/12

The Beast Empires

THE BEAST EMPIRES

 

A careful study of world history will disclose that there was certain nation Empires that because of their hatred toward God's chosen people Israel over the years could be called "Beast Empires". That is the term that Robert Van Kampen chose to use in his book called "The Sign". Starting with Egypt, when a new Pharaoh came to power after the former one had welcomed Jacob and his family of 70+ souls to settle in a fertile section of the country called Goshen. Their family increased so rapidly that this new King was afraid they could become more numerous than the Egyptians, so he made them slaves, and their life became hard under bondage. We know from scripture that when they cried out to their God, He sent Moses to lead them out of bondage.

 

According to Van Kampen in chapters 6 and 7 of his book he lists a total of 8 beast empires starting with Egypt and ending with the rule of Antichrist as the eighth. On page 113 he gives a very interesting diagram showing these different Empires with their leaders. Number seven is not really identified but Nazi Germany under the leadership of Adolph Hitler and his attempt to exterminate the Jews would certainly be one possibility. The fact that this WW 2 happened just prior to the Nation of Israel being established back in their own land in 1948, and the demonic reign of Hitler and the holocaust he masterminded, all would lead to him as the most likely person in my opinion. In any event there has to be a seventh who received a fatal wound but who was restored to become the final Beast, (Rev 13:1-10)!

 

This is one of the more interesting parts of the "end times scenario" that Van Kampen includes in "The Sign". The main theme of his book would be how God is going to provide for Israel, His chosen people. As we know the enemy "Lucifer/Satan" has always been the avowed enemy of God since he was cast out of heaven long ago (Is 14: 12-23) and (Ezek 28:11-19). These 2 OT passages explain the very beginning of sin and wickedness that we see in our "Fallen World", and how our Creator will deal with this problem before He creates a "New Heaven and a New Earth" as described in (Rev 21:1-10). Our God who has always had a plan for this world way before He created this time and space world out of nothing, so to speak, will be sure to finish what He started. We who have a "relationship" with Him through His Son Jesus Christ (John 14:6), have a glorious future to look forward to!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                                 30/08/14