An Abundance of Grace

But there is always a choice and really, it’s the ultimate choice – believe God or believe the lie. To believe God is to believe that He took on human flesh, lived a perfect life and died on the cross, carrying the sins of all mankind. Then on the third day He rose again and is now seated on God’s right hand. To believe the lie is to believe Satan as he shrieks, “You will not surely die. God doesn...

This one small verse tucked into the end of chapter four of Genesis: And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD . (Gen 4:26) Do the math and you’ll see that this was 235 years after Adam’s creation. It seems to illustrate that mankind was ‘gun-shy’ so to speak about relating to the Lord. Let’s consider what had happened up to...

Yet we still tend to think of godliness as in the form of the serpent’s lure. We originally took that bait and we’ve been hung up on it ever since. As it ingrained itself into our sin-nature, the nature of the flesh, it manifested itself in religion.

Of course, I’m not the expert in Hebrew – just a student and a student of the scripture for some 53 years so when I see that Isaiah records that Jehovah established the earth NOT empty which means NOT wasted or formless and I read that Moses says of the earth in Gen 1:2 it was indeed wasted, formless and in chaos, I conclude that something happened to the earth that God prepared for inhabiting.

First, we have to understand that this war is not really about Job. Oh, he is in the midst of it and his behavior is on display, but all that he goes through is a vis-aid to demonstrate to the whole created order – spiritual and material - Who the Creator is. Even Satan is a pawn in this epic.

So do NOT identify with that rotting corpse, your body, which hangs on to its sin and sinful ways. When you trusted in Christ as your Savior, your redemption, you died with Him and were also raised with Him. You truly are a new creation. What this power is all about is the ultimate power, but its nature may surprise you.

Are you tracking with me? Every spiritual blessing! Accepted in the Son! Seated with Him! Made eternally ALIVE! It’s all a done deal.

It's more than just being physically in the pew so to speak; the new creature doesn’t just behave or think differently, the new creation sees the Creator in a whole new way.

Of course, this Light is not made of photons. It is not on the electromagnetic spectrum at all. But get this (and I repeat this verse intentionally): For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light (Psa 36:9) That is, only in this Light can we see (perceive, understand) this Light For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness (Psa 18:28) Your ‘lamp’ is you...

“Because” means that their problem wasn’t with Jesus’ accent or clothing or His tendency to produce miracles on the Sabath. Their ‘inherited spiritual DNA’ caused them to not hear, to refuse to hear, when the truth was spoken and thus, they could not believe Jesus because that’s all He spoke.

From the days of Adam until now, the expectations of godly men and women are realized in the person of Jesus Christ -- Who He is, what He does, all that He represents. Most of us would agree, however, that some of the expectations of the godly aren’t so ‘godly’. Rather, we can shade them in selfishness, impatience, covetousness or misunderstanding and as a consequence be very disappointed with God...

Paul claimed that he had not already attained or been perfected or had apprehended because he is referring to his goal, the prize of the upward call – his final transformation.

When hopes are dashed, and grief is raw, that’s ‘Saturday’. When all your purpose seems absolutely purposeless, that’s ‘Saturday’. When you heart hardens into a callous pursuit of self-gratification or worldly comfort – that’s ‘Saturday’. When doubts and fears surround, and you feel like hiding – that’s ‘Saturday’. And many, if not most of us can get stuck there to some extent.

When Jesus was challenged about His ministry to “sinners”, He spoke three parables – one about a lost sheep, another about a lost coin and one we all remember, the lost or prodigal son. All three speak of loss but the primary point of view of the first two is of the seeker and that of the third is of the one lost.

A rarely mentioned attribute of God’s creation is that it is filled (pun intended) with containers. You see, people are containers; the earth is a container, the cosmos in its entirety is a massive container. And of course, there are containers for virtually everything – material and spiritual. But there is one exception to this – God, Himself. God does not contain, God is and God fills.

You know the story. Jesus appeared on the shore and called out to see how the fishing was going. It had been a fruitless endeavor all night. They didn’t recognize Him and He asked if they had caught anything. He got a one-word answer, “No!” Again, He tells them how to do what they ‘know’: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So, they cast, and now they were not abl...

Furthermore, Gabriel went to the village of Nazareth, basically a “non-place”. It wasn’t even mentioned in the Old Testament or in the rabbinical writings. A shoddy, corrupt stop between the ports of Tyre and Sidon, it was basically overrun by gentiles and roman soldiers.

When you listen to our enemy and identify with your body, your ‘flesh’, with the name on the lapel tag, even though you’re born again, you’ll be plagued by the pernicious sin-nature of your body and like the dear Apostle Paul when he bemoaned: For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (Rom 7:15) For I know that in me (that...

Some people just think they should see some proof of God. They can say, “But I didn’t feel anything.” Or “But I don’t see any change.” They think of God’s handiwork as a magician’s act. But that attitude denigrates God and belittles His plans. He does all things in His time and way, and if He says something, it is guaranteed absolutely whether or not it is visible to our eyes. This is the ‘stuff’...

It was indeed about 4000 years since Adam was exiled from the garden and specifically the Tree of Life. According to Peter in 2 Peter 3:8, that’s four days to the Lord. As God warned, Adam (and mankind) died after eating of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As with Lazarus, God waited for the right time to make that right. He waited four days to raise him from the dead.

But while the garden of Eden ended in death coming from a deadly tree, Jesus brought forth another tree, the cross of Calvary which became for us a tree of Life. That’s because when you believe in Jesus’ Name – God saves - you are doing God’s will :

So, the revealing John spoke of is actually two-fold – one we look forward to in hope (a hope that purifies us!) and one that is even now ongoing. In both cases, there’s a transformation and Christ is glorified. In both cases, we glorify Jesus because it’s His glory :

This hope is what anchors (tethers) our soul to God Almighty and brings us into the realization of His presence in us.

But God chose their progenitor and the people. He chose them to be “a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth”. And this was not for their numbers or their intelligence or their wealth or their integrity or any other human measure.

Now, as I said earlier, pride is part of your DNA so to speak. It is part of your dead fleshly nature. Humility, on the other hand, is not . Like agape love, you must choose to put it on .