Why Jesus Came

Ask someone nowadays who Jesus was, and there's a good chance you'll get, "Jesus was a good guy", or "Jesus was cool dude" and many times they'll add, "I don't know if he was the son of God, though".

Too many people will tell you that Jesus came to be the example of how a human should live. OK. This is partly true. But he primarily came to live a sinless life and become the perfect sacrifice for our sins (past, present and future). He came to seek and save those who were lost. Here's why I say this:

1. We are innately sinful. 
2. We have to be perfect, like him, to get into heaven and be in the presence of God.
3. To do this, we have to obey every commandment and never sin in order to be deserving of heaven.
4. We can't do it. Can we?

That's the point. In the old testament, the Jews used to sacrifice animals to "cover" their sins. Jesus came and became the perfect sacrifice. This is a sacrifice that doesn't just cover our sins, but erases them. We cannot be in God's presence when we are full of sin. If we receive Jesus' free gift, repent and trust in Him, God now sees us as perfect and sinless, because He now sees us through Jesus. This is why we are called Saints when we are saved. It's the way God sees us now. We now have, as John MacArthur once explained, an alien righteousness. We can now be one of God's children. Not through our works, but through the works of our true Savior, Jesus Christ!

Luke 19:8 says:

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."

OK, time to go to church.

God bless!

CRITICISM - Who me?

Criticism. Sometimes we don't take it very well. When criticized, it can anger us, driving us into a defensive display of snarkiness and spastic reactions. Think about it. Humorous, yes, but indeed true. But what does the Bible have to say about criticism? Quite a bit. When we agree that criticism can be helpful, we dub it "constructive criticism".

Proverbs 15:31-32 says:

"If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject criticism, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding." NLT

Am I Satisfied With My Life? (What is enough?)

Paul teaches us and emphasizes that we are to be satisfied with what the Lord has blessed us with, whether it is in riches or the total opposite. We all go through difficult times. Other times, we are very satisfied with what is going on around us. At all times, we are to be content and continue to remember that our goal is to be forever with our Lord Jesus. Sure, we have concerns in this life. We need to clothe, feed, and shelter ourselves and our families. We work hard to do these things. But we should not be anxious about it, since the Lord will always provide enough. Key word: enough. If "your ship comes in", praise God. If it doesn't, praise God. And remember that we have our treasure stored up in Heaven.

Philippians 4:11-13 says:

11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.  (NLT)

God's Patience

"The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)

I've been pondering lately the fact that God has been so wonderfully patient with me. He's been known to take a life on the spot (like Ananias and Sephira, who lied to the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 4)... as well he should, considering that we all deserve it, if we're willing to be honest about it.

God is infinitely and patiently waiting for us to repent. When we repent, it's not that we stop sinning and never sin again, but that we continue this short life in constant battle with sin in obedience to God's word. There is a saying that explains, "Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up". Therefore, if we fall (and we will), we get up and we keep on pushing for the finish line. It's important to remember that we are saved by grace, but are now filled with a desire to obey God's commandments. 1 John 2:3 says, "And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments." (NLT)

Galatians 5:22-23 shows examples of the "fruits of the Spirit", of which one is patience. These "fruits" are of and from God. Patience is one of God's attributes. We are impatient at our best as humans. When God enters our lives, he puts the Holy Spirit into us. As we continue on our trek in this life, we stumble, struggle, and fall, but throughout all of this, God is growing our patience as we strive to be "Christ-like" as we are called to become.

God's patience is amazing. When someone commits a horrible act, we demand immediate justice. But when we ourselves do something that we should not do, we hope and pray for patience from God. He does not want us to perish (or be destroyed, as the NLT translation of the Bible puts it).

The fact that you are alive enough to read this blog demonstrates God's innate goodness and the wonderful fact that God is indeed a patient God, since we continue to goof up and commit violations of the commands that were lain down before us through His Word.

Back to 2 Peter 3:9, it says that "...he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (NLT) I believe that the Lord has not yet returned because he is patient with us, not desiring that any of us perish, allowing us time to repent. Exodus 34:6-7 says,

The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,

“Yahweh! The Lord!

The God of compassion and mercy!

I am slow to anger

and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.

I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

But I do not excuse the guilty..." (NLT)

In conclusion (in case you are still reading :), Romans 5:6-8 explains something awesome!

"When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." (NLT)

Additionally, one of my favorite verses says in Romans 8:1,

"So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." (NLT)

Remembering My Mom

This Mothers Day I am reminded of what a good mother my mom was. When I was growing up, she was always there for us children. She worked hard. She used to keep the house so clean we could eat off the floors. She always made sure we were clothed in clean clothes and ate well. Even during times of financial struggle, she would make the beans, potatoes and tortillas taste like Gordon Ramsey's mentor made them.


I can remember, very clearly, how my mom would sit in her chair, taking a break from all that she did, reading the Bible. When I was small, I would see her there reading it, but didn't really ask her any questions about what she read, or what she learned -- I was too busy with me.  But being exposed to this example, something was instilled in my heart. That image of my mother was burned inside of me all these years, and when I take time to read the Bible I can still see her sitting in her chair with her Bible, her feet curled up underneath her, half-covered by a small blanket, reading glasses on. When I saw her reading her Bible like that, I would try not to bother her. It was something I respected, but didn't understand at the time. Now I do. The Word of God is what our soul feeds on. It edifies us, grows us, enables us to overcome temptations and to resist sinful things, and keeps us remembering that we can set our eyes on the better world that is to come and that this world we are presently in is only a temporary experience.


In Proverbs 31, the Bible gives us an example of what a woman (mother as well as wife) should be like:


¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
      She is more precious than rubies.
 ¹¹ Her husband can trust her,
      and she will greatly enrich his life.
 ¹² She brings him good, not harm,
      all the days of her life.


It goes on to say:



²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity,
      and she laughs without fear of the future.
 ²⁶ When she speaks, her words are wise,
      and she gives instructions with kindness.
 ²⁷ She carefully watches everything in her household
      and suffers nothing from laziness.
 ²⁸ Her children stand and bless her.
      Her husband praises her:
 ²⁹ “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
      but you surpass them all!”
 ³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
      but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
 ³¹ Reward her for all she has done.
      Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. NLT




Love ya, Mom!

How does the Holy Spirit work in us?

This is something I've been looking at more and more lately.

Last week I was thinking a lot about just how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. I was in the kitchen cleaning up one evening when I just felt the need to pray. I usually don't depend on feelings a whole lot because they can be wrong, but then I thought, Well, it could be the Holy Spirit prodding me to pray, so I guess it couldn't hurt. So I prayed in front of my messy kitchen counter, just a simple prayer to thank the Lord for saving me. I always listen to sermon pod-casts or Christian radio shows (like Greg Laurie or Wretched Radio) on my iPod while cooking or cleaning. I put my iPod on and Greg Laurie started preaching on the Holy Spirit. Hmmm..... My wife came home from work a few minutes later. She sat down at the table and I turned my iPod off. Right off the bat, she started asking questions about the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and all that sort of business. Huh? Interesting. The next morning, I went to church at Calvary Tucson. Pastor Furrow got up and began his sermon. You'll never guess what he was preaching about. OK, I knew you would guess -- the Holy Spirit. God, are you trying to tell me something?, I thought. Hmmm. It was an awesome sermon too. After they service, they usually sell the DVD video of the sermon in the church's book store in the building right next door. I just had to go over and buy the DVD. I took it home and popped it in the DVD player while eating lunch with my family.

My pastor spoke about how he used to attend charismatic pentecostal churches when he was younger (like I did). He said he loves the brothers there and agrees that the Holy Spirit and all the spiritual gifts are for still intended for us today also, but that in church, things are to be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40) and not all crazy-like, with the falling down and the running around and "hanging from chandeliers" and everyone speaking in tongues all at once.  He was being funny when he mentioned that "that's why we don't have chandeliers in our church", but I knew exactly what he's talking about. I had seen a lot when I was a teenager in a charismatic pentecostal church called The Apostolic Church in the Faith of Jesus Christ, which is a (mostly) Spanish-speaking fundamentalist/modalist type of church.

OK, I didn't explain how the Holy Spirit works in our lives in this post. This is a very important topic and I don't want to attempt to teach others on it, but rather ask my readers (if you there are any) to share their knowledge on the subject of how the Holy Spirit works in us today.

Thanks for reading!

Heaven

It's been a little while since the last time I wrote on this blog. My Mom passed away a week ago. I am comforted only because I know for a fact that she is now with our Savior in the "present" heaven. I know this because the Bible explains to us that we are saved by faith (Eph. 2:8,9). My Mom understood that she was in need of a savior, just like the rest of us. She believed that God sent his only Son (John 3:16) to become the perfect, blemish-free sacrifice in our place. He took all of our sins, past, present, and future, upon Himself and died on the cross at Calvary. He rose on the third day, conquering death. If we receive this free gift (Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8,9), repent, and put our faith in him, he is faithful to save us from His wrath.

Romans 1:16-23 says it clearly:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel (the good news that he paid the fine for our sins), for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures."

I'll see you in heaven some day, Mom, because Jesus paid for my sins as well. Love ya.