I stand in awe of God Jehovah of the Holy Bible.  He alone is the pathway to joy, peace, serenity, and freedom.  Every other religion in the world, and unfortunately, some Christian denominations as well, still emphasize “our works” to make us right with God.  What a tragedy.  Christ came to set the captives free, and to give us an abundant life.  Notice that both promises – “to set the captives free” and “to give us an abundant life” – are predicated on the first two words, “Christ came”.  God’s plan was always (even before the world was created) to provide a Savior to do for his proudest creation (US) what he knew we would be incapable of doing for ourselves.

So why is accepting this gift from a loving God who wants an eternal relationship with us so difficult?  Could it be that it is too simple?  Does it challenge us to accept something so simple, especially since “we” are way too smart and complicated for that plan?  “My therapist” you say, “who has a PhD, and if that weren’t enough, an XYZ behind the PhD to show post doctoral work, well… even he still can’t figure me out!  So that just goes to show you that I’m way too overburdened, complicated and broken for something as simple as “just believing!”  So goes the thinking of the fearful mind, the doubtful mind, the clouded mind, and the intellectual mind.

Apostle Paul tells us he that he struggled with the same dilemma in the first century: “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction.  But we who are being saved recognize this same message as the very power of God.  As the Scriptures say, ‘I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas. God’s way seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true.  And it is foolish to the Greeks because they believe only what agrees with their own wisdom.  So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.” (1Corinthians 1: 18-19; 22-23) Let’s face it, nothing is more challenging to our human nature (or our sin nature, as the Bible calls it) than submitting to something greater than ourselves, especially something that is beyond our five senses and in the spiritual realm. And therein, I believe, lies the problem.

Let’s review for a moment the Old Covenant and the Law, with the understanding that the Law was the heart and soul of the Old Covenant.  The original intent of the Law was threefold.  First, it was civil law. The Israelites had been in bondage to Egypt for four hundred years, so when they finally experienced freedom, there was utter chaos in the wilderness. Therefore, God called Moses to join Him on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (a.k.a. theLaw). If the Israelites would follow these ten steps, there could be order and civility among the people. But it was more than civil law, it was also God’s standard. He wanted us to live in obedience to these commandments. And the final reason for the Law was to prove Man’s inability to live according to this standard through his own effort.  Apostle Paul stated this emphatically in Galatians 2:21: “For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there would be no need for Christ to die.”  But we proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were “utterly helpless” to keep the Law and save ourselves. (Ref. Romans 5:6)

The issue that keeps Man separated from God is SIN (all caps for emphasis).  And the definition of Sin is living separated from God’s will.  In other words, if we are focused on “our will” rather than on God’s will, we are “living in Sin”.  So under the Old Covenant, there was a sacrificial system set up to atone for our sins, using the blood of animals to cover those sins.  (So your next logical question might be, “Why was blood needed to cover our sins?”  The author of Hebrews answers that question in 9:22: “In fact, we can say that according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified by the sprinkling of blood.  Without the shedding of blood, there could be no covering [or future forgiveness] of sins.”)

Bear in mind, this system was only to be in place until the coming of Jesus Christ, the Sacrificial Lamb who’s one time sacrifice would pay the price for the sins of Mankind!  In fact, even God himself stated through two prophets His disdain for this old system: “I am sick of your sacrifices”, says the Lord. “Don’t bring Me any more burnt offerings! I don’t want the fat from your rams or other animals.  I don’t want to see the blood from your offerings of bulls and rams and goats.” (Isaiah 1:11) and “I want you to be merciful.  I don’t want your sacrifices.  I want you to know God.  That’s more important than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)

So now let’s compare the Old Covenant  (before Christ’s sacrifice) with the New Covenant  (after Christ’s sacrifice).  Under the Old Covenant, people tried to earn God’s approval and acceptance by being obedient to the Law. But It didn’t take long to discover that the Law is contrary to our “sin nature.”  The religious leaders at the time, the Pharisees, recognized this dilemma, so in their attempt to help the people be more successful in their failing effort, they added an additional six hundred man-made rules and regulations to help them stay in compliance with the “Big Ten.” The end result was total bondage to the law and a prevalence of guilt, shame and remorse.

But the Old Covenant came to an end when Jesus Christ said from the cross, “It is finished!”  This was the final sacrifice, and His shed blood didn’t just cover our sins…it washed away our sins. So when we accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf by inviting Him to be our Lord and Savior, we have accepted God’s Gift of Grace.  We didn’t have to work to get it, and we certainly could not earn it through our own effort. But this was God’s plan, as stated in Romans 10:13: “For anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” and Acts 4:12: “There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven (or on earth) for people to call on to save them.” JESUS!

The whole Salvation process is summed up in John 3:16: “For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life.”  Notice that there is only one requirement for salvation: to believe in Him.  Once that happens, we are immediately transformed.  2 Corinthians 5:17 describes this: “We are a new creation in Christ: the old has gone (we are no longer slaves to our sin-nature); the new has come”. (indwelling Holy Spirit)  Now we are ready to begin the process of growing more Christ-like. This is described in 2 Peter 1:3-4: “The more we grow in our knowledge of Jesus, His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life.  He has called us to receive His own glory and goodness! And by that same mighty power, He has given us all of His rich and wonderful promises.  He has promised that we will escape the decadence all around us caused by evil desires, and that we will share in His divine nature.”

So you might be saying to yourself, “Wow! I can’t do that. I can’t imagine myself becoming more Christ-like.”  And I would say, “I agree with you. You can’t”. But the good news is…God also knew it. That’s why He gifted all Believers with the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit empowers us to rise above our circumstances and our environment to become the person God created us to be. He gifted us with this supernatural power so we can claim the victory that is already ours.

Notice this differece between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant left the people in bondage to The Law, so guilt, shame and remorse still prevailed.  The New Covenant, however, is the pathway to joy, peace, serenity, and freedom.  But you might be asking, “But aren’t we still expected to obey the Ten Commandments.”  And I would answer, “Absolutely!”  But today our motivation for obeying God’s Law is different.  Because we made a decision to accept God’s Gift of Grace, we are in Christ, and therefore are worthy and acceptable in His eyes. Today our motivation for bringing honor and glory to God is not to earn his favor, but it is our way of saying “Thank You” for Your plan for my salvation!

Let me close with this Scripture from Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s Masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can now do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  And now that we are in Christ, the focus is not on “Me”.  Therefore I am capable of doing the good things God planned for me long ago.  That’s the simplicity of being in Christ.  It’s a matter of us getting out of the way and allowing the Holy Spirit to be our guide, our comforter, and the one who will lead us into all truth.   (Let all of that sink in!) 🙂

Feel free to respond to this posting, and please “like” and share with other social media friends.

May God Bless you abundantly…

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to lead us into all truth. We see this when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then He asked, “What about you? Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, Son of the living God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you through human reasoning, but by revelation from My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16: 13-17) This is how the Holy Spirit leads us into all spiritual truth and understanding; it is through revelation.

I began with this example, because the subject I want to write about today can only be understood on the spiritual level through revelation of a fundamental truth. Now having said that, the obvious question should be, “Is there another answer, or definition of this truth, in the natural realm?” The answer to that all-important question is, “yes”, but the answer in the natural realm has the opposite meaning of the spiritual definition. The truth in question here, is the concept of “surrender.”

In the natural realm, the worldly concept of “surrender” is defeat. When one surrenders, he has given up; he has been overpowered. In the spiritual realm, the result is quite the opposite. When one surrenders, one has just opened the door for empowerment; one will be equipped to do something here-to-fore not possible through one’s best effort. (That supernatural power IS the success factor in living the abundant life that Jesus Christ promised us.)

Let’s look at how this “word of truth” is used in the old hymn, “I Surrender All.”  “All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
(Refrain) I surrender all, I surrender all, All to Thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all.      (Vs.2)  All to Jesus I surrender; Make me, Savior, wholly Thine; Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine. (back to Refrain)

Let’s look at these word groupings: “All to Him I freely give”, “…love and trust Him, “In His presence daily live.”, “Make me, Savior, wholly Thine. All of these lovely, encouraging words require an action on our part, and that action is “surrendering”. We must become willing to surrender “self” to something greater than ourselves.  But the truth is, we can’t surrender until we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we can trust the object of our faith. As you can see, the concept of truth, surrender and trust are inextricably linked together.

Let’s take for example, Jesus’ directive to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid…trust Me!” (Mark 5:35-36) To be afraid is our natural response to unwelcome or challenging information such as Jairus had just received: “Your daughter is dead.” But Jesus challenged him to rise above his natural inclination and to “trust Me.” So, what would be required for that trust factor to kick in?

We are told that Jairus came to Jesus and pleaded with Him to come to his house to heal his daughter. “She is about to die. Please come and place your hands on her; heal her so she can live.” (Mark 5:23) Obviously, Jairus knew who Jesus was; perhaps he had witnessed previous miracles. But when he came to Jesus, he came with the confident expectation that Jesus could and would heal his daughter. Jairus knew he could trust the object of his faith, that special One, the One with supernatural power.

The quality that sets Christianity apart from other religions is the fact it is not built on works, but on faith and Truth…God’s Truth.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must first believe He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him.” God created us for a relationship with Himself, therefore He revealed His character, His standards, and His Truth by speaking through prophets. “Above all you must understand that no prophecy or Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.” (2Peter 1:20-21) Those Scriptures have been collected over the centuries and codified into what is now referred to as the Holy Bible. 2Timothy 3:16-17 describes its purpose. “All Scripture is inspired by God, and is useful to teach us what is true and what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out, and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing He wants us to do.”

When Jesus Christ walked on this earth, He was the Word of God incarnate. John 1:14 tells us, “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” Jesus was the living Word, that is why He told His disciples, “If you follow My teachings, you will know the truth (God’s Truth), and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) This is also the root of our faith and trust, because it is not just the words that were spoken, but our faith and trust is in WHO spoke those words!  The same God that said, “Let there be light” is the same God (Jesus) that said, “Don’t be afraid…trust Me!” and “the truth will set you free.”  Wow!  Let that sink in.

Before one can surrender, one first has to trust and believe. God’s awesome Truth (His Word) is the foundation upon which we build our faith, because all of those words were spoken by the Creator of the universe, the Godhead of the Trinity, the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, immutable, and timeless One. While we can stand in awe of His majestic qualities, we can never really relate to them because we are limited by our finite thinking. But we certainly can relate to Him through His love.

Therefore, God revealed Himself to us through His Word so we could come to know Him, and choose to participate in that all- important relationship. God is described in 1John with only one word: LOVE! In fact, 1John 4:19 tells us, “We love because He first loved us”, and 1John 1:5 gives us another perspective of His love: “God is light; there is no darkness in Him!”  While His majestic qualities are beyond our finite ability to comprehend, we can certainly relate to His love and His faithfulness.

So, the question might be, “How does all of this relate to surrender?” And my answer would be, “without surrendering to a power greater than ourselves (the Holy Spirit), our natural tendency is to get into the mix and try to overcome through our best effort.” (In fact, that describes the Old Covenant. Before Christ came, Man proved himself to be “utterly helpless” (ref. Romans 5:6) to overcome his sin-nature, regardless of how hard he tried.) But now that God’s plan for our salvation has been implemented (ref. Ephesians 1:3-14), those who are in Christ have been gifted with the indwelling Holy Spirit so we can be victorious in our battle with the enemy. (Ref. Ephesians 6:10-13).

Here is the bottom line. In order for the Holy Spirit to work in and through us, we have to get out of the way (we have to surrender) and call on the Spirit to give us His wisdom, His courage, His strength, His perseverance, His words to speak, whatever it is we need, to make choices that bring honor and glory to God. When we surrender to the Holy Spirit, we allow ourselves to tap into a supernatural power that will lead us to a victory which is already ours to claim.  2 Peter, 1:3 confirms this: “The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, His divine nature (the Holy Spirit) gives us everything we need for living a godly life.”  Our surrender is the pathway to becoming the person God created us to be.

Feel free to “like” this posting, and please feel free to share with other social media friends.

May God Bless You abundantly,

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Day, Meetpastordan Readers… I am really excited about this presentation.  I was at a T4T Bible study earlier today, and the facilitator had chosen for his topic the same topic I had been thinking about for this coming week’s blog.  After a spirited discussion, I left there committed to coming home and starting to write immediately.  The title says it all!  I mean, “Who doesn’t like to receive a gift?”

So let me ask you two questions.  If I told you I had a map to a hidden treasure worth millions of dollars, and that I was willing to give this map to you, free of charge and with no strings attached – and all you had to do was go retrieve the gold. Would you accept the gift?  Or suppose I told you that I would build your dream house wherever you wanted it, and all you had to do to get it was to accept the gift.  Would you do it?  I suspect those two questions are probably no-brainers.  Of course you would.  Why wouldn’t everyone accept such an amazing, dream-fulfilling offer?

Granted, those two offers are pretty exciting, but they are in the natural realm, meaning they are here and now; they are tangible. But God offers a gift that is even more astounding, gargantuan, and mind-blowing than the gifts above.  No doubt we are now talking about the spiritual realm, but the reality of this gift is…it will never change, fade, rot, decay, or diminish in value. And as an added bonus, it will last FOREVER!

God’s free gift never stops giving.  For instance, when you accept it, these things happen: You are immediately saved, meaning your sins are forgiven (you will not experience judgment), and you have just inherited eternal life.  This solidifies your eternal destiny.  And for us still living in this fallen world, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above our environment, our circumstances, and our “lot in life” to become the person God created us to be. As it says in Ephesians 2:10: “We are his Masterpiece!  He has created us anew in Jesus Christ so we can now do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

In addition to all of that, we are now worthy and acceptable in God’s eyes; not because of anything we did or didn’t do, but because of what Christ did for us on the cross.  He paid the penalty for our sins.  That’s why we face no judgment.  (Our slate is wiped clean because we are covered with the blood of Jesus.) We are grafted into God’s family; we are now a child of God. We have a new title; we’re now a saint (a believer) rather than a sinner.  That’s a very important title because even though we will continue to fall short of God’s glorious standard, because we are believers, the Bible tells us there is no condemnation for our shortcoming. (Our Father just wants us to keep focused on our continued growth, and to continue marching down the path of sanctification, becoming more Christ-like with every step.) We are now heir to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, and we are heir to every promise in the Bible.  How’s that for a GIFT?

That paragraph is summed up perfectly in 2 Peter 1: 3-4: “The more we grow in our knowledge of Jesus, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life.  He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness!  And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises.  He has promised that we will escape the decadence all around us caused by evil desires, and that we will share in his divine nature.”

But you might be saying to yourself, “I’m a good person.  I go to church every week; I say my prayers; I volunteer at the local hospital; I give money to help the poor.  And I would say, “That’s great, admirable, and impressive! And I’m sure God is pleased that you do those things.”  But now let me ask you this question.  “Why do you do those things”?  Is it to earn favor with God? Do you think he will love you more if you do this? Is it to be pleasing to yourself and/or to those who see what you’re doing?  If your answer is “yes”, it means you are still living under the Old Covenant.  You are still trying to earn God’s favor through your actions.  God expresses his disdain for this approach in Hosea 6:6: “I don’t want your sacrifices, I want your heart.  I don’t delight in your burnt offerings, I want you to love one another.” (For more insight on the subject of being good, I would like to recommend a short book by Andy Stanley entitled,” How Good is Good Enough?” It’s a great, straight-forward read.)  🙂

Now let me ask you these questions.  Do you ever gossip? Do you ever lie? Do you ever take the Lord’s name in vain?  Are you ever envious or jealous?  Do you ever value the world’s teachings over God’s Word?  If you can honestly answer “yes” to any of these questions, God’s Gift of Grace is your only answer.  And here is why I say that. All of these questions are rooted in our sin nature, which includes anger, jealousy, hatred, fear, guilt, shame, remorse, bitterness, anxiety, depression, immorality, impurity, sensuality, strife, envying, carousing, lying, cheating, stealing, etc. etc. As you can see, all of these character defects have their root in our mind, our emotions and our will. When these defects fill our mind and our heart, the result is never pleasing to God. Why?  Because all of these defects are rooted in self-centeredness rather than God centeredness, and that’s what keeps us separated from God.  That, in fact, IS the definition of Sin!

Apostle Paul states in Galatians 2:21: “For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.”  But God gave us from Creation to 2017 years ago to try to overcome the issue of Sin through our own effort, and Romans 5:6 reveals how we fared: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.”  How’s that for an indictment?  Clearly man proved himself incapable of overcoming his sin-nature.

But because God is a loving God, he always intended to do for us what he knew we could not do for our self. His plan, even before the world was created (Ref. Ephesians 1:4), was to provide a Redeemer to pay the ransom for our Sin, therefore making it possible for us to join Him, Jesus and all Christ-followers in Paradise for .ETERNITY

In God’s world, the standard is perfection.  In 1Peter 1:16, it is stated: “You must be holy (set aside for a sacred purpose; sin free) because I am holy.”  In other words, if you are stained with sin, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Why? Because sin spreads, contaminates, destroys, and kills.  Revelation 21:27 is explicit about this: “Nothing evil will be allowed to enter…only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”  Other Scriptures that reinforce this are: “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)

For those who do not accept God’s Gift of Grace (Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior), they will experience separation from God and will face eternal judgment.  Without Jesus, our Sin will separate us from eternal life in Paradise and all the wonders that await us there.  As it says in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can conceive the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”  So remember, this Gift is available to anyone who will accept it, regardless of who you are or what you have done.   “For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.”

This is THE gift, and it is the difference between a life that is filled with joy, peace, serenity and confidence, or one that is filled with strife, anxiety and fear.  Eternally it is the difference between death and salvation.  The choice is ours to make.

Feel free to respond to this blog, and please “like” and share with other social media friends.

May God Bless Ya…

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…As you know from previous blogs, I am particularly inspired today by the lyrics of some of the oldie-but-goodie hymns. The memories of belting out these timeless classics in the Evangelical United Brethren Church, is a wonderful flash-back to my childhood experience in Crooksville, Ohio. But as I have confessed in previous writings, at that time I was much more interested in singing the alto or tenor parts than I was in listening to the lyrics. Truth be told, the words got in the way of my “personal musical experience”, because my love for music was blossoming, and following the flow of the inner voices, (or as I thought of them at the time, the “real color notes” that accentuated the melody), was much more challenging, yet totally enthralling.

Today those wonderful old hymns still rattle around in my head, and quite frequently I find myself humming them. Such was the case last week when “How Great Thou Art” took root in my mind and wouldn’t go away. After a few days, I had even recalled the first two verses: O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder; Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder; Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

(Refrain) Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; How great Thou art; how great Thou art; Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; How great Thou art; how great Thou art.

And when I think of God, His Son not sparing; Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing; He bled and died to take away my sin. (back to Refrain)

Wow! The first verse is an incredible tribute to our majestic God, THE Creator of the Universe. It is those majestic qualities that cause us to stand in “awesome wonder”, and those qualities include being God-head of the Trinity, the omniscient One, the omnipotent One; the immutable One; the omnipresent One, or the Alpha and Omega. We may be able to define these words, but beyond that, how can anyone actually relate to what it means to be omnipresent or Alpha and Omega (timeless). That is so far beyond our/my paradigm of thinking, “I scarce can take it in.”

In the second verse, we see the personal God of Christianity, the One who unconditionally loves us, the One who was willing to pay our sin-ransom through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. God is described with only one word in 1 John 4:8: “…God is LOVE.”  The very essence of God is LOVE; He is either loving or being loved. 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love because He first loved us.”

He showed His immeasurable love for us by creating us, even though His majestic quality of omniscience revealed our impending disobedience to His plan. But irregardless, the pinnacle of His plan, as stated in Ephesians 1, was always to send a Redeemer to save us from ourselves. You see, He already knew that we could never overcome our sin-nature; that is what makes this Gift of Grace so awe inspiring. And, it is also why we love Him back. This is our way of saying, “Thank You, God, for what you did for us. You saved us from eternal damnation!”

No wonder our souls sing, “How great thou art; how great thou art”. When we commit to being in line with His will (meaning…when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior), we step into a spiritual realm that provides blessings that could never be achieved through our human effort. Only by being in Christ can we receive forgiveness of our sins; we can now inherit eternal life; we are now worthy and acceptable in His eyes – not because of anything we did or didn’t do – but because Jesus paid our sin-ransom on the cross. We are grafted into God’s family as His children; we are now Saints rather than sinners, meaning that when we fall short of God’s glorious standard, which we will, it is not counted against us as sin. (Ref. Romans 8:1) He just wants us to get up and continue growing in our relationship with Jesus. We are also heir to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, and we are heir to all of the promises in the Bible. That, my Friends, is hitting the spiritual jackpot!

What I have written about so far is the truth about God’s love and His Grace. He created us for a relationship with Himself, and not just a here-and-now relationship, but an eternal relationship. And because this eternal relationship will be in Paradise (the New Jerusalem), God set the bar very high for getting through the pearly gates. The standard set was/is perfection, as revealed in Leviticus 20:26; “You must be holy (without sin) because, I the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.” Since Man proved himself to be “utterly helpless” (Ref. Romans 5:6) to overcome the dilemma of Sin through his best effort, God gave us the incredible Gift of Grace so we could qualify to spend eternity in Paradise with Him, Jesus, and all other Christians. Apostle John clarified this process in Revelation 21:27: “Nothing impure will ever enter in (Paradise), nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful; only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life may enter.” Jesus presented that same truth with these words: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me!”

This last statement by Jesus is probably the most controversial Scripture in the Bible. To those of us being saved by that very truth of Christianity, we proclaim that statement to be the perfect example of God’s power and love for His proudest creation. To those who reject this very same message as being too selective, or not all-inclusive, I would remind you that without Jesus’ willingness to be the sacrificial lamb, shedding His blood as payment for “the sins of the world” (Ref. 1 John 2:2), there would be no hope of salvation for anyone.  Romans 6:23 drives that point home: “For the wages of Sin is death.” (NB 1) Again, Apostle John clarifies that statement with Revelation 21:8: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and the liars – they will be thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”  

God gave each of us the gift of free-will. We make our choices, then we reap what we sow; we can either chose to honor God, or we can walk away from Him. Jesus came to proclaim, “the Kingdom has come” (Matthew 12:28), yet His own people, even the Pharisees, did not recognize that He fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah. When He spoke to the multitudes that followed Him, not everyone believed that He was who He said He was, or some just couldn’t accept the truth of His message. Unfortunately, the same, is true today.

The conception of God’s plan for our salvation is so far beyond human reasoning, many believe it has to be a fairy-tale, or a myth, or – even worse – a joke!  But the truth is, His plan, as outlined in Ephesians 1: 3-14, is totally rooted in love – Agape love, which is unconditional, unending and unfailing love. This love is also beyond our human capacity. (If you doubt that, visit 1 Corinthians, 13:4-7 and check it out.)

I have talked about God’s love and His grace, but I would like to close by talking about His mercy. Even though God is LOVE, He also has to be a just God. Proverbs 11:21 tells us “the evil man (a sinner) shall not go unpunished.” “Why”, you ask? Because sin contaminates, spreads, kills and destroys. The Book of Jeremiah is resplendent with examples of God’s anger burning against the people of Judah for their disobedience and their idol worship. For numerous paragraphs He proclaimed His wrath against them, even outlining in detail the horrors they would have to endure. But then would come the mercy paragraph that is so common in these stories. “But if they will just come back to Me, I will forgive their sins.  They will again be My people, and I will be their God.” This scenario is evident throughout the Old Testament, and it clearly shows that God prefers mercy over judgement. No doubt He will deliver judgement if sin is unrepented, but His love and mercy will prevail if there is repentance.

All of this is a testimony to the magnificence of our God Jehovah! This is why I stand in awesome wonder of His unfathomable glory and greatness, and it is also why my soul proclaims “How Great Thou Art; How Great Thou Art!”

(NB1: I want to complete Romans 6:23. When I used it five paragraphs above, I used only the first half of the Scripture. This Scripture is like a coin that has “the bad news”, God’s judgement, on one side, but the love and grace of God on the flip side: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift from God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!)  It’s all about the choice each of us has to make; we either choose life, or we choose (by default) death.

Feel free to “like” this message, and please feel free to share it with other social media friends.

May God Bless You,

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…I started thinking about this message a couple of days ago, during the wee hours of the morning (5:00ish), when I was out walking my dogs. I love the peace and serenity of that time of day, but that particular morning, I found myself aggravated with the news; aggravated because I switched around from channel to channel to try to get a balanced picture, but the more I did that, the more worked-up I became! That was especially true in this case, because I heard ideas and words misquoted and taken out of context to substantiate a rather devious practice with a veiled Scriptural reference. It involved promoting the new “enlightened” way of thinking, which was being championed by the news media as “breaking down the barriers of tradition, and establishing a new sense of reality.” The news commentator went on to say, “It even says in the Bible that “we should be transformed by changing the way we think…Right? Well, we’re just trying to do our thing according to the good book.”  (followed by bellicose laughing!)

No doubt there has been a continued attempt to further Barack Obama’s campaign proclamation, “We need to fundamentally change America.” At the time he made that statement, I don’t think most people understood the coded message contained in those words. But today, the message is clear. There is an unveiled and concerted effort to turn America into a socialist country, and the press, the electronic media and the entertainment industry are willing co-conspirators in this continued endeavor.

So, why do I say that? Well, virtually all of the main-stream news publications, and radio and television stations support and echo the liberal progressive agenda (LPA – the far-left). It is hard to find objective reporting of the news today. Instead, we get a presentation of the news that is “spun” in such a way to further a particular point of view. If you look at the TV and movie industry’s latest subject matter for entertainment, it is violence, but not just violence…brutal, horrific violence; it is extraterrestrial or supernatural themes with emphasis on the dark domain; it is in-your-face sex, featuring nudity, sex acts, gay sex, adultery and swinging. Consequently, the traditional family structure is challenged by a “new norm” that is being thrust upon us.

So, why do I believe that is intentionally happening? Well, the cornerstone of modern-day psychology is this simple truth: What we put in our heads will determine what we believe, and our actions will most likely mimic that process. If that is true, and it is, in order to fundamentally change America, there would first have to be an assault on the traditions and beliefs that we previously held dear. Those beliefs and traditions would have to be replaced with a new set of values and a new sense of normality .That insidious process began about half-a-century ago, first at a very slow, almost imperceptible pace, but at the turn of the century it picked up speed, and during the last administration it began rearing its ugly head and progressed at breakneck speed.

What we see happening right now, right before our very eyes, is a full blown assault on what used to define America, such as our founding documents, religious freedom, the value of life, the rule of law, the traditional family structure, and a moral compass that used to define “right” and “wrong”. As the news commentator said in the first paragraph, “the people have to be transformed by changing the way they think.” The electronic media plays a big part in achieving that goal. Their role is to bombard our senses with the intent of numbing and dumbing us down to the point of submission to the LPA’s presentation of a new “normal”, and a new conception of “right” and “wrong”.

Now let’s look at the truth that is found in the Scripture that was misquoted. (No doubt, what aggravated me most about the Scriptural reference was the fact that it turned the truth of the Scripture upside down.) Romans 12: 2-3 reads as follows: “Do not conform to the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.” Wow! What incredible hope we find in those two verses!

The Epistle of Romans is the greatest explanation of God’s love for Mankind, and it very clearly defines His Gift of Grace. In this Epistle we are told about His plan for our redemption; we are told that this plan was in place even before He created the world. (Ref. Ephesians 1: 3-4) But here is the most amazing gem to be revealed; He knew we were going to be “problem children”, but He still created us!  Romans 12: 2-3 tells us how we can be transformed into the person God created us to be by accepting His Gift of Grace (accepting what Jesus did on our behalf.  He paid the penalty for our sins, even though we did nothing to deserve it, nor were we worthy of it…hence, the title, “Gift of Grace”) The reference to this Scripture by the afore mentioned news commentator to further the LPA is nothing short of blasphemy!

“Do not conform to the behavior and customs of this world” clearly expresses God’s disdain for the world’s standards. In this case, the worldly standard being championed, Socialism, is contrary to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all of which are believed to be “unalienable rights” granted to human beings by their Creator. Changing our way of thinking is clearly about learning, and relying on, the truth of God’s words and promises. According to the LPA ploy, “changing the way people think” is about changing our sense of normality and moral values. The more we are numbed down and dumbed down, the easier it is to promote this new lie!  But one thing for sure, the LPA’s intent is certainly NOT for us to understand God’s good, pleasing and perfect will!

Nothing is more precious than freedom. In fact, “Jesus came to set the captives free.” (Ref. Luke 4:18) Prior to His coming, Man (us) proved ourselves to be “utterly helpless” (Ref. Romans 5:6) to attain our salvation through our best effort. “Why”, you ask?  Because we were slaves to our sin-nature. But the coming of Christ, and His sacrifice on our behalf, sets us free from the penalty of eternal death. All that is required of us, is to humble ourselves and accept Jesus’ shed blood as payment for our Sin. That was, and still IS, God’s plan for our salvation. Think about that!  Jesus paid the penalty for YOUR sins so you could spend eternity with Him in Paradise!!  That is the true reward for “changing the way you think.

We have to be free from sin in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We have to be free from oppression or tyranny in order to live in freedom right here, right now.  God gave us free will at the outset. Therefore, no man nor any governing body should have the right to take that unalienable right away. Keep this truth in the front of your mind as you listen to the news in the upcoming weeks and months.

May God Bless You…

Feel free to “like” and share this message with other social media friends.

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Day Meetpastordan Readers…I’ve looked forward to this topic for quite a while, because it’s a topic our culture needs to hear and think about.  When I look at today’s world, I see a sad state of affairs that has resulted from man’s best effort at playing god.  I say that because when God created this world, he proclaimed it “good,” and good in God’s terminology means perfect. So, just look around you; does our world look perfect to you?  Remember, it was paradise for a brief moment, but then an event, referred to as “the fall”, occurred. After that, everything changed!  And what was “the fall”?  It was when Sin entered the world; It was when God’s proudest creation (Man) became disobedient and took the focus off of God, and put the focus on “self”. That perspective has been the dilemma of Mankind ever since that downfall.

Because God created us for a relationship with Himself, He knew He would have to give us something no other member of the animal kingdom had, and that was a brain for rational thinking. That was necessary “so we could choose” to enter into that all-important relationship with Him. (FYI…All other members of the animal species live by instinct.) But, therein lays the rub. Man could also use his free-will for something other than for what God intended, and that is exactly what happened.  But God, being omniscient, knew what direction Man “would choose” even before he created us. Therefore, his plan, as outlined in Ephesians, 1:3-4, tells us, “Even before He created the world (and Man), He choose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.  His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ., and this gave Him great pleasure.”  This is unmistakable!  God’s plan was always to redeem us from ourselves by sending Jesus to pay the ransom for our sins. What mercy!  What grace!

Now let’s jump from Creation to the New Covenant (after Christ’s resurrection) to see how Man fared in his attempt to overcome the dilemma of Sin. Romans 5:6 tells us we were “utterly helpless” in this effort.  Apostle Paul also gives another perspective concerning this same challenge. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-19, he wrote: “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. (Those who have not accepted the message of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.)  But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God.  As the Scriptures say, ‘I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas.”

Here is the unfortunate truth.  Even though God’s plan (the Gospel of Grace) is available to everyone, not everyone wants to accept that message. This situation was nailed in John 3:18-20: “But those who do not trust Him (Jesus) have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.  Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness.  They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished.”  Romans 6:23 explicitly explains our choices: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we trace the rise and fall of civilizations in the Bible, or in ancient history books, we can clearly see that when a culture is in line with God’s will, or returns to God’s will, that culture is blessed, for instance Nineveh, or Israel after Malachi delivered God’s proclamation.  But if a culture turns its back on God, for instance Sodom and Gomorrah or Canaan, we would find fire and brimstone, floods, plagues, pestilence, wars, famines, etc. The Bible defines the collapse of a culture as turning away from God, such as exalting the teachings of Man, or participating in idol worship. Ancient history books would refer to the collapse of the same culture as being the result of greed, manifesting itself in a desire for more power, wealth, and control. Notice that in both cases, the fall of a culture begins by being out of line with God’s Will, His Wisdom, and His Teaching, which obviously means we are in line with Man’s will, his wisdom and his teaching.  In both cases, the end result is yielding to “self” and turning away from God.

So, let’s return to Apostle Paul’s presentation in 1 Corinthians 1: 20-25: “So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters?  God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense.  Since God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never find Him through human wisdom, He has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe.  God’s way seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true.  And it is foolish to the Greeks because they believe only what agrees with their own wisdom.  So, when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.  But to those called by God to salvation, both the Jews and Gentiles, Christ IS the mighty power of God and the wonderful wisdom of God.  This “foolish” plan of God is far wiser than the wisdom of human plans.”

We don’t have to delve very deep into the nature of today’s culture to see why the message of Jesus is so threatening.  It is the same story as relayed above in John 3: 18-20. Our culture is a self-absorbed culture that doesn’t want to yield to anything greater than “self”. In fact, its battle cry is: “Who are YOU to tell me what is right or wrong?  I have my own truth!”   

Now let’s superimpose what we have just read over the culture in which we live today.  Let’s look first in terms of being out of line with God’s will? Since our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and since it was dedicated to God by our first President and the congress on April 30^th, 1789, do you think God might be angered with what He sees?  Think about all of this; it all has to be an affront to Him: the removal of the 10 Commandments from our schools and public buildings, the assault on religious celebrations and traditions, the ascent of a more secular governing body that has already become so mired in political agendas that it can no longer function in the best interest of its constituents, a blatant refusal by sanctuary cities to uphold the rule of law, an abortion industry that has profited from murdering millions of unborn babies since Roe vs Wade in 1973, a country that is the largest exporter and promoter of pornography in the world today, an entertainment industry that is hell-bent on “numbing down” and “dumbing down” our collective sense of reality and morality by championing the latest “social  enlightenments”, such as redefining the” traditional family structure” as the “new norm”, or the acceptance of lying, cheating and stealing as “just the way it is today”? Wow! It appears that we now have just exposed another answer to the question in the first line of the next paragraph. 😊

How, you might ask, did we sink to such a deplorable state? And I would answer that whenever a culture chooses to exalted the teachings of Man over the teachings of God, calamity is not far behind.  Let me now interject two messages from Jonathan Cahn, author of “The Harbinger”, who worded the above principles so beautifully: “If America upholds God’s eternal standards and follows His unchanging ways, then it will be blessed with His favor…His protection…His prosperity. But if America should depart from the ways of God, if it should disregard His eternal standards, then the smiles of heaven will subside, and the blessings of God will be withdrawn, including its prosperity and its protection.  As God has been expunged from American life, idols have come in to fill the void; idols of sensuality, idols of greed, of money, of success, comfort, materialism, pleasure, sexual immorality, self-worship, self-obsession. The sacred increasingly disappeared, and the profane took its place.”  Does any of this sound like America today?

I’ll close with what I believe to be the answer: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) May God continue to bless America…and may Americans have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Feel free to respond to this post, and please “like” and share it with other social media friends.

May God Bless ya…

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

I have written many times about how proud I am to be part of the intercessory prayer team at Grace Church St. Louis. There has never been a time when I’ve left one of our gatherings that I did not experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our midst. As you know, I have written many times about the fallen state of our culture, and the prayer team targets our city, our state and the nation every time we get together. That particular commitment is what drew me to the prayer team.

If you are unfamiliar with “intercessory prayer”, Mike Bickle, author of “Growing in Prayer”, provides this definition: “Intercession is prayer for others – the lost, the oppressed, missions, families, friends, the church, leaders in government and in every sphere of society.  Intercession is prayer that is in agreement with what God promises to do.”  The fact that Jesus intercedes on our behalf reveals how important intercession is.  Hebrews 7:25 tells us, “He (Jesus) always (forever) makes intercession for us.”  The purpose of His interceding is to release God’s power to and through us.”

Our church is not only concerned about the moral and spiritual decline of our society, but offers programs and activities to counteract this decline.  Most recently, the focus of the intercessory prayer services has been to break down strongholds that harbor and perpetuate this moral and spiritual decay. And so we pray for revival in the mind and hearts of our leaders.  (For clarity sake, a definition of “stronghold” is in order here. Again, I’ll turn to Mike Bickle: “A stronghold is a collection of ideas that are in agreement with Satan’s lies and accusations against the truth of God.  They are lies about God, who He is, and what He says He will do. When we receive, meaning when we accept these lies, they bind our hearts in darkness.”)  Not only can we have personal strongholds to deal with, but whole geographic regions can be affected by the same lies and demonic darkness that affects the minds and hearts of its leaders.

I realize that the subject I am writing about will be totally foreign to any non-believer who might be reading this. To those who exist only in the natural realm, a discussion about the spiritual realm is gobbledygook or nonsense to them. Apostle Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians 1:18:2:24 “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction.  But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God.  But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit.  It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand the truth hidden in the spiritual realm. 

Unfortunately, our society is a secular society that keeps sinking deeper and deeper into a black quagmire of disobedience because it elevates the truth of man over the truth of God.  Throughout the Bible there are accounts of people and societies that were in line with God’s will, and they were blessed.  But there are also accounts of people and societies that turned away from God, much like our country today, and the consequences of such an action were disastrous. (Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?) The only way to gain insight and wisdom about the truth of that event is to be familiar with God, and to be familiar with the truth of His Word. Unfortunately, that is a practice that has certainly fallen out of favor with our culture.  In fact, the Bible is mocked and ridiculed – even prohibited in some cases, by secular laws.

Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. In fact, those very principles were in the minds and hearts of our Founders as they wrote a timeless Constitution.  In a book by James D. Best entitled “A Republic…If You Can Keep It”, he recounts the following scenario.  “At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Franklin was queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. A lady asked Dr. Franklin, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a democracy?”  Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.”  Our Constitution created a limited representative republic.  A republic is different from a democracy, in that in a democracy, the majority can directly make laws; in a republic, elected representatives make laws.  Basically, in a pure democracy, the majority has unlimited power, whereas in a republic, a written constitution limits the majority and provides safeguards for individuals and minorities.

This has been true of all cultures throughout history; governing bodies can affect the shape of the culture based on the agenda from which they govern. For instance, if the agenda is to perpetuate freedom and prosperity, with a time-honored moral compass (Judeo Christian principles), there is, generally speaking, a concerted attempt to live within those boundaries. But today those traditional values have come under attack by a “new way of thinking”, which proudly presents this all-important “hook”: “Things will be better for everyone this way.” That hoped-to-be governing body is what I have referred to many times as the Liberal Progressive Agenda, (LPA). Below is how I see, what I believe to be, an evil agenda.

The LPA is an agenda wrapped in wealth, power and control.  “It” seems to be under the umbrella of a huge, bureaucratic government that believes the more “it” can make the populace dependent on government, the more “it” can control the populace.  “It” believes in the distribution of wealth, ie. those who have earned wealth and status should be mandated to share it with those who have not; “it” believes in high taxation to keep the “gravy train” coming; “it” believes in chip, chip, chipping away at traditional values on which this great country was founded, ie. the Constitution, traditional family values, and religious freedom; “it” professes freedom of speech, yet vilifies anyone who expresses a different opinion, hence…political correctness; “it” professes a disdain for “Wallstreet”, yet allows those who further the LPA to become billionaires at taxpayer expense, ie. the “green energy industry”, and the “abortion industry”; “it” keeps people divided rather than unified, ie. today’s political tension fanned by such inflammatory words as “racist”, “white supremacism”, “xenophobe”, “homophobe”, or “misogynist”, and last but not least; ”it” never lets a crisis go by without making political gain, ie turning the mass shootings of the past week into a political platform.  (This list is by no means complete, but it serves my purpose for this article.)

The biggest obstacle facing the LPA in advancing its agenda is the inconvenient truth of God and His Word. Therefore, the latter has to be marginalized, ridiculed and condemned as “out of touch”, “out dated” “nonsense” or just too confining for man’s “enlightened” way of thinking. Over the years we have seen an assault on the 10 Commandments, public prayer,religious symbols and holidays, and the concept of truth. Today truth is popularly defined as “relative”, meaning it depends on the circumstances.  Unfortunately, this agenda is perpetuated by an intelligentsia that believes the more “gray area” it can create around traditional values (traditional family unit, religious freedom, tolerance, etc.) the more it has wiggle-room to redefine and advance its agenda. And I would be amiss if I didn’t give credit to the obvious co-conspirators in this “new way of thinking”: the press, the media, the entertainment industry, and a plethora of wealthy backers whose intent is to numb down and dumb down our society, while at the same time creating and establishing a new norm. This is happening right now, right before our very eyes.

What I just wrote about is an example of a “cultural stronghold” as referenced above: “a collection of ideas that are in agreement with Satan’s lies and accusations against the truth of God.  What we see represented in the insidious LPA is motivated by greed and the desire for more wealth, power and control.  The more the LPA can edge God out of our culture, the easier it is to accomplish its purpose.

So, can the direction of our culture be reversed?  In my opinion, not by a political solution.  Since the crux of this problem is a spiritual problem, I believe the answer can only be found in a spiritual solution. The God we serve is bigger than our cultural malaise  The good news can be found in 2 Chronicles, 7:14: “… if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”  

This is why intercessory prayer is so vitally important.  NOW is the time for action!  Individual prayer, and especially intercessory prayer, is the very power of God at work!  We are doing what Jesus is doing on our behalf…calling on God to release His power of the Holy Spirit through us.  We are asking God to provide revelation of the Truth in the hearts and minds of our leaders, and to heal our city, our state and our nation. We need all the workers we can get.  The challenge is great, but our God is  GREATER than any challenge!

Please feel free to respond to this posting, and please “like” and share it with other social media friends.

May God Bless Ya…

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…I know some of you are reading this now, because when you saw the title, your first thought was, “That can’t be right…is that what he meant to say?” But rest assured, it is exactly what I mean to say. When Christ came as our Redeemer, the last thing He intended to do was start a new religion. In fact, a great deal of His time on this earth was spent trying to straighten out the religion He was born into. But He did come to carry this very specific message: The Kingdom has come! If you want to be part of God’s Kingdom, follow Me!

The Jewish religious leaders (the Pharisees) added 613 additional “man-made” laws (Mitzvot) that were intended to help the people successfully follow the Ten Commandments. The aim and concern of the Pharisees was not only strict obedience to the Law of Moses, but also obedience to their additional laws.  Consequently, those “legal blinders” kept them from recognizing Jesus as the Messiah that was prophesized throughout the Torah. (This is a term that can be confusing. In its most narrow sense, it can refer to the first five books of the Bible – also referred to as the Pentateuch, but it can also refer to the entire Jewish Bible, or the Old Testament.)

The contention that developed between the keepers of the Law and Jesus stemmed from the fact that He did not adhere to their man-made laws, nor to the Jewish traditions.  He healed on the Sabbath; He associated and ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners; He and His disciples did not adhere to ceremonial washing or fasting, and Jesus claimed that His authority came from God, causing the Pharisees to accuse Him more than once of blasphemy.

The Jewish religion of Jesus’ day was indicative of religions today. Regardless of whether it is Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism or New Age religion, they all have one common element: it is about “works”, meaning it’s about trying to earn God’s favor and acceptance by doing “this”, or not doing “that”. In other words, it’s about our performance.

Christianity, however, is different from every other religion or philosophy in that it is not about works; Christianity is about a relationship between God and His Proudest Creation. In the Garden of Eden, He communed with the first man and woman; He was their friend, and He provided for, and satisfied, all of their needs.

It is important to note here that God created us not only for a here-and-now relationship, but for an eternal relationship. As we are told in Ephesians 1:4-5,10 “Long ago, even before He created the world (and Man), God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy (sin free, set aside for a sacred purpose) and without fault in His eyes.  His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and this gave Him great pleasure. And this is His plan: At just the right time He will bing everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.”

That passage is very important for two reasons. First it shows God’s unconditional, unending and unfailing love for us, and it also shows that His plan, even before He created Man, was to provide a Redeemer to do for us what He knew we were going to be incapable of doing for ourselves. Sin (living to please “self” rather than God) proved to be the dilemma of Mankind, and Romans 5:6 is the report card concerning our best effort at overcoming that dilemma. “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time, and died for us sinners.”  Wow! That is quite an indictment! And what was just the right time? When we were utterly helpless to overcome our sin-nature!

God saw what sin did to His first paradise and to His Proudest Creation. Therefore, He set the bar very high for entering into eternity with Him. He said in Leviticus 20:26: “You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy.” I have set you apart from all other people to be My very own.” In other words, if you are stained with sin, you will not be allowed to enter into His presence. “And why is that?” you ask. Because sin spreads, contaminates, kills and destroys. Remember, the world you are living in right now began as paradise, but when sin entered the picture, the picture became contaminated. That is not going to happen in the New Jerusalem. “As we are told in Revelation 21:27, “Nothing evil will be allowed to enter…but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Meaning those who are in Christ.)

The message of Christianity is very simple; “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He came to die on the cross, shedding His blood as payment for your sins”? If you believe this and accept what He did for you, you will be saved! The key words here are “If you believe.” This is the difference-maker with Christianity. It is not our works that make us worthy and acceptable in His sight; we are worthy and acceptable in His sight because we believed and accepted His Gift of Grace.

Christianity is about our relationship with God/Jesus. In the Old Testament, God declared people righteous because of their faith, meaning they believed in Him and the truth of His Word. Genesis 15:6 tells us, “Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith.” Jesus told His disciples, “If you follow My teachings, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Notice that Jesus was very specific about what teachings to follow; He said, “My teachings!” Therefore, the question becomes, “What did Jesus teach?”  Well…He taught about love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, compassion, and acceptance. He also taught about the Father, and He taught about service to our fellow man. When our minds and our hearts are filled with these qualities, we are pleasing to God and worthy of his bountiful blessings.

Unfortunately, some Christian religions have fallen into the trap that snared the Jewish religion of Jesus’ day. (Ref. to paragraph 2.) God called Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai to give him the Ten Commandments. Bear in mind, the reason for giving these commandments was three-fold. The first reason was for civil law. If the Israelites followed these commandments in the wilderness, that would prove to be the blueprint for establishing civil order rather than civil disobedience. The second reason was to reveal His standard. This is the behavior He expects from His people. If they followed these commandments, they would be in line with His will, and would not reap the consequences of yielding to their sin-nature. (That same nature is referred to by our culture as “human nature”.) The third reason for the commandments was to prove to Man that he could not live according to the Ten Commandments through his own effort.

Since the Ten Commandments present the ultimate challenge to our sin-nature (or human-nature), many Christian religions have developed around a church doctrine. A doctrine is the written body of teachings, usually by a religious group, that are accepted by the group. That in itself is not necessarily bad, unless the church teaching begins to convolute the original teachings of God. I only mention this because since the earliest compilation of Biblical teachings, there has always been a person, or a group of people, who have taken God’s message and spun it in a way that promoted a particular agenda or point of view. That practice was certainly prevalent in the early days of the church, and both Jesus and Apostle Paul had to contend with that matter.

Our culture today has drifted so far away from the teachings of God/Jesus, that many churches have begun spinning the truth of God’s Word to make it more appealing to the masses. False doctrines are plentiful. Some of the New Age presentations include the Prosperity Message, or the message of a loving god who in the end will welcome everyone into Heaven; the message that we have all the power we need within us to achieve all of our dreams, or the message that if we are good, kind, compassionate and giving, God will reward us with eternal life. All of that might sound good, and it might feel warm and fuzzy, but unfortunately these are all false doctrines. (Meaning to be in conflict with God’s Word.)

“God said, ‘Let Us make people in Our image to be like Ourselves. (us and ourselves are referring to the Trinity) So God created people in His own image; He patterned them after Himself, male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27) At the end of the sixth day of creation, God presented His Proudest Creation: Man. He gave to Man something He did not give to the other animals created before us.  He gave us a brain for rational thinking. “So, why did He do that?” you may ask. Because the only way we could enter into that all-important relationship was to choose to do so. We are the only animal equipped for rational, logical thinking; all other animals live by instinct. God proclaimed this to be very good.

Then God spoke through prophets, and gave His Word to Man so we could come to know Him. He revealed what He thinks, what He thinks about us, what His plans are for us, what His standard is, and what He expects from us. He also revealed His promises, then told us how to receive those promises. God knew that before we could enter into a relationship with Him, we would have to come to know Him. This was all part of His salvation plan that was in place before He created the world and Man. He knew that His Proudest Creation would need a Savior to save him from himself. Therefore, His Gift of Grace (Jesus as the sacrificial lamb to pay the penalty for our sins) would be THE answer to this dilemma. No other religion or philosophy can make such an offering. To be in Christ is to be part of that eternal relationship that includes God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all other Christ-followers. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me!

Feel free to respond to this posting, and please “like” and share this with other social media friends.

May God Bless You…

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…I am particularly excited about sharing this message with you today. As I’ve mentioned in previous postings, after I feel as though I’ve been mired in a wasteland of inspirational poverty, all of a sudden I get a download of subjects and directions. For the past week I have been asking for guidance, but my requests seem to have gone unnoticed…until about 3:00 a.m. this morning. All of a sudden, I was awakened with what seemed to be a mother lode of inspiration, so today’s message is just the first installment of that blessing.

I would like to begin with two verses and the refrain from one of my favorite “oldie but goodie” hymns. “All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live. All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow; Worldly pleasures all forsaken,
Take me, Jesus, take me now.” (refrain) “I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”

One indication of growth and maturity is when we come to the realization that what we had previously learned and believed needs to be revisited, and possibly even replaced, based on relevant new material. Such can be the case with the word “surrender” The most prevalent definition of that word is “defeat”, accompanied by an implied indication of “weakness”. Therefore, we are taught to be strong, not to give in to defeat, but to resist at all costs. After all, none of us want to be viewed as a weakling or as a loser. Right?

After having become a member of AA, I was introduced to their battle-cry: “The only way to win is to surrender.” What a paradox!  In fact, step 1 of the 12 Step recovery program requires “admitting we are powerless over _______ (alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, pornography, or anything that controls our lives), and our lives (consequently) have become unmanageable.” In other words, in order for new members to successfully begin their journey to recovery, they first have to surrender to their own insufficiency.

One of the primary reasons for relapse during this journey is the failure to surrender…I mean to completely surrender, to admit defeat, to admit weakness, and then EMBRACE IT. But fear not, because the answer to this dilemma is found in step 2: “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Even though this is the answer, based on the inspired testimony of countless sober participants, I suspect you can see how it could even be a greater challenge than step 1.

The biggest challenge to our rational thinking is the concern about giving up self-control, especially to something that is outside the paradigm of our five senses. We, as a result of our human nature, are self-centered. We want to be in control; we want to be in charge of our own destiny; we want to be all we can be, and in most cases, we don’t like anything that is in conflict with this pursuit. And therein lies the problem.  Relying on our self-sufficiency is what got us into this helpless state; solving the problem requires a new way of thinking that results from a transformed mind. (Ref: Romans 12:2) Now I would like to give two examples of winners who saw the value of this transformation, then exalted its benefits.

King Solomon was the wisest, richest and most powerful man of his age. Toward the end of his life, after experiencing success in virtually everything he pursued, he addressed a gathering of all the other wise men. “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! The search for pleasure, wealth, and success is ultimately disappointing. True happiness is not in our power to attain because we always want more than we have. In addition, there are circumstances beyond our control that can snatch away our possessions and our attainments. Nothing in the world can fill the emptiness and satisfy the deep longings in our restless heart. Without God, there is no lasting reward or benefit in hard work. How strange that people spend their lives striving for the very joy that God gives so freely.” (Ecclesiastes 1-12)

Apostle Paul, in Philippians 3:4-9, compares his previous life to this new life in Christ. “Yet, I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So, I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes! In fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault. I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them rubbish because of what Christ has done (in my life.) Yes, everything else is meaningless when compared to the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discounted everything else, counting it all as rubbish, so that I may have Christ and become one with Him. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith.  As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the same mighty power (the Holy Spirit) that raised Him from the dead.

The process laid out in the 12 Step recovery program is the same process that Christ-followers refer to as “the Christian walk”.  While the terminology is different, the process is the same as the age-old biblical proclamation: “Repent! (step 1,recognizing and admitting your problem, then being willing to change); Turn from your sin (step 2, ask a power greater than yourself to empower you with wisdom, courage, and strength to follow through with your new endeavor); and turn to God” (step 3, be committed to being transformed through the process of the next nine steps. This is what the church calls “sanctification”.  (I hope at this point the paradox is becoming clear in your mind. The term “surrender” no longer designates defeat or weakness, but is in fact, the first step toward our ultimate victory over bondage!)

Everyone is searching for happiness, confidence, security, acceptance and identity, but unfortunately, most are searching in all the wrong places to fill that emptiness…that proverbial “hole in the soul.” The truth is, all of this – and even more – can be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. The wisdom of King Solomon brought him to the same conclusion a few thousand years ago when he stated, “Nothing in this world can fill the emptiness and satisfy the deep longings in our restless heart except God.  How strange that people spend their lives striving for the very joy that God gives so freely.”

Apostle Paul echoed that same sentiment when he stated, “Yes, everything else is meaningless when compared to the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power of the Holy Spirit.”

I know that “surrendering all” can seem like a daunting proposition, but the truth is…once we have done it, we are empowered to do things we could never do through our own effort. The Holy Spirit becomes our source of wisdom, courage, and strength. He leads us into all truth. Now it’s not about our works or our effort, but it’s about allowing Him to work through us. Ephesians 1:14 tells us: “The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us everything He promised”, and His promises are included in a never-ending treasure trove of blessings.  Again, as King Solomon said, “God freely gives these blessings to those who love Him”, and to those who are in Christ!  This, my Dear Readers, is how we win by surrendering.

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May God Bless You abundantly,

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…I have been drawn to today’s subject because I hear the term “blessed“ being used so freely, I feel compelled to take a whack at clarifying what I believe it really means. Let me first turn to Merriam-Webster as a point of reference. Blessed or Blessing – 1. act or words of one who blesses: she said a blessing over the food. The Priest will bless the wine. 2. approval or encouragement: he asked for the parents blessing before he proposed. 3. a thing conducive to happiness or welfare: my wife has blessed me in so many ways. AA, while I first hated it, turned out to be a blessing in my life.

No doubt people like the idea of being blessed, and the Bible speaks of blessings quite frequently. But in my mine there is a prevalence of misconception about achieving that end, as evidenced by such statements as, “I want to be blessed, so I‘m going to do this or that“ or “I‘m going to do this so I‘ll be blessed.“ Since we are under the New Covenant, that doesn‘t ring true with me. God isn‘t a vending machine who dispenses blessings because we ‚“do“ or “don’t do”. That conception was the crux of the Old Covenant, which was in place until Christ fulfilled His purpose. Now God wants us to “do“, not to earn his favor, but because we have already been blessed with his Gift of Grace. That is why he spoke through the Prophet Hosea in 6:6 stating: “I don‘t want your sacrifices, I want your love. I don‘t want your burnt offerings, I want you to know me (some translations say, “I want your heart.“) Clearly God wants us to respond to him out of love and in a spirit of thanksgiving rather than from a sense of obligation.

I believe the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant can be summed up in this statement: It‘s not about doing to get; we‘ve already got so we do. In other words, if we are in Christ, we were instantaneously “justified“ (made right in God‘s sight), meaning our sins have been forgiven; we‘ve inherited eternal life; we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to make different choices; we are now worthy and acceptable in God‘ sight, not because of anything we did or didn‘t do, but because of what Christ did for us on the cross. We‘re no longer a sinner but a “saint“ because we are covered with the blood of Jesus; we are grafted into His family, so we are now heir to ALL the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms and ALL the promises in the Bible. Wow! How‘s that for a super-duper blessing? No doubt we are a new creation, but the fact is…at this point we haven‘t even taken the first step in the process of “sanctification.“ (growing in the likeness of Jesus.)

Neil Anderson makes this statement in his book, “Victory Over the Darkness“: “God‘s will for your life is two-fold. First he wants you to accept his Gift of Grace, and secondly he wants you to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.“ 2 Peter 1:3-4 substantiates that statement: “The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness…and we will share in his divine nature.“ Our growth and transformation takes place in this process of sanctification, and the more we meet and transcend our trials and tribulations, the more we grow spiritually; the stronger our faith becomes because we are witnessing the truth of God‘s word transforming us, and the more we are blessed.

Matthew 6:33 tells us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well .“ And what are the things that will be given? In the previous Scriptures Jesus is pointing out that God knows our wants and our needs, so he is telling his audience not to burden themselves by worrying about these things, but to seek first the Kingdom of God, and these things will be added as blessings. 1John 5:14 reinforces this truth: “And we can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for. (to repeat: if it is in line with His will.)

T.D. Jakes, a well-known Gospel preacher, has made this statement one of his hallmarks: “God wants to bless ya… God loves to bless ya! But he ain‘t goinna give ya those blessins‘ until you‘re ready to receive ‘em!“ In other words, the more we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, the more blessings come our way. And they are given to us, not because we are doing anything to earn them, but because we are putting His Kingdom first. Now we choose to do things that bring honor and glory to Him as a way of saying “Thank you for what you have done for me.“

Ephesians, chapter 1, tells us about God‘s secret plan that was in place even before the world was created. That plan included finding us worthy and acceptable in his eyes because we are in Christ; adopting us into his own family through Jesus Christ; and at just the right time, bringing everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and on earth. This, we are told, gave Him great pleasure.

So, when was “just the right time“ for God to implement his secret plan? Romans 5:6 provides that answer. “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.“ When we proved ourselves utterly helpless to overcome the dilemma of Sin through our own effort, God‘s plan was always to provide a Savior to do for us what we proved we could not do for ourselves. Because we are in Christ, we are covered with the blood of Jesus. That is the only way we can qualify to enter the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, because as God revealed through Apostle Peter, “You must be Holy (sin-free; set aside for a sacred purpose) because I am Holy.“ In other words, if we are stained with sin, we do not even qualify to come into His presence.

The coming of Jesus Christ fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament and the Law. In fact, Jesus himself said, “Don‘t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No. I came to fulfill them. I assure you, until heaven and earth pass away, even the smallest detail of God‘s law will remain until its purpose is achieved. Today we fulfill God‘s Law not by doing, working, or trying harder, but by “Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind, and by loving our neighbor as ourself.“ (Mathew 22: 37,39) Jesus told the Pharisees that if we focused on only those two things, we would indeed fulfill the other eight commandments.

The secret weapon of all Christ-followers is the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are told in Ephesians 1:14, “The Holy Spirit is God‘s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.“ Our role is to get out of the way so the Holy Spirit can work through us so we can become the person God created us to be. John MacArthur makes this statement in his book,“Why Believe the Bible?“ “I find that the longer, the more intensely, and the more devotedly I look into the glory of Jesus Christ through the pages of Scripture, the more the Spirit of God changes my life into the image of Christ. There are no shortcuts. If I am to grow, to mature, and to finally be transformed, I must feed on the word of God!“  John’s statement is validated by the truth found in Colossians 2:3: “In Christ lay hidden ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.“ (my caps for emphasis)

Since this is such a weighty subject, I would like to highlight these key points. If we seek first the Kingdom of God and consciously try to stay in line with his will by continuing to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, God promises to bless us abundantly. The Old Testament bears witness to that. When people and nations were in line with his will, they were blessed. When they were out of line with his will, there was fire and brimstone, wars, famines, plagues, etc. To reflect once again on T.D. Jakes‘ statement: “God loves to bless you, but he isn‘t going to give you those blessings until you‘re ready to receive them.“ Being in Christ and growing in Christ is the pathway to receiving His abundant blessings.

Feel free to respond to this post, and please “like“ and share it with other social media friends.

May God Bless You…

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)