(Because of the targeting nature of the next few blogs, the first two paragraphs will be a copy of those in Pt. 1. The new material will begin in the third paragraph for the next few weeks.)
Good Morning, Unbelievers (and faithful Readers): Welcome! Let me introduce myself: My name is Dan. You might not know me, but I know you. “How do you know me”, you might be wondering? Because I was an unbeliever myself for most of my life. I was a very proud Atheist; I was an intellectual. In fact, I even had the title, Professor, to prove it. Therefore, I could not possibly accept that trivial drivel the church is selling. I mean, “Come on…smart people like me and you can’t fall for gibberish that makes no rational sense.” That was my excuse. What is your excuse? You don’t believe in God, or you believe in God, but not Jesus? You don’t believe in organized religion, or you’ve been scared by organized religion? You don’t believe there is only one way to an after-life; you don’t believe in heaven or hell; you don’t believe the Bible can be true; you’ve seen church leaders that you once followed fall from their pedestals; you know hypocrites who claim to be Christians, but who continue to live as heathens; you see no way you could have fun if you’re expected to follow all of those confining “dos” and “don’ts”, or… you believe you are a “good person”, in fact, better than most, and you know that God, because He is a good God, will welcome you into heaven. Those are many of the classic reasons for remaining an unbeliever. I get that! The truth is, all of those thoughts were stumbling blocks for me as I continued to live in bondage to my arrogance.
So, you may be asking yourself, “What is Dan’s deal? Why does he care about what I believe, or what happens to me? My honest answer to that question is this: There was certainly a time when I could not have cared less about you, your belief or your destiny. But during that period of my life, I was totally consumed with “me”, my agenda and my career. As smart as I thought I was, in reality…I was totally ignorant of The Truth. I had a lot of knowledge and common sense, but I was ignorant of what I now know to be THE TRUTH. (I want to be perfectly clear here; I am not referring to worldly truth, worldly philosophy, or situational truth. I am referring to God’s Word (or God’s Truth, which is collected and codified in the Holy Bible). Today, it breaks my heart to know that people will perish just because they do not know THE TRUTH. I want to do everything possible to give unbelievers the same opportunity I had for redemption. I hope you will take five minutes to read each of these blogs. If you have questions, or criticisms, please respond to me at drpresgr@gmail.com , or you can call me at 314-799-7075. What have you got to lose?
(The new material for this lesson starts here.) For the past two weeks we have talked about, and contrasted, the stark difference between satan (the devil, the accuser, the father of lies) and Jesus (also the Holy Spirit – remember the Trinity?), who is The Truth, the Living Word, and the Savior for anyone who chooses to accept God’s Gift of Grace. Satan came to steal, kill and destroy; Jesus came to give us life, and life to the fullest, including ETERNAL LIFE! (Yes, that’s right…life forever!) “And why would He do that” you ask? Because that was His plan even before He created the world (and Man(kind)! He created us not only for a here and now relationship, but for an eternal relationship. The only stumbling block in that loving desire for relationship was Man’s propensity to sin, meaning we choose to honor and exalt self rather than God. (In other words, we were living contrary to the First and Second Commandments!) God is perfect; unfortunately, we have to be perfect too if we are going to come into His presence. (ouch!) I don’t know about you, but I AIN’T perfect! But, now breathe a sigh of relief, because neither were Apostle Paul, Mother Teresa, or Billy Graham! The truth is, we ALL fall short of God’s glorious standard – EVERYDAY!
Ephseians 1:4-5, and 10 presents this Truth. “Long ago, even before He created the world (and Man(kind), God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us unto Himself through Jesus Christ, and this gave Him great pleasure! And THIS is His plan: “At just the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – every thing in heaven and on earth. This was/IS God’s plan for our Salvation, even before He created us.
Now let’s look at why that plan needed to be in place from the beginning. Romans 5:6 is the succinct answer. “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came, at just the right time, and died for us sinners! So, what was “just the right time?” When we (Man(kind) proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we could not overcome the dilemma of Sin through our own effort. As you can see, without a Redeemer, Man(kind) could not have qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. “Why” you ask? Because Man(kind) was/IS stained with sin. The only answer to our sin-dilemma is Jesus Christ. The only way we can get into heaven is to have our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus. Remember God’s plan above? “He found us holy and without fault in His eyes because we were in Christ,” meaning we ARE covered with the blood of Jesus.
This whole plan of Man(kind) being created in His (God’s) image, then having to be saved from himself, IS the ultimate show of His love for us. He knew we were going to be problem children, but He created us anyway. Grasping the reality of that unconditional, unfailing, and unending love, is the beginning of that all-important relationship, and the reality that nothing –absolutely nothing can even come close to comparing to that fulfillment.
I would now like to end this series of presentations by just focusing in on who God is, and who Jesus is. If these Truths get rooted in your heart, everything else will fall into place; the insatiability of the world, the lure of the flesh, and even satans best effort to lure you back into your old way of life. These enticements will pale by comparison to what a relationship with Jesus Christ offers. Since Jesus is God in human form (and also the Holy Spirit), He too, just like God, is defined by one word, and that word is LOVE! Notice it doesn’t say God and Jesus are loving; it says their very essence is LOVE! They embody ALL that LOVE is. So which characteristics emanate from love; List A?: love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, compassion, kindness, honor, integrity and joy. Or, List B? hatred, anger, fear, anxiety, jealousy, depression, doubt, guilt, shame, remorse, hostility, lying, cheating, stealing, and violence. You don’t have to answer to me, but ask yourself, ”which list defines my character?” List A are characteristics that are prompted by God; List B are characteristics that are prompted by your enemy, satan. Remember the eternal morality play I spoke about earlier? If you’re defined by List A, you’re serving God; if you’re defined by list B, you’re serving satan.
Since God’s plan was always to pay your sin debt for you, Jesus Christ was the “sacrificial lamb” who shed His blood to pay for your sins. Under the Old Covenant, blood was always required as proof of sacrifice. Jesus fulfilled that commitment on the cross. In order to accept that Gift of Grace, all you have to do is believe that Jesus was the Son of God who came to be sacrificed in YOUR place. John 3:16 expresses it this way: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only “begotten Son” (meaning of the same substance as God.) Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life.” The minute you make this commitment, you are immediately in Christ, meaning you inherit all of these blessings: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, the indwelling Holy Spirit, you are grafted into His family as His Child, you are now a Saint (a follower of Jesus Christ) and no longer a sinner (Romans 8:1 confirms this: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.). You also inherit all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms, and you inherit ALL of the promises in the Bible (both the Old and New Testament promises).
Jesus confirmed all of this when He told His disciples, “I am the way, the Truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through ME! This is probably the most controversial Scripture in the Bible, but it is also the very heart and soul of the Christian belief.
This is your invitation to join our Family of Christ followers. This choice has eternal consequences, but if you connected the dots throughout the past nine blogs, how can you come to any other decision.? It’s as simple as saying, “Dear God, I know I’m a sinner, but I want to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I want to surrender my will to His will, and live a life that is characterized by LOVE, peace, serenity, and joy! Thank you, Jesus, for what You did for me!
Thank you, Believers, for partnering with me in this endeavor to share the Gift of Grace with unbelievers. I know our efforts have saved many lost souls from eternal damnation. “Thank you, Jesus”, and “Thank you, God!
May God Bless You All,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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