Then What? Now What?

Rom 10:5-13 NASB

(5)  For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.

(6)  But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down),

(7)  or 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)."

(8)  But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,

(9)  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

(10)  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

(11)  For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

(12)  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;

(13)  for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

 From last week’s lesson we see the WHAT is serving God because we are saved.  How do we get this?  What does it entail?  First Paul lets us know that we cannot earn it.  Living by the law is a life of works and if one tries to justify their self by the law they must keep the entire law. 

 How do we get this salvation?  We cannot go into heaven to get it.  We cannot swim the deepest seas.  So from this it seems like it is unobtainable.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Paul tells us in verse 8 that the Word is near us even in our mouth.  Verses 9-10 tell us exactly how to be saved.  It is simple confess with your mouth that He is Lord and Believe with your heart.

 It does not end here.  Paul gives us assurance that this is what it takes to be saved.  Verse 11 tells us whoever believes will not be disappointed.  Verse 13 tells us whoever will call on His name will be saved. 

I can say with all certainty that salvation is for everyone.  If you are reading this blog and you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you can ask Him now to come into your heart and believe that he will. 

Confess to Him that you know you are a sinner and believe with all your heart.

Once you know we serve because we are saved the THEN WHAT is doing something about.

My hope and pray is that you now know Jesus Christ as your savior.  If you are already a Christian my prayer for you is that you grow in Jesus realizing your full potential to be a servant of God.

Comeback NEXT WEEK FOR THE NOW WHAT.

What, Then What & Now What

Rom 10:1-4 NASB

(1)  Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

(2)  For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

(3)  For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

(4)  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Many people are religious but ignorant of the truth.  Paul, when he was Saul had a zeal for God but was ignorant of the truth.  He did not realize that truth until he met Jesus on the Damascus road.  Do we see people today who are so covered up with service to the point they are not serving God?  This is what Paul is talking about we see people who are convinced they are serving God.  Look at Paul/Saul he was so sure he was serving God by killing Christians.  The Bible says he laid waste to the church.   If fact, he was on his way to Damascus to kill a bunch of Christians in God’s name when he met Jesus. 

Matthew chapter 7 verses 21-23 tell us that not everyone who cries Lord will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  He goes on to say, that many will say they have prophesied and cast out devils and God will say to them depart from me.  Many people are seeking righteousness.  When they realize that only God is righteous, they do one of two things.

1.      They attempt to do good deeds within their selves to earn being righteous or justify their self.

2.      They believe in Jesus and righteousness is imputed toward them.

God doesn’t want us to serve Him to get in.  He wants us to serve Him because we are in.

THE WHAT – when we realize we serve because we are saved.  What we do for God is totally motived from love.

The THEN WHAT & NOW WHAT-  Come back next week

It’s Musty

Philippians 2:1-11 NASB

(1)  Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, (2)  make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

(3)  Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; (4) do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

(5)  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, (6)  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7)  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

(8)  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

(9)  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (10)  so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11)  and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Did you ever mock someone?  Maybe when you were younger you did it just to have fun.  We have all seen kids mock someone else.  Well, in this section of Philippians, Paul gives us a wonderful lesson about imitating Christ and I have to say it’s a little MUSTY.

We MUST show compassion and give encouragement.

In verses 1 and 2 we see that Christ has given us a common foundation to build upon.  We are to have the same mind.  This means we all need to make sure we are working for the same cause and that is to spread God’s Word.  We are to have the same spirit and maintain the same love.  How else will we be able to show one another compassion?  How else we will be able to encourage each other.

We MUST be humble and willing to serve others.

WOW!  Take a look at verses 3 & 4.  How many times have we seen others who are just looking out for themselves?  Wait a minute.  How many times have we caught ourselves just looking out for ole number one?  Paul tells us to regard others more important than ourselves.  This calls for us to have a mind of service.  When others are in need we are to serve them.  We cannot do this unless we first have that love in our hearts that changes us.

We MUST be willing to give up our status to serve others.

Let’s get one thing straight in verses 5-8.  This is not saying that we are to give up our jobs or sacrifice our careers to go off into the mission field. Have you ever seen someone who their job status is all they are?  They do not realize that their big titles and certificates do not impress everyone.  The only status that is of concern here is do you have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to your life.  We cannot humble ourselves to the point that we truly want to help others if we are stuck on who we are in this world.  Remember same mind, same spirit, and maintaining love.

We MUST trust our status to God.

Verse 9-11 Paul tells us that in that day every knee will bow and every tongue confess.  Those who have spent their entire lives rebelling against Christ and rejecting His call will bow and confess that He is Lord.

We are to imitate Christ and practice humility.  We are to serve others.  This is the example that Christ gave us.  Why is it so hard for us to do?  

We are not to serve others to get earthly rewards.  The rewards come from living a life trying to imitate Christ.

Yes it’s MUSTY

Think of one way you can serve someone this week.

The Third Thing About Love (continued from 3/1/12)

The Third Thing About Love (continued from 3/1/12)

 Mark 12:31-34 NASB

(31)  "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’  There is no other commandment greater than these."

(32)  The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM;

(33) AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Our own actions cannot establish a relationship with God.  Through the sin of Adam in the garden we became separated from God.  It is through our faith in Christ that God restores our relationship with Him. We have learned from last week that love is a command and love is a choice.  Verse 33 tells us to love Him with all our heart all our understanding all our strength.  This will take some effort on our part this calls for us to work at our relationship with Him once it has been established through our belief in Jesus.  See it does not end when we are saved.

I remember when I first met my wife.  I was totally consumed with getting to know her, I wanted to do the things she did, and we wanted to spend every minute together.  We were building a relationship.  It is the same way with God.  Today after 31 years of marriage my wife and I can just look at each other and know what the other is thinking.  This took time and investment for both of us.

God has invested His Son in order to restore us into a relationship with Him.  He has given us His Holy Word that allows us to know all about Him.  We need to realize that Love is a command that warrants a choice but most of all once we make the choice to serve Him.  Love is a relationship that requires us to put forth the effort to get to know Him.

Yes, God has already made His investment in the relationship.

What are you doing on your part?  

THREE THINGS ABOUT LOVE

Mark 12:28-30 NASB

(28)  One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"

(29)  Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;

(30)  AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'

In looking at these verses the one thing that stands out is the command to love God.  What goes into a command?  A good definition would be to order or maybe even to request something.  So the notion here is that one has a choice.  We can choose to love God or sadly we can choose not to love God.  Either way, the command that we shall love the Lord God is a voluntary choice on our part and the choices we make have consequences.

The first thing - love is a command.

Deuteronomy 6:1-3 NASB

(1)  "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it,

(2)  So that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

(3)  "O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Now going a little deeper into the concept of love we see that it is a choice.  God commanded the statutes to be taught and for the people to live by and keep His commandments all the days of their lives.  God goes further on to say that if we do keep, live by, and teach our children these things all will be well with us.  This type of love requires a conscience effort.  This type of love requires active worship with a purpose.  This type of love requires us to live a life where we use our gifts and talents to serve God.

The second thing - love is a choice.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.