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  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8) What a beautiful promise that is, but be sure to read that promise in context, vs.6-10. I know...it can be a bit of a paradox here when it comes to this ‘drawing near to God’. James encourages us to do this...yet we are told by Jesus that “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44); so which is it? If the first thing that comes to mind is some rash or accusatory conclusion that the Bible is just a bunch of ‘contradictions’ ...and you want to toss that out as an ‘excuse’...then maybe your heart is being revealed here, and you were just looking for a reason to keep living life as you see fit. You wouldn’t be the first person to do this. Plenty of folks just like living in darkness more...and won’t come to the light. (John 3:19-21; Acts 26:18). I also know that ‘God’s eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are ‘perfect’ towards ...
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  To hear some folks explain it, you would think that God’s ‘grace’ is something akin to a pair of ‘rose colored glasses’ that God wears when He looks down on us in our sinful state, but instead of seeing our wretched sinfulness, He sees the ‘finished work of Jesus on the cross’, and therefore withholds judgment on us; that is...if we have ‘accepted Christ as our personal lord and savior’. No wonder God likens us as ‘sheep’, adding that His people are ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’ (Hosea 4:6). And it was for good reason that Paul expressed serious concerns for us NT ‘believers’ that we could be easily deceived as Eve was by the serpent...and end up following ‘another Jesus’ while receiving ‘another gospel and spirit’ (2 Cor. 11:3-4). I asked the other day how you might explain ‘grace’ to a young child where they could understand it. How’s that coming up with an explanation going for you? May I offer some assistance which I’m happy to do? I sure didn’t come up with this on ...
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  I’m not sure that I personally know people, other ‘believers’ per say, who honestly think that because they are a ‘Christian’ and are ‘saved by grace’...that they in turn can continue to go out and willfully sin, yet have no worries or concerns because ‘God’s grace has their backs’. But that’s not to say that such people don’t exist today. We read in the book of Jude where certain people would ‘creep in unnoticed’ and introduce heresies to suggest such a thing, twisting the message of grace as a license to sin (1:4). Yes, Paul was good to explain that while ‘sin might abound, grace does much more abound’ (Rom. 5:20-21), but he quickly nips the lingering next question in the bud by clarifying this does not mean we can continue to sin and expect grace to cover us (Rom. 6:1). He even asks a rather profound question: “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom. 6:2). He goes on to explain in that same chapter why that is an absurd thought given the fact we have been ...
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  Can you imagine the confusion...the frustration, the anger and eventual rejection a child might experience if raised by parents who place unreasonable demands and near impossible expectations upon them to live up to ...in order to gain their love and approval? Suppose a child with severe learning challenges, and who struggles to read is punished because they don’t bring home ‘straight A’s’. How many dads out there have wanted their sons or daughters to excel in any variety of sports at skill levels few ever achieve? Or what's a young man who is only 5’3” do if he was told that he better learn to ‘slam dunk’ a basketball if he had any hopes of continuing to live at home and be provided for during his high school years?  I know...crazy extreme examples here I’m using; but how about one more? A father wants his child to be able to ‘fly’ and forces him to ‘flap his arms’ before pushing him off the roof of his house. What kind of a sick parent places such demands on their chil...
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  George Carlin was a well-known comedian back in the ‘70’s who did a piece on the "7 Dirty Words you cannot say on TV"; and to hear many professing 'Christians' chime in these days, you might wonder if they think George should have included an 8th word, ‘obey’. When and how did the word ‘o-b-e-y’ become such an inappropriate word to be taken seriously by all those ‘believers’ who claim to be ‘saved by faith through grace, and not of works, lest anyone should boast’? (Eph. 2:8-9). To hear some explain it, obedience equates with ‘legalism’ which automatically throws you into the category of Pharisees and other ‘religions’ where the multitudes think they can ‘save themselves’ by their ‘good deeds and works’. God made it known through Samuel long ago: “Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, And to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22) Wh...
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  Two common mistakes made by many professing believers today is taking a single scripture or two out of context, and then placing all their ‘theological eggs’ into that one ‘basket of belief’... which can lead to flimsy man-made doctrines. This is usually done at the expense of dismissing the rest of God’s word/commandments; which dovetails into the second mistake, and that is where we come across those handful of verses that don’t ‘fit’ into our basket of beliefs; so we toss them out or lay them aside. Jesus pointed out how the Pharisees had a habit of doing that in Mark 7:1-13. So when you hear me or others quote Matt. 7:21 on a regular basis, it leads to that second most important question that we believers need to be asking ourselves. The verse, of course contains the statement made by Jesus where He assures us that “Not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of the Father in heaven.” And that second question we need to...
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  “Is Lordship just an ‘option’ for those who profess that Jesus is their ‘personal Savior’?” In other words, is it really possible to claim Jesus as your ‘Savior’ (meaning your eternal destiny in heaven is a done deal)...without fully surrendering your heart to His Lordship? If you don’t pause and find yourself struggling with this question, regardless of how you are inclined to answer it...then you might want to take an even longer pause and examine your heart to see if you are even ‘in the faith’...and ‘if Christ Jesus is in you’? (2 Cor. 13:5) That really is a tough question we all need to be asking ourselves. It’s not like we are purchasing a new appliance to take home and call our own, but opt out of buying the ‘extended warranty protection plan’, given how pricey it can be. If you were quick to affirm that Jesus is your ‘Savior’ and that your ‘place in heaven is secure’, but you view surrendering to His lordship over your life as some ‘holy option’ or perhaps some worthwhil...
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