I am Not Forgotten

So we sang this tune today at church called, "I Am Not Forgotten". OK, so the tune is actually pretty anthropocentric - I like the music, but I wish more of the tune was focused on Worship of the Christ alone... But that is a thought for another blog post.

As we were sining I thought... "It is not possible that God could actually forget anything". He is eternal. He never actually remembers something. I know the scriptures use the phrase, remembrance, but it is not in the same sense that we think of remembering. For God's mind is eternally perfect. So He can never forget anything He has every thought or spoken. In fact, he actually does not forget the believer or the unbeliever. He is perfectly in remembrance of every event of eternity.

Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forevermore (Hebrews 13:8). The grass withers and the flower fades away but the Word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:24).

Christ is ALL

My Family Twice

I am going to spend a bunch of time with my family tomorrow. I haven't seen many of them for awhile. However, what I am most looking forward to is the chance to share with my spiritual family.

Blood ties are nothing in the kingdom.

We are taught to care for our children and wives, love our wives, respect our husbands, honor our parents, and discipline our children. These are good and right in the Lord. But in the Kingdom, we have a deeper bond with those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider this verse... Mark 3:32-35 reads...

And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look your mother and brothers are outside seeking you. But he answered them saying, "Who is my mother or my brothers?" And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him and said, "Here are my mother or my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and My sister and mother."

So when I fellowship with my earthly family that is also my heavenly family, I have true fellowship. Pray that our fellowship is rich and In Christ.

How do I know this guy is saved?

Of course, I understand that we cannot really ever know if a person is saved - God separates the wheat from the tears.

But when you are sharing the gospel with a person, what are you looking to see/hear/observe to know that a person seems to be a believer? I think of the story in the book of Acts (8:26-39) where Philip is sent to an Ethiopian eunuch. He decides that the person should be baptized, thus recognizing him as a believer -- what do you look for to recognize someone as a brother or sister in Christ?

Christ is all-

Everything Jesus Gives is Free - Part 5

God loves to freely give.

Consider James 1:5 -
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Or from Proverbs 2...
For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Now correlate these verses with the following...

I Corinthians 1:24
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Can you see how God wants to liberally give us wisdo?. But in this giving we ought not look for a book, one of Ben Franklin's sayings, or some wise nugget from an earthly sage. Jesus is in fact our Wisdom. For God so loved the world that He gave His only unique Son. God is always wanting to give us more of His Son. So then all spiritual things that pertain to His Son God liberally seeks to give us. Whether faith, wisdom, knowledge, grace, truth, life, way (how) - All of the mind of God is in Christ, and God seeks to liberally impart to us the mind of Christ.

Christ is all!

Our Rock and Cornerstone

The church of the Living God is referred to as a building in the scriptures. If the church is described as a building, then Christ is the chief cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6). And what a marvelous stone He is.

Consider Deuteronomy 32:18. Here, Israel is rebuked...

Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you.

This is a productive, procreating Rock! YHWH here is described as a Rock who has "begotten" us. He is the one who breathed the breath of life into man (physically), but this verse speaks uniquely of his begotten offspring - Israel. But unfortunately, the nation had become unmindful of the Rock.

But we have not so learned Christ. We have the mind of Christ! (1 Corinthians 2:16; Ephesians 4:16). May we never become "unmindful" of this most blessed Rock.

Christ is all.

Jesus is the Thesis

What is a thesis? With respect to a document, a book or an essay, we can define the thesis as "the subject for a subject for a composition or essay".

John 1:1-4,14-18, Luke 24:25-27 - Jesus is the whole point of the God.

• Jesus is God's topic sentence, body of content and conlusion.
• Christ is the outline and each sub-point.
• He is the proposition and each individual sub-theme.

Jesus Christ is the Thesis -- He alone is the Big Idea. Jesus is God's revelation, God's Prophecy, His Apostolic intent; God's sole teaching and instruction. God's perfect Word, every comma, apostrophe, jot and tittle.

Jesus Christ is the enbodiment of the Word of God. The Word now has a body, legs, fingers, flesh and blood.

The Alpha

Jesus is the Alpha.

When we think about beginnings, we normally think about the object of phrase, "beginning of...". The object of the phrase "Beginning of ____ " gives meaning to the phrase - Usually, "beginning" is meaningless without the object; So what exactly is this the beginning of?

12Am is the beginning of a new day.

January 2001 was the beginning of a new millenia.

July 10, 1969 was the beginning of my life on earth (outside the womb).

Rosa Parks sitting on a bus, was the the beginning of the Civil Rights movement

Crispus Attucks was killed at the beginning of the revolutionary war

These are things, people, eras or events that had beginnings.

But Jesus IS the beginning.

No object. No explanation. No description of what He is the beginning OF, He simple is THE Beginning. There is no "of" when it comes to Him.

More than the beginning of time, of a thought, of the universe or of all created things.

Jesus is the Alpha

Bibles for Sale @ jesus.com

Can you imagine Jesus selling you a copy of a bible? I can't. It really is a shame that so many have used the person of Jesus Christ to make a buck.

Is there anything wrong with providing money to those who minister the gospel? No, in fact it is preferred, but when we compromise to actually sell the most valuable spiritual thing that may be offered, namely the person of Christ in teaching - this is a big problem.

So I'll ask again...

Can you imagine Jesus selling you a copy of the Bible? Is this something Jesus would do? Would Jesus set up a web-site and peddle the scriptures? Perhaps these titles would attract consumers and Jesus could make the NY Times Best Sellers list.

• "The Jesus Christ Study Bible: You only have one teacher, why not learn directly from Him"
• "The Word Word: The Unadulterated Word of God from the Word of God Himself"
• "Lifeline Bible Interlinear: A Greek New Testament that is written from the Life Himself"
• "Eyewitness Study Bible: A Greek New Testament
• "One Year Walk with the King: Study the Scriptures in a Year with the King of Kings"

Do you think Jesus would give any of these titles a shot?

A Repository of Christocentric Teaching

Each year on Labor Day weekend, a group of friends of mine from Christ Bible Church make a trek out to Indiana Pennsylvania to a small fellowship of believers.

We gather for A "Christocentric Conference". The Conference is a weekend of teaching about the person of Jesus Christ. Is this a bible conference? Well sort of. It is a time that is dedicated to learning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in a very explicit manner.

We spend the weekend discussing, hearing-of, and asking Him to re-orient our thinking patterns so that He is the true center of our interest, desires, doctrine, motives - our Life.

For those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, I invite you to attend. For more information about he conference, click on the Lion of Judah (above) and explore the site. The conference will be held August 29-31 at Lord Jesus Christ Assembly in Indiana, PA.

The Son - Creator of All Things

God is the Creator of all things.

The Son who became a man (Jesus) is the Creator of all things. Colossians 1:16 reads...

For by him (Jesus) all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Isn't interesting that many of the things listed here are actually "invisible" to the human eye. Men cannot see the Father, we cannot see the Holy Spirit (all the He has represented himself visually throughout the scriptures). We cannot see Angels, they are spirit beings (although some have entertained them unaware as they have in fact appeared to look as men).

We cannot see most of the stars in the sky and the accompanying solar systems that surround many of them. With our naked eyes, we cannot see most galaxies, although there are literally thousands of them, many larger than the milky way. But all things - whether visible or invisible, were created by HIM.

Because He is the creator, then all things are ultimately For Him. Sent by His Father. Obedient to His Father's will - Jesus actually suffered a physical death where by that which He created FOR HIM, in fact HATED HIM.

This is infinitely perplexing and altogether beautiful to me. That the Father would decide to provide His own Son's human (created) life for the ransom of many (those He had already made). What a glorious Gospel. The Creator has been bruised on behalf of the Created!

I love Jesus.

Defending Jesus

I used to really enjoy a certain on-air apologist for the faith. When I first believed, I truly appreciated the apologist "watchdogs" - self-proclaimed defenders of the common faith we hold in God's Son Jesus Christ. Listening to them gave me confidence that what I believed was shared by other thinking, reasoning people.

But as I have learned and grown in Him, I have increasingly found this type of apologetics to not be Christocentric.

While listening to a radio apologetics show yesterday, the discussion was between a practicing Mormon caller and two Christian apologists. As the conversation proceeded, the Christian apologists continued to raise issues about the falsehoods in the book of Mormon, DNA evidence that refuted the Mormon faith, tales about Joseph Smith and archeology that was contrary to Mormon historic writings. As I listened to the Christ-believers, I thought to myself...WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TELL HIM ABOUT JESUS?

Sometimes when we learn about other faiths, other ways of thinking or other doctrines, we find ourselves poking holes in these anti-Christ faiths rather than presenting the most blessed Jesus Christ. If we read how biblical "apologists" (the apostles) "defended the faith", they simply reiterated true doctrine about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Galatians, I John, Jude and Colossians may all be considered texts that are responding to anti-Christs in the their time. What you do NOT see is dialogue with these anti-Christs that presents arguments for why their faiths are not true. Therefore, we conclude that truly biblical apologists simply describe the truth about the Christ that refutes the false faith - they do not learn about the anti-Christ religion in order to refute it in a philosophical debate.

So then, while we are "defending Jesus" we can actually fail to be Christocentric.

In fact, we can replace Jesus the Christ with another set of "truths" that, while factually accurate, do not emphasize the person of Christ, thus are not in agreement with the Spirit of God whose sole aim is to reveal the Christ to the hearts of men.

Don't we know that we simply need to share the person of Jesus with the unbeliever?

• Jesus has come in the flesh.
• He IS God of all; the Son of the Living God
• He did die for our sins according to the scripture
• He did rise from the dead bodily/physically
• He is our messiah/King and He will return

This is our gospel. This is our message to the unbeliever. Let Jesus rise.

Everything Jesus Gives is Free, Part 4 - We Get what He IS

The exchange of the gospel is amazing. Think onthese passages....

1 Corinthians 2;16 - For who has known the mind of the Lord that they might instruct Him, but we have the mind of Christ?, but have the mind of Christ

2 Corinthians 5:21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

1 Corinthians 1:30 - But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

Sanctified
Righteous
Wise
A Right Mind

These are things that are in Jesus the Christ. He IS Holy, Set Apart, Righteous and Wise. But when we are found IN Him He grants us all of these by virtue of our location. He does not in fact, impart these things in some sort of transactional way, but rather, we get them by being IN him. So when we abide in our savior we increase in wisdom, spiritual alertness, love, forgiveness -- all the things that are He defines.

We become more like Him by Grace. We cannot pay for it -- there is nothing we can do to desire more wisdom, or more of His mind, or greater Wisdom. But rather He simply gives it to us.

Or more accurately, He IS these things for us. He IS our righteousness, our peace, our love, our mind, our doctrine, our wisdom. And thankfully we do not have to earn it. For if we did, we would remain as we were apart from Him -- foolish, self-righteous, wicked, carnal and careless.

Christ is all.

Everything Jesus Gives is Free - Part 3

Romans 4:4-5 - Now to him who works , the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness

No works. Absolutely no works are required for us to be "counted" righteousness. In fact, when we think our works can get us God's righteousness, we are insulting God. Have you ever had someone offer you money for something you think is priceless? Have you ever been given an offer of cash that was much lower than the actual worth of a thing you owned?

It is insulting.

Consider then the ultimate "insult" of humankind thinking they can work for the righteousness of God. How can we so underestimate the eternal value of the eternal righteousness of an eternal God? Men think of "works-centered righteousness" as integrity and morality. God sees it as an infinite misjudgment of the merit, holiness and righteousness of men.

Our works are filthy as rags in comparison to the holiness of God (Isiah 64). But we do have an eternally righteous savior - the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is YHWH who saves. He is the God who IS our peace and righteousness. He IS the Grace of God toward us. (John 1:14, Eph 2:7).

Christ is all

To Know Him

To Know Him is the central purpose of our lives

• Heaven, blessing, security, provision - these are mere by products of Knowing Him.
• To Worship HIM, to Praise Him, to Sing to Him, Give to Him; this is what we do when we Know HIM.
• Disciple, Friend, Brother, Servant, Joint Heir - these are titles that come with KNOW HIM.
• Persecuted, Dispised, Disrespected, Unknown, Unregarded, Punished - This is how the World thinks of us the more we KNOW HIM.
• Loved, Cared for, Remembered, Not Forgotten, Graced - This is what He considers us when we KNOW HIM.
• Holiness, Righteousness, Omnipotence, Goodness, Power, Wisdom, Truth, Life - these are attributes we would know nothing of apart from KNOWING HIM.

We spend our time as the church learning to recognize and Know HIM, for to Know HIM is why we live.

His resurrection power. Fellowship in Suffering. Moldable to Death.

Chirst is all-

_______ day

Galatians 3:28 reads, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. "

I believe we ought not polute our worship with human focus. The 21st century church spends a lot of time celebrating things associated with our human diversity. IN the church, we celebrate things like..."Mens" days, "Women's day" and "Youth day". We hold Mother's day luncheon's, "Father's day prayer" and "Pastor's Anniversary" banquets. We celebrate "Church Anniversary", "Founder's Weeks, " and We even celebrate cultural things like "Black History Month" and "Cinqo De Mayo".

None of these things are in the bible. Christ never encouraged any of us to hold special celebrations in His name that honor men. Things that churches expect us to participate with no biblical basis are called traditions of men.

I love my mother. I love my dad. I love black people. I love white people. I love my local assembly - I am simply wary of celebrating things in the church that have an emphasis that is separate than the head of the body the Lord Jesus Christ.

Am I going to far? Am I being too technical? Am I too "Jesus"-crazy?

I am simply asking God to re-direct my attention to HIM alone. May the Lord Jesus Christ be exalted to the glory of God the Father, in the power of God the Spirit.

Christ is all-