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John 14:16-17 - "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. NASU
I would like you to notice the text does NOT say the Holy Spirit will be with us and help in only the hard times of our life. The Holy Spirit will be with the followers of Jesus forever. I interpret that to be in the good and bad times of our lives. One will also notice the promise of the Holy Spirit is NOT for those who don't believe in Jesus or as they are called here "the world". The non-followers of Jesus neither know Him nor see Him. The apostle Paul can't make it any clearer than what he wrote in the book of Romans. Romans 8:9-11 - However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. The Holy Spirit dwells in those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
How is it possible for us to know the truth? We can know the truth by knowing the "Word of God". As you read the Word of God you will be able to discern the truth because the Spirit of Truth dwells in you. I imagine some of my readers may be thinking but what do I have to do to have the Holy Spirit dwell in me. On the day of Pentecost Peter was preaching a message that stated the Jewish leaders had crucified Jesus, the Son of God. His message convicted them and they asked what they had to do and that is when Peter shared these words with them: Acts 2:38- Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They had two things to do if they believed Jesus to be the Son of God. First, they were to repent which is a change of the mind which brings about a change in one's behavior. Secondly, they were to be baptized or immersed into water. This immersion represents a burial. You have died to sin and are buried in a watery grave, but that isn't the end. You're then raised up out of the water into a new life. You're forgiven and the Holy Spirit of God now dwells within you. How cool is that? If you would like to be immersed contact me and we will make it happen. The Spirit of Truth would love to dwell in you. Think About These: God isn't only a present help in the time of trouble, but also a great help in keeping us out of trouble. Whatever God wants us to do; He will help us accomplish it. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Gen. 6:8 - But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. NKJV
John 1:17 - For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. NKJV
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found Was blind but now I see. I would agree with the words of the song that "grace" was amazing knowing that it saved me. I truly was a wretched person before the "grace of God" encompassed me and brought about a tremendous change. Would you agree with the words that "grace" is truly amazing?
Grace has been defined this way: Favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that same person deserves. (From Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers) That is what makes "grace" so amazing none of us deserve to receive it but we do. The passage I used above from Genesis about Noah has always been a scripture I loved. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Have you ever wondered if you have found "grace" in the eyes of the LORD? Many translators here define "grace" in this passage as "favor". Noah found "favor" in the eyes of the LORD. Right After Noah finds favor with God, Noah was given a job to do and that was to build this tremendously huge boat aka The Ark. Noah found "grace or favor" in the eyes of the LORD and the LORD used Noah to accomplish something great. He saved the human race. If it weren't for Noah and his family none of us would be alive today. So knowing that. Is "grace" really amazing? Yes, I would have to say that it is.
Jesus came so that we could experience or partake in the Grace of God. Grace came through Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said it this way in 1 Cor. 16:23 - The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. Grace belongs to Jesus, He owns "grace" it is His and He wants to impart it to us. Do you believe you are doing anything to hinder the "grace of the Lord Jesus" from being with you? Eph 2:8 - For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. KJV This is the puzzling thing about humans. In the OT God gave the Israelites the Law through Moses and the Israelites were commanded to obey the 10 commandments as we know them. They broke every law that was given to them. They worshipped other gods, committed idolatry continually, used the Lord's name in vain, violated the Sabbath, they didn't honor their mothers and fathers, they committed murder, were guilty of adultery, were thieves, liars and coveted their neighbors possessions. It was easy to see that God was not going to be able to save mankind by giving them some laws because they were going to violate every law God gave them. So God decides He is going to help save mankind by displaying His Grace and He does this by sending His "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Now what is puzzling is some men and women believe that in order to be saved today they have to obey some man made laws. WAKE UP PEOPLE! If you want to say thanks to God for Him saving you do it His way. Acts 10:38 - "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good…" While you still have opportunities go and do good for someone in this world. Allow the Grace of God to be active through you. Don't fall into the trap of thinking by keeping some man made laws your now going to receive God's approval. My original question was Is Grace Really All That Amazing? My answer is YES IT IS and especially when all of us our share the "grace of God" with others. Think About These: A blessed life is led by Grace. It takes strength to give Grace to others. Grace is a precious gift you get to give to others. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Matt 20:1-15 - "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard."When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. "And he went out …about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?' "They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'
"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.' "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius."When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us … "But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 'Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? NASU
We are the eleventh-hour workers, not the first ones hired. When you see yourself as an eleventh-hour worker your perspective of this parable will change. God wishes to GIVE us something. Something we didn't earn it. He wants to give us Grace. The first workers knew exactly how much they were going to receive. They hired on for one day for one denarius and at the end of the day that is exactly what they received. That wasn't Grace that was earned wages. On the other hand, the other workers the ones who went out at the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 11th hour didn't know what their pay was going to be. It was told them to go "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' I am sure none of the workers from the 3rd hour to the 11th hour thought they were going to receive a denarius. We would not expect to be paid for 8 hours if we worked 2, 4 or 6 hours. We would try and find out what the hourly wage was and then we would multiply it times the hours we worked and if we did that we would not be receiving GRACE we would be receiving our wages.
Here is what the apostle Paul has to say about wages: Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is my desire this Pump Up does exactly what it is designed for and that is to give you a spiritual boost. It is up to you. Do you want to be like the first workers hired and receive your wages? This would be a bad idea, a very bad idea. Or perhaps now that you have had time to think these over you are a 3rd, 6th, 9th or 11th-hour worker and you are so thankful because you want to receive what God wants to give you, GRACE. You and I don't deserve heaven not even for a split second, but God wants to GRACIOUSLY give us heaven or as Paul says, "Eternal Life." Think About This: What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Titus 2:11-14 - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. NASU
It is my desire everyone who is reading this Pump Up will desire to be saved. If you're not already a follower of Jesus Christ what are you waiting for? What will a follower of Jesus look like? A follower of Jesus Christ will do their best to imitate Him. They will deny ungodliness and worldly desires. They will live sensibly, display righteousness and try to represent God as the Holy Spirit leads them. They will be constantly on the lookout for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and ever thankful for being redeemed from their sinfulness.
Did you grasp the impact of his definition? There are many religions teaching salvation is by works that we can do. I totally refuse to believe this false teaching. The works we are saved by is what Jesus Christ did for us. He left the glories of heaven. He put on a human body with all of its limitations. He was never hungry or tired when He was God in Heaven. He was never tempted when He was God only, but all of these limits and many many more He became acquainted with because He became flesh. He was 100% God and 100% human at the same time. He lived a sinless life and died a horrible death on a cross after being flogged. This is what God has done for us and this my friends is Grace. We didn't do anything to deserve it yet it is there for us. Chose wisely my friends, chose to participate in receiving the Grace of God. Don't act as you don't need the Grace of God. We all need the Grace of God and it will only be available for you until you die or Jesus returns. Think About This: If I am not displaying grace to others then have I forgotten the grace that was shown to me? Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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