Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
He Is Risen! He Is Risen, Indeed!
There are few weeks in a year which are like the one we find ourselves in today. Sunday was great! To gather together and stand in faith before our God to celebrate the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ which He won when He stepped forth from the tomb and defeated death, what at day!
To know that God has loved us with a limitless love which moved Him to send Jesus to suffer the agony of the cross and accomplish for us what we could never do for ourselves is amazing indeed.
We are a blessed people! Of all the people of the world, we who know Jesus as our Savior and through Him understand the Father’s deep, heartfelt love for us, are the truly favored ones! To be favored by God is to have God shower His blessings down upon you! There is no greater blessing to be received than Eternal Life which Jesus has made possible for us.
The truth is that God desires to share His love with all people. What Jesus did was not done for only some, but for all. God wants all people to stand in the position of being highly favored by Him. So, what’s the problem? Knowing the truth of God’s love in Christ should be something every person would be willing to receive as a gift from Him. Yet so many have heard and rejected. Others have never heard. So, what are we to do?
Paul says it this way:
For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law; to those who are without the Law, I became as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law. To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Paul understood the enormity of God’s love and the extent of the sacrifice He made to redeem us from our sin and give us absolute forgiveness. Paul was a changed man when he experienced the grace of God in his life. His heart was filled to overflowing with thankfulness. He understood he was now free. Free from the burden of the law with all it’s demands. He was free from the fear of death. Free from seeking to appease God’s wrath by meetings some impossible standard. Free to celebrate God instead of standing in fear of Him. Paul was free! But what did this freedom mean for his life? He tells us, For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more. Paul chose to use his freedom in Christ to devote his life to serving others for the sake of the Gospel ministry.
To be a slave to all meant, for Paul, setting aside any personal rights and giving himself wholeheartedly to others that he might gain them for the Lord. Paul lived with the reality that if God was willing to forgive him for all he had done, and because God truly loved and wanted him, he was going to make sure every person he could possibly reach knew of Jesus. This desire moved Paul to give his life in service to the people of this world. The people he knew God loved and wanted.
If this was Paul’s reaction to being saved by grace through the victory of Jesus, why are we so very content to sit back and do nothing? Are we any less sinful than Paul? Do we view ourselves as just a little bit deserving of God’s love so as to not be truly grateful? Or, maybe God has changed the rules and now it is ok to live for ourselves as we sit back and watch the people of this world today slip through God’s fingers and plumet into the pit! However, you slice it, we have failed to use our freedom to serve others! Paul’s zeal for the Gospel should be every bit as alive in our hearts as it was in his!
It is a sad truth that only 32% of the world’s population are Christian. This leaves 68% of the people of this world lost and destined to live forever separated from God because they do not know His great love in Christ. The current world population is estimated to be 8 billion people. That number seems overwhelming. Take it down a notch. The population of the United States is around 350 million. If the statistics hold true, that means approximately 238 million citizens of the United States are not citizens of heaven. The reality is that we don’t have to look very far to find people who have enjoyed a long Easter weekend without even knowing what Easter is all about.
Have you been rescued from death and hell? Were you once lost, but now you are found? Do you owe a debt you could not pay, and have you been redeemed? If Jesus is your Savior, if you have faith in Him, when He stepped out of the tomb His victory became your victory. Should not all of us who have been rescued stand shoulder to shoulder with the Apostle Paul and devote our lives to casting the lifeline of salvation to those who would otherwise be lost in the depths of sin and despair? The saving is up to God, we are only asked to share the good news of Jesus so the Spirit can have free access to work His miracle of faith.
You are free! Celebrate the freedom you have received as you seek to rescue those God leads into your midst.
Blessings In Christ
Pastor Russ
There are few weeks in a year which are like the one we find ourselves in today. Sunday was great! To gather together and stand in faith before our God to celebrate the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ which He won when He stepped forth from the tomb and defeated death, what at day!
To know that God has loved us with a limitless love which moved Him to send Jesus to suffer the agony of the cross and accomplish for us what we could never do for ourselves is amazing indeed.
We are a blessed people! Of all the people of the world, we who know Jesus as our Savior and through Him understand the Father’s deep, heartfelt love for us, are the truly favored ones! To be favored by God is to have God shower His blessings down upon you! There is no greater blessing to be received than Eternal Life which Jesus has made possible for us.
The truth is that God desires to share His love with all people. What Jesus did was not done for only some, but for all. God wants all people to stand in the position of being highly favored by Him. So, what’s the problem? Knowing the truth of God’s love in Christ should be something every person would be willing to receive as a gift from Him. Yet so many have heard and rejected. Others have never heard. So, what are we to do?
Paul says it this way:
For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law; to those who are without the Law, I became as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law. To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Paul understood the enormity of God’s love and the extent of the sacrifice He made to redeem us from our sin and give us absolute forgiveness. Paul was a changed man when he experienced the grace of God in his life. His heart was filled to overflowing with thankfulness. He understood he was now free. Free from the burden of the law with all it’s demands. He was free from the fear of death. Free from seeking to appease God’s wrath by meetings some impossible standard. Free to celebrate God instead of standing in fear of Him. Paul was free! But what did this freedom mean for his life? He tells us, For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more. Paul chose to use his freedom in Christ to devote his life to serving others for the sake of the Gospel ministry.
To be a slave to all meant, for Paul, setting aside any personal rights and giving himself wholeheartedly to others that he might gain them for the Lord. Paul lived with the reality that if God was willing to forgive him for all he had done, and because God truly loved and wanted him, he was going to make sure every person he could possibly reach knew of Jesus. This desire moved Paul to give his life in service to the people of this world. The people he knew God loved and wanted.
If this was Paul’s reaction to being saved by grace through the victory of Jesus, why are we so very content to sit back and do nothing? Are we any less sinful than Paul? Do we view ourselves as just a little bit deserving of God’s love so as to not be truly grateful? Or, maybe God has changed the rules and now it is ok to live for ourselves as we sit back and watch the people of this world today slip through God’s fingers and plumet into the pit! However, you slice it, we have failed to use our freedom to serve others! Paul’s zeal for the Gospel should be every bit as alive in our hearts as it was in his!
It is a sad truth that only 32% of the world’s population are Christian. This leaves 68% of the people of this world lost and destined to live forever separated from God because they do not know His great love in Christ. The current world population is estimated to be 8 billion people. That number seems overwhelming. Take it down a notch. The population of the United States is around 350 million. If the statistics hold true, that means approximately 238 million citizens of the United States are not citizens of heaven. The reality is that we don’t have to look very far to find people who have enjoyed a long Easter weekend without even knowing what Easter is all about.
Have you been rescued from death and hell? Were you once lost, but now you are found? Do you owe a debt you could not pay, and have you been redeemed? If Jesus is your Savior, if you have faith in Him, when He stepped out of the tomb His victory became your victory. Should not all of us who have been rescued stand shoulder to shoulder with the Apostle Paul and devote our lives to casting the lifeline of salvation to those who would otherwise be lost in the depths of sin and despair? The saving is up to God, we are only asked to share the good news of Jesus so the Spirit can have free access to work His miracle of faith.
You are free! Celebrate the freedom you have received as you seek to rescue those God leads into your midst.
Blessings In Christ
Pastor Russ
Recent
Archive
2024
February
May
2023
January
March
May
June
July
August
October
November
2022
December
Categories
no categories
No Comments